Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Benjamin Walker, Ben Whishaw, Tom Holland, Frank Dillane, Jordi Molla, Michelle Fairley, Charlotte Riley, Paul Anderson, Brendan Gleeson
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Rating: PG13 (Some Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.intheheartoftheseamovie.com/

Opening Day: 3 December 2015

Synopsis: In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. "In the Heart of the Sea" reveals the encounter's harrowing aftermath, as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down. 

Movie Review:

‘In the Heart of the Sea’ is not ‘Moby Dick’, as much as it did inspire Herman Melville to pen the American classic that fellow novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne would praise as the equivalent of ‘Homer’. Instead, it is based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s non-fiction book of the same name, which was itself drawn from real events surrounding the Nantucket whaling ship Essex that was allegedly sunk by a giant sperm whale in the western Pacific on November 20, 1820. Out of the 21 men who made it out alive, only eight eventually survived the ordeal in the open sea, and there are accounts from two – one, the ship’s first mate Owen Chase; and two, a 14-year-old cabin boy named Thomas Nickerson who waited 55 years to write his side of the story which ended up lost until 1980.

Even though young Melville’s (Ben Whishaw) interview with the truculent Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) bookends the film, let it first be known that these scenes are in fact fiction, for there is no way that the real-life Melville could have access to Nickerson’s memoir, since the book ‘Moby Dick’ was published in 1851 (rather, it was rumoured that Melville had written the book after hearing the story of George Pollard Jr, who had been the captain of the Essex). Notwithstanding that it is a classical framing device for a tall tale, there is no denying that these portions are redundant and quite the unnecessary distraction in between critical points of the Essex’s doomed voyage, redeemed only somewhat by Gleeson’s performance of such dignity and sadness at the dire circumstances that he had to confront in order to survive on few provisions for 90 days.

It is Gleeson’s narration that brings us back to 1820 Nantucket, where we are first introduced to Chris Hemsworth’s Chase, a proud whaler excited at the prospect of commanding his own ship. Alas, its business owners who had before promised Owen his boat decide to make him nursemaid Pollard (Benjamin Walker), whose only qualification is that his father is the company’s patron. Despite his frustration and his wife’s (Charlotte Riley) reservations about that particular expedition, Owen eventually sets sail with George and the rest of the crew, which includes his best friend Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy), the young Nickerson (Tom Holland, or soon-to-be ‘Spidey’), and George’s cousin Owen Coffin (Frank Dillane).

As expected, tension soon builds between the experienced first mate and the inexperienced but eager-to-prove-himself captain. In the first of three major action sequences, George orders the Essex to sail head on into a squall against Owen’s advice as a test of mettle for the crew, an ill decision that almost capsizes the ship and seemingly pits the two men squarely against each other. Thrilling as that setup may be, Charles Leavitt’s screenplay (working on a story credited to him and Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) gives the officer-versus-officer conflict short shrift in the later acts.

Losing no momentum, Owen soon chances upon the sound of whales exhaling air through their blowholes; how Owen and his men kill and capture a full-grown male is shown in exhilarating detail, as much as the later operation to harvest its fats for oil is displayed in full gory glory (especially a sequence where the young Nickerson is thrust down a hole in the whale’s head to scoop out the prized sperm oil). Yet, bad luck immediately after forces George to bring the Essex into uncharted waters to hunt for pods, and the last of the big-bang sequences you’ll get is the encounter with the big one, described by a Spanish captain the crew meet on a stopover at Atacames who lost his arm and six other men as measuring almost 100 metres in length and whose hide is alabaster white.

Howard and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle do not disappoint; that single encounter is single-handedly the highlight of the entire film, edge-of-your-seat gripping, breathtakingly staged, and enough to silence the hubris of any man who thinks he is superior to Mother Nature’s creations. It ends with the Essex in flames and the surviving crewmen in three whaleboats, and so begins a much more sombre and deliberately paced final act which chronicles the harrowing aftermath, with the men forced to brave storms, starvation, panic and despair. It is here that we find out just what has been disturbing Nickerson all these years – when staring starvation in the face, the men would be forced to eat their dead shipmates or draw lots for one of them to be sacrificed; though, not to worry, Howard ain’t Eli Roth, so instead of showing these scenes of cannibalism, he gets Gleeson to narrate the details.

Hemsworth’s dramatic weight loss to play a sunken Owen is clearly evident, as is the dedication by the other cast members to portray their characters’ afflictions with utmost realism. Yet, coming after films such as ‘Castaway’ or even ‘Life of Pi’, we’d be lying if we said it was new or surprising. Both of those movies however managed a deeper emotional resonance because they gave us characters which we actually care about, the same of which cannot be said of Owen or George or any of their crewmen – and yes, that includes Nickerson. Owen’s obsession with the giant whale that seems to be following them is never quite explained, nor for the matter why the animal shown to evoke some sort of mythical terror would do so. How the friction between Owen and George gives way to mutual respect is also glossed over, and the same goes for the discord between George and his cousin whom the former lectures earlier for abusing familial privilege.

In the absence of more compelling character drama, all we are left with is an old-fashioned seafaring adventure and an ageless tale of men forced to do the unthinkable in order to survive the odds of nature. Being the consummate storyteller he is, Howard excels in both regards, and there is never a dull moment in his film. Yet, as much as this story of ordinary men pitted against their own moral fiber fits squarely within Howard’s oeuvre, it ultimately comes up much less because it fails to define the men themselves, or their raison d’etre for going at each other. Ironically, ‘In the Heart of the Sea’ could do with a lot more heart at its core, seeing as how it wants to be more, much more, than just the battle with the whale that was ‘Moby Dick’. 

Movie Rating:

(A handsomely old-fashioned sea-faring yarn that could do with a lot more character work, Ron Howard’s Man-versus-Nature saga finds its own heart somewhat lost at sea)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz, Benedict Samuel, Steve Valentine, Clement Sibony, Cesar Domboy
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Rating: PG (Some Intense Sequences)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: http://thewalkmovie.tumblr.com

Opening Day: 22 October 2015

Synopsis: Twelve people have walked on the moon, but only one man—Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)—has ever, or will ever, walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), and aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, Petit and his gang overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan. Robert Zemeckis, the director of such marvels as Forrest Gump and Back to the Future, again uses advanced technology in the service of an emotional, character-driven story. The Walk is true big-screen cinema, a chance for moviegoers to viscerally experience the feeling of reaching the clouds. The film is a love letter to Paris and New York City in the 1970s, but most of all, to the Towers of the World Trade Center.

Movie Review:

Do not, we repeat – do not – watch this biographical drama film about French high wire artist Philippe Petit on your computer, tablet, or worse, mobile phone. The whole purpose of this highly recommended production is to see it on the big screen for its immersive visualisation of the daredevil’s walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Cente rin 1974. And may we say it, the best experience one can get is to watch it in IMAX 3D.

Those familiar with Petit’s tale would have heard about his death defying feat on 7 August some 41 years ago. Affectionately known as “le coup”, his stunt involved him walking 400 metres above ground, after rigging a 200 kg cable system across the TwinTowers. Using a eight metre balancing pole which weighed 25 kg, Petit pulled off a 45 minute performance, making eight passes along the wire. This happened when he was all of 24 years old.

Petit’s breathtaking coup was depicted in 2008’s Man of Wire, a documentary directed by James Marsh. The Academy Award winning film had us wondering, how captivating would such a subject matter be, to warrant a 94 minute runtime? The filmmakers managed to tell an engaging tale of the human spirit, and the film went on to take home numerous awards.

Then came this dramatisation. How would it compare to the documentary? What gimmicks were in store? Will leading man Joseph Gordon Levitt be able to pull off that French accent?

Trust Zemeckis to make a compelling film: the 63 year old American filmmaker has helmed great works like Forrest Gump (1994), Cast Away (2000) and the Back to the Future trilogy (1985 to 1990). Here, we see very good use of visual effects to immerse viewers into an experience which one can only imagine.

With Marsh’s documentary seven years ago, we could only see things from limited perspective. Now, we can watch the wire walk scene unfold from more angles. Watching the film on the big screen has an especially humbling effect on audiences, as you see Gordon Levitt’s character embarking on the walk, explaining how for the first time in his life, he is truly thankful and at peace.

Zemeckis also respects his viewers and takes on this otherwise straightforward story with an interesting approach. You see Gordon Levitt’s Philippe narrating the film atop the Statue of Liberty’s torch at the beginning of the 123 minute movie. Through flashbacks, the tale unfolds and captivates you – from how Philippe was inspired to be a wire walker, how he became obsessed with conquering the TwinTowers, how he pulled together a gang of accomplices and how he eventually succeeded with his plan after several speed bumps.

Gordon Levitt has enough charm to make you fall in love with his portrayal of Phillipe, whose charges were dismissed in exchange for a tightrope walking performance in Central Parkfor children. The 34 actor’s performance brings out the essence of being alive: whether we should live to realise our dreams. He is supported by a capable ensemble cast including Ben Kingsley as his mentor, CharlotteLe Bon as his girlfriend and Clement Sibomy, James Badge Dale and Cesar Domboy as his trusted accomplices.

Ultimately, this is a dedication to those who have fallen with the TwinTowers. Without giving away too much, the last shot of the film may make you a little teary eyed about how things have changed since that fateful day in September 2001. 

Movie Rating:

(Aided by impressive visual effects, Robert Zemeckis pulls off a feat by telling an engaging story of daring to dream big)

Review by John Li

Genre: Drama/Biography
Director: F. Gary Gray
Cast: Corey Hawkins, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, Keith Stanfield, Marlon Yates Jr., R. Marcos Taylor, Keith Stanfield, Keith Powers, Paul Giamatti
Runtime: 2 hrs 27 mins
Rating: M18 (Strong Coarse Language & Some Nudity)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.straightouttacompton-film.com/index.php

Opening Day: 8 October 2015

Synopsis: In the mid-1980s, the streets of Compton, California, were some of the most dangerous in the country. When five young men translated their experiences growing up into brutally honest music that rebelled against abusive authority, they gave an explosive voice to a silenced generation. Following the meteoric rise and fall of N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton tells the astonishing story of how these young men revolutionized music and pop culture forever the moment they told the world the truth about life in the hood and ignited a cultural war. 

Movie Review:

It was less than three decades ago when Rodney King made headlines in America after footage of him being beaten repeatedly by four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department exposed the deep racial fissures that their society continues to grapple with even today.  Amidst rampant abuse of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement officials, the rise of the South Central LA hip-hop revolutionaries N.W.A (which stands for ‘Niggaz Wit Attitudes’) was nothing short of meteoric, and was greeted simultaneously with a mixture of outrage and consternation that brought out (mostly, if not all, White) demonstrators who bought piles of their debut album “Straight Outta Compton” LPs and CDs in order to crush them with bulldozers.

Even if you are not a fan of ‘gangsta rap’, there is no denying that F. Gary Gray’s biopic about the rise, break-up and legacy of the N.W.A. is gripping, powerful and poignant. Indeed, worries that two of the film's producers being its original members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre (Andre Young) would result in the more unflattering bits of their history being airbrushed are largely unfounded. Rather than make any of its subjects paragons of virtue, Gray paints a gritty portrait of the “streets” from which their music was born as well as their fractious in-fighting over compensation and contractual issues that eventually led to their dissolution at the very height of their popularity. It’s a lot of ground to cover all right, but the director who incidentally made his debut on the classic stoner comedy ‘Friday’ written by and starring the real Ice Cube does it with panache and without losing any propulsive momentum from start to finish.

Anchoring the sprawling two-and-a-half hour film are the three main players in N.W.A.’s formation – Andre Young (Corey Hawkins) aka Dr Dre, an aspiring DJ at a local club who falls out with his mother after refusing to settle for a normal paying job; O’Shea Jackson aka Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr), a talented rapper cum lyricist who writes rhymes on the school bus; and last but not least Eric Wright (Jason Mitchell) aka Eazy-E, a neighbourhood drug dealer whom Dre convinces to funnel some of his illicit funds into starting an appropriately named record label named ‘Ruthless’. In order for a more streamlined narrative, screenwriters Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff have largely cast the other two members – MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) – to the sidelines, while writing out Arabian Prince altogether.

What the film lacks in breadth however, it makes up for in depth. Loosely structured as two halves, the first – and probably more cohesive one – charts the ensemble coming together (including a brief nod to some rappers known as H.B.O. or Homeboys Only) for their breakout hit ‘Boyz N tha Hood’, explains the origins of probably their most controversial song ‘F**k tha Police’ in their debut titular album, and follows them on their first national tour immediately after. There is no divorcing the personal lives of these musicians from the larger societal backdrop, and Gray tackles head-on the anger, injustice and discrimination that their music represented as well as the concomitant push-back from the ‘morally righteous’ segments of the community who argued that their music advocated violence and aggression towards the authorities.

A lesser director might have either played it too safe or played up the issues, but Gray displays a deft touch by never letting the portrayal be exploitative or lose its viscerality. He demonstrates that same adroitness in handling Jerry Heller’s characterisation, a key supporting role played by a scene-stealing Paul Giamatti in a vanilla toupee. As tempting as it may be to paint Jerry as the villain and the cause of the group’s downfall, Gray resists such easy categorisation by underscoring how the veteran manager was in fact the first to get their music, stand up for them against abusive cops, and ultimately give them a leg up in the music business. It doesn’t discount the fact that Jerry was at the same time an opportunistic weasel who had siphoned their profits for years, but Gray makes him a more complex character than such musical biopics are oft to do.

In place of the exuberance of the first half, the second finds sobriety in chronicling how friction between the three players sends the group into a tailspin. First, Cube leaves to pursue a successful solo career, provoking an attack from the remaining members in an EP and inciting a swift and forceful retort from Cube in a diss track. Then Dre leaves to form a new record company with Suge Knight, a partnership that though fruitful in unearthing a new generation of hip-hop talent including Tupac and Snoop Dogg was also tumultuous due to Knight’s gangster tendencies. And last but not least, Eazy finally comes to realise that Cube and Dre were right to suspect Jerry all along, but not before succumbing to HIV. To Gray’s credit, his movie doesn’t fall apart with the disbanding of the N.W.A.; instead, he exchanges panorama for intimacy, and the ensuing character study of three very different personalities is no less riveting.

That credit also belongs to Gray’s performers – Jackson Jr artfully evokes his father’s tough-guy charisma; Hawkins is quietly mesmerising as the virtuosic Dre; and Mitchell is fascinating as the film’s most complicated figure whose unerring loyalty to Jerry causes him to lose everything when his fortunes collapse. There is raw infectious energy in each one of their performances that is not only responsible for the exhilaration of the earlier scenes and the poignancy of the latter ones but also the lively re-enactment of the live performance and recording scenes of tunes from the N.W.A. catalog; in particular, Jackson Jr projects an uncanny resemblance to his real-life father figure channelling the latter in his onstage performance of ‘Gangsta Gangsta’.

Though the N.W.A. may not be as pivotal to the cultural zeitgeist here as in the United States, this biographical drama isn’t bound by culture in its depiction of the machinations that earned the ensemble its rightful and undisputed place in the history books and which eventually drove it apart. Love or hate the N.W.A., Gray’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ speaks not in the hedonism, nihilism, and misogyny that some of the group’s music and lyrics were arguably guilty of but in the universal language of justice, equality and basic rights that these boys from the gang- and drug-damaged L.A. neighbourhood were fighting for. Both as an attentive study of its subjects as well as a timeless reminder of the racial divisions that still persist in today’s society, this is one hard-hitting, compelling picture that possesses its own distinctive rhythm and verve. 

Movie Rating:

(Gripping, powerful and poignant - F. Gary Gray's biography of the hip-hop revolutionaries N.W.A. is 'dope')

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy/Horror
Director: Christopher Landon
Cast: Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joseph Morgan, Sarah Dumont, Robert Koechner, Halston Sage, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Cloris Leachman, Niki Koss, Blake Anderson
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: M18 (Nudity and Violence)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.scoutsandzombiesmovie.com

Opening Day: 12 November 2015

Synopsis: Three scouts and lifelong friends join forces with one badass cocktail waitress to become the world’s most unlikely team of heroes. When their peaceful town is ravaged by a zombie invasion, they’ll fight for the badge of a lifetime and put their scouting skills to the test to save mankind from the undead.

Movie Review:

At one point in the horror comedy ‘Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse’, the chubby, dorky Augie (Joseph Morgan) steps in front of a zombie about to eat him and succeeds in distracting it by singing Britney Spears’ ‘Hit Me Baby, One More Time’, just because the latter happens to be wearing a Spears’ T-shirt and was probably a big fan before its turning. If this is the sort of humour that tickles your funny-bone, then you’ll have much to love about Christopher Landon’s spoof, which unabashedly milks its basic premise of three boy-scouts and a cocktail waitress battling a horde of hungry zombies in their small town for juvenile laughs and gross-out gags.

How else would you describe the sight of the horny wise-ass Carter (Logan Miller) getting his ass eaten out by his zombified elderly neighbour (played by Cloris Leachman)? Or that of Carter stopping to fondle a pair of zombie breasts? Or that of the earnest good guy Ben (Tye Sheridan) hanging on for dear life from a window by the rubbery penis of a zombie? Notwithstanding that the titular Scouts are a trio of tenth graders who happen to be the only three members in a sorry little troop led by the hapless David Koechner’s leader Rogers, there is no doubt that Landon – who co-wrote the movie with Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki – has gone all out to make sure that his zombie comedy is as gross and puerile as can be.

To his credit, Landon does in fact spend some time at the beginning detailing the relationship among the scouts to good effect. Though they have been scouts since their elementary years, Ben and Carter aren’t really interested in the merit badges or the sport in the first place; instead, they have stuck with it out of loyalty to Augie, who is still reeling from the death of his father two years ago. Alas with their junior year of high school approaching, Carter is keen to avoid social suicide by quitting the scouts, but with Ben’s persuasion, has agreed not to tell Augie until at least after their latest campfire outing. Carter however is much less persuaded to skip a big senior dance, and pleads with Ben to ditch their campout after fires out to go to the supposedly super-secret party.

Not surprisingly, it is at the abandoned warehouse where the party is held that the movie finds its climax, with our khaki-clad sophomores turning into unlikely heroes to save the day (or should we say, night). In between, they team up with a leggy, shotgun-toting cocktail waitress named Denise (Sarah Dumont) to blast their way through the slowly rampaging hordes of the walking dead – and oh yes, if you’re not quite taken by our three male leads, there’s always Dumont in a tank top and short shorts to keep your eyes glued to the screen. The strip club where Denise works, the county police jail cell, and Carter’s house are three of the major set-pieces where Landon stages the dirty, gross and perverted gags that you’ll either love or hate.

Indeed, this is the sort of film that is easy target for critics, who will likely pick it apart for what it is and dismiss it for what it isn’t or what it was never meant to be. In no way does Landon’s resume presage such an entry, but the filmmaker best known for writing three of the ‘Paranormal Activity’ sequels is not out to create a smart, subversive genre satire like ‘Zombieland’ than a true-bred adolescent male gross-out comedy complete with breast grab and penis yank. If you have to know, the relative unknown central actors display good camaraderie, and their story of tested friendship does make them more endearing; nevertheless, such are not the elements that you should be counting on in a movie like this, so check your expectations at the door and you’ll likely find this teen comedy as witlessly entertaining as you’d expect it to be. 

Movie Rating:

(Gross, puerile and even mildly offensive - but really, why should you expect any less?)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: From legendary filmmaker Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Evil Dead) and director Gil Kenan comes this thrilling film starring Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt. After the Bowen family moves into a seemingly perfect suburban home, sinister spirits begin to haunt them. And when the terrifying apparitions abduct Maddy, their youngest daughter, the Bowens must find a way to rescue her – or they’ll lose her forever.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Why remake a classic horror movie if all audiences can remember is an iPhone and a drone instead of the scares that made the 1982 movie so memorable.   

Produced by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) and directed by Gil Kenan (City of Ember), Poltergeist retains the basic story structure of the original, a few technology changes liked the ones mentioned earlier and nothing else to spook the movie-goers of today.  

Because Daddy Eric Bowen (Sam Rockwell) has recently lost his job, the Bowens have to relocate to a cheaper neighbourhood that is originally a cemetery. A fact which of course the realtor conveniently left out. It’s not before long that the youngest of the family, Maddy and their son Griffin begins to experience unexplained paranormal incidents. And when Maddy gets abducted into a ghostly portal, Eric and his wife Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt) decides to seek the help of a paranormal investigator Dr. Brooke Powell (Jane Adams) and occult television personality Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris) to rescue Maddy before it’s too late.

To his credit, director Gil Kenan did attempt to put on some new spins to the nostalgic tale. However instead of turning into an enjoyable thrilling ride, it more than often backfired. Back in the days, the campy demon, which was created using physical props and cheap effects, look scarier than the CG poltergeists introduced here. A flying drone is used to fly into a ghostly portal and creepy static voices are intercept on an iPhone. Comparing modern technology with a simple scene of chairs moving across the kitchen, which one has a more sinister foreboding?

On the other hand, the old spooky tree is still around to scare the kids though it doesn’t look as menacing as the old one. The television set, which has since evolved into a digital one, retains the broadcasting static. Static on a digital TV? Pretty unbelievable in this era. But then, all these ploys are just paying homage to the imaginative original, there’s nothing here that serves to outshine the latter.

23 years have passed since the Tobe Hooper/Steven Spielberg classic. The Conjuring and Insidious are two prime examples of how good contemporary horrors can get. Raimi can stick back to flicks liked Drag Me to Hell instead of remaking and reimagining the next classic horror title. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The DVD comes with both the theatrical and extended version (a mere seven additional minutes). There’s also an Alternate Ending, Gallery and two Trailers. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

As the movie progresses, the audio often gets louder and more dynamic. Except for a couple of soft looking CG shots, the visual on the whole is sleek and sharp. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit 　
Cast: Sunny Suwanmethanont, Davika Hoorne, Violette Wautier, Torpong Chantabubpha, Nottapon Boonprakob
Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 15 October 2015

Synopsis: Yoon (Sunny Suwanmethanont) is the busiest 30-year-old freelance graphic designer and retoucher in Thailand. After staying up working for 5 days straight, strange rashes start to appear on Yoon's body. Yoon eventually relents and brings himself to a public hospital. There, he meets "Doctor Imm" (Davika Hoorne).

Movie Review:

Among the many GTH rom-coms we’ve come to love in recent years, we must confess that ‘Heart Attack’ is easily our very favourite – and that is despite the fact that it isn’t a rom-com in the strictest sense of the word. Sure, there is a budding romance on the side between the 30-year-old Yoon (Sunny Suwanmethanont) and his regular public hospital doctor Imm (Davika Hoorne), as well as occasional bursts of laugh-out-loud humour courtesy of the same two leads, but at its heart (pun intended), this is a dark comedy about the perils of becoming a slave to the pursuit of career excellence above all else in life, including health, companionship and general well-being.

To translate such a theme into the subject of a movie isn’t at all intuitive, which is all the more reason why writer-director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit deserves credit for having done so in such a quirky, witty and original fashion. Thamrongrattanarit builds an intimate character study around Yoon’s freelance graphic designer, who is so devoted to his work that he prides himself for being able to go five days without sleep at the start of the film, while pooh-poohing the Ministry of Health’s advice that every person should sleep at least six to eight hours a day. Yoon’s zeal is partly his own desire to be the best in the industry and partly a result of the nature of the industry itself, in particular the whims and fancies of creative types who want a certain image to have a certain feel one day and a different feel the next.

Because of his blind commitment to work, Yoon has a grand total of three friends – one, his junior producer at an advertising agency named Je (Violette Wautier); two, a 7-Eleven store attendant named Kai from which he gets his favourite food of shrimp dumplings; and last, an old acquaintance whom he hasn’t seen in years that he re-connects with at the former’s father’s funeral. He doesn’t indulge in any recreational activities, for he sees time spent on these as time that could be better spent on yet another work assignment. And yes, sleep is also, to him, a waste of time. All that works out fine until he starts developing a rash on the back of his neck, which in no time spreads to the rest of his body.

After spending close to seven thousand baht at a private doctor and seeing no appreciable improvement to his condition (because he refuses to take the medicine that states sleepiness as one of the side effects), Yoon joins the snaking queues at a public hospital and meets Imm, a young resident who is still studying her medical books. As much as you’d like to see their doctor-patient relationship develop into love, Thamrongrattanarit avoids the obvious cliché and opts instead for something much more textured.

It is Imm who points out without resorting to platitudes just how absurd and damaging his lifestyle has been, the rashes only an external manifestation of how his body is breaking down inside. It is also Imm who suggests how he can change his life, whether is it taking up daily exercises, picking up a new hobby, developing new friendships or visiting the beach. Indeed, it is precisely Imm’s personal and somewhat intimate touch that leads Yoon to have a change of heart, even taking his bedtime pills that he dubs ‘elephant tranquilisers’ just so he would not upset her. Because Thamrongrattanarit tells his story by and large from Yoon’s perspective, there is no doubt that Yoon is in fact in love with Imm, but like our sleep-addled protagonist, we have no way of telling if she feels the same way.

Yet that ambiguity isn’t necessarily a bad thing; in fact, keeping his viewer in suspense in the same way that Yoon is kept guessing allows Thamrongrattanarit to engender empathy for the self-destructive individual. No matter that we do not belong to the same industry, Yoon’s fanaticism to be the best at what he does is easily identifiable. Ditto the unreasonable deadlines and unending list of demands that he has to fulfil as part of the job. Thamrongrattanarit uses Yoon’s monologues to let us get inside the head of his lead character, but Suwanmethanont delivers a performance with such conviction that we not only hear but feel his desires, disappointments, frustrations and at the end of all that, his sense of inner peace.  

Yoon’s self-absorbed nature means that a good number of scenes consist of him in his spare bedroom staring at his Mac while scribbling on his sketchpad; that is also why his time with Imm is nicely complementary, even though much of it is spent within the confines of an outpatient visitation room. Thamrongrattanarit lets Yoon and Imm share about six or so extended scenes together, never rushing each of them but instead letting a sweet and natural chemistry develop out of their interactions. Like we said at the start, this doesn’t build into a romance between the pair, but an undeniable connection that leads both to want the best for each other in utmost sincerity.

And so, even though ‘Heart Attack’ isn’t a rom-com per se, it is winning in its observations and witticisms about the ‘freelancing’ profession, about choosing one’s priorities in life, and about embracing the people and things that matter. At slightly over two hours, it is admittedly a tad longer and less punchy than it could be, but Thamrongrattanarit keeps a sharp focus throughout on Yoon, and that investment largely pays off in a character whom we grow over the course of the movie to root for. It is a carefully wrought character study all right, with its own delightfully distinctive voice and style that makes it one of the best – if not the most original – GTH film we’ve seen.

Movie Rating:

(Delightfully quirky and witty, this dark comedy on the perils of workaholism and the realities of freelancing is one of the most original films we've seen this year)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Shin Tae-Ra
Cast: Lee Min-Ho, Wallace Chung, Karena Ng, Louis Fan, Tiffany Tang, Jeremy Jones Xu
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 14 July 2016

Synopsis: Bounty Hunters is an action comedy about the work of bounty hunters - people who catch fugitives for cash rewards. Ex-Interpol agents Lee Shan (Lee Min-Ho) and Ayo (Wallace Chung), framed for bombing a hotel, join hands with the legendary bounty hunter Cat (Tiffany Tang) and her team to find the real bomber…

Movie Review:

Because Chinese audiences have never been shy about their love for glossy but shallow bid-budget Hollywood spy thrillers, it was only a matter of time before their own filmmakers responded in kind with a locally-made product of the same ilk. ‘Bounty Hunters’ is precisely that, a perfect imitation of Hollywood excess that wears its credentials proudly on its sleeve as it globe-trots from Tokyo to Hong Kong to Incheon to Bangkok and finally to Jeju Island. True to its heritage, its primary purpose is to entertain, even at the expense of plot or character (which it treats only as filler in between the numerous slick action sequences) and with scant regard to the laws of physics or of simple basic realism.

More important than the characters they play are the actors themselves, whose star wattage is one of the main draws. Korean actor Lee Min Ho headlines the pan-Asian cast, playing the stereotypical hero Lee San with the cool moves and unflappable attitude. Next to him is the comic foil Yo played by Hong Kong singer-actor Wallace Chung, a bumbling sidekick for the most part always ready with a pun to lighten up the mood. They are joined by Mainland actress Tang Yan as the no-nonsense Cat, seemingly tough-as-nails but a romantic-at-heart, and Hong Kong actress Karena Ng as her cheerful assistant Swan, whose presence is no more than to balance the girls-to-guys ratio in the ensemble.

As formula would have it, Lee San and Yo are initially at odds with Cat and her team (which includes Louis Fan as a loyal multi-talented butler who hardly ever speaks) before being forced to put aside their differences and work together in order to clear their name. Implicated as the terrorists behind a string of bombings of the A Hotel in Tokyo, Singapore (yay, we get a mention!), Incheon and Bangkok, it is altogether no surprise that Cat will eventually be attracted to Lee San or that the latter will end up saving her life at least once during the course of their adventure – a familiar but nonetheless effectively amusing scene has them trapped in the trunk of a moving car (in a blatant rip-off of George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in ‘Out of Sight’) with both taking turns to get over the other to hit a switch that will free them.

Their enemy as it turns out is the wannabe evil-looking Tommy, played by Mainland actor JeremyJoes Xu, whose motivation for engineering the bombings is never quite convincing (and was probably never meant to be anyways). By wave of an electromagnetic pulse transmitted by a trigger to vials of liquid bombs hidden within birthday cakes, Tommy gets to enjoy the ‘fireworks’ of the explosions completely unscathed – and along the way, he uses that same mechanism to hold hostage one of their own so as to force Cat to do his bidding. Neither his raison d'être nor his pseudo-psychopathic act comes off remotely sinister, and one wonders several times why Lee San or Cat does not simply throw him off the top of his tall building when they have the chance to – but hey, we wouldn’t have a show then, would we?

Indeed, Tommy stays alive in order to give excuse for Min Ho and Cat to show off their lightning-quick martial arts, both of whom apparently more skillful than ‘Ip Man’ in taking out about 20 baddies each at one go. As if sensing that mere punches, kicks and dodges cannot quite sustain their younger-skewing fan demographic, our heroes also get to choose from a bevy of sophisticated weapons/ gadgets, including a cudgel that can double up as an electric stun gun, a double-reinforced Kevlar bulletproof vest and a wireless transmitter cum earpiece that can camouflage like skin under one’s ear. On his part, director Shin Tae-ra keeps the action flowing at a fast snappy clip, and even if none of the sequences dazzle on their own, they minimally do not outlast their welcome.

Diverting though the whole enterprise may be, there is more than a hint of disappointment that ‘Bounty Hunters’ is content to be as superficial and inconsequential as many of its Hollywood counterparts. Because there seems to be greater emphasis on making sure the actors and the shots look attractive and gratifying, there is hardly any sense that anything is at stake – be it life, limb or other collateral. If you’re looking for some mindless fun, ‘Bounty Hunters’ is just that; otherwise, you’d be advised to look elsewhere for some other bounty. 

Movie Rating:

(Just entertaining enough to never outstay its welcome, 'Bounty Hunters' is a perfect made-by-China imitation of glossy yet superficial Hollywood blockbuster excess)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Horror/Comedy
Director: Michael Dougherty
Cast: Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania Lavie Owen, Krista Stadler
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Frightening Scenes)
Released By: UIP 
Official Website: http://www.krampusthefilm.com

Opening Day: 3 December 2015

Synopsis: When his dysfunctional family clashes over the holidays, young Max is disillusioned and turns his back on Christmas. Little does he know, this lack of festive spirit has unleashed the wrath of Krampus: a demonic force of ancient evil intent on punishing non-believers. All hell breaks loose as beloved holiday icons take on a monstrous life of their own, laying siege to the fractured family’s home and forcing them to fight for each other if they hope to survive

Movie Review:

Give credit to writer/ director Michael Dougherty for attempting a different breed of Christmas movie apart from the usual shtick of an extended family which puts aside its differences to come together in the spirit of the season. On the contrary, the particular household at the heart of ‘Krampus’ is, as a result of its dysfunctionality, visited by no less than demented little gingerbread men, ferocious teddy bears, terrifying Christmas clowns, evil elves and the titular horned, anthropomorphic figure who punishes those that have lost the Christmas spirit. Oh yes, though it may appear hooded like it were wearing a Santa hat, Krampus is no jolly old Saint Nicholas, but his very shadow – darker, more ancient and even more powerful.

But to set the stage for Krampus’ grand appearance, Dougherty spends a good half hour detailing the acrimony between the Engel family from the point of view of the young boy Max (Emjay Anthony). His parents, Tom (Adam Scott) and Sarah (Toni Collette), seem to have fallen out of love with each other of late, and his older sister Beth (Stefania LaVie Owen) whom he used to hang out with now prefers to spend her time with her boyfriend who lives four blocks down from their house. Each Christmas sees their churlish Uncle Howard (David Koechner), Aunt Linda (Allison Tolman) and their intimidating twin girl cousins come to visit, a tradition not cherished but dreaded.

Worse still, Aunt Linda has this year inadvertently brought along an even more annoying relative Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell), who lives in a trailer park and whom Sarah makes a deliberate point not to visit. It’s a full house to say the very least, the meekest addition of all Max’s German-speaking grandmother Omi (Krista Stadler) – and in case you’re wondering, the old legend originated from German Alpine folklore, which is also how Omi gets the honours of explaining just who Krampus is to the rest of her uninitiated descendants. In fact, as the night wears on, Grandma Omi will reveal in a stop-motion flashback that she was ever visited by the feared creature as a young girl, who had taken her parents but spared her many, many years ago.

At first, Max clings to hope that things in the family will get better this Christmas – that is, until his tomboyish twin cousins steal a letter he had addressed to Santa and embarrass him in front of everyone else at the dinner table. In sheer exasperation, he tears up the letter and declares that he has given up on Christmas, a proclamation that becomes an invitation for Krampus and his malevolent brood to come a-knocking as the sky turns black and a massive snowstorm besets their suburban neighbourhood. With the power out and no cellphone reception, a worried Beth gets her parents’ permission to pay a visit to her boyfriend to see if he is ok, and her subsequent disappearance sets off a chain of events that will bring the entire clan face-to-face with the beast.

As you may expect, Dougherty keeps the hooved creature in hiding until the last third of the film – and let’s just say that when he is unveiled in his full glory, it isn’t a pretty sight. In fact, none of the other mythical creatures are any less grotesque, and if every one of them appears vulgar, that is likely the very intent. There is nothing pretty about Krampus or his minions, nor for that matter do they have any other purpose than to instil fear and inflict pain – that explains why Sarah is beset by a demonic looking doll looking to chew her face off, while Howard is attacked by three vile little gingerbread men armed with a nail gun. The fact that Dougherty has kept the creature effects visibly crude is also tacit homage to its genre predecessors, most notably another Christmas-themed horror called ‘Gremlins’.

It is in that same spirit of wicked fun that Dougherty has crafted his freak show, and there are more than a couple of standout moments that will have you cheering in glee – among them, a couple contributed by no less than Howard’s seemingly timid bulldog as well as the self-deprecating Aunt Dorothy. A somewhat messy finale aside, Dougherty deserves mention too for not resorting to the typical cop-out of a happily-ever-after ending – as much as some of the concluding scenes seem to give that impression – and sticking instead to his appreciably darker and ostensibly less sentimental vision of a Christmas (cautionary) tale. That consistency is in turn reciprocated by uniformly sharp performances by his ensemble cast, who play out their roles with dry wit and just the right hint of self-awareness.

If it does feel like the mayhem is over too soon, that’s because Dougherty spends the first hour in second gear before cranking the momentum all the way up to overdrive in the final act. That build-up does allow the characters to emerge with more texture than you would expect from a horror comedy like this, but it also does mean that fans of his similarly holiday-themed ‘Trick R Treat’ will find that ‘Krampus’ packs less frights on the whole. Frankly, we went in with little to zero expectation and found ourselves pleasantly surprised at how mischievously entertaining this subversive piece of Christmas candy was, and so if you’re sick of Hollywood’s usual holiday eggnog, this may just be that taste of naughty and nasty you’re looking for. 

Movie Rating:

(A refreshingly different Christmas movie, this horror comedy based on the ancient German folklore is an unassuming treat of wicked fun)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy
Director: Ong Kuo Sin
Cast: Chen Tian Wen, Liu Ling Ling, Marcus Chin, Roy Loi, Jaime Teo, Tosh Zhang, Hong Hui Fang, Zhang Wei, Ezann Lee, Jim Lim, Hayley Woo, Zhang Wen Xiang, Daren Tan, Silver Ang, Gadrick Chin
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: mm2 Entertainment & Clover Films & Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 3 December 2015

Synopsis: Born on 9 Aug 1965, Eric Kwek Hock Seng takes it upon himself to the symbol of national pride. He follows every national campaign with great support and interest. Raised in a predominantly Dialect/Mandarin speaking environment, English was a hard language to master for Eric; especially with his family thriving in a local Getai business. However, Eric wants to change all of that by adding English lyrics into Chinese songs albeit to strong objection from his family and friends. Undeterred, Eric Kwek sets on a musical journey that sees him through mostly lows and finally hits a high when he is at the ripe old age of 50. This film aims to highlight the value that no matter how old you are, you must believe and persist in your aspirations. You must believe in yourself to make yourself unbelievable.

Movie Review:

You have every right to be sceptical about ‘Mr Unbelievable’, a movie which probably wouldn’t have been made if not for the runaway popularity of the music video of the same name. Featuring our very own Golden Horse Best Actor nominee Chen Tianwen as a fictional singer named Eric Kwek that is based upon famous ’70s Singaporean singer Huang Qing Yuan, that video – which was produced as a teaser for the Channel 5 sitcom ‘Spouse for House 2’ – with its ‘mo-lei-tau’ blend of English lyrics into a popular Hokkien melody became a sensation to the tune of 3.2 million views on Youtube and Facebook. So seeing as how he was only a supporting character with little backstory in ‘Spouse’, its creator Ong Kuo Sin has gone ahead to write and direct a feature film about Eric that spans the 1980s to present, fashioned as the tale of an underdog who never loses faith in his talent.

As opportunistic as it may seem, ‘Mr Unbelievable’ proves its worth by being hilarious and heartfelt. Oh yes, Chen does put on his signature floral shirts and enormous wig to deliver more of his kitschy blend of Hokkien/ English tunes, but beyond that, there is genuine fun to be had in the (mis)adventures of a self-obsessed getai singer who stumbles upon what he thinks is his calling in life after the Government’s ban on dialects in the 1980s threatens to make him and his trade irrelevant. Chen’s larger-than-life portrayal of Eric continues to be entertaining in and of himself, but he is in unbelievably good company here next to Liu Ling Ling, Marcus Chin, Tosh Zhang and even Roy Li Feihui, all of whom play their respective supporting roles with panache and verve.

Chen and Liu have an understated chemistry as a couple in their 50s, the latter working as a beer lady at the coffee shop who is fiercely protective of Eric but is sadly unappreciated. The same can be said of Zhang’s similarly loyal part-time assistant to Eric named Lawrence, who squats by his side below the sight of the camera ready to hand Eric a few stalks of roses or a bunch of broccoli during the filming of his signature MV. In a somewhat different league is Lee’s Ah Fei, his timid soft-spoken once-fellow getai disciple who becomes an extremely successful music arranger; one of the funniest scenes of the film is Eric and Ah Fei’s reunion at a movie set 25 years after a misunderstanding left the former feeling bitter. Last but not least is Chin’s Master Lo Man, whom Eric has an equally bitter falling out after his teacher objects to his idea of singing them Hokkien songs in English; a running joke that is surprisingly effective has the presumed dead Master Lo appear as a ghost to Eric to ‘knock some sense’ into him at crucial junctures.

Yet it isn’t just humour that writer-director Ong is after; rather, he aims for pathos with each one of these relationships. Though a sequence that sees Liu’s Man Li perform a Shaolin-style stunt out of love for Eric is a tad over-the-top, their romance feels otherwise grounded and real, and a pivotal scene where Eric dedicates his titular song to Man Li after finally coming to appreciate Man Li’s love for him is truly moving. Nicely affecting too is Eric’s reconciliation with Ah Fei, especially as the former comes to terms with how his hubris in his younger days had caused much anguish and cost him the opportunity to be with someone whom he deeply loved then. And without spoiling the surprise for what it is worth, let’s just say that Eric also does eventually make up with his Master, and Chen and Chin make the most out of a somewhat clichéd twist.

Yes, in spite of a deus ex machina that tries to explain why Master Lo objected to Eric dating his daughter Ah Hua (Jaime Teo) all those years ago as well as just why Lawrence is such a devoted fan, Ong has crafted an unexpectedly neat story that gives good closure to the proceedings in the past and present. A subplot which originates from Eric’s younger days to explain just how he came to record his one and only album ‘Sandcastle In My Heart’ has a nice tie-in with the competition that Eric registers for in a last-ditch attempt to make it as a singer; and even a minor detail as why Eric was abandoned as a baby in front of Master Lo’s house is not simply taken for granted. Though not quite so subtle or equally successful, Ong deserves credit for trying to work in the product placements (like a certain health product/ co-sponsor named Vita Realm) as well as the numerous cameos from the likes of Hong Huifang, Zhang Wen Xiang and Dr Jiajia into his story.

Like we said, it is understandable if you think ‘Mr Unbelievable’ is no more than a cash-grab attempt at a fad, but as much as it is true that this movie wouldn’t exist if not for the MV which preceded it, that hasn't meant that it isn’t in itself entertaining in its own right. Chen continues to bring much heart and mirth to the titular character, but more importantly, its creator Ong does not rest on these laurels or on audience goodwill alone; indeed, there is inspiration and conviction in his origin story of the man who had got us ‘stunned like vegetable’ with his kitschy retro song and dance. And for good measure, Ong has thrown in his personal tribute to our nation’s ‘un-un-un-un-unbelievable’ progress over the past 50 years with a touching epilogue sung by Eric that is as good a capper as any to our Golden Jubilee year. 

Movie Rating:

(To say it is un-un-un-un-unbelievably hilarious and heartfelt may be slight hyperbole, but there is no denying this ‘biopic’ of the man behind the MV is funny, moving and very, very entertaining)

Review by Gabriel Chong 

Genre: Drama
Director: Patricia Riggen
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Naomi Scott, Bob Gunton, Juan Pablo Raba, Cote de Pablo, Gabriel Byrne
Runtime: 2 hrs
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 19 November 2015

Synopsis:  In 2010, the eyes of the world turned to Chile, where 33 miners had been buried alive by the catastrophic explosion and collapse of a 100-year-old gold and copper mine. Over the next 69 days, an international team worked night and day in a desperate attempt to rescue the trapped men as their families and friends, as well as millions of people globally, waited and watched anxiously for any sign of hope. But 200 stories beneath the surface, in the suffocating heat and with tensions rising, provisions—and time—were quickly running out. A story of resilience, personal transformation and triumph of the human spirit, the film takes us to the Earth’s darkest depths, revealing the psyches of the men trapped in the mine, and depicting the courage of both the miners and their families who refused to give up. Based on the gripping true story of survival—and filmed with the cooperation of the miners, their families and their rescuers—“The 33” reveals the never-before-seen actual events that unfolded, above and below ground, which became nothing less than a worldwide phenomenon.

Movie Review:

Were it not for the fact that it actually happened and that some of us even watched it unfold live on our television screens in 2010, we probably wouldn’t believe the story of ‘The 33’. Unfolding over the course of 69 days, it charts the ordeal faced by 33 miners who were trapped 2,300 feet underground after an accident with no certain hope of survival, as well that of their family members gathered in a makeshift camp above waiting anxiously but helplessly for their return. The outcome of the remarkable rescue operation in the early hours of October 13, 2010, is widely known, so all we are left to learn and discover is the process leading up to that triumphant moment, which also explains why that is the focus of this recount.

To do that, Mexico-born but Hollywood-based director Patricia Riggen splits the action evenly between three factions – the miners, their families and the rescuers. Antonio Banderas anchors an ensemble of the former playing Mario Sepulveda, dubbed ‘Super Mario’, who in the initial days demonstrated admirable restraint and clear-headedness to emerge as their natural sparkplug and leader. It was he who assumes the duty of rationing the three days worth of food they had, and keeping his fellow comrades’ hopes up where arguably there was little.

Besides Mario, Lou Diamond Philips plays the crew’s foreman, Juan Pablo Raba is the alcoholic Dario, Jacob Vargas is the Elvis impersonator who likes to tease the only Bolivian newcomer (Tenoch Huerta) amongst them, and last but not least Oscar Nuñez is constantly teased for having a wife and a mistress who live next to each other and are constantly bickering. It would hardly be possible for Riggen or her team of screenwriters to put a face to each one of the 33, but they do a pretty admirable job humanising at least some of them for both comic relief and dramatic interest.

Given the familial links, it is not hard to see why Riggen has picked Nuñez’s wife and mistress (played by Adriana Barraza and Elizabeth De Razzo respectively), Mario’s wife (Kate del Castillo) and Dario’s sister (Juliette Binoche) to define the emotions of their family members. In particular, Binoche’s empanadas vendor Maria becomes the unofficial leader of the tent city for the families nicknamed “Camp Hope”, confronting the authorities especially in the first few days after the accident to try harder – it is she who slaps the inexperienced Minister (Rodrigo Santoro) after his feeble attempt to placate them with broad but ineffectual statements.

Notwithstanding, Santoro’s Laurence Golborne undergoes a transformation within those two months, personally overseeing and pressing ahead with the rescue efforts led by chief engineer Andre Sougarret (Gabriel Byrne). It was only after more than a month that Andre would be joined by the Americans, French and Canadians, with James Brolin’s laconic expert Jeff Hart responsible for the multinational team’s most significant breakthrough (oh yes, we mean this literally). Though it does take away from a more intimate study of the miners themselves, the multiple perspectives admittedly add richness to what is essentially a heart-tugging story, showing the challengers and pressures faced by all corners to engineer that made-for-TV moment of their emergence from the depths of the mine.

Critics will no doubt fault it for dramatizing and fictionalising some of the details, but by and large, Riggen succeeds in portraying the tension, anger, frustration, tenacity, desperation and courage displayed by each one of the various players in turn. Being able to film inside two real working mines in the same Colombian region as the San Jose one which collapsed also allows her and her cinematographer Checco Varese to imbue the images inside the shaft with a veritable sense of authenticity, recreating the sense of claustrophobia that would no doubt have added to their sense of despair.

Despite this, Riggen stumbles somewhat by miring her film in an awkward mix of accents. That is certainly inevitable in an international production like this where the bulk of the dialogue is in English, but it is a persistent distraction trying to get over the collection of Spanish accents. A fantasy sequence in which the starving miners dream that they are feasting at a banquet scored to Bellini's “Norma” is so overly theatrical it deserves to be cut, but a couple of over-the-top vignettes could also do with more subtlety and nuance. The late James Horner’s score proves too intrusive too often, trying too hard to push our buttons towards a certain note of feeling.

And yet, in spite of its flaws, it is more than likely that you will forgive these faults, for this is a movie that has its heart in the right place – if not wear it on its sleeve – and is by and large well-meaning and faithful to the source material. At least the strength of the miners, the unlikely hope of their families, and the determination of their rescuers shines through an otherwise formulaic retelling, so you’ll be hard-pressed to say that you weren’t moved, even uplifted, by this amazing real-life miracle. 

Movie Rating:

(Formulaic though it may be, this recount of the ordeal faced by the various actors in the 2010 Chilean mining disaster remains harrowing, gripping and immensely uplifting)

Review by Gabriel Chong