The Debt (2011)

My latest foray to the cinema was to see the new film starring Helen Mirren, I had very little knowledge of the story going or who else was actually in this film. It is based upon a true story but as I do not know the story it was pretty intriguing going in and by the end I had a good idea what was going to happen so there is no real surprises. However it does play with you a couple of times and keeps you wanting to see the conclusion.

This is the story of 3 Mossad agents, the covert intelligence agency in Israel, their mission is to capture a German war criminal played by Jesper Christensen, the agents are played by 2 actors one while they are young and older actors when the film starts 30 years later. Rachel is played by Jessica Chastain and Helen Mirren, David is played by Sam Worthington and Ciaran Hinds and Stefan is played by Martin Csokas and Tom Wilkinson. There are 2 stories the 1965 mission and 1997, which is present day in the film. The 1965 story is good old fashioned espionage with the 3 agents behind enemy lines getting to know each other and follow out their mission. Then there is present day when there is some fall out from the mission 30 years previously.

This is an entertaining film based upon a 2007 Israeli film of the same name and is actually well worth a watch, Helen Mirren is as Impressive as ever and apart from some issues with the older male characters and who they represented I really enjoyed this. Go and see it, I give it 4 solid stars.

Clash of the Titans (2010)

Format - Cinema
Date - 2 April 2010
Director - Louis Leterrier

"The Clash of the Titans" is set in the Greek city of Argos where a war is about to explode between man and the gods. Perseus (Sam Worthington) raised as a fisherman, but is actually a demi-god. Perseus is the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) who is about to take on the gods after the death of his family. Zeus' brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) was the one who kill his family, and Perseus wants to kill him. However, it is Perseus's destiny to rescue the city of Argos from the ruthless rage of Hades and his Kraken monster. With nothing to lose, Perseus leads a band of soldiers on a quest to defeat the Kraken. In doing this, Perseus will prevent Hades from overthrowing Zeus and in turn destroying mankind. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

Thanks to IMdb for the plot summary.

I went in to this film with no knowledge about what the story of the film was and then I saw that I had seen it all before. It is your standard Greek mythology lesson with a son born to a god and a woman, they fight and meet lots of Greek legends, including Medusa (the ending of that part is shown in the posters). You have your standard heroes with a mission and their adventures as they try to complete it.

This film was enjoyable, nothing particularly special about it. It is what I would term a popcorn flick lots of action pretty people and big CGI effects exactly what it says on the tin (Poster or trailer). Nothing to unexpected happens in the film and you can guess most of how it will go.

The effects were as stunning as I am sure the budget can justify it looked really good and the monsters. The acting was a different matter altogether, I have to say there were no direct complaints but there were to many people in this film and they must have cut quite a bit of the character development just so they could shoe horn in some more magic beasties with their computers. Sam Worthington of "Avatar" fame was not bad he did seem to be channeling Russell Crowe from Gladiator in this role. There was also a bit of William Wallace in his performance or that may just have been the way the character was written. Liam Neeson was Zeus and he did all he had to do in the role, the character again was a bit strange seemed to jump back and forward and did not seem to me to know what he wanted. Ralph Fiennes plays Hades and he is charactiscally brilliant however I never seen him drop the ball. Perseus's companions on his adventure, now this is where the real problem came. Mads Mikkelsen as Draco was very good in the role as aged warrior with respect and contempt for Persius and the mission. Now this sums up my problem with the film the rest of the men on the mission with him all blended to one, you never really knew who was who and I could have sworn the King went on the mission with them. Finally if you like looking at beautiful women in filme then Gemma Arteton as Io fulfills this role and she is very easy on the eye through-out the film.

Now to a recommendation I have no idea what to say, the film was enjoyable for what it was if you like adventure effects and action then go and see it. If you like to be 100% sure about what is happening then give it a miss.

2/5 light sabre swords from the gods.

Let me know if you have seen it and your thoughts on it also any feedback on my thoughts appreciated.