Weekly Recap 20 | Demon Slayer, Rush, The Mauritanian, A Quiet Place & Doctor Who Series 7

Twenty episodes; what a journey! Unfortunately, I didn’t watch any 5 star films this week, but there’s still plenty of reviews packed in to make the recap interesting. I’ll be testing in this episode giving a synopsis of each film before I review them, as I’ve realised I often foolishly assume you already know what I’m talking about, so let me know if this is appreciated or if it just gets in the way.

First film is some anime: Demon Slayer… The Movie. Right, what exactly is this film about, considering I haven’t even seen the series? Well, some children with swords and special powers board a train, where they meet a fiery master swordsman, who helps them fend off the demons that attack the train. Blimey this film was atrocious! Well, it may be a problem I hadn’t seen the series beforehand – and I have a natural distaste for dubbed anime – but the writing was utterly cringe inducing, with annoying performances and the most impossibly dragged out plot. The incongruity of photo-realistic environments with obnoxiously cartoonish characters was also very off-putting, though the animation did have its flashy moments as the fights are really great. I liked the fire guy (mostly for his design) even if I can’t remember his or anyone else’s name, so at least the film did one thing right so as to prevent me from just walking out of the cinema.

My next entry is another film I watched without first watching what has come before it. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It sees paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) encounter what would become one of the most sensational cases from their files. The fight for the soul of a young boy takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense. The Conjuring 3 is an alright comedy, made all the funnier by how it insists it’s a true story. The cinematography and editing are superb, with a lovely aesthetic and crazy distortions to add to the horror. However, I always find that a horror film’s futile attempts to scare me either make me laugh at its silliness or yawn with boredom, but never actually frighten me. This film straddled that line, since the abysmal writing started off funny with how super seriously it took itself, but by the end I was thankful it was over, since the recycling of tropes became rather tiring. At least the inclusion of John Noble was a welcome surprise, as for some reason he isn’t listed in the cast. 

I’ve finally watched Rush, after accidentally watching the wrong one a few weeks ago (I didn’t review it though because I switched it off after a couple of minutes). Anyway, Rush is a biographical drama centered on the rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) during the 1976 Formula One motor-racing season. The only reason I wanted to watch this film was because I heard Crystal Palace (where I live) gets featured, so I was rather disappointed that its appearance is so brief. I’m not much of a fan of racing films to be honest, but the racing parts are naturally the only good bits about them, which is why it’s so perplexing that the races are almost always skipped over entirely in this film, with most of the focus placed on annoying, poorly written drama. Even so, while I don’t think this is a well written or directed film, I was engaged by the rivalry that this film is centered around, though that does mean I had to wait all the way to the final act for the character growth to be paid off and for the climatic race to finally deliver what I watched this film for. 

I think a fun 90s thriller is in order now, and what better film than The Fugitive? Well, I can think of plenty of better films that fit that description, but this is what I watched this week so you just have to deal with it ;). Wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) escapes from the law in an attempt to find her killer and clear his name. Pursuing him is a team of U.S. marshals led by Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), a determined detective who will not rest until Richard is captured. As Kimble leads the marshals through a series of intricate chases, he uncovers the secret behind his wife’s death and struggles to expose the killer before he is recaptured, or killed. The Fugitive is a tight, thrilling plot with mostly good writing, an interesting premise and a funny – if predictable – twist. I particularly love just how honest the characters are when talking to each other, which is why Tommy Lee Jones and his hilarious deputies are so great to watch. Unfortunately, Harrison Ford is rather bad, as I could barely understand what he was saying past his completely flat mumbling and expressionless face, and the final act is a big downgrade from the otherwise solid rest of the film. This film does a lot really well, but when it came to it, the ending was unable to deliver a satisfying climax. 

Some political stuff now, as that’s always fun to talk about. The Mauritanian is about a detainee at the U.S military’s Guantanamo Bay detention center, who is held without charges for over a decade and seeks help from a defense attorney for his release. I love it when I watch a film without a clue what it’s about beforehand, so that everything that occurs is a pleasant surprise. The Mauritanian is no exception, as although it may sound dry on the surface, through it I experienced a fantastic dissection of corruption in the US government and the barbarism of Guantanamo Bay, torturing an innocent man – played stupendously by Tahar Rahim – for upwards of 6 years, then detaining him for another 7 even after winning his case. The film sets itself up as a typical legal drama with clearly defined protagonists and antagonists, before masterfully subverting the focus from the person to the system, with Foster and Cumberbatch’s brilliantly performed opposing lawyers realising on their own terms that they’re on the same team. The constant aspect ratio changes I found to be a little annoying, but the great performances hooked me regardless, with a fantastic screenplay to propel the visceral drama forward with immense vigour.

My highlight of the week has got to be the double bill I went to for A Quiet Place, as Part 2 has just released so I figured it would be a great idea to watch them both back to back. In Part 1, a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound. In Part 2, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path. The first A Quiet Place is just as thrilling on a rewatch. While the plot and premise are extremely simple, the situation is utterly frightening, presented with fantastic directing from Krasinski and phenomenal performances from the entire cast. And of course, this review would be amiss if I didn’t mention the sound design, which is excellent in its crafting of suspension through silence alone, where every single whisper and rattle becomes painfully audible. The corn scene is unfortunately more blatantly nonsense now though, and the nail is a little ridiculous in how much it protrudes from the wood, which did break my immersion a tad, especially since the characters just ignore it after that certain incredibly tense scene. There are also a lot of unnecessary ‘fake’ jumpscares at the start that are a little annoying, but nitpicks aside, this is a very solid horror film.

The same, however, cannot be said about its sequel. Ok, maybe it was a mistake watching both films back to back after all, since I definitely did not enjoy this one as much as the first. This feels a lot more like a conventionally constructed film, going the way of most sequels by expanding the world and scenarios to be a little too big for their own good. The excellence of the original originated from its simplicity and the horror that could be elicited so effortlessly from it; this sequel, on the other hand, tries way too hard while not being anywhere near as clever. Gone is the enticing minimalism of the first, in its place a dumb, lazy screenplay with an overabundance of talking and ridiculously contrived plot points. The characters – once the highlight, now bland in their personalities – are a lot stupider here, since them going on different paths and the dangers they get themselves into is all so artificially constructed. I think it’s pretty telling how I often found myself trying to guess who would die instead of just becoming immersed in the experience (spoiler alert, nobody of significance dies, which was a huge let down as it means no one was punished for their stupidity). Not to mention it just abruptly ends by repeating the ending of the first, which is infuriating because Krasinski is blatantly proving how he doesn’t have to justify himself anymore for this to turn into yet another franchise. The sound and visuals are still outstanding though, plus the segments with the creatures remain just as tense, so my attention always became transfixed when they came on screen. But unfortunately, these scenes are fewer and further between – and the human bits definitely aren’t emotionally resonant enough to fill in the gap. This is a really disappointing sequel, which is a shame because what the first film set-up had so much potential.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the end of Matt Smith’s run as the Doctor! Yeah… Series 7 is definitely the worst season of the show – until Chibnall that is. Though having said that, at times Series 7 was genuinely on par with Series 11 and 12 in terms of sheer awfulness, but I do think it just barely managed to avoid sinking that low. It’s a real shame, because Moffat massively improved as showrunner in Series 6 in my opinion, but the convoluted season arcs just got a bit out of hand here even by my standards. This season is a real mess, with terrible writing in every single episode and barely an ounce of humour that actually landed. Matt Smith is atrocious here, since he’s completely lost his grip on creating a mature and nuanced performance, instead oscillating between obnoxious child and annoying grumpiness at ridiculously fast speeds. He has his moments, but I just did not enjoy watching him this season. And don’t get me started on Clara; oh boy, what an awful companion she is. While I remember liking her as Capaldi’s companion, with Smith she is utterly vile and narcissistic to the point of absurdity, incessantly demanding attention and admiration to the point where I can’t for the life of me understand how she ever got into the TARDIS. At least she’s good in the crying scenes. Even so, there is one shining light to come from Doctor Who’s darkest hour, and that’s the 50th anniversary. The writing in The Day of the Doctor is brilliant, with fantastic self-aware comedy and banter between the Doctors, before becoming elevated by the heartfelt performances in the moments of deep emotion. This is also the best looking episode to date, taking on the characteristics of a massive cinema experience (and it was) to bring to life a fun and thrilling celebration for such a great show. Series 7 may be by far the weakest season of New Who so far, but this special stands in defiance as a sparkling gem. Regardless, Series 7 really is trash, so I hope the next 3 seasons redeem Moffat; and as Matt Smith just isn’t a good Doctor half the time, it doesn’t matter that his final moments are really well done because all his departure manages to elicit from me is happiness that Capaldi has finally arrived.