Movie Reviews

The Adventures of Tintin Movie Review 0 1077

The Adventures of Tintin movie review

I don’t know whether it’s better or worse that you are a fan of the original Tintin comics before seeing Steven Spielberg’s adaptation. On the one hand you will have better knowledge of the ins and outs of the characters, the slapstick, the generally jovial and adventurous tone etc. On the other hand you will probably, as with any adaptation, be constantly aware that it’s not exactly the comic Tintin you know and love.

The story follows Tintin (Jamie Bell), an investigative reporter and adventurer who one day happens across a mysterious model ship. He soon learns it is sought after by the villainous Sakharine (Daniel Craig) as it is the key to uncovering the “Secret of the Unicorn.”

When The Adventures of Tintin works it really works, providing some truly fun and exciting action set pieces that fits comfortably in with the best of this past summer’s best blockbusters. Bringing the action and overall story to life is the wonderfully done, visually arresting motion capture animation brought to worldwide prominence with Gollum in Lord of the Rings and later giving us the likes of King Kong (directed by Tintin’s producer, Peter Jackson) and Avatar. The technology has been criticised in the past, often to do with the “dead eye effect” (notably in the likes of The Polar Express and Beowulf), but Spielberg puts the technology to the best use possible here, providing a rich and vivid world, the motion-capture allowing them to do things that might not have had the same effect (or might not even have been possible) in regular 2D.

The film’s main problems lie in the way in which the overall mystery-adventure plot is told. Perfectly serviceable for film though the mystery may be, the execution of it at times feels languid and stodgy, like it’s stumbling along from one eye-catching setpiece to the next. Also, the way in which some of the on-going mysteries are solved seem rather convenient in order to move things along. For instance, Tintin will be struggling to think of what do next and with a “lightbulb above the head” sort of moment will figure it out and off we go to the next mystery. Maybe that sort of thing is in the original comics (I’m not overly familiar with them) but it didn’t entirely work in this particular adaptation. It’s just lucky all of those big set pieces are as entertaining as they are or the movie would be in real trouble.

Author Hergé’s wonderfully bold and diverse array of characters are a mixed bag when it comes to how they’ve been translated to the big-screen this time around. The eponymous Tintin works fantastically, with Jamie Bell (remember it is still him performing despite it being an animation) delivering the sense of simultaneous wonder, relatability, confidence and scrappy determinism the role needs. Motion-capture master Andy Serkis puts in a fabulous performance as Captain Haddock, spouting funny one-liners at a rapid pace and providing just about all the best moments of comedy. And Tintin’s faithful dog Snowy, although I felt could have been brought to life a bit better, is undoubtedly cute and funny, and will definitely be the favourite character of the kids in the audience.

Where the character translation is less successful with Thomson and Thomson, (played by comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) who pulled me out of the film just shot every time they appeared, and with the villain Sakharine, who may have been effective in the comics but here is the most generic thing in a sea of creativity, even if it is fun to see Daniel Craig play the bad guy for a change.

While The Adventures of Tintin may not have fulfilled all its masses of potential (what with the comic being so well loved and the creative talent involved), it nevertheless is an enjoyable watch with some spectacular set-piece, lavish visuals and some fine motion-capture performances. But ultimately I find myself admiring the film making more than loving it as an overall experience.

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This review was previously published at Blog Critics.

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I'm a freelance film reviewer and blogger with over 10 years of experience writing for various different reputable online and print publications. In addition to my running, editing and writing for Thoughts On Film, I am also the film critic for The National, the newspaper that supports an independent Scotland, covering the weekly film releases, film festivals and film-related features. I have a passion for all types of cinema, and have a particular love for foreign language film, especially South Korean and Japanese cinema. Favourite films include The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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Movie Review: Aquaman 0 1881

The rocky road of DCEU films has traversed highs and lows, from the zeitgeist-capturing Wonder Woman to the absolute mess of Justice League. It’s a Marvel-rivalling gambit that, at its worst, is morosely serious in how it goes about presenting its outlandish superhero world without the depth to back it up.

The latest instalment seems to recognise and avoid that danger by being utterly, eternally ludicrous and over-the-top. But most importantly, where it counts anyway, it’s crucially self-aware of that fact and has a fun time plunging us into the depths and carrying us to great heights of entertainingly ridiculous spectacle.

We first met Arthur Curry AKA the Aquaman (Jason Momoa) teaming up with the Justice League. But how did he come to be imbued with the powers of the ocean? The film sets up his origin story quite well as we discover in the film’s opening minutes that his mother was Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Queen of the ancient underwater Kingdom of Atlantis, who washed up on the “surface world” and met and fell in love with lighthouse keeper Thomas (Temeura Morrison).

Together they had a child that, to her mind, bridges the divide between the underwater and surface worlds, proving they can be one. However, it’s a view not greatly shared by many of her own people; when she wilfully returns to Atlantis for the sake of her son’s survival, they carry out a swift sentence of justice that would affect her husband and son’s destiny forever.

In the present day, Aquaman is approached by Mera (Amber Heard), a warrior princess of Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), who tries to convince him that he must claim his rightful place as King of Atlantis. This is in order to thwart his ruthless and cunning half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) from seizing power as Ocean Master that would lead to a full-scale attack on the surface world, someone who considers Aquaman to be a “half-breed” not worthy of the throne.

Credit must go to director James Wan (a filmmaker who has gone from horror franchises like Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring to blockbusters like Fast & Furious 7) for really going for it by delivering an eye-popping, bonkers visual style that seems to make every effort to be the opposite of drab.

It’s fuelled by a marriage between the comic book page and Greek mythology; sometimes that gets the better of it in the shape of characters going on extended monologues that explain legends in the finest detail, though at others that feeds into the idea of stories retold through the ages.

The film is a treat to behold whenever it dives into the ocean as Wan embraces the absurdity at every turn (look out for the giant neon-lit octopus playing the drums), wearing the inherent goofiness as a badge of honour rather than anything to shy away from. And,perhaps most importantly, the cast seems completely on-board for having as much fun with those OTT concepts as they want the audience to have.

Momoa brings alight-hearted charisma, which carries the film whenever it leans too heavy into one-liner humour that doesn’t always land as hoped, while bringing a welcome sense of bruising physicality to the action scenes that are otherwise so reliant on CGI.

An impressive cast of more seasoned actors all lend as much weight to it as possible, from Kidman’s caring, strong-willed portrayal of Aquaman’s mother to Willem Dafoe as his Atlantean trainer Vulko and particularly Wilson, who lends formidable threat to the potentially bland villain Orm.

For a film that had the potential to get so tangled up in both its place within an overall comic book movie universe and the mythology that sets the foundation of its tale, it’s surprisingly streamlined and enjoyably accessible. It’s a refreshingly carefree,unchallenging romp that invites you to let the tidal wave of rambunctious comic book movie sensibilities wash over you.

6.5 out of 10

Movie Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 0 1753

After so many sequels and reboots of the Spider-Man character on the big-screen, from Sam Raimi’s trilogy to the character being integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s hard to see what else they can give us that’s going to surprise. But along comes an animated Spider-Man to do just that.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is a normal teenager living in New York with his parents; loving but fairly easy-going mother Rio (Luna Lauren) and loving but tough police officer father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) – the film has a surprising emotional through-line in how it depicts the father-son relationship.

One day while doing some secretive spray painting with his chummy uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), he is bitten by a mysterious spider that gives him special powers from web slinging to a tingling Spidey Sense.

This leads him to eventually crossing paths with Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) who, due to the villainous Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) meddling with a dimension-altering weapon, has inadvertently been sent over from a parallel universe and who eventually teaches Miles how to be Spider-Man.

But it doesn’t stop there;many other diverse versions appear, from Gwen Stacy AKA Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) to Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage). Sony’s dazzling animation is as fun because it takes that idea and just runs with it.

Anyone can wear the mask seems to be its mantra, conjuring the everyman wonder that drives much of comic book fandom. For all its eye-popping, modern visual aesthetics, it has a refreshingly old-fashioned spirit. The old and the new meet in the film’s beguiling combination of traditional hand-drawn animation and contemporary bells and whistles computer rendering. It’s about as close as a film has come to feeling like a comic book come to life.

Inventive direction by trio Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman works in lovely harmony with the eclectic, knowing style of scriptwriter Phil Lord (The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) to find quite a miraculous way of breathing new life into the overflowing comic book genre.

From its sharply-written dialogue to its very animation style itself, the film is beautifully self-aware of its own station within the overall comic book movie catalogue, cleverly lampooning yet dotingly celebrating the attributes that have become such a part of pop culture. And yet it feels like it puts its own fiercely original stamp on that most famous of heroes.

This is a visually stunning, innovative incarnation of the character; propulsive in its energetic action, engagingly voiced, tightly written as a heroic narrative arc, reverential yet forward-thinking in its ethos and with a real sense of heart and soul at its core. It’s a particular treat for fans and a welcoming,imaginative embrace for everyone.

8.8 out of 10