The Rum Diary – Cheers to this film!!

Panned by critics and abandoned by audiences in America The Rum Diary arrives with the promise that Johnny Depp believes European audiences will have the ‘intelligence’ lacked by the cinema-going public across the Atlantic to truely appreciate this piece of work. Vanity projects rarely work. Aronofskys The Fountain and Travoltas Battlefield Earth both heavily criticised and box office fails, but Depp can hold his chin up high as The Rum Diary is one of the most enjoyable films of the year.

I suspect Depps belief that Europeans will take to his new film is true, as the packed out cinema laughed out loud more times than any recent comedy i’ve seen. This is a film that will grow with word of mouth and will stay on long in film fans collections while ‘successful’ films such as Transformers and anything with Kevin James in it will have been long forgotten.

Revisitng his Fear and Loathing disposition Depp plays Paul Kemp, an American journalist taking a writing job in 1960s Puerto Rico to keep cash flowing until his novels finally get published. Armed with his pen and endless amounts of rum Depp soon discovers who the ‘basterds’ are and how America is damaging Puerto Ricos landscape and it’s locals. Teaming up with fellow drunk Bob Sala (Michael Rispoli) and Moberg (Giovanni Ribisi) Kemp staggers through the island befriending the enemy (property developer Sanderson played by Aaron Eckhart) and developing an interest in his trophy girlfriend Chenault (Amber Heard).

The setting is colorful, the dialogue amusing, and the characters interesting, all making this a gem of a film. Some have criticised Depp for being too good looking to play a variation on Hunter S Thompson (writer of the novel the film is based on) and while the sight of Depp being an alcoholic may take a while to get used to, is there anyone this man can play without being criticised for being too good looking? Playing a toned down variation of his similiar portrayal in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Depp is hilarious but can also balance comedy and drama allowing the story to move even during the hilarious parts. The sight of Depp spraying fire from his mouth during a brief drunken car chase is hilarious and just as engaging as the realisation Depp has when he falls victim to ‘the man’. He’s matched brilliantly by the rest of the cast and they work off each other excellently.

The setting of Puerto Rico also deserves praise, with the place and era portrayed excellently. Director Robinson does a great job showing us a paradise locked away from the locals and driven by American money. Every scene whether indoor or ourdoor has an amazing look. Beaches look pristine, rooms look like they’ve been lived in, smoke and music fill the air.

Towards the end it does lose the run of itself a bit, with the pace chopping and changing too often, and it could have done with twenty minutes cut from the running time, but overall this is well worth your cinema money.

Depp should be proud, he’s done a great job getting his friend Hunter S Thompsons novel to the screen. Cheers to them both.

4 out of 5

Immortals – Epic Fail

Tarsem Singh likes his visuals. His previous directorial efforts The Cell (2000) and The Fall (2006) both made great trailers with impressive visuals and slick style but the final films fell flat, lacking the same talent in storytelling. Again this is the same with Immortals, proof that Tarsem is a great man to make a music video but over the length of a full film there’s just not enough there on the storytelling side.

Set in ancient Greece future Superman Henry Cavill plays Theseus, a young man caught up in a war between Mickey Rourkes Hyperion and the Gods who failed to answer his prayers. Hyperion is set on finding the mysterious Epirus Bow which will allow him to release the Titans and destroy the Gods. Although never really seeming to care too much, Theseus with the aid of Pintos Oracle stir up complications and Hyperion becomes hellbent on destroying them too.

Somewhere in production the money must have ran out all of a sudden. The costumes are amazing, decorating the bad guys in amazing looking masks and armour. Unfortunately the same dazzle cannot be said for the sets. Using mainly green screen the locations are dull and stench of artificialness. There is no sense of proper space or atmosphere in the locations, always feeling like the cast are inside on a stage instead of outside in an epic outdoor setting. The script is just as dull too. Rourkes Hyperion gets some fun lines but everyone else loses out, with wooden dialouge delivered in an even more wooden style.

With a film like Immortals all can be forgiven if the action delivers. Yes, at times the action is quite impressive, with some nice visual flourishes, but overall it is mostly over choreographed and dull, with no real urgency to it. Simpler action moments, like Theseus defending his mother from a slur, or Theseus fighting the warrior with the bull head, work well, while the money shots like the Gods battling the Titans or a giant Tsunami are uninvolving and repetitive.

Advertised as being in Epic 3D Immortals is instead an Epic fail. Hopefully with the right script and a story he’s passionate about telling director Tarsem can deliver the goods, but for now he remains firmly in the ad and music video directing league.

2 out of 5