Film reviews: Troll Hunter | Jane Eyre | Friends with Benefits | Post Mortem | A Lonely Place to Die

Our critic reviews the latest films to be released...

Troll Hunter (15)

Directed by: André Øvredal

Starring: Otto Jespersen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Johanna Mørck

***

THANKS to the ubiquity of the mock-doc “found footage” device in recent years, this Norwegian creature feature won’t win any originality awards, but it’s silly enough not to matter. Just how intentional that silliness is supposed to be, though, is up for debate. On the one hand, the film does revolve around a group of student film-makers stumbling across a secret, government-backed Troll Security Service while investigating some unlawful bear killings. On the other hand, much of the action is played straight, and there seems to be some effort on the part of director André Øvredal to transform all the fee-fi-fo-fum folklore into a comment on intolerance. Tongue-in-cheek or not, the film makes the most of its faux-reality technique to overcome any obvious budget shortfalls: CGI trolls are frequently viewed through the spectre of night vision, and that green, hazy glow makes it easier to buy into the goofy concept. Ditto the deadpan presence of Otto Jespersen as the titular hunter. The film works best in these early revelatory stages. As it progresses, the joke begins to wear thin without being accompanied by a parallel rise in tension. But there’s fun to be had if you’re willing to surrender to it.

Jane Eyre (PG)

Directed by: Cary Fukunaga

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench

****

WITH gothic tales of forbidden love given a boost at the box-office recently on account of Twilight, it’s hardly surprising that Jane Eyre has been wheeled out for its umpteenth adaptation. What is surprising is how vigorous and alive it feels. That’s largely down to two things: 1) Sin Nombre director Cary Fukunaga injecting it with an energy that belies its status as a BBC production, and 2) the performances of Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender as, respectively, Jane Eyre and Rochester. Wasikowska is especially good as Jane, nailing the torment that comes from Jane’s need to be free and her desire to submit to Rochester’s advances. Looking plausibly plain amidst the fog-covered moors and gloomy interiors, Waskiowska projects an air of intelligence and resilience that ensures her own beauty doesn’t rip us out of proceedings (her accent is pretty flawless too). The same can’t quite be said for Fassbender, who may be too ruggedly handsome for purists to fully embrace, but he’s very right for this film version, bringing as he does, a undercurrent of simmering sexual tension that makes Jane’s turmoil more plausible and affecting.

Friends With Benefits (15)

Directed by: Will Gluck

Starring: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson

**

FOLLOWING No Strings Attached, Friends with Benefits is the second film this year to rip-off a very famous episode of Seinfeld for the purpose of creating a predictable romcom about the impossibility of two friends being able to have sex without letting emotion get in the way. That the film – the latest from Easy A director Will Gluck – makes an effort to subvert the conventions of the romcom excuses this lapse a little, although ironically this is a movie that actually starts to get better when it stops trying so hard to incessantly comment on its own clichés. That happens a lot in the early part of the film as emotionally damaged workaholics Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) meet cute, bond over their disastrous relationship histories, talk a lot about movie love, and eventually come up with their doomed deal. Sadly, the gags and the spicy dialogue aren’t funny enough to make this work and it’s only when Timberlake and Kunis start letting their characters’ respective guards down that the film becomes more involving. Unfortunately in order to get to that place, it relies on honking family issues that turn the whole thing a little mawkish. Amusing support from Patricia Clarkson as Jamie’s slattern mother helps keep it afloat, but it’s not really enough.

Post Mortem (15)

Directed by: Pablo Larraín

Starring: Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers

****

CHILEAN director Pablo Larraín follows up the impressive and disturbing Tony Manero with another uncomfortable exploration of buttoned-down malevolence in 1970s Chile. Post Mortem winds the clock back from the 1978 setting of that film to 1973, the year in which Chile’s socialist leader Salvadore Allende died in the midst of Pinochet’s US-backed coup. That makes Post Mortem a more overtly political work, but Larraín keeps brow-beating in check with another tightly wound performance from Tony Manero star Alfredo Castro. He plays Mario, a coroner’s assistant who is more concerned with keeping tabs on his go-go dancer neighbour (Antonia Zegers) than he is about the momentous events happening on his doorstep. This intentionally drab scenario – it’s all shot in grainy browns and yellows – allows Larraín to let the full horror of what was unfolding at the time quietly bleed into the film. As more bodies start passing through the doors of Mario’s place of work, he internalises the effect it’s having on him and Larraín quietly builds the film towards a chilling conclusion that foreshadows the fate of political dissidents in the ensuing years. It’s by no means an easy watch, but it’s a rewarding and disturbing one.

A Lonely Place to Die (15)

Directed by: Julian GilbEy

Starring: Melissa George, Ed Speelers, Sean Harris

**

DESPITE its title, the Scottish Highland setting of this wilderness thriller seems to be fairly overrun with people whenever death comes a-calling. Still, this is the least of the film’s concerns. Lacking the kind of tension that can sometimes make unashamed B-movies great, A Lonely Place to Die almost gets by on genre staple Melissa George’s third-hand Ripley schtick as her rock-climbing holidaymaker takes a protective interest in a little girl she and her friends find buried in the woods. Who the girl is, or why she’s there, are the questions the film ultimately fails to make compelling, though until it becomes clear things are going to fizzle out completely in the final act, there’s a modicum of fun to be had watching the film’s cast of no-marks (including Eragon’s Ed Speelers) being bounced off rocks and hurled into freezing rivers in the process of being hunted down by gangsters pissed off at them for rescuing the girl. Amped-up camera work – including vertigo inducing POV shots – are thrown in to create the illusion of a film that is much more kinetic and fast-paced than it really is, but it counts for zip when the rest of the film is so inert.

ALISTAIR HARKNESS