Swiss Army Man (2016) Film Review

Where does one even begin when detailing a film that's predominately known by any who are aware of its existence as the "Daniel Radcliffe farting movie"? Its alienating appearance as an absurd feature has been the question of many a critic since its Sundance Film Festival premiere back in January (where many critics walked out due to how weird it is at the outset), and its public appearances onto the world wide web has made people both perplexed and intrigued. But perhaps what makes the whole idea interesting is the presence of Daniel Radcliffe, who continues to make interesting post-Harry Potter casting decisions in the form of What If?, The Woman in Black and Horns, as the Swiss Army Man in question. It's impressive to see an actor which a long-lasting franchise on his shoulders continue to shave away any suggestions of him being only the Boy Wizard, but to the extremes that this film consists of, it begs the question of whether it was a wise move for the flourishing Brit. Then again, didn't his Potter co-star Rupert Grint appear in Thunderpants? 

Paul Dano plays Hank, who when we first see him is contemplating the sweet release of death on a marooned island. He's a mere step away from committing the deed when he spots a man (Radcliffe) lying on the seashore, unmoving. Hank immediately tries to save the poor man's life, until he notices that the corpse is spewing out gas – making for an elaborate way of getting off said island by using the overly gaseous body as a form of jet ski (you can see why people walked out now, can't you?). As time goes by, Hank finds a few other good uses for the cadaver, and as though by magic or by the extreme care that's been given the man begin to talk. From here on out, Hank and the newly-named Manny grow an unusual friendship, as Hank teaches Manny what it means to be alive while Manny's bizarre 'mannerisms' help guide their way back to civilisation.

Once you get past the most strange moment in the opening and the slow-going first steps with just Dano, the journey itself makes for a truly immersive, human, and at times hilarious story about the bond between two men – the socially awkward loner and the motionless carcass that he brings along. While most will likely bring Cast Away to mind, it's instead a much more profound and dare I say creative approach to the simple 'lost man' premise, not least because Wilson the ball is instead a sentient stiff who gets stiff sometimes. But that all being said, and despite a deep and meaningful screenplay by directors Daniel Kwan and Scheinet, what puts the film on a lower level quality to plenty of other films in the same vein (Room best comes to mind in terms of an explorative journey into society) with its disappointing final few minutes. Naturally, the film was meant to end with a certain situation, but the way it's executed and explored leaves much more to be desired, not to mention its somewhat dreariness towards topics that were explored in detail for the majority of the movie. It makes such a fulfilling diminish under its own weight – saving its dead weight for the end, so to speak.

Carrying most of the movie – metaphorically and literally – is Paul Dano; an actor who’s often forgotten about by the mainstream despite the likes of Love and Mercy and Prisoners. When you consider that he spends a lot of the time talking to either himself or a lifeless co-star, he brings about his all in a role which other actors may have overacted or underperformed. Even when things get weird like dressing in drag or helping his carrion get an erection (seriously, it's a major part of the story), he keeps it straight-faced and has fun when he can. Daniel Radcliffe, in the meantime, continues to thrive in his motionless performance that takes an awful lot of effort to perfect. Being used as an object for nearly the entire picture is a daunting task, and with that and his distinctive speech handicap (in that he can barely open his own mouth) creates a living representation of a lifeless form. Outside of the main two, there's also minor appearances from Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who does well with the limited amount she's given.

The directing duo known simply as the Daniels are perhaps best known for their work on music videos such as "Turn Down for What" and their numerous short films, and what they bring to the table here is some beautiful work. Whether it be of their own design or the cinematography of Larkin Seiple, each shot gets a good grasp of the beach and forest environments or even the occasional glimpses of actual society. Teamed together with a superb vocal score by Andy Hal & Robert McDowell – reportedly made before the film even began shooting - and it creates a masterful-looking movie.

Swiss Army Man is a film that I struggle to decide with whether it's great or excellent. On one hand, it has two strong actors at the helm in the form of Dano and Radcliffe, and the overall story feels so inherently human and alive for a film that involves a corpse being used as a harpoon or a sea-doo, but the film ultimately fails to find a satisfying conclusion in what seems to be a failed attempt at creating something cheerful instead of ambiguous like it probably should have been. It's somewhat frustrating that what stops this film from being a true great and one of 2016's best movies (it's certainly one of its best original works) was a middling finale – but at least the journey there was filled with laughs and love. 8/10.

Trailer Talk: The Lost Nocturnal Santa

Certain Women

This looks to be an excellent female-centric performance piece by the likes of Michelle Williams, Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart, but I'm intrigued by whether or not the various plots will be enough to warrant continuous interest. But with good direction, this could be a sleeper hit - at least, critically.

Collateral Beauty

So this looks like an interesting twist on the classic Christmas Carol, but with some iffy screenwriting and some cringe-worthy lines. But at least the all-star cast of Will Smith, Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley look like they'll be great.

Gold

Ack! Balding Matthew McConaughey! This looks to be a good movie, but this trailer delves perhaps a little too deeply into the plot. Granted, that doesn't stop me being interested in what will probably be yet another great McConaughey performance and being able to see Bryce Dallas Howard away from giant animals.

Live by Night

Considering that this is a brand new Ben Affleck-directed movie - his last one being the multi award-winning Argo - it's strange that Warner Bros. would rather release this in January as opposed to prime Oscar time. Especially when you consider that this looks like a solid gangster film with a large ensemble cast. Consider me excited.

Free Fire

Ayy, a new Ben Wheatley film starring recent Oscar winner Brie Larson being in an elongated and riveting gun fight for an entire movie! This looks to be a fun-filled time with some genuinely funny moments, but I pray that it manages to keep interest going throughout rather than get boring quickly.

Fifty Shades Darker

Here we go again... If you recall correctly, I practically boycotted the first instalment in this series, so seeing the franchise continue is partially disheartening. That said, this probably only looks better because of some of its more laughable traits, such as the stalking and the rekindling of an abusive relationship. Don't expect a review unless things get desperate.

Miss Sloane

Why doesn't this film have more traction? Discussions on gun control are more important than ever thanks to the countless attacks on American soil, and this seems like a strong showcase of how the Government and the NRA respond to claims and attempts to put at least some form of ruling to the matters. And with Jessica Chastain of all people in the lead role, this could be a truly strong film. So why isn't anyone talking about it?!

Nocturnal Animals

Critics have been eating this up almost as much as La La Land, and it's hard to deny that they're not wrong. A strong all-star cast, intriguing premise, excellent title... bring it on, Tom Ford.

Trolls

This isn't a trailer. This is a featurette that they're calling a trailer with what's obvious the saving moment of the third act. Do Dreamworks really want this film to succeed? Because with this and the teaser trailer, you'd think they were trying to just to try and commit cinematic suicide?

Moana

I must admit, this trailer hasn't entranced my like the smaller teasers we've seen before, but this longer look still looks like yet another mega-hit for Disney's main focus.

Annabelle 2

Meh.

Who's Your Daddy?

Are they meant to be twins or something? Are there multiple dads? The most I can like is the hitchhiker gag and J.K Simmons just existing.

Passengers

At long last, a glimpse into the film starring Hollywood's two biggest stars right now, and the follow-up for Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum. And while complaints over some potential spoilers make sense, this still looks like a pretty cool movie and one that we've been excited for a reason. Mostly Chris Pratt.

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Hey look, it's the Smurfs! And they appear to be actual Smurfs this time in a world that actually makes sense to be instead of New York or Paris! That's improvement enough for this tease.

Bad Santa 2

Okay, so I've seen Christina Hendricks have sex in a dark alleyway today. Kinda comes out of nowhere in this plotless trailer. I may be new to the series, but please say there's more to it than this.

Fist Fight

Behold: the laziest film premise I've ever seen. Two teachers have a fight on the last day of school right out of nowhere, with seemingly the whole film following Charlie Day trying to "prepare", I assume. Can we just say that Warner Bros. just wanted another Batman V Superman plug?

Ben-Hur (2016) Film Review

If there's one film that can truly rival Ghostbusters for being the controversial remake/reboot to come out this summer, it's Ben-Hur. While most forget that it was itself a remake of silent versions from 1907 and 1925, the 1959 iteration starring Charlton Heston is widely renowned as being an outright classic (winning 11 of the 12 Academy Awards it was nominated for); deemed untouchable for giving the much-dreaded Hollywood treatment of being retold in the same vein as fellow landmark productions like Psycho. But evidently MGM and Paramount Pictures found something interesting in screenwriter Keith R. Clarke (The Way Back) and his script, and pressed ahead on bringing about the classic story once again; hiring Turkish director Timur Bekmambetov (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) to take the reins and to hope that the film can reach the finish line in extraordinary fashion - not taking into account the expectedly high levels of outrage from the general film community for even trying to redo the Heston classic. And with trailers failing to win them over, and an opening weekend in America that only made about 10% of the film's budget, could this film actually be the failure that it was expected to be? 

During the days that Jesus Christ (here played by Rodrigo Santoro), there lived two men who were like best friends: Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Houston), a descendant of a royal family that resides in Jerusalem, and his adopted Roman brother Messala (Toby Kebbell). Following a horse racing accident which nearly claims Judah's life, Messala opts to join the Roman legion and fight on behalf of the Empire; deeming it a more welcoming family than the one that adopted him. Years later, and Messala returns a decorated officer and trusts his brother to inform him of any planned attacks on the visiting Pontius Pilate (Pilou Asbæk), which ultimately occurs when a recovering zealot residing in secret at the Ben-Hur home. Taking the blame in an attempt of keeping the rest of his family – which includes his dear mother (Ayelet Zurer), sister (Sofia Black D'Elia) and wife (Nazanin Boniadi) - safe, Ben-Hur is taken to be a slave in the galleys. When an attack five years later leads to the ship's destruction, and in turn into the hands of Sheik Ilderim (Morgan Freeman), Ben-Hur is granted the revenge he so craves on his dear brother as part of the prestigious and dangerous chariot racing...

With the film sitting at just over 2 hours long and with a number of flashforwards in time, Ben-Hur may not be reaching the same lengths as that its popular version is (3 hours) but it still feels a long-winded and dull tale. While it's understandable as to why the filmmakers would want to worm in an early glimpse at the infamous chariot racing – it is, after all, one of the most famous sequences in cinema – it feels like the longest wait until we get anything close to what they promise for, and when it finally makes its appearance it turns into an incoherent mess (more on that later). We sit through long and tedious discussions about family, betrayal and acceptance before anything remotely interesting happens, and even then we can hardly see what they want to showcase. With an off-putting pace and some cheesy dialogue, it makes this story of family barely tolerable.

The biggest insult comes in with the visuals and the direction. While director Bekmambetov has done fine enough in the past with the likes of Wanted, here he's deemed rather for bringing alive the classic tale of two brothers; bringing about unclear visuals of chariot races and a POV image that feels more vomit-inducing than the entirety of Hardcore Henry (impressive for a 12A). Add some severe shaky camera work and some interesting character placements for certain shots – tied together with some makeshift editing that made it into the final product – and it just looks wrong for a Biblical epic. As for the visual effects, one would assume that the $100m budget went solely towards the actors, set design and costumes, as it's quite possibly some of the worst major effects work seen all year; completely throwing you out of the element by looking at just how drab and gloomy it looks.

 In the titular role of Ben-Hur is Jack Houston, who gives off a fine performance when he doesn't make his voice turn into a Batman knock-off. It's hardly anything special, and hardly a scratch on Heston's award-winning work, but it's good enough to keep watching him crawl through this mess. Toby Kebbell, meanwhile, chews his way through the scenery in a hammy performance that makes you wonder whether after this, Warcraft: The Beginning and Fantastic Four, he should get a new agent, but at least he gets on well with Houston. Morgan Freeman as Ben-Hur's mentor seems to be giving off a performance on auto-pilot – perhaps all his energy is going towards trying to make his wig look realistic – while Messala's version of a mentor (Pilou Asbæk) is barely an influence other being a key part of the Jesus crucifixion storyline. Rodrigo Santoro is your typical Jesus type, so he's technically good enough for the role; Nazanin Boniadi may have more of a presence compared to older versions of her character but still adds little to the overall story; Sofia Black D'Elia and Ayelet Zurer have little purpose; and any remaining co-stars are hardly noteworthy in any sense, way or fashion.

Ben-Hur was never going to be as good as any of its predecessors, but that didn't mean it had to be as bad as it actually ended up becoming. With visuals that make one feel queasy and overstated religious commentary that even the most hardcore Christian would find unbearable, this latest attempt at redoing a classic has fallen flat before it could even do a lap around the race course; a dire and uninspired remake in a time where they're being criticised enough for being lacklustre. 3/10.