Movie Review: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace (2007) 

Directed by Michael Apted 

Written by Steven Knight 

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Romola Garai, Ioan Gruffaud, Albert Finney 

Release Date February 23rd, 2007 

Published February 23rd, 2007 

How do I recommend a movie like Amazing Grace? In the following paragraphs you will read that I don't find the film all that entertaining. Rather, I describe it as solid, professional, modest, educational, and like something produced by the History Channel. Not exactly the kind of movie that you run to the video store to grab for a Friday night date.

Amazing Grace is more appropriate for a classroom setting. It's studious and factual with the good intention of telling a valuable true story. As directed by the veteran Michael Apted, Amazing Grace is well made and admirably performed. I hope that is enough to get someone to see it, but I understand if you may prefer something else.

William Wilburforce (Ioan Gruffaud) was an easy touch for the issue his friend Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch) brought to him. The cause? The end of the slave trade in England. Wilburforce had before then been merely a junior member of parliament who made his name with grand oratories that were mostly ignored by senior members.

When Wilburforce took up the cause, after meeting a former slave named Equiano (Youssour N'Dour) and a passionate preacher named Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell), he was facing a losing battle. Much of the economy of the country was tied up in the slave trade and slave labor. It was not long before he was throwing himself into some of the most famous speeches in the country's history.

In an 11 year battle Wilburforce lost more fights than he won but he won when it counted.Amazing Grace is the movie the History Channel might make if they made films. Dry, concise, factual. All good traits, if not the most exciting or entertaining traits. Fans of the History Channel, like my father who runs it on a 24 hour loop when he's not watching golf, will find Amazing Grace to be just to their liking. School administrators are another audience likely to be satisfied with Amazing Grace and it's PG rated factuality.

As William Wilburforce Fantastic Four's Ioan Gruffaud gets to do some of the acting that being a CGI rubber band never allowed. It's not the first time that Gruffaud has shown he has some chops, his debut in the A & E mini-series Horatio Hornblower showed his promise as a capital A Actor. His performance in Amazing Grace is more mature than Hornblower, but also far less exciting. Steady, loyal, passionate, his Wilburforce is perfectly calibrated to the rather dry material he is given to interpret.

The rest of the cast is free to be a little more quirky and interesting. Though Romala Garai is underused as William's wife, she does brighten things up a bit by bringing a pretty face to the mostly male proceedings. The one truly entertaining performance comes from the crafty veteran Michael Gambon. Playing a senior member of parliament who surprises Wilburforce with his support, it is Gambon's character who seems to be pulling many of the important strings. That may or may not be true but the mischievous grin on Gambon's face throughout is fun to speculate on.

For fans of a very old school, masterpiece theater approach to filmmaking, Amazing Grace will have great appeal. Most mainstream moviegoers need not apply. There is nothing thrilling or even moderately rousing about this steady, solid and factual historic exercise. I am recommending Amazing Grace because I have no real reason not to. I was engaged by it, occasionally moved, if not entertained in any modern sense of the word. I was educated by it and that is valuable.

Valuable, steady, factual. These aren't exactly adjectives that sell you a movie for a friday night. Nevertheless, Amazing Grace is too well made and well intentioned to be a bad movie. It's not a bad movie, it's just not an entertaining movie.

Movie Review The Chronicles of Narnia The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Chronicles of Narnia Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Directed by Michael Apted

Written by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Michael Petroni

Starring Georgie Henley, Will Poulter, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Tilda Swinton

Release Date December 10th, 2010 

Published December 9th, 2010

The struggle to bring “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” based on the 3rd book in C.S Lewis’s popular series, has been troubled not by poor creative effort but by the perils of Hollywood business. After “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” debuted in 2005 to terrific reviews and boffo box office, “The Chronicles of Narnia” was seen by Disney and Walden Media, a Harry Potter-esque cash cow.

Then, the struggles of “Prince Caspian” began. Though the film sailed into production with writer-director Andrew Adamson having completed the screenplay while filming Lion, upon release Caspian was seen as a box office failure with a mere 141 million dollars at the North American box office.

Caspian was not helped by critics who lambasted the film as a shallow follow-up to the well liked first film in the series. Prospects for “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” ever reaching the screen seemed dim after Disney chose not to move ahead on the project in 2008. Then, miraculously, 20th Century Fox snapped the series up and set out to re-energize the franchise. Whether the effort works at the box office we will see but the artistic rebirth is accomplished as ‘Dawn Treader’ returns the magic of The “Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

It’s been three years since Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandor Keynes) have been to Narnia, the magical realm of the regal Lion Aslan (Liam Neeson), with their brother Peter and sister Susan. The oldest of the Pevensie children have moved on (actors William Mosley and Anna Popplewell do make cameos here) while Lucy and Edmund remain in England, living with the family of their irksome cousin Eustace (Will Poulter).

While they await word of when they can rejoin their family, Lucy and Edmund also patiently await a return to Narnia where they but not their siblings can return only once more. That chance comes when a magical painting begins moving and a ship somehow appears on the horizon. Soon, the painting begins to come to life and when Eustace attempts to pull it off the wall, all three children find themselves engulfed and emerging in Narnia.

Waiting for Lucy, Edmund and Tagalong Eustace is the Dawn Treader, the first ship in the Narnian army and the current home of King Caspian (Ben Barnes). Caspian welcomes the kids aboard and an adventure begins to retrieve the Seven Lords whose magic swords will lift a curse that has plunged part of Narnia into darkness.

Alongside the main plot is also a quest to find the Utter East, the land of Aslan. Reepicheep (voice of Simon Pegg) the valiant mouse warrior hopes to voyage to Aslan’s land as his final adventure while Caspian believes he may find his father there.

Director Michael Apted, who picked up the reigns from Andrew Adamson, now an executive producer, brings a clear focus to the story of ‘Dawn Treader.” Where “Prince Caspian'' was weighed down by a great deal of exposition; so much that the film never picked up speed and prodded to a dull conclusion, “Dawn Treader” begins with a brief character reset and quickly we are aboard the glorious ship and away for adventure.

“Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' bounces swiftly from set piece to set piece with a clear eyed purpose, and is aided greatly by the best effects work of the series courtesy of Moving Picture Company and Framestore CFC, with an assist from the legendary WETA Workshop (LOTR). Michael Apted takes command of this franchise, gives it an epic scope, a sharp, dynamic look and even a surprisingly light heart.

The humor of “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is a direct rebuke to the bullish self seriousness of the dreary “Prince Caspian.” “Son of Rambow” star Will Poulter does much of the comic heavy lifting as the nettlesome cousin Eustace. In his first Narnian outing, and possibly not his last, Poulter deftly plays Eustace’s refusal to believe what is happening around him for great laughs while setting us up for a terrific character turn with a surprisingly poignant pay off.

Much of “Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader” comes as a surprise. No, the makers have not managed to make Ben Barnes any less wooden as Caspian or made the religious overtones any less burdensome but what Michael Apted does is lessen the issues by making all around them better. Better effects, better story, better pace; just about everything in Dawn Treader is better, even than “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”

Yes, it is a rare occurrence but this, the third Narnia movie, is the best of the series. Top notch action and effects and a director fully in control of all the aspects of epic, popcorn moviemaking have resurrected a dying franchise. The box office will make the final decision but from an artistic perspective “The Chronicles of Narnia” have begun again and the newly in charge Mr. Apted has me anticipating another adventure in “The Silver Chair.”

Movie Review Enigma

Enigma (2001) 

Directed by Michael Apted

Written by Tom Stoppard

Starring Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows, Tom Hollander

Release Date April 19th, 2002 

Published October 8th 2002 

A little more than two years ago, the film U-571 caused a small controversy when it portrayed an American sub crew as the first Allied soldiers to capture a German code-breaking machine. It was not the Americans but rather a British sub that captured the first Enigma machine. And Enigma shows that it was the British who first cracked (and then cracked again) the German’s supposedly unbreakable codes.

At Bletchley Park, a converted British farm, a group of Britain’s top mathematicians are holed up combing through jumbled numbers and letters, attempting to uncover German troop movements. As we join the story we meet Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott), possibly Britain’s top code breaker. Jericho was the first to break Germany’s Shark code—the code used by German U-boats. Jericho is returning to Bletchley Park after recovering from a nervous breakdown that his colleagues believed was work induced; however, we come to realize that it was caused by a failed romance with a mysterious blonde named Claire (Saffron Burrows).

It is Tom’s goal to return to Bletchley Park and win Claire back, but upon his arrival, he finds Claire has gone missing and the code he had spent so much time cracking is now useless. As Tom is distracted by his search for Claire he must also deal with once again cracking this uncrackable code. In his search for Claire, Tom enlists the help of Claire’s best friend,

Hestor (Kate Winslet). Tom and Hestor quickly discover that Claire’s disappearance and Jericho’s unbreakable code may be related. Jeremy Northam plays a lawman named Wigram who suspects that one of the Bletchley Park mathematicians may be a German spy and because of Jericho’s strange behavior he is at the top of Wigram’s list.

The code breaking in the film is quite complicated, to the point of being entirely confusing to anyone not well versed in mathematics. It was so confusing that a layman would not understand it; however, to dumb it down would be a disservice to the history of Bletchley Park.  

While the difficulty of that portion of the story makes Enigma difficult to follow at times, the actors, (notably Dougray Scott) do an excellent job ofkeeping the audience engaged. The scenes involving Scott and Northam are something out of classic Hitchcock as these two intelligent men match wits searching for a missing femme fatale and a spy who may or may not be the one in the same.

Had director Michael Apted indulged more of the Hitchcockian elements of Enigma, the film may have been far more entertaining. As it is, Enigma comes off more as a scholarly historical piece and less of an entertaining mystery. Still Enigma is a well-crafted piece worth a look for. It is shining a light on history that is too often colored by Hollywood. 

Movie Review: Enough

Enough (2002) 

Directed by Michael Apted

Written by Nicholas Kazan

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Billy Campbell, Noah Wyle, Juliette Lewis, Dan Futterman

Release Date May 24th, 2002 

Published May 21st, 2002 

For all the jokes about Jennifer Lopez's personal life, singing career, and her backside, one thing people shouldn't joke about is her acting. With her performances in Out Of Sight, The Cell and the very under-appreciated Angel Eyes, J.Lo has proven she can act. Though her latest film Enough isn't as good as her previous films, it certainly wasn't her fault.

Enough is the story of Slim (Lopez), a waitress who while being hit on by a jerk cop named Robbie (ER's Noah Wylie), is saved by Mitch (Once & Again's Billy Campbell). What appears to be love at first sight turns into a marriage gone wrong. Several years after Slim and Mitch get married and have a baby named Racie (Tesa Allen), Slim finds out Mitch is cheating on her. When Slim confronts him, he beats her up. Slim eventually escapes and Mitch goes after her, leading the film from “movie of the week” drama to ridiculous revenge flick.

I saw a preview screening of Enough and I wonder if maybe the film wasn't finished yet. I say this because the first third of the film is such a complete mess your left wondering if a first-year film student high on Jolt Cola and Marlboro Lights edited it. Rather than developing a relationship between Slim and Mitch that makes sense, the film employs silent movie title cards to inform the audience of the stage of their relationship. Thus the audience is left wondering just what each character’s motivation was for being together at all.

The film does have some effective moments, mostly when J.Lo is on the run and training to fight her husband. Director Michael Apted does what he can with the limited script and effectively uses omniscient narration to build tension, especially in the film’s fight scene crescendo. In the end though, Enough is a ridiculous, revenge fantasy meant to appeal to the same girl-power feminists who made Ashley Judd's Double Jeopardy a 100-Million hit. See Enough for Jennifer Lopez's stellar performance, but if your not a fan, skip it.