Movie Review: War Horse

War Horse (2011) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Lee Hall, Richard Curtis

Starring Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Jeremy Irvine 

Release Date December 25th, 2011 

Published December 25th, 2011

There is one truly great scene in Steven Speilberg's "War Horse." The scene involves the hero horse escaping from torture minded German soldiers, racing through a field covered in barbed wire. The horse manages to break through much of the barbed wire but eventually is taken down and looks to be dying a horrible death wrapped in barbed wire.

As the sun comes up British and German soldiers from opposite ends of this World War 1 battlefield see something moving in the middle of the battlefield and assume it may be a wounded soldier. White flags go up from both sides and a sentry is dispatched from each.

For a moment a tenuous peace is forged as two enemy soldiers work together to free the horse from the barbed wire. The dialogue, the acting and director Steven Speilberg's calm, observant style give this centerpiece scene in "War Horse" energy and excitement that is lacking in the rest of the film.

A Horse Named Joe

"War Horse" stars Jeremy Irvine as Albert, a farm boy with a loutish, drunken father (Peter Mullan) who brings home skinny horse more suited for racing than the plow horse he was supposed to purchase. Albert takes to the new horse and names it Joey.

When Albert's father sobers enough to realize what he's done he wants to shoot Joey. Albert and his mother (Emily Watson) manage to stop him at least long enough for Albert to try to teach Joey how to draw the plow over the rocky shoals of the family farmland.

Albert's task becomes a spectacle as their landlord, Mr. Lyons (David Thewlis) brings a crowd to watch what he expects will be a major failure. The plowing scenes are a solid piece of cinema; rousing and sympathetic but they are merely killing time until the major plot kicks in.

Separated by War

The major plot is World War 1 and Peter's father giving up Joey, against Albert's wishes, to the military cause. Joey becomes the property of Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) who promises to return Joey to Albert after the war. Sadly, Captain Nicholls underestimates the toll of the war ahead.

Will Joey be able to find his way back to Albert? Will Albert join the cause and search for Joey? Can either survive the horrors of the First World War? Good questions all and each has the potential to be very moving and entertaining.

"War Horse" is filled with potential mostly unrealized. Steven Speilberg's approach here is almost entirely homage with little of anything new or exciting. Individual scenes of "War Horse" capture Speilberg at his best but most of the film is a droning bore of tributes to War movies past.

Old School Meets New School

"War Horse" is the first film that Steven Speilberg edited digitally rather than with a traditional editing suite on the back of a flatbed truck. This move toward a more modern approach is somewhat ironic in that it is applied to one of the most old school movies of Speilberg's long and illustrious career.

"War Horse" is certainly not a bad movie but it's not a great movie either. The film will appeal to fans of old war movies as well as to fans of horse movies, a genre all its own. I recommend "War Horse" for the very particular group of fans I just mentioned; for everyone else "War Horse" shouldn't be your first choice until it arrives on DVD in 2012.

Movie Review: Tommy's Honour

Tommy's Honour 

Directed by Jason Connery

Written by Pamela Martin, Kevin Cook

Starring Jack Lowden, Peter Mullan, Therese Bradley

Release Date April April 14th, 2017

Published April 15th, 2017

If your lead character is an unchallenged champion from the beginning to the end of your story there isn’t much of an arc for an audience to grab onto. I wish someone might have explained this concept to the makers of the movie “Tommy’s Honour” which stars Jack Lowden as Scottish golfing legend Tommy Morris Jr. In “Tommy’s Honour” Morris is portrayed as such an incredible champion and all around angelic hero that the stories of his many triumphs and tragedies are rendered dull and listless.

Tommy Morris Jr’s life was planned before he was born. By the strict societal codes of the time, the early 1800’s, Morris Jr was expected follow in the footsteps of his father (Peter Mullan) and become a caddy but Tommy wanted more. When fully grown, Tommy Jr. begins competing in the Caddy Open and then the Open Championship and before we’ve even come to know him as a character, we watch him triumph as champion, off screen, at the famed St. Andrew golf course three times.

Soon Tommy is challenging societal norms by demanding that he and a fellow golfer and friend be properly compensated by the clubhouse elite who profit off their play through gambling and exhibitions. For a moment, you begin to think this will bring conflict to the story but no, the elite, led by a snobbish Sam Neill, roll over immediately and pay Tommy fairly.

Then Tommy meets a lovely scullery maid named Meg with a dark past played by Ophelia Lovibond. With the Scottish class system, as it is, Meg’s past should provide conflict and indeed, Tommy’s mother objects to the relationship. However, in less than 15 minutes’ screen time, I was bored enough to keep count, Mom rolls over and another potential source of drama is dismissed with mom even leaving the church to stand up for her son and new daughter in-law, after one brief conversation with her husband and a single entreaty about how their son loves this woman despite what society says.

It isn’t until the final act that anything happens to Tommy. Tommy suffers a serious tragedy and his life falls to pieces but somehow “Tommy’s Honour” never communicates that tragedy, preferring the dull safety of the golf course where Tommy once again tops an opponent we never meet and thus have zero investment in. If the movie doesn’t care about these opponents, then why should we care? They are there to lose to Tommy, to further the legend building that is the film’s true aim. The final match should feel big and important but as portrayed, it’s a contest of egos that leads to an ending that feels more like stubborn inflexibility than the tragedy the true story was.

“Tommy’s Honour” is yet another in a long line of bad biopics. The film has no life, no courage. The aim of the filmmakers is to deify a Scottish legend and that might work for someone who is desperately invested in the story of Tommy Morris Jr. but as drama it fails completely. Drama needs tension, it needs stakes, it needs something for the audience to connect to, some relatable experience. If your story revolves around a character who is perfect and whose life constantly works out well for most of the story there is no drama. Sure, Tommy’s life ended tragically but even that tragedy is pushed aside in favor of showing what a golf legend he was and that renders an interesting life rather incredibly boring.

Movie Review The Last Legion

The Last Legion (2007) 

Directed by Doug Lefler 

Written by Jez Butterworth, Tom Butterworth 

Starring Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Ray, Peter Mullan, Kevin McKidd 

Release Date August 17th, 2007 

Published August 16th, 2007 

The Last Legion is meant to be a rousing retelling of Arthurian legend crossed with Roman history. With an international cast, including Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley and Indian superstar Aishwarya Rai, the movie should have been a well acted and lively entertainment. Unfortunately, with a corner cutting director and a desperately miscast lead, Colin Firth as a tough guy roman general, The Last Legion is just simply, one lousy movie.

Cobbling together elements of Arthur-ian legend and a bit of Julius Caesar, The Last Legion casts young Thomas Sangster (Love Actually) as Romulus; the last in the royal line of Caesars, the rulers of the Greek empire. When the goths sack Rome, Romulus and his teacher Ambrosinus (Sir Ben Kingsley) are taken hostage to the roman island of Capri. On the bright side, Capri is also the home of the legendary Caesarian sword Excalibur.

While young Romulas seeks the sword a coterie of Roman soldiers who survived the battle of Rome conspire to rescue Caesar/Romulus and whisk him away to the Eastern empire, the home of the staunchest of Greek allies in Persia. Led by General Aurelius (Colin Firth), and backed up by an Indian warrior named Mira (Aishwarya Rai), this tiny faction will give their lives for Caesar.

After the rescue things change quickly. The Eastern empire falls to the Goths and the remaining Romans are forced to journey to Britannia and rally the last remaining Roman army legion. There, they will face off with an evil British conqueror Vortgyn (Harry Van Gorkum) who seeks Excalibur and has a nasty history with Abrosinus.

I'm not quite sure what the point of all this legend retelling is. The Last Legion is not a rousing adventure or even a good war story. As directed by Doug Lefler (Dragonheart: A New Beginning) The Last Legion is a stale period movie dressed up with the occasional well staged sword fight and the lovely appearance of Indian star Aishwarya Rai.

Ms. Rai is a lovely presence but opposite Colin Firth as the 'manly' Roman general, she is at a loss to make this material work. Nothing against Mr. Firth as an actor but he doesn't exactly cut an action hero figure. His lilting accent and gentile British-ness just does not translate to being a Russell Crowe style Roman army legend. Even the great Sir Ben Kingsley isn't very good here. Kingsley, as he's shown in films as varied as Suspect Zero, Bloodrayne, and A Sound of Thunder has a tendency to choose some really bad roles. The Last Legion isn't quite as bad as those films but it's not very good either.

Rai, Kingsley and Firth are the good guys and we are bored by them. Even worse are the bad guys, a collection of unrecognizable character actors whose main talent seems to be seething and hissing through ugly piles of makeup or ridiculous looking masks. Director Doug Lefler's work is dull and uninspired and the scripting by Jez and Tom Butterworth (Birthday Girl) creates characters we don't care about and places them in situations we aren't interested in. Toying with dueling legends, Arthur and Caesar, even literate audiences are at a loss to make sense of or even care about the history of The Last Legion.

The Last Legion re-imagines two legends into one uninteresting adventure story. Colin Firth, often a very good actor, is desperately miscast as an action hero and though she is a sensational beauty, Aishwarya Rai fails to demonstrate her star power and is at a loss to overcome this dull story. Director Doug Lefler's experience comes mostly from the sets of Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and while the low budget aesthetics may be OK for TV; the same approach doesn't work in feature films.

The Last Legion is only slightly better than your average Xena or Hercules episode, and slightly less historically accurate.