Reviews

With the acting and directing talent involved, it's a miracle this oddball project went so wrong. It looks fabulous, the costumes are amazing and there is a beautiful cameo turn from a near unrecognizable Mike Myers...but the script. Yowaza. It's as though O'Russell, realising there was no plot (certainly not enough to sustain 2hrs 14 mins) suddenly heard about Smedley Butler (currently brought back from the dead and doing the rounds as possibly America's greatest hero who tricked the cabal into thinking they could take over America, thereby foiling a plot to topple the President) and cobbled the story onto the end along with a monologue about the importance of love to trick what was left of the listening audience into thinking the film was about something. While most of the big names are lost in the stew, Washington (always brilliant) manages to hold some remnants of a narrative spine together (if only for his own character) while the extraordinary looking Margot Robbie's is nothing more than a stunning muse who is far too aware of her own beauty and the camera to be taken seriously. It's hard to care about anything until Robert de Niro arrives, bringing some gravitas to the hopelessly multi-tonal piece which is not helped by the reliably brilliant Bale's Chaplin-esque take on his character which would be great in any other film, but tonally, not this one. While this is nothing like PTA's The Master, it has the same Emperor's new clothes ring to it, wherein a celebrated auteur is just so brilliant he can knowingly make a pile of meaningless, pretentious twaddle and still fool a studio into handing over the money in celebration of his unfailing genius (both films even refer to the emperor's lack of clothing, a grandiose narcissist in-joke) while their adoring audience will flock in droves to worship at the alter of their brilliance. Only not this time.

While not being saddled with the trope-demanding label 'sci-fi' might have spared some of the usual bot-like 'meh' reviews from little boys who think they could do better (and do nothing), it doesn't detract from Encounter being a beautifully shot picture which twists its way effortlessly through multiple subjects and genres (sci-fi, road movie, paranoid drama) along picturesque landscapes without ever losing tone. The ever brilliant Riz Ahmed is a empathic character, out of his depth both as a father and provider, desperately trying to bond with his two young sons before the reality of his trashed life (through no fault of his own) catches up with him. The two child actors are mesmerizing and the bond between the three provides a strong, focused emotional drive. The other thing in Encounter's favor is a nervy uncertainty of outcome. It is also refreshing to see a lead character desperately drying to hold it together (as opposed to falling apart) while the eldest son's character provides a beautiful arc, as what he believes about his father turns from disappointment to enlightenment. If you want to watch a sci-fi go elsewhere. Encounter is more than that.

DIVISION 19 begins with a man telling us we are idiots, evading our responsibilities daily while 'the world burns'. With climate changers on the streets of London, Gilet Jaunes in Paris and kids leaving school in Sweden to take up arms and legs and anything else they can super glue - these are interesting times. DIVISION 19 certainly falls into the sci-fi genre of fear. But this is not fear of The Other - but fear of ourselves. How inert we are in a world desperately in need of action - ours - to save it. Beginning with a look at prison TV Panopticon (a comment on far authorities will go to contain those who are not followers and possibly the jail also being a metaphor for the world we inhabit) and swinging wildly through a world of surveillance, target drones, crazed robots and the disenfranchised, Division 19 takes on a whole heap of subjects which could fill six hours at least. That said, all the perfermances are good (Draven especially good as the drugged hero of Panopticon TV Hardin Jones) and it looks absolutely great. But you have to concentrate. Halewood's message seems to be 'act now, or pay the price'. Maybe we get what we deserve.

If you like looking at pretty people falling in love, this is not one for you. Border guard Tina is no looker but she can smell drugs, and pretty much anything else better than a bloodhound. When she finds herself drawn towards a similar looking 'chap' she is intrigued and troubled as parts of her yet to be reached (for obvious reasons) begin to stir. This strange couple gets together for the odd (very) romantic tryst and finally share what can only be described as a sex scene to change your life. I sat in the cinema open-mouthed - closing it sharpish in case something slipped in. But the path of true love never runs smooth - especially if your new found other half has the kind of hidden depths that make you shudder and a decidedly odd moral code. Unusual, magical, poetic and occasionally a little slow, Border will not leave you untouched - even while it creeps you out.

Division 19 is a low-budget science fiction and a study of the politics of surveillance, data mining and state control gone very bad. While these themes may have been covered before, they are still prescient in a world of fake news, data manipulation and DNA swabs.

Hardin Jones is a prisoner in a jail open to a public able to vote online on his life choices. For the prison industrial complex he is the golden goose. To the CEO of that complex, he is maybe something more. So when Jones (a sympathetically zoned out Jamie Draven) escapes, Neilsen (Alison Doody) wants him back.

While on the outside Jones experiences a world he cannot survive due in part to his face appearing on every screen across the city. While inside, his baby brother Nash (Will Rothhaar) has joined a band of cyber-geeks who survive off grid in the sewers and rooftops of the unnamed and crumbled city. The youthful posse known as DIVISION 19 is blackmailing the government - led by Charles Lyndon (Linus Roache) - with threats to destabilize the power grid, banks and therefore the economy. Popular with the voters (who get to leave work early thanks to an early lights out) the cyber punks must either be stopped or listened to - a choice which flags the main theme of the film - if we continue to employ the same methods - we will forever find ourselves with the same outcome. While there may be a few too many elements - the plot in itself is somewhat convoluted - the themes are resonant and disturbing. While we, the citizens, may have the power to change the world - the obstacles before of are sometimes those of our own making. For Manning, Snowden and Assange, standing up to be counted was brave and led to their public demise. But as a collective (i.e. Anonymous) that could be a gamechanger.

DIVISION 19 is not without its faults (the plethora of subjects being one) but it is well-written, acted with subtlety, looks way bigger than its meager budget and is a timely reminder that nothing will or can change, unless we have the will.

It's a welcome relief to come across TV or films for that matter which take the time to tell the story. I have to admit to putting this aside more than once as it was so slow. Same thing happened with The Wire which I eventually dived into Season 2 and gobbled up. BUT the attention to detail, the incremental character details, the phenomenal leads and masterful direction kept me going. It takes a while to slow yourself down from the crazy world around - but then to sit back and enjoy...ahhh. EAD has also found its true medium in television, giving it the time and scope to breath and explore. Joyous. Thank you Ben Stiller.

I was alarmed by Downey's comments. Part of the reason immigrants are coming to America is as a fallout to the policies of past US administrations. When Reagan invaded El Salvador and Honduras in the '80s, thousands were killed and displaced. They were trained by both the US armed forces and CIA to fight against their own people (taken from schools by force by the time they reached 12)and also offered green cards to become fighting machines against the Sandanistas. (This is happening now, with the US trying to recruit Mara Salvatruchas to fight in Iraq). Thanks to the rape of those two countries by the US, there is very little left to stay for. The beauty of these undocumented workers is that they come to the US to do just that: Work, hard. And - unlike Downey suggests - with no medical insurance. Not only do they prop up the US economy, they also pour millions into their own economies - something that the US should be doing to make up for the past. I really enjoyed this documentary. I hope it will remind all of those lucky enough not to be born in the barrio/ghetto/shanty-town, that unless we do something about it there will always be people willing to risk life and limb, just to be able to eat.