What I Watched This Week #168 (Mar 17-23)
Sisu
dir. Jalmari Helander/2022/1h31m
Sisu is a Finnish action film set during the latter stages of WWII in the Finnish countryside where a grizzled old gold-miner, Aatami (Jorma Tommila), has just struck the motherlode. Unfortunately he runs into a group of n*zis led by SS officer Bruno (Askel Hennie) who are retreating out of the country and they steal his stash. What they don't know is that he is a legendary badass soldier who then proceeds to go on a bloody rampage to get his gold back. There are few things more satisfying to see in a movie than n*zis getting absolutely brutalised (Hitler getting his face machine-gunned into Swiss cheese in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is a personal fav) and this delivers that by the blood and guts full bucket load. If you want to see a n*zi get exploded by having a landmine f*cking thrown directly at his face then this is the film for you. Tommila gives a great performance in the lead, even though his character doesn't have a single word of dialogue. This is a man who speaks with his actions. Plus he just looks like a badass, I can totally believe that he could take on an entire troop of n*zis and win. Hennie is also good, but his character is very one dimensional, but his presence is more symbolic here of how evil the n*zis were as a whole. If you want a straight forward and thrilling action film then you should check this out. 8/10
Breaking
dir. Abi Damaris Corbin/2022/1h43m
Based on a true story, Breaking stars John Boyega as Brian Brown-Easley, a former Marine suffering from severe PTSD who has had his VA benefits taken away, straight out of his bank account. Desperate and seeing no other option he holds up the bank with a bomb, taking two hostages. What follows is a tense standoff involving the police, the media and Brian, with Boyega's performance really carrying what is a pretty generic film. The way the public and media sympathy is on Brian's side as he's able to explain his situation put me in mind of Dog Day Afternoon - also based on a true story of another bank robbery gone wrong - but that just makes this film feel even blander. Now this isn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, it does its job well, but apart from Boyega's performance there isn't anything that really stands out. It did make me sympathise with the real Brian Brown-Easley as this is a tragic story from every angle, and it does a good job of showing who he was as a person with flashbacks showing him spending time with his young daughter and not just focusing on that day. 6.5/10
Furious 7
dir. James Wan/2015/2h17m
Jason Statham enters the Fast and Furious series - after a post-credit teaser in the last film - as the brother of the baddie from the last film and he wants revenge (it's about family). Djimon Hounsou is also here as a totally underwritten bad guy who is totally forgettable and unnecessary and I don't know why he was there because Statham is already the bad guy. I can't even remember what relevance he had to the plot, if he had any at all. But I like Djimon Hounsou so it was nice just to see him I guess. I did have fun with this one, the less grounded the plots the more enjoyable they're becoming, especially since everyone is acting so seriously, particularly Vin Diesel. One aspect where this actually works is where they keep going on about family, their sincerity really makes me believe they care about each other, and that made the tribute to Paul Walker at the end of the film genuinely touching. 6/10
Le Corbeau
dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot/1943/1h32m
In this French mystery/thriller Pierre Fresnay plays Remy Germain, a doctor in a small village who is the victim of poison pen letters accusing him of having an affair with the wife of another doctor and performing illegal abortions. Soon other villagers start getting letters, all of them signed Le Corbeau - The Raven. As everyone's secrets start getting exposed, desperation to find The Raven grows. This is a very dark film made during a dark time in France's history, and the way the film shows how easily people can be turned against one another speaks to what was going on at the time. The actual mystery is well written, with the audience left guessing right up to the shocking finale, and it's all shot in a film-noir style that really sets the tone perfectly. It's a little slow at the start, but the third act really ramps up the pace as we start eliminating possible suspects, leading to what I think is a satisfying reveal. The performances are all good, especially that of the person eventually revealed as The Raven, but this is more about the atmosphere. 8/10
The Electric State
dir. Joe Russo, Anthony Russo/2025/2h5m
The Electric State is the latest film from the Russo brothers, directors of Avengers Infinity War and Endgame, and apparently cost Netflix 320 million dollars to make. It looks alright, and by that I mean the effects look alright, the actual art and production design is bland and derivative nostalgia bait, but it doesn't look like 320 million dollars. The actual plot, adapted from a graphic novel, sees Millie Bobby Brown play an orphaned teenager living in an alternate history 90's after some war with robots or something. She has to find her brother, who she thought was dead, but has been kidnapped by an evil tech guy played by Stanley Tucci and is now in a coma with his consciousness in a robot based on an old cartoon character and is the power source for his new VR tech I think. Also Chris Pratt is there doing the same character he's been doing for the last decade. There are some things I liked about this. Stanley Tucci is always good and is almost able to give his character some depth. Brian Cox voices a baseball robot, that was fun. I'm struggling now. Millie Bobby Brown's American accent is passable. I guess it's not the worst film I've seen this year, that would be Borderlands. This is slightly less obnoxious. 3/10
Cars 2
dir. John Lasseter/2011/1h46m
The first non Toy Story sequel for Pixar kicked off an era of sequels where out of their next ten films only four were original. But at least the plot here is very different from the original, which was all about slowing down and enjoying the smaller pleasures of life. Cars 2 is a spy thriller where Mater the Tow Truck (Larry the Cable Guy) is mistaken for a secret agent by superspy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine). He is caught up in a plot involving eco-friendly oil invented by billionaire Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard), who is also hosting a worldwide grand prix in which Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is competing. There's a lot going on, but I do like how they've decided to go in such a mad direction after the relatively grounded first film. My biggest problem with this film is the same one I had with the first, and that's how much I f*cking hate Larry the Cable Guy and his stupid f*cking voice. And now he's basically the lead character, with more time given to his plot than McQueen's. 5/10
Across 110th Street
dir. Barry Shear/1972/1h42m
This film opens with two nobody crooks stealing a few hundred grand from a Mafia deal in Harlem, killing them and a couple of cops in the process. This threatens to incite a race riot if the two detectives assigned to the case can't find who did it. They are the gruff, no nonsense, racist Italian Captain Mattelli (Anthony Quinn), and the Black liberal Lt. Pope (Yaphet Kotto). A gritty crime film that's a perfect time capsule of the era, this is both very real feeling and stylised at the same time. There's a brilliant use of location shooting and handheld camera that give it a raw, almost documentary like feel. Quinn and Kotto are excellent as the diametrically opposed duo, butting heads while still trying to pull in the right direction. Their relationship is symbolic of the film as a whole, a powder keg just waiting to go up, and that level of tension is sustained throughout the film. The cherry on top is the brilliant soundtrack, which includes the legendary title song by Bobby Womack. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week!
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