This has Noir written all over it and I desperately wanted to give a it a 10 but, as it progressed, its shortcoming were revealed and I had to settle for a 5. Shame. It had so much promise.
It starts brilliantly with an excellent noir backdrop and a superb modern noir music theme. The (anti?)hero is a smoker - how much more noir can you get!?
It hits all the spot - beatings, abductions, threats, being followed, spooks, friends in danger - and worse!.
However, much is shot in dim lighting with faded colours so it's not always easy to see what's happening. Atmospheric? If you have to resort to such tricks then No. In The Third Man and The Maltese Falcon every frame was clear. Dim lighting does not equal atmosphere. Who's at fault - the director or cinematographer? Let them share the blame.
It tries to fill the troublesome middle section (actually most of the first 3/4 of the movie with flashback exposition. Too much, too much, and not all required. The backstory was quite well telegraphed without all that, and a backstory with the most unlikely of pairings in the history of cinema! (although if Billy Piper could fancy Chris Evans, other than for his money, then any match is fair game!)
Add as the editor or director decides to play fast and loose with totally unnecessary film effects (motion blurring and, heck, just blurred filming and shaky hand-help camera work), you start to wonder what happened to the 'noir'. And as the filming deteriorated, so did the music. From the initial atmospheric theme, it descended into electronic thriller mode.
And as the theme of a missing girl morphs into a semi-global political and terrorist theme, the 'magic' of noir is lost.
Sorry if that sounds damning. It's not so much, but it is incredibly disappointing. Even China Town didn't have to go that far to 'try' to be important. It's not about the theme, it's about the people.
So, you might be surprised it still gets an 6. I am! But it loses more points for disappointment than for lack of initial effort. It's still worth watching but it should have been so much better.
It starts brilliantly with an excellent noir backdrop and a superb modern noir music theme. The (anti?)hero is a smoker - how much more noir can you get!?
It hits all the spot - beatings, abductions, threats, being followed, spooks, friends in danger - and worse!.
However, much is shot in dim lighting with faded colours so it's not always easy to see what's happening. Atmospheric? If you have to resort to such tricks then No. In The Third Man and The Maltese Falcon every frame was clear. Dim lighting does not equal atmosphere. Who's at fault - the director or cinematographer? Let them share the blame.
It tries to fill the troublesome middle section (actually most of the first 3/4 of the movie with flashback exposition. Too much, too much, and not all required. The backstory was quite well telegraphed without all that, and a backstory with the most unlikely of pairings in the history of cinema! (although if Billy Piper could fancy Chris Evans, other than for his money, then any match is fair game!)
Add as the editor or director decides to play fast and loose with totally unnecessary film effects (motion blurring and, heck, just blurred filming and shaky hand-help camera work), you start to wonder what happened to the 'noir'. And as the filming deteriorated, so did the music. From the initial atmospheric theme, it descended into electronic thriller mode.
And as the theme of a missing girl morphs into a semi-global political and terrorist theme, the 'magic' of noir is lost.
Sorry if that sounds damning. It's not so much, but it is incredibly disappointing. Even China Town didn't have to go that far to 'try' to be important. It's not about the theme, it's about the people.
So, you might be surprised it still gets an 6. I am! But it loses more points for disappointment than for lack of initial effort. It's still worth watching but it should have been so much better.