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geoffmothersole
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Hard Kill (2020)
Less charm than a call of duty level
I swear I have seen better plot exposition and character development in a Call of Duty level.
This film is abysmal. Hey, I found a deserted factory. Let's use it as a film set. Plot? Can't be bothered. Where is Captain Price when you need him?
Gangs of London (2020)
Cliched and full of holes.
Spoiler alert:
Every cliche is here; father and son gangsters with the not so innocent wife in the background. Characters staring out of glass towers at 'their' city. Ethnic gangs in fragile allegainces. But the biggest cliche is the ott violence with utterly incredible fights. We are meant to believe that the main character takes on over half a dozen albanians in a pub and comes out on top. He then takes on a man mountain armed with a cleaver, who some how keeps aiming to the side so as not to hurt him too much. Danish special forces trained mercs advance on a house slowly, line abreast, firing automatic weapons from too far away, rather than advancing quickly and from multiple angles.
Perhaps the biggest idiocy of them all is that we are supposed to believe that an undercover police officer infiltrates the most dangerous gang in London using his own name. His colleague who is also undercover keeps a phone on him that has the name of his handler, and the name of his fellow uc officer. This is then discovered by the gang at an opportune moment and gives the game away. Well duh! This is sheer idiocy and smacks of thoughtless lazy writing. In what conceivable world would someone undercover have a phone with such details on?
Some of the violence seems gratuitous, and aimed at distracting from the weak story line. Much of the acting is wooden, especially the lead. As others have pointed out, how come he has a posh accent and his brother doesnt?
It passes the time, but really falls well short of being good.
Hard Sun (2018)
Awkward amalgam of SF, consipracy thriller and police procedural.
*Spoilers*
I came to this series with high hopes. The coming end of the world scenario promises so much.
It starts ominously, as we see someone watching a top secret live feed with associated documents also marked top secret. OK, I get the message.
We also see a woman attacked and almost murdered at home (it later turns out that this is her son, later kept as a hostage as she investigates the male officer suspected of murder), and someone burgling a gangsters posh pad at gun point, just before an armed police raid. As ever in such scenarios, the police come in the front door conveniently leaving the back way unguarded, so the armed robber escapes.
A hacker comes across the super top secret stuff online, freaking out his hacking friend who makes it clear that he doesnt want to know. Having made this clear he goes to see said friend, who is so agitated he ends up going off his balcony. Hacker 2 takes the flash drive from the body. From there it comes to the attention of the 2 main protagonists who are immediately subject to a ham fisted attempt at murder, presumably by MI5 or similar.
The bizarre aspect of all this is that everyone who sees the file, immediately accepts that it is true. There is none of the scepticism or denial that one would expect. No one says 'but this cant be true' or shows any real doubt.
As the series progresses, each week we get a more or less psychotic killer whose actions are more or less driven by the hard sun scenario (it has been released but then dismissed as a hoax by all but the paranoid conspiracy folks).
The denouement is ridiculous and involves setting up the spook for a murder committed by the male police character (apparently he killed his colleague for some hinted at, presumably sexual abuse. It appears that arrest was not an option).
Overall there are too many plot holes. Why would super top secret be kept on an internet connected system? Why did MI5 not quietly persuade or disappear the officers with the file, rather than a mob handed shoot out? If they reied the latter, why not quietly walk up to the car and shoot the four occupants close up. Oh, and how come the 2 in the back seat get bullets in the head and the 2 police are totally unscathed?
What was the male officer up to, why did the woman carry a knuckle duster and use extreme violence so willingly?
At the end the 'extinction event' seems to kick off just as sun rises in the UK, and just as the spook is about to be murdered. Great timing.
I was left with too many questions and the overall impression that this is neither fish nor fowl. Too many storylines were crammed in and too many left unexplained/unexplored. Perhaps that is to set up series 2.
Night Moves (2013)
Zzzzzzzzz
I started this movie with eager anticipation, and ended with a strong desire to push pins in my eyes to alleviate the boredom. I really don't think that I have ever seen a film that is so slow and boring. It just seems to go on, and on, and on.... Lingering scenes, that are presumably meant to be replete with meaning, seem to go on forever. The main character does not seem to change his expression throughout,even during what should be one of the most dramatic scenes of the film. Presumably, this is meant to convey something, but to me it simply had the effect of adding to the tedium rather than exploring what (I guess) was meant to be the major themes of consequences and guilt. One to treasure for those nights when you are just desperate to sleep but cant drop off. Apart from that I would avoid it.