Reviews

Was expecting a cheap action movie and got an emotional drama/thriller, but it works. Turns out it is more about the lives of a few soldiers and how they and their families deal with the war and how it changes them as people. There's still a lot of action and excitement, but it's mostly about three soldiers trapped together and how they work to survive. It also deals with the character's wives back home and how they adjusted to life without their spouses. It jumps between all these characters and can be a bit jarring at first, but at the end all the stories tie together in a way you probably won't expect. There's an emotional ending that will definitely affect you and makes this a worthwhile watch. Not what I expected, but very good anyway. Would give 4.5/5 if I could.

Before I start I just want to say that I'm a *massive* fan of Cleese and virtually all of his work, from his acting performances to his work behind the camera. I'm very fond of so much of his filmography, from the Python series and films, to A Fish Called Wanda to Fierce Creatures and of course, the near perfect Fawlty Towers.

Because of this, I was recommended Clockwise.

I was expecting a feature-length symphony of chaos and Cleese-humour; Fawlty Towers, but given a budget and a 100 minute run time to wreak havoc for Cleese's character.

However, Clockwise is anything but.

The biggest problem with the film is its pacing. It is almost unbelievably slow. Of course, a slow buildup is often a benefit in such comedies; the story and circumstances slowly burn towards a riotous explosion of comedy, like Fawlty Towers has so often done. But in those instances, the slowness worked because we were always aware of the threat, of the tension, of the promise of what trouble is bubbling below the surface. In the case of this film however, I was bored almost to the point of turning off the movie.

Clockwise features entire scenes where characters do essentially nothing, or engage in so-called 'antics' that are virtually free of tension, suspense or humour. The scenes in the monastery, in the country fields, in the phone box or by the side of the road completely drain the film's energy. The very point of the movie is for us to feel the importance of every second tick by, to race against time, to be terrified of the prospect of being late--of missing the engagement. However, although Cleese's character is set up to be bordering on near obsession with these things, by the midway point he has seemingly abandoned these qualities and drifts through the film, even remarking that he doesn't care anymore. This character trait change is completely unprecedented, and makes no sense, to say nothing of how it drains the film of drama and comedy. I won't even touch on the bizarre and absurd sequence in which Cleese and his student take another man into the woods to steal his clothes by offering sex. It's barely usable in theory, and in execution, the scene is utterly groan-inducing.

The second major problem refers to the characters themselves and the way the film handles them. An entire slew of supporting characters are introduced (badly and uninterestingly), each of them supposedly being set up to antagonise and confound Cleese when he finally arrives. After we spend the whole film slowly and numbingly reaching Cleese's engagement, these characters are virtually forgotten, merely wandering into his speech session to distract him for a moment before being seated. The explosion of comedy and awkward confrontation, as was done so marvelously in A Fish Called Wanda, Fierce Creatures and Fawlty Towers, never occurs at all. The film's climax barely even occurs, and when it does, it's merely signposted by Cleese giving a bizarrely disjointed speech; a scene which doesn't seem to know whether it's suggesting that Cleese has lost his mind, or is merely winging it. Frankly, at this point, I didn't care. The subplots and ultimate conclusion of the story are never resolved. The film simply stops. Having Cleese's character no longer caring is fine, but this fact is never properly established.

Finally, the performances are either painful or boring. Everyone but Cleese seems to have turned their 'annoying-stereotype' meter up to eleven, screeching, whining and giggling in the most absurd ways. Meanwhile, Cleese himself plays the film surprisingly straight and subdued, barely every reaching his trademark levels of Basil Fawlty hysteria. This, despite the fact that he finds himself in situations that would make Fawlty collapse in agony. Naturally, I understand that we are dealing with different characters here, but since the film which to such arduous lengths in the first act to set up Cleese's neurosis, the fact that he sleepwalks through the rest of the film is genuinely bizarre.

Ultimately, Clockwise is incredibly disappointing, and, despite the apparent love of it in certain circles, I feel should be avoided at all costs.

It's begging for a remake to inject some tension, suspense and genuine comedy into this simple concept.

Spoilers abound below.

I've never read any of the Harry Potter books and as such am just basing this appraisal based on the cinematic experience. I didn't really enjoy the first two films in the cinema and therefore didn't bother to see the others. However, I picked up the entire boxset of 1-5 during the HD DVD fire sale and came to find that Potter 3,4 and 5 were MUCH better than the first two and were films of genuine quality in their own right.

As a result, I was eagerly looking forward to HBP and attended opening night.

But frankly, this film was a massive let down. The direction, acting, cinematography, visual effects and to a lesser extent, music were all of a decent to high quality. Yet the film was, in my opinion, a dull experience.

Ultimately, this film was filler in every meaning of the word.

There was virtually nothing in this film which couldn't have been detailed in Order of the Phoenix in some way.

The film was 75% about absolutely inane teenage romances. Now, I know these films are about teenagers and the romances are a key part of the story. But the fact that SO much of this film was dedicated to light hearted teen frolicking completely ruined the tension and action beats that have been built up in the last two films.

Let's face it, we spent the last half of Goblet of Fire and virtually all of Order of the Phoenix watching the reveal of an epic final battle between Voldemorte and Harry. Phoenix even ended on a very effective fight scene and dozens of sentiments of "this is it! It's go time!". Remember that great line which ended the film on a level of biting tension?: "He's back..."

One of the first rule of story telling is never lower the stakes.

After 2 films of tense buildup, the audience (especially those who DON'T KNOW THE BOOKS) is expecting a release. If you want to spend a THIRD movie building up to the finale, OK, risky, but it might work. Yet this film BARELY did that.

The majority of the romantic subplots are simply elements which could and should have been implemented or handled earlier in the stories. At this point, near the end, we just don't have the time to be dealing with these subdued, lighthearted plot beats. We want Voldemorte!

Whenever we're not dealing with these romances, we're spending time trying to wrangle the details of the Horcruxes out of Slughorn. This plot line was just lazy.

He says he's not willing to divulge information about his conversation with Tom Riddle for fear of "ruining his reputation"... THE WORLD IS AT STAKE! It's absolutely absurd that he would remain tight lipped under the circumstances when everyone KNOWS Voldemorte is back and means business. Furthermore, HE HAS ALREADY retired!!! The amount of time we spent meandering over Harry trying to learn the secret was precious time wasted. Furthermore, the only way he did learn the secret was through that pathetic Deus Ex Machina "success potion", which itself lead to that bizarre and wasteful "spider funeral and wake" sequence. What the hell is going on here?! I'm paying to see Wizards having epic duels!!

We finally, after two hours, learn the nature of the Horcruxes, Dumbledore bites the dust (in an ineffective death and funeral sequence that left me cold) and we repeat the generic "End of Harry Potter where the three leads stand together and state upbeat platitudes which lead into the next film". But we essentially spent TWO HOURS learning one fact: Voldemorte split his soul into seven trinkets. Now we gotta find them. THAT. IS. ALL. This could EASILY have been included in the previous films and we could already be underway in the search. What a waste of my time.

Other slight problems:

Why, after Harry cuts down Draco, do all his friends demand that he lose the HBP's book? Wtf? What does that have to do with anything? (Ok, we learn later that Harry's offensive spell here must have been a dangerous spell he learned from Snape's book, but we don't know this at all at the time. Everyone I saw the film with was confused by this.)

Furthermore, what the hell IS the Half Blood Prince? Sure, I know it's Snape, and yes, I'm sure it's explained in the book, but what IS IT? I still don't know.

Another thing: Where the HELL IS Voldemorte? In the last film his plan was clearly on the verge of application, but here he doesn't even show up? What is he doing? Relaxing at his home base while his mortal enemies spend A LOT of time solving his mysteries and discovering his weaknesses?

Ultimately, the fact remains, in simple terms, this film had virtually no story. Yes it had PLOT; a lot of events HAPPEN, but it BARELY advanced the emotional engagement we have with the characters and circumstances. It was a waste of time and didn't accomplish anything an extra ten minutes in the previous couldn't have.

A.