Rush: A Review

If you go to see Rush hoping to enjoy a two-hour biopic detailing James Hunt’s booze-swigging, sexed-up lifestyle – you’re going to be disappointed. Far from being simply the story of arguably the wildest Formula 1 driver to grace the sport, Rush is just as equally devoted to telling his racing rival Niki Lauda’s extraordinary tale.

Centered on the 1976 World Championship, Ron Howard’s return to the big screen is unflinching in its depiction of the extravagance and danger of F1 racing. It takes you to the parties and press conferences, puts you in the cars as they roar inches from each other and yet, somehow, still succeeds in handling the delicate subject of a driver’s mindset.

Chris Hemsworth is mesmerising as the brilliant but troubled Brit desperate for the drive. He juggles the alcohol-fuelled playboy role with that of the talented but unsettled driver with such skill you can’t help but admire and almost pity Hunt – a tricky task considering his less than saintly reputation.

You don’t have to be a huge fan of F1 to keep up, either. Peter Morgan’s script allows the audience to be pulled into the competition without feeling lost. Of course it does help to appreciate fast cars and the technicalities of racing – but it’s not a necessity. The sound of 25 cars revving in cinematic surround sound is enough to raise anyone’s heartbeat.

Despite being billed as the story of James Hunt, it’s Lauda who does the narrating – a decision that makes the film both gravitate towards the Austrian and also serve as a compliment to Hunt, who died in 1993 aged just 46. As notorious racing enemies, it’s truly touching to hear Lauda praise the driver in the closing monologue.

Daniel Brühl is outstanding as the Austrian; he’s cold, determined and utterly compelling. The film builds to his terrifying crash at the Nürburgring that left him close to death with severe facial burns – Brühl’s take on Lauda’s recovery earned praise from the famously distant driver himself. The crash and what follows is shocking and eye-watering to watch but Howard handles it with an honesty and respect that adds a hugely emotional punch to Lauda’s return just 40 days after the incident.

Rush is worthy of its Oscar buzz. A great cast, a great script – and a story that even those who don’t remember it happening can connect to – makes the film deserving of its praise. You know what happens, of course, but that doesn’t matter. As they say – it’s about the ride, not the destination.

And Rush is one a hell of a ride.

★★★★★

The World’s End: A Review

A trilogy is always going to be a difficult thing to conclude, especially when it’s the culmination of a triad of British cult successes. If you look at it that way, and bear in mind the pressure on scriptwriters and long-term collaborators Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright to deliver, you should admire The World’s End for its ballsy approach – this is a film that wants to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

TWE sees Pegg’s washed-up wannabe rock star Gary King reunite his four childhood friends in their hometown of Newton Haven. The aim? To finish an infamous pub crawl they failed to complete as teenagers. Unfortunately for the five musketeers, their attempt to best ‘The Golden Mile’ ends up being the last thing on all but one of their minds as they come under fire from an army of ink-filled invaders.

The gang, made up of Pegg, Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan work together, strangely enough, like they’ve been doing it for years. Their rapport with one another is flawless, though the film essentially, and predictably, boils down to the relationship between King and Nick Frost’s  much more successful Andrew Knightley. They are after all the bread and butter of this trilogy and the two you want to follow to the end. It’s also nice to see Pegg play the ‘loser’ role, giving the interplay between the two a fresh feel.

It’s an entertaining romp, and there are good jokes and some great cameos, but for all the action and effects unfortunately it just doesn’t feel as satisfying as Hot Fuzz or Shaun. It runs a bit like a movie written by people with other things on their plate – full of ambition but lacking in well-planned delivery. Even the big reveal, though funny, is disappointingly lacklustre.

Where it does succeed is in its handling of the surprisingly deep and poignant moments. Among the chaos it manages to pick at the heart of a common fear – that our lives peak as naïve, arrogant teenagers, and it never gets better. Eddie Marsan comes in as a newcomer to the world of Pegg/Frost/Wright but has perhaps the most heart-wrenching scene in the whole film, and it really packs a punch.

It does get a bit repetitive, but the choreography and Edgar Wright’s masterful crash zooms and camera work keep you from getting bored.

It’s an action-packed bit of cinema and the effects are impressive, but somewhere along the way it just starts to wobble and doesn’t manage to recover before the credits role. Still, Pegg, Frost and Wright shouldn’t worry. It’s their use of all comedy, from deadpan delivery to slapstick to typically British sarcasm, that really makes you laugh, and it’s what keeps The World’s End a strong finale to their now timeless ‘Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy’.

★★★

Star Trek Into Darkness: A Review

“I hate this!” shouts Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban) to Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) as they hotfoot it through a forest of vermilion trees and away from an angry, indigenous alien tribe. “I know you do!” Kirk quips back, before the duo plunge off the edge of a cliff.

There’s no need for any backstory here; Star Trek (2009) re-introduced audiences to the crew of the USS Enterprise and left them heading into warp with Kirk as the newly promoted skipper. Star Trek Into Darkness barely lets you settle into your seat before it hurls you (thrusters firmly on full) back into the action.

After joining the crew mid-mission on the planet Nibiru – where Kirk and Bones do the running away thing and Zachary Quinto’s Lt. Spock enters an erupting volcano – we head back to Earth. Renegade Starfleet agent John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) has bombed London and declared war against the Federation. Kirk’s job? To hunt him down and take him out.

A task easier said than done, as Harrison proves to be a menacing, highly intelligent, seemingly indestructible villain. Cumberbatch is absolutely the “one man weapon of mass destruction” we were promised; violent, merciless and purring out his chilling discourse with a compelling intensity. He makes Nero look like a puppy.

Star Trek Into Darkness is very much the story of how Kirk learns to be a captain. His cocksure attitude and disregard for the rules continually put his crew in danger and, facing a nemesis like Harrison, he’s forced to grow up. Vulcan Spock too is on a learning curve, attempting to connect to his half-human side and understand the complexities of his relationship with Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana).

It’s a shame that the motivation behind Harrison’s attacks is somewhat complicated and blurred in pages of technical dialogue, but such is the risk of upping the scale in a universe beloved by sci-fi-savvy fans. Alice Eve is an interesting addition as Dr Carol Marcus, a character with much potential but who unfortunately fizzles out near the end.

Despite this, it’s a stunning piece of film. If you want space-porn, you get it, if you’re hoping to see much more of the Enterprise, you get it. If you love high-octane fight sequences with phasers, lasers and whatever else – you get it. The wispy blue trail left behind after the ship goes to warp is reason enough to see Into Darkness in 3D. Props to cinematographer Dan Mindel for making sure the visuals perfectly complement the magnitude of the movie.

Though Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof’s script doesn’t dispel entirely with the comedy, the film certainly isn’t as light as Star Trek. Scotty is there to serve as the comic relief when the moments do come though and Simon Pegg does a fine job punctuating the tense scenes with a bit of well-needed humour. It’s also worth noting how well they’ve made sure each character gets their moment to shine, whether its John Cho’s pilot Sulu threatening Harrison or Chekov (Anton Yelchin) struggling with an unexpected promotion.

In the special features for Star Trek, Orci admits that a movie is only as good as its bad guy. Luckily, Harrison is a tremendous foe – thus Into Darkness is bigger, better, cleverer and much more ambitious. It’s Abrams at his best. With cracking action and clever references to The Original Series it should please the established fanboys and girls as well as the newcomers, and serve as a show reel for what we can expect from Abrams when it comes to Star Wars VII.

★★★★★

Iron Man 3: A Review

So here we go – the second phase of Marvel movies is officially underway. How do you ensure it starts with a bang? You get a new director and the planet’s favourite actor and give them a plot they can run with. And boy, does Iron Man 3 deliver.

We kick off back in 1999; Tony Stark is at a New Year’s party in Switzerland and he’s creating demons. Ignoring the over-keen and crippled Aldrich Killian (a slimy Guy Pearce) to spend the night with ‘botanist’ Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), he sets in motion a chain of events that bring us to the present day. Our favourite genius billionaire playboy philanthropist is at what is fair to describe as a rough patch in his otherwise enviable life. He isn’t sleeping. He’s haunted by what happened in New York. The events of Avengers Assemble have left him struggling with symptoms of PTSD and as a result, his relationship with Pepper is suffering. Just when things couldn’t get worse, a ruthless terrorist branding himself The Mandarin starts hijacking the airwaves and promising to teach the USA some lessons.

The main focus of the film is the Extremis storyline. Someone’s out there creating an army of regenerative super soldiers who prove more than a match for Iron Man, and it’s down to him to find out what connects them to The Mandarin.

Tonally, IM3 is very much a different film in comparison to the first two installments; Tony finds himself without his flash tech and equipment and out on his own. Having lost his mansion and with the lives of those he cares about at risk, he’s literally forced from his protective shell and into the harsh reality of the real world. There’s a particularly tender moment after a crash landing where JARVIS runs out of juice – Tony sits in the snow sadly asking him not to leave him on his own.

Downey is superb, as expected. IM3 gives him the chance to not only do the loveable cocky bastard routine but to explore Tony’s fragile side too. The moments of seriousness, when they come, are delicately handled with subtle reactions and you are with him 100% when he’s out for revenge. The guy was born to play Tony Stark.

Paltrow gets a bigger role this time round (there’s no sign of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow to provide kick-ass female support) and manages to surprise with her ability to play the action girl. Rebecca Hall is wonderful if underused; scenes between her and Paltrow are played with a precise sensitivity and break up the all-out explosive bits by providing slower and much-needed time to catch your breath. Don Cheadle’s Rhodey/War Machine/Iron Patriot/whatever-you-like is also given more screen time, and proves to those of us who can’t afford an armoured suit that you don’t necessarily need one to be a badass.

But the biggest surprise? Sir Ben Kingsley. He’s extraordinary as The Mandarin. Decked out in hooded robes and with fingers adorned with clunky rings he could be farcical, but his unusual line delivery (“You’ll neverrr seee meeee coming”) and cold, calculating mindset combine to make a truly unique villain. See IM3 for this performance alone because it’s all people are talking about.

Whether or not there’ll be an Iron Man 4 is still anyone’s guess, but if this is indeed the last sole outing for Downey then it’s a fitting conclusion. IM3 is stuffed to bursting with massive twists, action, great dialogue, proper laugh-out-loud humour and plenty of edge of your seat excitement. It’s hard to think of what more could’ve been added to make it better.

IRONMAN3ROX

★★★★★

Django Unchained: A Review

The best thing about sitting down to watch a new Quentin Tarantino movie is that you do so already guaranteed a great story, a great script, and plenty of violence. Django Unchained is no exception. Almost three hours of gun-slinging, horseback, bloody action displays the horrors of the slave trade in the same way that Tarantino’s last film, Inglorious Basterds, showed you the Nazi’s merciless approach to achieving supremacy. It is unflinching and unforgiving and yes, sometimes hard to watch – but it’s a Tarantino movie, so what do you expect?

Like Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained is ultimately a story about retribution. Jamie Foxx’s hero, Django (“The D is silent”) is a slave, found by Cristoph Waltz’s dentist-come-bounty hunter Dr King Schultz. In return for his help in identifying the Brittle brothers, Schultz helps Django search for his enslaved wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Their search takes them to Candyland, the plantation owned by Leonardo DiCaprio’s sadistic and pretentious Calvin Candie, where the brutality of the slave trade is made plain to see.

Django Unchained is not just a fantastic movie, but a clever one too. Tarantino’s script is sharp and funny in all the right places (as well as some unexpected ones), and it’s filled with imagery so subtle that you’re at risk of missing it in the richness of the all-out action. Red blood spraying over white cotton, for example. Though critics argue that it’s drawn out and far too long, what we’re shown is what we need to see. Prancing around on a dancing horse might not, at first, seem necessary but in the context of the scene it’s a metaphor for Django’s much-desired freedom.

The cast are all so good that awards should be weighting down their mantelpieces. Foxx and Waltz are an ingenious pairing, almost like father and son in the way they behave together. DiCaprio’s Candie is a masterclass in smart acting. You think you have a handle on the guy and suddenly he’ll do something completely out of character, or alternatively will force himself to remain there even when he’s cut his hand open on a glass. Yes, that’s Leo’s real blood he smears all over Kerry Washington’s face. Give the guy an Oscar, for God’s sake.

It doesn’t need to go over the top with the violence because the subject matter is so permeated with it already, but the blood-spraying chaos that it does provide is oddly cathartic, and done in a way that at no point do you think that it’s gratuitous. That and the witty dialogue and sense of fulfilment makes Django Unchained already one of the best movies of 2013.

Bravo, Mr Tarantino. Your best film so far.

★★★★★

Life of Pi: A Review

With so many action and adventure films in the cinema at this time of year, it’s nice to find one that provides the film-goer with both those things and then, if you’ll forgive the pun, a boatload more. Life of Pi is more of a journey than an adventure though, in a literal and metaphorical sense.

Put simply, it’s the story of  a 16-year-old boy who finds himself shipwrecked and floating at sea with just a hungry Bengal tiger for company. However the themes of religion and belief that it presents makes Life of Pi an incredibly refreshing piece of film. Don’t let those themes put you off – as well as being just challenging enough to stay engaging, it’s a great cinematic feat. The CGI, upon which it relies heavily, is absolutely seamless. The tiger itself is so realistic that it’s hard to believe it’s not actually real; the 3D lending itself perfectly to the claustrophobic setting as it claws viciously out of the screen.

The story is told through flashbacks, cutting to the modern day as Irrfan Khan’s older Pi tells his story to a novelist (Rafe Spall). The script is so well written that half the time you don’t realise that what you’re actually watching is an intellectual RE lesson that lets you decide how you want to interpret the symbolism hidden in the story. It gives you every thing you need to make an informed decision about the power of God but stays light and is peppered with humour.

Suraj Sharma, who plays the young Pi, has done an astonishing job with his role especially when you note that in all the scenes with the tiger (practically the entire film), he was acting to nothing. This is from a guy who had never acted before and only auditioned for the role after he was promised a free sandwich from Subway. His performance is raw, emotional and brilliant.

Ang Lee’s adaption of Yann Martel’s ‘unfilmable’ novel is nominated for eleven Academy Awards and three Golden Globes, including those for Best Picture.  It’ll be a surprise if it doesn’t win at least half of those. Life of Pi is an intelligent piece of cinema that hurls you into that lifeboat with the tiger and ultimately leaves you feeling all the better for it.

★★★★

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: A Review

An Unexpected Journey is the first of what is going to be Peter Jackson’s second Middle Earth trilogy. There was a time, back in 2007, when he was set to be the executive producer with Guillermo del Toro in the director’s role. That was back when the story was going to span just two films. But Middle Earth is Jackson’s realm – it always has been and always will be. And after del Toro walked out of the project after production delays, Jackson slipped effortlessly back into the director’s chair, and has triumphed in creating a prequel that takes the viewer back into the world we last experienced on the big screen in 2003.

JRR Tolkien’s 1937 novel has now been adapted into three films, with The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again expected to grace our screens in the next two years. The first part introduces Martin Freeman’s eponymous hobbit Bilbo Baggins, sixty years younger than when we first meet him in the Lord of the Rings, and follows him as he joins a company of thirteen dwarves led by the mighty Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage, on brilliant form). In this first part alone, Bilbo, the dwarves and Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) encounter, for starters, cockney trolls, vicious wargs and some pretty ugly goblins in what could only be a Peter Jackson film. Guillermo who?

The first thing that needs saying is that An Unexpected Journey is visually stunning. The word ‘breathtaking’ is thrown around a lot these days but here, with the beauty of New Zealand’s rolling landscapes and towering, snowy mountains, it’s the only word that can be used. It’s a veritable feast for the eyes, and it’s hard to believe that this place really does exist on two small islands on the other side of the planet. The sumptuous camera work helps to reiterate the fact that at its heart, this is a story about small people on a quest into a big world.

Martin Freeman plays Bilbo, the smallest of them all, perfectly. In the book he continually fights an internal battle between his longing for Bag End and his desire for adventure. In the film, Freeman manages to capture Bilbo’s struggle with a flawless mix of deadpan delivery and brave acceptance. He ends this first part already a very different hobbit from the one we meet at the beginning.

His encounter with Gollum (Andy Serkis) in the dark, dank caves under Goblin Town is taken straight out of the book. Serkis and Freeman’s performance together is inspired. Gollum is younger but just as twisted as he is in Rings; his furious realisation that Bilbo has something precious in his pocket is frightening, laying the foundations of his hatred of the hobbits in LotR.

With thirteen dwarves it was always a risk that the audience wouldn’t be able to identify them all, but little character and costume quirks make it quite simple. Whether it’s Dwalin and his tattooed head, Ori and his cardigans or Bifur with a piece of axe lodged in his skull, each dwarf is recognisable even when they’re standing pressed against the side of a mountain in the pouring rain. At night.

If you were to find one thing to criticise, it would be that unlike Rings, all the goblins etc. are CGI. Characters like Lurtz and Gothmog were menacing because they looked real. Here everything is CGI, and to some extent it loses that effect. But it’s a small criticism, and not one to focus on when there’s everything else to enjoy.

An Unexpected Journey doesn’t just set up LotR, but the rest of the Hobbit trilogy too. It isn’t the standalone film that del Toro wanted. In this we get an introduction to Azog the goblin and his backstory with Thorin, courtesy of a battle-heavy flashback. The dragon Smaug is glimpsed enough to show that the dwarves and Bilbo will certainly have their work cut out if they ever make it to the Lonely Mountain, and the seeds of doom are sown after Sylvester McCoy’s eccentric Radagast the Brown visits the fortress of Dol Guldur and reports that it is not quite as abandoned as the White Council had hoped.

This is more than a blockbuster movie. Okay, so it’s definitely full of action and battles and magic and excellent monsters, but it’s also a chance to return to the spectacular world of Tolkein’s imagining and Jackson’s creation. For those who have waited patiently to lose themselves in the stories again, An Unexpected Journey is everything you could wish for.

★★★★★

The Dark Knight Rises: A Review

2012 has been pretty big for comic book movies so far. Pretty big for Marvel comic book movies anyway, what with the Avengers currently sitting at #3 on the list of highest-grossing films ever and The Amazing Spider-Man banking over $500,000,000 worldwide  (and growing). Over at DC there might have been a little bit of a worry that they’re losing out in the stakes; Marvel are a billion dollar powerhouse and coming up against them with anything short of spectacular would be pointless. Convenient then that they invested their $250 million into Christopher Nolan and something called The Dark Knight Rises.

And boy, is it spectacular.

The third of Nolan’s Batman films isn’t just a showcase of how to do a superb comic book film. It’s a showcase of how to do a fantastic piece of cinema. Suspenseful, well-structured and expertly delivered, it is the perfect way to round off a trilogy that has changed how people look at superhero movies.

The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after the events in The Dark Knight (2008), as the city of Gotham toasts the success of the Dent Act and the subsequent clean-up of crime from the streets. Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne has hung up his Batman togs and is hiding away from the world with just his butler Alfred (Michael Caine) for company. Unfortunately for Gotham, it’s at this point that Tom Hardy’s villain, Bane, decides it’s time to shake things up a bit.

Built like a tank (or rather, the Tumbler), Hardy gained 30lbs of muscle for the role and succeeds in creating a merciless juggernaut of strength and violence. With the majority of Bane’s face covered by a mask, it’s a testament to Hardy’s ability as an actor that he can portray his malice with just the use of his eyes.

The cast is extraordinarily good overall with actors like Gary Oldman (who is, as expected, brilliant once again as Commissioner Gordon) and Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Lucius Fox. Michael Caine demonstrates his reliable acting chops a number of times as Alfred confesses numerous heartfelt things to Bruce, all of which leave a lump in the throat. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s police officer John Blake is a refreshing addition to the story and Marion Cotillard’s Miranda Tate is as compelling as she is beautiful. It’s Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman though who really gets her claws into the role and appears to have the most fun. She’s entertaining and dangerous and sharp, all the things you’d want her to be, and certainly proves the disbelievers wrong. It is inspired casting, and somewhere Halle Berry is wondering how she could have possibly got it so wrong.

The Dark Knight Rises is filled with astonishing set pieces right from the get go. If you liked the truck flip in The Dark Knight, you’ll love the opening sequence in the aeroplane as it’s perfectly conducted to be as mind blowing as possible. The scene used in the trailer, with the American football pitch getting blown to pieces, is just jaw-dropping. All the fight scenes are well choreographed to the point that you’re literally wincing in your seat.

The plot doesn’t lag at all, it rolls smoothly through and is filled with little surprises and harks back to the previous two films. You will have had to have seen them to understand a lot of TDKR but even if you haven’t, it’s explained well enough in the script that you can pick up what’s going on nonetheless. It’s a shame really that the plot ends up revolving around something as banal as it does, though the way it’s directed means that you’re so engrossed in the action and the the nail-biting tension of it all that you don’t even really notice.

And so, the Batman trilogy has come to an end in an explosion of skin-tight body suits and mind-blowing action. The Dark Knight Rises is the ultimate finale to a franchise that has reinvented what a comic book film can be. Congratulations, Mr Nolan. And thank you.

★★★★★

Silk: A Review

The BBC’s courtroom drama, Silk, concluded its six-part second series last night. Returning with both better character development and a much more engaging storyline than the first series, it’ll come as no surprise if it’s recomissioned for a third outing.

Series two focuses on Martha Costello, fresh from being awarded the eponymous silk, facing tougher cases as well as a few home truths. Maxine Peake plays Costello as fierce and no-nonsense and she manges to carry each episode with ease. Rupert Penry-Jones’ Clive Reader has a more turbulent time of things this time around, involving himself in an ill-advised relationship with Indira Varma’s solicitor, George Duggan, and attempting to make the transition from defending to prosecuting in the hope that he’ll finally manage to achieve silk as well. Penry-Jones manages to turn Clive from the selfish posh boy we saw in series one to a much more likeable character, which is definitely needed when he ends up putting his job on the line as his storyline develops.

It’s Neil Stuke’s clerk, Billy Lamb, who has the most engaging plotline however, as he finds himself trapped in a world of bribes and cash-filled envelopes given to him by sinister solicitor Mickey Joy (Phil Davis), only to have all his problems topped off with a serious health scare at the end of the series. Stuke does a fine job of treading the line between arrogance and humility.

Though the over-arching plot is a little confusing thanks to the fact it spends the first few episodes being picked up, alluded to, then dropped again, the final episode answers all the questions and comes to a satisfactory conclusion. It’s a shame then, that the rest of the cases seem to be breezed through in order to get to the meaty central plot, and Clive’s case involving a frightened woman on a murder charge (which he spends the majority of the series working on) is dropped completely in the last episode.

Overall, the second series makes for addictive viewing and is certainly one of the better BBC dramas that’s been produced this year so far.

★★★

Johnny English Reborn: DVD Review

Johnny English Reborn is the second outing for Rowan Atkinson’s hapless spy. It’s probably also the last, too; a mercy as this sequel lacks any of the comedy or originality of the first.

Reborn finds English an embarrassment to MI7 following a disastrous mission in Mozambique. He’s called back to spy duty by Gillian Anderson’s head of British Intelligence, Pegasus, to investigate a plot to assassinate the Chinese premier. Quite why is anyone’s guess. Hamish McColl’s screenplay is bland and predictable and Atkinson struggles to do anything fresh with jokes and set-pieces that are simply clichéd.

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The supporting cast is, however, surprisingly good. Dominic West plays the charming but sly Simon Ambrose (or Agent One), Rosamund Pike plays English’s love interest and Daniel Kaluuya does a good job with nothing but passing comments for dialogue. His junior agent is there to fill the gap left by Ben Miller, who got just about all the best lines (and probably the best performance) as English’s sidekick in the first film.

The plot moves along at a relatively speedy pace, with the repetitious punchlines becoming very tedious very quickly. Granted, there are some fairly amusing moments but on the whole the slapstick humour (beating up a granny with a tea tray, for example) is anything but. The revelation as to who the main bad guy is comes far too early in the film, leaving you with nothing really to stay watching for. Even the final fight scene, which had potential to be a spectacular Bond-style spoof in a cable car above the Alps, is reduced to childish farce.

There was an opportunity to make an entertaining follow up here, but instead we have to settle for an incredibly disappointing continuation of a previously exhausted story.

The DVD comes with 45 minutes of extended/deleted scenes, a feature on the wheelchair chase, commentary by director Oliver Parker and a gag reel.

★★