Films I've Seen This Week

Battle Royale (*****) has been one of those films that I’ve really wanted to see but just never got round to until the now-free Film 4 showed it last weekend. And now it’s probably entered my top ten films of all time.

A group of classmates are drugged on a school trip and taken to a mysterious island where they are then told by their teacher they are about to enter a sadistic game. They have three days to kill each other in a battle of survival until there is just one left. If they don’t, they will all be killed by an exploding ring that has been placed around their neck.

While some kids relish this challenge and set off to murder as many as they can, some simply give in, while some attempt to find a way to thwart the evil authority overseeing the game.

The cinematography is stunning, giving it an almost post-apocalyptic feel, the pace never slows from the outset and despite the horiffic Lord Of The Flies scenario, there is still touches of humour, both intentional, the almost MTV-inspired instruction video in particular, and unintentional, the amount of times a person will come back to life after being blasted close range 100 tims does require a certain amount of disbelief.

The actual killings are inventive, the classical music blasted over the tannoy is inspired, and the back stories to explain the motives of the children means that the characters are not as one-dimensional as they could have been, particularly Yannahara, whose tragic history of his parents, makes his refusal to kill and his desire to protect his best friend even more poignant.

This is a world cinema masterpiece that even subtitle-phobics will enjoy.

The Business (***) is a rather enjoyable trip through the 80s starring Danny Dyer, who yet again teams up with director Nick Love for another crime flick, this time about British drug barons in the Costa Del Sol.

Dyer plays Frankie, who after killing his mum’s abusive partner flees to Malaga where he meets super-suave playboy Charlie, who takes him under his wing and introuduces him to a life of organised crime.

British gangster-style movies are not exactly my thing, but this worked thanks to the the excellent soundtrack, the balance of black humour and sometimes shocking violence and Dyer, who is excellent as the innocent but cheeky Cockney wideboy who turns into a ruthless gun-toting cokehead.

Children of Men (****) is without doubt, the best film I’ve seen at the cinema all year.

Set in 2027, the world is in crisis as no children have been born for 20 years due to all women becoming infertile. The streets of Britain are also in utter chaos due to out of control immigration where “fugees” are thrown in cages to await deporation.

Theo (Clive Owen), is abducted by a secret society, the head of which is his ex-girlfriend (Julianne Moore), and asked to get papers to transport a woman named Kee, who is holding a secret that will change the world, out of the country.

The film is utterly relentless in its power to leave you on the edge of your seat. The action, which focuses on the war between rebels and the armed forces is astonishingly powerful, the performances, particularly reluctant hero Owen, are excellent and there is one big shock you never see coming after only half an hour that ensures the film is never going to be predictable.