CitySolicitor
City Solicitor Film Reviews – Summer 2013
Man of Steel
Philip Henson, Partner and Head of Employment Law at DKLM, LLP
When Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, Inception), the man responsible for reviving the hugely successful Batman franchise, teams up with director Zack Synder (300, Watchmen), you can rest safe in the knowledge that you are about to see a high octane action film with a special effects team who will not be satisfied unless they have obliterated all man made surroundings. Sprinkle in a foreboding original music score from Hans Zimmer (Dark Knight Rises, Inception, and Gladiator) and a movie money printing press whirls into life; no doubt bolstered by the myriad of corporate product placements.
Superman’s father, Jor-El, (Russell Crowe) – who was thankfully not singing in this film – and his wife, Lara Lor-Van Aylet Zurer) have secretly given birth to a bouncing baby boy, on the resource starved dying planet of Krypton. Seeing that the end of their planet is nigh Jor-El defies General Zod (Michael Shannon – The Iceman, Boardwalk Empire) and sends the baby with the Krypton codex (a skull that miraculously holds the entire DNA of the inhabitants of Krypton) to planet Earth. Through flashbacks we see Clark Kent growing up in a farming community in Kansas, with his adoptive parents played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. When General Zod arrives on Earth it is inevitable that battle will commence.
British star Henry Cavill (I Capture The Castle, the Tudors, the Immortals) makes a convincing all American hero, complete with slick dark hair, ivory white teeth and a body and jaw line that Michelangelo himself could have carved.
There are no scenes of Superman running into the phone box; or ripping open his shirt – this is a rebooted film after all. In the background at one stage we see a sign emblazoned with LexCorp, perhaps a teaser for the next instalment? Eagled eyed
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viewers will also see a Wayne enterprises logo elsewhere – is this an inside joke or the catalyst for rumours (you heard it here first!) that the caped crusader will join forces with the man of steel in a few years’ time?
Phil says: 7.17/10 Cold War
Crime thriller Cold War (the opening film of the Terracotta film festival) has more twists and turns than the latest ride at Alton Towers. The film starts with an explosion inside a cinema in Hong Kong; followed by the kidnapping of a police van. A call from a hostage taker asking for a calculation of how much the lives of five policemen could be worth starts a search across Hong Kong for the perpetrators.
Asia’s safest city has another problem as rival deputy police commissioners Sean Lau (Aaron Kwok) and Waise Lee (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) fight to take charge of the rescue operation, code named Cold War. Aaron Kwok once again shows off his ability looking remarkable handsome whilst looking as though he is about to say something profound. Tony Leung K-Fai (the Lover) gives yet another acting master class. The award winning script is very witty in places, with camera shots show casing the majestic beauty of the Hong Kong Landscape.
Phil says: 7.35/10 The Great Gatsby
If a feature film were to be made about legal luminary Lord Denning I suspect that we would be quick to criticise it for not having captured the full majesty of the man whose judgments we all enjoy reading. In the same vein you will no doubt have a perception of what Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) should look and walk like.
We see Gatsby’s struggle to hold the love of his life Daisy (Carey Mulligan) in his arms in
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