FILM: American Hustle
DIRECTOR: David O. Russell
CAST: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Michael Pena, Elisabeth Rohm
There is a line in the film that goes: “People believe what they want to believe. This is the way the world works. No black and white, always grey.” How profound and true! And by the end of the film, one recalls the very first frame that stated, “Some of this actually happened” in bold letters, a declaration that feels calculated to make the audience believe so.
Filled with outrageously loud grey characters, “American Hustle” is about a highly charged FBI agent who blackmails a small-time fraudster and his mistress into helping him ferret out corrupt politicians from the system. It is loosely based on the Abscam that shook America in 1978.
The film tracks the scandal through the point of view of Irving Rosenfeld and his mistress and partner in “love and commerce” Sydney Prosser through jigsaw flash cut edits with zoom effects and numerous he-said-she-said voiceovers.
The politician is Carmine Polito, the mayor of Camden, New Jersey, who loves his city, its people and is willing to go over the edge to see his city flourish.
The spoke in Irving’s life is his overtly anxious wife Rosalyn, who constantly sets fire in the kitchen and Richie DiMaso, the passionately enthusiastic FBI agent who corners him and Sydney into aiding him arraign a few cases of political corruption.
What starts off as a small sting operation to snitch, soon becomes an elaborate scheme. The plan blows out of proportion, as the targets become Congressmen and Mafioso, due to Richie’s greed, impatience and weakness “to con the Mayor to build Atlantic City”.
And soon, the scurry to outdo the other in order to survive forms the crux of the narration. But it is the constant niggling and doubting the intention of the characters that keep the audience hooked.
The performance from every cast member is outstanding. Christian Bale as the flabby Irving Rosenfeld leads the team. He dwells in that grey space of trust and uncertainty, with buoyant confidence that makes you believe in his honesty, as well as his ploys.
Bradley Cooper as the hot-headed Agent Richie, Jeremy Renner as Mayor Carmine and Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser, a lady from Albuquerque with “nothing to lose” along with her alter-ego Lady Edith – the well-connected socialite – are very impressive. So is Robert DeNiro as the bald Victor Tellegio in a cameo.
But it is Jennifer Lawrence as the disgruntled Rosalyn, loud and obviously intended as the comedic relief, who steals the show. She lights the screen as she executes the madness and unpredictability of her character with great ease.
The credit for the brilliant performance definitely goes to the well-crafted and occasionally funny script written by Russell and Eric Singer.
The over-the-top characters along with their spontaneous dialogues that are carefully layered with pop songs exude a subtle intelligent brilliance of the 1970s era.
After delivering excellent films like “The Fighter” and “Silver Linings PlayBook”, Russell does not disappoint you with “American Hustle”. Despite its flaws and lack in drive, it makes-up with style and excellence.
It is an ideal intriguing period crime film laced with comedy. (IANS)
FILM: The Legend of Hercules
DIRECTOR: Renny Harlin
CAST: Kellan Lutz, Scott Adkins, Liam McIntyre, Liam Garrigan, Johnathon Schaech, Roxana McKee, Gaia Weiss, Rade Serbedzija, Kenneth Cranham
The Legend of Hercules is a perfect example of how too many cooks spoil the broth! With four writers credited with the script, one would expect a perfect piece of entertainment. But instead, what you get is a cauldron of insipid, generic and lacklustre entertainment!
Apart from the sheer opulence of a period drama, director Renny Harlin’s “The Legend of Hercules” is a shallow re-imaging of the mythological Greek hero Hercules, the son of Zeus.
The film begins on the outskirts of Argos in circa 1200 BC, where two warring commanders indulge in a one-to-one battle in order to avoid bloodshed, a voiceover reveals: “A victorious war is a chronicle of grief,” and indeed it is.
The inciting moment of the tale is when, Queen Alcmene realises that her husband, King Amphitryon, “the slayer of kings”, blinded with greed, is not only ambitious, but also dangerous. She appeals to goddess Hera for a solution to stop the king’s madness. The goddess appears before her and grants her a boon. A child of Zeus born through her would save the land from the hands of the evil king. He would be named Hercules.
Amphitryon, who is aware that Hercules is not his son, ill-treats him.
Twenty years later, Amphitryon plots to kill Hercules when he is on an expedition to Egypt after he realises that Hercules is in love with Princess Hebe, who is already promised to his son Iphicles, the heir apparent.
Hercules along with Sotiris the commander of the mission, survive and are sold off as slaves.
They end up as gladiators before returning to Greece to start a revolt against Amphitryon.
Kellan Lutz makes a charming Hercules. Apart from him being macho and fearless, the script does not permit him to display much of an emotional graph. He oscillates from being a timid brother and obedient son to a caring and understanding friend and leader.
Roxanne McKee as Queen Alcmene, Liam McIntyre as the brave commander and loving father Sotiris along with Liam Garrigan as the devious and conniving Iphicles are strikingly impressive in their roles.
Gaia Weiss as Princess Hebe is pretty stiff whereas Rade Serbedzija as Chiron, the priest, is wasted.
The sets are massive and recreate an authentic look and feel of the era. The costumes designed by Sonu Mishra are imposing and remarkably striking. It is the best thing in the film, which gets an extra star in the ratings.
On the surface, Renny Harlin’s “The Legend of Hercules” has all the ingredients to be a mega blockbuster, but unfortunately, the film is formulaic and lacks consistency in texture and tonal qualities. That’s because the director has made generous use of scenes and situations from famous films especially, “Ben- Hur”, “Gladiator”, “Spartacus”, “Iron Man 2” and “300”.
Also, the performance of every actor is perfect individually, but there is no synergy between the main actors and stock characters making the film look absurd at times. Similarly visual compositions are uneven and erratic. The computer-generated images, particularly the animated Lion and the often shown full moon, are substandard.
Likewise, the well-choreographed fight sequences are poorly edited making the entire experience look ridiculous, clumsy and lumbered.
Overall this 99 minutes saga is fast paced that never pauses for a breather, but leaves you gasping for some meaningful cinema. (IANS)