OPPENHEIMER : Tuesday 25th July 2023.

'OPPENHEIMER' which I saw at my local independent movie theatre this week is an MA15+ Rated American biographical war drama film Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Christopher Nolan, and is based on the 2005 biography 'American Prometheus' by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Christopher Nolan's prior film making credits take in his debut with 'Following' in 1998 then 'Momento' in 2000, 'Insomnia' in 2002, 'Inception' in 2010, 'Interstellar' in 2014, 'Dunkirk' in 2017, 'Tenet' in 2020 with the 'Batman' trilogy in between time in 2005, 2008 and 2012. The film cost US$100M to produce, saw its World Premiere showcasing in Paris on 11th July, was released in the UK, the USA and here in Australia last week, has so far grossed US$242M and has garnered universal critical acclaim.

The film opens in 1926 with a dishevelled looking 22-year-old J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) who has trouble sleeping at night and grapples with homesickness and anxiety while studying under the British experimental physicist Patrick Blackett (James D'Arcy) at the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, England. Oppenheimer finds Blackett demanding and injects an apple he leaves on his desk with cyanide which visiting scientist Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh) almost bites into but not before Oppenheimer thrusts it out of his hand and into a waste bin. Oppenheimer completes his PhD in physics at the University of Gottingen in Germany, where he is introduced to Werner Heisenberg (Matthias Schweighofer). He returns to the US, in the hope of expanding quantum physics research, and starts teaching at the University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology. During this period, he meets Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), a member of the US Communist Party with whom he has an on-again off-again affair until her eventual suicide in 1944, and later his future wife Katherine 'Kitty' Puening (Emily Blunt), a biologist and ex-Communist whom Oppenheimer married in 1940 and with whom he has two children.

US Army General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) enlists Oppenheimer to spearhead the Manhattan Project in order to develop an atomic bomb after Oppenheimer assures Groves that he has no communist sympathies. Oppenheimer, a Jew, is particularly focused on the Nazis and the very likely possibility that they have their own nuclear weapons programme underway, headed up by Werner Heisenberg. 

Oppenheimer recruits a scientific team that includes Edward Teller (Benny Safdie), Isidor Isaac Rabi (David Krumholtz) and David L. Hill (Rami Malek), to a purpose built town in the middle of nowhere at Los Alamos, New Mexico, to begin work on secretly creating the atomic bomb. During the development, Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) discuss how such a bomb could possibly trigger a chain reaction that has the potential to destroy the world. Oppenheimer also learns of a possible Soviet spy within his ranks who has potentially leaked the Manhattan Project's secretive intelligence data to the Russians.

When Germany surrenders in May 1945 some project scientists cast doubt over the bomb's continued importance. The bomb is completed and the initial 'Trinity' test is successfully conducted on 16th July 1945 just before the Potsdam Conference involving Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin which began on 17th July in Potsdam, Germany. US President Harry S. Truman (Gary Oldman) decides to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945 respectively forcing Japan's surrender and thrusting Oppenheimer into the public eye as the 'father of the atomic bomb'. Haunted by the immense destruction and suffering the bombs caused, Oppenheimer personally urges Truman to use restraint in developing even more powerful weapons, saying that he has 'blood on his hands'. Truman perceives Oppenheimer's anxiety as a weakness, and states that, as President, he alone bears responsibility for the bomb's use. Upon leaving the Oval Office feeling very dejected Truman says to his aide that he doesn't ever want to see that 'scientist crybaby again'. Oppenheimer continues feeling intense remorse.

Oppenheimer is outspoken, in government circles, about any further nuclear development, especially of the hydrogen bomb, positioning him against Teller. His steadfast opinions become a point of contention amid the escalating Cold War with the Soviet Union. Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jnr.), chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission, has a personal beef against Oppenheimer for publicly dismissing his concerns over the export of radioisotopes and, as per Strauss' belief, badmouthing him to Einstein. 

At a four week kangaroo court hearing in 1954 intended to remove Oppenheimer from any and all political influence, and as largely cross examined by Roger Robb (Jason Clarke), Oppenheimer is betrayed by Teller's and other associates' testimony, including the final nail in the coffin delivered by William L. Borden (David Dastmalchian),stating that he firmly believed that J. Robert Oppenheimer was an agent of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile Strauss exploits Oppenheimer's associations with current and former communists such as Tatlock and Oppenheimer's brother Frank (Dylan Arnold).

Despite Rabi and several other allies testifying in Oppenheimer's defence, Oppenheimer's security clearance is revoked by a vote of 2 -1 although his loyalty to the United States was not brought into question. However, this did damage his public image and reduced to zero his policy influence. Later, at Strauss' Senate confirmation hearing as Secretary of Commerce, Hill exposes Strauss' personal motives in engineering Oppenheimer's downfall, which results in Strauss' confirmation being denied.

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson presents Oppenheimer the Enrico Fermi Award (awarded to honour scientists of international stature for their lifetime achievement in the development, use, or production of energy) as a gesture of political rehabilitation. It is revealed that Oppenheimer and Einstein's earlier conversation was not about Strauss but rather nuclear weapons and their far-reaching impacts ultimately. Oppenheimer muses whether the Trinity test, to a large extent, his creation, could launch a chain reaction of events that could lead to a nuclear holocaust. 

'Oppenheimer' is possibly Christopher Nolan's best film offering yet, and that's saying something given the quality of his varied back catalogue over the past twenty or so years. Here he has crafted a film that is well scripted, stunningly photographed, and packed with emotion, intrigue, a stellar ensemble cast and an underlying message that is just as important today as it was almost eighty years ago. Cillian Murphy gives a tour-de-force performance as the torn and troubled Oppenheimer wrestling with his own inner demons over the magnitude of his creation and the implications for all of humankind, and is more than ably supported by Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jnr. This is a compelling film that tells the story of war, the people wielding the power and who you can ultimately trust that needs to be viewed on the biggest screen you can get to. It deserves all the accolades bestowed upon it come awards season, and despite it being largely a dialogue driven drama grips the attention from the get go, until the final half hour where the story drags just a little - but don't let that put you off. One of the must see films of the year for sure. Also starring Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Dane DeHaan, Matthew Modine, Scott Grimes, Alden Ehrenreich, James Remar and Olivia Thirlby.

'Oppenheimer' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

FIRST MAN : Tuesday 16th October 2018.

'FIRST MAN' which I saw at my local multiplex this week, is an American biographical drama film based on the 2005 book by James R. Hansen titled 'First Man : The Life of Neil A. Armstrong' and is Directed and Co-Produced by Oscar winner Damien Chazelle of 'Whiplash' and 'La La Land' fame. Made for US$65M the film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival back in August, and was subsequently screened at the Telluride Film Festival and then the Toronto International Film Festival in early September. The film went on general release in the US last week too having received generally widespread critical praise for Chazelle's Direction, the performances of Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy especially, the score and the cinematography. Box Office receipts so far amount to US$30M.

The film charts the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon by the time the clock ticks over into 1970, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969. Launching (literally) in 1961, we see Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) struggling at the controls as a NASA test pilot of an X-15 experimental hypersonic rocket powered aircraft that was able to reach the edge of outer space, when after a moment of weightlessness the plane inadvertently bounces off the atmosphere. Even though he successfully manages to navigate the plane to a safe landing somewhere in the Mojave Desert, his superiors air their concerns about his recent spate of mishaps, and therefore choose to ground him. Meanwhile, his young daughter Karen, has a brain tumour, and is receiving cutting edge treatment. But despite this, Armstrong is distracted and pours over books, keeps copious notes on her symptoms, treatment and searches out some possible cure. But, before long Karen passes, and as any father would be, Armstrong is gutted.

Shortly afterwards Armstrong applies for Project Gemini (NASA's second human spaceflight programme) and is accepted, requiring Armstrong, his wife Janet (Claire Foy) and son Rick (Luke Winters) to move to Houston, together with a bunch of other astronauts chosen to take part in the Gemini Programme. Here he befriends Elliot See (Patrick Fugit) and Ed White (Jason Clarke) whilst under the watchful eye of Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler) - NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut Office. Up to this point, them pesky Russians have eclipsed Uncle Sam in every aspect of the '60's Space Race, as so Slayton states in no uncertain terms the importance of Project Gemini as a precursor to the Apollo missions and the ultimate aim of putting a man on the moon by the close of the decade. Armstrong and the chosen handful of hopefuls are put through a rigorous training regime that tests them to the very limits of their endurance . . . and beyond.

Meanwhile, Janet gives birth to another son, Mark (Connor Blodgett). After the Ruskies notch up another first by performing an EVA (ExtraVehicular Activity - a spacewalk performed outside a craft orbiting the Earth), Armstrong is advised by Slayton that he has been chosen to be the Commander of Gemini 8 which would see the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, with David Scott (Christoper Abbott) as his pilot. Armstrong and Scott successfully launch on Gemini 8 and dock as planned with the Agena Target Vehicle in space. After celebrating their success, things go rapidly pair shaped as the docked pairing of space craft begins to spin uncontrollably. Armstrong is able to successfully undock the two craft, but Gemini continues to spin at an ever increasing rate. After almost blacking out, Armstrong is able to bring the rapidly rotating craft under control and safely aborts the mission, saving their lives in the process. Janet, however, has had the privilege of listening in to their radio transmission is none too impressed with her husbands near death experience and promptly berates Slayton saying that they are all 'just a bunch of boys playing with balsa wood models . . .  you don't have anything under control'.

In due course Ed White announces that he has been selected for the Apollo 1 Mission together with Gus Grissom (Shea Whigham) and Roger Chaffee (Cory Michael Smith). During a launch simulation test on Apollo 1 on 27th January 1967, a fire inside the cabin and the resultant explosion takes the lives of White, Grissom and Chaffee. Armstrong meanwhile is representing NASA at a White House function, when he is interrupted by an urgent phone call from Slayton, advising him of this tragedy. A year or so later Armstrong is testing a Lunar Landing Research Vehicle and is nearly killed in the process, ejecting over a field and being dragged along the ground by his parachute, while the test vehicle crashes to the ground in a ball of flame.

Shortly afterwards Armstrong is advised by Slayton that he has been chosen to command the Apollo 11 Mission with a view to this culminating in a Moon landing. His crew will be Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) and Michael Collins (Lukas Haas). Collins will pilot the command module Columbia alone in orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin are on the lunar surface. Shortly after, the three astronauts hold a Press Conference where Armstrong is particularly blunt and succinct in his answers to the gathered world press, leaving Aldrin to interject with more broader and lighthearted answers.

The night before the launch while Armstrong is needlessly busying himself with packing, Janet confronts him about the strong possibility that he won't survive the Mission, and steadfastly demands that he explains the risks to both Rick and Mark - his young sons. Armstrong is evasive and is clearly uncomfortable with such a confronting and potentially emotional conversation with his two boys, let alone his wife. After a brief conversation around the dinner table before the boys bedtime, Armstrong bids his boys farewell and kisses his wife goodbye, and departs for the Moon.

The day arrives, and Apollo 11 successfully launches, and within four days of flight touches down on the surface of the Moon on 20th July 1969. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface six hours after landing on 21st July, with those immortal words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind', with Aldrin joining him some twenty minutes later. After exploring the surface for some time, Armstrong walks over to a small crater and gently drops into it a bracelet that was his daughter's - forever leaving a memento to her memory on the surface of that far away place. Having spent the best part of whole day collecting samples, taking photographs, observing the Moon's surface, and going walkabout, the pair take off to rejoin Collins aboard the Columbia and head back to Earth landing in the North Pacific Ocean on the afternoon of 24th July 1969. The crew are placed in quarantine for a month. Janet visits Armstrong and through the glass panels of his temporary isolation, the pair share a quiet moment of contemplation, touching hands through the plate glass.

The film also stars Ciaran Hinds as Robert R. Gilruth - the first Director of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Centre and Pablo Schreiber as Jim Lovell, the backup Commander on Armstrong's Apollo 11 Mission.

Here, continuing with his run of Academy Award success, Damien Chazelle has crafted a nuanced film that will be surely worthy of some Oscar consideration come nomination season. Rather than the all too common chest beating and hero worship associated with such space age films, here 'First Man' paints a picture of a an everyday ordinary man pushed to extraordinary lengths in his quiet determination to be the first man on the Moon. In equal measure we see the emotion, the joy and the tragedy of Armstrong's every day family life coupled with the errors, flaws, accidents and incidents and the all too many deaths experienced by NASA and Armstrong's fellow astronaut colleagues during the course of those Gemini and Apollo Missions. Gosling gives a stoic and reserved performance as both the troubled and completely focused on his day job at the expense of his family Armstrong; while Foy more than ably supports as the no bullshit tell it as it is supportive, caring and understanding (to a point) wife. Chazelle's attention to detail throughout the film cannot be faulted, and his recreation of the era, the inner workings of NASA, and the failures and successes of the technology of the time really make this film. Concentrating on the '60's era only and the events leading up to the first Moon landing was Chazelle's choice and who can argue with that, but perhaps an insight into the reserved man post that heroic journey to go boldly where no man has gone before would have rounded out the film more completely. Nonetheless, certainly worth the price of your ticket, and you should see this on the big screen for sure.

'First Man' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

CHAPPAQUIDDICK : Tuesday 15th May 2018.

'CHAPPAQUIDDICK' which I saw this week is an American drama film based on the real life events surrounding the 1969 Chappaquiddick Incident. Directed by John Curran whose most recent Directorial outing was the 2013 Robyn Davidson Western Australian adapted story 'Tracks' with Mia Wasikowska, he here Directs this account of the true story which is described as 'a single-vehicle car accident that occurred on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, on Friday, July 18, 1969. The late night accident was caused by Senator Ted Kennedy's negligence, and resulted in the death of his 28-year-old passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, who was trapped inside the vehicle'. Further it states that 'according to his testimony, Kennedy accidentally drove his car off the one-lane bridge and into a tidal channel. He swam free, left the scene, and did not report the accident to the police for ten hours; Kopechne died inside the fully submerged car. The next day, the car with Kopechne's body inside was recovered by a diver, minutes before Kennedy reported the accident to local authorities. Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of a crash causing personal injury, and later received a two-month suspended jail sentence'. The film Premiered at TIFF last September, had its US release in early April, and went on general release in Australia last week, having so far grossed US$17M at the Box Office off the back of a US$14M Production Budget, and garnered generally positive Reviews along the way.

Through factual accounts, laid out in the inquest from the investigations in 1969, the film examines the mysterious events and subsequent fall out around the drowning of aspiring political strategist and Kennedy insider Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) after Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) drove his car off the infamous Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island. It is July 18th 1969, coincidentally, just two days after the Apollo 11 took off for the Moon landing that saw Neil Armstrong step foot on the surface on 21st July.

The US Senator for Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy following a televised interview, calls his cousin (and his 'fixer') Joe Gargan (Ed Helms) to organise a number of hotel rooms on Martha's Vineyard for the affectionately named 'Bolier Room Girls' (a team of female staff members who worked in Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 Presidential campaign, and who were now in turn loyal to Ted's campaign). Ted Kennedy drives by car and short ferry boat crossing to Chappaquiddick Island where he teams up with Joe and Attorney General Paul Markham (Jim Gaffigan) for a yacht race, in which he comes in ninth place due to a misguided tack. After the race he goes to a beach house with Joe, Paul, the Boiler Room Girls, one of whom is Mary Jo Kopechne, and various other friends and staffers for dinner and drinks.

Kennedy later leaves the party with Mary Jo driving a 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88. After a brief stop under the stars to chat about the legacy of the Kennedy clan and the expectations he must live up to, he attempted to cross the Dike Bridge (which did not have any safety railings at the time). Kennedy lost control of his vehicle on a blind bend approaching the bridge and crashed in to the Poucha Pond inlet, which was a tidal channel on Chappaquiddick Island. Kennedy escaped from the overturned vehicle, and, by his own account, dived below the surface several times, attempting without success to reach and rescue Kopechne. Ultimately, he swam to shore and left the scene, with Kopechne still trapped inside the vehicle gasping for air and unable to get out of the upturned vehicle.

Soaked through, he walks back to the beach house, and speaks in private with Joe and Paul, saying that his Presidential campaign has just ended. They drive to the scene of the accident and both dive in and try in vain to recover Mary Jo, but to no avail, with Kennedy looking on, distraught, from the bridge. Joe and Paul commandeer a row boat tied up nearby and ferry Kennedy across the water to nearby Edgartown insisting that he turn himself into the Police immediately. Instead, upon arrival back on the mainland, he heads to his hotel room, where he washes, suits up and calls his father Joe Kennedy Snr. (Bruce Dern) who is in very ill health and explains what just happened. Barely able to speak having suffered a stroke, Joe mutters one word down the phone to his son - 'alibi'! He wanders around making sure he is seen by another hotel guest at 2:20am and then retires to his room where he attempts to sleep. The next morning, the vehicle is discovered where it landed by a father and son out on an early morning fishing trip off the bridge. They alert the police straight away who arrive within minutes.

The local Chief of Police and the Fire Department recover Kopechne's body from the vehicle, and quickly discover that the car is registered to Ted Kennedy. Joe and Paul come to the realisation that Ted has not yet turned himself in, and further insist that he must do so. Agreeing, albeit somewhat reluctantly, Kennedy makes a call from a private pay phone where no one can listen in, or overhear, to mobilise his legal team and then he and Paul go to the Edgartown Police Department, and wait for the return of Police Chief Arena (John Fiore).

After reading a prepared statement to Chief Arena which he asks not be released to the already awaiting Press, Kennedy travels to the Kennedy Compound (a six acre waterfront property on Cape Cod along Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts). There he meets with his wheelchair bound disabled father Joe who registers his disappointment with his son for bringing his family into disrepute.

Later Kennedy meets with his legal team headed up by Robert McNamara (Clancy Brown) who attempt to show Kennedy in a sympathetic light to gain national favour, despite some very questionable decisions by the Senator. Fortunately, the historic Moon landing is about to happen which is likely to deflect the national headlines away from the Chappaquiddick Incident buying the legal team much needed time to gather their thoughts and devise a PR plan to defuse the whole sorry matter.

Things however, soon backfire as a result of holes in Kennedy's written statement, it being leaked to the Press by an over zealous Police Chief, faux medical diagnosis, stating initially that Mary Jo was driving, and him choosing to wear a neck brace to Mary Jo's funeral in an attempt to retrieve some of his tarnished image - an act that he was much ridiculed for. Joe becomes increasingly frustrated and angered by Kennedy and his actions, believing that it lessens the death of Kopechne and has turned the whole issue into a circus. As Joe attempts to resign, Kennedy asks that he drafts his resignation speech which he intends to read out over a live national television broadcast later that night.

Finally, Joe can see that Kennedy is doing the right thing and agrees. The Kennedy's Presidential Advisor and speechwriter Ted Sorensen (Taylor Nichols) writes an apologetic speech for Kennedy concurrently, which the Senator decides to read over the television broadcast instead of Gargan's resignation speech. As the credits roll, we learn that a week following the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the accident and was given a suspended sentence of two months in jail, denying that he was driving whilst under the influence of alcohol and that there was any impropriety between he and Kopechne. We further learn that he did not run for President in 1972 or 1976, but did run in 1980 in which he was defeated. He would later go on to serve in the US Senate up until the time of death in 2009 having begun his political career in 1962.

This film leaves you exiting the movie theatre with more questions than it answered, but nonetheless it is an intriguing story than moves along at a sober pace as it explores the hours and days immediately following this tragedy, and the at times farcical manner in which Kennedy tries to deal with it. Jason Clarke's central role as the troubled, emotional, battling with his conflicted conscience Senator Kennedy as his political aspirations gradually implode, is first rate and a convincing nuanced performance. As this incident occurred 48 years ago now, I would doubt that anyone under the age of 35 at least would have a clue about Chappaquiddick and what happened on that fateful night in 1969, especially given the overshadowing Moon landing event. So in this respect this history lesson is one that deservedly needs to be told, even though there may be a sprinkling of Hollywood poetic license wrapped up in this cautionary tale of how the power of privilege and entitlement can so easily outweigh tragedy and loss. A little more of Mary Jo's back story would have served the film well, given that her untimely death is the reason, albeit a tragic one, for the whole unfortunate series of events, and whilst Kate Mara's screen time is well delivered, more would have been beneficial in fleshing out her history as a Boiler Room Girl perhaps. Worth seeing for sure, and not necessarily on the big screen, but for a slow burning based on a true event story of the much troubled yet highly regarded Kennedy family, on which much has been written, filmed and speculated over the years, you can't go far wrong with this solid well scripted, attention to detail, thought provoking offering.

This film merits three claps of the clapperboard, from a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

WINCHESTER : Tuesday 27th February 2018.

'WINCHESTER' which I saw earlier this week is based on a true story and is a supernatural horror film as Directed by the Australian Spierig brothers - Michael and Peter - whose previous credits include their excellent 2014 film 'Predestination'. The 'Winchester' in question here refers to one Sarah Winchester who was the widow and recipient of her late husbands fortune - William Wirt Winchester - the firearm magnate of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 43 in 1881. After his death, Sarah rose to notoriety for building the property in San Jose, California, that came to be known as the Winchester Mystery House - a Queen Anne Style Victorian mansion that was/is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan. Since its construction began in 1884, the property and mansion were claimed by many to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. Under Sarah Winchester's day-to-day guidance, its 'from-the-ground-up' construction proceeded around the clock, by some accounts, without interruption, until her death in early September 1922, at which time work immediately ceased. The house today stands as a tourist attraction, is privately owned, and is a Californian registered historical landmark. This film was made for a very modest US$3.5M and has so far grossed US$28M since its release Stateside early in February.

History lesson over and so to the film. Said to be the most haunted house in the world, the Winchester House sits on an isolated stretch of land that's about fifty miles outside of San Francisco on about 160 acres. Built by Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren starring in her first horror film in her illustrious forty+ year career) heiress to the Winchester fortune, it stands seven stories tall and contains some 160 rooms including forty bedrooms, two ballrooms as well as 47 fireplaces, over ten thousand panes of glass, seventeen chimneys, two basements and three elevators.

The Winchester company is fearful for Sarah's state of mind and her ability to run the company as a 51% shareholder who also inherited US$20M from her late husbands estate (a very tidy sum back in the late 19th Century). Sarah is in a state of self imposed grieving - for the loss of her husband some years earlier, and the loss of their young daughter previously. Having consulted a psychic, she set about building the mansion - a process which continues unabated 24/7 by a dedicated team of craftsmen round the clock, day in day out. To the casual outsider, it seems like a misplaced monument to a disturbed woman's madness. But Sarah is constructing a 'prison' for hundreds of vengeful ghosts and the most terrifying among them have a score to settle with this Winchester. She believes that the house is haunted by the wayward spirits, anxious apparitions, and cursed by the ghosts of those killed by a Winchester firearm.

The Directors of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company engage Doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) to assess Sarah's state of mind, paying him his asking price and doubling it, and seeking a written report quickly. Doctor Price has his own demons to contend with - he too is grieving the loss of his wife, and has become reliant upon a drug that he self prescribes. He drinks a lot too, and when we first make his acquaintance he is 'entertaining' four prostitutes in his San Francisco home. He takes the assignment and upon arriving at the Winchester House is met by Sarah's relative Marion Marriott (Sarah Snook) who lives in the house too with her son Henry (Finn Scicluna-O'Prey) who at night is possessed by a mysterious entity and witnesses strange goings on in his bedroom.

Initially Marion is sceptical of Price, and reinforces the strict rules of the household which he must uphold as long as he is in residence, to which he cordially agrees. That first evening while preparing for dinner, Price is startled by a ghostly vision which he attributes to the hallucinogenic effects of the drug he is taking. At dinner, Price meets Sarah for the first time with Marion and Henry in attendance too, overseen by an army of servants waiting on. Later that night Price goes for an exploratory walk, coming across a stairway down to a basement, where he comes face to face with a ghost crawling menacingly up the stairs towards him. He scrambles from whence he came, and goes outside for a breath of fresh air, again dismissing the whole incident. He is met by several craftsmen all busily building away and spies Henry in a translike state standing on a ledge two or three stories up, and then topple over. Price runs to him and breaks the young lads fall, which is witnessed by both Sarah and Marion.

The next day Price begins his assessment of Sarah's state of mind and her mental health. She admits to him her fear of ghosts, but firmly believes that she can help those troubled spirits move on to a better place. Again, later that night, Price goes walkabout throughout the house and comes across Sarah seemingly possessed scrawling away at a jotter pad with a pencil, drawing up plans for another room refurbishment. Again, he is startled by some kind of mysterious entity and makes a quick exit back to his bedroom.

The next day in conversation, Sarah reveals that in a bookcase she has volumes and volumes of records of those persons killed by a Winchester rifle, and Price's name is amongst them. It comes to light that Eric was actually killed by a Winchester rifle and was dead for three minutes before being revived. The bullet was extracted from his chest, and he had the casing refilled and resealed and the inscription 'Together Forever' engraved on the side. He keeps the bullet with him at all times as a reminder, and as a connection to the past, adds Sarah. Sarah also states that numerous rooms in the house are boarded up and secured with thirteen nails to keep the spirits locked securely away, but there is a particularly violent and troubled spirit that has manifested itself that she wants to help move on.

Later the day after, Price and Marion talk about the ghosts that Sarah believes in. Marion does not subscribe to her point of view, but while they talk, Henry, armed with a Winchester rifle secured from a newly refurbished room exhibiting every Winchester rifle type ever sold, goes on the rampage with the intent of shooting Sarah dead. He comes pretty close too, but is stopped from doing so, having fired several bullets, by Price and Marion. The spirit that possessed Henry leaves him, and at this point Sarah realises how violent this particular entity can be. Sarah dismisses her staff and is determined to confront the spirit herself and rid her home of it.

As Eric is calling for a doctor to treat Henry, he is confronted by a Butler. Later in conversation with Sarah it transpires that the Butler is in fact one Benjamin Brock (Eamon Farren) a confederate soldier whose two brothers were killed in the Civil War by Winchester rifles. Brock was so traumatised by his loss that he entered the Winchester Offices armed with a Winchester rifle and proceeded to shoot dead all the staff working at that time, before the Police arrived and shot him dead. Brock's spirit had been possessing Henry, and the newly refurbished display room replicated the Offices where Brock was gunned down by Police after his massacre of the employees there.

As Price and Sarah talk in the display room, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake hits causing widespread devastation to the house and splitting the pair. Henry meanwhile has been possessed again by Brock and flees, chased by Marion who goes in search of her young son. Price gains access to the previously sealed off Garden Room (a place that the Winchester House has in common with his own home in San Francisco, hence the interest) and there he encounters the spirit of his dead wife Ruby. Here it is revealed that Ruby was mentally unstable and it was she who shot Price dead and then turned the Winchester rifle on herself. an act that is repeated here. Ruby's ghost comforts Price urging him to help Sarah. As Price regains consciousness he is confronted by a multitude of ghosts all staring down at him, pointing him in Sarah's direction.

While all this is going Marion has located Henry in the basement of the house where they are cornered by the spirits of Brock's two dead brothers. Price forces his way through the rubble of the house back into the display room where Sarah is located, and together they manage to trap the spirit of Brock in the room with them. Brock attempts to kill Sarah. The pair come to the realisation that Brock is afraid of the bullet that Price had retained, and furthermore this is what connects him to the spirits that he is now able to see. Price picks up the very rifle that Brock used in his massacre at the Winchester Offices, and loads his bullet into it. He takes aim, and fires, so banishing Brock from this world.

And so Price, Sarah, Marion and Henry are saved. Price later declares that Sarah is perfectly sane in his written report to the Winchester Board and therefore fit to retain control of her company. Upon leaving, Price and Sarah stand outside the house viewing the repair works already well under way to restore the home to its former glory, with the addition of still more rooms in which to help more wayward and lost spirits.

This is an interesting premise for a film, grounded, albeit loosely, in a turn of the century true story that promises so much, yet ultimately fails to deliver. The period is recreated reasonably faithfully, the films aesthetic looks convincing enough (apart from some questionable CGI shots but this is only a minor criticism), the performances from the three leads (Mirren, Clarke and Snook) are solid enough, and the dialogue is careful and considered throughout. But, despite a few jump scares this is a fairly standard by the numbers run 'o' the mill offering that provides little new that we haven't seen before in plenty of other similar haunted house movies. For a house offering a full labyrinth of rooms, corridors, hallways and staircases from which to truly imbue a story, we are offered a restricted view of only a small part of the mansion that is surely a missed opportunity to truly flesh out this tale of nether world entities. All this adds up to a film that urges to be taken seriously, but ultimately proves to be predictable, a little silly and tongue in cheek fun instead, and not particularly original.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-