MINAMATA : Tuesday 8th June 2021.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'MINAMATA' at my local independent movie theatre earlier this week. This US and UK Co-Produced drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by Andrew Levitas who has sixteen Actor credits to his name, twenty as Producer, three as Writer and two as Director, with his previous film making offering being 2014's 'Lullaby' which starred Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, Anne Archer, Amy Adams, Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson. Based on the book of the same name by Eugene Smith and Aileen Mioko Smith, the film saw its World Premier screening at the Berlin International Film Festival back in late February 2020, was released in the US in early February this year, here in Australia last week and not in the UK until early August. It has so far generated mixed or average Reviews. 

Eugene Smith, here portrayed by Johnny Depp who also Co-Produces, was an American photojournalist who lived from 1918 until 1978 and has been described as 'perhaps the single most important American photographer in the development of the editorial photo essay'. His major photo essays include World War II photographs, the dedication of an American country doctor and a nurse midwife, the clinic of Dr Schweitzer in French Equatorial Africa, the city of Pittsburgh, and the pollution which damaged the health of the residents of Minamata in Japan.

The film opens up with Gene Smith, living in his rented New York apartment, processing black and white photographic images in his make shift dark room. It is 1971, he's at a low ebb in his life, he's drunk, smokes like a chimney, in debt, hasn't seen his children in years, is compelled to sell his photographic gear and accept an endorsement deal from a photographic film maker even though he has never taken a colour photo, ever, preferring the 35mm black and white medium which has been the mainstay of his career. 

He resorts to snapping away at the locals in his neighbourhood through cuts outs in his blacked out windows, until one day Aileen (Minami), a Japanese woman comes knocking on his door. She is hoping that the famous photographer will be able to assist her in raising awareness of mercury poisoning in the small Japanese town of Minamata, at the hands of chemical manufacturing giant Chisso Corporation that is dumping its toxic chemical by-products directly in to the local water supply. She hands him an envelope, and asks him to take a look.

At first Gene is dismissive, but then later that night when he can't sleep he studies the photographs and scant newspaper articles that Aileen left him earlier in the day, and is convinced that there's a story in there that needs to be told on a worldwide scale and that he should take up the job. He pitches the idea to Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy) the Editor of Life Magazine, and although the pair have worked together for the past twenty-five years, their relationship it seems is on the brink of collapse due to Gene's lack of responsibility and reliability and the mounting pressure on Hayes to keep his magazine relevant with the ever increasing emergence of television. Any way, Hayes, commits to Gene that he can fly to Japan and investigate the matter further, but not to leave him hanging and to report back with photographic evidence within two weeks when the next deadline is up.

Upon arriving in Minamata, Gene and Aileen are almost straightaway confronted with evidence of chemical poisoning - in the bent arms and legs, gnarled hands and deformed facial features of many of the children and adults they come across. Whilst Gene is out with his camera snapping away it quickly becomes apparent that many of the locals don't want to be photographed - probably out of fear of reprisal from the corporate Chisso organisation, on whom many of them are either directly or indirectly dependent for jobs. Later Gene, Aileen and local organiser Mitsuo Yamazaki (Hiroyuki Sanada) gain access to the local hospital where they secretly infiltrate the wards and research labs where many of Chisso Corp. patients are being treated for mercury, and whatever else, poisoning. Whilst there, Gene, with permission from the patients, takes photographs of deformed limbs and faces. 

Later, during a protest staged outside the main entry to the Chisso manufacturing plant, Gene is invited in by the CEO of the company Junichi Nojima (Jun Kunimura) for a tour of the facility and an explanation of exactly what they do there - heavily sanitised of course! Towards the end of the tour, and on an upper catwalk away from prying eyes and ears Nojima hands Gene an envelope containing US$50K to hand over all of his negatives, forget the plight of the locals, and head back to New York no further questions asked by either party. Needless to say Gene tells him in no uncertain terms to go forth and multiply!

A few days later undercover of darkness Gene's makeshift dark room which had been set up by Yamazaki as a near replication of his home dark room back in New York, is torched and all of his prints and negatives are burned to the ground. At that Gene rebels against Aileen and Hayes back in New York whom he calls in a drunken stupor in the dead of night, wakes from his sleep and tells him that he can't carry on, that's he's had enough and that all his images have been destroyed. However, 24 hours later, he returns and asks the gathered locals to help him so that he can help them. He asks them for unrestricted access to their homes and their families to take photographs of their deformed sons and daughters and family members yet done with the utmost respect, care and integrity. They all agree with a unanimous show of hands. 

Come the day of a shareholders meeting at Chisso and some 500 protesters are gathered outside the main gates of the chemical plant, with about fifty having infiltrated the main building and lie in wait outside the meeting room to confront Nojima in the hope of making him see sense and agree to financial compensation. 

Outside the main gates, things escalate quickly as protesters and security guards clash. In the ensuing melee Gene and Aileen become separated and Gene is man handled to within the factory gates and is then punched repeatedly to the face, kicked to the stomach and his hands trodden on. He falls in a heap on the ground. Meanwhile, inside the meeting room, the gathered protesters speak their mind some of which recount their own personal stories of the impact of the mass chemical poisoning which has inflicted their children. Nojima is speechless. After reaching an impasse, Nojima excuses himself to consult with his Financial Manager as to the possibility of monetary compensation, but returns saying there are no funds available and that's the end of it. 

Gene later comes round in a hospital bed with bandages wrapped around both arms and hands and across his head covering one eye. A man enters the room whom Gene recognises as the man who beat him to the ground earlier. While trying to shield himself from the possibility of another attack, the man thrusts into his hands a thick package which upon inspection reveals to contain all the negatives and many of the prints believed to have been destroyed when his dark room was torched. Discharging himself from his hospital bed, he and Aileen go back to Minamata and take what is regarded as the centrepiece photograph of Gene's photo essay into exposing Minamata Disease 'Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath' depicting the severe deformation of a child in her mother's arms in a traditional Japanese bath together after the child was exposed to the effects of Chisso's contamination of the water supply. 

Gene sends his collection of black and white photographs to Hayes at Life Magazine just in time to meet the deadline, and the magazine goes to print with his stark images for all the world to see. A copy lands on Nojima's desk, who then finally relents and agrees that his company must pay compensation. In a final scene, the protesters are seen outside a court building rejoicing that they won their case against Chisso, but stating that while the battle was won, the war was not yet over. Afterwards Gene and Aileen were married. Gene died in mid-October 1978 with his injuries sustained in the factory attack being a contributing factor to his passing. 

Johnny Depp is barely recognisable in his portrayal of William Eugene Smith with his grey beard, grey hair, facial blood spots and his gaunt expression brought about by a doubtless poor diet and excessive alcohol and cigarette consumption, but he is right on cue with his performance and about as far removed from any character he has played in quite some time. This is hardly an uplifting film, but neither is its subject matter which Director Levitas plays it as he sees it without too much nuance, subtlety or care for what the viewer may think of the bent contorted bodies seen on screen, or the corporate giant waging a war of denial against the locals over its 34 year long pollution of the water supply. Instead this is clearly a passion project for the Director who himself rose through the art world as a painter, sculptor, and photographer and who here has crafted a story that needs to be told which is at times an emotional heart felt film that pays tribute to Smith and the victims of this tragedy while still being as highly relevant today as it was fifty years ago. And to this end, during the closing credits we are reminded, by way of stills photographs, of the all too many acts of negligent pollution by governments and corporations that have impacted populations around our fragile planet throughout very recent history.

'MINAMATA' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS : Tuesday 14th November 2017.

'MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS' which I caught earlier this week is the classic 1934 Agatha Christie murder mystery novel upon which this film is based, that has been committed to the big and small screens a number of times over the years, most notably in 1974 as Directed by Sidney Lumet and starred an ensemble cast. That film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won one - for Best Supporting Actress going to Ingrid Bergman. It was also nominated for ten BAFTA's and walked away with three for Best Supporting Actor and Actress to John Gielgud and Ingrid Bergman respectively, and Best Music. All up the film won nine awards and received a further sixteen nominations, and at the Box Office returned US$36M from its US$1.4M budget outlay. The films cast included Albert Finney as the super sleuth gentleman detective Hercule Poirot, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Michael York, Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave and Jacqueline Bisset. In 2001 a made for television movie was released of the same name, featuring the same storyline, and the same title but set in the present day and starring Alfred Molina as Hercule Poirot, Peter Strauss and Leslie Caron. Then in 2010 the popular long running television series 'Agatha Christie's Poirot' with David Suchet as the detective aired in Season 12, Episode 3 'Murder on the Orient Express' which featured the acting talents of Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Chastain, Barbara Hershey, Toby Jones, David Morrissey, and Eileen Atkins. There has also been a BBC Radio 4 serialisation of the book and a video game adaptation over the years too.

And so now in 2017 we have this latest lavish reiteration of Christie's famed novel with Kenneth Branagh on Directing duty and starring as the hirsute Belgian detective Hercule Poirot with a ensemble cast for this production that reads like a Who's Who of British and American acting talent. The film was released in the UK on 2nd November, and in the US and Australia on 9th November. and has so far grossed US$105M off the back of a US$55M production Budget. The film has generated mixed Reviews from Critics, but all universally praise the casting and production values.

The film opens up with a scene setter in a 1934 Jerusalem at the site of The Wailing Wall where Poirot announces to a gathered crowd of onlookers who the culprit is in the theft of a valuable religious artefact. Job done, but not without a scuffle, he is ready to depart to Istanbul to travel onward to London to work on another case that needs finalising, and in between time he is to take some much needed R&R. In Istanbul, while checking out the culinary delights of a local market he happens across an old friend, and a Director of the Orient Express, Bouc (Tom Bateman) who offers the Detective a sleeper cabin on the unusually booked out Orient Express. Managing to squeeze Poirot into a shared cabin, we quickly grab glimpses of the other well to do passengers as they board, that Poirot will be sharing his journey with. The first of which is a Caroline Hubbard (Michelle Pfeiffer) a trophy ex-wife to several ex-husbands, clearly wealthy and hungry for a man, who instantly tries to chat up Poirot, but he'll have none of her advances, preferring to keep himself very much to himself, and besides, he's got a Charles Dickens book to catch up on.

As the train gets underway, Poirot is introduced to Samuel Ratchett (Johnny Depp), an American businessman who looks more like a mobster than a professional purveyor of fine arts, collectables and antiquities that he claims he is new into and still learning as he goes. Ratchett is joined on the journey by his bookkeeper come lawyer come personal assistant Hector MacQueen (Josh Gad). Over a pastry in the dining car, Ratchett confides in Poirot that he has recently undertaken some dodgy deals back in Istanbul selling fake wares, and those hard done by now want pay back and are vying for his blood, and sending him threatening letters. Ratchett pleads with Poirot to act as his personal bodyguard, for a handsome fee, for the duration of the trip to ensure his safety, but Poirot politely declines. Later that night while Poirot is trying to get to sleep he is constantly disturbed by noises coming from outside his cabin in the interconnecting hallway. Later on that night when the commotion has settled down, a lightning bolt strikes the side of a snow covered peak sending an avalanche crashing down upon the advancing train, causing the engine carriage to derail, halting the journey in its tracks on a remote mountain side.

The next morning, Poirot learns that Ratchett was murdered in his bed sometime during the previous night - stabbed a dozen times in the chest. Poirot and Bouc investigate the crime scene and the murder case, with Bouc being the only non-suspect on the train, because he slept in a different carriage the night before, unlike everyone else. Initial evidence points to a suspect working alone, with Caroline Hubbard claiming that during the night there was a strange intruder present in her cabin. Several clues are left in Ratchett's cabin, including an unused pipe cleaner, a fine lace bloodstained handkerchief with the letter 'H' engraved, and a partially destroyed note linking Ratchett to the case of an abducted child Daisy Armstrong some years previously.

The Armstrong child was held for ransom, and then killed. Ratchett is identified as being John Cassetti, the murderer of the child. Grieving, Daisy's mother Sonia collapses and gives birth to a still born premature baby and dies in child birth, and shortly thereafter, her father Colonel Armstrong commits suicide. The family's housemaid Susanne, was found guilty of the murder on trumped up charges allowing Cassetti to go free, and she hanged herself while in custody, only to be determined innocent after the fact.

More evidence is uncovered during the course of the investigation, while rail workers dig out the engine carriage from the snow. Poirot and Bouc systematically interview all the other suspects gathering further insights into their individual backgrounds, possible motives, and sorting through the lies from the truth. Poirot discovers through his expert powers of deduction, that all suspects are in some way linked to the Armstrong household, the family, or the ensuing court case. Whilst interviewing Governess Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley) who upto now has been the most aloof about Ratchett maintaining her silence, Poirot is confronted by Dr. John Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom Jnr.) who claims responsibility for the murder, and who is also the secret interracial love interest of the Governess. A scuffle breaks out, in which Arbuthnot, a trained former sniper, shoots Poirot in the arm, but who is then incapacitated by Bouc. Poirot however, can see that Arbuthnot had never intended to kill him, and was acting out of love for Mary Debenham.

By now, Poirot has amassed enough evidence, but the prime suspect still eludes him. He calls everyone together in the nearby train tunnel while the rail workers set the engine carriage back on the tracks. He has two theories. One is that there was a lone murderer who masqueraded as a Conductor, killed Ratchett and fled the scene of the crime undetected under cover of darkness. The other is much more complex and involves every passenger suspect aboard the train being linked to the Armstrong's, to Susanne and the subsequent trial in some way - giving them all a possible motive.

Poirot concludes ultimately that each and every one of them had reason for killing Ratchett and therefore in this case, unlike every one of the cases he has solved before, there is no right or wrong, it is not black and it is not white, there is no guilty nor innocent, and as such he will have to live with that imbalance. This outcome does not sit easy with the Super Sleuth, but he must accept it on this occasion and under these circumstances.

Upon arrival at the next train stop, Poirot presents the evidence of a killer acting alone to the Yugoslavian Police, who accept his story, leaving the passengers to continue their onward journey, each wrestling with their conscience. As the Detective leaves the train, a messenger alerts him that he is required urgently in Egypt, as there has been a murder on the Nile. Poirot accepts the case, forgoing his much needed R&R, as the Orient Express departs the station, and he jumps into a waiting car.

The film also stars Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi, Penelope Cruz, Olivia Colman and Lucy Boynton amongst others in supporting roles offering minimal dialogue that belittle their acting credentials leaving them to wallow in the background. There is no doubt that Branagh has cast an impressive line up of A-List Actors who bring a gravitas to the proceedings and no doubt a pulling power into movie theatres the world over. The production values are high and the era has been recreated faithfully with its costumes and set designs, and the CGI adds to the depth of this period piece whodunit with its stunning vistas. But, is that enough to carry off this film? Despite such an ensemble cast, I couldn't help feeling that our amassed group of fine acting talent were left wanting to do more with their characters, but instead are largely sidelined with very little dialogue of note. Branagh meanwhile, chews up every scene and with his enormous well kempt moustache arriving fifteen seconds in the room before he does, he puts together the pieces of this murder jigsaw puzzle with relative ease it seems whilst telling everybody that he is the greatest Detective the world has ever seen. And, when the ending comes and the big reveal, it's all a bit of an anti-climax really, that sees Poirot going back on his principles that have served him so well throughout his career to date - first time for everything I guess, including his Oscar worthy facial fuzz extraordinaire. A classic story that looks good on the screen and has a lot going for it, but ultimately are period piece whodunits still a drawcard for the modern audience . . . . only you can answer that one!

Depending on the success of this film, Branagh has indicted his willingness to adapt further Christie novels involving the master of investigative deduction, Hercule Poirot, and judging by the closing scenes of this film it looks as though 'Death on the Nile' could be up next.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES - Tuesday 30th May 2017.

The trailer for the latest in this hugely successful franchise 'PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES', which I saw last week, would have us believe, that, allegedly, this is the final voyage for the good ship Black Pearl and her merry band of seafaring pirates as led by the most infamous swashbuckling blaggard of them all Cap'n Jack Sparrow. And so here we have this fifth instalment in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series Directed by the Norwegian pairing of Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning for a cool US$230M budget outlay. This film has been in development since before the release of 'On Stranger Tides' in 2011 and went through extensive re-writes, filming delays and budget issues to ensure that the script and the production were just right to almost guarantee its commercial and critical success. It has been reported that Johnny Depp takes home a pay packet worth US$67M for reprising his role for the fifth time as our titular hero of the seven seas. This statistic would hardly seem surprising given that the first four films took a combined US$3,729B at the worldwide Box Office against a budget of US$1,044B together with a collective awards haul of 101 wins and 231 further nominations - not bad for a series of films based on a Disney theme park ride that was first launched fifty years ago. The film has so far taken US$508M since its release in the US, Canada, China and Australia at the end of May.

Here this story starts with a twelve year old Henry Turner (Lewis McGowan) who is in possession of a map that will tell him the exact offshore location of his now increasingly barnacled old man - the banished to sea as Captain aboard The Flying Dutchman, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), as seen at the end of 'At World's End'. Following a watery rendezvous at the bottom of the ocean Henry announces to his father that he knows of the means to break the curse which binds his father to Davy Jones Locker for all eternity, by way of the mythical Trident of Poseidon. Will of course will have nothing of this far flung fancy and tells his son that the Trident does not exist, and he should leave and forget about him. Henry vows to keep searching for the Trident and the means of setting his father free despite what he thinks or says.

We then fast forward nine years later and Henry is now a strapping young man (Brenton Thwaites) working for the British Royal Navy aboard a warship. While chasing down a pirate ship, Henry realises that his Captain is about to sail them straight into the jaws of the uncharted Devil's Triangle from which there is no return. Having an intimate knowledge of all things nautical, Henry is so convinced that they face certain doom, that he rebels against the Captain and his Officers, only to be locked up for his insolence and inciting a mutiny.

Sure enough, the Captain advances into The Devils Triangle and is quickly engulfed by a living shipwreck and its undead crew led by one Captain Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem), who go about killing every man on board . . . except the incarcerated Henry, who just happens to have a wanted poster for Jack Sparrow in his cell. Salazar spares Henry's life so that he can deliver a message that certain death is coming after him!

Meanwhile, on the northeast Caribbean island of Saint Martin, a young woman names Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) has been sentenced to death by hanging because she has been branded a witch because of her intelligence, her knowledge of astronomy and of horology. She is able to briefly escape her captors and inadvertently runs into Jack Sparrow who has been caught red handed robbing a bank vault with his crew. After a long slapstick chase sequence through the main town that is pulled straight from a Buster Keaton movie, the crew come to realise that the vault is empty and all their hard efforts were for nothing. Saying that their Captain's luck and good fortune have finally run out, Jack's crew abandon him. Later Carina meets with Henry who has also been sentenced to death for his crimes against the Royal Navy. During their brief meeting Carina tells Henry that she knows how to locate the Trident. She helps to free Henry but in the process is captured herself.

By now Jack is feeling decidedly depressed and sorry for himself. He has lost his crew, his ship, The Black Pearl, is cursed and locked inside a bottle, and he has no money with which to even buy himself a drink. He lumbers into a tavern caked in mud from a booze induced fall, and trades in his mystical compass for a bottle of the landlords finest rum. In giving up his compass, this causes the Devil Triangle to crumble into the sea, and Salazar and his undead ship mates to roam the seas now freely. Before you know it, Jack is caught by the British Army and sentenced to death with Carina the Witch. He chooses the guillotine and she is to be hanged. However, just in time Henry comes to the rescue of them both, as do Jack's former shipmates and crew having been paid to do so by Henry.  What follows is another action set piece lifted straight out of the Keystone Cops, allowing Jack, Henry, Carina and the pirate crew to escape on Jack's ramshackle old ship 'The Dying Gull'.

Out on the ocean wave, Carina reveals to Henry and Jack that she is in possession of a map that will lead them to the whereabouts of the Trident, but that the map is hidden in the stars, and being an astronomer and a horologist, only she is qualified on board to navigate the course. She agrees to help Henry lift the curse on her father and Jack lift the curse of the revengeful Salazar in exchange for her realising the dream that was left to her by her father. Meanwhile, Salazar is free to sail the seas in search of Jack and is intent on dispensing with all pirate ships once again. He systematically wipes out Barbossa's fleet which has grown quite large and very wealthy, in his relentless search for Captain Jack. Barbossa meets with Salazar and bargains with him to spare his fleet in exchange for the delivery of Jack Sparrow to which the undead Captain reluctantly agrees.

Before long Barbossa delivers on his promise to Salazar by locating Jack's ship off in the distance. Jack, Carina and Henry make off to the safety of a nearby island in a rowing boat, leaving the crew aboard The Dying Gull to create a distraction. Salazar and his men, being undead, are all to nimbly walk on water and give chase to the rowboat. Fortunately Jack, Carina and Henry are able to evade Salazar and his men at the waters edge when it is realised that the ghost crew are unable to walk on dry land, having been banished for all eternity to a watery existence.

Jack, Carina and Henry head inland and are promptly captured by some local pirate types that have taken up residence having been abandon there long before. Jack is forced into marrying the fugly overweight daughter of their leader but is rescued from a fate worse than death by Barbossa. He breaks the miniaturised Black Pearl out of its bottle, so breaking its curse and returning it to its full size and former glory. Barbossa takes control of the ship, ties up Jack to the mast, and allows Carina to navigate them to the island where the Trident is allegedly hidden. In a moment of calm, Jack and Barbossa come to realise a tantalising secret about Carina's true parentage, that neither of them can speak of again.

Sometime later, the Black Pearl escapes being destroyed by a British Naval warship, the HMS Essex under the command of Lieutenant Scarfield (David Wenham), which is instead taken out by Salazar's ship. The crew of the Black Pearl then face off against the crew of Salazar's ship, and is able to break away arriving at the island as directed by a constellation of stars marking out a path. Upon activating a path to the Trident, Jack and Carina are sent careering down a pathway  to the ocean floor where the Trident is located. By now the ocean has formed a deep trench with a deep wall of water on either side making access for the living easy.

Meanwhile, Salazar has given chase, and his undead ghost possesses Henry so enabling him to walk on dry land, which in turn gives him access to the Trident on the now dry ocean bed, which he gets to first. Wielding its mighty power, Salazar impales Jack with the Trident. Henry is now free of Salazar's ghostly possession and realises that an earlier clue to breaking its curse upon the sea, is to 'divide' the Trident into two. Before Salazar is able to render the final blow to Jack, Henry intervenes, breaks the Trident and so returning Salazar and his shipmates to the realm of the living. Barbossa aids Jack, Carina and Henry to safety by way of the dropped anchor from the Black Pearl above, but time is running out as the divided sea walls now begin to cave in. As the anchor gradually lifts the three and Barbossa to safety with torrents of ocean water closing in, so Salazar makes a final last ditch attempt to thwart Jack, but ultimately is unsuccessful. Salazar and his crew mates are engulfed by the sea, drown and die, never to be seen again!

All ends happily after after, as Will Turner's curse is lifted and he is reunited with his wife Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Henry and Carina get it together, and Jack regains the mighty Black Pearl, a loyal crew, and his mystical compass back which points to their next heading, which might just be the teaser that 'Pirates 6' is more of a likelihood than the Studio Exec's would have us believe.

This is an OK entry into the 'Pirates' cannon, but delivers exactly what you would expect and largely what you have seen before. The action set pieces and the CGI are impressive enough, but delivered with a slapstick intent that has been overcooked in the four previous instalments, and as such there is really nothing new to see here. It is an entertaining enough romp - not a bad film but not a great one either, just about sufficient to keep you engaged and maintain your interest for its two hour running time. Johnny Depp plays the Cap'n with a predictable familiarity, that even his brief younger days back story provide little respite from. Rush and Bardem as Barbossa and Salazar respectively provide more of a spectacle and keep the momentum going providing a welcome break from Sparrow's trademark slapstick antics, forced smiles and die-hard one-liners. Watch out for the cameo by Sir Paul McCartney as locked up Uncle Jack, and the end credits sequence setting the scene for the next instalment . . . maybe, perhaps, possibly, and do we really need it!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM : Monday 21st November 2016.

'FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM' which I caught earlier this week takes place in the 'Potterverse', albeit some 70 years or so before the advent of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger and their exploits at Hogwarts across eight groundbreaking films taken from the seven source novels by one J.K.Rowling. 'Fantastic Beasts . . . ' was written by J.K.Rowling and published in 2001 under the the pseudonym of the fictitious author Newt Scamander about the magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe. It claims to be Harry Potter's copy of the textbook of the same name as referenced in 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' - required reading for first year students to Hogwarts. The Screenplay for the film was written by Rowling in her screenwriting debut, and Co-Produced by her too. This is the first spin-off of the Harry Potter series and said to be the first of five films. Directed by David Yates who also Directed to critical acclaim and huge commercial Box Office receipts 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', '. . .  and the Half Blood Prince' and '. . .  and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2', this film was made for US$180M and went on general worldwide release last week, and has so far grossed US$261M.

Set in 1926 New York and Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in The Big Apple nearing the end of his travels around the world to seek out, rescue and document the fantastical and magical creatures that share our world, albeit generally hidden from view. He's in NYC for only a brief time, and while walking the streets getting his bearings he comes across a corner where Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) is up on her soapbox warning the gathered crowd of on-lookers about the dangers of wizards and witches who exist among the general population. Mary Lou is the sinister dark leader of the New Salem Philanthropic Society whose mission in life is to dispense with pesky wizards and witches. She operates under the guise of a shelter and soup kitchen for young street kids. Mary Lou has three children of her own - each troubled in some way - Credence (Ezra Miller) the mysterious and brooding adopted son; Modesty (Faith Wood-Blagrove) the youngest adopted daughter who is not all she seems; and Chastity (Jenn Murray) the oldest of the three.

While listening intently to the ramblings of Barebone, a Niffler (a black furry cross between a beaver and a duck billed platypus) escapes from Newt's deceptively nondescript leather suitcase, and goes on the rampage secretly stealing anything shiny and bright it can line its impossibly deep pouch with. On the search for the speedy little critter, Newt inadvertently bumps into Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) a 'No-Maj' (the American term for a Non-Magical human, aka, a 'Muggler' in Great Britain) carrying a matching suitcase to Newts, loaded with hand crafted pastries and baked goods to show the Bank Manager with whom he has an appointment with to secure a loan on a new bakery store. Whilst attempting to retrieve the Niffler, Newt is being watched by Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) a demoted Auror (an employee of the Ministry of Magic whose purpose is to chase down and apprehend Dark Wizards). Tina promptly arrests an unsuspecting Newt for being an unregistered Wizard and carts him off promptly to MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) in the hope that this arrest will see her regain her old job. Needless to say it doesn't.

Back in Kowalski's apartment after being rejected by the Bank Manager for a loan, a number of creatures escape from Newt's suitcase, that got switched in the ensuing fracas whilst Newt was chasing the Niffler. This in turns leads Newt on the search for his escaped beasts (large and small) that takes him all over New York City, aided by Kowalski as the unassuming accomplice.

Tina meanwhile is now on the run having raised the suspicions of Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) - the Director of Magical Security at MACUSA. Graves has a hidden agenda however, and is in cahoots with Credence Barebone and offers him a way out of his downtrodden abusive existence at the hands of his adoptive mother Mary Lou, in exchange for him locating the host of the Obscurus (a dark and powerfully destructive force that young magical children sometimes inadvertently manifest to hide their powers). One such Obscurus has been running amok in New York causing widespread destruction as was seen in the opening scene of the film.

With Newt, Kowalski and Tina on the run, the three rest up in Tina's apartment with her free-spirited mind-reading sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) - who instantly falls for Kowalski and vice versa. Newt and Kowalski disappear down into the hidden depths of Newt's suitcase and emerge down below in a cavernous menagerie of wild creatures, fantastic beasts and unusual animals of many differing types and sizes - all of which have been rescued, cared for, nursed back to health or hidden from danger. Here Newt and Kowalski spend some time getting to know each other and the latter gains an insight into the magnitude of the formers work, whilst encountering the myriad of fantastical beasts. They then re-emerge and seek to recapture the Niffler and a Erumpent (a massive Rhino like beast, that will trash anything in its path, and has a deadly liquid in its horn). The pair are successful, and then they stow away again in the suitcase to be taken off to MACUSA by Tina with the view of clearing their names now that all escaped beasts have been successfully recaptured.

That plan doesn't quite pay-off when the three are arrested with Newt being accused of the death of Senator Henry Shaw Jnr. (Josh Cowdery) the son of wealthy Henry Shaw Snr. (John Voight) at the hands of one of the escaped beasts, when in fact it was an Obscurus. As a result Newt's suitcase is ordered to be destroyed containing everything therein, while Newt and Kowalski are locked up in a cell in the bowels of the building, while Tina is interrogated by Graves. Newt is accused of conspiring with Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald (one of the most dangerous Wizards of all time, and second only to Lord Voldemort). Newt and Tina are sentenced to immediate execution, and Kowalski is to have his memory obliviated (a spell used to erase a memory of a certain event). However, Queenie with her mind reading powers hatches a cunning plan to help them escape, and they do.

Meanwhile, Graves is applying more pressure on young Credence to locate the young source of the Obscurus. Snooping around Mary Lou's shelter, Credence comes across a wand under Modesty's bed. Mary Lou intervenes and assumes that the wand belongs to Credence and is about to whip him once again, when Modesty reveals it is hers. When Mary Lou is about to vent her displeasure upon Modesty, the Obscurus is released destroying everything within the shelter and killing Mary Lou in the process. Graves arrives after the fact and chastises Credence as a squib (a child born of magical parents, but who has grown with no magical abilities), and therefore renegs on his commitment to teach the young lad in the ways of magic. At which Credence looses his cool and reveals that he is the host of the Obscurus, and in his anger, unleashes widespread destruction on New York.

The Obscurus comes to rest in a subway tunnel, chased down by Newt and Tina, who knows Credence and attempts to calm him down and restore him to his human form. In doing so, Graves arrives with a delegation from MACUSA including Seraphina (Carmen Ejogo) the President of that esteemed and august organisation. It is decided that Credence must be destroyed to keep the magic hidden from the No-Maj. Graves comes on strong with his views to use the Obscurus to expose the magical community to the No-Maj claiming that MACUSA serves to protect them, rather that itself. Seraphina orders that Graves be apprehended, and as a fight breaks out Newt overpowers him with a spell that binds his arms. He drops to his knees now powerless and Newt uses the power of revelio to reveal Graves hidden identity - to be that of Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp).

After Grindelwald is carted off muttering a few words to his captors, setting up the second instalment in this franchise, the MACUSA claim it is now too late, and that too much has happened to keep their secret magical world hidden from the No-Maj. Newt though has one more trick up his sleeve and he summons his Thunderbird to release a potion over the city that will rain down in an almighty storm erasing the memories of these most recent events from the city's No-Maj population. In the meantime, the Wizards will magically go about repairing the city to its former glory before the Obscurus attacked.

In the closing scene, we see Kowalski have his memory obliviated but his bakery dreams come true thanks to a parting gift from Newt. Tina and Newt part company at the dockside with a tear in the eyes before Newt boards his ship bound for England where he is to write his book 'Fantastic Beasts, and where to find them'. He commits to delivering a personal copy to Tina when his work is finished.

I enjoyed 'Fantastic Beasts . . . ' but not as much as I thought I would going in. It has all the touchstones of the Harry Potter world that provide an assurance of familiarity, consistency and continuity, but without the children, making this a more adult oriented offering. It is effects laden as to be expected about a film featuring fantastic beasts, mythical creatures, weird animals and some sort of magic at every turn, and these effects are all very well realised and serve the escapism factor no end, and as such is sure to attract Harry Potter fans the world over. But without these, this film would be pretty one dimensional and over in half the time, with a plot that is pretty simple and relies heavily on the creature features to deliver the films set pieces. For me, the nifty little Niffler steals the show as well as just about everything else it can lay its escaped claws on, with Redmayne playing the goofy, nervous, shy, fish outta water yet highly intelligent Scamander. It is good to see David Yates keeping us grounded in the Potterverse given his success in that space, but at the same time taking us off in a whole new direction with this film, with its more adult themes and underlying messages. For the first of a five film franchise, there is a strong foundation here that hopefully can be built upon for create success moving forward. The second instalment, to be set in Paris is slated for November 2018.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-