Bovie Movie

Daniel Craig effortlessly makes James Bond his own, and the 21st movie in the series goes back to basics for this resoundingly entertaining spy adventure. GoldenEye director Martin Campbell has obviously been watching the Bourne franchise, and here he gives the superspy a gritty makeover, upping the violence content (the opening sequence, shot in grainy black and white, is particularly brutal). He also strips Bond of much of the slightly camp humour — thus no appearance from gadget-man Q. The plot is essentially an origins story, as a rough-around-the-edges Bond gains his two zeros (the two authorised kills he needs for his infamous licence) before tackling villain Le Chiffre (a splendidly thin-lipped Mads Mikkelsen) in a game of high-stakes poker. Craig’s humanised, more flawed interpretation of the role balances Campbell’s physical direction and co-writer Paul Haggis’s sparing wit, while Eva Green provides an alluring love interest. Apart from a chaotic and overlong last act, this is a triumphant new beginning. 

Director Mark Waters follows up high-school comedy Mean Girls with this romantic tale that evokes memories of Ghost and Truly Madly Deeply. Reese Witherspoon stars as Elizabeth, a workaholic emergency doctor who is involved in a serious car crash and wakes up — apparently dead — back in her own home. Not realising her predicament, Elizabeth takes exception to the apartment’s handsome new occupant, David (Mark Ruffalo), a man struggling to get over the loss of his wife. This fresh if somewhat bumpy look at the course of true love benefits from its stunning San Francisco backdrop, while Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) is perfectly cast as the local bookshop psychic. Although Waters is noted for bringing out the comic in otherwise difficult situations, here he shows his flair for the dramatic, investing the story with a suitably melancholic tone as the disembodied Elizabeth and the emotionally damaged David fall in love. 

On paper, at least, this science-fiction thriller oozes potential. The film boasts Uma Thurman (red hot after Kill Bill), a script based on a Philip K Dick short story and action maestro John Woo as director. Unfortunately, it’s a case of a nice idea poorly executed as electronics genius Ben Affleck undertakes the last in a series of lucrative, top-secret corporate projects that require a memory-wipe on completion. Emerging with no recollection of the three years that have passed, including a relationship with biologist Thurman, he’s baffled to discover he’s forfeited his pay in favour of an envelope of apparently worthless items. Woo’s vision of the future is an uninspiring, under-stylised twist on the present, and the scanty use of his trademark set pieces, combined with Affleck and Thurman’s unconvincing performances, make this pedestrian plodder a lazy disappointment. It feels more made-for-video than big budget and, though the picture narrowly escapes being a complete failure, you expect so much more from everyone involved. 

This glossy but disappointing Hollywood remake of Alejandro Amenábar’s off-kilter Spanish thriller Open Your Eyes makes the fatal error of jettisoning the original’s potent psychological suspense. Though it is a near scene-for-scene replication, writer/director Cameron Crowe has turned a disquieting and disorientating murder mystery into a superficial showcase for star Tom Cruise (whose character’s facial disfigurement has been laughably toned down). Some pleasure is to be gleaned from the ever amusing Jason Lee as Cruise’s best friend and Cameron Diaz’s lively turn as Tom’s unstable lover, but neither the star nor his then-girlfriend Penélope Cruz (reprising her role from the original) looks at all comfortable, nor share any palpable chemistry. Though convoluted, Amenábar’s riveting original pulled off its dream-like twists with shattering conviction; Crowe doesn’t seem like he means a word of it.