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Reviews
The Purifiers (2004)
Great Action
I had the opportunity to see this in Glasgow last month as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Richard Jobson gave a short (15-minute) talk beforehand, but wasn't able to do a Q&A afterwards as he had done in Edinburgh, which is a pity as I had a couple of questions I would have liked him to answer.
The plot is reasonably well-known now: in the future, society has regressed into quasi-anarchy, with local gangs (based on martial-arts clubs) maintaining law and order in their areas. Moses, one of the gang leaders, seeks to engage all the gangs into one organisation, under his control (naturally). John, leader of the Purifiers, refuses to join in Moses' scheme and his gang consequently becomes a target.
It is obviously an independent film, with little gloss, but nonetheless entertaining for all that. The acting is good, the sets suitably dark and grungy, and the action sequences are very impressive. I recognised some of the styles that the gangs were using, but I would love to see a doco feature on that aspect if the film ever comes to DVD. I would have liked to have seen or heard a little more of the back-story - what caused Moses and John to fall out? What made Sol do what he did? What relationship do the clubs have with the police and/or remaining authorities?
One small criticism - the foley track was a bit irritating (and unintentionally amusing) towards the end, and if RJ gets the chance to change anything before a general release, I would suggest that he revises that. All in all, though, it stands up well against other non-Hollywood martial arts films such as Project A, Prison on Fire, Rapid Fire etc.
I can see the film gaining something of a cult following, especially with Dom Monaghan on board, and I'd like to see more works from the same team, not to mention more of Gordon Alexander (ahem!).
Pitch Black (2000)
Complex, detailed and immensely satisfying film
This is without doubt the most exciting and satisfying film I've seen in years! The plot seen in print is almost banal- a ship crashes on a desert planet with three suns, the survivors have to adjust to the landscape and each other, then darkness falls and the monsters appear. Pilot Fry, after a moment of cowardice during the descent through the atmosphere when she almost jettisoned the passengers, takes charge of the group and enlists the help of convicted murderer Riddick to lead them through the darkness to the escape ship - he's the one with surgically enhanced eyes that can see in the dark. But it's really not that simple - every character is complex, three-dimensional, with conflicting traits so you never quite know who's good and who's bad.
The performances are uniformly superb - Radha Mitchell shows Fry steeling herself for leadership, overcoming her own fears, and trying to prevent further bloodshed, while Cole Hauser, as the man taking Riddick back to custody, shows he has his own agenda and his own idiosyncratic standards. But the film belongs to Vin Diesel as Riddick - he has the most magnetic screen presence I've seen in years. For much of the film his face is in shadow, and he doesn't actually say a great deal, but he draws your attention all the same. Sometimes he draws your attention by not speaking - or by not moving. And Diesel doesn't trivialise the character, as could so easily be done, by giving him a "heart of gold" - Riddick is still one mean and vicious man as they approach the ship - he just lets us glimpse those first tentative steps from caring only for the self to caring for others.
Technically the film is very good. The lighting effects are excellent at both ends of the spectrum - the overbright triple sunlight and the pitch darkness. Special effects showing both Riddick's and the monsters' points of view add to the suspense, as do sound effects of the monsters flying and using ultrasound to "see" (the monsters themselves are anatomically plausible and suitably frightening). Editing is so tight it's almost jarring at times - there is literally no padding in this film, no fades, no time to re-orient yourself.
From the opening shot to the end of the credits you have to keep your wits about you. Every scene, every line of dialogue, every single camera shot is important. See it three times to understand it all.
My only caveat is about the science - the solar system as shown in the model is impossible (planets revolve around suns, not vice versa). However, that doesn't affect the human story, so I haven't taken points off for it.