fionaharnett

'Wrecked' falls under this new emerging sub-genre of experimental cinema; following one character for the whole length of a movie that plays out in real time. Previous successes of these sort of films include 'Buried' and 'Castaway', and these films gave Ryan Reynolds and Tom Hanks the platform to go on to bigger and better things. Because these films are often limited to one character, they become acting showcases, and prove the leading man qualities of the main protagonist.

Adrien Brody now stars in such a film, 'Wrecked', and, despite his best efforts, a woeful script and meandering pacing means that Brody can never truly show his Academy-award winning acting abilities. The film starts with an interesting concept; a man awakes in a smashed up car in the wilderness with no idea who he is or how he came to be in this predicament. A dead man is in the back of the car and a stash of money is in the boot: how did this all happen? The rest of the film reveals clues that ultimately answer these burning questions.

I loved this concept at first. An engaging and exciting thriller could have been created out of this interesting premise. However, the result is truly underwhelming; the director could have taken advantage of the thriller elements of this story and made something intelligent and yet still entertaining. But, for whatever bizarre reason, the director chooses to restrict the film to Brody's character trying to get out of the car, all the while moaning and screaming at selected intervals. In fact, we spend almost half an hour watching Brody staring out of the car with a mournful gaze. I cannot understand the point of this opening half hour; we're supposed to feel for the man, but with no knowledge of who he is we find it hard to empathise with the character.

However, when he does finally escape we expect things to now start to happen, right? Wrong. Brody literally just stumbles through the forest. Where is the danger? There is none whatsoever. There's no intense atmosphere at all and this second act is there only to pad out the film. Michael Greenspan has a Terrence Malick-ian approach to film-making, with slow, wistful panning shots of the nature surrounding Brody. When I realised after the first ten minutes that Wrecked was not a thriller, I wondered whether the surrounding nature served some metaphorical purpose; but it doesn't.

Some repetitive scenes then follow, leading up to a really predictable conclusion. Having waded through the really bland last hour, I was let down by the ending. There's no character development and the ending leaves the film on a rather distasteful note.

I like Adrien Brody, and he's the only good thing in this movie but he's dis-serviced by everything else in this film. There are no other real redeeming features to speak of. I expected a lot, but Wrecked was so un-involving . But on recent form in 'The Experiment' and 'Splice' I'm sure Brody will bounce back from this shockingly bad blip...

IF YOU LIKED THIS TRY... Vincent Gallo in 'Essential Killing'

Wreckage is one of these wannabe-slasher films that is ridden with the clichés of its more successful predecessors, and whilst its not ashamed to try and emulate films such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street etc., this is a worthy B-Movie effort that deserves more recognition. Frankly, it was utterly ridiculous but, at a mere 83 minutes, it was entertaining while it lasted.

Without giving away any spoilers, the film follows a group of young people who compete in a local drag race. When their car breaks down, they make the decision to go to an old and decrepit scrapyard to get the parts they need to fix their car. However, all is not as it seems as a serial killer is on the loose, with intent to kill them one by one- will they survive?

This movie was clearly made on a tiny budget, and it shows. The sound quality on the film is awful and the script could have been improved. One example of the poor script is when the group decide to make the one-mile trip to the scrapyard by foot; they set off in the afternoon sunlight but, when they arrive after the relatively short walk it is pitch black. This is a major blooper and the film continues in similar stead, with a contrived plot which gets more and more wild as the film continues. There's little in the way of character development and any slasher-movie-aficionado will find it hard to see past the corny clichés featured in the movie.

However, if your able to leave your intelligence at home and enjoy the film for what it is, there are many positives. For instance Scoot Mcnairy (notable for his performance in the groundbreaking Monsters) who plays the hillbilly part-owner of the scrapyard shines and provides welcome comic relief. In addition to this, I was genuinely surprised by the finales twist and this wraps things up nicely.All the characters are likable and the film never stalls, with something always going on to keep the interest going.

This film isn't perfect and is far below other slasher movies. But it does its job as an enjoyable B-Movie: its fun, entertaining and the twist will leave you shocked. Oh yes, and look out for Scoot McNairy; i'm sure he has a big career ahead of him.This film is definitely not the car crash its title suggests...

Pixar has never succumbed to cash-in sequels; sure, we had both Toy Storys' 1 + 2, but there was another chapter to their story that had to be told. However, I always doubted a sequel to Cars could improve on its predecessor as it had reached a natural conclusion- I rated Cars higher than other reviewers as I liked its fish-out-of-water, homely Pixar-like feel. It didn't need a sequel..

And it certainly didn't deserve this.

Cars 2 bears no resemblance to its 1st chapter and you get the feeling that John Lasseter, director, was just let loose, no one stepping in his way to put his pet project on the right tracks.

Other reviewers explain its Bond-like premise, a global travel movie following Maters exploits as an 'accidental' spy. And everyones favourite Lightning McQueen? He's sidelined, almost a cameo appearance from Owen Wilson. Which begs the question- why did he bother? Larry the Cable Guys' Mater was the comic relief in the first film but is now promoted to lead, stretching every audience member to the limit with his corny and mind-numbing jokes.

The story is hard to follow, especially for its supposed target audience, and its excessive use of violence makes me question its 'U' rating. It starts off well enough with a prologue featuring the ever-watchable Michael Caine. But as soon as we arrive in the familiar surroundings of Radiator Springs, everything takes a turn for the worse..

Oh why, Pixar.....