Gary SteelA regular column in which GARY STEEL sifts through the mountain of available streaming TV and brings your attention to great new and old shows as well as those to avoid.
A Working Man (Amazon Prime) 5/10
I love a good, violent revenge film if it’s done properly, and last year’s fabulous The Beekeeper, starring tough-guy Jason Statham (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, The Meg) made me determined to catch him again in the brand new action thriller, A Working Man. What a disappointment. Co-written by former tough-buy hero Sylvester Stallone, Statham plays former Royal Marines guy Levon Cade, a construction site supervisor who goes rogue for justice when his boss’s young daughter is abducted by nasty Russians and sold into sexual slavery. So good so far, but there’s something not quite right about it.
A Working Man is kind of slow, burns with a fuse and doesn’t really fire up until the last third, by which time it’s chance to ratchet up its momentum has passed. This is especially perplexing given that it’s directed by David Ayer, the man behind the fabulous The Beekeeper! It feels like Ayer wanted to show he was capable of building mood and drama and the film has plenty of moody, and somewhat arty sequences that might have gone down in a film with real acting and characters. Unfortunately, the sensibilities feel wrong for the film and it completely lacks the explosive rage and unpredictability of Ayer’s previous film. Statham, of course, pretty much plays the same character as last time but the camera fails to capture those moments of rage and fury and kicking ass that are so precious in films of this kind. Decidedly average.
The Amazon Review Killer (DocPlay) 5/10
This two-episode documentary should be fascinating but uses every cliché in the book – cue fat retired cop huffing and puffing as he makes excuses for ineptitude, cue criminal psychologist offering nothing of particular relevance, cue overly grainy news footage. It’s the story of Todd Kohlepp who committed an aggravated rape at 15, spent 15 years in prison, came out and shot dead four people simply because he didn’t like their attitude, and 10 years later (now a successful real estate agent) became a serial killer.
The unique selling point is that he wrote reviews of the padlocks and shovels and things he bought from Amazon and used to commit his crimes, and in his reviews made reference to the murders. Presumably, readers thought he was just being grimly humorous. Whatever, it’s hardly enough to hang a compelling documentary on and there’s nothing to stop it feeling exploitative, and really nothing much to gain from watching it. Yes, we feel sorry for the victims. But what makes a murderer like this? The documentary barely goes into what was presumably a dysfunctional childhood and fails to look into the real travesty: the fact that Kohlepp was bunged in an adult prison at 15 and never rehabilitated or supervised after his release. America, huh?
Black Bird (Apple+) 8/10
How remarkable: a dialogue-driven crime show. This 6-part 2022 mini-series is a great watch, if you enjoy slow burners with moments of high tension rather than an all-action scenario. Based on a true story, Black Bird stars the James Dean-like Taron Egerton (Rocketman) as Jimmy, a drug and weapons dealer facing a 10-year prison sentence, but who is offered a get-out-of-Dodge-free card if he can extract the truth from a suspected serial killer. Problem is, he must move to a dangerous prison to get close to Larry, an emotionally and mentally damaged inmate accused of killing at least 14 young women and girls.
Paul Walter Hauser (Cobra Kai) is exceptionally creepy as the deviant and devious Larry, although the ensemble cast are all terrific, including Ray Liotta (RIP) as Big Jim, Jimmy’s stroke-plagued dad and Kiwi actor Robyn Malcolm as his long-suffering wife. In some ways a study in misogyny, we learn through brief flashbacks as the relationship between the two inmates strengthens how Jimmy’s cold relationship with his abused mother has impacted on his own ability to form intimate relationships. But, of course, it’s nothing to compare to Larry, whose strange countenance acts as a repellent to women, deepening his sadistic, murderous tendencies. Top show and highly recommended.
Blitz (Apple+) 7/10
Writer/director Steve McQueen tells the story of Germany’s so-called blitz on England at the beginning of World War II through the eyes of a coloured boy (George played by Elliott Heffernan) who is one of thousands sent off to the countryside to protect them from the bombs. Except that he misses his mum Rita (Saoirse Ronan of Lady Bird and Little Women), absconds from the train and spends the rest of the film trying to find his way home, getting into dicey situations and facing racial prejudice as he does so. If anything, the weakest point is McQueen’s tendency to portray white English as racist and mean, and although mixed-race communities existed in tiny numbers back in 1940, its emphasis on the racial aspect confuses the issue in a film about an event that was traumatic for the whole of society.
The first half of the story rambles as it goes between Rita’s struggles (she’s a factory worker who is also something of a songbird) and George’s fumbling attempts to get back home (without the benefit of Google Maps). Period detail, however, is beautifully rendered, and the last 45 minutes really pulls out all the stops. The scene where George is made to enter a bombed nightclub to retrieve valuables from the recently deceased still sitting at tables is one of modern cinema’s spookiest, and the bombing that takes place soon after is terrifying. PS, Hilariously, musician Paul Weller makes his first acting appearance in Blitz as George’s sweet granddad. He’s pretty good!
The Gorge (Apple+) 8/10
The trailer for The Gorge makes it look really stupid; so much so that, being a fan of super-stupid films, I just had to take a look. But actually, it’s a decent thriller with a horror twist and a romantic heart that, while somewhat defying belief, is quite terrific and full of masterfully accomplished action sequences. That’s perhaps not surprising, given that the director is Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, The Black Phone). The story? Well, two hot-shot operatives (read: elite snipers) are flown to an unknown country to guard either side of a deep gorge that contains something mysterious and dangerous. Miles Teller (Fantastic Four, Top Gun: Maverick) is Levi, the American operative on one side, and Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma, Peaky Blinders) is Drasa, a Lithuanian.
Despite the terror that lies below, somehow these two loners strike up a hot romance, which constitutes a nicely old-fashioned touch in a movie that otherwise might have been relentlessly grim. Ultimately, after picking off hundreds of mutants trying to climb the sides of the gorge, and making it across the other side to meet his lover, Levi’s pulley system breaks and he falls to the bottom, and that’s when the real action starts. I’m not going to spoil the surprise factors and recommend that like me, you don’t read up too much about the film before you see it. While the first hour has its thrills, the second hour is a real rollercoaster ride and you wonder how they can possibly escape their doom. Highly recommended.
Hunger Games (Netflix) 8/10
For many years I’ve managed to avoid watching Hunger Games (2012) on the premise that it was a copycat American version of that great Japanese film, Battle Royale (2000). What an idiot I am. While Hunger Games is clearly inspired by that film, it varies in crucial ways and there are layers of characterisation and backstories that give it a unique spin. Director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Ocean’s 8) gets everything just right in the first of what would turn into a long-running franchise of sequels. Young kids will be bored with the slow build-up to the thrilling action sequences but grown-ups will appreciate the time spent on establishing the characters and backgrounding their community and the dystopian future that they’re living in. The fact that the authorities are keeping the population in the dark and not sharing the wealth might be true of just about any regime through the ages, but it makes the film more resonant, and the resilient working-class characters more likeable.
Despite its 142-minute running time The Hunger Games is a pleasure to watch and the course of events never less than surprising. Jennifer Lawrence is adorable as Katniss, a teen who volunteers for an event which pits a bunch of youngsters against each other in a controlled battle to the death. The whole thing is stage-managed with the eyes of the world watching the contestants’ every move. The shaky camera technique has been criticised but in this instance, it’s used convincingly and there’s an overall level of creativity in the way it’s all filmed and edited that will keep any cinephile spellbound.
Napoleon – Director’s Cut (Apple+) 5/10
Once upon a time Ridley Scott could turn in a film as startling and innovative as Blade Runner (1982). Admittedly, the director has turned in some mediocre, flabby work over the years, but there have also been a few further crackers, like Alien, Thelma & Louise and Gladiator. Sadly, Scott’s 2023 epic starring Joaquin Phoenix as an especially unlikeable version of the infamous military commander just doesn’t work, apart from the spectacular and at times grim (what did you expect?) battle sequences. The Director’s Cut blows the film’s running time up to over three hours, which helps to pad out Napoleon’s obsession with his wife, Josephine, but little else.
Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, Pieces Of A Woman) as the aristocratic Empress Josephine is one of the few compelling characters, though this terribly underwritten film doesn’t even give her character enough words to explain her actions. And that’s the problem with Napoleon. Lush cinematography and expensive period detail can’t mask the absence of decent screenwriting, and much of the time we’re left wondering who the heck various characters are and why they’re in the movie. Add to this Phoenix’s portrayal of Napoleon as a murderous brute with no manners or subtlety, or even good lines, and Napoleon – Director’s Cut is an empty experience. By all means catch it for those battle sequences if that’s your thrill, though.
Strong Island (Prime Video) 6/10
Strong Island is a 2017 feature documentary in which relatives of William Ford, who was shot and killed in 1992, try to make a case of racism against jurors and police because his murderer was never brought to justice. Directed by the deceased’s brother Yance Ford, the family make a case for William as a lovely and highly educated guy who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. The 24-year-old teacher had gone to a suburban “chop shop” at midnight to complain about the length of time they had taken to repair his car. It turns out people associated with the chop shop had crashed into William’s car (it is suggested intentionally), causing the damage.
The trouble is that no one knows (or has revealed) exactly what happened that night. William was shot by someone in the house. He may have seemed threatening to the people in it. There was never a trial or specific details released to the grieving family. Strong Island shows the devastating aftermath of the pointless death of a loved one, even decades later. But sadly, no one in the judiciary, the police or those shonky chop shop open up about what happened, so as a story, there’s not much to tell.
Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity (Prime Video) 7/10
This three-part 2023 documentary about the late, great jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter could have done with some judicious pruning of the added, sometimes hokey dramatisations that help to push its length out to nearly three hours over its three episodes. Zero Gravity is worth persevering with, however, despite these sometimes irritating flaws, for several reasons. Firstly, in the annals of jazz history Wayne Shorter plays a key part as one of the few players whose compositions were so good that those he played sideman to (Miles Davis, in particular) sought them out. Secondly, because his life story, both in music and beyond, is quite extraordinary.
Shorter’s work with the Jazz Messengers and Miles was enough to make him worthy of discussion, and he then went on to form the phenomenally successful jazz-fusion group Weather Report. But it was later in life that he was able to apply his Buddhist study to music in projects that took his combinatorial compositional and improvisational approach into the territory of symphony orchestras. His personal story is punctuated by periods of trauma and great loss, and one of the marvellous aspects of Zero Gravity is how it reveals Shorter as a genuinely self-effacing, almost childlike individual with a great imagination and life perspective that’s in contrast to the egos that proliferate in the music world.
The Year Earth Changed (Apple+) 8/10
Post-Covid, nothing’s quite like it was before, but the daily grind has pretty much returned to normal. So, why would anyone bother watching a documentary about life during Covid lockdowns? Because it’s about what happened in the animal world during a time when people weren’t around and – more importantly – traffic ground to a halt. David Attenborough narrates this extraordinary look at how nature started to regain its balance during Covid. Turtles could lay their eggs on Florida beaches without sunbathers interfering, cheetahs could call to their cubs across the plains without the noisy “adventure” tourists, whales could communicate more easily across distances underwater without those noisy, polluting boats… there are many more examples.
Watching The Year The Earth Changes was cause of some cogitating and consternation. Personally, I loved the quietude of the Covid lockdowns, and so did the animals. Animals suffer every day and many of them are now endangered because of humans and their habits. As one expert says, if humans just make small changes in some cases they can make life so much easier for animals, whose natural world we have invaded and made impossible for them to flourish in. At least, if nothing else, this documentary gives us a glimpse of what would happen if we annihilated ourselves and gave it all up for its original inhabitants.
The Best & Worst Streaming TV is a regular column in which Gary Steel assesses the worth – or otherwise – of the vast trove available to stream. Unlike other media, our policy is to dig deep and go further than just Netflix or what’s new this week.
