Foxcatcher (15A) *****
A story of ambition and control, Foxcatcher charts the dramatic real-life events during the run-up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics that's every bit as powerful and impactful as you've heard. If you don’t know the dramatic events behind this story, do yourself a favour and don’t read up on it till you’ve seen the film.
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Channing Tatum plays former US olympic wrestler Mark Schultz, whose career has always been in the shadow of his older and more charismatic brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo), also a wrestler.
Living a life of near poverty in a sport which is not as lucrative or celebrated as others in the United States, Mark is relieved as well as bewildered when he gets a call out of the blue from multi-millionaire John Du Pont (an excellent Steve Carell). He's an oddball who, unlike the public at large, Schultz has never even heard of.
Du Pont has a passion for wrestling and convinces Mark to move into his vast estate with others to begin training for the Seoul Olympics.
But Du Pont's family life is complex - he’s desperate to ingratiate himself with his disapproving mother (Vanessa Redgrave) who sees his activities as a waste of time. And he wants Mark’s brother Dave to also join them at the estate, much to the concern of Dave’s wife (an underused Sienna Miller).
A slow-burning, character-driven psychological drama that gradually builds a sense of dread, Foxcatcher relies largely on its cast to come alive.
Fortunately for director Bennett Miller - who previously brought us Moneyball and Capote - he has coaxed three of the finest big-screen performances from the male leads that you’ll see this year.
Ruffalo is great as the more charming brother, whose concerns for his sibling do not outweigh his own ambitions. And Carell is totally immersed in the creepy character he brings vividly to life.
But the real revelation here is Tatum - an actor who could be coining it as a beefcake in romantic roles, but who’s instead opting to show us how talented he really is.
Taken 3 (15A) **
It started so well. Taken was an enjoyable romp around Europe that offered some over-the-top paranoia and a heady dose of action. And it was a novelty to see Liam Neeson - an actor previously known for dramatic roles - kick Eurobaddies' butts.
But the follow up was a dud, a rehash of the first film without any new ideas or even humour.
Needless to say I wasn't taken with the latest Taken.
It’s basically a rejig of The Fugitive, in which a man framed for the murder
of his wife evades the law while trying to bring the real killers to justice.
Even action junkies don’t get their fix this time around. Apart from a few car crashes and an exploding building, there’s not a lot of incident here - though the shoot out towards the finale was preposterous fun.
The makers try to paper over the cracks of the movie's flimsy script by introducing the reliable Forest Whitaker as the top cop tasked with taking Neeson's character down, believing he's responsible for the killing.
But even he can't do much with this woeful material and it's now definitely time to say goodbye to the Taken series. A misfire.
