Tuesday, June 11, 2013
As someone who watches a lot of movies, I tend to get really excited about movies way before the general public even have it on their radar. And then there are the films that I get excited about that pretty much no one else wants to see, or really gets the opportunity to: this is one of those films. Even though it was directed by Danny Boyle, it didn’t get much advertizing, and was a limited release. So those of us who knew about it couldn’t even see it. It took a lot of effort, and a lot of searching for me to even see it. And let me tell you: it was well worth it.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Danny Boyle (read: dead to me), he is the director of a bunch of great movies like: Slumdog Millionaire, Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, and (my personal favorite) Sunshine. I’ve been a huge fan of his ever since I saw Trainspotting back in high school, so I’ve always gotten really excited about his new movies. Trance was especially exciting because, after 13 years apart, Boyle was finally reuniting with John Hodge (who previously wrote Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, and a couple lesser known Boyle films.) Add James McAvoy (one seriously underrated actor) into the mix, and you get the makings of a great film.
But let’s be honest, Boyle wouldn’t have been able to work his beautiful magic if it hadn’t been for the glorious script that he got out of John Hodge. I mean, this is some Inception level madness in this movie. And, while it doesn’t quite land as well as Inception did, it does a pretty good job of making you sit there for 10 minutes and just go “WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT?!?!” which I would most definitely call a win.
Probably the weakest part of the film was the acting. I’m not saying that everyone was bad, but some of the characters seemed almost faceless, as if anyone could have played the dim witted black guy, or what have you. The worst part, though, was Rosario Dawson. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think she is a fine actress, but I didn’t think this was her role. She seemed woefully miscast in a role that needed someone with bigger acting chops to really sell the last half of the film. That being said...Vincent Cassel and James McAvoy were a godsend. They both really nailed their roles and were a spectacle to be able to watch. Bravo, sirs.
------------------------------------------------
I wish I could say that I loved everything about this movie, but that wasn’t quite the case. I just really enjoyed everything about it. There is some intangible thing to the movie that just makes me feel...odd. Reminded me a lot of Inception, but with a weaker script, and not as well rounded of a cast (though, McAvoy and Cassel were excellent.)
Writing: 7.5/10
Directing: 8/10
Acting: 6.5/10
Pacing: 6.5/10
Rewatchability: 7.5/10
Score: 7.2/10
