'Collateral Beauty' Review

Will Smith is still on the hunt for an Oscar and with his latest film 'Collateral Beauty' looks to help him do so. But would this finally be the film that earn Smith that illustrious award? To be blunt, the answer is no.

When succesful advertising excecutive Howard (Will Smith) suffers a great tragedy, he becomes disconnected with life. To help cope, he writes letters, not to people but the entities of Love, Death and Time. It comes as a shock to Howard when the entities come to visit him in real life.

'Collateral Beauty' is perhaps the most Oscar-baity film of recent times that has completely fallen flat. The cast within this film most definitely has the capability to be an Oscar winning ensemble cast as it features past nominees Will Smith, Keira Knightley and Ed Norton as well as winners Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren. The cast is incredible to say the least and in all honesty, they aren't the problem. The film's biggest problem is due to how terrible the story is. 

The trailer for this film doesn't show the real story so let me fill that in for you. The trailer shows Smith's character Howard write letters to Love, Death and Time who seemingly visit him in real life, much to his disbelief. The film would like you to think that it is actually Love, Death and Time that come and visit Howard. However, in the film the three entities are played by three theatre actors. The actors are hired in order for Winslet, Norton and Michael Pena's characters to prove that Howard is incapable of making decisions for the advertising company. Basically, this sets up that all 6 of these people are awful humans who are exploiting a mans depression for their own gain. This would be fine if the film was setting them up to be characters who you were to dislike but instead, they make side stories for them where you are made to feel sorry for them. How do you possibly expect that to happen when the main story is about them conspiring against someone who is mentally ill? Astonishing.

The character of Howard is a very strange one too. We've all tragically lost people and of course it is very hard to deal with that. The film however jumps years after the tragedy where you'd expect Howard to have became a bit better, definitely not in the state he is in the film. Howard refuses to do absolutely anything but yet still goes into work everyday. It's set up very weirdly as if someone was struggling that badly, they wouldn't even bother at all. All it's added for is to make more drama but it just doesn't really help. If they had made these events happen soon after the tragedy, then you could understand why he's struggling so badly but his work commitment that the film is based around is very odd.

The film is painfully obvious at times with its symbolism and not clear enough when trying to be deep. The opening of the film showcases how Howard's life is going well at work then cuts to a couple of years later where Howard knocks down a whole table full of dominoes. This signals how his life as came crashing down, just a bit too obviously as it tries to be deep. It backs this up though by showing how messed up Howard is as he cycles directly into oncoming traffic. It was melodrama at its finest as the film strives to be something deep but it really isn't. The film's title 'Collateral Beauty' comes from a line used in the film. At time a character will be talking to another, helping them out when they are down and will try to explain to them that there is 'Collateral Beauty'. The problem is, the film treats this as if it is a common phrase that everyone knows and doesn't explain it at all. There are a few moments where they say the term and you expect them to continue by explaining it. However, it is used as the main point of the advice and isn't continued at all that leaves you a bit puzzled. The film also pulls a twist at the end that is even more ridiculous than everything previous. I won't spoil it but it involves one of the awful 'Collateral Beauty' moments.

For what it is worth, the film's cast does have some OK moments. Helen Mirren is entertaining to watch throughout the film as she brings some charm to the film. Naomie Harris also does well as Madeleine as well who seems to be the only decent person in the film besides Howard. Smith does do fairly well in his role but he won't be up for that Oscar yet again. The rest of the cast is fairly disposable with Ed Norton trying to pursue an awkward love angle with Keira Knightley that just seems creepy rather than endeering. Nobody is particularly bad in the film, it's just that they don't have much to actually work with.

There is so much talent within this movie which is a real shame as this is a truly awful movie. The story is so ridiculously stupid as this film tries to be an Oscar type movie, whilst failing miserably at doing so. This is a truly awful film that you should avoid at all costs.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Collateral Beauty'? If so, what did you think of it? I hope that this review was helpful for if you were planning on seeing the film or not. I urge you to stay away from this one. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

'Eye In The Sky' Review

'Eye In The Sky' is a thriller that takes a close look at what goes through when planning to use an air strike against most wanted suspects. It is set up to be a thriller filled with dilemmas as the military and major powers look to carry out this attack legally and as safely as possible. But in a film like this it needs to get you really engaged and make you question what you would do if stuck in this tricky situation. So would 'Eye In The Sky' be able to create the tension needed to tell such a morally complex story or would it be a bigger disaster than one of their missiles would cause?

'Eye In The Sky' follows the plans to carry out a drone strike in Nairobi, Kenya to take out some of their most wanted targets. It gets a lot more complicated as Lieutenant Genreal Frank Benson (Alan Rickman) and Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) struggle to get clearance to carry out this mission from those who would authorize the attacks. The biggest roadblock of all comes when a young Kenyan girl is in the blast zone and it takes a lot of debate from those involved to whether or not they should carry out their plan.

When you go and see this film, be prepared for one of the most morally complex films you will ever see. The film is filled with scenarios that really makes you question what you would do if you were stuck in this tricky predicament. A real dilemma that shows how tough it can be for the people in these jobs to carry out. The film has many twists and turns that makes every decision debatable and quite a struggle to determine what would be the morally correct thing to do. 'Eye in the Sky' will most definitely cause debates afterwards when talking about what your choices in these scenarios would be.

EITS is filled to the brim with brilliant performances. This is even more impressive when considering a lot of the time, the main characters are contacting each other via telephone, video chat and also just sending messages to each other. The main characters are never really in the same room as each other with all dotted about in different locations such as bunkers, head intelligence offices and even to on the streets of Nairobi. Helen Mirren is magnificent as a quick decision maker and thinker whilst the plans for this attack is being planned. Her no nonsense attitude is highly entertaining and provides us with a great character who does pull out some funny moments with her reactions.

Helen Mirren was great once again!

Alan Rickman most definitely deserves praise in what was unfortunately one of his last roles. He provided a fantastic performance as a calm but eagar Lieutenant who knew that something had to be done and quick. Fully aware of the dangers, he is great to watch as he debates the points to strike as soon as possible. This leads to fantastic performances from the whole cast who are watching the events unfold from a secure office in London. Amongst the Lieutenant are members of the legal counsel and of the UK government. There are great scenes within this room as they debate the legal and political views surrounding the aftermath and it really grips you when it so easily could lose you.

A fantastic performance from the late Alan Rickman

A performance from Aaron Paul should most definitely not go unrecognised. His part in this mission is actually setting up the drone and launching the attack. There are many times that he is debating with himself whether or not it is the right thing to do. His character is the one who recognises the young girl and immediately feels a lot of grief about being a part of this attack. Paul does fantastically here to show how unsettled by this and his actions show so as well as he looks to give the girl as much time as possible to allow her to be clear of the danger. We talked about moral complexity earlier but it is perhaps most true for Paul's character Steve Watts in many scenes of the film.

Another great thing about the film is how emotional it can be. The ending ends up with you panicking and so desperately wanting everything to wind up being ok. It really plays to your emotions and is so filled with tension. The movie in fact may effect you in quite a sad way which was most definitely the case in my screening of the film. Once the credits started rolling and I was about to leave, I noticed a woman sitting a couple of seats from me was sitting with her head between her legs. It stayed this way for a long amount of time as her partner consoled her and it was clear to see that she was distressed by this film. Some powerful stuff throughout this film with the credits not helping the emotions either.

The film is filled with many roadblocks throughout the film. The actors do a great job of acting frustrated at these constant setbacks. Being perfectly honest, it does have an effect on the audience as well. A couple of times, there were groans of disbelief as frustration started to affect the audience. It can be like this at times but nothing too bad to take you out of thee film or be fed up at all with it.

Final Verdict: Eye In The Sky = A-

A tense filled and morally complex film, Eye In The Sky is most definitely worth checking out!

So have you seen 'Eye In The Sky'? If so what did you think of it? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! If you haven't seen it yet, I hope this review maybe convinced you to go see it. Once again thank you so much for reading, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor