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Entertainment!
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REVIEWED BY BILL HARDING
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Circus (18) is a new British film - in talent terms and setting, if not funding - and comes recommended. When you consider that home-grown cack like Kevin and Perry Go Large, Parting Shots and Guest House Paradiso have been released in the last year, that's rare. ...it has a cast seasoned screenscribblers would kill for Directed by Rob Walker, whose features include Chiller, Killing Time and No Head for Heights, it has a cast seasoned screenscribblers would kill for. Remarkably, it's the work of first-timer David Logan, an ex-video store employee. That's as far as the comparison with the once-fashionable Mr Tarantino goes. Where Mr T's dialogue and situations shout "Look how smart I am," Logan puts them there because they fit... Brighton gang boss and casino owner Bruno (Brian Conley) has three Lear jets and a fleet of cargo ships, but his accountant has landed him with a £2 million tax bill. Bruno knows conman Leo (John Hannah) owes serious money, and offers him his Manchester casino. Leo's in no state to refuse, but his American girlfriend, Lily (Famke Janssen), says it would be like inviting Hannibal Lecter to fix lunch. He's out now, over here and ready to get even Lily's CV includes putting her ex-lover and partner in crime, Elmo (FredWard), in the slammer back in the States. He's out now, over here and ready to get even. Meanwhile, loan shark and knife enthusiast Troy (Eddie Izzard) is after Leo, who's just bumped off the girlfriend of Moose (Tiny Lister), a 6ft 5in giant who tears car doors off when he's upset. Then the complications start... Circus is set in Brighton, which has a nudist beach but apparently not a single cop, and takes the street smart toughness of the one-note Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and mixes black and white humour with a storyline that has more twists than a lorryload of Polish corkscrews. The leads are quirky and individual. Troy's dialogue comes from sixties pop songs like The House of the Rising Sun. That's perfect for a one-off talent like Eddie Izzard. Elmo's more the reflective type of criminal. "Banks aren't much fun anymore," he says, lamenting the computerisation that's hitting honest crooks. Even contract killing isn't what it was. "Now I need a reason," he says sadly, in between screwing his nymphomaniac hotel receptionist silly. Circus is an ensemble movie, but John Hannah takes a narrow lead. In The James Gang he struggled against a poor script and story. Here he's at the centre of the action. Nobody's perfect and Circus has loose ends - what happens to the loan shark subplot? - but, hey, that's life.
Now Ridley Scott's had a bash, and he's pulled it off Many current movie goers weren't born when the last big ancient world blockbuster, The Fall Of The Roman Empire, came out in 1964. Bob Guccione had a (disastrous) attempt at a toga party with Caligula in 1979. Now Ridley Scott's had a bash, and he's pulled it off. The script's not exactly Shakespearean, but a mix of live action and CGI make Gladiator (15) a visual knockout. It's 180 AD and for three years Maximus (Crowe) has been thrashing the barbarians. Caesar (Richard Harris) chooses him as his successor. His wimpish son, Commodus, has other ideas, and Maximus narrowly avoids the chop, arriving back home to find his wife and son murdered. Rome is into a heavy bread and circuses routine. With dozens of others, Maximus is bought and sold and forced to fight for his life in the Colisseum. The lad's more than nifty with a sword and soon he's as famous as Caesar... There's a blistering Roman v Barbarians battle influenced by The Last of the Mohicans and Braveheart. The action's brutal, but Scott holds back on the gore in the battles and gladiatorial fights - which use computer generated tigers to keep those about to die on their sandalled toes. $2 million was spent generating a life-like Ollie.... The sweat and terror of the arena are brilliantly captured and Crowe is supported by the great Oliver Reed, who died during filming. A rumoured $2 million was spent generating a life-like Ollie for certain remaining scenes. You can't tell. The story's simple but Gladiator's a hell of a movie.
email Bill Harding movies@upforit.allhere.com
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