It’s funny how often one actor can have a major role in two films released in the same or consecutive weeks. Last week saw the release of two films starring the underrated Casey Affleck. Forever overshadowed by his brother, Casey is the far superior actor, though Ben has impressed behind the camera in recent years. These releases are very different, but in both cases he provides the best performance in them.
Triple 9
A seething, densely plotted, crime thriller about a gang of criminals that includes a couple of corrupt cops. Having to pull of a very risky heist, they come up with the plan of killing a cop over the other side of town, thus diverting all of the police resources in that direction. The call out for a cop down is a triple 9.
This is a film with some issues – aside from Chiwetel Ejiofor’s compromised leader, the motivation of the rest of the gang isn’t clear and the Russian mafia involvement feels tacked-on. However, aside from that, it is a terrifically enjoyable movie. The seething streets of Atlanta are excellently brought to life by director John Hillcoat; the heist scenes are handled really well; and Woody Harrelson delivers one of his trademark dodgy-cop performances. Best of all though is Affleck as the straight cop investigating the crimes. It is a marvellously assured performance.
Rating: 8 out of 10
The Finest Hours
Telling the true story of a courageously daring coastguard rescue in 1952, this is an unashamedly old-fashioned movie brought to us by Disney. During a terrible storm off Cape Cod, a tanker breaks in half, and it is down to Chris Pine’s Bernie Webber and his small crew to mount a rescue of the survivors. Meanwhile, the resourceful Ray Sybert (Affleck) tries to organise the men on board the tanker, taking every action to buy them more time before the rescuers reach them.
The film has a really good sense of time and place, the effects (as seen by me in 2D) work really well – just compare the sea effects here with the dodgy ones in the recent Point Break remake. The story rattles on well, creating suspense even if you know the outcome of the story, whilst sticking to some disaster movie tropes. There is one member of the tanker crew who is obviously going to die, and the film makers do not disappoint!
Pine gives a strangely studied performance that I’m guessing is trying to recreate the actual person, but it is Affleck who steals the film again, this time with one heart-felt speech.
Rating: 7 out of 10