The presence of
Margot Robbie as a
producer on Ter m i n a l
points towards some
kind of excitement
and confi dence in the fi lm, and
while both are certainly present in
her performance, they’re somewhat
misplaced in the fi nished product.
Set in an unnamed dystopian city
at a murky time, writer-director
Vaughn Stein’s debut is fl ashy,
stylish and guilty of the worst
kind of Guy Ritchie-esque
posturing nonsense.
To its credit, that nonsense
threatens to be quite entertaining,
plot-wise at least, as the fi lm packs
in a legion of twists and turns that
become increasingly ludicrous.
At the centre of it all is Robbie’s
Annie, a femme fatale waitress/
stripper/potential criminal
mastermind who is a key player in
the lives of each of the seemingly
unconnected characters.
There’s dying English teacher
Bill (Simon Pegg), who gets into a
conversation about life, death and
potential suicides with Annie. She
also is somehow involved with
bickering hitmen Vince (Dexter
Fletcher) and Alfred (Max Irons),
the latter of whom is very taken
with her “sticky buns”. Then
there’s a doddering but canny
janitor (Mike Myers) who keeps
popping up at convenient times.
Everyone involved is giving
it their all, but the combination
of bad noir-ish dialogue,philosophical discussion and Alice
In Wonderland quotes signposts
trouble very early on and it’s
evident that there’s really nothing
going on beneath the admittedly
striking surface.
Dodgy accent aside, Robbie is
interesting to watch and her scenes
with Pegg (whose line in polite,
baffl ed vulnerability masks some
nice sharp edges) are the best of the
lot, but the whole sickly concoction
curdles long before Annie starts
revealing her cards. Conversations
go around and round, twists are
either signposted or played out long
past the point at which they’ve
become interesting, and no fi lm
should be allowed to remind us of
Ritchie’s risible Revolver.
Visually, it’s impressive, and
Robbie is still watchable even in
the messiest of scenes, but this is
defi nitely a misfi re.
Jonathan HatfullTERMINAL
End of
the lineFranklyn
Three lost souls collide in
this fl awed but underrated
blend of dark fantasy and
real-world drama.IF YOU LIKE THIS TRY...★★★★★Details 15 // 98 mins // Out now Director Gerard McMurray
Screenwriter James DeMonaco Cast Y’lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan
Wade, Mugga, Marisa Tomei Distributor UniversalThe timing for
this dystopian satire
couldn’t be more
perfect. But maybe this
is why the horror of The First
Purge feels a little too close to
home. The fi lm indeed seems
torn between the (now) quite
realistic roots and ramifi cations
of its concept, the seriousness of
its socio-economic commentary,
and its understandable desire
to be a fun horror movie with
brutal kills and thrilling hijinks.
Citizens of Staten Island,
where the limited experiment
takes place, are offered $5000
to stay in the city during the
Purge, and even more money
if they actively participate and
commit crimes.
Most of these people are
lower-class POC who need
money to survive, and they
all naturally reply ‘yes’ when
scientists ask them ‘are you
angry?’ They all have reason to
be. The fi lm is smart enough to
show the nuances of violence
in America: except for gang
leader Dmitri’s (Y’lan Noel)
shocking but narratively
incoherent murder of a rival
gangster, it is clear that the
violence of the street gangs is
not at all like that of the Purge.
It is in that decisive fi nal act
that the movie ultimately fails.
In the fi nal scenes of this movie,
Dmitri is acting in legitimatedefence. But the fi rst fi lm never
tried to make Ethan Hawke look
cool while he was defending
himself. Dmitri, by contrast,
basically walks away from
explosions, fashioned as a kind
of black Rambo with rippling
muscles and heavy artillery.
A horror fi lm based on
the juvenile premise ‘what
if all crime was legal for 12
hours?’ could well have had
its characters gleefully enact
gratuitous murders only to be
embroiled in unending cycles
of revenge and aestheticised
carnage, but this was never the
direction of the franchise.
From the start, the Purge fi lms
opted for a semi-realist tone
and structure based on the very
idea that revenge and murder
were never cool. So why should
we cheer at Dmitri simply trying
to survive, doing what no one
should ever have to do — kill?
This ideologically muddled fi lm
fl ounders in both its attempts
at legitimate satire and
commentary, and in its stylised
relish for retributive violence
because it never settles for a
consistent perspective.
Elena Lazic
★★★★★Predator 2
Predator 2 has its own
set of problems, but
they are just that bit
more interesting.OR STAY IN AND WATCH...THE FIRST PURGE
The birth of an American tradition076 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
review
T TERMINAL IS THE FIRST FILM THAT MARGOT ROBBIE HAS PRODUCED AND STARRED IN.
Details 15 // 95 mins // 2018 // • // Released 6 August
Director Vaughn Stein Cast Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, Mike Myers,
Dexter Fletcher, Max Irons Distributor Arrow Films