Felony (2013)

Year: 2013
Running Time: 105 minutes
Director: Matthew Saville
Writer: Joel Edgerton
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Tom Wilkinson, Jai Courtney, Melissa George, Sarah Roberts

Incredibly intense and emotionally challenging, Felony is what you want a psychological drama to be. Not only is it's audience pushed into continuously guessing due to the unpredictability of the film, but an ethical examination of the situation presented is also continuously carried out. Written by and staring Joel Edgerton and directed by Matthew Saville, Felony is a particularly solid police drama that addresses how complex the idea of the right thing to do can often be.

While drug cop, Malcolm Toohey (Joel Edgerton) is being hailed a hero for his latest arrest, he is involved in a tragic accident which leads to more than just his guilt being covered up. Malcolm tries to deal with his moral dilemma and take responsibility in a way that is best for he and his family, while at the same time, he has two investigative policemen breathing down his neck. Detective Carl Summer (Tom Wilkinson) wants him to keep his secret and remember how not doing so will effect a great number of people in the police force, while rookie, Jim Melic (Jai Courtney) is working hard to find out the truth and expose Malcolm.

While Felony can at times feel like it wavers on the edge of the type of ethical dilemma film we have seen before, it's screenplay is kept original as well as being unpredictable and challenging. The story of this cop getting himself into a situation where he could cause a destructive domino effect if he attempts to do the right thing is kept fresh and doesn't fail to entertain and intrigue. The screenplay toys with the idea of the right thing having many dimensions and while that it seems like the correct thing to do as a whole, when you break it down into smaller pieces all you can see are the reasons not to do it. As an outsider looking in on Malcolm's story, it is easy to say that he should have done the right thing to begin with and when he didn't, he should have made up for it afterwards. However, it is to the credit of the filmmakers that one is drawn into the film so much that you come to understand all the character's reasoning's and then remain confused for the duration of the film what really is the right thing for Malcolm to do.

 Felony does feel highly realistic for the most part and very much an emotional experience as a result. Australians will be able to relate to many aspects of the films, right down to the compulsory belting out of "Livin' On A Prayer" in a pub with a beer in one's hand. The fact that the viewer is drawn into the story and provoked into questioning the decisions and actions of those in the film is a sign of how realistic it feels. However, it does get to a point where it loses it's hold towards the end of the film when events start to take a turn. Things start to get a tad unbelievable and events become removed from the audience's personal space. For entertainment's sake, this period of the film is quite well done, but it does lose it's emotional relationship with the audience that it establishes earlier in the film.

The story taking place in Felony is intense in itself, but made even more so by the wonderful score. It does a great deal to enhance the atmosphere of the situation at hand and add a sense of dread and anxiety. The film has some particularly impressive visual moments, especially during the scenes when Malcolm is inside his car driving to and from his accident.

Joel Edgerton is wonderful in a role which he penned himself and it is clear that he well and truly knows who his character is. He is incredibly convincing as the man who is falling apart bit by bit under the weight of his guilt. A particularly brilliant piece of cinema is provided by Edgerton when his Malcolm is driving away after giving his statement and the further he drives, the more you see in his expression the realisation of what he has just done and an intense guilt is taking hold of him. It is such a subtle piece of acting which says so much about the evolution of feelings taking place within him.

Tom Wilkinson is very good as Detective Summer and Jai Courtney also shows great ability, but both have characters which seem a little too forced in their personality traits. Wilkinson and Courtney still carry their characters well, but the way in which they are directed seems a little overdone. Melissa George does particularly well as Malcolm's wife, Julie. The relationship between Malcolm and Julie is also a pleasantly realistic one. Before the accident, their marriage isn't presented as being perfect, but rather ordinary with the day to day ups and downs experienced by a family.

Felony is a wonderful combination of emotionally and psychologically challenging in the way it draws it's audience in and encourages them to address the consequences of doing the right thing in such a situation.

7.5/10

Burke And Hare

Burke And Hare
Year: 2010
Director: John Landis
Cast: Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry

In My Own Words
Well, what an intriguing yet disturbing story we have here! "Burke And Hare" gives us the story of two men who make a living out of providing corpses to the world famous medical school in Edinburgh in the early 1800's. The beginning of the movie states that it is in fact a true story...apart from the parts that are not true. So there is only one thing I can do, find out what part is true! Well, obviously the comedy part isn't true. At least I think so anyway. William Burke was actually married at this point in his life, but he arrived in Scotland alone after their seperation. He did fall in love with and live with a prostitute by the name of Helen McDougal. As far as I can tell, she did not appear in an all female version of "Macbeth".

There is a difference as to what happened at the end of the film compared to what actually happened in real life. I have to watch what I say here as it is a major spoiler if I say too much. There is truth in what happens to one of the pair, but not with the other. One of them we definately know what happened to them and the other is fiction. The ending in the film for this piece of fiction is rather glorified. You know, this is entertainment though. Fiction is far more exciting that what really happened. What really happened to this half of the pairing is actually unknown, so anything is more exciting than that! However, it may interest you to know that in Greyfriars Cemetary, there was a terrier who sat on the grave of his soldier master guarding it. Yet again, Bobby the terrier did his guarding in the 1850's onwards, while this movie is set in the 1820's. There is actually a statue of Bobby at Greyfriars!

Otherwise, as far as I can tell everything else is true! It is a rather disturbing story, but you have got to love a black comedy! Well, I do anyway. Give me a black comedy over a crude comedy any day!

These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
When William Burke and William Hare took part in a business venture which involved murder for profit, it is very unlikely that it would have crossed anyone's mind that one day they may be able to laugh at this. However, time has allowed this to happen. "Burke And Hare" is the recreation of one of Scotland's most notorious crimes as a black comedy. It is a unique mix of fact and fiction with streaks of hilarity throughout the film.

William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis) are two Irishmen living in Scotland who are down and out on their luck and flat broke. When one of Hare's tenants who lives in one of the rooms he and his wife rents out dies, Burke and Hare profit from his death by selling his body to Dr Knox (Tom Wilkinson), who uses the bodies for autopsies at his medical school in Edinburgh. As fresh corpses are hard to come by Knox offers them a substantial amount of money if they bring him more bodies. Burke and Hare do all they can to find more bodies, which includes murder.

For the most part, "Burke And Hare" is a very good historical film. It is interesting the way the story is retold and very  cleverly written so as to make a serious situation funny. The biggest downfall of the film in that it does slow down considerably in the middle and get quite boring. This leaves you wondering whether the film is going anywhere at all, because it feels as though it is just stuck in a rut in the middle with nowhere to go.

However, there really are some very funny scenes and it has one of the funniest sex scenes you will ever see. One particularly strange thing about the script is the use of the narrator. The narrator is only around for the first five minutes of the film and again for the last five minutes. There really doesn't seem any point to having this narrator as he doesn't seem to be relevant to the story at all and his narration doesn't add anything to the movie.

The recreation of Edinburgh in the early 1800's is definitely commendable. There is a feeling of dread in the city and the dark feel adds to the mood of the film. There actually are some quite picturesque images of Edinburgh Castle. On the other hand, there are some vile images of corpses being cut open so one must try to leave there stomach outside.

The thing about the characters in this film is that you are made to feel a way about them which would have been completely ludicous in the time which the crimes were actually committed. The audience is actually made to feel sorry for Burke and Hare and see's them as the good guys rather than the bad guy's which history says they were seen as. Simon Pegg's Burke is the more likable of the two with the way he falls in love and feel's that he has to keep doing what he is doing to support his girlfriend. The audience feels sorry for him and has a real connection with him. Pegg is very good as Burke and the persona he creates and relationship his character forms with the audience is very good. Serkis is very funny in his role as Hare, but it is Pegg who steals the limelight from him. Isla Fisher is quite funny as Burke's love interest, Ginny. It is actually her funniest and most likable role in years.

John Landis has done well after his long hiatus from feature length films. "Burke And Hare" is well made and very interesting to watch. It is great to see such a creative stance taken where fact it taken and looked at from a different perspective to see things as they have never been seen before. It is not thrilling or consistantly riveting, but has the right foundations to support it through the dull times.
7/10