Our world has changed since the years of the Cold War. Has the way we conduct ourselves as a country changed too? Double agents have been used from the beginning of time in warfare, politics, and business but are there still some in use today? Writer Michael Brandt (Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma) takes aim at the genre as director in “The Double”.

When a Senator is murdered evidence points to a Cold War Russian assassin named Cassius. But Cassius is dead, shot in the chest by the CIA operative who hunted him down, Paul Shepherdson. Paul is retired and brought back in to prove that either Cassius is alive or there is a copycat with the help of FBI Agent Ben Geary who has spent his whole career studying Cassius. But what do you do when the person you are hunting is right next to you or you yourself? Who do you trust and who do you kill?

Brandt takes us all over the spy genre in this film trying to keep you on your toes. If you have seen the trailer already you know Paul, played by the incomparable Richard Gere (Pretty Woman, Chicago) is Cassius. What you do not know is why? In lies where Brandt teamed up again with writer Derek Haas (Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma) to twist and turn the story in true crime passion. I for one kept trying to see where their thoughts were going with the plot and was pleasantly surprised at its ending.

With a Richard Gere heading up your cast how can you go wrong? Gere is masterful in playing the ‘double’ like a light switch, one moment as the CIA man that he is, the next covering his past as Cassius. That is where the strength in the acting stays. Now this is only my opinion but I will say that Topher Grace (That 70’s Show, Valentine’s Day), although a good actor, does not pull off an FBI agent fully. Gere’s performance dominates Grace’s each time they are on the screen, sometimes making Grace look like a bumbling fool. This could have been the idea Brandt was conveying but to the layman watching it looks ridiculous.

Outside of these two actors the film is littered with up and comers like Odette Annable (Cloverfield, You Again) as Ben Geary’s wife, Tamer Hassan (Kick Ass, Clash of the Titans) plays the head Russian assassin and long time actor Martin Sheen (The Departed, The West Wing) as the CIA Director Tom Highland, all doing their part weaving the story through its course.   

If there is anything to find fault in this movie it would have to be the ending. The film keeps you guessing and reanalyzing who you think is good and who is the bad guy and is Cassius just a decoy and you want to keep watching and then just as you get the payoff you go, “What the hell!” It just ties up the ends nonchalantly as if it’s just a passing trend. It is almost as if Brandt was tired of directing and wanted to get on with the editing and move on to his next project. How is this fair to the viewer who you have committed to a good story and just wave them off? I would hope that if there is an alternate ending or at least drawn out more and explained in a more believable manner would be in order.

Overall this is a good movie, with good acting and a good story but not something to run out and see at first chance. When or if you do suspend your want to figure out the answer and enjoy the film.

Now how can I relate this film to life as I have done with every review…hmmm…? I would say this, we as a whole society always look at each other with face value and do not look deep into what makes us who we are and why. This film delves a little into that one part of us that tries to make right out of past wrongs. Perhaps we shouldn’t stretch ourselves to thin and it wouldn’t have happened? Keeping things simple and well maintained would do the trick but is that what makes us happy? That is only for us to tell and others to find out, if and only if you want them to know. I have said many times that only we can make ourselves happy first before making others happy. Live your life; just try not to hurt others along the way.

Follow my entertainment adventures throughout Southern California on Twitter @SCThrillsMarc.

Gazing silently out a window on a stark urban landscape, Los Angeles, Ryan Gosling, known in this story only as Driver, sees a mirror reflection of himself. A man hidden behind a mask, he is as layered and unpredictable as the city in which he abodes. Driver as a character is the very thing that ”Drive” is as a movie – quiet, haunting, methodical, with a hint of rabid violence that is hidden behind a veil of unadulterated goodness.

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“Drive” is the type of film that grips you immediately with a soft spoken energy, and refuses to let go.  From there, it builds, slowly but surely, until bursting with tremendous bouts of violence at the halfway mark. The story as a whole, is familiar, but it is the minute details that are resiliently fresh.  Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a loner living in Los Angeles, a man of three distinct personalities. The majority of his time is spent working for his good friend Shannon (Bryan Cranston) as a masterful car stunt driver in Hollywood. When movie work is slow, he fixes cars at Shannon’s garage. But as the movie begins, we find Driver in a far removed environment, moonlighting as the getaway car driver for two men carrying out a heist. This is the the main show — Driver sits patiently, his watch ticking as the allotted time winds down. The thieves return to the car from a darkened warehouse, carrying duffle bags of loot. As Driver takes off, a Dodgers game plays lightly on the car stereo, seemingly narrating Driver’s every spectacular maneuver as he speeds along the city streets, eluding police, a stoic gaze fixed permanently upon his face.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn takes the time necessary to allow this initial vision of Diver to settle in. We witness him going through the motions – working, driving, and finishing his days spending time watching TV in solitude. His boss, Shannon introduces him to a friend, Mr. Bernie Rose . He wants Driver to race a car, sponsored by Mr. Rose. Driver shows his talents on the track and Rose is impressed. Driver cordially shakes hands, barely uttering a word. Rarely does he speak out loud, his bottomless blue eyes communicating more than words ever could.

One day, a young woman, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos) move in down the hall in Driver’s apartment building. The two meet, laughing nervously at each other, and an instant unspoken connection is cemented between them. Every time Driver sees Irene, the edges of his mouth twitch into a smile. He begins to spend time with Benicio, willingly taking up the role of protector and helpful neighbor. There is a spectacular harmony between Gosling and Mulligan that cannot be ignored. The relationship between the two is so utterly minimal, yet feels as if the two are experiencing a sacred moment every time they share screen time. For all the praise Ryan Gosling received for his chemistry with Michelle Williams in last year’s smoldering,”Blue Valentine,” his work with Mulligan here strikes as even more perfect and complete. 

Just as soon as Driver begins to grow trusting of Irene, her husband, Standard returns early from prison. Standard wants to redeem himself, and Driver readily steps back to give Standard reign of his family. But when he finds out that Standard has a debt to pay, one final job to rid himself of his criminal life, Driver agrees to navigate the getaway vehicle. This is a picture of the deep sacrificial spirit Driver possesses, willing to protect Irene when there is no payback awaiting him at the end. The trip to get the money Standard owes ends horrendously, and instead, Driver is thrown into a spiraling series of events of inexplicable brutality.

Driver as a character could have easily fallen into a trench clichéd attributes. But Ryan Gosling so subtly balances times of silence with the moments of inexplicable rage, that his creation of Driver never once appears dramatically engineered.  There is never a bit of backstory given to the character, we simply see him in the here and now.  It is a powerful risk, because it requires the audience to read beneath Driver’s skin and interpret his true motivations and personality.  As he embarks on his rampage to secure justice for himself and those he cares about, the audience must trust Driver’s instincts, or the entire story begins to disintegrate.  And we do, so much so, that by the film’s end, you feel as one with Gosling’s character, till the very last minute when he drives into the dark oblivion.

The singular aspect of “Drive” that makes it so overwhelmingly powerful is Nicolas Winding Refn’s signature orchestration of the entire film. There is an unforgettable scene where Driver and Irene ride in an elevator to their apartment floor. A man stands across from them, waiting to attack. Time freezes, the score climaxes, and Driver kisses Irene with abandon in slow motion before inflicting obscene violence upon the man. This artistic touch is all Refn, and he never allows the film to fall out its constant state of surreal being. It is a scene like this that leaves very little doubt that we are witnessing the work of a true film master.

“Drive” is an immediate classic. The film moves and breathes with an authentic story and style that feels timeless.  Everything in the film is just below the surface, but rather than causing us to miss it, director Nicolas Winding Refn creates the ideal rhythm, allowing the audience the liberty to absorb and reflect within the viewing experience. The film relies more on visuals than actual story, but we never tire from grandeur of the Los Angeles cityscape or the contrasting island of alienation found within the tight spaces of car interiors. As the movie opens, Gosling begins narrating by saying ”There are 100,000 streets in this city…” Just like Driver, we all find ourselves on a slightly different route than the next person. And that, is the true beauty of existence.

It had been a long time since there was a sports based film that has had a lot of acclaim when “The Fighter” came out last year. Many look back to “Raging Bull”, “Rocky” and the original “The Great White Hope” as its inspiration for making it such a great film with a story that any can relate too. Times have changed and boxing is not as popular now as it was 10 years ago. A new gladiator has stepped up its game in the form of MMA, Mixed Martial Arts. Gavin O’Conner (Pride and Glory, Miracle) has walked into the octagon to change your mind about these individuals and why they may stand the test of time with “Warrior”.

Tommy has just come home from the war in Afghanistan and Brendon is a high school teacher. Two brothers separated when their mom took Tommy away to get as far from their alcoholic father as possible. Both are battling life in different ways. Brendon with trying to make ends meet in a downturn economy and Tommy fighting the ravages and a secret of the war. Both have the ability to fight as Brendon was once an up and coming professional fighter in the UFC and Tommy an undefeated Greco wrestler. How do you make ends meet? What path will they take to get to the ultimate prize? All is at stake. Life will be tested. Family will be stretched and broken as two men are on course to fight for the largest cash reward in MMA history.

Before you shrug this off and think the film is wrought with fighting and blood, as many MMA fights I have watched are, you will miss one of the best stories written. In a time when I am seeing too many remakes of films O’Conner along with Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfmam have put you in the audience to look deep inside these two men that have had different lives yet still share similar same pains. The one catalyst between these two men is their father, who in his own right was a great boxer at one time, but was an alcoholic and favored Tommy growing up. That left Brendon, the oldest, always trying to prove himself.

These three writers get it in your head right from the start that this is not a film about MMA but a film, a story about paths we take. O’Conner takes it the next step by adding his creative directing and giving you the gritty aspect that you could be involved with someone just like these people. It is heartfelt in the presentation you see before you.

The delivery of this story is exuded in the performance by a stunning cast. Joel Edgerton (King Arthur, Kinky Boots) is Brendon, the eldest son of Paddy Conlon played by the everlasting Nick Nolte (Cape Fear, 48 Hours) and Tom Hardy (Inception, Bronson) is the troubled Tommy.

Edgerton shows such passion and want as a father trying not to be what he grew up with. Jennifer Morrison (House, Star Trek) plays opposite Edgerton as his wife Tess, the strong willed, ‘we’ll make it happen’ kind of person that brings out the best in Edgerton’s portrayal as Brendon. The dynamic of these two actors really sells to the audience that this could happen and may be happening to someone right now. Their troubles are mirrors of American society right now.

When it came to casting Hardy as the antagonist, O’Conner hit it right on the nail. You cannot deny Hardy is a physical monster of an actor and I’m not just talking his body. His range of emotions may be subtle at times but is perfect for this person who has so much pain hidden inside. He snaps in an instant from being calm to anger to jovial and pulls you with him to being angered at him then empathizing.

Tying these two together and keeping them apart is Nolte, a consummate actor who has had his share of acclaimed roles and personal tragedies. He steps in and draws upon his own reflection as someone who has seen it all, been on top and hit rock bottom, now trying to make his life meaningful and mend the past so that no one makes the same mistake.

These four actors make up for the bulk of the film with many others filling in to create a masterful story. Their interactions make you feel your own thoughts of times you may have been in their place. You want to reach in and grab and shake them to wake them up to reality.

Even the cinematography lends its part to draw breath of life before your eyes. O’Conner, having done “Miracle”, knew that the feel had to be gritty and real. When you watch the action sequences, yes there is MMA fighting so don’t worry you’ll see some blood, you are part of the fight. Some camera angles are POV, fast paced, capturing the emotion few are able to do so seamlessly.

I do applaud an amazing group of stunt artisans for putting your bodies on the line for a film that may very well give MMA the kick to be more main stream than ever before. I say that with all my heart. As a fellow stunt performer it is tough and demanding to do what these men do on a daily bases. To have your body thrown, wretched, slammed, hit and bruised is not something the everyday person could or would do.

This is an outstanding film. It is what all films should be in that it grabs you and does not let go the entire film. You can try and speculate the outcome but the evidence will keep changing so that you will be constantly thinking. You will cheer during the MMA bouts, you will grip your seat wanting to jump in and help. Grab your friends, your loved ones and go see this film. It is our generations “Rocky” if ever there was one.

Now to my life lesson or as I always do how this movie depicts today’s life. We are in a tough state in our country in that we are pulled in a war. A war on terrorism, poverty, greed, disasters, you name it and as a country we feel we have to be the hero to all. Tommy is dealing with that as a vet, coming home and having to find a way to make right a secret he has been keeping, all the while being the hero. Brendon is the hero trying to make ends meet and be the man of the house and not lose everything. Paddy is trying to be the hero to himself and be better now before it’s too late and he is lost to all. It is something we all reach for. We all want to be the hero. Stand tall and say we did it on our own. Life is not like that though. No one ever is the hero on their own. We are not comic book or film characters, we are human. We have flaws and strengths, moments of brilliance and lengths of failures. As an individual we can stand, as a group we can stand tall above all. When we draw upon our groups strength we mend the weaknesses and provide an unstoppable power, a power that can do good in anyone’s eyes. It is not about us versus them it is about us versus peace and understanding. We are groups of individuals, tribes, banding together to live to our best and be remembered in the end.

Live life loving and not hating, for then we can all have peace in ourselves.

Follow my entertainment adventures throughout Southern California on Twitter @SCThrillsMarc.

“You’re good and I’m bad. We’re made for each other.”

These are words of a young mobster, Pinkie, whispered to Rose, his recently acquired girlfriend, one night as he fights to win over her allegiance to him.  Pinkie’s remark is also an apt description of director Rowan Joffe’s relationship with the source material.  Unfortunately, neither are a perfect match for each other. “Brighton Rock” is a film noir with sparks of brilliance that reveal themselves every so often, but are ultimately left for naught by an inconsistent devotion to the story and mood, falling a measure short of captivating. 

If anything, “Brighton Rock” that will leave you with a sense of bewilderment, especially if this is your first encounter with the story, a literary classic, written in the 1938 by Graham Green.  There is a sudden murder, and then we are introduced to Pinkie, an up and coming 20-something mob member who is out on the power-hungry prowl in the coastal getaway of Brighton, England.  Looking for revenge against those who killed his fellow gang member, Pinkie, by complete coincidence involves a doe-eyed waitress, Rose.  This event slightly derails Pinkie’s focus on gaining control of his mob, and he instead must secure the affections of  Rose to keep her from revealing information that would incriminate him as a murderer.

What makes the film a challenge to decipher from the beginning is the lack of coherent characters or coherent dialogue.  There is that unavoidable fact that this is a film deeply steeped in British vocabulary and dramatics.  But that neither helps nor hurts, instead the problem lies in the the way that the leading characters are almost too loosely defined and too much is left up to the audience having to interpret their motivations and even their basic emotions.  

Although “Brighton Rock” starts with a shaky beginning, it does overtime gain some sanity thanks to the three unique lead performances.  Roses’ employer at the cafe, Ida Arnold, played by Helen Mirren, takes upon herself a motherly protectiveness of Rose and begins to try to loosen Pinkie’s death grip on Rose.  Mirren absolutely thrives in the role, portraying an older woman while exuding a certain youthful veracity that has been absent from many of her recent roles in other films.  She electrifies the space she is given in every scene, and as Mrs. Arnold, she achieves an odd neutrality, full of goodness and yet, is threatening. 

Both Sam Riley and Andrea Riseborough complement one another well as Pinkie and Rose. What is surprising is just how flat Riley’s interpretation of Pinkie feels in comparison to Risenbourough’s turn as Rose.  Her performance is by far the most nuanced – in one moment she an insecure girl hidden behind a pair of glasses, the next, she is a much darker vision of sexual appeal, a lady.  Where Rose is a constantly evolving personality, Pinkie never reaches that climatic spark where he fulfills the expectation of vile, violent mobster that the film keeps trying to convince us that he is. And this, is where the entire thing begins to fragment. 

Viewing ”Brighton Rock,” I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was witnessing the potential of a story, decorated with all the right elements, that never arrives. Time and time again, as Pinkie grows closer to Rose in a hideous way, the melodrama of their relationship ebbs and flows wonderfully. Then, in the very next scene it is immediately wiped away with another convoluted conversation or overbearing visual element. I was left exhausted, and my emotions never had a fair chance develop in response to a story that wanted desperately to be a beautiful tragedy. 

What works brilliantly in “Brighton Rock,” is the final thirty minutes.  Oddly detached from the rest of the movie, the last moments finely capture a mood and meaning that should have existed all along.  As Pinkie and Rose come to the pinnacle of their experience, and Mrs. Arnold grows closer to saving Rose, there is a symphony to their heartbreaking demise.  The film’s musical score is finally noticeable, as it carries us along in the emotionally-wrenching arch with the characters. Director Rowan Joffe tries to final tell us something that up to this point, has been lost somewhere under the rubble of the rest of the storyline.  It is about the power of miracles, those that come from faith, a faith in Rose that never faltered once as she trusted Pinkie.  It is a religious faith as much as a self-invented, misguided one.  The message works, and while the majority of the movie is a blur, we are left with a shot of Rose listening to a recording of Pinkie expressing his affection for her.  It is a delusional love, but in Rose’s case, it is as unadulterated as can be.  If only the rest of “Brighton Rock” wasn’t this deluded in it’s own lack of brilliance.

Whenever a new film is released that somehow involves elements of WWII, it seems more than ever the Holocaust is used to elicit knee-jerk emotion from the audience. Or when Nazis are situated as major characters of a story, they simply fulfill the role of the hideous villain.  “Captain America,” is a prime example of a film that takes a Nazi to a comic level as a villain wreaking havoc on the world. “The Debt” touches both on the Holocaust and those that inflicted that horror, that is as much an original thriller as it is a thought provoking commentary on overwhelming power of truth and reality.

In 1966, three Jewish Mossad secret agents were sent to East Berlin on a mission to locate and return to Israel an infamous Nazi, Dieter Vogel, known as the Surgeon of Berkenau, to stand trial for his crimes during WWII.  The movie begins in the present, 1997, where two of the former agents, Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stephen (Tom Wilkinson) are reunited after being contacted by their third comrade, David (Ciaran Hinds).  Rachel’s daughter has just completed a book detailing the events of her mother’s heroism in the mission that took place 30 years ago. In a matter of hours, Rachel discovers that she must face her worst fears that has been following her ever since the day she left behind East Berlin.

The past is a character unto itself in the “The Debt.” Three decades younger, Rachel (Jessica Chastain) joins David (Sam Worthington) and Stephen (Marton Csokas) in East Berlin to help get close enough to their target, Vogel who is working at a women’s health clinic. The men are committed to the mission, but soon find themselves distracted by the added presence of a female. Each of them has their reason for wanting Vogel brought to justice, ranging from revenge to satisfaction. 

Jessica Chastain’s performance as the younger Rachel is the glue that binds the entire story together.  Rachel appears reserved yet below the surface is decisively strong and brutal.  This year has been Chastain’s coming out as an actress, thus far in “The Tree of Life,” and “The Help.” She matches her wonderful efforts in those films equally in “The Debt” as she creates a character that is both tender and brash.  As the older Rachel, Helen Mirren is no less impressive as she portrays an intensity that has only grown stronger through the 30 years since the original mission.

Following the capture of Vogel, the three Mossad agents are forced to take vigilant watch of their prisoner in a small apartment.  It is during these moments we experience up close the deep animosity that begins to take root in each of them.  Jesper Christiansen’s performance as Dieter Vogel is more than just disturbing, as he becomes evil incarnate.  David, Rachel, and Stephen all reach their own breaking point as the Nazi doctor creates a living hell for them using no more than a few short words and piercing glances.

“The Debt” hinges on the element of surprise and mystique that surrounds the order of events and the actual truth of what took place during the attempt to take down Vogel.  One pivotal scene in the story is seen more than once from different perspectives, altering the entire tone of the of the film near its halfway mark.  This movie is constructed as a thriller, and a violent, pulsating one at that.  Throughout the entire film, there is a subtle back and forth of deep moments of stillness and quiet followed by clamorous bouts of noise and physical harm, creating an continuous, highly charged atmosphere. And when the story has moments of genuine emotion and sensitivity there is a balance that never forced or simply injected.

There is no doubt that director John Madden’s vision for this story is what makes it work so cleanly.  “The Debt” feels like two distinctly different films perfectly sewn into one.  On one side is the sequences of 1966 where the characters go through immense turmoil and are permanently scarred by their experience.  The present is sort of a catharsis, as Rachel must once and for all close the chapter on a part of her life that has kept her unknowingly imprisoned and shackled. The movie carefully walks the line of playing cat and mouse with the audience, but never to a point that makes the film appear like it is touting its own brilliance or surprising the audience for the sake of shock value.

What “The Debt” is truly after is gradually asking the deeper questions that relate to people’s need for retribution, and the grey areas that exist between fact vs. fiction.  The resulting conclusion is compelling, and the film hardly ever misses a beat. At the end, Rachel is presented with a choice, a question: “Can the truth set you free?”  Thankfully, “The Debt” leaves that for us to decide.