BLACKBERRY TBC
An idea bears fruit…
★★★☆☆ OUT 6 OCTOBER CINEMAS
As they go to pitch their concept of a cell phone that sends emails, Canadian engineering whizz Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and goofball partner Doug Fregin (director Matt Johnson) drive past a pony and trap. It is 1996 and, helped by ruthless CEO Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton), they’re about to change telecommunications forever. The BlackBerry was a must-have accessory and status symbol for a brief moment, but – like that horse and carriage – it was hardwired with obsolescence.
The latest drama on a conveyor belt of titles that mythologise the birth pains of game-changing products (Air, Tetris, The Beanie Bubble), Johnson’s film is a cautionary tale of underdogs beating the system, only for it to divide and conquer them. The best bits ping in its first half, Johnson and co-writer Matthew Miller milking comedy and tension from an entertaining series of mini-crises that strain Mike and Jim’s business marriage of convenience to breaking point.
With success comes a dip in narrative hold, borne out of too many diffuse plot threads. The performances keep us engaged, however, Baruchel prevailing over a succession of terrible wigs to bring doggedness and poignancy to his socially inept inventor. Yet the stand-out turn comes from Howerton, the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor ensuring that every scene he’s in carries the threat of an explosively furious meltdown.
THE VERDICT A once-popular device that went the way of the dodo gets a lively epitaph.
THE EQUALIZER 315
Unbalancing act…
★★★☆☆ OUT NOW CINEMAS
After almost a decade, Denzel Washington says farewell to DIA operative-turned-vigilante Robert McCall in this uneven send-off. This time, the nail gun-wielding anti-hero trades Boston for a small coastal town in southern Italy, where he crosses paths with Dakota Fanning’s CIA agent Collins in an attempt to save the local people from the grip of the Mob.
Director Antoine Fuqua ensures the action is more brutal than before, with a henchman taking a meat cleaver to the face early. However, the all-or-nothing pitch lurches awkwardly from graphic violence to slow-paced scenes, a juxtaposition that can feel overly jarring. McCall is now a different man to the first movie, a change that doesn’t necessarily translate on screen. Quieter and more reserved, his past choices evidently taking a mental toll, he holds his new Mediterranean neighbours at arm’s length – and so does the script.
When Washington interacts with the supporting cast, he’s the strongest point of the movie and franchise. Fanning’s character, however, feels like a wasted opportunity, risking sinking into cliché. Callbacks to the previous two movies are cheapened by sepia-tinged flashbacks, too, and a minor, somewhat eye-roll-worthy twist. The emotional beats still hit, though, with a ludicrous yet satisfyingly cyclical conclusion. The result is not quite a bang, not quite a whimper, but something in between.
THE VERDICT Denzel Washington is compelling in Robert McCall’s swansong, but the story often falls flat.