Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban
was the third Potter movie and,
with the departed Christopher Columbus replaced by Alfonse Cuaron, it became
the best. The plot was slightly flimsier than The Chamber Of Secrets, but
everything else surpassed its predecessors - better acting, richer design, more
realistic special-effects... all equalling an onscreen lesson in how the
vision of a director can transform the material. Roll on Goblet Of Fire!
After resurrecting The Mummy for a new generation, Stephen Sommers turned his
attention to three big-name monsters for Van Helsing, with Hugh Jackman.
Here, Sommers and his crack ILM team concocted a rollercoaster ride in
Transylvania where we met a foppish Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and a
CGI Wolf Man. The movie made a mint worldwide, but its strained plot and zero
characterisation hamstrung the movie. Gorgeous to look at, entertaining in a
silly way, but ultimately unsatisfying hocus pocus.
Maximus has a lot of answer for! Since Russell Crowe's now iconic Gladiator
scowled through the silver screen, the hunt has been on to find more historical
epics to update.
Troy
was the one most favoured to succeed, helmed by
Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) and starring a litany of stars - Brad
Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole. The spectacle is certainly
there in some impressive fight scenes, but only Bana chisels out a decent
performance, leaving old-timer O'Toole to teach the youngters how to give
acting gravitas to what essentially becomes a beautifully made, yet
occasionally hollow, epic.
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