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Cinehunter2001
Reviews
When Darkness Falls (2022)
A Pleasant Surprise.
I caught this on Roku, intrigued by the title and artwork. I was expecting something more horror-centered, but to my surprise this plays out as more of a mystery thriller (and engagingly so).
The locations look great. Everything looks barren and it suits the nature of a missing person thriller like this. It could probably have done with slicing 5-10 minutes off the run time, but it does slowly build up pretty well.
The final 20 minutes in particular, after, yep...darkness falls, is tense. Given the budget it's well made, engaging and the cast is decent. It's a little far fetched in places but I guess that's a pre-requisite for this type of B movie thriller. I just enjoy seeing something where everything is on screen, out on locations (and I'll watch most things shot in Scottish countryside). There's too many green screen films these days.
Well worth checking out.
Nemesis (2021)
A great twist on genre expectations.
Billy Murray gets a welcome return to leading man status as John Morgan, who returns from sunning himself abroad to the mean streets of London. In no uncertain terms he's got no place at the high table any more, but he's here to tie up loose ends. He irks not only the new head of the criminal underworld, Damian (played with cigar/scenery chomping aplomb by Bruce Payne) but also cop on the edge, Conway (Nick Moran).
With pressure from all sides (and sibling tension with his brother Richard, played by Frank Harper) he has the small matter of a family dinner to attend. Here the film turns into something akin to a stage play. It's confined, intimate and dramatic, before the mood and tone takes a further shift. Inevitably the shifts will alienate some as much as allure others but the morally obtuse tale is always engaging if you go with it, never glorifying or glamorising Morgan's criminal enterprise. He's the maker of his own downfall
There's an interesting dynamic within the Morgan family. Murray is atypically charismatic with gravitas to burn. Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott delivers a fiery and powerful performance as Sadie, more than just the gangsters moll. Ambra Moore (granddaughter of the late Sir Roger) has an impressive film debut too. One other interesting element to the film is the subplot involving Conway, which becomes his own philosophical journey inward. Nick Moran is superb here (bouncing particularly well off Ricky Grover).
Nemesis is gritty, edgy and a nice blend of genres. It also has a nice combination of modern and old school aesthetics. Several characters are stylishly and classically tailored, right out of 60's cinema (whereas the modern wont is to wear everything that looks two sizes too small, with spray on trousers). There's also a theme tune that wouldn't feel out of place in a James Bond film by Talia Dean.
Just don't go in expecting Rise of The Foot Soldier. On the flip side, the film takes its time to arc away from the gangster formula in the opening half and might have benefited from getting to the crux of the story a little sooner (and fleshing out act 2-3 a tad more). In the end though, the ambitions make this an interesting watch.