No Way Out

Senseless racist irrationality destructively wallowing away, after an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier as Dr. Luther Brooks) attempts to save a life, and his truly sick patient passes.

The doctor just joined the profession having recently passed a requisite exam, and even though he's confident enough to make decisions, he still seeks guidance from established professionals. 

When his patient arrived the other night Dr. Brooks didn't have much time to make the call, Mr. Biddle (Dick Paxton as Johnny Biddle) had been shot during an attempted robbery, and was desperately clinging to life.

Dr. Brooks made a call nevertheless which the patient's brother attentively witnessed (Richard Widmark), after tormenting the humble doctor because he was born with black skin.

After the patient passed, another doctor appeared in the room (Stephen McNally as Dr. Dan Wharton), and Dr. Brooks honestly stated he was confident he made the right decision, but unfortunately could have been mistaken.

The volatile brother heard their conversation and reacted with racist venom, claiming his brother was killed due to incompetence while severely critiquing Dr. Brooks's race.

The only way Dr. Brooks can prove his innocence is to have an autopsy performed on the body, but the autopsy can't be performed without the consent of the surviving brother.

Not only does he refuse to give his consent, he also calls up his thuglike friends, and gets them to plan an attack on the local black neighbourhood, the situation becoming more and more insane.

And it's all because a bright student boldly determined he would become a doctor, and put in the necessary years of hard work and study to eventually attain the role.

Racism's disastrous stubborn ignorance almost prevents his career from moving forward, as someone too blind to see anything but skin colour goes out of his way to ruin a life.

Equal opportunity for every race and any individual willing to heed the call, objective analysis isn't qualified by a doctor's ethnicity as emergency medical decisions are made.

Even after Dr. Brooks proves his innocence Mr. Biddle refuses to believe, and with the resurgence of racism in the public sphere, the mass irresponsibility is most distressing. 

No Way Out highlights the pitfalls of racism with shocking language and blunt compression, I was surprised to see this film was made in 1950, I didn't think they made such candid movies back then (when dealing with sensitive issues).

Even though I think they're incredibly irresponsible I can support an individual's right to not be vaccinated, it's their body and even if they're being passionately foolish (remember how wonderful it was when they announced they'd found a vaccine! [with additional vaccines coming later!]) we live in a democracy not a totalitarian state.  

But if their protests start waving the confederate flag and they start preventing local businesses from operating, while irritating local residents, I simply cannot support them: I can't support freedom as it promotes slavery. 

The Meg

Deep within the fabled Mariana Trench lies a chilling thermocline, beneath which dwells a vast undiscovered ecosystem aquatically flourishing in nocturnal isolation.

Unaware of the limitless ocean above and possessing no knowledge of the research scientists strategically planning upon its surface, it has existed unclassified and uncatalogued for millions of years, endemic beasts prehistorically assembled confined.

Until that team of international scientists, brilliantly driven by innate information hunger, breaks through to observe within, attacked by an unknown shortly thereafter, and left helpless and motionless on the unforgiving ocean floor.

The depths of which are superlative indeed.

One of the ensuing versatile rescuers has previously operated under comparable conditions.

But this time while ascending a vent is ruptured by his craft upon that ocean floor which clears a warm path through said impassable thermocline, an insatiable giant freely emerging thereafter, to instinctually wreak havoc on the postmodern oceanic imagination.

Bombastically so.

For it truly will not stop preying.

The Meg's megalodon functions like Jurassic World's indominus rex, constantly ending unsuspecting marine lives without ever stopping to consume them.

Its illogic should be nautically fathomed.

Don't predators usually eat the animals they incapacitate, and wouldn't a giant squid or two whales (😢) feed a massive shark for three weeks or more?

If the megalodon attacks and kills with unrelenting ferocity, wouldn't everything existing beneath the thermocline have perished millions of years ago?

Additional peculiarities: investigating profound oceanic depths appeals to me, but would lights used to illuminate their environments not cause serious damage to their cloistered inhabitants who have never been lit up before?

Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is amazing, and I loved how he instantaneously took absurd risks throughout without question, but hadn't he been drunk for several years beforehand? He certainly gets it together quickly and resiliently never seems to want any more alcohol.

He was wisely sticking to beer and must have been secreting insane amounts of adrenaline but such a rapid turn around remains a fishy point of contention.

And wouldn't all the characters who had descended to the bottom of the Trench have suffered from the bends for some time after failing to adequately decompress after rapidly returning to the surface?

Quizzical.

The Meg's fast-paced implausibility is funny and endearingly ridiculous, and it sticks it to the shark fin soup industry and celebrates the majesty of whales, along with scientific and athletic heroics, childhood, friendship, teamwork, and new love in bloom, while criticizing ill-considered commercial endeavours, but several plot developments are somewhat too convenient nonetheless, and there are so many of them that the ridiculousness seems absurd (😉).

Not that I was searching for rational discourse from The Meg, I was looking for a ludicrous Summer blockbuster that doesn't make much sense and brings together a cool eclectic team to randomly deal with starboard chaos, perhaps making a criterion out of Jaws après ça.

From this angle it doesn't disappoint.

But it still keeps one foot too firmly lodged in the realistic to get away with its entertaining shenanigans scot-free.

Statham does a fantastic job.

And works really well with Bingbing Li (Suyin) and Shuya Sophia Cai (Meiying).

I was hoping the meg would pass after consuming twice its weight in ocean plastic.

That's not true, I just thought of that now.

Seriously though, ocean plastic is a huge problem.

And the situation can be rectified simply by properly disposing of your garbage and recyclables, and creating way more much cheaper biodegradable bottles, food wraps, and containers.

It's that easy.

*Is Rainn Wilson (Morris) the new Rick Ducommun?

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The sacrifices Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) makes for his Mission: Impossible franchise add an authentic dimension to its outputs that ironically causes them to appear plausible even if they versatilely redefine the extraordinary.

The effort he puts into making these films is incredible.

If you watch a lot of action adventure movies there are times where some of their plots seem quite ridiculous, obviously enough, which is part of the fun assuming the laws of physics aren't utterly ignored, GoldenEye.

If they are utterly ignored you need strong supporting intelligent possibly wacky characters presenting theoretical justifications for the inaccuracies, numerous Star Trek episodes providing fitting instructive examples, man those shows must be fun to write.

But since Mr. Cruise does his own stunts, the impossible seems attainable, the ridiculousness appears rational, and if his character is thought to metaphorically represent high stakes success, however you choose to define it (a small business, exceptional narratives delivered during cruises, a butter tart that knows no equal, a pot of chili), the fact that he does his own stunts synthesizes the imaginary and the realistic in a compelling way that parallels Jackie Chan himself, who would make a wonderful addition to the franchise.

Fallout sees the return of Hunt's dependable team, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames [how can neighbours not recognize Ving Rhames?]) excelling at consistently delivering opposites-platonically-attract-interactions, their characters asking pertinent questions, performing exceptional feats, freely conceptualizing reliability, while indisputably materializing assured structural cool.

Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) and Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) spicing things up as well.

Fallout presents a solid instalment complete with an intricate constantly evolving embrace of active efficient improvised deconstruction, new personalities (notably Henry Cavill as August Walker and Vanessa Kirby as the White Widow) chaotically introduced to the mayhem, a classic focus on nuclear weapons (fitting for contemporary times) fuelling the intensity, historical romance complicating mission prerogatives, traditional character traits present but not frustratingly exaggerated (a downfall of so many sequels), blunt seemingly foolish observations cloaking discerning intellects, improbable goals pursued regardless of demanding setbacks, level-heads tying everything together in a manner that isn't difficult to stomach (directed by Christopher McQuarrie), the sixth constituent of a franchise focusing too heavily on its own internal dynamics at times.

Make sure each instalment in a franchise simultaneously appeals to fans and people who have never heard of it and you're moving in a Wrath of Khan direction.

Mission: Impossible still hasn't had a Captain America: Civil War or Wrath of Khan moment, but there's still plenty of time.

Fallout's still a motivating thought provoking film that will likely appeal to eager fans along with new recruits unfamiliar with its unique style.

Voluminous aftershocks.

Realistic proofs.

Raw spontaneity.

Damned impressive.

If you want sincerity in an action film, Mission: Impossible distinctly delivers.

Back in the day I thought they'd stop making them after number III.

That was 12 years ago.

Crazy.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Can science, myth, religion, history, the aristocracy, the people, the British, Americans, the privileged, the self-made, the men, the women, humankind, and Autobots, be chaotically yet adventurously, ideologically yet practically, intergalactically yet locally, or quite simply extracurricularly brought together in a wild brainiacally styled jewelled Nile Summertime extravaganza, complete with a spellbinding mix of the brash and the delicate which epically unites risk, love, service and dedication, to thoroughly entertain while multilaterally seeking knowledge, like a trip to New York, or a voyage down under?

Yes.

I would say, "yes, yes they can."

"Affirmative" even.

A constructive ebb and flow.

It's always fun when the new Transformers films are released but I'll admit I've never enjoyed one as much as The Last Knight.

I mean, I'll actually watch this one again.

It's number 5 too.

So many metamorphic developments.

Plucky little Izabella (Isabela Moner), resiliently in search of friends and family.

The hyperreactive robotic butler (Jim Carter as Cogman), who flamboyantly yet earnestly adds neurotic inspirational spice.

Agent Simmons (Jon Turturro) is back, theorizing and analyzing his way to the heart of the narrative's conceit.

Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins), youthfully and mischievously contemporizing more than a millennia of British legend.

England and the United States romantically come to terms?, the couple in question perhaps creating an invincible universal super being?

Plus secret entrances, spontaneous sushi, cheeky self-reflexive criticisms of blockbuster music, Cuba once again warmly featured in a 2017 American mainstream release, prophetic books preserved, getting-away-with-it explanations, scenarios, Bumblebee (Erik Aadahl), First Nations fluidity, Tony Hale (JPL Engineer), whales.

The wild script energetically shifts from sentiment to shock to certitude to sensation, manifold short scenes eclectically yet straightforwardly stitched together with (en)lightninglike speed and ornate dishevelled awareness.

Fascinated, 'twas I.

I've often thought these films don't focus enough on Transformers, but Last Knight presents a solid shapeshifting/organic blend, its biological proclivities overwhelming desires to see Transformers discursively deliberating, relevant contributing human factors, caught up in the thick of it, creating solutions intuitively their own.

In fact, the subplot involving Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) was my least favourite part of the film.

The extraordinary examination of British History and its relationship to transforming-lifeforms-from-space easily made up for it though.

I'd love to see Stonehenge on the Summer Solstice during the witching hour.

How did they move those rocks?

They be pretty freakin' huge.

The House

An adorable loving cute-and-cuddly family suddenly finds itself violently managing a rowdy small town underground Casino in Andrew Jay Cohen's hit-and-miss The House, awkwardly refining streetwise bourgeois semantics thereby, while teaching their young daughter improvisational economic lessons learned.

Chug-a-lug-lug.

There would have been no need however a corrupt city councilperson embezzles the funds that would have paid young Alex's (Ryan Simpkins) college tuition, the Johansen's (Will Ferrell as Scott and Amy Poehler as Kate) unexpectedly finding themselves 250,000 dollars short afterwards, with no legitimate means to raise the cash required.

Enter their porn-afflicted deadbeat addiction-prone friend (Jason Mantzoukas as Frank) whose wife has just left him, but he's got an idea to win her back, and you've found a trendy sanctified sordid perky do-gooding sleazy debacle, complete with absurdly relevant relatable yet sensational stock (the mismanagement of government funds resulting in heavy taxes for small businesses?), weathering the wherewithal, manifesting latent complexes, hewing the graft, and exercising freewill.

It's a great idea for a comedy, glossing over serious defects in the American dream too lightly perhaps, but not unsympathetically, in its brazen hardy risk management.

How do people pay $50,000 for one year's tuition?

N-n-n-nutso.

That is one big bloody army.

Full-on crazy, this here historical epoch.

A great idea supersaturated with too much improbability that revels in its hypothesis without generating convincing conclusions, The House has its moments but some scenes are total amateur hour, even if they're naively treading the rambunctious deluge.

The script intends to blend the wild with the worldly in a bizarro multicultural cavalcade, but ironically leaves the parenting behind for too long, and focuses too intently on plain old thuggery.

It's true though, the film would have been stronger if they had cut back on the buffoonery a bit, even if Scott's 1970s-90s? cut-off hopeful progressive determined speech near the beginning suggests The House ain't that kind of film.

Butchin' and burnin'.

Is it really a comedic western?

The Fate of the Furious

A mad evil genius, hellbent on disabling geopolitical individuality, captures Dom (Vin Diesel) in The Fate of the Furious, in a loathsome attempt to make his honourable good nature her own.

Having recently proven to the Cuban people that he can indeed be trusted, aligning repute with action in victory aflame, his team can't understand why he's betrayed them, as the clandestine Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) greenlights their cold pursuit.

The independence of so many reliable furiousae imminently threatened by sheer nuclear arithmetic, it's imperative that high octane risk potential variably triggers alarm.

The team still excels without its leader, while said maestro recalibrates slipstream, Cipher (Charlize Theron) exposing them to coerced extreme disorder, fraught with maniacal familial leverage.

They must assemble in accordance with the abilities that have enabled them to defy the blasé and the mediocre, a baker's half dozen all-pro renegades, continuously eclipsing radially refined exuberance, caught up in arch-villainous bluster, acrobatically shifting gears thermoclined.

Masterminds.

Bringin' it.

Expounding.

The ill-tempered quickly regain their composure to regally embrace destiny punch maximum overdrive within.

Searching for new ways to exhaustively entertain, they battle a submarine no less, and a legion of remotely controlled ghost cars.

If practically everything is technologically outfitted, in the future, even raking, will every upcoming detective film and television show revolve around how a seemingly secure system was hacked, driverless cars being potentially used to commit murder, every crime solved thereafter by a neuromantic cybersleuth, potentially named, Chevron Wikireseau?

Nanosyntheses.

Enjoyed The Fate of the Furious and definitely preferred it to part 7.

Dom's compelling blend of tenacity and tenderness is reconstituted au début, and the massive accompanying cast has an intricate role to play, minor and major denizens alike, notably the subplot involving Deckard (Jason Statham) and his mom (Helen Mirren)(if Judi Dench can rock Philomena, Helen Mirren bejewels Magdalene Shaw), new fast learning by-the-book toehead (initially) Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood), and a frustrated Roman (Tyrese Gibson) who's been disrespectfully seven/elevened.

There are so many characters to take into consideration when writing these scripts.

Plus an incarcerated Dwayne Johnson (Hobbs) of course.

Tej Parker (Ludacris) could have had a bigger moment.

Risky to play freebird with Interpol?

Fast, furious, frenetic, freewheeling.

If you don't like these films, why do you go see them?

Tough to top the submarine, the torpedo.

Can't wait to see what happens next.

I don't even drive. I ride the bus.

The entire world's after them but they sort of work for the government.

Is that 21st century?

High stakes heuristics.

Barrellin' on down.

The Circle

Omnipresent technological observation, every detail from everyone's life infinitesimally revealed with omnibus macroscopic composure, the triumph of the public sphere, no more secrets, no more subterfuge, real time rhapsodic synergistic respiration sucking in surety and exhaling plots, sandlots, polka dots, buffets, aeronautic knowledge in plain microcosm, mountainous metaphoric immersive munchy meadows, cross-referenced cursive equations, auspices, permanent honesty.

The Circle seeks to reveal everything ever recorded, every piece of data historically accumulated, every whisper, every slight, while turning everyone's life into a networked primetime extravaganza, constant pervasive awareness, monitoring each and every aspect, like itsy-bitsy circus shows.

Prophetic in its potential, sage in its revelations, James Ponsoldt's The Circle critically examines the ways in which social media has significantly transformed human existence in less than ten years, like the printing press of old, exponentially exemplified.

Within the film, an employee's (Emma Watson as Mae) responsibilities gradually increase after she's hired by the aforementioned, an innovative business that has combined several popular online sites into one übercolossus, until she goes transparent and everyone begins following every moment of her life all day everyday as it happens online, and she suddenly finds herself with an unprecedented degree of influence.

She's chill though, cool, she's not really into all that sort of, in the film anyways, the film is quite different from the book, although she realizes she possesses a perky ability to monumentally game change.

She digs.

She excavates.

She constructs.

She reveals.

If everything about all and sundry was accessible online the world would certainly become a different place.

A lot of pricks would be forced not to be huge dicks, unless some kind of sadistic sensational saga prevailed, for a time.

It might end up being like true democracy, things like starvation and violent crime slowly (perhaps rapidly) disappearing, the exaltation of the ephemeral, new variations of Star Trek compellingly illuminating the variations, slavery ending, endangered animals given a fighting chance for survival.

Imagine the pizza.

The long weekends.

The orations.

But if a select group controlled it things likely wouldn't change much.

And it would be super hard on those who didn't want their lives to be transparent, not just the unscrupulous but regular people as well, unscrupulous regular people notwithstanding.

Seems to be heading in that direction regardless.

Not really sure if The Circle's prophetic or simply just a comment on the times.

Makes the art of creating genuine surprise all the more intriguing either way.

*Another film could be made based on the book that could offer deeper reflections.

Anthropoid

Penetrating im/pounding extremes, every micromovement scrutinized, every act commanding pressure, evasion, occupying hostility, bestial barbarous butcher, the Czechoslovakian resistance responds with succinct furtive gravity, a clandestine mission necessitating collective stealth, probable reprisals hauntingly staggering, the goal inter/nationally paramount, assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, and deliver a devastating blow to Nazi Germany.

Expedient precision.

Resilient nerve.

Sean Ellis's Anthropoid is a serious war film.

In fact it's the best war film I've seen in years.

There aren't any chummy exaggerated shenanigans, no consistent bombastic explosions, the soldiers barely have any resources, they're organized but years of grotesque repercussions have left them divided, there's a complicated objective requiring superhuman strength but its subjects are realistically afraid and hesitant, which inculcates sage humanity, cool heads still prevailing to keep things discreet enough to avoid despotic detection, ordinary people making extraordinary sacrifices like the recruits described by Saint-Loup, almost every character given a crucial role, courageous exceptional multifaceted desperation, like they really are fighting a war, and proceeding with requisite solemnity.

Heads kept level even as love's warm embrace lightens the tension, loss still generating overwhelming emotion, kindred spirits who would have otherwise been at play.

Goals motivating ubiquitously.

The different ages of the characters are written remarkably well.

Imperfect markspersonship.

Horrifying punishments.

Maturity comes of age.

Poise.

Star Trek Beyond

Loved Star Trek Beyond.

I see a lot of adventure, superhero, sci-fi etc. films, obviously enough, but it's rare when that long forgotten voice, still residing deep within, innocently pleads, "how are they going to get out of this one?"

The crew of the Enterprise is betrayed and their ship destroyed, early on, the survivors forced to regroup on a hostile planet below, most of them quickly captured by their ruthless enemy.

A desperate situation, overwhelming odds, a profound delineation of devastating loss, the immediacy of it all shocking in its sudden mass destruction.

The Enterprise usually isn't destroyed near the beginning of a Star Trek narrative, in fact, I think it's unprecedented.

Resolute dividends.

The principal characters continue to diversify their personalities within the new timeline, Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Sulu (John Cho), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) given prominent roles that they often didn't receive in the early Star Trek films.

And McCoy (Karl Urban) finally takes centre stage.

The last two films focused too much attention on Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) while forgetting that McCoy was also a driving force behind the franchise's success.

He's back in Star Trek Beyond with a huge part to play complete with several feisty confrontations with an injured Spock, the classic Spock/McCoy logical vulcan versus emotive human arguments, observations, distillations, providing the cherished thoughtfully humorous dialogues that were responsible for polarizing so many compelling Star Trek moments.

Delicatessen.

Scotty (Simon Pegg [who also co-wrote the script]) rocks it too, a true miracle worker in this one, as the crew requires multiple extremely precise intricately detailed technological synchronizations to escape from the planet and challenge the monstrous Krall (Idris Elba).

The situation is grim and the odds catastrophic but resilient professionalism responds with formidable yet down to earth distinction that inspirationally guides their enduring competence.

The humour isn't as lighthearted as the earth scenes from Star Trek: First Contact. That's one of the best Star Trek films, but at points it loses sight of the fact that their goal is to prevent the future of humanity from being obliterated.

Jaylah (Sofia Boutella).

Like Saavik, Lily, and Anij, Jayla adds contemplative depth to Star Trek Beyond, in the tradition of introducing new supporting characters which nimbly diversify the story.

Plus, often in films rich with hand-to-hand combat, the female characters fight other women while the men fight men.

Jaylah takes on the powerful Manas (Joe Taslim) in an honourable testament to strength and athleticism, her brains backed up by both brawn and beauty, excellent addition to the Star Trek pantheon.

With no amorous attachments.

It is girl power year in anglo cinema.

The script also examines the corrupted soldier who was never able to learn to live peacefully after all of his or her battles were fought, the individual so immersed in violence that the progressive union of different planets devoted to living amicably with one another is an everlasting insult, for they see foes and treachery everywhere, and, unfortunately, due to the nature of their combative character development, can never learn to trust anyone, preferring to recreate a universe steeped in death and despotism than play a game of cards or head out to a local cinema.

Merciless.

Nevertheless, it must be incredibly difficult for soldiers to suddenly turn it off upon returning to civilian life, especially if governments who profited from their sacrifices don't adequately provide them with the support structures they might need.

Emphasizing ingenuity in the face of stark impoverishment, and teamwork as comprised by extracurricular resource, each of them making game changing plays, Star Trek Beyond respirates to succeed while remaining calm and collected.

I was surprised that Krall's compound wasn't more heavily guarded considering how many pilots were needed to launch his smothering swarm.

There are some wonderful moments that accentuate the biodiversity of the planet they find themselves upon, moments which could have been increasingly intensified as the film progressed.

Old technologies are relied upon to achieve contemporary goals which made me think of the ending of T-3.

A homosexual couple raising a family is lovingly introduced.

Upon the Yorktown station, there's a wonderful sense of metropolitan communal collegiality that captures the best moments one experiences living in cities.

The final moments were quite similar to those from Into Darkness.

Sad to think that Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin have passed on.

The impossibility factor of the crew's victory is extremely high but I suppose that's what makes for good science-fiction.

The dialogue in the opening scene is super corny.

And I loved that the story was completely new, a new story with new villains and characters I've never seen before, like classic Star Trek boldly exploring and contending, with the opening lines from the original series's credits recited by Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, and Scotty in the end, further augmenting their versatile collective, not in the apian or Borg sense, but with humble self-sacrificing semantics, unique to the federation.

Prosperous.

Eye in the Sky

Speculation.

Strategic planning.

Cold calculation.

The human factor.

A peaceful Kenyan family who loathes yet fears extremists lives day to day in a militarized zone, embracing their loving routine while terrorists plot suicide attacks in the compound next door.

The British military has waited years to either capture or eliminate these fanatics and is ready to strike but requires direct authorization.

At the perfect moment, extraordinarily complicated and dangerous steps having been taken to ensure legalistic legitimacy, the adorable daughter (Aisha Takow as Alia Mo'Allim) of the family begins to sell bread within the proposed airstrike's targeted area.

Eye in the Sky hierarchically examines the politics and ethics of proceeding with the mission, humanistically stylizing the decision making process at executive, legal, operational, and civilian levels, internationally evaluating torrents and tributaries to disputatiously justify the repercussions of its actions, debate clad in detonation, textbook points on cue.

Interrogating the greater good.

The crucial unknown.

Millions have likely been spent leading up to the moment and preventing suicide attacks which will result in dozens of casualties seems like the logical decision.

But the peaceful family, if their daughter is killed, may then turn to extremism, convincing friends and relatives to join in the call.

I'm surprised this point wasn't mentioned in the dialogue which otherwise intellectually explores several hypothetical perspectives.

Conditionally, there are too many variables to confidently predict certain outcomes, and it is known that the terrorists are preparing to launch suicide attacks, and that dozens of deaths are more serious than one.

Painstaking steps are taken to ensure the girl's survival and a brave clever conscientious objection is even made by the soldier responsible for launching the strike.

Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren), eager to terminate her target, eventually takes matters into her own hands and lies about the girl's survival odds in order to secure the right to annihilate.

The audience is left to decide whether or not she made the correct decision.

The concluding moments, reminiscent of speeches made by Jean-Luc Picard, suggest director Gavin Hood thinks she did not.

War laid bare.

Unforeseen probabilities.

Possibility obscured.

Eye in the Sky rationally supports opposing viewpoints with argumentative clarity yet is somewhat too neat and tidy and at points I thought I was watching television.

It still boils down incredibly complex structures and their inherent departmental checks and balances to an accessible narrative replete with critical controversies.

Open-ended investigations.

Well thought out yet too polished at times, Eye in the Sky materializes the imaginary components integral to the ethics of fighting the war on terror, to lament both conscience and innocence, while statistically analyzing bursts of compassion.

Pleasantly lacking in sensation.

Loved the Alan Rickman (Lieutenant General Frank Benson).

Son of Saul

World War II, a war machine ensuring mechanized misery malevolently eviscerates, its inherent cruelty viciously forcing its prisoners to meticulously accelerate their own demise, treachery and suicide integral components of its abysmal order, survive through brutality before being brutally discarded, act, don't think, remain unobservant, no future, no past, all-encompassing immediate degeneracy, malicious hellspawn, total, craven, chaos.

One man suddenly opens his eyes, has a thought, abstracts himself from the horror, existentializing the spiritual in a momentary revelation, taking matters into his own hands, boldly asserting dignity.

His individualistic search for last rights causes problems for his collective as his pursuit of a proper burial for his son complicates their plans to escape.

But his steady committed unyielding focus also exemplifies what it means to be human, to uphold peaceful virtues, to have respect for both the living and the dead, to majestically sabotage the ruthless ethics of the oppressor, with wild moral implications, an aesthetic point of view.

Son of Saul's immediacy pulls you into death's grip with unrelenting intensity as fascist logic refuses to let go, desperate resiliencies thwarting its banality with resolute transcendent grace.

The unexpected, the unpredictable, the exceptional, the sane, Saul's (Géza Röhrig) actions serve as a reminder to the conscientious that strength of will can reflex irrepressibly, spontaneous means, keeping goals in mind.