Film Review Round-Up: Molly's Game & Hostiles

Well it's certainly been a strong start for cinema in 2018. I've watched two excellent films this week (and I've yet to see All the Money in the World), so I've decided to kick 2018 off here at The Welsh Geek Reviews with a review round-up - two short but hopefully sweet reviews for you. In the first, Jessica Chastain takes centre stage as poker entrepreneur Molly Bloom in Molly's Game for Aaron Sorkin, and in the second Christian Bale leads an impressive cast in Western Hostiles for director Scott Cooper, who he previously worked with on 2013's Out of the Furnace. So let's go!

Poker Face

Molly's Game (15)

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba

Director: Aaron Sorkin

The Plot: A drama based on the true story of Molly Bloom. After injury forces her retirement from a pro skiing career, Bloom (Chastain) moves to LA to attend law school. She takes two jobs: one as a cocktail waitress, the other as an assistant to a Hollywood mogul, who recruits her to run a private poker game for his high-profile friends and clients. Quickly learning the rules and seeing its potential, Molly breaks away and begins running her own poker games for rich and famous players, leading to great financial success - but ultimately also to her arrest by the FBI, accusing her of having ties to the Russian mafia. Molly hires top lawyer Charlie Jaffey (Elba) to defend her . . .

Review: Although they're both given top billing, this is really Jessica Chastain's film as she dominates the screen from start to finish in a powerhouse performance. She's one of my favourite actresses and I think she's perfectly suited for this kind of role. Director Aaron Sorkin (who also wrote the screenplay here) is known for his dialogue-heavy films and Molly's Game is no exception: there's enough dialogue here for two films, and there's a rarely a moment when Molly isn't on screen, speaking, or giving some kind of voice-over, rattling through dialogue and explanations of poker at a rapid pace. Chastain handles this superbly, assisted by the razor-sharp quality of the dialogue that audiences have come to expect from Sorkin, and it's a really meaty role for her to get in to, exploring the psyche of Molly and why she makes the decisions she does, including the impact that her domineering father/former coach (played by Kevin Costner) had on her. Elba is perfectly fine in his role, which includes a standout moment where he gives a passionate speech in Molly's defence, but he's not really being tested here in the same way that Chastain is. The direction and cinematography is excellent, but some viewers may be put off by the heavy inclusion of poker and the rapid-fire nature of the dialogue and exposition. It's also left up to you to figure out how you feel about Molly - she's a character in a very grey area, as she clearly does some illegal things, and Sorkin's script neither glorifies or criticises her in any significant way.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An excellent, dramatic story that's dominated by a phenomenal performance from Jessica Chastain. Deftly handling the sheer amount of dialogue, exposition and screen time that director Aaron Sorkin's script throws at her, she's ably supported by Idris Elba and Kevin Costner. The poker aspect and Sorkin's writing style might be off-putting to some, but this is worth seeing for Chastain's performance alone. 

Once upon a time in the West . . .

Hostiles (15)

Starring: Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi

Director: Scott Cooper

The Plot: New Mexico, 1892. Joseph Blocker (Bale) is a captain in the United States Cavalry, and infamous for both his hatred of the Native American people and for his violent ways. Against his will, Blocker is ordered to escort the dying Chief Yellow Hawk (Studi), a Cheyenne with whom Blocker has a violent past, and his family to his homeland in Montana. The journey is a long and dangerous one, and they are joined on it by Rosalie Quaid (Pike), a woman whose family has just been brutally murdered by a group of Comanche . . .

Review: I like Westerns. There's something enduring about the genre and Hostiles can count itself as one of the best: this is a bleak and brutal tale that explores the themes of revenge, hatred, and most of all change, as the main characters undergo considerable transformations on the journey they share. As you'd expect given the setting and time period, it's beautifully shot with some wonderful cinematography on display throughout. It's also unflinching in it's brutality: it opens with Rosalie's family being gunned down, and the violent tone continues throughout. The film is slowly paced, but it's carried by three fantastic performances from the leads: Bale is terrific as Blocker; his character's hatred stems from the violence acts that he's seen the natives carry out and his initial opposition and reaction to his orders is superb. While predictable, his gradual change to the acceptance of Yellow Hawk as a friend and the need for the violence to end is extremely effective. Rosamund Pike's performance is a study in grief; her character is traumatised by the death of her family, and initially terrified by the presence of Yellow Hawk and his family, but she too undergoes a transformation and comes to not only accept them but form a connection with them and Blocker. Studi plays Yellow Hawk with a quiet dignity, having accepted his coming death and keen to put an end to the vendetta between them. How effective you find the overall message about the violence between the two peoples will vary, and some viewers may be put off by the slow pacing, but the both the story and the performances make this worth your time, even if you're not a fan of Westerns.

Rating: 4 out 5 stars
An excellent Western that tells a bleak story about revenge, grief and change. Brutally violent and beautifully shot, some viewers may be put off by its slow pacing and question it's overall commentary on the conflict, but three powerful performances from the leads drive a compelling story. Highly recommended.