In Constant Confinement- The Horror and Genius of Roman Polanski

Once a filmmaker has amassed a certain body of work the viewer starts looking closely enough to find the filmmaker’s voice in his work. If being thrust unexpectedly in the middle of odds bigger than his existence was the thing that defined Alfred Hitchcock’s leading man, then desperate men trying to rewrite the fates was the centerpiece of any Martin Scorsese protagonist; Michelangelo Anotonioni focused on men who found it increasingly difficult to communicate in a world that was changing and Bergman’s characters always reacted to what was happening around them. All these filmmakers used the concept of space very well in telling the story but there is no filmmaker who understands physical space as well as Roman Polanski.

Right from his debut Knife in the Water (three individuals in a boat) right to Ghost Writer (a ghost writer cramped in a former Prime Minister’s beach house) Polanski’s characters have been pushed to the limits in restricted environs that include a lonely hill house (Death and the Maiden), a basement (The Pianist), a cruise liner (Bitter Moon) and apartments in London (Repulsion), Paris (The Tenant) and New York (Rosemary’s Baby). What is about Polanski that he understands confined spaces so well? Is it the chequered, to say the least, life he has spent and the things he has witnessed that enable him to understand humans and what space does to them unlike anyone else?

There is something about space that brings out the best in Polanski and the more confined the space the better it gets in the hands of Polanski. The man actually made a trilogy of apartment films so needless to say he does get the notion of space very well! Born in 1933 in Poland as a child Polanski witnessed the persecution of Jews as they were ghettoized in a compact area of the city and silently saw his father being taken away by the Germans. His mother perished at Auschwitz and he hid with Polish Roman Catholic families through the war years even learning to recite most of the Catholic prayers. A young Polanski also survived the horror of being a living target for shooting practice of German soldiers who occupied most of Poland during his growing years. Living out these horrible experiences has enabled him to conjure up truly tangible atmospheres in his films.

Polanski’s apartment trilogy, which started with Repulsion (1965), gives you an idea that familiarity with the location as much as knowing a character is Polanski’s forte. He had spent a little time in Paris after Knife in the Water (1962) but the French attitude towards him made it difficult for Polanski to stick on in Paris. He moved to London and made Repulsion, a psychological horror film that was very reminiscent of early Hitchcock besides Luis Bunnel. The story of a Belgian woman who shacks up with her sister in London might have benefited from Polanski’s horrid time in Paris before he made the film. Following closely he made Rosemary’s Baby (1968), his first Hollywood production which truly established him as an international filmmaker. Polanski set the standard for psychological thrillers with Rosemary’s Baby and that template has been followed pretty much ever since. The story of a woman impregnated by the devil himself Rosemary’s Baby is one of the best films ever made that explores fenced in characters and emotions.

Polanski was, as they say, on top of his game and it seemed that the horrors of his childhood were finally behind him. Who would have thought that he’d have to witness yet another event that would shake him; his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson family in their own house. For someone who had witnessed the evil that men are capable of, Polanski picked up the pieces and carried on. After his version of Macbeth (1971) he made his greatest film Chinatown (1974), which was almost like an allegory of his own layered life. In 1976 he completed his apartment trilogy with The Tenant (1976) in which he played the lead as well. In the deeply disturbing film a young man, Polanski, shifts into an apartment whose previous tenant tried to kill herself and with each passing day the thin line between the two tenants disappears with the man ending up living the woman’s life.

Polanski fled USA after being charged with sexual assault of a minor. The 43 year old filmmaker pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawful sex with a 13 year old. He served 42 days in jail during a 90 day psychological evolution but once he got out and learnt that the judge was planning on more jail time, even a possible deportation, Polanski fled to Paris. The same city whose attitude towards him he didn’t like became his haven. As a French citizen he wouldn’t be extradited and has been based out of France since then. The constant fear that he has lived in ever since leaves a mark on his film and although much water has flown under the bridge, there are certain actions that can’t be excused. In an interview to Martin Amis in 1979 Polanski suggested that ‘everyone fancies young girls...’ but doesn’t Polanski understand that certain actions, however understandable in his own mind, have no justification.

Years later Samantha Geimer, the victim, sued Polanski and eventually settled out of court in 1993 before publicly forgiving him a decade later. In 2008 a documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired unearthed evidence that suggested that the judge in the case acted ‘illegally’; Geimer even said that the judge harmed her more than the filmmaker but Polanski continues to live in fear. In 2009 the Swiss police arrested Polanski on behalf of the US authorities and even jailed him for two months but nothing came off it. In the same Amis interview Polanski muses that he doesn’t think his existence is extraordinary. The bizarre incidents that happen to him are according to him just his life and from the inside he doesn’t even bother about them. During the house arrest that followed his arrest by the Swiss Polanski edited Ghost Writer (2010) while awaiting the decision on his extradition to the US.

Orson Welles once said that it takes only one great film from a filmmaker to make them live forever and Polanski has at least three depending on how you look at his films. If it’s possible for a viewer to disassociate the filmmaker’s personal existence and observe their work then maybe there’s no one who’s as great as a filmmaker as Roman Polanski. But is it really possible to cloud out a filmmaker’s real existence to appreciate their reel life? Isn’t what happens around the very thing that leaves an impression on an artist’s work…shapes up their persona, makes them who they really are? In that case isn’t Polanski a pedophile? Some like Lech Wałęsa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former President of Poland, argue that the director "should be forgiven this one sin.” But I have a different opinion than the likes of Walesa, you wouldn’t be saying this if that was your daughter, now would you?

Roman Polansji turned 78 on August 18.

Image: The Interview Magazine

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Out of Key

What is about RD Burman that simply separates him from just about every other music composer living or dead? Since his untimely death in 1994 RD’s aura has only grown and today there is no other film composer who can even compete with him. It’s in this context of RD reverence that Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal’s R.D. Burman- The Man, The Music becomes a very important book.

Strangely for a film fanatic country like India we hardly have a tradition of writing books on the very people who fuel our passion for cinema. Bhattacharjee and Vittal seem to have put in a lot of effort to come up with 342 pages of stories, anecdotes and trivia about a man who had been hailed a genius right from the first steps he took in his life as a music composer. What is sad though is that R.D. Burman- The Man, The Music ends up being a wasted effort. The biggest issue with the book is that in spite of all the good intentions and laudable effort Bhattacharjee and Vittal’s writing ends up being precious more than an extended school essay.

There are two reasons to write a book on someone’s life and it’s very clear from the word go that the duo, like millions, simply love the RD Burman and his music. To say that Pancham Da was a genius would be an understatement and although he comes across as one in the book two seem to be more apologetic about it. There are instances in the book where people are quoted saying that RD was forced to lift some tunes like Abba’s Mama Mia, which would become Mil Gaya in Hum Kissi Se Kum Nahin, by ‘powerful’ directors but rather than leaving it at that, which would highlight their point of RD’s reluctance, the two write that “In any case Pancham’s arrangement was jazz-based, whereas ‘Mama Mia’ is pop music (Pg 212).” Somewhere the writers seem to be fine with RD Burman who “Like a jazz musician would pick up a spark from an original tune, Indian or Western, and colour it with his own interpretations (Pg 221).” Like Hum Kissi Se Kum Nahin Bhattacharjee and Vittal, in the manner of speaking, blame the audience for not being privy with information that Pancham’s Mehbooba Mehbooba from Sholay which sounds almost similar to Demis Roussos’ Say You Love Me was forced upon him by Ramesh Sippy (Pg 193).

The brilliance of hundreds of songs composed by RD Burman that have withstood the test of time is not hidden. Tune into any talent hunt reality show or a radio channel at any time of the day and the chances are you’d hear a RD number within seconds. The last few chapters of the book have a list of websites and quotes from singers as well as music composers of the day who eulogize Pancham Da till kingdom come but by that time chances are that you would be tired of the motif that Bhattacharjee and Vittal run through the book; almost all important RD songs are dissected to a point where it becomes mind numbing information. Bhattacharjee, who happens to be amateur musician breaks down every RD song on the basis of the raag it was composed in or inspired by, how the prevailing popular 1,2,1,2 beat (for example) was overlooked and an unlikely 1,2,1,1,2 (for example) was utilized, how the antra of the song sounded similar like the opening riff of that some other song and how the mukhda was vaguely similar to an old classic but presented in a different ‘meter’….it’s just too much information. While some serious music students or aficionados would like such detailed information this could have been limited to some iconic numbers where reading about the method in the madness would have made sense. Also the manner in which Bhattacharjee and Vittal present this information makes RD look like some geek whose brain was a precursor to a computer where even amateurs could come up with path breaking music.

Another thing that many seem to have overlooked about R.D. Burman- The Man, The Music is that it’s a badly written book. I don’t say this because the writers aren’t professional (used for the lack of any other word) writers but I say this because the book is replete with examples of childish writing- “Pancham’s infectious composition Haye Re Haye Re with its jugglery of beats was like a sedan showroom in the midst of a desert (Pg 180); Born a prince, he could not be far away from fine living either. His favourite perfume was Grey Flannel designed by Geoffrey Beene which, with the essence of lemon, geranium and cedar wood blended with notes of musk, violet and sage, had the same meticulous mixing that Pancham used in his music (Pg229); Interestingly in the film (Rocky) the names of both the hero Sanjay Dutt and the villain Shakti Kapoor had the initials ‘RD’ (Pg 241); True, the lead actor Sunny Deol had the looks, but then, so do most TV newscasters (on Nasir Husain’s Manzil, Manzil and Zabardast (Pg 286). Additionally there are instances where the book comes across to be badly researched as well. Like the writers say of Teri Kasam- “The film was probably of the first where the Indian censors passed a kissing scene.” (Pg 241) or “the music of I3 (as Ishq Ishq Ishq is known) is something of a cult” (Pg 178)… to the best of this writer’s knowledge I3 was never an acronym for Ishq Ishq Ishq.

But nothing can explain certain aspects of the book that in spite of being important are partially explored by the writers. No book about RD Burman can be complete without Asha Bhonsle and Gulzar but in this book both are hardly spoken to about RD the man. People like Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Dr. Hariawala, RD’s London based surgeon, speak about how Asha left RD Burman and yet the writers don’t talk about it. Asha Bhonsle has in public always maintained that she and Pancham were like peas in a pod but the book repeatedly suggests that all was not so sweet but doesn’t scratch the surface. Chopra says “People close to him, including Asha Bhonsle, left him” and that’s just it as far as Bhattacharjee and Vittal are concerned. Sachin Bhowmick even suggested that “… Pancham told me there was no marriage or anything like that.” He told the writers that, “Asha had taken Pancham with her to a temple in Darjeeling one night (when he was) in a drunken state. Garlands were exchanged" (Pg 246). Never once do the writers suggest that they tried to speak to Asha Bhonsle or she refused to comment.

While the writers could have consciously decided to keep off the personal life of RD Burman and Asha Bhonsle, there is no reason why they would never ask Pyarelal Sharma of Laxmikant-Pyarelal the reason why the duo warned Subhash Ghai that they would never work with him if Ghai signed up with Pancham (Pg 305). This becomes more bizarre because at a few places in the book the surviving half of L-P praises Pancham to the skies.

The best thing about the book is the rich information about the accomplished musicians like Manohari Singh, Franco Vaz, Ramesh Iyer, Kishore Sodha and Kersi Lord amongst the many more who formed team RD. The book is filled with instances that show how RD created the magic that has come to define him- like how the theme of Babu from Satte Pe Satta was created by recording the sound of background vocalist Annette Pinto gargling and playing it in a loop!

RD Burman’s is a life that is just what dreams are made up of- a prodigy of a son to an iconic music composer, a custodian of a rich heritage who transformed into a harbinger of a change that would revolutionize the manner in which Hindi film music would be composed, a solitary man who knew the value of being a team player- RD Burman’s is a life that always cried out loud to be spoken about. It’s really unfortunate that the first serious endeavor to chronicle this beautiful life in the form of R.D. Burman- The Man, The Music is way out of key.

*This review was originally written for Buzz in Town

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First Films

A recent article that celebrates first films.

Click to enlarge.

The article was originally published in the April 2011 issue of Swagat.

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Us and Them- How to Love Cinematic Aliens

The idea of making a realistic alien invasion film is almost like looking for Santa Claus. In a decade and a half after Independence Day, a film that upped the ante as far as alien attack films went, is there nothing left to explore in the genre?

In the Battle: Los Angeles’ (click here to read the review) director Jonathan Liebesman seeks inspiration from modern-day war cinematic war classics such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. Interesting, you might say but what he ends up giving us is nothing but an unashamedly bad mix of the two. What’s more surprising is that the script finds its genesis in a real event that took place during the Second World War and yet there is nothing ‘real’ about Battle: Los Angeles. The camera keeps shaking as it one of the aliens were asked to film; not a single image is powerful enough to linger on for a moment longer than you could say ‘oh’ and the writing is so trite that you can’t even imagine. At the height of the ‘attack’ a senior officer is barking orders and everyone gets what they need to do but one new Captain looks like a lost pup and the senior impresses upon him that ‘this is not a drill’! This is when the audience would look at the mega bucks you spent on Computer Generated Imagery to show space creatures unleashing their alien fury.

Separated by a few months from Independence Day, 1996 also saw the release of perhaps the only film that tried giving a different spin on this genre. Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! parodied the gung-ho America spirit that saved the day whenever aliens attacked! It celebrated all the elements of the 1950’s sci-fi films and had an impressive cast with Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Natalie Portman, Annette Bening, Sarah Jessica Parker, Glenn Close, Martin Short, Michael J. Fox, Jack Black and Danny DeVito. The film never became the success (it made only $101 million with a budget of $100 million) it should have been and even though it could have been much better, it now enjoys a great degree of cult following. It was funny to see that the same things which Mars Attacks! laughed off Independence Day too seriously and ended up making $ 817 million on a budget of $ 75 million!

While science fiction as a genre has seen some really good films in the 15 years (do check out a sleeper called Primer, fantastic to say the least) since Independence Day, the sub-genre of aliens hasn’t mirrored similar success. The only film that somehow managed to break the mould since Roland Emmerich templatized the alien attack genre was District 9. Based on his short film Alive in Joburg that impressed Peter Jackson enough to produce District 9 for him, Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 is one of the best films ever in the genre. Very realistic and highly original, Blomkamp applies the themes of racism and xenophobia to the aliens and even though some quarters heavily criticized the film for its racial insensitivity, the urgency depicted by it’s video-like feel and its innovativeness of showing aliens beyond the clockwork and the steel cage body makes District 9 stand out.

Watching films about alien attacks and world annihilation one can’t help but praise the organized manner in which we perceive these guys. They might be assembly line produced unless one of them is Steven Spielberg’s ET but all of them highly meticulous. They lay great stress on planning and believe that executing orders to the last detail is the edge they have over creatures from the blue planet; dare I say almost Chinese! They know our weakness and prepare for every eventuality but somewhere these out-of-towners just forget our strengths like good looking presidents who were once combat pilots (Bill Pullman in Independence Day), cute looking boy who realizes that aliens can’t take oldies on radio (Lukas Haas in Mars Attacks!) or washed out priests who accidentally spill ‘water’ on an alien take-over plan (Signs) or the best- earth’s ‘bacteria’ penetrates the alien defense (War of the Worlds). The only thing shocking now days in alien attack films is the great expectations that filmmakers have from their audiences!

Click here to read my Buzz in Town review of Battle: Los Angeles.

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The Fighter

One could be right in thinking that there might be nothing new in The Fighter. It’s a true life biographical tale, it’s about boxing and it’s about how an underdog rises to the occasion. Guilty on all counts but dismissing The Fighter as yet another boxing film would be a big mistake. Of course, it’s predictable but like some good films this one’s not about what happened as much as it’s about how it happened.

Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is one of those boxers who are ‘stepping stone’ for others are on their way to challenge the champ of the day. Managed by his mother Alice (Melissa Leo), who has a softer spot for his older brother Dicky (Christian Bale), who also trains him, Mickey’s used as a pawn by everyone around him. Always under the thumb of Dicky who once famously knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard, Mickey is put through hell by Dicky. He even forces Mickey to fight someone who is stronger than him in a match where his original opponent walks out. Micky with the help of new love of life, Charlene(Amy Adams), decides to go his own way. With his mother looking the other way Dicky goes deeper into his cocaine addiction and when an HBO documentary, which Dicky tells people is about his alleged comeback, shows the world the truth about his crack addiction, Mickey knows he has made the right decision. With a new trainer, and a new manager along with his step-father, Mickey becomes hot enough for a title shot. Unknown to his team Mickey wins the last fight before the title shot with a few tips from Dicky. With one shot at glory, Mickey now needs the old crew of Alice and Dicky along with the new team of Charlene and his trainer to help him win the title, but the two don’t see eye-to-eye.

David O. Russell infuses such a sense of manic energy into The Fighter that it no longer remains a mere boxing film. Rather he makes The Fighter a tale about people more troubled than the next one fighting a battle much bigger than boxing. Even with predictable plot-points Russell takes the screenplay to some other level thanks to four great performances that act as the foundation.

Christian Bale, who’d in all probability will notch up an Oscar for his supporting act, for the first time shows that he’s more than a single expression number that he had become. Bale makes Dicky so organic that he doesn’t remain distant even when he’s making life a living hell for his younger brother. Another probable Oscar winner from the cast, Melissa Leo makes Alice one of the rare acts where the line dividing opposing emotions gets blurred. Her bravura performance where Alice balances her two sons and seven daughters is equally chilling and poignant. Amy Adams makes Charlene like the girl you know too well and yet never lets familiarity become an impediment. Mark Wahlberg’s Mickey might not be the most exciting character when compared to the other three but his isn’t an easy role. While the other have author backed lines and moments Wahlberg keeps Mickey up there for most of the film on his own.

Boxing has had a long affair with Hollywood and everyone from Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Rober De Niro have won glory for portraying boxers and The Fighter joins the fabled list with much ease. The boxing scenes might not be as riveting as the ones in Martin Scorsese’s seminal masterpiece Raging Bull, the drama however is as good as Raging Bull. The gritty camerawork adds to the overall mood of the tough Boston neighborhood that David O. Russell takes us into. Don’t miss this one.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo

Screenplay by: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson

Directed by: David O. Russell

Image: www.wikipedia.com

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Tanu Weds Manu

‘I love you and what’s that got to do with you…’ seems to be the mantra that drives Tanu Weds Manu and much like a hidden lover you don’t really care or worry about, hidden intentions make this romantic-comedy a half-baked approach.

Manoj Sharma or Manu (R. Madhavan) is the true silent types who no one really notices. He can carry on with his quite and rather lonely existence but being a London settled Indian doctor his parents have lined-up a bevy of girls for him to choose and settle down with. Manu lands up in Delhi and is immediately shunted to Kanpur where he not only meets but instantly falls in love with a passed-out after-downing-a-quarter-Vodka-and-five-sleeping-pills Tanuja Trivedi aka Tanu (Kangna Ranaut). He readily agrees and the families take off to Vaishno Devi to seek Mata’s blessing but Tanu tells her husband to be that she’s in love with some dude called Awasthi and he better back off. Manu’s confides in his man Friday Pappi (Deepak Dobriyal), who can’t understand how Manu could agree to marry someone who was sleeping through the meeting! Manu continues to meet other girls but can’t seem to get Tanu out of his mind and fate smiles on him when he ends up meeting her again at his friend Jassi’s (Eijaz Khan) marriage who is marrying Payal (Swara Bhaskar), Tanu’s closest friend. Much to the disappointment and even embarrassment of everyone right from Pappi, Payal and Jassi Manu doesn’t being chagrined by Tanu making him dance to her tunes. Every now and then Tanu gives Manu some hope of but nothing stops her doing what she pleases. Much to Manu’s shock she asks him to help her run away from home to marry her boyfriend but Manu being Manu convinced both the parents and everyone falls in line for Tanu’s dream wedding. But the compulsive rebel that Tanu is she now craves for something more exciting.

Tanu Weds Manu starts off on a very promising note as it gets its atmosphere so well that you almost feel a party of the great shaadi drama that unfolds. You smile at the family members trying to force fee the daamad to be, you move to the Manu Bahiya Ka Kariye number as if you knew the bhaiya in question, but as it goes along the film ends up falling prey to a very average and, at times, almost pathetic treatment which makes it another run of the mill experience.

Following the tradition of Jab We Met, Tanu Weds Manu has a hero who is reticent to the extent of being mistaken for a piece of furniture and the gal who’s full of beans but unlike Jab We Met, Tanu Weds Manu can’t rise above the basics, which is very sad for the film gets the fabric very well and has many more interesting characters like Pappi, Jassi and Payal in addition to the leads.

The screenplay of Tanu Weds Manu tries hard to make something magical of otherwise done to death filmy situations. In addition to lead characters that end up looking secondary to everyone else around them, the screenplay goes for a toss as the film progresses. Manu pines for lady love and the background is filled with songs about broken dreams, heartache as bitter as the taste of neem but everything seems a little too forced. Tanu on the other hand wavers from one emotion to another in the name of a living it to the hilt character but it’s too much to expect that the two are made for each other in the name of opposites attracting.

The acting in the film is a mixed bag but most of it isn’t bad. Madhavan gets the reserved Manu right on numerous accounts but after a while he seems to be uninterested in his own story; his Manu just doesn’t do anything proactive and at one point when he pets a stray dog as he waits for sun to shine on him, you end up laughing. Tanu could have been Kangana’s ‘Geet’ moment but she falls woefully short; amongst other things it’s almost impossible to fathom what she says at most moments. Deepak Dobriyal and Swara Bhaskar make both Pappi and Payal come alive. Dobriyal has not been give ample opportunities but you give him half a chance and he shows you just how he can take an average character with regular lines and transform the mundane into magical. Bhaskar plays the Bihari Payal with such ease and conviction that you almost mistake for her one; in her scenes with Kangana where she’s drilling sense into Tanu she outshines her more talked about co-star. Even Eijaz Khan, and the two fathers- Rajinder Gupta and KK Raina get their characters well. Jimmy Shergill’s takes a great amount of screen time in the second-half of the film and as always, tries to make most of a handful of scenes he gets.

Unlike most of the romantic comedies Tanu Weds Manu had many elements like a decent storyline by Himanshu Sharma, nice music by Krsna, great characters but most importantly the texture and feel of the whole UP family marriage scene that could have made it much better than what we end up watching. In spite of Kangana Ranaut’s strange shenanigans and an uber reserved Madhavan who might put you to sleep, Tanu Weds Manu is still harmless and even a fun watch at many places.

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5

Cast: R. Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill, Eijaz Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Rajinder Gupta and KK Raina

Written by: Himanshu Sharma

Directed by: Anand L. Rai

Image: www.wikipedia.com

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I'm Number Four

You know some films that people warn you about and you still watch them to form your own opinion? This is one of them. Stay away for it’s not worth of forming any opinion.

Based on the book by Pittacus Lore, I’m Number Four is about the fourth of the nine special kids who survived the attack on their planet and made it to earth. Once here they blend amongst the others but ugly monsters who destroyed their planet are searching them and killing them one by one. Number Four, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) has got to know that the third one is dead and now his warrior guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) has moved him to Paradise, Ohio, in order to hide him. John falls for the high school cutie Sarah (Dianna Agron) and befriends the school nerd, Sam (Callan McAuliffe) and fights the football captain while dealing with his newly discovered super hero like powers. The monsters find him, kill Henri and wreak havoc in the sleepy town but John decides to stop running and fight the battle. Mystery gal who keeps stalking him turns out to be Number Five (Teresa Palmer) and together they save the day. Once the entire town is destroyed they move on to find the remaining four of the Nine who came in order to prepare for the bigger fight.

There are some films that you sit though no matter how bad, even endure in the hope that there’d be some payoff in the end but I’m Number Four ain’t one of those. You see warriors from another planet fight planet-traveling monsters and yet don’t feel anything. You look at troubled teen from another world, in the literal sense, trying to blend in and become one of us and you feel nothing. You see a cute girl finding her own spot in the sun by clicking photographs on antiquated cameras rather than being the football jock’s arm candy and you feel nothing. You see a young science nerd dealing with bullies and missing his father, who he believes was abducted by aliens and you feel nothing.

Director D.J. Caruso blows up things like any good Hollywood action flick but this one just bores you to death. What’s scary is that there might a couple of sequels in the making. Watch it if you must but be warned even the popcorn tastes bad.

Rating: 1/5

Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron, Callan McAuliffe and Teresa Palmer

Screenplay by: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the novel by Pittacus Lore

Directed by: D.J. Caruso

Image: weseemovies.blogspot.com

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