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Reviews
John Doe: Vigilante (2014)
A wonderful, must-see film!!
First off I would like to say that I found this film by accident. I was trawling YouTube watching movie trailers and John Doe:Vigilante was in the associated videos section of another I was watching. After seeing the trailer, I decided I had to watch the film so here we are! John Doe:Vigilante tells the story of arrested vigilante serial killer John Doe who sets up an exclusive interview with journalist Ken Rutherford to get his side of the story across. The film flicks back and forth between the interview, John's back-story and the murders themselves to brilliant effect. We get to experience the build-up and reasoning behind each murder and John himself then explains. Jamie Bamber certainly has an air of mystery and sinister to him and his portrayal of an ordinary man driven to extraordinary lengths to protect the citizens of Australia from the failing justice system is nothing short of superb.
I was kept on the edge of my seat throughout and only when the credits appeared could I stop biting my nails. The tension builds and builds, particularly in the final third where we find out the whole truth behind John's vigilante killings and the final twist is nothing short of shocking. I honestly did not see it coming and for anyone who has not seen the film - the twist is no "Sixth Sense" style twist that you get hints about. Instead for about ten minutes after the film I was still digesting what I had seen - it hit me for six.
Director Kelly Dolan and writer Stephen M Coates should be proud of John Doe:Vigilante because it neatly side-steps traditional revenge clichés and instead with the final payoff delivers a hard hitting message.
A wonderful film that I will watch again because it was just that good.
Super 8 (2011)
Excellent homage to Spielberg classic
Super 8 plays out like a glorious mash-up of The Goonies, Stand By Me, ET and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
Set in the 50's, a group of friends are making a zombie film for a school media competition when a government train crashes and things start to get weird around town.
It is refreshing to see a crop of young stars being born when in truth we have been devoid of such talented child actors since Stand By Me. The lines are punchy, full of youthful exhuberance and child-like wit and the setting is so brilliantly painted that you could be excused from thinking you were there.
Abrams set out to make a "creature feature" or B-Movie homage and hit the nail on the head. You hang off every word, slide forward to the edge of your seat with every little pocket of action and really empathise with the characters which is rare these days.
A wonderful film that will be forever engrained in my list of treasures