Felony
Movies and interviews from 26 August 2014
| Boyhood Interview | |
| Felony Interview | |
| Boyhood | |
| Margaret | |
| David | |
| Eat Drink Man Woman : The Classic | |
| Felony | |
| Margaret | |
| David | |
| Magic in the Moonlight | |
| Margaret | |
| David | |
| Predestination | |
| Margaret | |
| David | |
| Predestination Interview | |
Three male detectives become embroiled in a tense struggle after a tragic accident that leaves a child in a coma.
Margaret: David:
Felony
Rated M
Review by Margaret Pomeranz
Joel Edgerton is not a man to let the grass grow under his feet. His acting career has encompassed home grown and international films, both short and features, television, his writing and producing have demonstrated a man who's not content to let others have total say over his career. The latest move in the writing/producing/acting arena is FELONY in which he plays police detective Malcolm Toohey. In a major drug bust in trying to prevent a runner getting away he's shot into his bullet-proof vest, with major bruising the result. He's a hero, he and his team get drunk celebrating and then, having been given the nod about the password for the RBT he drives home. En route he clips a kid riding on a bike.
Detective Jim Melic - Jai Courtney - is a new kid on the block, partnered with seasoned officer Carl Summer - Tom Wilkinson. He's not happy about the way the accident with the kid was handled.
There's such a lot of talent in this film which was directed by Matthew Saville whose previous film was the excellent Noise, way back in 2007, he's been busying himself with television drama in the meantime. Joel Edgerton has constructed a fascinating screenplay, with guilt and grief at its core. And he's excellent as Malcolm, as is Jai Courtney - what a lookalike for Tom Hardy he is - and the ever solid Tom Wilkinson shining as the only slightly corrupt cop. Melissa George rounds out an impressive cast as Malcolm's wife. There's an evenness to the direction that slightly inhibits complete engagement but this is another really fine Australian film.
Further comments
MARGARET: David, did you like it?
DAVID: I did. Look, I think the script is excellent and I think the plotting is interesting because this is a film not about police corruption but about police covering up for police and I think it’s been well thought out. I think in many ways it’s a first-class screenplay. The performances are really fine. All the principal actors are terrific. Joel Edgerton has always been good and he’s really, really good in this. Matthew Saville, I liked his NOISE very much. The problem I had with the film is that the pacing is a bit too languid for me. It comes in at over 105 minutes. It could have been a very tight 90 minutes, if the pacing had just been picked up a little bit. It’s just a bit – I don’t say slow, but it’s just a bit too deliberate for me.
MARGARET: See, I like that all too human mistake at the beginning. It’s so human.
DAVID: Yes, absolutely.
MARGARET: It’s wrong but it’s human.
DAVID: Yes.
MARGARET: The fallout, and it’s not the external fallout, it’s the internal fallout as well.
DAVID: As I said, it’s a good script.
MARGARET: Yes, I think it’s really excellent. I’m giving it four stars.
DAVID: I’m giving it three and a half.