Netflix Recommends... Legend (2015)

* * 1/2
Director: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Tom Hardy

Several years ago now, there was a screenplay floating around written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris that offered a fresh take on the legend of Robin Hood and it had a lot of people excited. Taking the Sheriff of Nottingham as its protagonist and turning the tale into a detective story in which Nottingham investigated the crimes of Robin Hood, it was a take that flipped the narrative and turned something familiar into something new and different. The script sold on the basis that it could give audiences something that they hadn't already seen, but somewhere between buying the project and producing it, the studio did what studios pretty much always do: they panicked. An unknown product might excite people and find an audience, but it terrifies Hollywood because if something hasn't been seen before, there's no way to predict how well it might do and what size of an audience it might find. So instead of "Nottingham," we ended up with another Robin Hood movie - "grittier," more "historical" - instead. I couldn't help but think of that as I sat reflecting on Legend, a film which I suspect won the opportunity to be made on the basis that it could offer a take on a story that we've already seen (more or less) a hundred times that was different enough to seem new, only to lose courage and become something more rote and familiar instead.

Netflix Recommends... The Drop (2015)

* * 1/2
Director: Michael R. Roskam
Starring: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace

Well constructed though it may be, the problem with a film like The Drop is that if you've seen one example of its kind, you've seen them all. It's dark, it's gritty, and it's marked by the specificity of its location, where everyone in a particular neighborhood is connected in some way to organized crime, the potential for violence lurks behind every word and action, problems are dealt with "in house," and no one ever talks to the cops. Some of the particulars might change, depending on the geographical area of the setting and the cultural background of the protagonist, but it's always sort of the same: a guy with a past who's trying to lay low and keep out of what's going on around him, but ends up being drawn into it either because of a girl or because a relative has made a potentially fatal misstep, or both, and finds himself in the position of having to do clean up to ensure that things don't go from bad to worse, and has to do it before the cop that's been sniffing around puts the pieces together himself. It's formula, which isn't in and of itself a bad thing, but in the case of The Drop it would be helpful if it unfolded with a little more energy, because for a film that turns on several acts of violence, it's strangely bloodless. Cute dog, though.

Review: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

* * * 1/2
Director: George Miller
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron

The summer movie season has only just started, but honestly it might as well be over now because I doubt it's going to get much better than Mad Max: Fury Road. Writer/director George Miller's triumphant return to the franchise which started his career 36 years ago (and which he last revisited 30 years ago - yes, it's been that long since Thunderdome) is a work of great vision and incredible execution. It is loaded to the brim with ridiculous, amazing action, grounded by rich thematic concerns (its success in this regard is all the more impressive for how little dialogue the film contains), and augmented by some incredible world building (which, again, is impressive given how little is said throughout). It is a relentless thrill ride that barely stops to take a breath for 120 minutes and when it's over you feel like you've just been repeatedly punched in the face - but in a good way.

Netflix Recommends... This Means War (2012)

* *
Director: McG
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy, Chris Pine

Recommended to me based on my having watched Warrior, which also starred Tom Hardy so at least there's some scrap of reasoning behind it. Because I remembered how poorly This Means War was received when it was released in 2012, my expectations for this movie were extremely low but, much to my surprise, I actually sort of enjoyed it. It's not a good movie by any means - it's ridiculous, all over the place, and parts of it are extremely problematic (more on that later), but it's also weirdly fascinating with respect to its not at all subtle gay subtext. Seriously, This Means War is rivaled only by Top Gun in the "they have to be doing this on purpose" department. It's amazing, and it's pretty much the only reason to see this one, unless you're just curious to see Tom Hardy in his least "Tom Hardy-like" role.

Netflix Recommends... Warrior (2011)

* * * 1/2
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Starring: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte

Today's Netflix recommendation comes as a result of three films that I've watched: The Warriors, The Dark Knight Rises, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Warrior really isn't anything like any of those movies, except that it has a similar title to one and shares a star in Tom Hardy with the other two. Once again, Netflix's algorithms baffle me, but on this particular occasion the ill-thought correlation actually made for an excellent recommendation. I had vaguely recalled Warrior as a film that scored Nick Nolte a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination a couple of years ago, but the only other thing I knew about it was that the plot revolved around mixed martial arts. Not being into UFC, I wasn't sure how much Warrior was going to appeal to me, but it's actually a very classic type of Hollywood story and so emotionally engaging that any reservations I had were quickly dispensed with.

Review: Locke (2014)

* * *
Director: Steven Knight
Starring: Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy is an incredibly magnetic actor. Very few could do what he does so successfully in Locke, where he remains the only person on screen for all 84 of the film's minutes and renders a performance as subtle as it is powerful. This film about a man whose entire life slowly implodes as he drives from Birmingham to London practically demands overacting just to fill the void where other characters would usually be, but Hardy and director Steven Knight are confident enough to let a low key performance guide the ship. That said, I'm not sure whether the film ever fully transcends its premise in order to feel like a story in its own right as opposed to an exercise in strict minimalism, but it definitely can't be denied that Hardy gives an exceptionally strong performance.

Review: Lawless (2012)

* * *Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Shia LeBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska

John Hillcoat's Lawless is a competent (albeit blood soaked) genre film that stumbles somewhat whenever it makes a play at being a prestige picture. It takes itself very, very seriously and it aims higher than it can hit, but even though it has some fairly prominent flaws, it is entertaining nevertheless. If nothing else, it makes for a nice medium between the summer popcorn fare and the fall's slate of potential Oscar contenders.