Saturday 7 July 2018

Anthropoid

Another Remake, Ruined
This is a remake of Operation Daybreak made in the mid-1970's which depicts the events surrounding the attempted assassination of Hitler's third-in-command Reinhard Heydrich who he'd placed into Czechoslovakia, which the Germans had occupied at the head of WWII. There are arguments about how much of the accounts are true in fine detail, but it's fair to say maybe 'based on the truth' in most cases as history reflects the event as having certainly happened. The main actors are experienced and convincing enough, though none really shone out as star performers.

And that's about the end of the good news, sadly. On to the bad. Firstly, the whole of the first half of the film was ruined by shaky handheld camera (and most of the second). Every shot in every scene. It's just so annoying. Irritating to watch and adds nothing to the feel, emotion or impact of the events. I don't get it. Nor do I know anyone who appreciates this approach. Secondly, I'm still not convinced about putting English/American actors (OK, OK, not all of them are!) into a film then coaching them to adopt a thick European accent. It just seems stupid, irritating and daft. Why not just use European actors and use subtitles. It's not as if the film was star-studded enough to argue that 'it wouldn't be the same without the big names'. And to rub salt into the wounds, they're also mumbling half the time! With a false accent, and mumbling too, so that half the time the viewer can't work out what they are saying!

The other issue is that this film is not a patch on the original in any way, shape or form. They've made it more violent, depicting in close-up what nasty things were done to the public in terms of revenge. They've spent no time at all inside the world of Heydrich, demonstrating at first hand what he was capable of in terms of abuse of those around him, his routines, approach to his family and staff. They've not spent hardly any time on the back story and suspenseful build-up to the event itself, preferring to wave a camera around seedy smoke-filled rooms with people mumbling and building no atmosphere.

It all just seems a bit pointless really. The original was clearly a much better film, in pretty much every respect. Do yourself a favour, ditch this and seek out Operation Daybreak (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075019/). Ludicrous

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