Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie
A BRILLIANT YOUNG MIND
Troubled geniuses are a popular cinematic topic of late. This take on the genre is less pleasing than others, though. Autistic math prodigy Nathan Ellis (Asa Butterfield) is a fussy, difficult child with a gift for equations who eventually makes it to the International Mathematics Olympiad, where he finally figures out how to express himself. Nathan’s major difficulty is the soul-crushing loneliness his condition inflicts upon him, but the film takes it a little too literally, at times — Nathan is inscrutable and unreadable, even to viewers. His supporting cast is engaging, though. One wishes his mother (Sally Hawkins) and tutor (Rafe Spall) were the real stars of the show.
Opens Oct. 2 at Kahala Theatre
LEGEND
Here’s the premise: Tom Hardy playing twin gangsters. It sounds too good to be true … because it is. Legend, which tracks the rise and fall of notorious British crime lords Ronnie and Reggie Kray, isn’t quite sure what the legend is supposed to be, exactly. While the bisexual, unstable Ronnie is a mesmerizing presence in every scene he gets, the film spends too long with the comparatively less interesting Reggie and his dull, dull wife Frances (Emily Browning), who also gets to narrate the film for some odd reason. The film does manage to juggle Hardy’s dual performances with technological adeptness, though one wishes it could have fared so well with the plot, too.
Opens Oct. 2 in wide release
SICARIO
FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is pulled into a high-stakes operation against a powerful Mexican crime cartel, working alongside too-cheerful advisor Matt (Josh Brolin) and mysterious hitman Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro). Their job is to sow seeds of chaos in the drug trade, interrupting shipments with guns blazing. But there are no higher causes to fight for in this brutal deconstruction of the war on drugs. Director Denis Villeneuve weaves a taut, hypnotizing thriller about a war with no end, one that obfuscates morality instead of providing any easy answers. Blunt gives a masterful, steely performance — the anchor around which the storm surges.
Opens Oct. 2 at Kahala Theatre
