Rustom- A Real-Life Scandal Turned Into Sham

The Nanavati Murder case was a sensation in its day. It was a simple case of a marriage gone wrong that turned into a resounding reflection of the foibles of the mindset of urban India. People feted Commander K.M Nanavati  as a hero, the drawing rooms were buzzing with discussions on the moral issues at play, street-peddlers were selling toy guns named after the naval officer and subsequently, there was enough material ripe for pulp fiction.

Indeed, cinematic and literary versions of the same tale have proved that much can be indeed done from the crux of the case. 'Yeh Raastein Hai Pyaar Ke' was a Bollywood entertainer, replete with melodrama and musical numbers while Gulzar's 'Achaanak' humanized the killer and played fast and loose with the facts while serving exceptionally unconventional stuff for audiences. And oh, yes, we had a great Amit Trivedi song from 'Bombay Velvet' recently that spoke about the tumultous case of infidelity in the center of it all.

Yet, all have been instances when the creative licence taken provided for something genuinely interesting. 

Tinu Suresh Desai's 'Rustom' is none of that. Inspired by the case to a greater extent than any of the films mentioned above, this is however a completely dull and dreadfully ham-fisted affair that would not be any different from a typical 90s-style romantic thriller- complete with a soppy moment with chiffon sarees and rain.

And this is all indeed tragic, given the sheer pulpy material that the film could have squeezed to fascinating effect. The story for 'Rustom' might have sounded absolutely smashing on paper, even with the creative liberties taken with the facts. With a retro-fitted Bombay as the backdrop, with the controversial nature of the case, the twists and turns that can set the courtroom on fire, and even some welcome touches of the 60s caper genre, it could have been a hell of a film- a rattling yarn of drama and intrigue. 

What it turns out to be is merely a farce, a parody of the scandal, a sizzling story turned into a sham.

We start disastrously enough. Akshay Kumar looks unconvincing already as the eponymous suave and self-assured Naval officer- his tightly contrived features obliterating all traces of emotion and personality. And this is much like the rest of the film as well- it might be set against one of the golden years of the city and even the period settings might be suggesting that. But all of it is utterly lifeless and artificially constructed, for all the talk of the film's attention to detail. 

The 50s Bombay of the film looks gaudy, visually overblown and, also, rendered too much like a digitally created postcard. It is fine to add a bit of a post-modern revisionist zing to the look and feel but 'Rustom' does not even have the snap to warrant such gloss. The walls are perfectly painted, the cars are squeaky shiny, the colors and hues are perfectly painted as if new and the striped sofas and four-poster beds are completely without creases. There are some occasionally slick touches- like when Santosh Thundiyil's mostly hurried and harried camera lingers on the innards of a busy ship, an underlit police station where suspects and witnesses are being interrogated, or a towel hung on an otherwise perfectly decorated wall- but this is less of a city and more of a studio version of the same, with all perfectly sorted bookshelves and bedrooms and boudoirs looking as if being displayed in a furniture outlet. 

So much for the thickly laid, tasteless 60s flavour. Next comes the plot. It starts off in the right place, a fine blend of Bollywood romantic flashback and the crucial incident staged with a fair amount of deftness. Things, however, go steadily downhill from then onwards though there is an interesting conspiracy angle introduced somewhere halfway into the film and some inter-community rivalry shoehorned into the main gist of the case. 

And even if the film had developed even any of these strands a bit more compellingly till the end, it could have added some fireworks to 'Rustom'. Nah, Desai and writer Vipul K Rawal are merely interested in decorating their title figure- and yes, even his wife- as merely innocent in face of a larger game against them. And that is what is done in most painfully cliched and obvious way possible. 

And that is where the film loses all its potential and becomes a truly horrific Bollywood yarn of the worst order, populated with badly caricatured characters with hammy performances to go along. Esha Gupta shows up as a horrid femme fatale, whose idea of being the same is smoking on a cigarette, pouting with red lipstick, and baring her cleavage, as if all those things will do for lustful allure. Arjan Bajwa, as the 'other man' wearing loud technicolor clothes and the expression of a smug scoundrel, is painfully given too much leg space while Kumud Mishra's portly scoop scavenger Billimoria is a bad caricature of a real-life newspaper mogul, merely there for some lame comic relief. Anang Desai makes for a terrible judge, trying to silence the court as if it was his family of fools in the TV series 'Khichdi' and Sachin Khedekar is disastrously hammy and overblown as a prosecution lawyer, with his eyes popping out in bewildered rage as he makes a grand farce of courtroom proceedings, robbing them off their potential intrigue.

Ileana D'Cruz' Cynthia spends the entire film as an unsmiling wilting wall-flower, looking as fake as the settings around her. The only actor, who brings some heat to the proceedings, is Pavan Malhotra as an unusually sharp and shrewd police detective, who also steps in the film's only well-written scene to play a little game of chess with Rustom, who seems to be forever clad in his starchy uniform.

The entire film is filled with theatricality- even extras say their lines out loudly as if that will matter; and the film becomes interesting only remotely when it sticks to the facts of the actual case- and a few stray touches, like when we see those same toy guns being peddled outside the court or when we see Billimoria gloating over some of the more eventful Bombay happenings that he had covered. 

All in all, this is a tacky film, which, at one point, even has men wearing 40s-style bomber jackets when sitting together, making illegal deals. It has a solid, pulpy story that could have been told with real finesse and actual zing but 'Rustom' wastes away all potential in sloppy direction, awful casting choices and such a glaring lack of subtlety or insight that makes it a terrible dreary affair.

My favourite fictional account of the case is a rollicking chapter from Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children'- in which a pre-adolescent Saleem Sinai sets into motion the entire scandal with beautifully elaborate, devilishly inventive subterfuge, which I would hate to reveal. Desai's film could have been that racy and ribald but it is trying too hard to be a serious film when all it is merely trashy pulp. This is basically a Shobhaa De paperback trying to be a Sidney Sheldon-style thriller that ends up being a sexless Mills And Boons volume. 

My Rating- 1.5 Stars Out Of 5. 

Who Will Save The DC Universe?

Okay, so we have heard a lot of awful things about Zack Snyder’s ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice’. The actual film might not be as terrible as the critics make it out to be- come on, people, what else did you expect from the director of ‘300’? But it is definitely a resounding alarm to the DC Universe and Hollywood in general that they need to take in someone else to sit over the director’s chair and tell us the tales of the Caped Crusader and the Son of Krypton, before both are doomed into oblivion. The boffins at DC Universe and Warner Brothers have indulged Snyder an awful lot- even as both promising rookies and veterans are available to them. 

And then, there was recently David Ayer’s ‘Suicide Squad’- a sort of a wannabe ‘Deadpool’- in which the super-villains of Gotham are crammed in a ‘Dirty Dozen’-style outfit to save the world. Yet, it is not even half as fun as these two films and ends up being a stylish-looking yet boringly sentimental look at villains trying to get redeemed.

For a long time, films based on comics and superhero stories were not million-dollar franchises. DC and Marvel had not started to intervene in the creative process of the individual filmmakers and writers who came up with these films; it was enough to give credit to the creators who had first penned these comic titles. While I am not saying that the recent DC and Marvel outings are inferior or equal to, say, the terrible ‘Superman IV- The Quest for Peace’ and the even more disastrous Joel Schumacher Batman outings of the 90s, it should be said that directors had more creative rein in those days as compared with today. This is exactly why you can see the distinctive stylistic stamp of the respective makers of the first two Superman and Batman movies- the bizarre vision of Tim Burton coming alive in his freaked-out version of Gotham City, the lean discipline of Richard Donner in his sensible handling of the origins of Superman and the comic flair of Richard Lester in the witticisms of the 1980 sequel.

Still, even with studio influence and all, a director’s inherent strengths will always remain intact and that explains why even DC’s intervention cannot contain Snyder’s overblown and ham-fisted style or Marvel could not rescue the Hulk, the Wolverine origins and- most recently- the Fantastic Four debacle from the filmmaking problems that condemned them to their doom. That also explains why DC had a ball with Christopher Nolan in charge, rebooting the Batman story with such gusto and narrative grit that the entire genre got a solid shot in the arm. The same would also apply to Marvel turning to ace entertainers like Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer, along with newbies like Joss Whedon and Matthew Vaughn, for their biggest and most loved outings. 

All this actually makes it easy for DC Comics to choose a really reliable director who can actually give the genre a twist and create better films that entertain even as they stay fairly loyal to the spirit of the original comics.

David Lynch

Robert Zemeckis

As it turns out, there is a lot of choice for DC, especially among the veterans. Some of our most legendary directors have been telling us tales of men and women with supernatural capabilities rather well and we can turn to them if the occasion arises. The way I see it, ace old-school entertainers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis can do a  grand job of Superman, with darker fantasists like David Lynch or David Cronenberg doing a bang-up job of turning ‘Batman’ into literally every crooked Gotham citizen’s ‘worst nightmare’.

The problem: the legends, they are a changing. Spielberg rarely does science fiction and he is content with Indiana Jones and the rare extra-terrestrial adventure. Zemeckis is a possibility but, with his focus shifting from classic fantasy to real-life subjects, he too is toeing Steve’s line. Cronenberg is too alienating while Lynch, the unrivalled master of dark fantasy, might have been a solid choice for bringing the surreal darkness of the Batman stories of the 80s to the screen, had not a major studio messed with his original, ambitious version of Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ and turned it into a messy space saga that still managed to have, thankfully, all the trademark Lynch bizarreness in it. As it happens, the elusive artist has mostly gone solo from then on and there is no chance that he would submit to a major studio again. 

It is a shame really because we get to miss seeing Spielberg and Zemeckis take on the Man Of Steel in their own charming, small-town American way and making him literally the symbol of good old America in his charged adventures across the globe. We also end up missing the chance to see Cronenberg infuse the genre with creepy body horror and Lynch bringing in unforgettably grotesque villains and twisted, dream-like cityscapes of Gotham that would have given the entire Batman saga really its edge.

Yet, we should not lose hope for there are other alternatives to look for too. David Fincher instantly leaps to the mind when it comes to Batman; indeed, the filmmaker has built something of a reputation for nocturnal neo-noir thrillers and his sombre, no-nonsense yet hypnotic style would give the Caped Crusader a very thrilling makeover indeed. Brad Bird would be a lock for Superman, so would be Andrew Stanton or any of the younger, happier wizards, though I sincerely pray that they somehow buy out Joss Whedon from Marvel. Once we could get down to better Batman and Superman outings, we can have the other plans- Justice League, or spinoffs on its members- in safer hands too.

Guillermo Del Toro

There are two directors, however, who seem like very real possibilities for both Warner Brothers as well as for DC. One is Guillermo Del Toro, who has cemented something of a reputation as a dark, twisted fantasist who can also handle Gothic chills and exciting thrills in equal measure. Del Toro’s incredibly entertaining ‘Hellboy’ movies have demonstrated that he can really get the feel of comic books right while also serve up ample doses of thrills, chills and dry-witted humour in the proceedings. Taking on Batman seems to be the logical choice; it would be fun to see him indulge his dark fantasist streak in telling the Caped Crusader’s adventures and also bring back the unhinged bizarre streak of Gotham’s villains with his fabulous reinventions (to imagine his take on The Joker and the Riddler, as well as Gotham, would be an orgasmic delight).

George Miller

Finally, we have the man himself- the belatedly crowned star of the action movie genre- George Miller. After making the rowdy, roaring roller-coaster ride that was ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, every big studio must be foaming at the mouth to get a piece out of Miller for their big franchises. To be honest, the Australian visionary is himself a bit too low-key to be wooed by these big wigs but Warner Brothers has the luck of having him on its side. If they do plan a total revamp of the genre, or even someone to replace Snyder and the other hacks hired for the Extended Universe, Miller should be perfect. He can be also a thrillingly radical choice to bring us a darker, edgier Superman (just think of what he can do with General Zod, Brainiac or even with the origins in Krypton) and he can alone make a thrillingly epic film as the planned ‘Justice League’ instalments are supposed to be. 

All this is, however, simply wishful thinking. But I seriously hope that the guys at DC and Warner Brothers know better. From the way things are now, I seriously doubt that. The new ‘Justice League’ movie looks like another hammy bore-fest (did Aquaman really have to look like a wrestling dork?) and the only saving grace in the dead-serious ‘Wonder Woman’ trailer is Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman herself. No wonder then that Christopher Nolan moved away from all this nonsense after Snyder blew his ‘Man Of Steel’ story out of proportion. Thank god, he is making films like ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Dunkirk’. The question remains- who will save the DC Universe?

Buddy Movies For The Big Boys

10- Star Wars (1977)

For buddies who love to quarell and bicker but stay together and look out for each other….

Once upon a time in a galaxy…George Lucas made an everlasting space opera classic that, was among other things, a terrific tale of friendship against all sorts of odds. And no, I don't just mean the solid camaraderie between fresh-faced Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and the cocky Han Solo (Harrison Ford). I am also talking about the irresistible dynamic between the film's mechanical juggernauts- the smooth-talking C-3PO and the sneaky R2D2. The two, serving as the narrative's observers, might quarell and bicker. But both of them might even do their best to make sure that the other always remains safe.

9- The Nice Guys (2016)

For buddies who are both silly and smart and that is what makes them stick together….

The latest entry in this list is a wild, wacky and whip-cracking Shane Black bromantic comedy that serves sizzling dollops of 70s-style and a lot of crackling chemistry between its goofy lead pair. Slippery private eye Holland March (an outstanding Ryan Gosling) is the perfect foil for hulking ex-cop Jackson Healey (Russell Crowe) and as they stumble awkwardly in a murder mystery-cum-conspiracy, they end up being the perfect pair. They are both silly and unexpectedly clever in equal measure and they sure make a good two-men team against all sorts of meanies and baddies. 

8- The Last Crusade (1989)

For fathers and sons who make the best buddies and share their grandest adventures together….

The first two Indiana Jones adventures were all about the titular hero on his rollicking romps in Egypt and colonial India. But the third film is where Steven Spielberg achieved the 'Boy's Own' zing. Harrison Ford's heroic Indy shares his perilous quest, this time with..his dear daddy, played with charming relish by Sean Connery. The two hit off an endearing chemistry that only fathers and sons can relate too- discussing their common squeeze, chafing at each other's methods and catching up on the lost time by sticking together against the villains. There is also a gushing poignancy in their exploits.

7- All The President's Men (1976)

For colleagues at work who might not be like each other but stick together to get the job done at any cost….

Alan J. Pakula's journalism drama might be a scathing attack on the Nixon-era political subterfuge but it is also a thrilling tale of two different office colleagues pitted together in a race against time. Real-life heroes Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) rush through an assortment of clues, hazy conversations and reluctant witnesses to deliver the red-hot story of the scandal. In the process, they become a perfect two-man team, driven to overcome differences and get the job done at any cost. It is a comradeship every working man can understand.

6- The Avengers (2012)

For a gang of best buddies, who bicker together, party together, make plans together and save the day together…

Before Joss Whedon's 'The Avengers', superheroes were mostly solo performers. It was only with this film that it became fashionable to be a part of a club. The team consists of one smart-mouth (Robert Downey JR's Iron Man), one disciplined leader (Chris Evans' Captain America), one introvert (Mark Ruffalo's excellent Bruce Banner) and a bunch of other buddies who love to have fun. Plus, when they all come together to save the day, even the villains are shit-scared. Talk about real teamwork. It kicks ass and stays really cool.

5- E. T- The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

For friends who come from different worlds but end up forming bonds that last lifetimes….

Forget NASA's space missions; in the matter of a simple science fiction ballad, Steven Spielberg brought two worlds together in a wonderful state of boyish friendship. It helped that young Elliot (Henry Thomas) was a lonely guy with noone to share his Reese's pieces with. Along came a little lost alien from the woods and friendship bloomed. From then on, it would just take a couple of unforgettable moments on a bicycle to establish their bond as something truly divine and spectacular. They also loved getting drunk together. What a camaraderie!

4- Lethal Weapon (1987)

For buddies who are total opposites, yet become more of brothers than just best friends…

It is a pity how underrated Shane Black is as a writer of some of the finest bromance in cinema. Richard Donner's blazing, cocky and hilarious cop actioner is then the ultimate testament to his natural flair for pitting exact opposites into a sort of crackling friendship against all odds. For soon-to-be retiring cop Murtaugh (Danny Glover), the perfect mismatched partner is hot-head Riggs (a stunning Mel Gibson). Together, they make for a reluctant team against a bunch of drug smugglers. But in between the terrific stunts and explosions, they always end up bonding like brothers.

3- Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

For friends whose lives may take different turns but who eventually come back to realize that they only have each other….

Whatever happened to Farhan Akhtar? Two slick-looking miserable action films have dampened his potential and his second outing, 'Lakshya', sank without a trace. It's sad, since he was the only one who nailed the urban male rapport with great panache. 'Dil Chahta Hai' is a mesmerizing, fun-filled and poignant look at three best friends (Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna at their best) as they navigate individual paths of love and adventure only to come back together. You can still feel the influence of its throbbing male dynamic in 'Rock On!' and 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'.

2- A Hard Day's Night (1964)

For buddies, who can never ever stay apart and create miracles when they all come together to rock and roll….

They taught us all that we can get by with a little help from friends. Richard Lester's rip-roaring mockumentary on the Fab Four is a soaring celebration of the enthralling, eventful days of Beatlemania and the infectious chemistry shared by the four legendary Liverpudlians. To watch them make goofy wisecracks, fool around like naughty schoolboys and drive grown-ups grumpy is a sheer delight. To watch them set the stage on fire, with mind-blowing melodies and frenzied screams of girls, is as poignant as seeing them split painfully some years later. A treat for all Beatles lovers.

1- Andaaz Apna Apna (1994)

For buddies, who are silly, slippery and utterly witless, but end up being totally loveable as heroes…

22 years after its release and lukewarm reception at the boxoffice, Rajkumar Santoshi's finest film (take that, 'Ghayal' fans) has earned its rightful honor as the only Bollywood film till date to rejoice bromance in the best, most hilarious way possible. The endlessly rib-tickling one-liners have lost none of their comic punch, the characters are worthy of being on spunky tees (eye-ball popping Master Gogo, most of all) and most of all, the infectiously mischievous lead pair of Amar and Prem (Aamir Khan and Salman Khan at their boisterous best) is still a triumph of a side-splitting funny friendship that makes all the lightning-paced tomfoolery a really endearing delight.

Suicide Squad- Lots Of Style, Little Snap

There are some things worth recommending about David Ayer's 'Suicide Squad'- possibly one of the strangest superhero films for quite sometime now. The fact that it is strange, berserk and wild is itself noteworthy.

The premise itself is excitingly killer- a mish-mash of 'The Dirty Dozen' and 'Monsters Vs Aliens'- in which the grumpy senators and military generals decide to pit a bunch of freaks of nature against monsters whom they cannot quite tame or defeat. The intention here would be to defy convention and, in the process, take a stab at the masked guardians themselves. Sure, Ayer gets a fair part of the setup right- 'Suicide Squad' starts brilliantly, all its cocked guns poised to fire at point blank and score with a roaring script, some hilarious oddballs and some crackling action to go along with them. Hell, it even takes a dig at Batman in its own whimsical ways. However, that is just about it for the film, which is soon let down with the flimsy, generic plot and a plodding sentimentalism that sucks out the hedonistic thrill out of the proceedings. In short, the sum of its bits and parts is nothing more than just a good-looking music video.

Those bits, however, do make up a giddily entertaining musical montage that might be as deliriously exciting as watching either Prince or Michael Jackson groove, with wonderfully weird visuals and jaw-dropping sound. So, we get a stellar introduction to the first sight of sharp-shooting baddie Deadshot, sweating it out inside prison bars, while The Animals belt out creepily 'The House Of The Rising Sun', before the said character wears 'ball and chain' himself. Ayer starts presenting his super-baddies with delicious, rollicking style- subtitles of an assortment of wacky fonts pop up on the screen as each of the jail-birds is introduced to us while the film jumps from sleazy strip-joints to Gotham's sewers, from snow-bound alleys to river caves hiding dark mysteries- with a snappy pace that sets the film's comic book zeitgest very well indeed. Up to this point, the film looks very compellingly pulpy indeed.

A stern Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) follows the Lee Marvin example in recruiting a ragtag team made up of these far-from-heroic nasties to fend off 'metahumans'. This is her only way to protect the country, in 'a world full of monsters', as she puts it. Her outfit consists of Deadshot (seeking a shot at redemption and reconciliation with his tweeny daughter), Aussie assassin Captain Boomerang (who has a fetish for pink unicorns. Sound familiar?), remorseful Mexican vigilante El Diablo, angry mutant Killer Croc and, finally, the lusty and wise-cracking Harley Quinn, looking dreamily to be re-united with her dear Puddin, whom we will get to in sometime.

Sure, the film promises, for them, some nihilistic fun in the city streets. But all promise is robbed off right away, as Ayer hands us a redundantly cliched master-villain, looking too obviously like someone from a Marvel outing, and then strips the film of all its anarchic fun. It could have been fine to have a script with less portentious intensity and more off-the-wall fun for the crazy freaks to have a ball with. Tim Miller's 'Deadpool' was a nonsensical, generic plot enlivened by its titular anti-hero having a blast with gore, foul-mouthed digs and fourth wall-busting electricity. The eponymous villains of this film are given precious little to do than just get drowned into a swirl of sentimentalism that feels most unwelcome.

The action sequences are nothing special to talk about- except for Harley Quinn taking down some snarling beasts inside an elevator- and there is almost no excitement to even the big confrontation in the climax. This is itself another letdown, given how the film remains loyal to the quirky spirit of the comics itself. Lensman Roman Vasyanov keeps things shadowy and grim for most part but there are also some vividly nuanced bits in between- where the film sizzles with texture- like the beaded curtains in a strip club, the shanks of meat being chopped in greasy kitchens, or the stained bars of Harley Quinn's cage. But all the style and sizzle cannot make up for a glaring absence of fun and enthusiasm in the proceedings.

What, occassionally, makes the proceedings quite lively as promised is Harley Quinn's presence itself. Margot Robbie has always been blessed with a natural flair for sensuous mischief and the role of the most genuinely naughty lady of the comic books just gives her ultimate free rein to let it all loose. She remains constantly, irresistibly plucky, upsetting the most dreadfully serious moments of the script and single-handedly lifting the film from its po-faced seriousness. She also delivers, the one line, that totally trashes the film's stiffly predictable tenor in the climax, happily declaring that she is 'off her meds'. And she nails it totally when licking the bars of her prison cage with lusty relish.

Most of the cast performs awkwardly, though this has something to do with the claustrophobic nature of the dreadfully serious narrative and the way it squeezes dry all that is ripe for fun. A moment of relaxation- inside a bar- becomes oddly boring and dull in the way how these bad-asses just lament about their sorry lives rather than trade wisecracks and get the ball rolling. It is only Will Smith's Deadshot, who actually has some presence in a gang of mostly cardboard-cut characters. Smith gets the snappy, one-liner spouting nature of his character quite well and even when the film sinks under the weight of too much gloom, he remains, endearingly, the hero of the piece.

Anticipating viewers might be wondering about the film's biggest selling point- a sneak-peek at the new Joker, here played by method-acting star Jared Leto. His version is indeed a compellingly psychothic one, replacing the whacked-out survivor instinct of Heath Ledger's unforgettable rabble-rouser with a pompous, kingpin image more similar to Jack Nicholson's own take on the iconic villain. Leto shines in his scenes indeed, looking like a resurrected David Bowie in his 'Thin White Duke' years, and snarls and hisses magnificently. However, it will take a whole new film, a whole better plot and certainly an able director to get the best out of him. For the moment though, he passes the test and he will do.

It is the great sleazy dynamic that he shares with Robbie's Quinn that lends 'Suicide Squad' rare flashes of genuine heart and emotion. There is this one standout scene for Quinn's moment of truth- for Mister J to ask her out open about how much is she willing to commit romantically to him. It is a moment I would hate to reveal more of but the gushing romance between the two freaks is just, so godamn perfect that it almost breaks the heart. 

It is also a core of unrealized emotional stakes. A more nifty film, at the hands of a true master (think David Lynch, for heaven's sake), would have teased these twisted emotions out and lent real, crackling fire to an otherwise generic plot. Unfortunately, while there is a lot of delicious style- and Ayer is certainly not as tastelessly unsubtle as Zack Snyder-there is precious little snap or soul to a film which could have been much more crazily entertaining. As Deadshot says it, the film should not have forgotten that they were all 'bad guys'.

My Rating- 2 And A Half Stars Out Of 5.

Ten Spectacular Spielberg Films

Last weekend saw the release of Disney’s highly awaited ‘The BFG’, based on fantasy legend Roald Dahl’s popular fairy-tale. The icing on the cake seemed to be the director chosen for the task- mammoth legend Steven Spielberg. Here is casting a look at the bearded filmmaking veteran’s stellar accomplishments- ten incredible Spielberg films that every cinephile should watch compulsorily.

10- A.I- Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Trying to beat Stanley Kubrick was always the near-impossible task. And yet, Steven Spielberg, a storyteller completely detached from the brilliant and cold-blooded cynicism of that director, did it, bringing sweepingly human emotion to the legendary filmmaker’s seminal designs and concepts and blending both his warmth and the late creator’s intelligence to create a truly odd sci-fi gem. Plot-wise, ‘A.I’ has all the feel of typical Spielberg. It is about a little kid in an adventure that changes his life, it is lavishly crafted, sweeping in its emotional force and packs in many a sight to behold. 

Yet, the director often breaks the mould in more than one way- the little kid is no dirty-blonde small-town bloke but rather an android with feelings David (played with chilling credibility by Haley Joel Osment). The journey he undertakes- to discover the warmth of a mother’s love-is a heart-breaking odyssey into dismal terrain, where machines are humiliated, where your deepest desires cannot come true and where all your fairy-tale dreams are buried under the sea of despair. Hypnotic, beautiful and ultimately exquisitely sad.

9- Lincoln (2012)

The latest of the bearded director’s cinematic achievements (not counting ‘Bridge Of Spies’) is a rare beast- a sneak peek at history that is both rousing yet objective, a talky political drama that simmers like an action film. Tony Kushner’s verbose fireworks, fashioned from real-life historical facts, lend much of ‘Lincoln’ its’ real buzz.  Spielberg is mostly content to offer the whole enterprise an air of old-world authenticity. Janusz Kaminsky’s moody cinematography, along with Rick Carter’s lived-in, decadent settings, adds more realism to the already terse proceedings in display. 

Steve captures the debate, moral questioning and political wrangling over the 13^th Amendment even as the Civil War rages and the eponymous American icon sizes up his advisors, family and friends and foes in a desperate bid for an idealistic dream. For all its subtly pointed politics, ‘Lincoln’ is truly special for terrific performances- Tommy Lee Jones as Republican hot-head Thaddeus Stevens, David Strathairn as the stately William Seward, Sally Field as a sprightly, domineering Mary Todd Lincoln and eventually the great, great Daniel Day-Lewis as the iconic, eccentric and ultimately heroic man himself.

8- E.T- The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

For many fans, even with all the bullwhips and spaceships, the real-life massacres and war planes, the most striking image associated with Spielberg turns out to be the silhouette of a kid on a bicycle against the glare of a full white moon. To be honest, ‘E.T’ is not exactly the masterpiece that everyone calls. The story- of a little lost alien stranded in a sleepy small town and befriended by an equally listless young boy- is stellar but Steve’s own process seems a bit muddled at places. 

The scenes between the two are excellent and poignant but the shifts from sublime emotion to full-blown slapstick are sometimes jarring. Nevertheless, it is still a soaring, rousing yarn of adventure and imagination, bolstered by unforgettable visuals, an understated John Williams score and the totally loveable alien- a marvel of painstaking creature design and pop culture reference. Most crucially, of all the Spielberg films, it is the one that most celebrates the triumph of knee-high bravado over grumpy adulthood.

7- Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The likes of Kubrick, Sam Fuller, Oliver Stone and Francis Ford Coppola had already showed the ugly, brutal reality of warfare but all of them were merely mental masturbators; ‘Saving Private Ryan’ shoved us right into the middle of the bloody, battering chaos that is war. The opening 30 minutes is a truly hellish cinematic experience- a gruesome, mind-numbing retelling of the Omaha Beach landings during D-Day. Limbs are exploded, entrails come spilling out and the gunfire, grit and dirt are relentless. Spielberg retains masterfully the grim, elegiac tone elsewhere too in this sublime tale of a team of soldiers, led by Tom Hanks’ Captain Miller, risking it all to find one man (Matt Damon) and then questioning themselves about the same. 

Robert Rodat’s elegantly understated narrative has over-arching ambitions- this is a men-on-a-mission movie, pure and simple. It is therefore to both his and Spielberg’s credit that this has neither bombast nor heroics but instead a sobering acknowledgement of mortality and loss of innocence. Sure, it might not have the political punch of ‘Paths Of Glory’ or the psychological ferocity of ‘Apocalypse Now’ but as a film that presents fear and disillusionment without pretensions, it is quite devastatingly brilliant.

6- Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)

It is actually a bit of a pleasant surprise that, despite the incredible goodwill of another famous science fiction classic of 1977, Spielberg’s wholly original drama of scientific speculation and wide-eyed wonder still remains a classic in its own right. ‘Close Encounters’ is a compelling tale that would make for a Jules Verne novel, told with a fascinating blend of intelligent plotting, superb characterisation and moments of sheer wonder just lightly infused with adventure and dread. Line-worker Roy Neary (a hypnotically compelling Richard Dreyfus) becomes obsessed with the flashes of star-men waiting up in the sky; he is, however, not really alone. 

A ragtag of team of scientists, including one played by Francois Truffaut, sets out on a global quest for the truth behind unexplained events. For all the jargon, myth-busting discoveries and exciting clues, this is however a deeply personal story- dealing with the collapse of family, reason and sanity at the mercy of a relentless obsession. That does not however detract from Spielberg’s awe-inspiring, enthralling and intense blow-out moments- a chilling abduction scene and the grand finale- of the mother-ship alighting at Wyoming’s Devil Tower- which delivers bang for buck in spectacle.

5- Duel (1971)

Few actually realize how darn good Spielberg is with tension. Sure, we got enough evidence of it in 'Jaws' and 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind'. But next to Alfred Hitchcock, he is perhaps the only director who can hammer obvious physical scares  with an artistry that no one can rival. Nothing might seem remotely incredible about a large truck looming over the frame, on a lonely, dusty highway but trust Steve to make even that ripe for sweaty suspense. This early TV movie is just that- a blood-red car, a bullying truck and a man who learns how does it feel to be at breakneck pace. There is no exposition- just sheer dreadful fear and a crushing despair all embodied faithfully by Dennis Weaver's genuinely bewildered performance. 

But then 'Duel' is also a supremely effective action film, devoid of effects, stripped of trickery and committed mainly to scaring the daylights out of us viewers. Sure, he might hand us ravenous sharks and resurrected dinosaurs sooner or later but sometimes all we need is a big tanker truck to crush all available chances of escape.

4- Munich (2005)

By the early 2000s, it was a bit safe to assume that Spielberg was losing the Midas touch. Sure, there were 'Minority Report' and 'A.I' and yeah, 'Catch Me If You Can' was a lot of fun as well, but nothing could match the path-breaking intensity of the previous decades. Then, he gave it to us and how. 'As its name would suggest, 'Munich' is about the 1972 Olympics fiasco- a blood-splattered national disaster in which Arab terrorists massacred nearly a dozen Israeli athletes. Spielberg takes us right in the middle of these grim and gory  proceedings with the relentless pace of a war reporter and then lets us witness the equally shocking, stealthy revenge exacted for the same. 

A team of nearly anonymous Mossad agents, led by Eric Bana's self-doubting Avner, is sent on a globe-trotting killing spree. And then, the mission takes its toll in more than one way. In the process, gone was the enthralling, occasionally sentimental Spielberg. In its place was a master film-maker, fully aware of his material and confident with his brutal, hard-hitting political brush-strokes. Talk about vengeance.

3- Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

Will there be a more memorable expression of Spielberg's relentless, self-claimed urge to never ever grow up? 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' might have kicked off a wildly successful franchise, cemented Harrison Ford as an action icon of lasting influence and vindicated the universal truth that George Lucas is one hell of a producer. But it remains a classic simply because it brought out the teenager inside us all, not least the director himself. The film is literally scattered with obvious genre influences- fantasy elements of Ray Harryhausen, the locations and women of James Bond capers and the Nazi villains of those ripping 60s yarns. 

And yet, 'Raiders' serves them in style, wit and a compelling balance of hilarious witticisms and enough perilous stakes to make for a truly rattling good time. The buzzing action scenes are still smashing, the effects still wonderfully weird, the humour still tongue-in-cheek. And even if the film does feel faintly dated a few times, Spielberg packed in enough bona fide adventure to make it all as enjoyable as a Road Runner cartoon on adrenaline-pumping form.

2- Jaws (1975)

It is easy to forget how less 'Jaws' is a typical monster movie and more of an intelligent, searing portrait of fear, adventure and courage against all odds. Endless imitations- and its own uncalled-for sequels- threaten to ruin the sheer cinematic deftness at display here, with most attention doled out to the supremely effective jump-scares and the legendary leviathan himself. 

To phrase one of the film's iconic lines, this take on Peter Benchley's novel is, like the Great White Shark who preys on Amity Beach, a perfect machine. More startling and unsettling than those perfectly rare glimpses of the oceanic killer are the quietest, creepiest moments that would best not be revealed here. And as if that was not enough, Spielberg's well-oiled, efficient process also adds welcome streaks of terrific characterisation, sharp plotting and just the enough amount of emotion to make it powerfully devastating. But then, it will always be second to some other film, as the director's ultimate triumph of cinematic power and storytelling.

1- Schindler's List (1993)

More than fantasy, science-fiction or adventure, it is when Spielberg casts his wide-eyed glance at history's troubling truths that real miracles happen. And nothing could be more special than 'Schindler's List'- a sharply brutal portrait of the worst horrors of the Holocaust that Hollywood had never witnessed before. Everything is gritty in Spielberg's grainy, black-and-white canvas- from the sordid Jew ghettoes, soon to be evacuated by the power-hungry Nazis, to the actual atrocities themselves- the spurts of blood in the snow-bound streets, the abject humiliation and disease and death in the grimy camps. The grim cinematography and lightning quick editing add a real buzz of chaos. 

But let's not forget- 'Schindler's List' is also above all a soaring, rousing celebration of hope. Its eponymous protagonist (played beautifully by Liam Neeson) is a flawed human, a man whose attempts to do good stand against his vices and yet the film sides up with him, as well as the many who strive to defy the gloom surrounding them. Intelligent yet compassionate, realistic yet emotionally raw, this is a film of exceptional strength and conviction and easily Steve's finest hour.