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"You really don't want us coming back here." – Todd to Skylerwritten & directed by Peter Gould
Michael C. Hall & Archie Panjabi - the modern, alternative Mulder & Scully? |
Remember the Sarah Michelle Gellar drama, Ringer, in which she played the roles of twins who swap lives? No? That's hardly surprising, as it was a textbook guide on how to take a interesting concept and then ruin it over 22 excruciating episodes. I therefore wasn't expecting to enjoy Orphan Black, perhaps due to residual feelings of disappointment from how Sarah had let me down so badly. However, this pilot episode did a terrific job laying out the concept of an unusual identity switch and hooking audiences into its story and mystery, as it opens with streetwise Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) witnessing her doppelgรคnger jump to her death in front of a speeding train.
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"My name is ASAC Schrader and you can go fuck yourself" – Hank Schraderwritten by Moira Walley-Beckett | directed by Rian Johnson
★★★ (out of five)
Antoine Fuqua's OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: DIE HARD in the White House. The fact the actual DIE HARD franchise long ago forgot its greatest asset wasn't superstar Bruce Willis but environmental limitation, means I appreciated OLYMPUS for delivering a better sequel than the same summer's A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD.
There's also some post-9/11 flavours here, as there is in almost every high-concept US thriller nowadays. I guess it's because what once felt like utter nonsense now has potential to feel plausible to audiences, no matter how ludicrously presented. The idea of hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center felt laughable pre-9/11, which is why most movies like this kept things smaller-scale or looked to Mother Nature for the big thrills... but who's laughing now? That's not to say I think North Korean terrorists are going to infiltrate the US and orchestrate a take-down of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue using a ground and air assault lasting just shy of 15-minutes. That would be absurd.
Gerard Butler plays Mike Banning; a Secret Service agent who failed Aaron Eckhart's President Asher and was removed from Presidential Detail. He gets a chance for redemption when North Koreans, led by Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune), lay waste to "Olympus"; kidnapping POTUS and detaining his West Wing staff in the building's impregnable bunker while they try to crack the nation's top secret 'Cerberus' program and remove US forces from Korea's DMZ.
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