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Charlie Wilson’s War

Brendan — Fri, 23 May 2008 03:00:11 +0000

Charlie Wilson’s War, the opening credits proudly boast, is based on true events. This in indeed true, though at times you’d hardly know it. The movie charts the endevours of whisky-swilling, womanizing, Democrat Texan congressman Charlie Wilson to arm the Afghanistan militia and repel the Soviet invasion of the 1980s.

With thanks to recent events, even those too young to remember first-hand are familiar with the main facts of this story. And yet still at times, it can be very difficult to swallow that this was a true story. This is in part due to the titular character, who comes across as at once ignorant and savvy, and who seemingly throws himself at complex causes earnestly but also almost with gay abandon. As such, the character doesn’t seem very grounded in reality.

The supporting characters are similarly a patchwork of oddballs, ranging from a bleeding-heart wealthy constituent pulling the strings on an international level to an abrasive CIA agent with obvious anger management issues, played superbly by Philip Seymour Hoffman. These kooky characters,?coupled with equally unnatural but witty dialogue give the film an almost Wes Anderson feel, and go some way to removing any sense of realism from proceedings.

Other issues concern the plot itself. While the world today is still reeling from the repercussions of arming the Mujahideen, the story is almost entirely myopic. Charlie Wilson comes across as a hero for liberating Afghanistan, while the considerable fallout is relegated to a pre-credit post script.

This economy of facts, coupled with the off-kilter ambience, renders Charlie Wilson’s War’s impact as a history lesson very weak. As a piece of entertainment however, you could do a lot worse than this enjoyable old yarn.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Brendan — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:06:00 +0000

Grant Theft Auto IV, it goes without saying, is the latest installment of the best-selling crime franchise, and the first to appear on the XBOX360 and Playstation 3. It has unsurprisingly been greeted with record-breaking sales figures and 10/10 scores from critics. On all accounts, it is the pinnacle of the medium.

Certainly, that mantle was deservedly bestowed upon this game?s last-generation predecessor, GTAIII, some six years ago. At the time, the level of freedom, coupled with the relatively mature storyline, was a breath of fresh air to an industry struggling to move past space marines shooting aliens in corridors. GTAIII?s follow-up Vice City, released just a year later, was reluctant to change a winning formula. And when developer Rockstar did decided to play loose with their tried and tested approach, the result was San Andreas, an unfocused, bloated mess.

And so, after getting its fingers burned, Rockstar have chosen to play it safe, and return to the basis of its recent success: Liberty City and GTAIII. Compared to San Andreas, almost everything is scaled back. The map-size, character creation options, variety of missions and locations have all been reigned in to more focused, manageable proportions. The result is a very little more than a high definition retreading of GTAIII. One?s first overriding impression of playing the ?next-gen? debut of GTA is of familiarity. That is perhaps a testament to the overachievements of the PS2 iterations, but it is also an indictment of the lack of ambition or courage by Rockstar to take the franchise to the next level.

As such, the critical hyperbole is sadly unfounded. Liberty City may be six years older, but it offers nothing that we didn?t see last time round.

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