Daily Archives: September 17, 2020
The Tunnel (2019) Movie Review
Director: Pal Oie
Writer: Kjersti Helen Rasmussen (Screenplay)
Starring: Thorbjorn Harr, Ylva Fuglerud, Lisa Carlehed, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Peter Forde
Plot: When a truck crashes inside a tunnel, people on their way home for Christmas are brutally trapped in a deadly fire. With a blizzard raging outside, and the first responders struggling to get to the accident, it’s every man for himself.
Runtime: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Tunnel starts on Christmas Eve with a blizzard outside and the Norwegian tunnel system under control, families are looking to get home for Christmas, when a lorry gets involved in an accident inside one of the large tunnel systems, with people trapped inside the smoke fills the tunnels as Stein (Harr) leads the rescue crew, which includes trying to save his own daughter Elise (Fuglerud).
Thoughts on The Tunnel
Characters – Stein is a fire and rescue operator, one that has become distant from his daughter, which is always a strain on their relationship over Christmas, he leads the rescue which starts out like normal, until he learns his daughter is inside the tunnel, where he will risk everything to rescue her. Elise is the distant daughter that is trapped in the tunnel, she uses her own survival skills to try and keep the passengers of the bus alive, this will give her a chance to follow in her father footsteps when it comes to becoming a heroic figure to some. We do meet the rest of the rescue team that are put in the impossible position of not knowing what to do next, other victims that are trapped that need rescuing, which are here to add even more drama to the events of the film.
Performances – Thorbjorn Harr in the leading role shows us the determination to first make up his relationship with his daughter and secondly his strength to fight to save people. Ylva Fuglerud leads the supporting with ease, as the whole cast looks great through the film.
Story – The story here follows the events of a disaster in a tunnel in Norway, which sees people trapped in the smoke-filled tunnel with a race against time to survive. When it comes to disaster movies, we are used to seeing a big over the top moment, while this one brings us a more realistic idea of what could happen, if an accident happened, it is a slow build that occurs, with the threat being smoke over explosions. This is based on a real event, which does make us wonder just how much was real, or was it just the idea a tunnel got filled with smoke.
Thriller – We are kept on the edge of our seats through this film, left waiting to see what will happen next.
Settings – The film keeps the action inside the tunnel, which improves the intensity going on through the film.
Scene of the Movie – The last call.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain things characters don’t seem to use common sense.
Final Thoughts – This is a great realistic looking disaster film that brings the importance of needing to save a loved one, no matter what it takes.
Signature Entertainment presents The Tunnel on Digital HD 21st September
Trailer Alert – The Driver
The Driver is on Digital Download 12 October and 19 October from Lionsgate UK
ABC Film Challenge – 80s Films – Q – Red Sonja (1985)
This is being used for Q because of he evil Queen Gedren.
Director: Richard Fleischer
Writer: Clive Exton, George MacDonald Fraser (Screenplay) Robert E Howard (Characters)
Starring: Brigitte Nielsen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman, Paul L Smith, Ernie Reyer Jr, Ronald Lacey
Plot: A female Redhead sets out on a killing spree to avenge her family’s murder.
Tagline – A woman and a warrior that became a legend.
Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Pure 80s Cheese
Story: Red Sonja starts in a wasteland of a world, Red Sonja (Nielsen) has seen her family butchered and been left for dead by the evil Queen Gedren (Bergman), who has gone onto rule the land with terror including take a relic which will be able to control the land.
With Queen Gedren’s rule continuing to grow, Red Sonja joins forces with fearless warrior Kalidor (Schwarzenegger) and abandoned Prince Tarn (Reyes Jr) to fight back and free the land from her terror.
Thoughts on Red Sonja
Characters – Red Sonja is a fearless warrior, her rebellious nature has seen the Queen turn on her, murdering her family, seeing her left brutally attacked. She rides the land in search of the Queen, where she leads a small group in battle to show how tough she is in battle. Kalidor follows before helping Sonja on her quest, he too in a fierce warrior roaming the lands fighting for the good of the people. Queen Gedren is the evil ruler that kills anybody that doesn’t follow her beliefs, using her newly acquired relic that can bring destruction unlike anything seen before.
Performances – Brigitte Nielsen is the star of the movie bring us a strong action heavy female character, sadly this movie is overly marketed on Arnold Schwarzenegger who is nothing more than just a strong support character in the film, it was an early role that showed just what we were going to be getting from him. Sandahl Bergman in the villainous queen role does everything needing to make her feel in control and not like her character.
Story – The story brings us to a world of warriors where one woman warrior is going on a revenge quest against the evil ruler that killed her family. This is one of the easiest styles of stories to tell, we just need a lead character we support, a villain we hate and a series of quests which will become more challenging the closer they get to their target. This does everything right without being a complete edge of your seat film because we focus on moments of comedy that don’t always work, as well as looking to show off the muscles involved from both the leads. This is easy to watch and can be enjoyed by the fans of the 80s action fantasy genre.
Action/Adventure/Fantasy – The action involved in the film comes with the sword wielding fights which are watchable without being edge of the seat, which become bigger as the adventure continues on, going hand in hand together in the genre side of things, with the fantasy world showing how the different creatures can come from the world.
Settings – The world feels big and baron like it would be completely under control by an evil ruler, with candle room look beautiful for the closing fight.
Scene of the Movie – Candle room.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It isn’t the most standout in the genre.
Final Thoughts – This is an 80s movie you can easily watch and enjoy, everything is basic, so just enjoy it without expecting anything ground breaking.
Overall: Enjoyable 80s film.
Rating
