Opening up the Dark Universe franchise, in a new world of monsters and men, part time soldier, full time looter Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) inadvertently unearths the tomb of Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) and when archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) is brought onto the scene for her expertise Nick becomes frustrated with the red tape and decides to cut some corners, which does not end well. After apparently dying in a plane crash Nick finds himself alive but somehow linked to the Egyptian Princess and with some assistance from Jenny tries to work out why he has been spared. In the meantime London underground builders have unearthed a tomb of crusader knights and the area is ceded to Dr.Henry (Russell Crowe) the leader of a mysterious group called the Prodigium, a mysterious society who investigate apparent Supernatural threats to modern humanity. These seemingly individual occurrences all become linked and begin a big budget adventure of hidden artefacts, clandestine societies and a battle against a mummy apocalypse all loosely based on the tales of the monsters from the older days of cinema which is quite ironic as there are many aspects of the film plot which are also a carbon copy lift from other, better, movies in the genre too, The Quatermass Experiment, Lifeforce and An American Werewolf in London to name a few of the obvious ones.

 

 

We do get Tom Cruise front and centre and once again his effort in a movie can’t be faulted. For all the faults he may have he rarely looks like he is not giving 100% and it’s no different here as he does as much as he can with the character, turning a very dislikeable guy into one that you want to succeed as he fights against his natural selfish instincts to do the right thing to battle the demons, all the while getting in some of his usual moments of on screen running which he does so well, but also surprisingly showing come very good comic timing with some decent one liners, while being cheesy, delivered in just the right way to garnish a giggle.

 

 

When Crowe and Cruise are on screen together, you can see the class in acting take a dramatic turn for the better as they work brilliantly together during their interactions despite the general weakness of their story point. These moments were arguable the strongest in the film from an acting point of view and it was a shame that they were so limited. Boutella does a good job as Ahmanet, looking both beautiful and menacing in equal measure, although her type cast of the generally silent villain is becoming a little repetitive and it would be nice to see if she can do more in a role and Wallis brought a nice, down to earth performance, amongst all the supernatural activity, grounding the action when necessary and bringing the film back into perspective although after all the recent talk of how great it was to see strong female characters in films there was an element of the damsel in distress about her role which is likely to upset some.

 

 

There are some very good action sequences and the CGI is excellent but there is a lot of lazy exposition, some terrible plot holes and moments of convenience which were hard to overlook. The poor script ensures that the decision making of the characters is at times worse than some B-movie horror film so for all the good work, generally laziness seems to have counter acted those positives. Also, for a so called monster movie it’s not at all scary which was a disappointment and the ending is just awful, almost as if they ran out of ideas, which is remarkable considering there were numerous script writers given credits.

Having received some terrible backlash from critics I was expecting the worst but it’s a not a terrible film. It has flaws (quite a few of them) and in analysing the movie critically, it doesn’t work well and a whole. In saying that, if you can treat it for what I can only hope it was created as, a summer blockbuster, fill your face with popcorn, while enjoying seeing a-list celebrities hop from one action sequence to another, kind of silly but fun movie, then you’ll walk away entertained although I can only hope the future of the Dark Universe has better in store if it wishes to survive as, with the rumours of The Wolfman, Bride Of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man all being mentioned the jury is still out on whether they can make this a successful series or not.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

Set five years after the occurrences in the franchise’s previous movie At World’s End, Deal Men Tell No Tales, or Salazar’s Revenge depending on who you ask, is the story of Henry (Brenton Thwaites), who is looking for the mythical Trident Of Poseidon, which he believes can free his father from a curse he has been afflicted with. When he is on board a British warship which is attacked by a strange ship captained by seemingly dead sailors, Henry is spared by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) in order to convey a message to Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), that his days are numbered as Salazar is coming for him.

On the island of Saint Martin, Henry locates Sparrow in jail and with some assistance from an astronomer, Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), who also needs to leave the island, they formulate a plan to free Sparrow and chase the legend of the Trident, each for their own purpose.

When Depp burst onto the scene with his Oscar nominated performance as Sparrow, it was novel and refreshing, the character was mysterious as it was never clear if he was genuinely imbalanced or just playing that way as a misdirection. Slowly it’s changed to where the character has now become a bumbling drunkard who seems to rely on luck to save the day with none of the cunning traits which gave him legendary status being apparent. This time around it’s almost like the Sparrow character is playing as a parody of himself, he had his moments here, but they were very sparse.

Both Thwaites and Scolelario are decent as the support characters and, when given moments to shine, they usually hit the mark but there is not a lot of depth to what they are required to do. Scolelario has the better moments and, there were occasions in certain scenes when she looked remarkably reminiscent of a young Nicole Kidman, although there is a recurring theme joke about her being a witch, just because she is intelligent, which got repetitive and irritating very quickly.

Bardem was excellent as the zombie Captain, over acting and looking like he was enjoying himself which added great character and depth to Salazar, even if his screen time was limited, and move over Keith Richards as this movies musical star cameo is taken by Paul McCartney, you’ll spot him easily enough.

One big plus for the movie is another great score, this time with Geoff Zanelli taking over the composition duties from Hans Zimmer. If one thing has been consistent through the varied quality of these movies, the music has always been memorable and instantly recognisable. Once those French horns kick in, you know you’re hitting the high seas for an adventure.

Although the movie was one of the shortest in the franchise it still felt over long, perhaps because the first two acts were quite slow moving so when it came to the final section and the best of the action kicked in, it felt like I had been waiting a long time for it to occur and the movie had lost most of my interest.

This is one that the kids will probably enjoy, there are moments of humour but not enough to entertain the adults, some of the CGI is great, the ships and settings look superb and at least there is a purposeful plot this time so it’s a step back in the right direction after the slow decline into mediocrity that the movies have taken since the second entry. It still feels like a dying franchise but as long as it is making money keep your eyes peeled for the inevitable announcement of the casting for the next instalment.

DJ Speaks Movies: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

When the kingdom of Camelot is under siege from the forces of the evil warlock Mordred, their army, under the leadership of King Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana) barely manage to win the day but later that night his weakened troops are betrayed by an organised coup from the Kings treacherous brother Vortigen (Jude Law), who wants the throne for himself. Before he is defeated Pendragon manages to place his son in a boat and gives him his freedom, washing up in Londinium he is found by a group of prostitutes who take him in and name him Arthur (Charlie Hunnam). He grows up as what can only be called a typical cockney lad (almost a copy and paste character from Lock, Stock or Snatched) who robs and steals, but always looks after his own and because it’s all done with a wink, a cheeky grin on his face and some witty dialogue, that makes it all okay.

 

Haunted by the tales of the legend that the true king will return and remove the sword from the stone, Vortigen is systematically insisting that every man takes his turn attempting to remove the sword, confident that the controlled conditions of this test will ensure that he has the upper hand once the true King is revealed. When Arthur is forced to partake in the ritual, the true power of the sword is revealed, Vortigen realises that he has underestimated his adversary and knows that he must destroy Arthur before he can learn how to harness his true powers. The battle lines are drawn, so Arthur and his rag tag bunch of, surprisingly multi-cultural, cut throats and thieves must use their wit and cunning against the might and power of the King of England to return the reluctant heir to his rightful place on the throne.

 

As in a lot of Guy Ritchie’s movies, you’re not cheering for the good guy, you’re rooting for the best of the bad guys, and this film is no different. Hunnam is okay as the unwilling ruler, reminding me a little of his role in Green Street, playing the likable gangster-like protagonist, he does what he has to do well without ever shining. Along for the ride in his Robin Hood style mission, his merry men all tick the boxes as required and most are given moments in the limelight which they deliver on but, with the exception of Alden Gillan as Goosefat Wilson, none were given anything particularly memorable to do. Djimon Hounson felt awfully wasted given his talent and something about Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as a character, inventively called The Mage (have a wild guess at what she does), just didn’t work. There were a few scenes between Arthur are herself which were horrifically reminiscent of the cringe worthy romantic moments between Padme and Anakin in Star Wars.

Jude Law was the real stand out as the power hungry ruler, bringing his full deck to the table and giving his all. It was during the times when this man was feeling the weight of his choices that the movie actually threatened to break out of the haze of mediocrity and become something much better, alas, these moments were fleeting.

 

There are some good, entertaining action sequences, the CGI at times is great and, at other times, awful, the moments when Arthur becomes one with the sword are both brilliant and jarring, the lady in the lake is a CGI mess, throw in some training montages and a David Beckham cameo (Yes, you heard me right) and you get a sense of the divisive rhythm that seems to flow through this film.

There is a distinct skill to what Guy Ritchie can do as a director that few others can and perhaps this is what stops this movie from becoming a complete train wreck. If you were unaware who the director was from very early you could hazard an educated guess, from the quick cut camerawork to the sharp tone of the dialogue, all full of energy but, at times, all too frenetically. While there are moments in the film which are entertaining it really lacks the substance to make it any good because the movie seems to be in such a rush to move to the next scene. It feels like a lot of style over quality and instead of raising up above previous efforts to take the crown, it ends up in Arthurian serfdom.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

Loosely based on the 90’s TV show, Baywatch stars Dwayne Johnson as Mitch Buchannon, Lieutenant of the lifeguards in Emerald Bay, Miami. When he is reluctantly forced by his bosses to work with former Olympian superstar Matt Brody (Zach Efron) the balance of the group is challenged. Will Johnson & Efron be able to put aside their differences and pull the team together to save the day? Who cares?

 

 

I could spend the review scathing this movie since, as a whole, critically, it is really bad. The editing is amateurish, the whole plot is absurd, the action is way over the top, the CGI is terrible and the fight scenes are awful. But when the opening scene of a movie has Johnson rising out of the water like a God of the sea after rescuing a man, while behind the Baywatch logo bursts onto the screen, as dolphins perform tricks in the background, the bar has been set with this film.

Johnson shows what made him such a success in the WWE as his put-downs on Efron’s character, although predictable, are all delivered with the impeccable swagger and cutting edge we would expect. His chemistry with Efron is excellent, these two have most of the best lines and scenes in the film and their efforts to out-do each other are some of the funniest moments in the movie. Efron, if you have seen any of his movies in the last few years, plays to type and does his usual comedic turn. The rest of the cast are not given much to do but do what they need to well in support of the leading men and the rest of the cast are just filler to the main headliners.

 

 

With director Seth Gordon’s giving us previous efforts such as Horrible Bosses & Identify Thief , both comedies that know what they were trying to be so they worked, this movie is no different and is full of ridiculous self aware humour which works when the movie is taken in context. The James Bond inspired villain, inept henchmen, penis jokes, the plot around illegal drug trade, the mismatched characters coming together to save the day, it’s nothing new but it’s not selling itself as anything else and there within lies the charm.

As a film lover, this should have scarred me for life, but it didn’t because of the game plan it set out from the very start and made no effort to hide. It’s not intelligent comedy, there are no action sequences which will blow your mind but for some reason I really enjoyed leaving my brain at the door and just going with the flow.

DJ Speaks Movies Rating: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

­

Set in the depression and prohibition era of the 1920’s and 1930’s, Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) is the son of Boston police Captain Thomas Coughlin (Brendan Gleeson) but rather than follow in his fathers footsteps Joe prefers the other side of the tracks and runs with criminals and women much to his fathers chagrin.

Image courtesy of youtube.com

His main squeeze is Emma Gould (Sienna Millar) but she is already taken by local big wig Albert White (Robert Glenister) so their liaisons are all done in secret. When this doomed relationship ends poorly, leading to Joe spending time behind bars, he is forced to ditch his lone wolf stance and head to Tampa to work for the Italian mob boss Maso Pescatore, where he finds his fortunes improve dramatically as he moves up the food chain to eventually run most of the Florida area, thanks in no small part to his befriending of the immigrant Caribbean population to corner the rum distribution market. He is ably assisted through all this by this loyal friend Dion Bartolo (Chris Messina) and local Chief of police Irving Figgis (Chris Cooper) but inevitably getting to the top of the ladder means there are those beneath you who want a shot at top spot and Joe has to take extreme measures to stay in command especially when the local chapter of the KKK decides that they want a piece of the pie, leading to Joe becoming more weary of his lifestyle and deciding he wants to find a life for himself away from it all with his new love Graciella Corrales (Zoe Saldada) but letting go proves much more difficult then Joe expects.

        Image courtesy of cinemaclock.com

Taking aside Affleck’s acting career, I actually like him as an actor but I understand those who find him a bit wooden, it’s hard to find fault with his performance behind the camera, with, in particular, The Town and Gone Girl being great examples of good film making and this movie is no different. It is a very well made, well shot film with some very good action scenes interspersed through it, but this is, by far, the weakest of his movies as a whole package. Where the was good tension and intrigue in his previous efforts this movie seemed dull, the pacing was poor and the plot seemed very weak. It starts well enough and the Boston scenes are good, setting the movie up very well but once the action moves to Tampa it drags terribly before redeeming itself a bit in the last third or so.

Image courtesy of comingsoon.net

Taking a few dodgy Irish accents out of the ring, there’s nothing wrong with the acting, everyone does well with what they are given, in particular Cooper and Messina are excellent but there seems to be a bit of a discord between the plot threads leaving the interactions between some characters seem like they are not genuine which takes you out of the moment. In particular there is a story line around Coopers daughter Loretta Figgis (Elle Fanning) which could have been a really good plot point but for me it was handled very poorly leaving it feeling out of context for how the rest of the movie flows.

There was a big smell of Oscar bait off on screen and that seemed to take some of the potential shine away from the story which is disappointing as it ends us as a mediocre gangster film with very little we haven’t seen before.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2016

Based on the hugely successful 2015 book by Paula Hawkins, The Girl on the Train stars Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson who travels to work in New York City by rail each day. While commuting she passes the home of a seemingly happy couple, she wonders who this couple are and imagines the life they lead which may seem strange until we realise that Rachael is a broken woman and these fantasies are the main drive keeping her going each day as her personal life is a shambles since her marriage to her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux) ended in divorce when she found out that he was cheating on her.

As we find out more about Rachael we also realise that the train also passes by her old home where Tom now lives with this same woman Anne (Rebecca Ferguson), who is now his wife, and their baby.  So the voyeuristic nature of her commute is not just random and she is struggling badly to cope and move on with her life.

We are also introduced to Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett) who is unknowingly the feature of Rachaels fascination from her passenger window. She is married to Scott (Luke Evans) and on the outset they do indeed seem like a perfect couple but Megan too has a troubled past and is seeing a councilor to deal with her seeming inability to want to settle and need to keep changing things up in her life to keep her going so she is unhappy in her relationship with Scott who seems to be controlling and aggressive.

When Rachel spots Megan with a different man on the balcony of the house one day she is both shocked and intrigued but when she later learns that Megan has gone missing she realises that she may have a vital clue in the case. Thanks to her instability as a person however she is deemed an unworthy witness. Rachael takes it upon herself to investigate her sighting further which puts her in the direct line of Scott, Tom, Anne and the police but having found purpose in her life she begins to find some clarity in her memories and it soon becomes apparent that all the characters in the tale have more to them than initially shown and with the suspect list growing there are many people who had motive to harm Megan.

Emily Blunt really gave her all in the film and her believable performance as the broken woman was deserving of a better outcome as the movie suffered from trying to hard to be a clever thriller along the lines of David Finchers Gone Girl but the material didn;t seem to have the strength to allow for that stance. Not having read the book I cannot comment on how faithful the movie is but while director Tate Taylor deserves credit for keeping the suspense tight in the second part of the film it may have been better if a female director was at the helm given that the tale is essentially about three women and their bizarrely intertwined relationship, plus with the themes of babies running through the whole story, since each of the main characters seems to have some form of past or present link with pregnancy or parenthood, it may have been more suited to have somebody who had gone through the act of childbirth behind the camera. However, in saying that, in terms of the story, it was a good way of giving the character relationships some meaning and purpose rather than just being a set of random circumstances.

It’s difficult to be spoiler free and yet give some insight into this movie as it’s best watched with no knowledge of the character since the layering of each is one of the movies biggest strengths therefore if you have read the book you may not be as intrigued as I was by the set up. Yet, even without that knowledge, while it is a decent thriller with many twists and turns that unravel as snippets of information are revealed, characters traits are peeled back and the reality within the story becomes clearer as Rachaels consciousness itself becomes unclouded, the slow burning tension is not given the finale it deserves as the crescendo of drama ends with the climax of a faulty firework.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2016

Taken from the Arthur Ransome novel of the same name Swallows And Amazons is set in England in 1935 and follows the story of the Walker children John (Dane Hughes), Susan (Orla Hill), Tatty (Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen) & Roger (Bobby McCulloch) who head on a holiday to the Lake District with their mother (Kelly MacDonald) while their father is away at sea serving in the army. As they are exploring on the lake in their boat The Swallow they land on a supposedly uninhabited island and come across a house boat owned by Jim Turner (Rafe Spall) who Tatty initially believes is a pirate. After following Jim the children realise something bigger is happening when the find out that a man named Lazlow (Andrew Scott) is trailing Jim.

When another boat called The Amazon appears on the island claiming that they are trespassing, the Walkers are introduced to Nancy (Seren Hawkes) and Peggy Blackett (Hannah Jayne Thorp), Jim’s nieces. After initially declaring ‘war’ on each other over ownership of the island they are forced to put their differences aside when they find out that Jim has been kidnapped and they need to work together to rescue him from the clutches of Lazlo.

In a throw back to the innocent adventures of tales like The Railway Children mixed with a bit of The Famous Five, Swallows And Amazon has the feel of a BBC Sunday afternoon drama where most of the suspense is if the children can find a way to cook fish in order to satisfy their growing hunger, but with the opt out that they can always just head back home in time for tea. Even when the adventure takes a turn towards the espionage sub plot of Jim being sought by Lazlo and his associates the danger is never palpable, while guns may be pointed nobody actually wants to use firearms and would rather resolve the situation as gentlemen.

Rafe Spall does a good job as the mysterious Jim who even his nieces think is strange and at times I thought I was looking at a live action doppelganger for Tin Tin. Andrew Scott does what he does best as the antagonist with the cheeky smile and his gentle demeanour which you know is hiding something darker underneath. The children are ever so perfectly British and middle class with not a hint of stepping out of line and when the ‘war’ for the island is taking place you just know its going to end up with a congratulations and a handshake for the victors.

It’s not a bad film in itself it just felt a little like I had travelled back in time once the movie started as it is rare these days to watch any film, even a kids movie, without any hint of modernisation in it. As an faithful adaptation of a book written in 1930 then it is a case of mission accomplished but I’m not sure if there is a modern audience for this tale.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is a risk assessor for a company who fund projects to create intelligent artificial beings so when their latest experiment, a five year old specimen called Morgan (Anya Taylor Joy) badly injures a member of the team Weathers is sent to investigate if the outburst was a one off or whether the project is no longer viable as they are fearful of a re-occurrence of an incident in Helsinki where most of the team were killed by a previous project.

As she carries out her investigation we find out more about Morgan and her situation, we learn that this was the third attempt by the team and, in their opinion, Morgan is a perfect creation. On the outside this would seem to be the case as, in general, Morgan seems to act just like a human but during an intense psychological evaluation by Dr.Shapiro (Paul Giamatti) things take a turn for the worst and Morgans aggression once again manifests itself with dire consequences so Weathers decides that the project is no longer suitable for continuity and demands that Morgan is terminated but this is in conflict with how most of the scientists feel as they have developed a strong, almost parental bond with Morgan. This leaves the only real defender of the termination as Dr.Cheng (Michelle Yeoh) who was involved in the incident in Helsinki which leaves Weathers  at odds with the team and when she pushes ahead with the cessation of the project the team decide to take affairs into their own hands, subdue Weathers and save Morgan but their faith in the experiment is ill placed as, while Morgan may be physically advanced, emotionally it is not and like most basic living things puts self preservation above all else. Once free it decides that it doesn’t ever want to go back into captivity so Weathers must track down the experiment and terminate it once and for all.

If you have seen the trailer then you may find that the film is not quite what you expected. It’s a slow paced thriller interspersed with action sequences but director Luke Scotts (Son of Ridley) attempts to keeps us on the edge of our seals falls a little flat due to the predictability of the movie and the large plot holes which occur. Although you can see that he has picked up on some of his fathers talent as visually the movie is very good, with some clever camera work building tension by showing us things occurring behind the main focus of the scene. Also both the strong female character and the use of an unseen ‘Corporation’ pulling the strings both harked back to the original Alien movie.

Mara does a good job as the cold hearted investigator, more detective that risk assessor who is all about the job at hand. As she declares very early ‘Morgan is not a she, it is an it!’ but it did not come across as the most taxing of roles in terms of diversity which left it hard to like her character, although this was obviously the way the part was written. Some of the science team felt very under used Dr.Grieff (Jennifer Jason Lee) had little screen time and while, part of the most integral scene of the film, the same can be said of the Giamatti role. The big plus for the film is the performance of Taylor Joy as Morgan, after her great showing is last years The Witch, she once again shows her talent as, beyond the make up effect, she gives a real emotionless, almost robotic performance which gives a great feel for how this being was created and is almost alien like despite the best efforts of the science team to humanise it.

It’s a movie of two halves. The first is a slow paced thriller like introduction to the situation, the people involved and the subject in question. The second half is more of an action movie but is the weaker half of the two so despite the moralistic themes of genetics, tampering with nature and playing God plus the potential controversial link to abortion and the rights to terminate life it just failed to get the movie above the level of mediocre. If you like your science fiction then there enough here to make it worth checking out but if not you are likely to find it all a bit far fetched and end up losing interest. Try the excellent Ex-Machina for a much better film along the same lines.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Lights Out begins with Paul (Billy Burke) who is working late in a Warehouse and is on the phone to his son Martin (Gabriel Bateman) who seems to be struggling to deal with the problems his mother Sophie (Maria Bello) is having. When a worker who is closing up sees a strange figure which seems to shift position each time she turns the lights off, she tries to warn Paul but he is dismissive and sends her home however he soon learns that the figure is very real.

A few months later we jump to Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) who is Martins half sister and when she receives a call from his school as they are unable to locate his mother she finds out that Martin has been falling asleep in class as his mothers mental illness and depression seems to have fully kicked back in, she is acting strangely and taking to herself all night. Rebecca takes Martin to stay with her but when she too has an encounter with this strange figure it becomes apparent that she, her mother and her step brother are all in danger and must find a way to work out why it is targeting them and then how they can escape from its clutches.

The premise of the movie is great, having a figure that can only move in the shadows and darkness it does a very great job of playing on our primeval fears of the unseen terrors that lurk in the dark. However the big issue I had was that most of the best parts of the movie were shown in the trailers which defeated the purpose of most of the jump scares and the rest of the movie had a feel of a by the numbers horror film albeit with a new concept as the whole story was quite obvious. The acting was fine even if the casting was a bit one dimensional, a strangely acting mother, a terrified kid, a good hearted but skeptical boyfriend, a strong willed protagonist etc. and both Palmer and Bello were wasted talent as there was no requirement in this film for them to stretch their range so despite the supposed danger I never felt that there was any real tension on the screen and found myself noticing gaps in the plot points which is not a good sign.

Director David Sandberg started this film as a short and there was enough to peak my interest in seeing what he could do with a second movie using this as a learning curve but even with the talents of James Wan on the list of producers this was not the great movie it could have been. So despite having a good idea, some good camera work by switching from third person to point of view to build moments well and some very good trailers it ends up being a run of the mill horror movie with none of the originality it promised. It’s a decent watch and if you like the genre you will most likely enjoy it but it didn’t fulfill my high expectations and the fact that they have already started working on a sequel is a disappointment as it doesn’t warrant it and while I was sold on this movie, it will take a lot more effort to get me interested next time.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Miracles From Heaven is based on a real event and is the tale of the Beams, a religious Texan family whose ten year old daughter Anna (Kylie Rogers) develops pseudo obstruction motility disorder, an incurable condition which eliminates her ability to use her digestive system correctly, thus she cannot process food for nutritional purposes and is faced with a very short future given the nature of the affliction.

But Christy Beam (Jennifer Garner), is a tenacious woman and is not going to watch her daughter die without a fight so she decides to stop putting her faith in God and heads to Boston Children’s hospital to engage the services of Dr.Nurko (Eugenio Derbez) a world renowned paediatric gastroenterologist who confirms her worst fears. Even then Christy must battle set back after set back along the way in order to try and find a way to not simply give up on her daughter, all the while struggling against the judgement of the rest of her family and friends all of whom believe that God is responsible for the situation and it is a test of Christy’s faith which will be resolved if she stays strong and believes that it is all part of His plan.

So while she initially struggles alone as husband Kevin (Martin Henderson) is also trying to keep his veterinary practice running in order to fund the mounting medical bills while their other daughters Abbie (Brighton Sharbino) and Adelynn (Courtney Fansler) are struggling with the lack of parental attention and supervision they are receiving, they all begin to realise that without their support Anna is struggling and they will need to pull together as a family unit in order to get through regardless of the outcome.

There is nothing wrong with the movie it just felt like a big budget made for TV film and aside from the excellent performances by Garner, Rogers and the Patch Adams like support from Derbez it was nothing worth shouting about. I’m sure there are many out there who will enjoy watching a mother fight for her daughter every step along the way and I’ve no doubt that tears will be shed by some. There are some scenes during Anna’s treatment which will hit hard and even the young girl has her moments of self-doubt all of which are excellently handled by Rogers and the scene where she is speaking about death with a girl battling cancer in the bed next to her is handled with a maturity beyond her years. But despite this the movie done nothing for me to elevate it into something above the Hallmark genre.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10