The Water Diviner (12A.)
Directed by Russell Crowe.
Starring Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Yilmaz Erdogan, Jai Courtney, and Cem Yilmaz. 111 mins
Russell Crowe is a talented screen actor. Through a mixture of skill and luck the camera is invariably compelled by him and he has a way of giving a line or a look some kind of a twist or nuance that makes it special. After a quarter of a century in front of the camera now he's stepped behind it but the talent has declined to follow. It's not that his début is inept or disastrous, but it is functional and rudimentary. The camera points at the things that need to be shown but there is no élan, no style, no spark.
And the Water Diviner has a story that could do with a bit of a boost. Crowe is an outbacker in 1919 who feels the need to go to Turkey, to try and find the bodies of the three sons he sent off to war to be killed on the first day of Gallipoli. The Australian and British forces aren’t helpful but he does have some more success with, and assistance from, the Turkish population. Most notably the widow running the hotel he is staying at (Kurylenko) who is initially hostile but finds herself warming to his charms.
Although this was never likely to be a good film, somewhere approaching the midpoint it does hint at being an honourable one. In the midpoint it offers a quiet, contemplative study of the effects and consequences of war, and the need for reconciliation, as fierce enemies the Turks and Australians find a way to come together. Apart from the British of course who are all arseholes. Crowe does draw some fine performance from his cast especially Jai Courtney who was so rubbish in Die Hard 5 but is almost unrecognisable here playing the Australian officer. Crowe though allows himself to amble amiably through the film.
This though isn't enough and soon the film is riding away to give Crowe a love story and have him join the battle between the Turks and the Greek invaders. His water divining skill are written as a mythically, almost superhuman skill which make for a convenient plot point. At which point you may just wave him on and wish him well as you tune out of the film.
I don't think Crowe attempting to charm the pants off of Kurylenko is an adequate metaphor for a rapprochement between the western and Islamic world.
The Water Diviner (12A.)
Directed by Russell Crowe.
Starring Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Yilmaz Erdogan, Jai Courtney, and Cem Yilmaz. 111 mins
Russell Crowe is a talented screen actor. Through a mixture of skill and luck the camera is invariably compelled by him and he has a way of giving a line or a look some kind of a twist or nuance that makes it special. After a quarter of a century in front of the camera now he's stepped behind it but the talent has declined to follow. It's not that his début is inept or disastrous, but it is functional and rudimentary. The camera points at the things that need to be shown but there is no élan, no style, no spark.
And the Water Diviner has a story that could do with a bit of a boost. Crowe is an outbacker in 1919 who feels the need to go to Turkey, to try and find the bodies of the three sons he sent off to war to be killed on the first day of Gallipoli. The Australian and British forces aren’t helpful but he does have some more success with, and assistance from, the Turkish population. Most notably the widow running the hotel he is staying at (Kurylenko) who is initially hostile but finds herself warming to his charms.
Although this was never likely to be a good film, somewhere approaching the midpoint it does hint at being an honourable one. In the midpoint it offers a quiet, contemplative study of the effects and consequences of war, and the need for reconciliation, as fierce enemies the Turks and Australians find a way to come together. Apart from the British of course who are all arseholes. Crowe does draw some fine performance from his cast especially Jai Courtney who was so rubbish in Die Hard 5 but is almost unrecognisable here playing the Australian officer. Crowe though allows himself to amble amiably through the film.
This though isn't enough and soon the film is riding away to give Crowe a love story and have him join the battle between the Turks and the Greek invaders. His water divining skill are written as a mythically, almost superhuman skill which make for a convenient plot point. At which point you may just wave him on and wish him well as you tune out of the film.
I don't think Crowe attempting to charm the pants off of Kurylenko is an adequate metaphor for a rapprochement between the western and Islamic world.
