309. Terminal; movie review

TERMINAL
Cert 15
93 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, violence, suicide references, threat

I was left wondering what Vaughn Stein was trying to achieve for much of Terminal because it seemed to me to be clever to the point of smugness.
This manifests itself in theatre-style quickfire dialogue which is stark contrast to its sex and violence.
It also feels overly stylised with its neon lights, dingy dives and Margot Robbie's vivid make-up and it was so staccato that I was tempted not to persevere for its 90 minutes' duration.
However, it leapt from a 4/10 movie to a 6.5/10 with a finale which pulled its very loose strings more tautly than I believed they could be.
Robbie has become one of the most popular faces of cinema but is in danger of being stereotyped as unhinged - Terminal's Annie has much in common with her Harley Quinn and even Tonya Harding.
Annie is a confident server in a railway station cafe, a sexy podium dancer and a ruthless killer who wants the commission from a mystery confessor.
She encounters Bill (Simon Pegg) a terminally ill English teacher who has sought late-in-life solace at the deserted station.
Meanwhile, she also throws herself at a young hitman (Max Irons), the apprentice of a wizened and foul-mouthed assassin (Dexter Fletcher).
And a promising cast is complemented by Mike Myers!
Yes, Austin Powers is back and scarcely recognisable as a disabled and eloquent cleaner/night supervisor at the aforementioned station.
Much of Terminal is dominated by Stein's obsession with style and misfiring attempts to be funny.
It is a film which demands that its cast push their boundaries but this too often looks like over-acting, particularly in the case of Fletcher and Robbie.
I found it difficult to understand at whom Stein has aimed his film. Is it the fans of movies such as Sin City, Blade Runner or Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels?
There are nods in the direction of all three while he is trying to carve his own niche.
Sadly, I reckon he falls a tad short.

Reasons to watch: Very different from any other film this year
Reasons to avoid: Too clever for its own good

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Director quote - Vaughn Stein: "I've always had something of a fascination with the aesthetics of graphic novels and fairy tales, and I distilled all those things together into kind of a dark, anonymous city within which we could tell some of these twisted, noir-ish tales."

The big question - Will we being seeing more of Mike Myers on the big screen?

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