145. The Vanishing; movie review

THE VANISHING
Cert 15
105 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very strong language, strong bloody violence

The most shocking cinema-related news of 2019? It appears, ladies and gentlemen, that Gerard Butler can act.
I know, it was as much of a surprise to me as it would be to you if you watched Geostorm, London Has Fallen and Gods Of Egypt among many others.
It is a long-standing joke with a Facebook friend who goes ga-ga over the Scotsman that I write pithy condemnation of whatever his latest film happens to be and she defends it.
Before watching The Vanishing, I have thought that she must be as shallow as a puddle to see anything in him at all.
But I am happy to be proven wrong and I can report that, along with the ever reliable Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells, he recreates one of Scotland's longstanding mysteries to great effect.
Kristoffer Nyholm's film is based on the disappearance of three lighthousemen on the Flannen Isles in 1900.
Nobody knows what happened to the trio so Nyholm uses his vivid imagination to fill in the gaps.
Butler plays a strong-as-an-ox family man who is on a six-week rota on a tiny island with a crusty widower (Mullan) and fesity greenhorn (Swindells).
Their stint on the rock is tough, their accommodation is austere and there is little to do outside of their daily chores.
But their routine is shattered with the unexpected arrival of man with precious cargo on a rowing boat.
Nyholm's captures the bleakness of the lighthousemen's lot with clever direction and an eye for detail.
He is helped by a cast who ably reflect the progressive mental torture of their predicament in lonely surroundings.
In addition, there a bag of moral dilemmas which keep the audience thinking throughout.
The result was a film which far outdid expectation and left me baffled as to why so few cinemas have screened it. On the plus side, it is already available on demand for those desperate to see a whole new Gerard Butler.

Reasons to watch: Gerard Butler in a movie which requires acting
Reasons to avoid: Very violent

Laughs: None
Jumps: Two
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? The last manned lighthouse in England, and the United Kingdom, was the North Foreland Lighthouse in Kent. At a public ceremony on November 26, 1998, presided over by the Duke of Edinburgh, the lighthouse was automated and its keeper for the last 33 years, Dermot Cronn, officially retired.

The final word. Gerard Butler: "Loved being back in my homeland Scotland to shoot this beautiful, haunting atmospheric thriller. "

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