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If there's one thing I've never enjoyed in my life is reading film-celebrity-music-game-gossip magazines. Not only I detest them but see them as a huge waste of paper and time. Go on, read a novel, an autobiography or Reader's Digest but don't read these. How I wish someone had stopped me while I was buying Total Film magazines. I couldn't help it, the old lady was giving them for 100 Bz, or in other words, for free; I bought 5 of them. I got familiar with their pattern after just 2 magazines and got wised to their sense of humour and style of writing. After noticing this particular film in one of the magazines, the very next day I downloaded the film, very enthusiastically, but I must say, I was left a teensy-weensy disappointed by the end result.
Cronenberg has over the years evolved like Charmander; He started out with small, but powerful, B-movies that polarized everyone but remained anonymous to a vast majority, namely his non-fans. From mid 2000's onwards, not only he created one of the best pairings with Viggo but became an everyday household name and now has fans, non-fans and curious pedestrians running back to his old films while catching up with his new ones. A History of Violence and Eastern Promises showed Cronenberg's quite unmatched skills of directing and bought Viggo Mortensen to higher heights. But third times a charm doesn't always work, as Sam Raimi has proven with his 2 franchises. Unfortunately, Cronenberg has too fallen in that hole of disappointing thirds.
His first two outings with Viggo were awesome. The third outing, however, was lead by a comfortable-in-the-fame-game Viggo and a tired, droopy Cronenberg. Well below my expectations I must say. I hope their 4th outing, if there's to be one, turns out better. Anyway, that aside, we also get Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley in pivotal roles. The former is someone who I've heard of a million times but have actually never seen him in a film. There exists a rule of thumb that anyone, or anything, that is getting extensive media coverage, or is the latest word around town, never lives up to your expectations, not even close, and this is why I've avoided checking something out out of curiosity. But this was a good surprise. Michael Fassbender - who was featured in every magazine - can be said an exception. Not only was he stoic and convincing in his role but it was a performance that can be said as name-strengthening. Not actor bullshits in any of Cronenberg's films and Fassbender made sure he wasn't the first guy to do so. Keira Knightley is one of those actresses who never really cut the mustard with me by her precious performances and starring in films I wouldn't normally care about. But over here, however, she was so different, so un-Keira that you could swore it was someone else. 20 seconds into her introduction and you know you're in for a real, and rare, treat. Boy, she owned the first 20-25 minutes. Vincent Cassel was almost equally as great as the others and was totally top-notch in his scenes with Fassbender.
In all, this is a great, but if compared to Cronenberg's other films, hollow, film that really puts us in the life and mind of two of the greatest brains of the 20th Century. And one more thing, beard-stroking and gentlemen suits have never looked this awesome! They should now pit Fassbender and Mortensen in a steampunk film because they really have all the qualities of a steampunk-hero!
7.5/10
