There’s more than one action spy film out in cinemas this week.
This weekend in cinemas, patrons have the opportunity to see two action spy movies that couldn’t be more different from each other.
Those looking for the more straightforward, ‘does what it says on the tin’ option will likely seek out Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth instalment in the long-running Tom Cruise-led franchise.
But those with more artsy, quirky taste will probably be rushing out to see The Phoenician Scheme. The latter sees the legendarily idiosyncratic auteur writer-director Wes Anderson put his own spin on the sub-genre to great effect.
Set in the ’50s, the movie stars Benicio Del Toro (a deadpan delight) as Zsa-zsa Korda, a shady international businessman skilled at manipulating countries and markets to benefit himself.
One of the richest men in Europe, his work has earned him the nickname ‘Mr 5%’, but has also made him many enemies.
The Phoenician Scheme begins with him surviving a plane crash, which is only the latest in a series of attempted assassinations he has experienced.
His latest brush with death leads to him seeking out his estranged daughter, Liesl (rising star Mia Threapleton, daughter of Kate Winslet), with the goal of training her to be his successor.
Liesl, however, is a nun who lives a sheltered, simple existence and has no interest in Zsa-zsa’s wealth – at least, until she realises all the good she could do with his money.
Spurred on by this – as well as the hopes of finding out who was responsible for her mother and Zsa-zsa’s ex-wife’s untimely death – Liesl agrees to accompany her scoundrel father.
This is as Zsa-zsa travels to the region of Phoenicia to meet with various investors in a new, ambitious enterprise of his.
Joined by Liesl’s tutor, Bjorn, (Michael Cera, having lots of fun with a Norwegian accent), the three get swept up in an adventure involving determined assassins, guerrillas, meddling Americans and scheming tycoons.
Following his 2014 masterpiece The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson doubled down on his always technically impressive trademark flourishes, e.g. complicated nested narratives; elaborately precise framing, shots and camera zoom-ins; an emphasis on ornate bureaucracy and process; a cast filled to the brim with stars.
If you ever felt, though, that sometimes these qualities wound up detracting from the heart and emotion of his characters and stories, The Phoenician Scheme is a step in the right direction for the filmmaker.
That’s not to say that Phoenician Scheme doesn’t have all the hallmarks an Anderson fan would want from one of his movies. In fact, sometimes, you can feel the director almost pushing his trademark style to new dizzying heights just to see if he can (the camerawork during a climactic fight between Zsa-zsa and his villainous brother, played by a grizzled, bearded Benedict Cumberbatch, is absolutely bonkers).
It’s just that The Phoenician Scheme shows that Anderson’s trademark style is a surprisingly good fit for a spy caper. His direction adds a breathless pace and a winking humour to his already pleasingly propulsive and tight narrative.
There’s also a lovely clarity to the emotional story at the core of The Phoenician Scheme. This is a father and daughter, both living lives diametrically opposed to each other, finding common ground.
Although, to be fair, it’s Zsa-zsa whose worldview needs the most changing. A ranging capitalist – at one point, he brags about how he forewent his own human right to a passport to avoid being taxed – he learns over the course of the movie that there are some things more important than the never-ending quest to acquire more wealth.
Ultimately, it’s greater fun to watch Zsa-zsa be a charming rogue than to see him learn his lesson. As the film progresses into the latter part of the narrative, it loses some stream.
Yet, it’s often charming, funny and oddly sweet, as well as obviously being gorgeous to behold.
For our money, it’s Anderson’s best since Grand Budapest.
The Phoenician Scheme is in cinemas now.
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