Rebecca Ferguson

  • Reminiscence (2021)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2022) Perhaps the most entertaining element of Reminiscence is how hard it works at re-creating a futuristic setting fit for a noir thriller. It frequently looks great, occasionally feels different but never feels convincing. In the admirable Science Fiction tradition of smashing together two separate elements, it takes for granted both a technology to explore memories and climate change bad enough to submerge the land around Miami. Splashing in this backdrop is a memory retrieval expert (Hugh Jackman, appropriately grizzled) who gets embroiled in a sombre story the moment an alluring client (Rebecca Ferguson) walks into his office. The noir DNA in this film is omnipresent—and it doesn’t take much to start seeing how much it seems to be inspired by Chinatown, with its private investigator, water motif and reproductive misconduct by a land tycoon. Even the post-WW2 feeling of classic noir, where nearly everyone was a traumatized veteran, is duplicated thanks to references to climate-change wars. Not much of it makes a lot of sense—a submerged Miami would lose buildings on a weekly basis (let alone keep its electrical power), the memory-retrieval tech somehow isn’t limited to first-person perspective; and someone’s got a plan so convoluted that it only makes sense in movies. But if you’re going to even start to enjoy Reminiscence, you better come with a large bag of indulgence, because writer-director Lisa Joy (of Westworld fame—you’ll recognize several common names between the two) is more about atmosphere than logic. That doesn’t absolve the film of its flaws, though: shaky world-building and rough plotting are accompanied with some tonal inconsistency (such as an out-of-nowhere action sequence dropped in the film at the midway point just to wake people up) and some major shortcuts taken. I did like the film’s attempts to ape noir style, can’t fault Jackman, will always enjoy watching Thandi (w)e Newton, but Reminiscence itself curdled the more I thought about it and started poking at the root of my lack of satisfaction with it. Science Fiction is not an excuse to throw up anything on screen—in fact, SF fans will tell you that it’s a genre that’s even less forgiving of logical holes than other genres: by building another reality, SF movies invite scrutiny they must sustain.

  • Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

    Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, March 2016) It’s a minor miracle that the Mission: Impossible series is still going strong after five instalments, but after the near-death-by-ridiculousness of the second movie, the series has managed to hit upon a winning formula that still keeps it going nearly twenty years later. The formula is getting a bit repetitive (can we stand another of those “Ethan Hunt must operate without official support!” plot point?) but nearly everyone understands that plotting in this series is really about getting from one action set-piece to the next, and in this regard Rogue Nation is as good as any other instalment in the series. Tom Cruise’s ridiculously effective charisma helps, and so does the work of the series’ usual supporting players, but this time around the film can count upon a fully fleshed action heroine played by Rebecca Ferguson (too bad she won’t show up for the next instalment, as is custom), straightforward action direction by Christopher McQuarrie, and a pretty enjoyable supporting performance by Alec Baldwin, making the most out of a villainous persona. Good action set pieces include a complex opera house sequence and a frantic car chase in which the pursuer isn’t completely back from the dead. On the flip side, the computer break-in sequence is piled-up nonsense that borrows a bit too much from the first movie, and the final act of the film doesn’t have a strong action sequence as a send-off. The fantasy version of the espionage craft displayed by the series also cuts both ways, either as an escapist bonus, or as a regrettable absurdity when a bit more plotting realism would help anchor the delirious action sequences. This being said, Rogue Nation has the benefit of meticulously planned sequences and a controlled tone throughout—making it stand a bit above most of the other spy movies of 2015’s anno furtivus—yes, even better than Spectre, with which it shared a striking number of plot points. What’s left to do but anticipate the next instalment?