Speak No Evil review: More sophisticated than most psychological thrillers you’ll see this year

SPEAK NO EVIL

(15) 110mins

IN this horror movie remake, American couple Ben and Louise Dalton commit several cardinal sins.

They go to a remote cottage that doesn’t have a phone signal and pay little heed to things being “off.”

Their biggest error, though, is to visit people they met on holiday.

For any of you who are considering getting in touch with that couple you shared a sangria with this summer, Speak No Evil should serve as a cautionary tale.

The first impression of James McAvoy’s Paddy is that he’s the life and soul of the party, but should you really trust a man who passively aggressively says “mate”, while trying to persuade you to do something you don’t really want to do?

It is also clear that Paddy and his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) are not a good match for the anxiety-ridden, politically correct, Tesla-driving Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis).

This is emphasised over a number of increasingly unsettling and darkly comic scenes.

In a memorable one during a meal, the conversation turns to their sex lives and Ciara disappears beneath the table while Paddy expresses delight.

Their announcement to their shocked guests that they like to “dine out sometimes” carries an obvious double meaning.

I’m not going to give the plot away, but the fact that the film is called Speak No Evil and Paddy’s son Ant has a rare condition where his tongue is so short he can’t speak should give you a clue to the possibilities.

Director James Watkins, whose CV includes The Woman In Black and the similar Eden Lake, prefers drawing out the tension over delivering blood and guts.

For fans of the Danish original, the muted action and gore in this movie is likely to be a letdown.

Unlike others in this genre, such as Get Out or Midsommar, this one doesn’t push the audience far out of their comfort zone.

Nevertheless, Speak No Evil is more sophisticated than most psychological thrillers you’ll see this year, mainly as McAvoy masters the charismatic psycho role.

He’s perfected the art of never letting the audience know which direction his unhinged characters will swing next.

Whether you speak ill of this film or not will depend on how evil you like your horror movies to be.

Grant Rollings

THE CRITIC

(15) 101mins

★★★☆☆

ON the face of it, this comic drama is pure wish fulfilment for film reviewers.

The protagonist is 1930s theatre critic Jimmy Erskine, who everyone on London’s stage bows in fear to.

Played brilliantly by Sir Ian McKellen, he has an acerbic wit and is unafraid of upsetting the rich or dangerous.

When his newspaper’s new owner tries to sack him, Jimmy doesn’t simply roll over and accept his redundancy cheque.

In reality, Jimmy cares little about who he hurts in his bid to retain his lofty position at the paper.

Gemma Arterton’s femme fatale-style actress Nina Land, perhaps understandably, doesn’t appreciate her play being compared to sewage.

While a flawed genius is great in a movie, a flawed plot is not.

Director Anand Tucker races through the limited twists and turns, wasting the acting talents of a strong cast that includes Lesley Manville and Mark Strong.

No sooner has someone’s fate been signposted than it has been hastily concluded.

While subplots involving fascism and the terrible treatment of gay men like Jimmy are forgotten as soon as they are expressed.

The Critic is amusing, but it is destined to be as important as tomorrow’s fish and chip paper.

Grant Rollings

LEE

(15) 117mins

★★★☆☆

PASSION projects can be dangerous when it comes to films.

They’re like a romance that turns into a polygamous relationship – suddenly lots of people are involved.

It feels as though this happened to Kate Winslet, who spent the last nine years working on the remarkable story of war photographer Lee Miller.

At first it was a solo project and then Hollywood got involved.

Lee was a formidable character who was sexually liberated, travelled the world and ate dinners naked with her bohemian friends. A woman far ahead of her time.

She meets Roland (a seriously miscast Alexander Skarsgard with a dodgy English accent) and the pair fall in love.

Soon WW2 starts and Lee has an insatiable appetite to photograph the atrocities, risking her life on the front line to do so for Vogue magazine.

Winslet puts in a very solid performance as the remarkable character, but the rest of the cast seem to just tread water.

And the character of Lee Miller – who was tricky and ferocious – is given a Hollywood tint, making her monogamous and empathetic.

There’s some lovely cinematography on the war scenes, but sadly this incredible story never quite gets under the skin.