Best Films of 2012: Part 1

In 2012 blockbusters ruled the box office and flopped spectacularly and youth orientated films dominated. What’s new I hear you say? This year other genres also flourished; films featuring the over 60’s, feel good films and amazing true stories. And like most years there were some revelatory performances. Here are my picks of the best of what 2012 had to offer starting with the big guns.

It was another big year for this category with no end of contenders with money spinning franchises ending (Twilight, Batman), beginning (The Hunger Games, The Avengers) returning (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Bourne Legacy, Skyfall, Prometheus) and rebooting (The Amazing Spiderman).

Twilight seemed to have outstayed its welcome as had Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy with the final chapter The Dark Knight Rises a bloated, overly earnest and all too melancholic end.

The Hunger Games was impressive with challenging themes for a teen film and The Avengers proved a cracking superhero mash-up and a global box office behemoth, instantly guaranteeing a sequel.

The Bourne Legacy and Prometheus ended up more as side-quels than a Bourne sequel and Alien prequel and while they both adroitly expanded their respective universe they didn’t completely satisfy.

And the reboot they said was way too premature turned out to be a welcome, fresh take in The Amazing Spiderman.

Most recently, event movies The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Les Miserables were two of the healthiest contenders in this category. Both were impressively spectacular, sweeping and sumptuous but were also let down by some distracting elements in execution.

Peter Jackson’s return to middle earth in his The Lord of the Rings prequel was also flabby (this is the first in a trilogy based on only one book) and his pioneering use of high frame rate technology to produce a more realistic, clear image proved divisive, frustrating and awe-inspiring all at once. Action scenes were jerky, jagged and dizzying while more static sequences - especially those featuring the welcome return of Andy Serkis as Gollum and majestic giant eagles soaring through the sky with key characters clasped in their talons - enthralled.

Rather than faltering under the weight of the towering barricade of expectation that awaited him in bringing the musical titan Les Miserables to the big screen, Tom Hooper, who directed the crowd pleasing The King’s Speech tried to impress relying too heavily on look-at-me camera angles and flourishes to constantly remind us that we’re watching a film adaption of a musical.

The final product was also hindered by some uneven singing efforts from cast members Russell Crowe as Javert and Sacha Baron Cohen as Thénardier. It highlighted the challenges of singing the vocals live over pre-recording and casting musicals with big names - what you gain in star wattage you can end up sacrificing in vocal dexterity. (Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia anyone?). Highlighting the point, beautiful performances from lesser and least known performers like Eddie Redmayne (My Week with Marilyn) as Marius and Samantha Barks as Éponine threatened to steal the spotlight. That said Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway as Fantine didn’t disappoint.

So, finally to this year’s winner. For me, the only blockbuster/event movie that truly lived up to its promise was 007’s 23rd outing in Skyfall. At the risk of invoking heresy in the Bond-osphere it’s the best Bond yet and the film that Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s first tilt as the suave British spy should have been.

Skyfall had everything you could want in a Bond film (except for a dearth of gadgets) - a cracking opening sequence, a classy theme song by Adele, stunning action and locales, a cracking pace, lush visuals, lush Bond girls who also had brains, the return of the Aston Martin, a brilliant villain in Javier Bardem’s Silva, a brilliant M in Judy Dench who was finally at center stage and a 007 that was brooding but also finally able to see the lighter side to his life of espionage.

Skyfall also survived MGM’s near demise to go on to rake in over $US 1 billion worldwide, the most successful Bond film to date. It’s also one of the most, if not the most, universally well received Bond film critically. American Beauty director Sam Mendes handled it all with panache notching up several nods to Bonds past in what was the 50^th Anniversary year of
the Bond films. The revenge-by-terrorism plot added some much needed realism to a franchise that too often dwells in the ridiculous. But, let’s be honest - there’s always room for the ridiculous in a Bond movie as 007 demonstrated in Skyfall’s opening moments mangling a train carriage with a bulldozer! All in all, a spine tingling Bond outing that left you wanting more. Craig will be back for at least two more outings.

Stay tuned for Part 2, a look at the best Youth and Senior centric films of 2012.