THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE
Dir: Lee Tamahori - Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Philip Quast

Uday Hussein, son of the late Iraqi leader, wasn't a very nice chap at all. So a job as his body double, the position ordinary army lieutenant Latif Yahia was forced into, was a dangerous and unpleasant undertaking.
The Devil's Double is a tense and fascinating glimpse into the world of a monstrous psychotic sadist. And, assuming this is as true as it is held up to be - and I have no reason to doubt it - it is a scary place to be, as the spoiled megalomaniac lurches from one horrendous outrage to another, whether it be shooting irritating party guests or kidnapping and killing schoolgirls. Astonishingly, a number of true incidents here are told as jokes in Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator without even needing embellishment.
Dominic Cooper is superb in the twin lead roles – there is never any doubt for the audience which of the two he is - and director Lee Tamahori revels in the gaudily opulent decadence as well as casting an eye on the increasing moral complexities. A little more attention to that latter facet and this would rate a solid five stars.

Joining the ranks of unlikely action heroes (c.f. Matt Damon, Liam Neeson) is Guy Pearce in Lockout. The story is not entirely dissimilar to Escape From New York: he's Snake Plissken, but more in wise-cracking Bruce Willis mode, forced to go into a maximum security prison where the crims have taken over and are holding the president's daughter hostage. And the twist? The prison is in space! This, unsurprisingly, presents certain problems for our intrepid hero and – implausible though it is – makes for a cracking hi-tech action romp, aided immeasurably by Pearce's winningly witty turn which brings a real sense of fun to proceedings.

Ben Stiller's put-upon average Joe character has worked in a range of comedies over at least a couple of decades and is just as entertaining in The Watch. His nerdy everyman manages the local Costco warehouse in Greenview, Ohio, and sets up a neighbourhood watch group after one of his employers is murdered. By, although Ben is unaware of it, an alien. His fellow watchers are Vince Vaughan, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade, enthusiastic party animal, vigilante nut and English weirdo respectively. Not yer obvious defenders of the earth. It's pretty good stuff. Should have been funnier but there're many laughs on offer and some entertainingly eccentric cameos supporting the terrific central quartet.

With the world yet again looking like a post-apocalyptic shambles, The Day follows a small group of survivors as they hole up in an abandoned farmhouse seeking to avoid the possible contagious plague and start all over again. Despite the absence of zombies and other horror tropes there is a distinct feeling of deja vu at work here as the cast hunker down and tension – albeit of a low-budget variety – ramps up. It's efficient enough if somewhat one-dimensional.

In Target Practice five guys head off to the woods for a fishing trip. They find an abandoned jeep and are attacked by unseen gunmen. Running and chasing ensues: there's a secret terrorist training camp and a possible CIA agent kicking around. However, the acting is pretty low-rent and the camera work is of the cheaply uninspired hand-held variety. There are also some clangers in the dialogue. Half an hour in I was sure I had better things to do – I wish I'd done them instead of ploughing through to the (predictably anticlimactic) ending.