DVD OF THE WEEK

THE DEAL ****
Dir: Stephen Frears. Starring: Michael Sheen, David Morrissey

It touts itself as a sequel to The Queen, but it isn't really. It is actually a prequel, but it's not really that either.
In fact this is a BBC TV production from 2003, directed by Frears, who later directed The Queen, and written by the same writer, Peter Morgan. It also stars Michael Sheen playing, as he did in The Queen, Tony Blair. And it's probably not a film with the general appeal of The Queen, centring as it does on the minutia of English politics. But it is really really well done.
The deal in question is the one allegedly struck by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, when Labour were trying to win office some fourteen years ago, that Blair would stand as prime minister and eventually turn the office over to Brown. What is forgotten now is that Brown was the real star of the Labour party while Blair was largely considered a dilettante. This follows them from their first entry into parliament up to the moment of the deal.
And it is fascinating stuff. Much in the way that The Queen focused on small details and allowed them to illuminate a larger context so this doesn't shy away from burying itself in the machinations of party politics and subtle power plays. Most important, however, are the two central turns, with Sheen again uncanny as Blair. Morrissey is the real surprise, however, and his Gordon Brown is totally convincing. Though real-life events have moved on it is captivating to see where it all started for
'New” Labour.

After Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, the Greek gods get the year's second DVD outing in Clash of the Titans (***). Unlike the previous film, where young Perseus was the son of Poseidon, here he is the son of Zeus, embodied in the form of Sam Worthington who is as butch, bland and vacant as he was in Avatar. All the action bits are present and correct, building to the fearsome Kraken, as Perseus battles to kill the Medusa and save the city of Argos. Sadly, character development is non-existent and you long for the smart well-written touch of Peter Jackson. The gods themselves – despite being parlayed by the likes of Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes – are waste of space and, peculiarly given the title, the Titans don't feature at all.

Cop Out (***) is the first film lead for Tracy Morgan (30 Rock's Tracy Jordan), paired with Bruce Willis as a pair of cops in Kevin Smith's first foray into this kind of film. And he and Bruce – deadpan and seemingly amused by everything going on – make a good combination. The functional plot revolves round a rare baseball card belonging to Willis which is stolen but this is very much about the buddy comedy vibe, with good support from Sean William Scott and surprisingly conventional but solid direction from Kevin Smith.

The feature length version of a six hour BBC series was always going to be tough but for the first two-thirds Edge of Darkness (***) works admirably. Mel Gibson makes his return to the big screen after six years as Inspector Tommy Craven whose daughter is murdered in a hit supposedly intended for him. But was it? As he digs deeper a conspiracy involving sinister nuclear weapons development emerges. For all his off-screen embarrassments it must be said that Gibson gives a strong performance, and a brave one, not afraid to show his real age. But the script falls apart in the final stretch, bungling both the mystery and revenge aspects of the thriller and wasting Ray Winstone's interestingly ambiguous 'cleaner”.

The Crazies (***) is the week's third remake, this time of an old George (Night of the Living Dead) Romero film. As in the original a small town is infected with 'something” that turns the townsfolk into the bloodthirsty titular 'crazies”. So basically it's a zombie variant and a pretty well done one. Timothy Oliphant is good in the lead and the suspense and action are well-handled. The original was fairly unambitious and so is this but it is certainly satisfying for what it is.