Creation (2009)

An engaging biopic of Charles Darwin, directed by Jon Amiel. 

Darwin (Paul Bettany) attempts to complete On the Origin of Species while dealing with the grief of his daughter Annie’s death. He’s also semi-estranged from his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly), and his theories about the beginnings of life on Earth are inflaming tensions in the God-fearing community. 

There are impressive scenes of nature, illustrating the idea of evolution as Darwin perceives it. 

Bettany’s compelling performance lifts the film and makes it highly watchable. Connelly brings a welcome complexity to her part as she tries to reconcile her love for her husband with her love of the God his life’s work debunks.

Margin Call (2012)

Finance thriller set at the beginning of the 2008 monetary crisis. 

When a management division head (Stanley Tucci) is fired from a Wall Street investment bank, he passes a memory stick to a junior banker (Zachary Quinto). It turns out that he has uncovered the perilous state of the company. The matter is escalated up through the ranks of bosses played by Paul Bettany, Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons. 

Set in a 24-hour period, the film builds its drama from the human situation alone. There are no car chases or guns, no explosions or fights. It examines the ethical issues of the company selling off worthless packages in order to save its own privileged few. 

Spacey is brilliant as seemingly the only employee with a conscience, not coincidentally making him the one character you can emphasise with. Bettany is highly watchable as the (possibly suicidal) head of credit trading.

It’s very nicely shot, too: lush and stylish in a way that really understands the faceless aesthetics of the corporate world.

Wimbledon (2004)

Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) is a British tennis player on the way down. Then he meets and falls for up-and-coming American Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst) and suddenly his game improves. But Lizzie’s father (Sam Neill) doesn’t want her focus changed, so tries to put a stop to the affair. 

This is a surprisingly entertaining film, with some funny lines. Bettany and Dunst have real chemistry. It’s also quite exciting and dramatic in terms of the tennis itself – even though I don’t much care for the sport. As Colt moves up through the tournament it actually gets quite exciting. I like the way we “hear” his thoughts – all his self-doubts and hopes mixed up in a chaotic interior monologue. It’s also nice to see former champions John McEnroe and Chris Evert playing themselves as commentators, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is likeable as Colt’s friend Dieter. 

On the downside, the thread regarding Colt’s parents (whose failing marriage is rekindled by their son’s changing fortunes) isn’t really necessary and his mum and dad (Eleanor Bron and Bernard Hill) seem silly and oddly unconvincing. 

But overall it’s a charming story, excellently told.

Firewall (2006)

Reasonably entertaining but unexceptional thriller starring Harrison Ford as bank IT security expert Jack Stanfield, who is kidnapped by a criminal gang led by Paul Bettany. The family are taken hostage and Stanfield is asked to hack into his own IT system to transfer $100 million.

The two leads are fairly strong and clichés are mostly avoided, but the film doesn’t quite come alive until the action finally kicks off. The wife (Virginia Madsen) and children are underdeveloped as characters, making their predicament less troubling than it should be. You struggle to believe they are real people in real peril. Likewise, the techie henchmen seem one-dimensional. You know they won’t last long, and they don’t. Far more enthralling is the loyal secretary, played by Mary Lynn Rajskub, whose facial expressions communicate so much. Harrison Ford is reliably watchable and does everything he can with the material, but even he can’t make wandering around an office or a server room seem interesting.

The title seems to have been chosen because, circa 2006, it still had a faint whiff of futuristic glamour about it. In 2020, it’s as quaint as calling the film Download or Software Update.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Historical naval drama set in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars and adapted from Patrick O’Brian’s popular fiction series. Russell Crowe plays Jack Aubrey, the captain of the English ship HMS Surprise intent on capturing the French ship Acheron. Crowe is charismatic, as ever, but I wasn’t entirely convinced that a captain so reasonable and jovial could simultaneously be so bent on pursuing an enemy. This feeling of implausibility grew as Jack Aubrey sacrificed so many of his crew for seemingly very little gain.

Plot and character motivation aside, the film does have a lot going for it. Paul Bettany is sympathetic and highly convincing as Aubrey’s friend Dr. Stephen Maturin. The baroque music the pair play together on cello and violin sounds wonderful. And the detail of life on the ship is well created, even if there does seem to be an endless supply of everything hidden somewhere within the confines of the small craft. The nature theme and the scenes in the Galápagos islands also added a layer of richness.

The two sections that will stay with me were the “Jonah” episode, in which a victimised midshipman commits suicide because he starts to believe he's bringing bad luck to the crew, and a harrowing moment in which a man overboard is left for dead when the captain has to cut the ropes of a collapsed sail that endangers the boat.

According to Wikipedia, the lack of women in the film makes it one of only “about 120 films made since 1934 with an all-male cast”.