Wahlberg and Crowe in Broken City Trailer

UK Release Date: 25th January 2013.

Stars: Allen Hughes (director), Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Plot: An ex-cop trailing the wife of New York City’s mayor finds himself immersed in a larger scandal.

Here is Russell Crowe taking on a very different look and perhaps overdoing the tan to play his character in Broken City whilst Mark Wahlberg just looks the same as he always does. I think these two actors have something in common with one another: they have both made some fantastic movies (The Departed, Gladiator) but both have also made movies that tread the line between bad and mediocre (Contraband, Robin Hood).

It feels like with the Broken City trailer we are being told lots of things but we are actually being told very little. The conspiracy or the ‘larger scandal’ are kept secret which is obviously a good marketing ploy to attract viewers but is the very boring story of ‘find out who my wife is sleeping with then i’ll kill her’ really an interesting in? I don’t think so.

I’m a fan of Russell Crowe and I do really like Mark Wahlberg (the same can’t be said for my feelings on the incredibly annoying Catherine Zeta-Jones and when she finally gets out of movies I will be very happy) so I hope that Broken City is a good film, but I can’t see it escaping the pool of mediocre films and it will surely slip into obscurity.

Orlando Bloom & Djimon Hounsou Aboard Zulu

Do not panic! This has absolutely nothing to do with being a reboot of the Michael Caine classic of 1964 of the same name.

It has been announced that Orlando Bloom and Djimon Hounsou are set to lead a film adaptation of Caryl Ferey’s critically acclaimed crime novel Zulu. The film is to be directed by Jerome Salle who is perhaps best known for writing Anthony Zimmer.

The story centres around two police officers (Bloom and Hounsou) in South Africa who are investigating the murder of the teenage daughter of a championship Springbok rugby player. It is a crime thriller and the premise does sound interesting, but it depends on how well the novel is adapted to film as it has been proven that good novels do not always make great films.

It is great to hear that Djimon Hounsou will be in something else after the collapse of Paradise Lost, where he was set to star with Bradley Cooper. Hounsou is a fantastic actor and has shown time and time again with his performances in Blood Diamond and Gladiator that, with two Oscar nominations under his belt already, he is a sure fire Oscar winner in the making.

Orlando Bloom, on the other hand, should not even be allowed in the same room as a replica of the famous golden statuettes. He is not a good actor, it is that simple! I can’t knock him as an elf, he makes a great elf and will be portraying Legolas again come the end of the year in the first part of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit. But put him in any other part, be it pirate or milkman turned boxer and he will show you that he really can not act.

The premise of the film sounds exciting and the fact that Hounsou has been cast is terrific news. Hopefully Orlando Bloom will be good enough not to drag this film down too much.