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There’s something horrifying about The Whistleblower.
As a work of fiction Larysa Kondracki’s tale of human trafficking would a stomach-churning slice of what is evil in the world. The fact that it’s based on the true story – that of Kathryn Bolkovac, a former UN Police Force monitor who sued a British security firm over claims that it covered up the involvement of her fellow officers in sex crimes and prostitution rackets in the Bosnia in the late ‘90s – raises it to an entirely new level of harrowing.
While the story may deviate slightly for legal reasons – Democra Corp is the private military company Bolkovac works from in the film, Dyncorp was the one she worked for in real life, for example – the basics are there.
Divorced mother, Kathryn (Rachel Weisz) quits the cop life and takes a job in the Balkans as to make extra money so she can move closer to her daughter. While there she uncovers some truly appalling crimes and gets stonewalled, hampered and threatened by a broad array of bureaucrats and criminals when she tries to make anything more than a superficial investigation.
The Whistleblower starts at a low hum of tension – Weisz’s Bolkovac commands both out admiration and our concern – and slowly builds on it as the story unfolds, peppering it with moments of uncomfortable dread.
The film also tracks the experience of two young Ukrainian girls who get caught up in the trafficking and become a focus for Bolkovac’s investigations. It’s a personalising touch that makes the heartache and frustration of bureaucratic disinterest more accessible for the audience. Confidently and competently shot, The Whistleblower scores big with its cast of consummate professionals.
Weisz is always watchable and here gives Bolkovac a believable strength and vulnerability. She is neither a saint, crusader nor activist. Rather, she is brave, strong-minded and willing to dispatch the duties of her job whatever the consequences or obstacles.
Also making appearances are screen legend Vanessa Redgrave, the most trustworthy man in American film, David Strathairn as well as Monica Bellucci and Benedict Cumberbatch. These four are just some of the more recognisable faces amongst the many excellent performers.
For the most part, director Kondracki balances the seriousness of the story with the necessary dramatic pacing to make the film interesting to watch. For the most part. There are periods where the brow furrowing or scenes of cruelty become overwhelming but all-in-all it succeeds in making its point and being thrilling at the same time.
Serious but satisfying viewing.
Transformers 3… Where to start? Well it’s better than the second one but it’s not as good as the first. That may be due in large part to the fact that the first sequel was bloody awful and that after the giddy enjoyment of seeing gigantic robots beating the tar out of each other wears off, it becomes clear that virtually every single character in the film is a gigantic pain in the crank shaft.
In fact, other than Alan Tudyk whose turn as a crazy butler called Dutch is both hilarious and badass, it is Chicago, where the film’s final third is set, that comes out best. In between the scenes of war, destruction and general mayhem, Bay makes the Windy City look great. It gets just the sort of loving camera work normally devoted to New York or San Francisco.
Everyone else, from Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBoeuf) and his parents, to the new love interest, Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) to the mini Transformers living with Sam for “comic relief” falls somewhere toward the top of the list of “things that are more irritating than cayenne pepper in your wetsuit”.
But who the hell’s watching to see what happens to the puny humans? Transformers 3’s plot is actually quite a neat little conceit that links America’s entry into the race to the moon to an Autobot that crashlanded there in the ’60s . There’s also a side plot involving Sam’s difficulty in adjusting to real life or even get a job despite saving the world twice.
Most of the important plot points get dealt with in the first half of the film, however, leaving the final hour and a bit for what Bay does best – blowing stuff up in slow motion in the most spectacular and OTT manner possible.
Say what you want about the man – Megan Fox did and look what became of her – but when it comes to marshalling all the forces of technology to make something go boom on screen, there are few directors who can match Bay. While the story may be distracting at best and the cast mostly fit for nothing more than filling crash mats at the local gymnastics club, when Dark of the Moon gets into its War of the Worlds-style stride it more than pays for its popcorn.
Unfortunately, since the first film the Transformers running times have grown and the grasp of how to balance giant robot smashy fun with bits where you’re eagerly waiting for the smashy fun to begin again has dwindled leaving Transformers 3 as something of an enjoyable but inevitably tiresome chore of a movie.
Like hoovering up Skittles.

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