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| Andy Serkis playing Captain Haddock |
Wow. Who knew when motion capture was being used to create video game action, and the singular characters of Gollum and King Kong, that this is where we’d finish. When Spielberg was taken on to direct this classic story there were questions raised about whether he would stay true to the original story. The answer? You bet he will. As a Tintin fan this was a dream come true. The storyline stayed true to the original and the acting, in particular from Andy Serkis was incredible. Serkis was brilliant showing yet again his diversity and pure talent at acting in not just motion capture, but his ability to create a character with his voice. With stellar performances from Daniel Craig and Jamie Bell, and to have two of the most successful directors ever (Spielberg and Peter Jackson) in the role of producer and director, the film looked destined to be fantastic. And yet it just wasn’t.
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| The desert turns into the ocean |
What went wrong with it? For a start it seemed to lag on a little bit, it was less edge of your seat towards the end and more hoping that the end was coming soon. Which to me was disappointing as I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the film. The pace was all wrong, feeling very stop, start, with the action moving very coarsely into a lot of information in a short space of time. The action was phenomenal, with action that while looking very real, had that spark of insanity to it, something only able to be achieved through motion capture. The detail was amazing, giving the film that very real element to it and some of the transitions were amazing only achieved through the medium used. Just look at the transitions between Tintin and Haddock in the desert, to Haddock’s memories of his ancestors fight with Red Rackham.
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| Nothing is impossible with motion capture |
The film has been criticized for occasionally lumbering into mindless mayhem, but personally I think that this has the opposite effect. It showed the true potential of the motion capture, showing how in one room you can weave your way through Moroccan style streets, smashing through windows and sliding down wires.
What struck me as fascinating was the fact that you could see the mannerisms of the actors come across in the characters. The most clear, being the villain, played by Daniel Craig. He managed to bring his suave confidence and a cool, charismatic presence to this arch-villain. My major concern with the casting is the Thompson twins. They could not have been more spot on with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg playing the loveable idiot duo, so why did they get so little face time? The parts they had were very well executed and showed the sheer potential of the pair, and one can only hope that any sequel will have them more heavily included.
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| The underused, Thomson and Thompson |
A very difficult film to rate. Though hugely impressive, both acting wise and visually, the script seemed to let it down a bit. Seeing the Adventures of Tintin brought to life, however, was brilliant, with the actors and director doing it proud.
My Rating: 6.5/10
