A tale of the unexpected

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2013)

From the trailer, you might think this is a special-effects laden blockbuster with a bit of court intrigue and a heroic outcome. Which is great because the masses need fooling into watching what is, in actual fact, an intense and ultimately beautiful portrayal of one man's addiction his journey to a conclusion. Washington truly does give the performance of his life. Washed-up, slightly tubby, convinced of his own lies and self-centred, his character is a hero and arch villain in one. Zemeckis has directed some of the biggest movies of the past 30 years and yet this film is most closely related to one of his least commercially successful - Contact - in that it takes a huge, spectacular theme and surrounds it with carefully crafted stories of personal failure and spiritual success. Beautiful, moving and really really unexpected.