A Different Kind of Scorsese Film

Rating: 8/10 (9 November 2016)

I adore Martin Scorsese he's mastered a very particular kind of film but if I have one complaint about him it would be that a lot of his films are very similar when it comes to structure and tone but Hugo does not suffer from this and I found to be fantastic. This is a film that every film fan should see it's got a really fantastic tribute to cinemas Past and has a great way of exploring a child like sense of adventure and wonder. This film loom so incredible and cgi and green screens aren't even noticeable they make the city of Paris come alive with wonder and amazement. The practically built sets also look amazing like the train station that is so well designed and this is by far one of Scorsese' best looking movies. The screenplay in this film is just fantastic it's has a great way of appealing to its audience and always keeping its characters interesting and investing technically everything in this movie is perfect but also are the central performances. Asa Butterfield was so good in this movie he's just the right amount of vulnerable yet brave he was also really sympathetic all thanks to his performance. Chloe Grace Moretz has great chemistry with Butterfield I thought that they brought the best out of each other in their characters and performances. But Ben Kingsley in my opinion gave the best performance in this movie he captures the right spirit of his character at first a tired and directionless old man but you soon start to understand why he is that way and it just gives him more room to give the best performance possible and that's exactly what he did. Sacha Baron Cohen gives the best performance of his entire career in this film not only is he really funny but also very sympathetic and proved that he could do more than put on a funny voice to give a performance. The central mystery was a great way to ground the story it makes this film more focused and gives you a great guessing game that puts you in the central characters minds and makes you relate to them more. However I think this films greatest issue is the way it handles some of its supporting characters, some of the more minor characters are just cruel and horrible for no reason and some character arcs never come into their own or are just left behind.
Hugo is a fantastic film it absolutely nails everything on a technical level and has wonderful performances the central mystery is intriguing and it's so great to see such a legendary director get out of his comfort zone. While I don't think this is going to go down as one of his all time classics it deserved to do better and the box office and will be remembered by its loyal fans and supporters.
87%/A-