If you've given me an E and I haven't thanked you, I apologise - trying to catch up. Really apprecia...
If you've given me an E and I haven't thanked you, I apologise - trying to catch up. Really appreciate all ratings.
Member since:05.05.2005
Reviews:977
Members who trust:379
A team of workers for a weapons company are sent on a team-building course in Hungary. On arrival at a lodge in the middle of a forest, they are slightly freaked to find that, far from being the luxury accommodation they were expecting, they have to stay in a creepy building with just a few basic facilities. Things take a turn for the worse the next day when two of them find their coach driver dead and another one loses his leg to a bear trap - one of many that litter the woods. Trying to escape in the coach, they crash and are forced to face the fact that someone doesn't want them to go...alive, that is. But who is trying to kill them, and why? Will any of them escape alive?
As a team of seven, it is would be very difficult to mention the performance of some of them and not the others, so bear with me while I go through them. As team leader, Richard, Tim McInnery is one of my favourite characters. I've loved his acting since the Blackadder days; although this also a comic role, it is much less silly and gives McInnery the chance to show us what he's made of, giving a sort of David Brent-like performance. He is given to using business speak - 'ownership' and the like, yet is looked upon by his colleagues as a bit of a prat. Although perhaps not the top of
the bill actor-wise - that distinction is really left to Danny Dyer - he still does a really good job.
Another favourite for me is Jill, played by Claudie Blakely. As one of the two main women, she is the less attractive, sensible cousin to the gorgeous Maggie (they reminded me of Daphne and Velma from Scooby Doo for some reason!). However, she may not win in the looks department, but she certainly does in the acting. Blakely has apparently won awards for her acting and I am not surprised. There is one point where she is bound and gagged when facing her attacker - the fear in her eyes was palpable and very realistic.
Danny Dyer, who plays Steve, is a the tip of everyone's tongues these days, although I have to admit that I have never knowingly seen him in anything apart from this. I liked him - he certainly has all the best lines and delivers them with perfect comic timing. Steve is a typical lad - likes women, magic mushrooms and ecstasy - and Dyer fits in perfectly with these characteristics.
There wasn't a bad performance from anyone, although I probably liked Maggie, played by Laura Harris, the least. To be fair though, this is probably because she is a beautiful blonde with a gorgeous figure more than anything else and certainly towards the end of the film she shows that she is a bit more than just a pretty face with a kick-ass performance. The other three men, Harris (Toby Stephens), Gordon (Andy Nyman) and Billy (Babou Ceesay) play the good-looking know-it-all, the geek and the straight as a die good guy respectively. I have seen Toby Stephens in a couple of things - Poirot and Onegin for a start - and think he is a great actor. He didn't disappoint me here either, although we perhaps don't have the chance to really get to know him. Andy Nyman is great as Gordon - after Danny Dyer, he probably has the best lines - and manages to deliver them all with perfect timing. Babou Ceesay is absolutely adorable as Billy. This is apparently his first screen role - I really hope we get to see more of him - he has a gentle, kind face that I found hugely attractive and he's pretty good as an actor too.
I didn't really know what to expect when I rented this film. I knew that it was a cross between a horror and a comedy, but that was about it. As far as the humour goes, it is definitely black as black can be. I would quote some of the lines, but they really have to be heard in situ to be appreciated. It is not the sort of humour that had me laughing out loud, but it did amuse me. This is good old-fashioned British humour at its best.
There are some really gory bits that are shockingly realistic; for examle, Gordon loses his foot and Steve tries to squeeze it into the fridge in the coach and it looks all too natural! Other bits are less realistic, which is probably just as well, because it would have been much less of a comedy is they were. I think the rating of 15 is probably right here - don't presume that because it is a comedy it will be suitable for young children.
Christopher Smith, who directed and wrote part of the screenplay for the film, has done a really good job, particularly considering this is only his second foray into directing. The atmosphere is slowly built up right from the start, but then the real action part is kept quite short - which I thought was wise - any longer and I think I would have got bored. As it was, the suspense kept me on edge. The location for the film, in the middle of a forest, was excellent and really added to the atmosphere.
If I have to criticise the film in any way, it would be that we don't really find out the reason for what happens. It is hinted at, but the audience is very much left to make up their own minds. However, I don't really see it as a problem - I like to be challenged and I liked being left thinking.
I'm not going to say that this is a brilliant film, because it isn't, but I did really enjoy it. I have the sort of sick sense of humour that the film requires, so it suited me down to the ground. I just wish I'd got round to seeing it earlier. Recommended, providing you don't mind a bit of blood and violence with your humour.
The DVD is available from play.com for £5, including free delivery - bargain!
Another bloody office outing..... When weapons multi-national Palisade Defense reward ... more
their European sales division with a team-building weekend in the mountains of Eastern Europe the team fight first amongst themselves and later for survival agains...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Following a boom in military arms sales, the team at Palisade Defence are rewarded with a ... more
team-building weekend in the wilds of Eastern Europe. But what begins as a corporate jolly rapidly descends into a deadly nightmare as they are pitched into a ter...
![Severance [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78191431.jpg "Severance [DVD] [2006]")
Nov 8th, 2007
very helpful by (98%):
helpful by (2%):
