26/07/2018
Mamma Mia 2 : Here We Go Again
Hi guys, Pete here and tonight I'm here to talk to you about marriage.
To have and to hold
For better, for worse
For richer, for poorer
In sickness and in health
And Mamma Mia 2 : Here We Go Again
Wait, what?
So, having put my wife Avril through such cinematic turds as Batman v Superman, Justice League and Pan she finally cashed in 9 years worth of credit and dragged me along to see the sequel to the 2008 smash hit Mamma Mia. I know I've seen the original at some point but I remember next to nothing about it other than Pierce Brosnan forgetting how to human. So what of the sequel?
Well...a film like this is kind of critic proof isn't it? Think the story is a bit non-consequential? Well, no s**t, idiot. Think some of the cast can't sing? You don't fu***ng say. Not going to stop me trying though.
The music is obviously the big selling point of the film and in making it Abba specific they did kind of handicap themselves in that there's only so many songs to choose from - so we get a mix of the classics being repeated again from the original and some more obscure picks from the back catalogue. Of the musical performers, putting aside the fact that Brosnan hasn't improved at all in a decade, Hugh Skinner's (playing a young Colin Firth) attempts at 'Waterloo' should see him in The Hague facing trial for war crimes. It's hideous.
In terms of performances more generally, Lily James is good. She seems to have cornered the market previously dominated by Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschenal for the wide-eyed, free-spirited, hopeful young woman who dreams of a life beyond the one she lives (see also: Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society; Baby Driver; Cinderella) and it's a role she plays well. I hope that having made a success of a film like this and pulled off a Disney lead in Cinderella her career path leads her down a more serious, character led road rather than the murky world of the summer blockbuster because with the right roles and the right decisions there's an Oscar out there for her one day. Christine Baranski is good fun too, as she always is.
On the flip side, as mentioned already Brosnan remains horribly out of place, Amanda Siegfried didn't quite seem to hit her stride and Hugh 'Chairman Mao' Skinner will haunt me forever but you know what? In dark, troubled times can you REALLY hate on a cast who are so clearly enjoying themselves, embracing the silliness and (I fu***ng hate myself for this) "having the time of their lives"? Andy Garcia duets with Cher on 'Fernando' for f**k sake. It's carnage.
So no mark out of 10, no recommendation to see it, no warning to avoid. You know what this is. Make your own mind up, you lazy prick.
Until next time...peace out and, as always, f**k the Conservative Party.
Pete x
