Film No. 60 (2014) August 25th. 6:30 PM LUNA Leederville.
The first 50 minutes of Felony is gripping. The premise that an up-standing, respected cop, only recently recognised for his bravery, is led into corrupt behaviour when he should know better is familiar crime thriller fodder. The methods Joel Edgerton and Matthew Saville use through their writing and direction techniques respectively is thoughtful, clever but then slightly disappointing.
Edgerton plays Mal Toohey, a cop who overplays his hand when he accidentally knocks a young paper boy from his bike on a deserted suburban street in the early hours of one morning. Toohey is over-tired and has been drinking. Detective Carl Summer (Tom Wilkinson) and partner Jim Melic (Jai Courtney) arrive on the scene to investigate. Summer observes Toohey's fear and leads him by the nose through a maze of deception thus keeping intact his career and a family. Melic is purposely removed from the road side discussion thus becoming the view point for the audience, a technique which adds to that gripping 50 minutes I mentioned earlier.
To specifically reveal my disappointments would be to spoil some key elements of the movie. I won't do that, but for me, some of the plot twists did not add up. They all made sense but although the likes of Wilkinson, Edgerton and George build great belief for us through the early stages, some of the key confrontations which rear up later in the film don't work. There is a love interest for Melic which makes no sense, then George's Julie makes a behavioral shift which is puzzling. Given these criticisms the film is still very good.
Techniques such as the car mounted camera, the interior to exterior car shots and the flashbacks all built tension in perfect doses. Edgerton was in attendance at the screening I viewed and gave a fantastic insight into his screenplay and the mental wrestle his character has when confronted with making the decision to behave morally or otherwise because of the stress of his consciousness and situation. So while I was a little disappointed, the film has much to say and it is a story well told. Look for the extra coffee cup in the final scene. Joel asked our saudience to make up our own mind about what it meant. 8GUMS
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