(spoiler free)
Who doesn’t love Jake Gyllenhaal? He’s got to a stage in his career that for me means every film he stars in is a must see. In recent years he really hasn’t disappointed so I couldn’t wait for his latest effort. However with mixed reviews surfacing maybe all wasn’t quite right with ‘Demolition’. If I’m honest though this didn’t worry me one bit and I was right to have confidence in Gyllenhaal once again.
Gyllenhaal was obviously great, audiences can really always expect a fantastic performance from him. He can do it all, whether he’s pulling punches like in ‘Southpaw’ or being a major creep in ‘Nightcrawler’ the guy can do anything. Here he plays a successful investment banker who encounters some personal issues. He attacks this role head on, like he always does, with brilliant results. For a large portion of the film,’Demolition’ is simply Gyllenhaal acting quite weirdly, and who wouldn’t want to watch that? The supporting cast are also good, Chris Cooper plays Gyllenhaal’s father in law and boss and he nails this combination. Naomi Watts also stars taking to her quite unique role very well. Other than Gyllenhaal though the stand out performer had to be Judah Lewis. This is the first performance from Lewis in a feature film made for cinematic release but you wouldn’t know that. From his performance here I’d say this guy has a good future ahead of him as he contributes a lot here. He has many scenes alongside Gyllenhaal and he holds his own always crafting believable scenarios and dialogue, bringing the scenes from the script to life. The pair also have a wonderful chemistry on screen which is always enjoyable to watch.
Whilst the cast were very good I wasn’t sold on the film straight away. I found it hard to get into and wasn’t sure of the tone it was going for. This doesn’t last forever though and there was a clear turning point for me where I really started to enjoy the film. I thought that the writing for the film was done very well, the narrative is full of little surprises that you just don’t see coming and after the initial failure to draw me in it never faltered again. The film could fit into many genres, I would almost edge it into the dark comedy genre as there certainly is a lot of this featured. Gyllenhaal carries this element of the film perfectly but there is a lot of drama included too which he similarly deals with well. With the drama and comedy the film moves along nicely and you’re never quite sure where things are going. The film features a variation of shots to tell its story and these work well throughout the movie. I like what ‘Demolition’ had to say about its themes and characters and the narrative is brought to life well through the comedy and drama portrayed by the cast.
So whilst ‘Demolition’ maybe won’t go down as classic Gyllenhaal such as ‘Donnie Darko’ or ‘Nightcrawler’ this fan still really enjoyed it and thought it has a lot to offer. Once again we get another great performance from Gyllenhaal and he is supported well by the other cast members, none more so than Judah Lewis. Stick with the narrative and you’ll be rewarded, but I just reccomend enjoying the ride as often the dialogue, performances and comedy make it a really fun film.
Rating – 8/10
Question: What is your favourite Jake Gyllenhaal performance?
(Leave your answers in the comments below!)
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