(Credit: Amazon.com)
Directed by
Danny Boyle
Cast:
Alexander Nathan Etel …. Damian
Lewis Owen McGibbon …. Anthony
Leslie Phillips …. Himself
James Nesbitt …. Ronnie
Daisy Donovan …. Dorothy
Christopher Fulford …. The Man
Pearce Quigley …. Community Policeman
Jane Hogarth …. Mum
Alun Armstrong …. St. Peter
Enzo Cilenti …. St. Francis
Nasser Memarzia …. St. Joseph
Kathryn Pogson …. St. Clare
Harry Kirkham …. St. Nicholas
Cornelius Macarthy …. Gonzaga
Kolade Agboke …. Ambrosio
The Movie:
Everybody seems to have that dream of finding a boatload of cash out of nowhere. Becoming rich overnight is that elusive wish that would solve all your problems and make you happy for the rest of your life. Of course, most everyone knows that attaining this fantasy brings a whole new set of problems. Cinema knows this as well. About 90% of the movies about getting rich quick are always fables about how too of a good thing will ruin your life and those around you.
Then on the other side of the equation is Millions, a wonderful Family film about a small boy that finds a bag full of money and does wonderful things with it. This is the type of heart warming story that Hollywood has tried in the past and usually fails miserably, but under the direction of British film maker Danny Boyle, the picture is a wonderful fairy tale. Only hinting at the horrors of film like Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan, Boyle has constructed a wonderful Christmas tale that went sadly overlooked by most audiences.
Oddly enough, Boyle had already directed one of the darkest tales on the subject with his 1994 film Shallow Grave. That film had three room mates finding a bag full of money and then going at each other’s throats once greed kicked in. Trainspotting, Boyle’s most popular film, also had very heavy elements of greed in it. It’s a testament to Boyle that he could cover the same subject matter here and make a radically different piece of work.
The film stars Alexander Nathan Etel as Damien, a young boy who’s just lost his mother, and moves to a new town with his brother Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) and father (James Nesbitt). Damien is peculiar little boy, obsessed with Saints and odd to his brother and classmates. He’s well intentioned, but has no way to connect with the other children. Damien even builds himself a house made of cardboard, where he can spend time alone, away from everyone else. His only confidants seem to be the Saints themselves, who he’s able to talk with, but are unseen by everyone else.
This is a wonderful element in the film. The saints come off as down to earth and goofy people who suffered for their beliefs, but are now living the good life for eternity. They all have these pitiful little halos that aren’t very stationary on top of their heads. They act as Damien’s conscience and friends when everyone else won’t listen to him because he’s just a kid.
A conscience seems to come in handy when a huge gym bag of money demolishes Damien’s cardboard clubhouse. Telling his brother about the money, the two boys set out with very different agendas. Anthony immediately uses the money to improve his status among his friends, buying himself cell phones and sun glasses. Damien wants to do good works with the money, giving it to the homeless and others in need.
Both of the child actors are first rate here. Often child actors can completely rub an audience the wrong way if they seem ingenuous. Both of the children in Millions are extremely charismatic and have good chemistry together. Take for instance the scene where Anthony is met by his friends to go to school. The others surround McGibbon’s character as if they were secret servicemen. Anthony rides on the back spokes of one their bikes. The scene is hilarious as all five of the kids wear sunglasses and open the door for Anthony as if they’re checking the room for safety.
Alexander Nathan Etel is the picture of innocence as Damien. Etel is able to keep the character cute without seeming trite. His comic timing is perfect and his facial expressions are very natural. This character could have easily felt forced, but the work of the actor and Director Danny Boyle keep Damien heartwarming.
Also helping immensely is the work of John Murphy, the film’s composer. The film’s fairy tale mood is very much kept up by the picture’s score. The music here is very reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s work on more family oriented collaborations with Tim Burton such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
As the film begins to have shades of a darker tone, Boyle is able to use his deft touch to make the film no less enjoyable. A subplot involving the boy’s father getting a new girlfriend doesn’t always work, but every moment with the boys are delightful. This is definitely one of the best Family films to come out in 2005 and certainly an achievement for Danny Boyle, who works, such as Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, have always had more of a darker edge to them.
Score: 8.5/10
The DVD:
The Video
This movie is beautiful to look at. The folks at 20th Century Fox did bang up job with this print as the colors sparkle. The visuals are very important to Millions and a bad disc could take really taken away from the experience, but everything looks great. The film is presented in Widescreen with and Aspect Ratio of 1.85:1.
The Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is also very nice. The sound is crisp with no bad spots that I could hear.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio Commentary, Deleted scenes, Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
Full-length Audio Commentary by director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce – This is a really entertaining track with Danny Boyle and Frank Cottrell keeping things going with some nice anecdotes as well as info on film making techniques used during the film. An interesting portion has him talking about a sequence showing the heist where the money was stolen initially. The sequence in the film is a jolting transition and Boyle goes into detail about how he structured and filmed the scene.
Deleted scenes There are 10 different scenes here. I wish they had commentary as most are pretty decent, and were probably just cut for time instead of quality.
DVD Cutdown Featurette – This shortens Millions to basically a music video that runs about 4 minutes.
Million Pounds featurette – This is a funny little mini-doc that asks the question to all the cast of what they would do with the money if they got it.
Saints featurette – This is a Featurette on the Saints presented in the film and how important they are to the story. This shows what went into attaining their look for the film and runs about 4 minutes.
Spirit Of The Film Featurette – This goes into Danny Boyle’s decision to keep the film as cheery and magical as possible.
Robbery Featurette – This goes into the film’s lone major action sequence, which is very reminiscent of Boyle’s previous darker work like 28 Days Later and Trainspotting.
Score: 5.0/10
