Bill Review - A Comedy With a Plot

Comedies aren't particularly known for their plots. They're almost always extremely messy and often quite forced, clearly just existing to set up the jokes and to give the film a reason to be a film in the first place, as opposed to just a stand-up routine. Now, as a result of this, most comedies are reviewed based on the quality of their jokes, as no one is really expecting anything good (or really anything at all) in the story and the character departments. I did this in my Night at the Museum 3 review, although I did still briefly mention how the plot wasn't that good.

So, taking all of this into account, imagine my surprise when Bill turned out to be not only extremely funny, but also surprisingly well written on a story and character level. Admittedly, I wasn't expecting anything less in the humour department, especially from the Horrible Histories crew. I've mentioned before about how much I love the programme (although I must admit I never really did get into series 6), mainly for its excellent sense of humour and Bill is no exception. I do think, in fact, that Bill might even be funnier than Horrible Histories. It manages to get a blend of smart Historical and Shakespearean references, excellent visual gags and silly, but still enjoyable, slapstick humour, resulting in a mix that will definitely appeal to everyone at some point, or if you're like me, throughout the entire film.

What really impressed me with Bill, however, was not the humour, but the story and the characters. They're not exactly masterpieces in their field by any means, but they certainly do a lot more than they really needed to do. The film manages to blend the main character's (who, funnily enough, is William Shakespeare) journey to discovering his writing talent really well with a panto like storyline involving King Phillip II of Spain trying to blow up Queen Elizabeth. As I said before, it isn't the most complex plot filled with twists and turns at every second, with the most detailed characters ever written, but it works surprisingly well as a plot in its own right and not just something there to give the jokes more context.

Although Bill's excellent sense of humour came as no surprise to me, the film's surprisingly good storyline and characters did, adding another layer of quality to an already wonderfully enjoyable piece of cinema from the hilarious crew behind Horrible Histories.

Bill - Overall Score: 8/10

Comments

Hail, Caesar! Review - Genius Behind the Madness

On an entirely surface level, Hail, Caesar! is a really silly film. The sets are bright and colourful, the characters are bombastic and larger than life and the plot is completely insane and all over the place. If you take a closer look, however, it's much more intelligent than it initially comes off as. Yes, the sets are bright, but their attention to detail is so fantastically minute, you're totally convinced that this is the 50's. The fake film sets are also just as convincing and the films themselves could easily pass off as authentic, if it wasn't for the 21st Century actors populating them. They are obviously slightly exaggerated, for the sake of satire, which probably resonates more with those familiar with retro cinema than regular filmgoers. It's also shot brilliantly by cinematographer Roger Deakins (who was recently Oscar nominated for his work on Sicario ), who manages to make the film feel like something that's not only set in the 50's, bu...

Is Avengers: Age of Ultron Any Good?

Avengers Assemble! Again! Avengers: Age of Ultron - Film Review by Nathan Brooks And they say English Weather's bad. Back in the summer of 2012, a little film came out called Avengers Assemble. It wasn't much. It's only the biggest superhero film of all time and it only made $1.518 billion. Everybody loved it, I loved it and clearly moviegoers did as well. Due to its massive success, obviously a sequel was going to be made. In this case, that sequel is Avengers: Age of Ultron, but with all the hype it's received, is it actually any good? Story The story in this film is definitely not for first time Marvel viewers, you really need to see most, if not all, of the previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films. It is packed full of references to earlier films and understanding a lot of elements of the story will require you to have seen the others. But is the story any good? I thinks so. The main story centres around the fact that Tony Stark, or Iron Man, has ...

The Complicated Entitlement of Arthur Fleck

Joker’s (Probably) Accidental Identity Politics The discourse around Joker , the Joaquin Phoenix-starring origin story of the infamous Batman villain, has been exhausting. Beginning before most people had even seen the film, battle lines were immediately drawn between those decrying its allegedly alt-right sympathies and edgy gamers convinced this was going to be the greatest film of all time. Now that it’s actually in cinemas and I’ve seen it, it’s a lot more complicated than that, even if it isn’t on purpose. To get it out of the way, Joker is a fantastically constructed film. Whilst it’s certainly derivative of other prestige pictures (Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and King of Comedy have been regularly brought up) that doesn’t stop it from being spectacular and gripping in its own right. At the centre of it all is Phoenix, who’s performance is genuinely astonishing. The gruesome physicality he brings to the role is mesmerising, exemplified during the surreal dance sequences i...

Search This Blog