Aloha - Review

‘Jerry Maguire’, ‘Almost Famous’… noted as Cameron Crowe’s greatest achievements in his directorial career, and being 15 years ago seem to be the only thing worthy of a topical mention. Since then he has been up and down with a handful of misses and blanks that have been quickly swept under the carpet. However, with the light of 2015 shining Crowe hoped to break the market again and establish himself as being relevant against some of Hollywood's giants with his latest flick ‘Aloha’.

‘Aloha’s story line is noted as “A celebrated military contractor returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs and reconnects with a long-ago love while unexpectedly falling for the hard-charging Air Force watchdog assigned to him”. Yet with a plot that is so ambiguous and confusing at most times, many movie goers are left with a sense of ‘did anything actually happen?’. The film stars Bradley Cooper hot off of ‘American Sniper’ success with a great support cast consisting of Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone, Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski. Now looking at that cast along with the director one would think that this movie had the utmost potential to provide something brilliant… And did I mention it had Bill freaking Murray in it aswell?!

Simply the film fails to provide something magical to capture the audience and instead sends us on a almost racist sense of exploitation of Hawaii. The film portrays Hawaii as a white dominated culture that could act as a sophisticated statement towards the ruin that the U.S.A have brought upon it, as they decided to take the country ‘Under their wing’. Cooper had the potential to do something special with this movie, yet he has lacked anything since he was robbed of an oscar in 2012 for his performance in ‘Silver linings playbook’. This movie simply acts as a stepping stone in what i’m sure the cast thought was going to be amazing, but then turned into a filler of ‘There’s no good movies releasing this week and we have already seen Jurassic World 10 times’.

The film itself isn’t all at a waste as the soundtrack carries the ambiguity and floats you into a seas salt coma of delicious indy tones and waves, which is worth a listen in its entirety itself. John Krasinski is the stand out throughout the film, proving his relevance and showing us all that actions can speak louder than words, literally.

To sum it up, the film lacks any real substance that captures the audience, but if you are looking for a flatline ride of nothing, then I suggest you go see this film with a pillow and coffee. Unless, of course you are just heading along for the popcorn.

to be missed while in theatres and in 3D while it is in cinemas. So grab your popcorn and get going, ferry’s will be departing for the Island every hour. I predict a big box office haul for this smash hit.

I give this film a 4/10

Reviewed by Mase Shaw - Follow Mase on Twitter @MaseShaw