Film Talk: Looking to make the cinema great again with The Apprentice
He’s one of the most controversial public figures ever to have lived, and he may be about to become the leader of the free world. Again...
Love him or hate him, Donald J. Trump is a name that has become synonymous with the 21st century world stage. 45th President of the United States, prior to becoming a politician Trump was a business magnate and media personality of such renown that he was already a household name across the globe.
Ousted as president in the 2020 election by current incumbent Joe Biden, Trump is currently waging a campaign against rival Kamala Harris to regain his former office. Across the pond (and, indeed, across the planet), opinions are divided and times are tense as we await to see who, next month, will claim the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But of course, you already knew that...
What many people (particularly those young guns among us) may not know, is the tale of how Trump made his money and his name back in the days before both his hair and his fitness to lead had both been questioned.
When Ali Abbasi’s biopic premiered earlier this year, it didn’t go down too well with Team Trump, whose legal eagles flocked to block its release. But now, as the contest for the Oval Office approaches it’s eleventh hour, The Apprentice has landed in UK cinemas.
With Sebastian Stan stepping into Trump Tower as the man himself and Jeremy ‘Succession’ Strong in the shadows as attorney Roy Cohn, the flick pulls few punches with its portrayal of Mr T, and will likely split audiences as much as its key protagonist does in life. But, in general, is Abbasi’s effort 'hired' or 'fired'? Let’s take a look...
THE APPRENTICE (UK 15/ROI 15A, 122 mins)
Released: October 18 (UK & Ireland)
Shortly after headline-grabbing Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice premiered in May 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival, replete with a disclaimer that some events have been fictionalised for dramatic purposes, director Ali Abbasi received a cease-and-desist letter from former President’s legal team.
Trump subsequently lambasted the film on social media as “a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job.”
Some commentators on the other side of America’s political spectrum criticised the film for being too soft on the Republican nominee and pulling its bloody-knuckled punches.
Scripted by American journalist Gabriel Sherman, The Apprentice is a fascinating study of corporate greed, ambition and shady political manoeuvring in the festering underbelly of the American empire against the backdrop of the emerging Aids crisis.
There are comedic flashpoints but the overriding tone is deadly serious, particularly the graphic depiction of a sexual assault on wife Ivana in a Trump Tower apartment.
Regardless of where rigorously documented fact ends and artistic licence begins, Abbasi’s film evokes the era with aplomb, galvanised by two powerhouse performances.
Sebastian Stan’s embodiment of Trump incorporates speech patterns and mannerisms without teetering over into caricature while Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of political fixer Roy Cohn is almost reptilian in its disquieting stillness and menace.
Events unfold initially in 1973, when Donald Trump (Stan) is vice president of the real estate company run by his father Fred Trump Sr (Martin Donovan).
The Trump Organisation is facing a costly lawsuit filed by the Justice Department for discriminating against black people wanting to rent its properties.
A high-profile legal ruling could sink the company and derail Donald’s lofty aspirations to join high rollers at the Le Club members-only restaurant and nightclub in Manhattan.
To protect his inheritance, Donald forges a Faustian pact with high-powered lawyer Roy Cohn (Strong), who famously operated as Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s.
Cohn takes Donald under his wing and employs dirty tactics to defuse the impending lawsuit.
Donald steadily clambers up the social hierarchy in New York, acquires a socialite wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova) and slowly turns on everyone who aided his ascent.
“Good to see you lost the last trace of decency you once had,” snarls one-time mentor Roy.
The Apprentice imagines the formative years of Trump in broad, scathing and satirical strokes that sometimes draw blood.
Donald’s protectiveness of his self-destructive older brother (Charlie Carrick) is a chink of vulnerability in the magnate’s armour, which is gradually concealed beneath layers of self-aggrandisement and chest-puffing bravado. A few sideswipes feel cheap like a vignette at a party with artist Andy Warhol (Bruce Beaton) and the film is overlong, but Sherman’s screenplay steadfastly avoids walking along clearly defined party political lines.
And for that, Abbasi’s intriguing picture gets our vote.
THE WILD ROBOT (UK U/ROI G, 102 mins)
Released: October 18 (UK & Ireland)
During a tense exchange in writer-director Chris Sanders’ gorgeous computer-animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s children’s book, the malfunctioning title character (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) resists attempts by a nefarious squid-like robot (Stephanie Hsu) to prize open her metal cranium and steal her memories.
“I feel fine,” professes the mechanised heroine.
“You should feel nothing,” coldly and clinically responds her multi-tentacled captor.
Audiences will experience the full gamut of feelings – despair, amusement, sympathy, anxiety and teary-eyed exultation during The Wild Robot, which integrates core emotional processing units from the How To Train Your Dragon franchise and WALL-E with a unique visual palette.
Sanders’ picture has the confidence to strip back dialogue, delivering long wordless sequences that deftly tug heartstrings through the swooning orchestrations of composer Kris Bowers.
Animation is utterly ravishing, employing a distinctive, hand-painted style that honours Brown’s illustrations to create a richly textured world where polished metal, circuitry and flashing lights are gradually weather-beaten by an untamed wilderness and elemental forces.
Visual and verbal gags come thick and fast in the opening 15 minutes, which embrace a hilarious laissez-faire attitude to death in the wild including the apparent demise of one cute critter off-screen heralded by a bloodcurdling scream.
A consignment of six Universal Dynamics units is washed up on the shore of an island and one device, ROZZUM robot 7134 (Nyong’o), manages to self-activate to carry out its primary directive: to serve anyone in need.
Local wildlife is terrified of the hulking automaton so Roz enters learning mode to translate the squeaks, grunts, roars and chirrups of furry and feathered clientele.
Following a close encounter with a grizzly bear (Mark Hamill), Roz takes possession of an orphaned Canada goose egg.
The bird, Brightbill (Kit Connor), hatches and imprints on the robot.
With the help of wily red fox Fink (Pedro Pascal), peregrine falcon Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames) and Canada goose elder Longneck (Bill Nighy), Roz carries out her mission to help Brightbill join the flock on the annual migration south.
The Wild Robot is an exquisitely beautiful fable about parenthood, self-sacrifice and community action, which is the icing on the cake of DreamWorks Animation’s 30th anniversary year.
Three-time Oscar nominee Sanders may finally get his golden statuette after a near-miss with How To Train Your Dragon, which had the misfortune of taking flight the same year as Toy Story 3. Nyong’o’s vocal performance becomes audibly more nuanced as Roz overrides protocols and begins to communicate from a place in her metal chest that isn’t listed in her operating manual.
Our hearts respond loudly.
There hasn’t been a better animated film than The Wild Robot this year.
SMILE 2 (UK 18/ROI 16, 127 mins)
Released: October 18 (UK & Ireland)
Parker Finn writes and directs a sequel to his 2022 horror about a malevolent presence that feeds on trauma and manifests as a rictus grin on each victim’s face before they take their own life.
Global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is poised to embark on a physically gruelling world tour when she experiences terrifying visions around her.
Strangers and members of the entourage flash her sickening grins that chill her to the bone. As the horror escalates, Skye bravely confronts her dark past and the pressures of fame to avoid becoming another grim statistic.
MY HERO ACADEMIA: YOU’RE NEXT (UK 12A/ROI 12A, 111 mins)
Released: October 18 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
A villain poses as a harbinger of unity in a Japanese animated action adventure directed by Tensai Okamura.
Based on the manga series by Kohei Horikoshi, the fourth film in the franchise follows the students of Class 1-A in the aftermath of the Paranormal Liberation War.
