Colbridge

There's just about enough intrigue in David Koepp's efficient script to hold the attention in trying to decipher what is going on in Steven Soderbergh's underwhelming spy thriller which is more like a theatrical play than a cinematic experience.

All of the assembled cast do a sufficient job in delivering a very talky script. I especially liked Michael Fassbender's concise and measured performance as the spy ordered to get to the bottom of a leaked top secret software program that could jeopardise national security where his wife, Cate Blanchett, is one of the suspects.

For me Soderbergh never quite scratches my itch when he attempts to do 'cool' like he did with the Ocean trilogy. There's a cold aloofness that prevents me as a viewer to get completely wrapped up in the story he is trying to tell. Also with Black Bag I wasn't keen on the cinematography which looked like a creative decision to make most light sources seem diffused, presumably to make this look like an old fashioned espionage thriller from the 1960's. Fassbenders character certainly has shades of Harry Palmer to him, especially wearing those trademark black glasses.

Despite it being talky and smart it's not that taught and I would like to have seen a bit more action and a few surprise twists for there to be a better payoff for all the concentration the viewer has to endure to get to a rather mediocre finale.

If you enjoyed the change in tone for Basket Case 2 compared to the original you'll certainly like the second sequel as we have more of the same cartoonish freak show fun here with Henenlotter once again ramping up the humour and reducing the gore, apparently at the producers request. Basket Case 2 and 3 even look like they were filmed back to back although they weren't.

Annie Ross returns as Granny Ruth and pretty much holds proceedings together as we find her getting Duane released from a padded cell having once again had his conjoined brother Belial removed from his side after the gory finale of the previous entry. We don't see Belial until 35 mins in but what we do learn early on is that he is going to be a Father and Duane will be an Uncle as Eve the torso gives birth to several baby Belial's which is the result of the torrid sex scene witnessed in Basket Case 2.

The final showdown sees Belial face off with the Police who have killed Eve and locked up their offspring. His act of revenge provides some inventive gory moments and a closing message delivered by Ross that freaks of all kinds should be able to come out of the shadows and be accepted by society.

It's a fitting end to a strange uneven trilogy of films that began earnestly with some shock value in the seedy original but sadly degenerated into cartoon silliness with the last two entries. Kevin Van Hentenryck turns in another aloof performance as Duane but Jim O'Doherty as Little Jim steals the show, especially during the birth scene. The community of freaks however are less convincing with actors parading around in rubbery suits and an assortment of freakish heads. Henenlotter makes no effort to inject them with any personality, in fact hardly any of them utter a single word.

In most cases a low budget usually hampers a film but in this case it's the bigger budget that hindered the sequels. This feels more like a Charles Band effort with his trademark weird puppetry. If Henenlotter had to make do and mend and grind out a couple of sequels on a minuscule budget the same way as he did the first time around fans may have got the sequels they were expecting.

The sequel to the cult favourite Basket Case (1982) comes 8 years after the original with a bigger budget and more competent makeup effects but it all feels too clean and safe as it dispenses with the grindhouse squalor which gave the first film it's edge. Henenlotter probably welcomed the chance to improve on his original and who can blame him, at least this time he remembered to film it in widescreen, but the idea just morphs into a surreal freak show by dispensing with the real life grime of New York and relocating Duane and his deformed brother Belial to Granny Ruth's mansion who is housing a community of freaks to give them somewhere to live away from the media as the sequel picks up from where the original ended.

Annie Ross is perfect as Granny Ruth and the array of freaks she looks after as her extended family are more amusing and harmless than threatening or scary, and at times it looked like the Cantina scene in Star Wars. Henenlotter has definitely gone for a lighter tone here and revels in the freak show he has created, a nod to Tod Browning's controversial Freaks (1932) and Michael Winner's The Sentinel (1977).

Kevin Van Hentenryck returns as Duane, who doesn't seem quite as mentally disturbed as he did in the original with an uneven performance, tries to distance himself from brother Belial and find love with Ruth's granddaughter Susan, however there is trouble on the horizon when a reporter threatens to expose the lair. Granny Ruth and her army of freaks take action to keep their community private giving Belial the opportunity to cause more bloodshed and mayhem.

There are some strange and gruesome moments, especially in the finale, and a sex scene between Belial and Eve a bodyless torso that has to be seen to be believed, but the emphasis is more on humour which makes this a very different experience from the original. Even Belial has been upgraded in the puppetry department and doesn't look quite the same as he did. Basket Case 2 is almost a spoof of itself but to it's own detriment.