Review of Third Star (2010) by Scarlett G — 25 May 2011

James (Benedict Cumberbatch) is 29 and terminally ill with an unspecified cancer. After saying goodbye to his parents and sister he embarks upon a road trip with his friends - protective Davy (Tom Burke), free spirited Bill (Adam Robertson) and distant Miles (JJ Feild) to see his favourite place on Earth - Barafundle Bay.

Naturally it doesn't take long before things start to go badly wrong as the foursome have to deal with a pub brawl, missing possessions, the inclement weather, the unpredictability of the ramshackle cart they've created to help transport James and brutal home truths from James himself, who is determined to use the trip to try and get his friends to see that they are all under achieving in their lives.

Third Star is an engaging, beautiful looking movie featuring some truly impressive acting from its cast of British Bright Young Things - Benedict Cumberbatch and JJ Feild in particular are superb. The chemistry between the foursome rings true and the comedy is gentle and affectionate.

Visually the movie is stunning. The cinematography by Carlos Catalan is wonderful with the movie employing a beautiful palette of rich greens (all the foliage the cast have to trek through), vivid orange sunsets and the glistening blue of the sea. Never has a beach been made to look so mystical and so inviting. The movie certainly does justice to the beautiful Pembrokeshire scenery.

Hattie Dalton, in her feature film directorial debut, is an assured hand behind the camera. She directs the blokey comradeship between the foursome with ease and is equally adept when the film becomes much more solemn. There are some lovely lyrical, surreal flashes throughout that lend the film a dreamy quality - a white feather drifting in the breeze, a nasty local boy decked out in angel wings, an impromtu firework display.

The acting is superb. Benedict Cumberbatch in the potentially thankless role of James gives a wonderful performance that is, at times, incredibly difficult to watch. Rather bravely he never tries to gain the audience's sympathies as James. High on morphine and bitterly, furiously angry at the hand he has been dealt, James is a prickly, arrogant, frequently highly unlikeable character who displays flashes of real cruelty dispensing unwanted home truths and hurting those who care deeply for him. It's hard to watch him mock Davy's desire to be needed and useful or thoughtlessly decimate Bill's entire lifestyle with his words. The character's harsh edges keep sentimentality brutally at bay and yet while Cumberbatch never entreats the sympathy of the audience you nonetheless feel for James every step of the way. It would be a hard heart indeed that did not break, just a tiny bit, at the look of hurt and fear on Cumberbatch's face when Miles speaks of his views on the afterlife or wince at Bill's thoughtless assertion as to how they will.