Quest for Redemption – Burnt Review

<p><strong><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Directed by&colon; John Wells<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Starring&colon; Bradley Cooper&comma; Sienna Miller&comma; Omar Sy&comma; Emma Thompson &amp&semi; Uma Thurman<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"><strong>Genre&colon; Comedy&comma; Drama<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"><strong>Strapline&colon; Never underestimate a man with nothing to lose<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wsite-content-title">In a nutshell&colon;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Adam Jones is a chef who destroyed his career with drugs and a diva lifestyle&period; He cleans up and returns to London&comma; determined to redeem himself by spearheading a top restaurant that can gain three Michelin stars&period;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wsite-content-title">My thoughts&colon;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">The last time I saw Bradley Cooper he was lying astride his <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">McMillan TAC-338 sniper rifle as he portrayed Navy S&period;E&period;A&period;L Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood&&num;8217&semi;s much talked about <em>American Sniper &lpar;2014&rpar;&period; <&sol;em>This time round Cooper swaps the desert for the dessert&period; He may not be in a war but is very much still in the firing line&period; <em>Burnt<&sol;em> is a story of one man&&num;8217&semi;s redemption&comma; as he claws his way back from hell&period; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Adam Jones who was once a leading Head Chef in a chic well known Parisian restaurant&comma; blew it all&period; Heading into a downward spiral of a battle with drugs&comma; drink and a string of women&period; Now Jones is back&comma; in London with one thing on his mind&comma; 3 <span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Michelin <&sol;span>stars<&sol;span>&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;94761" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-94761" style&equals;"width&colon; 509px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04114201&sol;burnt-pic-4&period;png"><img class&equals;" wp-image-94761" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04114201&sol;burnt-pic-4&period;png" alt&equals;"Burnt&sol; Weinstein Company " width&equals;"509" height&equals;"294" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-94761" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Burnt&comma; Weinstein Company&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">I enjoyed <em>Burnt<&sol;em>&comma; Bradley Cooper equites himself very well in the lead role&period; Coming from a hotel and catering background myself I have come up against my fair share of Head Chefs&period; Cooper channels the intensity of this very stressful role well and is convincing as the fastidious chef&period; Also given my time in France&comma; I appreciated the use of French at times during the film&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;94760" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-94760" style&equals;"width&colon; 522px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04114210&sol;burnt-pic-1&period;png"><img class&equals;" wp-image-94760" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04114210&sol;burnt-pic-1&period;png" alt&equals;"Burnt&sol; Weinstein Company" width&equals;"522" height&equals;"320" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-94760" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Burnt&comma; Weinstein Company&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Best in support is <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Daniel Brühl<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"> as Tony the restaurant&&num;8217&semi;s M<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">aître d&&num;8217&semi;hôtel<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">&period; Sienna Miller also provides solid support as Helene&comma; Jones&&num;8217&semi;s Sous-chef who&&num;8217&semi;s also a single mom&period; Miller who also portrayed Cooper&&num;8217&semi;s onscreen wife in <em>American Sniper<&sol;em>&period; Unfortunately where Burnt falls down in regards to its casting is that it fails to really utilize the likes of some big stars such as Emma Thompson&comma; Alicia Vikander and Uma Thurman&period; Uma Thurman&&num;8217&semi;s character barely registers a pulse in her fleeting cameo as a restaurant critic&period; The same can also be said for Lilly James<em> &lpar;Cinderella&rpar; <&sol;em>as a girlfriend of one of Jones&&num;8217&semi;s team&period; Only Thompson just about manages to get enough to make her time worthwhile&period;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">To start Burnt is a relatively slow burn&comma; but as the camaraderie of Adam Jones&&num;8217&semi;s team start to coalesce like one of their sauces&comma; things start to click into place&period; As a result&comma; come the third act I was really into the team&&num;8217&semi;s quest to achieve the illustrious grade of excellence&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Other than casting as mentioned above my other issues with <em>Burnt <&sol;em>would be that as ultimately it&&num;8217&semi;s a story of redemption it&&num;8217&semi;s pretty predictable&comma; and there is a sidebar story line of Cooper&&num;8217&semi;s character owing some money to a drug kingpin that was largely superfluous&period; But due to good direction by John Wells &lpar;Who among other things was an exec-producer on <em>The West Wing<&sol;em>&rpar;&comma; a script by Steven Knight <em>&lpar;Locke&rpar;<&sol;em> and a great central turn I was invested&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s also well shot and like Jon Favreau&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Chef<&sol;em> &lpar;2014&rpar; makes excellent use of its culinary theme&period; Don&&num;8217&semi;t watch this on an empty stomach or alternatively stock up at the confectionery stand before hand&period; However the reason why Burnt shines is that behind it&&num;8217&semi;s obvious setting&comma; themes such as rejection&comma; determination and redemption strike a chord with us all&period;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;94764" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-94764" style&equals;"width&colon; 734px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04114150&sol;burnt-pic-41&period;png"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-94764" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;04114150&sol;burnt-pic-41&period;png" alt&equals;"Burnt&sol; Weinstein Company " width&equals;"734" height&equals;"357" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-94764" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Burnt&comma; Weinstein Company&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wsite-content-title">My Rating &ZeroWidthSpace;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wsite-image wsite-image-border-none ">&NewLine;<p><a> <img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;carletonrutter&period;com&sol;uploads&sol;4&sol;0&sol;4&sol;1&sol;40414605&sol;3275725&period;png&quest;159" alt&equals;"Picture" &sol;> <&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&ZeroWidthSpace;<span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Waiting for the some of the big hitters to swing our way later this month&comma; you can do a lot worse than checking out <em>Burnt<&sol;em>&period; With good direction&comma; a good script and a strong central turn from Cooper with excellent support from <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Brühl<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"> and Miller it&&num;8217&semi;s a decent movie&period; Although it&&num;8217&semi;s ultimately predictable I think I&&num;8217&semi;m fairly safe to say you won&&num;8217&semi;t get Burnt&period; <&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;