Film Review: Benedict Cumberbatch’s Riveting Work Makes ‘Third Star’ a Must-See

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CHICAGO – Though Benedict Cumberbatch has been delivering fine work in film and television for the past decade, he hadn’t received a great deal of attention until last year, when he played strikingly diverse characters in Oscar bait such as “War Horse” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” while earning legions of fans on BBC’s “Sherlock.” He’s such a deft chameleon that it’s easy for audiences to overlook his formidable body of work.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

In Hattie Dalton’s “Third Star,” which is currently available via On Demand, Cumberbatch delivers the sort of performance that would be considered a Best Actor front-runner this awards season—had it been delivered by George Clooney. As James, a 29-year-old man stricken with cancer, Cumberbatch is utterly wrenching without ever once settling for easy clichés. Though he says early on that, “The sickness may be mine but the tragedy is there’s,” referring to his loved ones, it’s clear that he desires more life than his body can give him. Hence, he’s in dire need of escape.

Read Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “Third Star” in our reviews section.

Much of the action takes place on the rugged coastal terrain of Barafundle Bay in West Wales, where James’s three friends have taken him for what they hope will be a life-giving vacation. Davy (Tom Burke) is currently unemployed and has been putting all of his effort into assisting his ailing and increasingly frail friend. Bill (Adam Robertson) is in the midst of a relationship that has escalated in its seriousness, yet has left him feeling ambivalent and uncertain. Miles (JJ Feild) is an icy intellectual whose once-close friendship with James was a victim of competitiveness (both men are writers). He has no qualms with sharing his disbelief in an afterlife and doesn’t bother sugar-coating it either. In fact, the entire picture had a refreshing lack of sentimentality. Vaughan Sivell’s dialogue includes the sort of scathing observations that are so brutal, they could only be said among friends without leading to a fistfight (though the film has no shortage of those). At a slim 92 minutes, the film is a trifle overcrowded with dramatic revelations, violent outbursts and a rich assortment of emotional baggage. There are elements of comedy as well, though the obscene wrongheadedness of the characters’ trip destination is a bit difficult to swallow. They couldn’t have picked a worse place to bring a dying man, apart from the morgue. The expected complications that arise threaten to tear the friends apart, as they angrily hurl numerous valuable possessions into the water, including common sense.

Continue reading for Matt Fagerholm’s full “Third Star” review.

JJ Feild, Tom Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch and Adam Robertson star in Hattie Dalton’s Third Star.
Photo credit: Western Edge Pictures