Skip this lame Joy Division biopic and get 24 Hour Party People instead, which covers the same ground in about 40 minutes with considerable more invention and insight. Where Party People is is infectiously exhilarating, Control is plain dreary — and not in a consistently depressing way (Control doesn’t have the balls to go down that road), just in a badly paced film way. Ian Curtis was indeed a mopey bloke, but Control seems content to reduce his depression to generic marriage problems. Could we possibly get a portrayal of the man as an artist?
On the plus, Sam Riley is a dead ringer for Curtis. He’s got the doomsday vocals and bizarre stage elbow-swinging down pat. A shame the writing and direction lets him down so horribly. The script is awkward tonally, alternating between “I am so unhappy” voice over to cliche “daft wanker” quips like the flip of a switch. Director Corbijn is a photographer, so the black and white images are admittedly intriguing. Too bad his direction is sledgehammer subtle, most maddeningly exemplified in the on-the-nose musical cues. Cue the song “Control” when the wife is losing control of her husband, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” when… well you can guess. Stooopid.
Rating: 4/10
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