Our movie guy, John McCann, says audiences will appreciated the solid if unspectacular directorial debut for Aaron Sorkin with ‘Molly’s Game’…

The beginning of the calendar year is usually the best time to head to your local cinema to catch the solid, steady flow of award favourites and quality features that hit the big screen at this time.

The prospect of a fascinating biopic from the pen of an award-winning screenwriter who takes his place in the director’s chair for the first time — that includes a formidable cast — and it’s easy to understand that this latest production was not a difficult one to settle in for.

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Director Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Molly’s Game’ is the true story of Molly Bloom, a former Olympic skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons.

Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob.

Her only ally in this debacle was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned there was much more to Molly than the press led people to believe.

The movie starts in typical Sorkin style with his sassy, quick-witted and stylish script leaping steadfast from the big screen and engaging the viewer from the very first shot.

Jessica Chastain again proves what a top class talent she is by supplying a performance that is bound to have her in the conversation come awards season.

Idris Elba is also magnificent here proving that outside of those annoying Sky TV adverts lies a quite talented actor who can hold his own quite admirably amongst his contemporaries.

For the first 90 minutes the audience is treated to riveting and at times quite unbelievable tale, that has some sharp dialogue and strong performances and looks like it’s heading to be a great cinematic start to 2018.

But alas, the promise shown in the first two thirds of this film fades as Sorkin buckles under Hollywood pressure and delivers a limp ending with some scenes in particular sprinkled with extra cheese.

A feature that showed so much promise, unfortunately falls at the final hurdle.

There is enough in this production however, to ultimately entertain the masses who will undoubtedly be impressed with the leading actors performances and salute what was a valiant first time effort from first time director Sorkin.

3½/5

For more of John McCann’s movie reviews, check out his Facebook page here and website here