Having
struck gold with Carrie in 1976 Brian De Palma followed through two
years later with another flick centred on psychic powers. The Fury
stars Kirk Douglas as ex-CIA agent Peter Sandza, committed to finding
his son Robin who’s been abducted by a branch of the CIA who are
trying to manipulate the young man’s telekinetic abilities. It’s
more thriller than psychological horror but the tension is not
sustained throughout due to drop outs in pace. This is down to
scripting; the story and especially some of the dialogue is mediocre,
expositional stuff. What marks The Fury out is Richard H. Kline’s
cinematography and De Palmas obvious direction in that respect. The
camera is working in every scene, manipulating angles to represent
tensions within the shot, using unusual set ups and pans to cover
straight forward action. Technically the film is extraordinary in
places but it hangs on a middle of the road narrative arc. It’s as
if De Palma is constantly working against the downward pull of the
script, trying to lift it back up into something worth watching. 
While Douglas at times seems out of place John Cassavetes as Ben
Childress, the baddie CIA man, is exceptional and leeringly sinister.
Amy Irving and Andrew Stevens both give great performances as
adolescents confused, emotional and weighed down with powers they
can’t fully comprehend. Indeed there’s probably scope for some
amateur psychological analysis paralleling their characters’
journeys to the hormonal transition from teenager to young adult.
Thankfully most teenagers don’t end up making people explode
Scanners style because they’re in a mood.
Tarantino
tackles World War II in an escapade that’s very much indebted to
comic books, as usual, and also films like the Dirty Dozen and
Merril’s Marauders. The stand out performance is Hans Lamda as the
“Jew Hunter” Nazi whose casual menace is palpable. Each chapter
is a set piece much like Pulp Fiction or indeed any Tarantino movie
really but this isn’t just business as usual. Tarantino is
employing his style with a level of self awareness and tact learned
from his previous films and he’s at the height of his powers. Each
time I see this film I get a little closer to considering it his
best. He manages to balance the adult horror of fascism and violence
of war with the little boy excitement and adventure of those old
comics like Warlord, Victor or Commando. Neither suffocates the other
and the result is an exciting and funny war movie that doesn’t side
step the terrible reality and brutality of humans killing each other.
Roddy
Piper is a homeless construction worker living on handouts from a
missionary in Los Angeles. How he manages to stay so buff and trim
and keep his immaculate hair I’ll never know but after finding a
box of magic sunglasses he discovers a hidden truth about the reality
of the world around us. Advertisements subliminal messages are
revealed in big bold font CONSUME, OBEY, CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP.
The glasses also allow him to see aliens in their true form walking
around amongst humanity and seemingly in control of everything. It’s
a great analogy for a ruling class that dominates the general public
through the illusion of freedom. On the surface everything is fine, a
functioning democratic society but in reality the rich are an ugly,
alien race subjugating humanity through media manipulation and a
consumer led, capitalist system of illusory comfort.
It’s a
huge swipe at how we have constructed society for ourselves and
there’s much deeper thinking that could be done on the subject but
the film sets up the premise and then steps away from any expanded
commentary in favour of good old kicking ass. They Live is late 80’s
trashy, pulp fiction with a paper thin plot that plays out for action
and one liners and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. The
beauty of this film is that it is so light in terms of narrative but
at its core is a clanger of science fiction thinking. In anyone
else’s hands the movie could have been a complete duffer but
Carpenter uses the force of the underlying ideological punch to carry
the muslin thin narrative along to its heroic conclusion.
The
second stand alone film in the now Disney owned Star Wars Universe
seems like a winner on paper – focusing on the back story of one of
the franchises favourite characters whose edgy roguishness should
allow far more scope and depth of exploration in terms of motivations
and morals. There’s potential for some light and humour in the
early days of Han Solo to counter the darkness and strife in the
backgrounds of other major figures like Luke and Leia. Given that the
first effort, Rogue One, very much stepped away from the typical
framework of a Star Wars film and was more or less a war movie I was
expecting something special with the Solo flick but it was not to be.
The film reverts to well worn cinematic paths and becomes a lesson in
box ticking for fans more than anything else. How did he get his name
– check, how did he meet Chewbacca – check, how did he make the
Kessel run in 12 parsecs – check (albeit an ironically long and
convoluted check). It lacks pizzazz and is trapped in its own formula
as not much unexpected happens, it’s an action adventure romp but
it fails to be imaginative within the confines of that framework.
Maybe it’s due to the production problems that saw the original
directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller fired and replaced by Ron
Howard, who knows?
Picking
up more or less where the original Incredibles movie left off
fourteen years ago the sequel maintains the blend of domestic soap
opera and superhero PR issues. The Parr family have their security
jeopardised by the shutdown of the Superhero Relocation Program which
is perfect timing for an offer from the hotshot brother and sister
team of DevTech to work together to swing public opinion in favour of
superheroes. Elastigirl is chosen to spearhead the media campaign
leaving Mr. Incredible to stay at home and mind the kids. The whole
crisis of masculinity involved in Bob as stay at home dad is quite
frankly shockingly anachronistic in 2018 but it’s a kid’s movie
and it’s played for laughs so we’re not supposed to take it
seriously right? Way to go for pushing against gender stereotypes.
Anyway the mysterious Screenslaver becomes the foil to the superhero
renaissance with a massive sting in the tale. If you enjoyed the
first one you should like this too. It does run a bit long and
outside of my male indignation at the dad struggles to be mum stuff I
liked it a lot.
Michael
Caine goes all Chuck Bronson in this London vigilante tale but he has
quite a few years on his Death Wish predecessor so it’s more bus
pass and pension than Smith and Wesson, not unlike Eastwood in the
previous year’s Gran Torino really. At its heart Harry Brown is a
revenge story as Caine takes on a local gang of hoodied youths in a
sequence of events that become ever more bloody and tense. It’s all
a bit over the top and the bleakness of the lives and surroundings on
display coupled with full on torture and violence diminish any chance
of spinning it for a laugh. The narrative is too restrictive to pass
as decent social comment so you’re left with a slightly absurd set
up that plays out in an overly dramatic way. Michael Caine is
absolutely brilliant as the aggrieved old codger though and his
performance is worth the admission price alone.
An
initially decent premise devolves into run of the mill war movie
stuff with a gang of soldiers in skirmish after skirmish without any
real development of plot. It tries to be a visceral war experience in
the context of an alien invasion which is fine but without any
knowledge of why the invasion is happening and the only motivation
being to stay alive the only story is people running around trying to
do just that, stay alive. This works in a film like Independence Day
because the time is taken to develop both characters and the tension
of unexpected, unexplained alien presence before the attack. The tub
thumping, glorious American soldiers saving the day hokum just adds
to the annoyance of a vacuous script. It’s got lots of explosions
and action with not much else going on.
I don’t
really follow the whole Marvel/DC comics to film universe thing but I
used to read comics like X-Men from time to time as a kid so I have a
general awareness of most of the superheroes involved. However when I
saw Taika Waititi’s name against the latest Thor instalment I
didn’t need any further encouragement to give it a watch. Luckily
this is a standalone story with enough of a recap that you can dive
in without having seen the previous film. The first thing that hits
home is the action; it’s full on, high octane and fun. Full of
laughs and not afraid to be irreverent this has got Waititi all over
it. Style and look wise it nods towards the Guardians of the Galaxy a
little bit which is grand. It’s great to see this director get his
hands on a big budget franchise and put his stamp on it but without
taking away from the source material. Bending it to his slant just
enough to create something unique within an established brand. It’s
a couple of hours of kick ass fun.
One of
the abiding mysteries of the world is how Nicholas Cage could
squander the potential and talent he showed early on in his career in
a series of big budget ham hocked dribble inducing action flicks. But
then again maybe it’s not that mysterious if one looks at the
paychecks involved. Anyway this is a big budget ham hocked dribble
inducing action flick about a girl accused of being a witch in the
plague ridden times of the crusades. Cue Cage and Ron Perlman as
retired knights who undertake to escort her across Europe to a remote
monastery and a series of escapades on the way ensue. The mood and
look of the scenes are the best thing in it, everything and everyone
else seems to be a by the numbers on autopilot affair.
It’s
hard to imagine Gareth Evans coming close to the action and
excitement of his first Raid movie but he does it and even goes
beyond it. Picking up right where the The Raid finished we see Rama
getting recruited as an undercover agent to infiltrate the Bangun
crime gang. There’s a lot more story here and events tip along
nicely with building tension and bursts of violence. Unlike the first
movie which had a single goal driving the plot this sequel has to
open out several different strands and weave them together whilst
replicating the momentum and dynamic of the fighting. It does it
really well, the story holds together and the fight scenes are a step
above the earlier episode using a lot more visual gags and various
settings and stunt set ups to elaborate on. If you enjoyed the first
Raid you should have no complaint with this one either.
Right
from the get go Last Jedi lays down a marker that things in the Star
Wars universe are changing. Luke Skywalker nonchalantly tosses his
old light sabre over his shoulder and storms off past Rey. We aren’t
going to be taking things as seriously as before and we are going to
have a bit of fun. For the most part it stays true to this throughout
the rest of the movie without over egging it on the comedy side of
things and also maintaining a decent amount of respect for what’s
gone before. But there is a clear message that Star Wars, under
Disney, is going to change and break away from the past and it will
be done with good humour. There are constant references in dialogue
to doing just that, letting go of the past, facing a brave a new
future etc but then the entire closing section of the film is a
rehash of the Empire Strikes Back scenes on Hoth. This jars a little,
especially after two hours of meandering between the light and dark
sides of the force. Don’t get me wrong, the story as a whole holds
up and engages but it is overlong for a kids movie. I’m all for
throwing bones to the kidult nerd fans but Star Wars is a franchise
aimed squarely at kids and my nine and seven year olds both agreed it
was a long haul. My wife thought it was fine however, just for
balance, you know, in the force and all that... It’s not the best
Star Wars movie but neither is it the worst. There were a few
questions running through my head with it but to be honest, at this
point, I’m happy just to watch and enjoy new Star Wars flicks with
my family and not trouble over them too much. For what it’s worth
my ranking of the episodes goes thus: 5, 4, 6, 7, 3, 8, 1, 2.
Based on
real events but widely accepted as exaggerating some details Lone
Survivor focuses on action over character and as a result loses out
on any real emotional punch. The photos of real marines which pepper
the opening and closing credits make for an awkward grab at our
heartstrings; that sense of pride in men going to fight a good war
instead of coming across as genuine becomes ham fisted as the main
characters are paper thin. Without any depth to the men involved in
the mission, which is a failure almost from the start, the intensity
of the fire fight becomes the crux of the film and reduces the movie
to a mere action flick dressed up in stars and stripes chest beating.
It’s a pity because it’s an extraordinary and sad story of a
mission gone awry and could have been a far greater reflection on the
US interests and actions in Afghanistan. But it does capture the
ferociousness and panic of a close quarters gun battle in a quite
visceral way, it does that one thing really well.
A by the
book action comedy about a stoner who, unbeknownst to himself, is a
dormant CIA agent and has to come to terms with his past when rival
CIA factions clash over a decision to terminate him. Much hilarity
ensues when he is triggered by a CIA operative looking out for him
and he springs into action against his assailants. It’s The Bourne
Identity meets Cheech and Chong and whilst there’s nothing new here
it is a decent fish out of water hi jinx spy caper. There are solid
performances from Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg and a few laugh
out loud moments but it’s really just a rehash of various other
flicks (see Kick Ass, Nikita, Bourne etc). Overall it doesn’t gel
together in places but tips along at a fast enough pace to keep you
watching til the end.
Made at
the height of disaster movie mania and initially scripted by Mario
Puzo of Godfather fame this one is far too much character orientated
for my liking. The special effects of the earthquake and the
individual catastrophes are grand but the action is secondary to the
soap opera of the main players’ lives. I understand the need for
empathy in the audience and motivation on screen but honestly I’m
more interested in seeing LA fall apart than Charlton Heston’s
marriage. That’s the point of disaster movies isn’t it? There’s
a brilliant cameo by Walter Matthau as the drunk in the bar though.