Movie Review: Dark Shadows

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Movie Review: Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows *** Directed by: Tim Burton.
Written by: Seth Grahame-Smith and John August based on the television series by Dan Curtis.
Starring: Johnny Depp (Barnabas Collins), Michelle Pfeiffer (Elizabeth Collins Stoddard), Helena Bonham Carter (Dr. Julia Hoffman), Eva Green (Angelique Bouchard), Jackie Earle Haley (Willie Loomis), Jonny Lee Miller (Roger Collins), Bella Heathcote (Victoria Winters / Josette DuPres), Chloë Grace Moretz (Carolyn Stoddard), Gulliver McGrath (David Collins), Ray Shirley (Mrs. Johnson), Christopher Lee (Clarney), Alice Cooper (Alice Cooper).

Dark Shadows is a prototypical Tim Burton film – which is both good and bad. It has everything you have come to expect from Burton – the dark, meticulously designed art direction, costumes and ,cinematography, his quirky, outsider of a hero played by Johnny Depp, sexy, big eyed, slender statuesque, pale women, and his mixture of comedy and the macabre. But like many of his films, Burton is more concerned with the design and look of his film, than the story itself. For much of its running time, Dark Shadows is an amusing fish out of water comedy, with a very slight story. The result is that the last half hour or so of Dark Shadows is an absolute mess – as Burton tries to wrap up all the loose story threads he barely focused on for the first three quarters of the movie. It is an unsatisfying way to end an otherwise enjoyable little Burton film.

Baranbas Collins (Depp) was the son of wealthy parents in the 1700s in America. The Collins make their money in the fishing business – but Baranbas makes a crucial mistake by having an affair with a servant named Angelique (Eva Green) – and then jilting her for another woman he intends to marry. What Baranbas doesn’t know is that Angelique is a witch – and when she cannot have him, she intends to not let anyone else have him either – killing his fiancé and turning him into a vampire, before burying him deep in a coffin to let him suffer. Two centuries later, in 1972, workmen uncover the coffin, and Baranbas escapes – determined to rejoin the once proud Collins family, no fallen on hard times, and remake their business. What he doesn’t know is that Angelique is still around, and is now a captain of industry in their small town.

Burton and Depp have a great deal of fun with Baranbas waking up after 200 years in the ground, and not being familiar with all that has gone in the preceding years – from thinking the McDonalds sign is representative of the Satan, to his confusion about the TV and the lack of horses that have been replaced by cars, and confusing his free spirited teenage ancestor Carolyn (Chloe Grace Mortez) for a prostitute. Depp, who enjoys going over the top in his performances for Burton, is clearly having a blast playing Baranbas – and that seeps into the other performances as well – Michelle Pfeiffer as the slightly sinister Collins matriarch, Helena Bonham Carter as a drunken psychologist, Mortez as the teenage girl with a secret and of course Green as the witch. Everyone is having a blast in the movie, which is usually a good sign that the audience will have fun as well.

The film looks great – of course it does, since it is a Burton film. He loves large, sinister houses and in Collinswood, the dilapidated family mansion, he has created one of the better ones of his career. He also has a blast recreating the style of the 1700s in the early scenes, and throughout with Barnabas’ clothing, but also the look of the 1970s – as he pumps through a lot of period music throughout, which sets the tone well.

The problem with Dark Shadows is that Burton and his writers (Seth Grahme-Smith and John August) have so much fun setting up comedic set pieces, and fish out of water moments, that the story itself is paper thin. The film has so many little subplots that are barely developed, and then when it comes to the climax of the movie, they have to wrap them all up. The fight sequences that end the film, as well as the monster movie like villagers, doesn’t really fit in. What fans of the soap opera that is the basis of this film will make of the film I have no idea – I have never seen an episode. But Burton really does go melodramatic in his tone for the film, but then pushes it into comedic territory. I think that was the right choice. While I do think that the last half hour of Dark Shadows is an absolute mess, I enjoyed so much of what came before, I cannot dislike the movie as a whole. At this point in Burton’s career, we know what to expect of him – and Burton delivers exactly what you would expect in this film. So you probably already know whether this film is for you or not.

Movie Review: The Hunter

Movie Review: The Hunter

The Hunter *** ½ Directed by: Daniel Nettheim.
Written by: Alice Addison & Wain Fimeri based on the novel by Julia Leigh.
Starring: Willem Dafoe (Martin David), Sam Neill (Jack Mindy), Frances O'Connor (Lucy Armstrong), Sullivan Stapleton (Doug), Callan Mulvey (Rival Hunter), Morgana Davies (Sass Armstrong), Dan Spielman (Simon), Finn Woodlock (Bike Armstrong).

The Hunter of the title is Martin (Willem Dafoe), a mercenary who is hired by a shadowy corporation to head to the forest of Tasmania and find the Tasmanian Tiger – an animal thought to be extinct ever since the 1930s. There are still reported sightings of the animal – which despite his name is not a cat, and despite its appearance is not a dog – for years, and even more recently. His job is to find and kill this animal, collecting samples of its fur, tissue, blood and organs, and make sure no one else can find the remains. He arrives, and finds the living arrangements that have been set up for him are not ideal – he is to stay with Lucy (Frances O’Connor) and her two kids – daughter Sass, who never shuts up, and son Bike, who never says a word. The house is a mess, and has no electricity. Lucy’s husband has been missing for a year – and he wasn’t too popular when he was around. The only business here is logging, and he was a tree hugger. Martin’s cover story – of a university professor studying Tasmanian devils – doesn’t hold much water. The locals are weary of him – they think he’s either there to be a thorn in their side about logging, or is the latest in a long line of people hunting the tiger. Either way, they don’t want anything to do with him. If local Jack Mindy (Sam Neill) didn’t keep them off of him, there seems like a great possibility that Martin would be killed.

The Hunter really tells two stories – one more interesting than the other, but both effective. The better of the two is of Dafoe’s Martin by himself in the wilderness stalking his prey. These scenes are quiet and fascinating, as we watch Dafoe, surrounded by nothingness, going about his work like an expert. The other story line is about Martin slowly bonding with Lucy and her kids. Lucy has been depressed ever since her husband disappeared and has been on drugs ever since. The kids have essentially been left to fend for themselves – their friend Jack helps out, but there is something in Sam Neill that makes him instantly untrustworthy. As he spends more time with this broken family, they start to heal – Lucy comes out of her depression, and they become a sort of makeshift family, and Martin begins to rediscover his humanity. He doesn’t become a good guy per se, but he’s better than he was.

What I admired about the film is how ambiguous it is. This is not a black and white film, where the lines between good and evil are clear, but is instead blurred. The film does not spell everything out for the audience – what really happened to the husband is clear, but how it happened is, and the same is true about a tragic incident late in the film. While Neill’s Jack is certainly not as trustworthy as he appears to be, he isn’t really a villain either – he does what he thinks is right and feels guilt when things go wrong. Lucy is certainly not a good mother, loading herself up with drugs, and leaving her kids to fend themselves when they need her most – and yet, you feel for her too. She doesn’t know how to go on. Even the local loggers, so surly and mean, are just men worried about their jobs and families – even if they have perhaps gone too far to protect them both.

And nowhere is this ambiguity more apparent than in Martin’s character – and Dafoe’s excellent performance. Dafoe has often been called on to play villains – he has a face that can easily contort into a sort of evil madness. But remember, he also once played Jesus Christ, and he often has a Christ-like serenity to his work. This is apparent in his scenes out in the wilderness. His character is forced to confront his life, and the choices he has made to this point. When he finally is confronted by the choice the whole movie has been leading to, he makes one that some will likely to hate, and some applaud. The movie leaves that choice up to you to decide.

The Hunter is a quiet movie, and one that lets the audience do most of the work. It is anchored by Dafoe’s performance, but credit must also go to director Daniel Nettheim, who walks the fine line between slow and boring wonderfully, and Alice Addison’s screenplay, based on Julia Leigh’s novel. Some will hate The Hunter, some will love it. But no matter what, it is a film that sticks in your head.

Ranking Tim Burton

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Ranking Tim Burton

Tim Burton is one of the most distinctive directors working today – even if you hate his films and many do, you have to admit, you know a Burton film when you see one. It seems to be pretty evenly split as to people who love his stuff, and people who think they are empty vessels with nothing but the same visual look every time out. I am more mixed then most – I enjoy most of his films, but do not love very many – many are enjoyable the first time through, but find don’t find much reason to revisit them after that first time. It has been 27 years since he made film debut, and this week, we’ll see his 15^th feature in Dark Shadows. So let’s look back and what has come before that. (By the way, Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorites that Burton has been involved with – but he didn’t direct it, so it’s not on this list).

14. Planet of the Apes (2001)

Perhaps the harshest thing I can say about Burton’s Planet of the Apes is that it doesn’t for a second feel like a Tim Burton film. If Burton is going to make a movie, he damn well better put his own spin on it, but this Planet of the Apes doesn’t feel like his – it doesn’t feel like anyone’s for that matter, just another anonymous would be blockbuster. Mark Wahlberg is a bland hero, Helena Bonham Carter not a very convincing ape love interest. I did love Tim Roth’s over the top villain, and the twist ending works, because while it’s similar to the twist of the original film, it isn’t the same. Still, when I see a Tim Burton film, I want to see a Tim Burton film – and this is the one film that doesn’t feel like his own.

13. Peewee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Burton’s film debut is scattershot, but at times, absolutely hilarious. Overgrown man child Pee-Wee Herman has his beloved red bike stolen, and goes on a cross country journey to try and track it down – and meets some strange people along the way, and ends up in pretty strange places (like the Alamo). The movie is almost more like a series of comic vignettes than a complete film. Yes, at times it is hilarious, and remains a must for a certain type of film fan, but for me it perhaps Burton’s least complete film. Enjoyable yes, but a great film, no.

12. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

There is probably not another director working today who I would rather see direct a live action version of Alice in Wonderland. Burton puts a kind of unique spin on the material – a quasi-sequel to Lewis Carroll’s classic if you will, because now Alice is older, and returning to a Wonderland she doesn’t remember – but certainly remembers her. But for whatever reason, this Alice is not wholly satisfying – perhaps it’s because Johnny Depp seems to be trying too hard to be too crazy as the Mad Hatter. The last act, which for whatever reason decides to pile on the action instead of keeping its demented fairy tale tone, certainly does not help. Alice in Wonderland is still a good film – enjoyable to see once, especially to see Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as The Red Queen, but still I have to say, I was a little let down by this one.

11. Beetle Juice (1988)

Michael Keaton is brilliant as Beetlegeuse, a demon who specializes in “exorcising the living”, which a newly dead couple desperately need when a new family moves into their house, and they want rid of him. He goes brilliantly over the top as the demented ghoul, in the first film that truly showed what a Tim Burton film would look like – and it does look great from start to finish. The problem is, Keaton is a supporting character, and no one else is as interesting as he is – when he’s off screen, you wait for him to get back. Yes, it’s enjoyable, but if I run across it on TV now, and it’s a scene not involving Keaton, I breeze right on by.

10. Batman (1989)

When I revisited Burton’s original Batman film a few years ago – on the eve of the release of Batman Begins – I was somewhat disappointed. I hadn’t seen the film is years, but it certainly had an effect on me as a kid. And Jack Nicholson’s performance as The Joker is still a thing twisted comic genius. And the Gotham City Burton invents is as distinct a visual environment as he has ever created. And yet, everything around The Joker was somewhat disappointing, not as good or as magical as I remembered as a child. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia playing tricks on me, but while I can continue to watch Batman Returns again and again and again, I won’t be revisiting the original any time soon.

9. Big Fish (2003)

Big Fish was Burton’s attempt to be taken a little more seriously as an artist – and yet, it is still undeniably his film. It is about a dying old man (Albert Finney), who has been telling tall tales about his life to his son (Billy Crudup) for his whole life – and now, as he lies dying, his son finally wants to hear the truth – but Finney, of course, cannot help but embellish his life, and the romance between him and his wife. Seen in flashback, Ewan McGregor is a young Finney, who goes from one outlandish experience to the next. It is an enjoyable journey, and visually exciting just like all of Burton’s films. And yet, despite the fact that Burton is trying to be more serious here than in the past, the film feels even emptier than much of his work. Yes, Big Fish is fun, but it doesn’t really add up to as much as Burton thinks it does.

8. Mars Attacks! (1996)

Tim Burton followed up his tribute to the “worst director in history”, Ed Wood, with a film that feels like Wood could have directed it. It is a purposefully cheesy homage to the not purposefully cheesy 1950s sci-fi movies that Wood, and other made, and which Burton loved so much as a child. And taken as a purposefully cheesy comedy, Mars Attacks is utterly hilarious – with its aliens with their oversized heads, who vaporize humanity, to Jack Nicholson’s delirious triple performance, to the over acting by the entire cast, and of course, the brilliantly nonsensical way the human defeat the Martian invaders. I know many hate Mars Attacks, and I cannot really argue with those who do, but I find it hilarious if I’m in the right mood.

7. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005)

Burton may not have had a directing credit on The Nightmare Before Christmas, but he certainly took the lessons he learned from it (not to mention his early short films, like the brilliant Vincent) to direct so far his only animated feature. His films are so stylized; they often resemble live action animated films anyway. His distinctive look makes this animated film – about a shy young man (voiced by Johnny Depp, of course) who is set to marry the woman he loves, but accidentally ends up marrying a corpse instead. This film does not have quite the same magic of Nightmare Before Christmas, but it is still one of the most entertaining films Burton has made – uniquely his own, funny, stunningly animated, and a couple of nice songs to go along with it.

6. Sweeny Todd (2007)

As someone who loves the stage version of Sweeny Todd – a brilliant musical by Stephen Sondheim, it took me a little while – and more than one viewing – to truly fall in love with Burton's film version. The musical is a very demanding, difficult one for singers – that requires big, versatile singing voices, and I have to be honest, and say that Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter do not have those voices. And yet, on a second viewing, knowing that these two weren’t going to go big with their voices, the creepiness of their underlying performances came through – Depp as the demented barber hell-bent on revenge, and Bonham Carter as the pathetic woman who loves him. I’m still not sold on the two young lovers – which Burton never makes as crazy as they should be (they are, in a different way, as insane as the central characters), and yet I did love the visual look of the film, and I eventually fell in love with the lead performances. I have seen this a few times in the last five years, and its perhaps the only Burton film I feel gets better each time I see it.

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

I know what I am about to say will be seen by somewhat blasphemy, but yes, I prefer the Burton/Depp version of Roald Dahl’s classic more than the Mel Stuart/Gene Wilder version – and it’s mainly because of Depp’s wildly eccentric, daring performance as Willy Wonka. Unlike Wilder’s performance, where he is somewhat lovably eccentric, Depp turns Willy Wonka into a creepy, sad little man. He is essentially an overgrown man child, prone to cruel, sadistic, childish outbursts. Depp is said to have been inspired by Michael Jackson, and it shows in his performance – his Willy Wonka is as creepy as I always though Jackson was. Of course, the Chocolate Factory allows Burton to indulge in his usual over the top, yet brilliant, art direction, costume design and cinematography – and Freddie Highmore is appropriately lovable as young Charlie, but to me, Depp elevates the movie with his brilliant performance. I know many hate his performance, but I could not help but love it.

4. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Sleepy Hollow is absolutely wonderful comic horror film – a masterpiece of art direction, costume design and cinematography that make it perhaps the most visually distinctive of all of Burton’s films. Johnny Depp makes a wonderful Ichabod Crane, ahead of his time in terms of forensic science, who uses devices of his own design (the creepiest looking fictional tools this side of Dead Ringers) to investigate a series of deaths that the locals of Sleepy Hollow insist were committed by the Headless Horseman – which of course Crane does not believe. When he finally does see it with his own eyes – he does the only logical thing – hide under his covers. The ending of the movie is too conventional, and yet, you have to admit that any explanation for how and why a headless horseman is committing murders would be somewhat unsatisfying. Still, Sleepy Hollow is a visual masterwork – and contains one of Depp’s best performances.

3. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Edward Scissorhands is the saddest of all Tim Burton films – and Tim Burton characters. Played by Johnny Depp, the title character is the creation of a mad scientist (Vincent Price, of course), who finds himself abandoned and alone, not knowing what to do with his life after the death of his father – and finding himself trapped in suburbia, with a strange, but loving family – but a world that does not want him. This is Burton’s take on the monster movies he loved in his youth – when the monsters were objects of sympathy, who simply did not understand why the world hated them so much. It is also a visual wonder of a film. This was Johnny Depp’s first appearance in a Burton film – and remains one of his best. His performance is silent, but heartbreaking, in one of the only Burton films I can watch again and again and not get bored.

2. Batman Returns (1992)

This will likely be the most controversial placement on this list for many people – but for me, Batman Returns remains one of Burton’s very best films, miles  beyond the original film, and so creepy that every time I see it, it brings me back to my 11 year old self who was freaked out by the film. Michael Keaton is fine as Batman, but the Burton Batman films were always about the villains. Danny DeVito’s demented penguin is an absolute treat – even if he bears no resemblance the comic book villain. But for me, this film will always be defined by my favorite performance by Michelle Pfeiffer ever, as Catwoman. That cat suit remains transfixed in my mind, as does the sexy purr of her voice. The film is exciting from beginning to end, dark violent, creepy – another visual masterwork by Burton – but it is elevated by Pfeiffer well beyond most superhero movies. I do not envy Anne Hathaway, who has big shoes to fill this summer in The Dark Knight Returns.

 

1. Ed Wood (1994)

I don’t think Burton is ever going to top his 1994 film Ed Wood – it is his most personal film, and the one that perfectly marries his visual style with its subject matter. Ed Wood is commonly called the worst director in film history – he had no idea how to make a movie, and was so in love with every shot, no matter how many mistakes there were, he never sees the flaws in his own work. And yes, Burton’s film mocks Wood – but it does so in a good natured way. It also has a fair amount of respect for the man – Wood had the passion to be a filmmaker, if not the skill. For me, this will always be Johnny Depp’s best performance – he dives headlong into the role and goes for broke. Martin Landau won an Oscar for his performance as the legendary Bela Lugosi, who late in his life, addicted to morphine, found himself working with Wood. The black and white photography is brilliant - and–perfect for Burton’s sensibility (I have a feeling he’d shoot more in black and white if they let him). The film is a hilarious comedy, and a heartfelt tribute to the passion that goes into filmmaking. Burton has never made a better film – in fact, he’s never even come close. This is his masterpiece.

DVD Review: Underworld Awakening

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

DVD Review: Underworld Awakening

Underworld Awakening ** ½
Directed by: Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein.
Written by: Len Wiseman & John Hlavin and J. Michael Straczynski and Allison Burnett.
Starring: Kate Beckinsale (Selene), Stephen Rea (Dr. Jacob Lane), Michael Ealy (Detective Sebastian), Theo James (David), India Eisley (Eve), Sandrine Holt (Lida), Charles Dance (Thomas), Kris Holden-Ried (Quint), Wes Bentley (Antigen Scientist).

I have to admit, I had to look up how many previous Underworld films there have been so far – and was surprised that there was only three (I could have sworn that Beckinsale made three before the awful prequel movie a few years ago). The selling feature of the series has not changed – Kate Beckinsale in a skintight leather suit, as a gun wielding vampire fighting werewolves. And if, unlike me, you are a fan of this series, I see no reason why you won’t like this movie – I enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying any of the other movies in the series. But the film is unlikely to win over any converts.

The film opens with the world learning about the existence of vampires and lycans – and not liking it one bit. Humanity goes on a cleansing campaign to rid themselves of these two menaces. Selene (Beckinsale) and her vampire-lycan hybrid lover Michael (Scott Speedman) are not killed – but captured. Selene awakes from being frozen in a high tech lab and escapes, and is shocked to learn she has been under for 12 years. Even more shocking is who helped her escaped – a daughter Eve (India Eisley), born in captivity. Of course the head researcher Dr. Lane (Stephen Rea) wants his prized subjects back – and will do anything he needs to do to achieve it.

There are things to admire about Underworld Awakening – perhaps the biggest one being the lack of exposition in this chapter. The previous films seemed to love delving into its own, overly complicated mythology, when really all anyone wanted to see was vampires fighting werewolves. The filmmakers seemed to have finally learned that lesson – and serve up exactly that. The story is set up quickly, and rapidly the movie becomes one action scene after another. Most of them serve up the same sort of action we have seen in this series before, but there are few nice touches (I loved the scenes involving the elevator). And yet, even though I appreciated the less pretentious handling of the material this time, the film goes perhaps too far the other way. With almost nothing but action going on in the film, it eventually reaches a point of overload – and because all the characters except for Selene (once again played well by Beckinsale) are blank, cookie cutter characters, you never really care what happens. Even in a film like The Raid Redemption, which is even more wall to wall action, you eventually stop caring about what is going on – and as good as the action scenes are in Underworld Awakening, they pale next to The Raid Redemptions.

If you like this sort of thing, you probably already saw and enjoyed the movie. And if you don’t, then the chances are you weren’t going to watch it anyway. I liked much of Underworld Awakening – not enough for me to say it’s a good movie, but enough so that if there is in a fifth Underworld movie, I will most likely see it.

Movie Review: The Avengers

Monday, May 7, 2012

Movie Review: The Avengers

The Avengers *** ½
Directed by: Joss Whedon.
Written by: Joss Whedon and Zak Penn based on the comic book by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
Starring: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / The Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill), Stellan Skarsgård (Selvig), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Paul Bettany (Jarvis), Alexis Denisof (The Other), Powers Boothe (World Security Council).

Marvel has been building to The Avengers since 2008 – when both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk came out. They followed up those movies with Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America so they could introduce us to the four main heroes of this movie. Along the way, they’ve introduced to the supporting heroes – Black Widow and Hawkeye, along with their leader, Nick Fury, and the main villain, Loki. How would all of these characters – and more – interact in one movie? Finally we have a chance to find out – and the answer is surprisingly well. Yes, some of these characters have to take a backseat in The Avengers – Thor especially – but The Avengers is so enjoyable, I didn’t really care. Written and directed by Joss Whedon, best known for TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, he turns out to be an inspired choice. TV shows often have larger casts than movies, and often have to jump back and forth between all of those characters. Whedon is also a gifted comedic writer, and his screenplay for The Avengers is witty throughout. Some critics have compared The Avengers to the Westminster Dog Show (Roger Ebert) or decried it as just corporate product (AO Scott) – and you know something, they’re not wrong. But The Avengers was so much fun, I didn’t really care.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is back – you will remember, he is Thor’s bitter adopted brother, who thinks he is the rightful King of Asgard, the world that the brothers are from. So when he is approached by a strange Other, with the offer of  an army to invade Earth, where he can rule, he jumps at the chance. They only thing they want in return is the Tesseract – introduced in Captain America – a cube with untold powers. Loki gets what he wants, stealing the Tesseract from SHIELD – run by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) – and taking Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) along with him by brainwashing them. His endgame is unknown, but Fury knows they need something special to stop them. So, he reaches out to Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, taking over for Edward Norton), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), along with Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to track Loki down, and get the Tesseract back. Sooner or later, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) shows up to try and stop his adopted brother as well.

I couldn’t help but think of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), one of the most influential movies ever made, which of course, inspired a direct remake in The Magnificent Seven (1960), and really is the blueprint for all of these movies where multiple heroes unite (a movie like The Expendables is a more recent example). The first act introduces the threat, and brings together a group of “heroes” that seem like an odd match that will never possibly work. The second act contains an action sequence where everything goes wrong for the heroes, and they really look like a disaster instead of the only hope humanity has. Then something brings them together, and they have an even bigger action sequence to climax the movie, where the heroes finally work together as a team and defeat the threat. The Avengers pretty much follows this formula to a T.

But did you really expect anything different from The Avengers? Haven’t all four movies leading up to The Avengers pretty much followed the typical superhero formula exactly like you expect them to? The charm of the four movies leading up to The Avengers, and The Avengers itself, is not in this originality, but in the details. Like we expected, Robert Downey Jr. is the anchor of the movie – and his charm as Tony Stark shines through. The role suits Downey perfectly, and like he did with both Iron Man and Iron Man 2, he elevates the movie with his performance. Chris Evans is well suited for the square, patriotic Captain America (whose movie, by the way, is probably by favorite of the movie leading up The Avengers, and it’s disappointing to me that all of his follow-ups will be in the current era, so we’ll miss the retro feel that made the first one so enjoyable). Chris Hemsworth takes a beat seat as Thor – he’s just kind of there. Same goes for Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, who spends most of the movie brainwashed. But Scarlett Johansson elevates her game as Black Widow – she’s actually excellent this time around, as she has more to work with. The most pleasant surprise is Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. After two decent, but still somewhat disappointing Hulk movies, Whedon and Ruffalo nail it this time. It is undeniable that Hulk has far and away the best moment in the movie (“Puny God”).

So yes, The Avengers is as formulaic as big budget blockbusters can be. But the movie was fun, funny and entertaining all the way from beginning to end. To expect more from this movie is setting yourself up for disappointing. The Avengers is exactly what it wants to be.

Movie Review: Safe

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Movie Review: Safe

Safe **
Directed by: Boaz Yakin.
Written by: Boaz Yakin.
Starring: Jason Statham (Luke Wright), Catherine Chan (Mei), Robert John Burke (Captain Wolf), James Hong (Han Jiao), Anson Mount (Alex Rosen), Chris Sarandon (Mayor Tremello), Sándor Técsy (Emile Docheski), Joseph Sikora (Vassily Docheski), Igor Jijikine (Chemyakin), Reggie Lee (Quan Chang).

Does anyone other than me remember Boaz Yakin’s brilliant debut film Fresh, made way back in 1994? That film was one of the best of the number of films made in the early to mid-1990s about young, black men living in the inner city who are involved with gangs and drugs. It was a quiet, introspective film and completely unique. I couldn’t help but think about how great Fresh is when I was watching his latest film, Safe. Both concentrate on extremely bright children involved in crime and the mean streets of New York City. But Safe is everything Fresh was not – loud, action driven and clichéd. I knew that could be the case based on the previews – after all, you don’t cast Jason Statham for quiet introspection. Still, I can’t help but be disappointed.

Safe is about Luke Wright (Statham), who runs afoul of the Russian Mafia when he wins a cage fight he was supposed to throw. Yet instead of killing Wright, they decide to torture him endlessly instead – they murder his beloved wife and tell him that they will be watching him. Anyone he comes into contact with that he builds any sort of relationship with, they will kill them. And it will be all Luke’s fault. This is his reality for a few years and he follows the rules. That is until he meets Mei (Catherine Chan).

Mei was kidnapped from her school in China by Uncle Han (James Wong) and sent to New York with Chang (Reggie Lee). They do this because her mind works like a computer – it remembers everything. And for a Chinese crime lord, this is great, because they can use her to like a computer – without any trail for cops to follow. The latest thing they have asked Mei to remember is a long string of numbers – a code. The Russians, the same ones who hate Luke naturally, want that number, and attack the Chinese. Mei escapes to the subway, where Luke sees her, and realizes she is in trouble – and decides to stand up for her. So now, he has to battle the Russians, the Chinese and oh yeah, a bunch of dirty cops, who also hate Luke, and want the girl.

Safe fits neatly into the body of work Statham has been building for years now. He stars in these B-action movies, where he is essentially a killing machine. Whether it’s the Transporter movies, the Crank movies, The Expendables, Killer Elite, The Mechanic or anything else he’s been in, he is essentially playing the same character – the quiet loner who can turn himself into a killing machine. Some of his movies are good, most of them are not, but he certainly has a screen persona that he has cultivated.

Safe has a lot of action sequences, and to be fair, most of them are well handled by Yakin. If nothing else, Safe will provide you with the old school car chases, gun battles and hand to hand combat sequences, without much aid of CGI, that fans of Statham’s have come to expect. And if that’s all you want, than I suppose you can say that Safe delivers.

But I want more from even genre movies like this. The movie never really takes a surprising step for its entire running time – you know what is going to happen before anyone in the movie does. As a result, I never really got drawn into Safe. As an exercise in action filmmaking, Safe is just fine. But from Boaz Yakin, who looked to be such a promising filmmaker after Fresh, and his 1998 follow-up A Price Above Rubies (not a great film, but an honest, interesting one, with one of Renee Zellweger’s best performances), it is yet another disappointment. I cannot help but be disappointed when I know a filmmaker is capable of so much more than they deliver.

Movie Review: The Raven

Movie Review: The Raven

The Raven ** Directed by: James McTeigue.
Written by: Ben Livingston & Hannah Shakespeare.
Starring: John Cusack (Edgar Allan Poe), Luke Evans (Detective Fields), Alice Eve (Emily Hamilton), Brendan Gleeson (Captain Hamilton), Kevin McNally (Maddux), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (John Cantrell), Jimmy Yuill (Captain Eldridge), Sam Hazeldine (Ivan).

I’m not going to pretend to be a big Edgar Allan Poe fan, but I have read some of his work, and enjoyed it highly.  He remains known, more than 150 years since his death, for his horror stories, which were shocking in their day, but tame by today’s standards. Yet it isn’t because of the violence that people still read Poe – it’s for the writing itself, which is creepy and poetic. His writing, while violent, is built on that poetic language, and the mounting sense of dread and madness in his best known works. They contain blood and murder, but that is not what defines them. That will be what defines The Raven, the latest movie inspired by Poe however. But this is not an adaptation of his work, but a serial killer thriller that has Poe as its central character – because his writing has inspired the killer. So the police, obviously, enlist his help to try and capture the killer.

The movie is set in Baltimore in October of 1849 – the final weeks of Poe’s life. Poe (John Cusack) is broke, trying to eke out a living based on his writing, but really spending most of his time trying to get a drink. He is in love with Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve), the daughter of a figure of some importance in Baltimore, Captain Hamilton (Brendan Gleeson), who of course hates Poe. But when a mother and daughter are murdered, and the cops cannot figure out how the killer escapes, since the door was locked from the inside, and the window nailed shut, Detective Fields (Luke Evans) is called to the scene. When he figures out how the killer escaped, he remembers a story he read where the killer did the same thing – and calls in Poe as a suspect. And when a rival of Poe is killed in the same way that Poe described in The Pit and the Pendulum, the plot thickens. It seems someone is killing people in the way Poe described to draw him into a game of cat and mouse. When Emily is kidnapped, the stakes are raised.

The Raven may have failed immediately by casting John Cusack as Poe. This is not an insult towards Cusack, who is a talented actor. Had this been a real biopic of Poe, portraying him as the tormented soul he is, Cusack may have been able to pull it off. The problem is The Raven is not a biopic – it is an over the top, bloody serial killer movie with Poe as a Sherlock Holmes type character. As a result, Cusack seems too subdued to be effective in this role. Someone like Robert Downey Jr., Johnny Depp or even Nicolas Cage could have very easily gone into the over the top theatrics that is required for this movie to be effective. He isn’t aided very much by his cast mates. I could never really get a read on Luke Evans, who seems at times to want to channel Downey’s theatrics as Sherlock Holmes, but was holding back to overpower the rest of the movie. Brendan Gleeson is a great character actor who can do this role in his sleep – and unfortunately, that it what it appears like he does this time out. Alice Eve is certainly beautiful, but she lacks personality in this movie – and her role is underwritten.

 
Directed by James McTeigue, The Raven is violent, special effects laden serial killer film that at times seems to be trying to be a gruesome horror tale, yet never quite gets there. McTeigue’s first film as a director was V for Vendetta, but as each new film comes along (he reshot much of the horrible The Invasion with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman and made the forgettable action film Ninja Assassin before The Raven), it’s beginning to feel more and more like it was producer, The Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix), who really had control of V for Vendetta. This is because while McTeigue’s films since his debut have been technically fine, they do not share the same attention to detail, story and acting that his first one did. The Raven just never really gets off the ground.