Review: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

 

While it's likely that the swingin 60's espionage thriller can't compete with Straight Outta' Compton as Universal's record-breaking year draws to a close, the film should- and will- find legs and hopefully lead to more of the adventures of American daredevil Napoleon Solo and the Russian powerhouse Illya Kuryakin. 

The film's plot is fairly straightforward, with Russia and America joining forces by way of their two best men to combat a Nuclear threat from a former Nazi rocketeer. This leads them to the scientist's daughter Gaby, played brilliantly by Ex Machina break-out Alicia Vikander, and on a collision course with the devilish Victoria, who plans to launch the nuke.

Guy Ritchie's last success was his character-driven mystery, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and his style was on point like a blade for this feature. The action and comedy hit and snaps with equal beats of life and energy, and the set-pieces were delightfully old-fashioned yet spun with a modernity that didn't overshadow it; but rather complemented it.  Boat-lead escapes, cross country car races, dazzling rooftop getaways and more. U.N.C.L.E. makes over-the-top actioners like the most recent Bond-fare seem so far away from it's own roots it's laughable. 

Ritchie and Wigram's screenplay though is where the film truly shines; but would be nothing without it's cast. Cavill and Hammer are given room to be suave and hard in equal measure for the former and the latter, and the movie never uses the tired method of "cultural differences for laughs" that most "two worlds come together" character pieces play out to no end, even at the height of the Cold war, the two males butt heads as men do, and their growth as partners (and later as friends) is never reached by ham-fisted cliches or groan inducing lines; but as mutual respect for one another, and their strengths and weaknesses. 

The female leads though, excel a film cemented almost 50 years in the pats firmly in the future. Alicia Vikander's character is introduced as a mechanic, a hard working grease-monkey, and not once is it addressed she is a woman. Solo isn't shocked or demeaning to her in anyway, same for the film's central antagonist, played by Elizabeth Debicki. It's a small detail, but it goes to show how much of a difference it can make in the long run.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation did this similarly, and makes the Bond franchise seem more and more like a fossil, for a series that's last strong female character was back in 2008 with Quantum of Solace. 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is not a boisterous explosion-filled summer bang, and it is yet another strength.
The film isn't focused on telling the audience "Look, this isn't just an old TV show!". It's a quiet film that's loud in it's color and it's heart, and is more of a bright Sunday drive than an adrenalin pumping wam-bam spectacle- not to say that there isn't enough action and intrigue; but it's a drive that you'll want to take again and, hopefully in the future, can with the ear-to-ear grin that will come across you with the sequel hook and name drop. 

Review: POMPEII

PaulW.S. Anderson is an artist in the purest sense of the word.

No, this isn't a "troll" statement and yes, his directorial credits include AVP: ALIEN VS. PREDATOR, Death Race, and Resident Evil.

POMPEII, a passion-project of the British director, is an advanced hybrid of almost every genre of film,
Blend in Gladiator with TITANIC, add a few sprinkles of 2012 and a dash of Game of Thrones and you might, MIGHT, be able to come up with half of POMPEII which, in the hands of a lesser director, would come off as a shlocky mess; but with Anderson becomes a moving and dark throwback to classic Hollywood epics of old with the suave professionalism of a modern auteur and a timeless message that true love always finds it's way, even if it's not the ending you would expect.

The film starts with a young Milo (played by Game of Thrones and Silent Hill Revelations star Kit Harrington) watching his horse-tribe being slaughtered by the film's antagonist, a Roman general known as Corvus (24's Kiefer Sutherland) with his legionaries and second-in-command Proculus (Sasha Roiz of 16 Blocks and GRIMM fame).
After wandering, an orphan and the last of his kind, Milo is soon picked up and works his way through the bloody sands as a respected gladiator.
It's finally in Pompeii that he has a chance encounter with Cassia (Sucker Punch's Emily Browning), the daughter of aristocrats Severus and Aurelia (Jared Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss) and also befriends fellow gladiator Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

 

As the film starts; Anderson presents this world as a pulpy and rich B-Movie. The heroes and the villians are all clear-cut and extremely light or extremely dark, and the actors all ham it up in varying degrees with Sutherland absolutely chewing the scenery as Corvus, and damn does Sutherland have fun with bringing this character to life as the sort of "human" representation of Mt. Vesuvius, a destructive and dark being that has always been in the lives of these people; and when he erupts (as Vesuvius does) the result is just as destructive.
It's a brilliant way of having a focus for the audience who go in expecting the antagonist to ONLY be the volcano, as well as a threat to the characters themselves who tragically don't posses the audience's insight as to what is about to go down.
In many ways, this builds the tension ten-fold, as the destruction of nature and the broken hatred of man are one in the same sense of unpredictability and malevolence.

The relationship between Milo and Cassia isn't as built up long and hard as say, Jack and Rose, but that doesn't make it lack for weight. Cassia's only attraction to Milo is a superficial one at first, the audience and her seem to think, in the same way everyone's "attraction" to Milo is through the film.
The audience loves "The Celt" because he's pretty and he's dark, he's dangerous. It's a brilliant meta exploration of an easy to dismiss trope; but when Cassia looks at Milo, their eyes meet and you feel a love as bright as the hell-fire that is about to reign upon them.
When Milo calms Cassia's horse down at a party held on her family's estate, the two, in a fit of teenage love, gallop off towards the volcano into the night, itself a fantastic symbol that comes into reverse-play later.
The two embrace, cautiously, as the guards come to take Milo back, which he takes the fault for and is whipped before her.

Soon after, Milo and Atticus are finally in the coliseum. Atticus, a bold and dangerous man who has already had his family taken from him, has one more game to win before his victory is granted and he is "free", something the corrupt game-runners soon prevent from happening as Corvus, Cassia, and her parents are in attendance to over-see the games.
The "scenario" the gladiators are put it in a recreation of the slaughtering of the horse-tribes (the same slaughter Milo survived). He now, 20 years later, must relive the events of that night, only this time he changes his fate in a fleeting glimpse of the film's hopefulness.

 

As you'd expect, things go wrong and then we get to the "money shot", which is Vesuvius erupting mid-way through the battle. The destruction Anderson presents on screen is breath-taking and biblical and it is in no way "fun" to sit through.
It is hard to watch, as this unflinching glimpse into the past is brought to life using what is some of the best CGI I have ever seen on film, this would make Roland Emmerich blush and makes the destruction presented in Man of Steel seem G rated.
The decadence of the ancient city explodes, crumbles, and is lit ablaze along with everyone trapped within it's walls. Women run screaming from buildings as they burn alive, children are trampled in the streets, and glimpses of carcasses with their flesh burnt off (still smoking) are seen through the rubble. This is a PG-13 film, mind you.

None of this is ever presented to us in a way less than artistic. Anderson's crisp and clear camera-work is as noticable as ever, with no "shakey cam" action or "snap zooms", the chaos and pure death is laid bare for the audience to take in.
It's at this point to that Anderson's vivid imagery through the film's first half, with lush greens and deep golds and a living breathing painting in the richest of colors are muted in an instant to black, pitch black, gray, orange, and red both of blood and flame.
The grit and and ash in the film are palpable and you leave the theater feeling as if you've just left the ruin of Pompeii itself. 
Once again, with a lesser director the film would have become sterile and cheap "disaster porn", with listless CGI and color-filters; but not with Anderson.

The film's leads, as I've said, all do fantastic work with that they're given; but they are a beautiful cast of people, with Harrington and Browning looking exactly like something out of a painting. Of course the cast's physical beauty has no impact on the film itself; but they are emphasized through costume designer Wendy Partridge who has done Oscar-worthy work with such films as HellboyII: The Golden Army, the Silent Hill franchise, and most recently Thor: The Dark World. A great costume designer coupled with a director like Anderson and you have almost every frame that could be printed off and hung in a museum.  
District 9's Clinton Shorter scores the film, giving it a grand and wonderful sound that is as touching, frenetic, romantic, and chilling as the movie itself.  

POMPEII's closure of character arcs are all brutally satisfying, with Atticus facing off one on one against Proculus as Vesuvius reaches it's hellish crescendo. Their exchange of blows is brutal and swift, elegant and barbaric, and bloody on both ends.
When you begin the film you believe that fairy-tales have happy endings and that there will be a rainbow at the end for the characters in Anderson's dramatic epic; but after a tight and thrilling horse chase through the exploding rotting carcass of Pompeii as Milo finally is united with Cassia and leaves Corvus to die you get a sick feeling, and that's when Anderson buries the dagger.

The final shot is the most sickeningly beautiful and gut-wrenching frame of cinema I've seen in a mainstream film such as this. This is something that makes TITANIC's tear-jerker ending look like the finale to an Air-Bud film.

POMPEII is a film unlike any other; and deserves a rewatch for it's themes alone as well as to properly appreciate every small gear in this well-oiled machine clicking into place with such perfection you don't want it to end.
A film that will be tore apart by critics; no doubt; but for those who seek an experience on a truly "grand" scale, this is the right film for you.  

Review: PACIFIC RIM

 

In the not too distant future, legions of monsters appear from an inter-dimensional drift at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To combat them, Nations from around the world joined into a group venture, the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, to fight them using Jaegers. Massive mechanical weapons, operated by two pilots in perfect neural synch with each other and the machine.

When I 'Get Hype' for a movie, it's because I usually follow it from womb to tomb. From the director being picked, to casting, to shooting, to posters, and basically everything in between.There's only been a few movies that I've followed since the very beginning that have lived up to everything I wished they would, and I'm just here to say that in a summer of disappointments (Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3, World War Z, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, White House Down) PACIFIC RIM does not falter or fail in what it has set out to do from the beginning, and succeeds and amazes more often than it stumbles.

Guillermo del Toro, going off of a screenplay by Travis Beacham, who apparently wrote half of the good part of 2010's Clash of the Titans, has 'Rim' play out like a larger than life cartoon, full of exaggerated characters and insane action that never feel insulting to the audiences intelligence- a problem so many have with Bay's 'Transformers' series- but never go beyond it either.

I can't describe anyone in the film in any way other than they all play giant charicatures of a character from an anime, comic, or manga, and that's not an insult to the film or writing because it WORKS.

Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi, the film's two leads, are really charming to watch on-screen and an important relationship is set up to explore in the (hopefully) inevitable sequel. Hunnam is the angry ex-pilot called into duty again to pilot the old Gipsy Danger, and Rinko is the book-smart and combat-ready younger pilot who dreams of one day strapping into a Jaeger and getting revenge for the death of her family. Some of the writing is a tad hammy; but never groan-inducing or bad pseudo bullshit like The Dark Knight Rises, or anything.

The supporting cast though, almost ends up stealing the show. Charlie Day and Clifton Collins Jr. play wonderfully off of eachother, and althoughhe;s not in it much, Ron Perlman channels his utter sleaze into Hannibal Chau, and it works so well. Day's character actually has a lot of potential past comic-relif, which you see brief glimpses of, and turns out to be one of the more important characters.

The action is silly, awesome, pure fun. The Jaegers feel weighty, like actual monoliths constructed by man, and in every swing they take and weapon they fire you literally hear and feel not only the physical weight of the mechanical beast; but also the emotional weight that these are it, these are humanity's last defense.

The Kaiju, monsters from beyond our world, and terrifying. They're large, super-powered, screaming creatures that are marvelous to look at; but fierce and deadly to where every battle you legitimately become concerned for the pilots up against it.

Del Toro, as in his previous films, handles all of this action with superb grace and skill. Every frame is a treat to look at, especially in IMAX 3D; and it's a movie that will definitley be used to show off how sweet your new TV is.

The film also does try really hard at an emotional center, which it reaches more with Mako and Pentecost, and then with the Australian pilots, than it does with Charlie Hunnam's Raleigh Beckett. That's not to say you don't feel for him, it just sees there were character building scenes cut out to save time for both of them; but the film doesn't fall apart because of that, because you still feel and watch the emotional bonds being linked by these characters.

One especially powerful moment was when a young Mako is running for her life from a giant crab-like Kaiju, and it is both an emotional and absolutely terrifying experience to watch unfold.

The other being when the father and son Aussie pilots say goodbye to each other, and it struck me and the friends I saw it with very deeply out of nowhere, too.

I can't think of anything else to say about Pacific Rim other than that the richly detailed and brightly cartoonish world is a welcome break from the grimdark and serious nature of blockbusters these days. None of the heroes have deeply annoying internal struggles, nor are they mopey and sluggish. Even at the world's darkest, when all hope seems lost, not one moment in the film is over-bearing and "LOOK AT HOW SAD THIS IS". It's a welcome return to seeing a summer movie that is without angst; but with genuine fun and heart, that was made just entertain people. I won't go and say Pacific Rim is an intellectually challenging masterpiece; but it's the reason 'summer blockbusters' became a thing, and it's a 'summer blockbuster' that's a return to genuine "holy shit" moments that captivate and wow you.

This isn't 2 hours of decent wire-fighting and stunt jumps; this is 2 hours of shit you've never seen before, and when you leave the theater you'll think, "I need to see that just one more time" 

Review: THE LONE RANGER

 

If there's one thing Disney can do, it's make thoroughly entertaining block-busters that divide critics and wow and amaze audiences.
JOHN CARTER was the most recent one, being the victim of Hollywood bullying, marketing gone awry, and general lack of interest from an audience that has known to accept Marvel movies as a viable source of nutrients, and deny everything remotely interesting or fun.

The Lone Ranger was getting shit before it was even released, as all Disney live-action ventures do (it's the cool thing if you're a movie critic to hate Disney fims. See Tron legacy, John Carter, etc), and it was all focused on Johnny Depp as Tonto and a blown budget and etc etc.
Well surprise, surprise when the film is released critics go bat-shit and throw words like TOTAL FLOP and HORRIBLE and everything under the sun, like Depp and Verbinski rode Silver over their mothers corpses while burning an American flag and pissing on a picture of Christopher Nolan and Joss Whedon together.

While my beliefs and thoughts are my own; I am here to say THE LONE RANGER was a good-old fashioned summer thrill ride, that had me hooked from the opening scene.

The film plays out like someone took Dances With Wolves, The Legend of Zorro, Red Dead Redemption, Shanghai Noon, and Wild Wild West then threw them all into a melting pot, after sprinkling some spirit-sauce from a time where movies were magical and summer films were a big event that weren't wholly reliable on super-heroes.

Depp and Hammer play excellently off of each other, which is the glue that holds the film together when you think it might be getting a bit long-winded (it could have used a light shave, running at almost 2 hr 30) and I'd love for this movie to do well enough to get more adventures out of them.

The script feels like someone wanted to write the most fantastical Western they could think of, and I honestly think it worked. You have the strong-jawed American hero, his partner (not by any means a sidekick), the badass leading female, the villain and his cronies, spectacular set-pieces, a varied and colorful cast, and a riveting score that makes you feel like a child again. (I might be gushing a tad; but you get the idea.)

Verbinski behind the camera and at the head of a Western was the best move that Disney made, and I'll stand by that. Some of the shots in this movie are breath-taking. He never loses the characters in the over-the-top action and spectacle, and almost every shot looks like it could be paused, printed, and hung on a wall as a Western painting.

I don't want to get too spoiler heavy on plot and character development; but it's all there in a nice bow. Depp's character actually has a really justifiable reason to "be a Jack Sparrow clone" as so many say; and Tonto's back story highlights some of the fims darkest and most emotional parts.
Tonto is also crucial to who The Ranger becomes and how, and it's all very fun to watch on screen, as well as William Fitchner and Tom Wilkinson who play off each other too well as old-west monsters who get their comeuppance in a classic Hollywood fashion.

If you're not in the mood for kid's movies, have a few hours, and don't mind going into a film with an open mind, I can't see why you wouldn't enjoy The Lone Ranger. 

REVIEW: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Star Trek Into Darkness is a film that simultaneously does nothing special, yet does everything right. 

SPOILERS AHEAD.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

It's well made, in terms of costumes, sets, and sounds; the cast is fun and never boring to watch- especially Cumberbatch, who totally hams it up as the "perfect" bad-guy; and the plot is fun, understandable, and sometimes emotional. The only flaw with Star Trek Into Darkness, however, is that it feels too much like a big "two-parter" TV Episode.

There's no real Star Treking involved. No travel, no sense of how large and expansive the universe is- unlike with Star Trek (2009) where you would go planet-to-planet, encountering all sorts of fantastical creatures, exotic locales, etc. With Into Darkness, you spend a few minutes on some cool looking planet at the beginning, then the rest of the time is spent between San Francisco, London, and Kronos (for a brief few minutes).

Another thing was Into Darkness's painfully obvious 9/11-George Bush allegory that wasn't even cleverly hidden or done in an interesting way. I felt like I was watching Total Recall (2012) at times rather than Star Trek just because it was an Earth-centered conspiracy story that really had no reason to be a sequel to 2009's fast and fun summer hit.

Also, I've never seen Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan but I can assure you I know the infamous "KHAAAAAAAAAN!" line as it has slipped into pop-culture parody. Well, what better than to bring that line back and use it to kill an emotional moment just to satisfy the sweaty nerds in the crowd?

Lastly, I'm kind of glad J.J. Abrams won't be back for Trek 3; because he handles action-scenes as well as Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight, i.e, not very well and you can't honestly tell what the hell is going on.

I didn't hate Into Darkness though- I really had a fun time watching it. It's a movie that puts a smile on your face if you just accept it at face value. Fun space action with some sexy young stars, tension, and some clever exchanges of dialogue and some of the best costumes and performances you're likely to find this summer movie season.

Setting my complaints aside, Into Darkness is a film I'd see again for the sheer fun experience of it. It might not be as good as the first; but It's a movie that definitely shows the exciting prospect the future cold hold for this franchise, even if Abrams leaves for Star Wars.

Into Darkness doesn't break the bank for creativity, and you won't leave the theater going "Wow! I've never seen THAT before!" but it rides a fine safe line for a comfortable and engaging sci-fi action-film that will please the masses; but struggle to be accepted by the hardcore nerds and cinema-goes looking for a truly substantial experience.