Mad Max

I finally saw the beginning of my beloved Mad Max franchise. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. All the superior elements of the franchise are there: a brooding Mel Gibson, spectacular CGI-less car stunts, crazy (CRAZY) villains, and notable cinematography and style. The problem is that all these elements aren't perfected until The Road Warrior. Mel Gibson, despite of all his charisma, shows his lack of experience. The stunts are still there, but they're certainly less necessary. When the cars and/or motorcycles aren't driving across the endless asphalt, there isn't a whole lot to love in Mad Max. There are some very memorable shots in the movie, but these shots only punctuate the droll interlude between them. Thank goodness for Hugh Keays-Byrne's work as Toecutter, the psychotic leader or a motorcycle gang out for revenge after their even crazier former compadre is killed in the film's opening car chase. Toecutter is the snarling, edgy precursor to The Might Wez and Lord Humungous (The Road Warrior) and Master Blaster (MM: Beyond Thunderdome) of subsequent films. While he feels a bit out of place in Mad Max, it's clear writer/director George Miller is honing his world and style here. It's a good film with great moments, but it pales in comparison to its sequels. A great finish to a lackluster beginning.

***

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

It's hard to praise the third installment of The Mad Max Franchise, because it is essentially a retread of its own now familiar territory. Mad Max is a great character and anti-hero and his journey to stay alive without giving too much of himself to others is an intriguing one. I've read that before starting to plot out The Road Warrior, writer-director George Miller immersed himself in old Samurai and western films. Mad Max certainly fits within those forebearers' walls. In Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome, he is even briefly referred to as the "Man with No Name," a not so subtle shout out to Clint Eastwood iconic character in Sergio Leone films.

But Mad Max places it's anti-hero in an original backdrop - a post-apocalyptic, gasoline and morally starved Australia whose inhabitants have taken to dressing like punks and renaissance fair rejects.

It's an intriguing setting for action, and it seems that, above all, that is the chief component of the Mad Max series.

When Max is thrust into the gladiatorial Thunderdome of the title, it's a sensational set piece - strange because it is used only once and because it echoes the poorly conceived gauntlets of the syndicated 90s American Gladiator show. Then, echoing the amazing final action set piece of The Road Warrior, director Miller sets the reluctant Max driving away from a horde of baddies on his tail. It's a bit too familiar, but still finishes in grand fashion.

Thunderdome features unique aspects, too. Tina Turner (?!) as the head miscreant rivals Lord Humungous for spiteful power. A little person using a masked brute as his vehicle/bodyguard who starts the film as a odd bully grows to be the more valuable of supporting characters. But most important and entertaining of the new additions is a group of Lord of the Flies/Lost Boys tribal kids who think Max is the one prophesied to take them to their own Promised Land. The scenes with the kids and Max eerily echoes the introduction of the Lost Boys in Hook to the point that my brother was blindly shouting "Rufio" over the action onscreen.

As I said earlier, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome isn't anything superbly new or exotic when compared to its prequels, but it is supremely entertaining and opens the Max's world to let more imagination in. And though Thunderdome is softer than its predecessors, it is dark and odd enough to rightfully be claimed a part of the Mad Max franchise.

****

Sunshine

All hail, Danny Boyle! May he reign for as long as he lives!

Sunshine finds a way to make space beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Out in the middle of God's creation seperated from home. When things go wrong (and they do) you're on your own. On your own to save the world. From a solar winter. During which little kids wear winter coats and make snowmen. The latter being the vision of the terrible world a dying star has made. It's hardly what I expected to see after all the hub bub in space. It seemed much worse up there - losing oxygen, fires, decoupled airlocks, faulty sun shields, and what have you. That's where the real danger is.

There's lots of beauty in the film. Even when the film starts to race near the end to build toward its dramatic finale, it finds time to flash pictures of space, the sun, and the scientists trying to survive both.

The film was primarily story driven. There's so much going on in Sunshine that it is difficult at first to get more than a surface introduction to the film's characters and their personalities. Certain actors get chances to shine (pun intended), slowly building their characters as the action builds along side them. Cliff Curtis (Three Kings, Bringing Out the Dead), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four franchise, Not Another Teen Movie, Cellular), Rose Byrne (28 Weeks Later, Troy), and Cillian Murphy (hail him while you're at it) all get their time in the sun (pun intended). I expect good things from Curtis and Murphy, but I was pleasantly surprised by Evans and Byrne. Each of these two performers have been likable enough in the past without actually standing out among their peers. But they're good in Sunshine. Evans is macho, but bears the weight of the seriousness of his crew's task and is forced to voice his unpopular opinions in order to keep them blind to all else but that all-important mission: re-ignite the dying sun. Byrne gets to play the sweet natured scientist perhaps too human to save humanity.

And well, Murphy...he can't seem to help but turn in wonderful performance after performance after performance. He's always interesting, always stretching while appearing to be moving effortlessly through his characters' facial expressions (those eyes!). But what really gets me every time is his voice, how he can turn a line over with his tongue to inject all sorts of subtlety and emotion into his words. He also has what many actors and actresses would kill for: screen presence. When he is on screen, I am watching him. There's a lot going on in the film, lots of interesting developments along the journey to the sun, but I was never more interested as when Cillian was on screen acting. It's more than charisma. I think Evans has that. It's a magnetism that can only be observed without truly being explained.

After all that gushing, I must reinterate that the stars of the film are actually the story and the visuals. They pack a punch. Alex Garland, the screenwriter, knows how to plot a suspense movie. He also knows how to have characters spout out science jargon and make it sound real, credible, and utterly of the moment. There's a lot of mumbo jumbo, but I was never lost.

And those visuals! Near the beginning of the film a character talks about how darkness is the lack of everything, it is nothing. But the beauty of the light is that it fills that seemingly endless space. It washes over nothing and creates something. I heard the words and I liked them, but the filmmakers went further and greater and kept showing me time again how exciting and scary that creation is.

I drove to Cleveland to see the film and I am fully prepared to drive back to see it a second time. For those interested, Cedar Lee is a neat little theater in Cleveland Heights that shows indie movies year round.

I recommend ending your pre-viewing experience here. Don't read anymore reviews, feature articles or interviews, or those great trailers off of Apple.com. They're all great, but Danny Boyle gives away too much when he speaks about the movie and the trailer gives away key plot points all the way into the third act of the film.
Be safe. Watch the movie first. Protect your viewing experience. The power is yours!

****

The Matrix: Revolutions

I found this old review I did for The Matrix: Revolutions on my old site, and it still holds true to my feelings today. I know it's long, but the rantings of a mad man tend to be.



"The Matrix: Revolutions spoils the achievements of the first two films in the franchise and squanders potential that few films could rival.
The first film could stand alone as its own film, but the promises of more amazing special effects and complex storytelling was enough to get audiences salivating for more. Rarely have audiences been so thrilled as they were by the combination of action, philosophy, science fiction, and a new breed of special effects that would spawn a new generation of copycat filmmakers.
The Matrix: Reloaded was a film overwhelmed with constant action set pieces. The action soon overcame the storytelling to dominate the film. Still, it took the movie goer back to that same unchartered territory that the first film introduced us to. It also contained the single best car chase that I have ever witnessed, an eighteen minute action extravaganza peaking with a martial arts fight on a moving semi. The film also promised better things to come, signified with its "to be continued"-like ending that had audiences divided.
I loved Reloaded for a good long while. It had produced adrenaline in my body like no other film has. The thrill ride was constant and exhilerating. Then the third film, The Matrix: Revolutions, surfaced.
I could ignore the negative musing of fans after seeing the second film because I knew that film served as a second chapter in a three chapter story. They would soon see how necessary Reloaded was in order to bring about the end of the series. I have to say, crow never tasted this bad before.
The Matrix: Revolutions is a terribly disappointing piece of work. Repetition and missteps by the directors and writers, the Wachowski brothers, ended up sinking the franchise.
Where Reloaded left off, Neo was stuck in a coma, existing somewhere between the matrix and the machine world. Bane, who had been assimilated by Agent Smith, had tripped an EMP that rendered a whole series of ships defenseless against an onslaught of sentinals. Meanwhile, sentinals approached Zion and there were preparations being made to protect it. Neo had found out that he was only one of a whole series of Ones, but he chose to follow a dangerous path when he went into the matrix to save Trinity.
The story set up for Revolutions had great potential. Sadly, that potential was never realized. Instead, the Wachowskis gave us another excuse to dislike sequels.
Two main problems surfaced in the last film that ultimately proved to be more than it could overcome.
1) Agent Smith became a cartoon. He soon only delivered slow, drawn out syllables for catch phrases and neurotic exposition. He no longer was menacing as he so ably was in the first film. The second film hinted at the direction the character would eventually follow, but I never expected it to get so bad.
2) Elementary storytelling became the means of exposition most often used. Things created in the first film, such as the familiar "come and get it" motion of the hand by Morpheus and Neo, resurface again in the final film. It doesn't take a brilliant storyteller to reincorporate story elements that he or she created. But doing so in such a flashy, knowing manner shows little insight into how to finish an epic storyline.
The final battle between Neo and Agent Smith seemd entirely stale because it had been done better and without noticable effort in the first two films. By Revolutions, the battle seemd old and boring by comparison to the other excellent fights we were treated to in the first two films. While I watched Neo and Agent Smith repeatedly run into or punch each other, thus creating massive shock waves, I couldn't help but ask myself, "Is this what I've been waiting for? Is this the climax the other films deserve?" The answers ended up being "no" and "no."
The film managed to take the three lead characters and make them completely boring. The actors and actress who played them must have sensed this because they seem to be sleepwalking through their parts.
Morpheus used to be a Yoda with attitude. Then he was just a stock character left to experience some minor story devices. Gone was his enigmatic qualities evidenced in the first two films. In its place was someone we knew everything about and didn't care to know anymore of.
He was my favorite character of the series, but Revolutions gives him nothing to work with. Even when his dream is realized, when he experiences something he has longed anf fought for, he's not flush with unsurmountable joy like I would have expected. He merely strolls through his final scenes like the office dullard.
Morpheus has become a pawn whereas he had started as a King or at least a Knight on the Wachowski chess board.
Trinity is now only a love interest who serves the purpose of giving Neo some dramatic moments. She was very much a simple character in Reloaded as well, but I could not have predicted how one-note she would end up. The saucy, leatherclad Trinity who got some mojos working in the first film saw her quality disipate in the second film. In the third film, she's just there. Everything that she's supposed to be struggling for comes easy. Either it comes too fast or not fast enough. That trait is one she shares with the entire film.
Neo was a prototype hero for the ages. How could you not root for him? He was going to save an entire nation. He was going to "free our minds." Then he became a pathetic pawn, used as a game piece by the machines and the mysterious Oracle and Architect. You stop caring about him about the point in the movie when he no longer commands sympathy.
A major player in the Matrix world loses his or her life, but what should be a shattering event soon becomes a unbelievably lengthy monologue delivered with soap opera panache. It was the beginning of the end, but I was already done with it.
That having been said, the film does contain high-quality special effects. But I don't see movies for great special effects. I want the whole package, a movie that is good from A to Z. Revolutions made the series stop somewhere between I and O. Go figure.

**"

Alien Resurrection

Alien Resurrection, thou hast failed. Oh, boy, thou really hast failed. This movie is ridiculous – how does Ripley show off her new found hyrid abilities? Through a round of tough gal basketball tricks of course. Not just basketball, but basketball on a court on a spaceship...in the future...with Ron Perlman...who's a space pirate. Tah-dah! Thou stinks.

I had some hope for the movie even though I had heard it was bad. Joss Whedon wrote it. I liked both Buffy and Firefly. I certainly love his work on the Astonishing X-Men comic title. But his script sucks. Or maybe the acting sucks. Methinks both suck. Immensely.

Perlman fails to be a believable human being once again. I hadn't noticed how awkward Winona Ryder can be at times, but that is on display during her performance in Alien Resurrection. I like her, but I'm starting to think she isn't the strong talent I once thought she was. More charisma than talent, perhaps. Weaver is laughable the whole time, the tough woman shtick is old and tired in Alien Resurrection, mostly because the dialogue is so bad. But Weaver doesn't exactly rise above her lines either.

It was the least exciting “exciting” movie I have seen in a long time. It did succeed at being really gross, though. Way to go, lackluster movie. All the crunching, slimy, exhaling wheezing made me cringe as usual when watching an Alien movie. But the thrill was gone. In its place was a mistake of a movie masquerading as entertainment. “Boo!” I say, sir. “Boo!”

*1/2

Children of Men

Children of Men is my new favorite film of 2006 and perhaps (time will tell) one of the best films I have ever seen. It's an ultra-suspenseful movie that created suspense out of my utter devotion to the characters. The more danger they got in, the more I pleaded with God for them to be alright.

The story takes place twenty years from now in 2027, with the new cause of the world's problems being the fact that women of the world have not been able to carry children to term for the past eighteen years. The world has lost hope. Seeing through the eyes of the characters, my life is trivial if it is only for me, if the world ends with no new generation to inherit the earth. The world in the movie is desperate for hope. They haven't felt it for so long that they've forgotten what it feels like. Then a yougn woman becomes pregnant. And like the main character in the film and the subsequesnt characters the young woman meets, the hope is new. strange, and deeply felt by myself. I know what hope feels like. I've got some right now. But I was sucked into the movie to the point where their renewal of hope was my renewal of hope. And it wasn't just hope that you get a good parking spot or meet the right girl; it was the hope of the world. Yowza!

The film's suspense is not contrived or fake in any sense. Every difficulty that could come between Theo (Clive Owen) and bringing the young woman to safety comes into existance, but the obstacles are organic. People do not behave in the manner they do in most suspense films, doing things they never should or would do. Nobody walks into a dark room saying softly, "Is anyone home? Billy, this isn't funny" before being spooked by the wild man with the meat cleaver hiding behind the door. The films "action" scenes are breath-taking and great studies in audience participation. I put my hand over my mouth to keep from gasping or shouting several times.

Even though I was immersed in the film, I was always aware of the high quality of the production elements. There are some great, memorable shots that should go down in history as some of the best (certainly of the science fiction genre that this film could be classified in) if this film happens to find a devoted audience on DVD.

The direction by Alfonso Cuaron guides the story and actors well. The film gets a great, award-worthy performance from Clive Owen. I have always been aware of his talent, but in some of his past films he has had some sort of impenetratable aura around him. That voice. That face. His sad eyes even when he's happy. But he is fully committed to his character in Children of Men. He is completely engaging, bringing the audience along for both his figurative and literal journey.

Back to the production values: the camera work was at times stunning. There was a "chase" scene involving a car and a mob of people that put you right in the middle of the vehicle our heroes filled, but somehow fit comfortably in a thimble sized space because the car was full with three people in the back and two in the front. How'd the camera get there? How does it move the way it does? It's constantly changing views to give us every angle possible, but never shaking uncontrollably like most thrillers these days (though I'm sure the film did employ that technique at times).

The main reason to stay is the story. It hinges on a simple premise that happens to be endlessly interesting and involving. It works so well. I'm sure repeat viewings will review flaws in dialogue and plotting, but I don't think I'll ever forget my first time seeing Children of Men. It was an amazing experience.

People have been saying "children are our future" for a long time now, but the absence of children is never really considered as the loss of a future, a sentence to be doomed to live out the present hopeless and downtrodden. That's where the movie begins. It's the journey to the ending that will stay with me. I have to see it again. I'm sure I'll look back at this post in later months and my words will seem pompous and pretentious or something of that nature. But these words do accurately represent the excitement I feel today, a few hours after finishing the movie.

*****

Jeffrey Overstreet Review on Christianitytoday.com

A Scanner Darkly

I had mixed emotions when deciding whether or not to rent this movie. I had heard a very small number of critics praise it and a horde of others condemning it as an indie that could not live up to its own ambition. I'm glad I rented it. I've watched it twice now. It looks as though it will sneak into my top ten favorites of 2006 easily. I was pleasantly surprised to feel myself entranced in this head trip of a movie. The film is far from perfect, the mark of any movie featuring Keanu Reeves in any capacity. But this is easily Keanu's best performace since The Matrix and perhaps since the beginning of his career. He is able to convince me he's a conflicted drug addict/undercover cop. That isn't necessarily a stretch for his talents, but he fills the role quite well. The real strength behind the movie is its ability to shift from its dark/stoner comedy scenes to its sci-fi cop story. It struggles a bit to keep the authenticity in its sci-fi cop scenes, but the lacking in that area is only apparent to me because the dark/stoner comedy scenes stand out so well. The melding of the two elements makes for an interesting story that I had no trouble surrending my attention to. There are is a lot of talk in the extras from those involved in the making of this movie that speaks of the source material's prophetic nature. Indeed, the paranoia that once was left primarily to the drug addicts and mentally deranged has found its way into reality. There is also an attmept to come up with some sort of condemnation of the costs we pay to try to win the unwinable war against drugs. But I didn't latch onto these themes. The proof was in the pudding. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. I may have used that idiom wrong. But the fun and entertainment is following the lead character and his merry band of addicts around as they lose their minds over and over again. The substance to the film, the sacrifice of Keanu's character, only holds together the other elements. The twist near the end is not surprising, but rather the kind of odd shock when you realize your guess is correct. It also fit the work. I felt the film could have ended on the zoom in on Keanu's coffee near the end (you'll see), but I am not opposed to the end the story presents in the film. I also want to point out how much I enjoyed Robert Downey, Jr. in this movie. It's a piece of loose cannon acting where you can tell Downey really committed to the eccentricities of his character and just ran with it like a sprinter. The animation truly suits the movie, though at times the effect of the beautiful look in some scenes is lessened by the animation's use in drives in the scenes where everyone is just acting stoned and crazy (barring the hallucinations, which really come alive). Linklater crafts a dreary cautionary tale with some old tricks and some new.

***1/2

The Fountain

The Fountain is one of the best films I saw last year, but certainly would be further down the list if based soley on that. It is my fourth highest favorite film of the year for different reasons. The movie is so damn ambitious. I admire it. It has big ideas. Old ideas made fresh. And its slow, but wonderfully so. Whispered words and bark eaten in space. The light on the back of Rachel Weisz's neck. The sight of a funeral on a snowy farm. Wonderful images all working toward telling the story. The story can be difficult to follow with its bouncing from way in the past to the present to way in the future. But it works to tell of a love, an obsession that stood alone through time. Sounds pretentious, huh. Yeah, maybe. But so what. It's a beautiful film worth watching again and again. After the first time I saw the movie, it rolled about in my head for days, keeping my thought hostage when I was supposed to be learning or listening to conversation. And I liked it. I liked asking questions after the last reel finished. There's a lot to be asked. Such as, with a director so confident, a story so rich, and a pair of talented performer to guide us, why are there moments of unreal emotion, stretches of inauthenticity and, GASP, overacting? I couldn't explain. I'm not sure the people involved in the making of the film could tell you. In spite of a few moments of forced emotion and crazy eyes, I found Hugh Jackman's peformance in The Fountain to be my favorite of his. He's constantly seeking to stretch his limits, to explore his acting range. I guess I never really felt he had done that before. Sure, the fruits of his labors can feel over-the-top at times, but at times I was completely on board with the guy.

As the music (a highlight of the film) swelled, my heart did the same. The last big hurrah of the film really punctuated the feelings I had for everything prior.

***1/2