The Hunter or the Hunted? Pt 7 (Predator, 1987)

Predator is from Arnold Schwarzennegar’s action movie heyday. Directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard, Die Hard With a Vengeance and the Hunt for Red October) it is a capable action film. It is a simple plot, a mercenary group hired by the government goes into the jungles of South America on a rescue mission. Instead, they find themselves up against an unseen and unearthly killer.

Arnold is the leader, hired by an old friend (Carl Weathers) for the mission so the American Government can keep it’s hands clean. At first they believe they are just up against warlords…but soon discover they are being hunted like animals. The killer seems to be invisible and unstoppable.

We learn it is an alien, an intergalactic creature who lives for the thrill of the hunt. There is nothing particularly unique, hunting humans is a longstanding plot for thrillers. But McTiernan (who would direct Die Hard only months later) shows he has the chops for telling effect action thrillers.

The cast is pretty ideal for a testosterone romp through the jungle. Along with Schwarzennegar, there is Jesse Ventura (who went on to be Govoner), Bill Duke and Sonny Landham. The effects still stand today, as McTiernan does not try and get overly complex.

Predator is a worthy and minor sci-fi action classic that is a lot of fun to watch.

June 3, 2017 0

Love is the Weapon (Wonder Woman, 2017)

There has been a lot of hype declaring that Wonder Woman is the best of the DC movies so far. But that is not fair to the film. Wonder Woman only had to be mediocre to rise to the top. Wonder Woman is a much stronger film than that. While Batman and Superman have had multiple appearances on movie screens, this is Wonder Woman’s first film in her 25 year history. This in spite of the fact that she is an iconic character, she is part of DC’s “Holy Trinity” along with Batman and Superman.

It is no secret that despite financial success, the DC Cinematic Universe has hit a lot of speed bumps. There have been things to like in previous outings, but overall, the films had a dark oppressive tone and frankly, Snyder and Company really did not get Superman at all. One of the big pluses of Batman V Superman was, in fact Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. Enough so that I felt encouraged by the film. It help that it was in the hands of a director other than Snyder.

And what do you know? It worked. Wonder Woman is an origin tale, which is no surprise. But the film opens with a beautiful sense of awe on the island of Themyscira (or as Steve Trevor calls it “Paradise Island”). We see warriors training, being watched by young Diana. She want to learn to fight, but her mother Hippolyta is adamant she will not be trained. As time passes, Diana learns combat in secret, much to the disappointment of her mother. Hippolyta eventually relents, but demands Diana be trained harder than any Amazon before her.

When a pilot on the run from the Germans crashes into the ocean near Themyscira it is clear that the war (World War 1) may come to them. Diana makes impassioned pleas to her mother that the Amazon’s must step in and join the war. In the end, she sneaks off the Island with Trevor to find and destroy the Greek god of war, Ares.

Diana is cast in the role of wide eyed innocent in a world she does not quite understand. And the film follows largely in suit. She has moments of child like wonder. For example, sshe sees a baby-something she never saw on her island home-home and instantly wants to run over to it. She tastes ice cream and tells the vendor that they should be very proud. Even the sexual humor is polite in this film. Yet, the innocence is not at the expense of Wonder Woman’s character. No, it is integral to her nobility. She believes the best. She believes mankind was created to be good and noble, only corrupted by Ares’ cruel nature. And then she must come to terms with the fact that this may not be the case. Mankind may be capable of both greatness and the worst.

It is the little moments of goodness that start to drive Diana, as she sees the small treasures in the band of mercenaries she and Steve are saddled with. At one point, one of the men buckles in combat, unable to do the one thing he was brought there to do. When he suggests they leave him behind, Diana looks to him with a gentle smile and asks who would sing for them? This instantly changes his spirit. And that is the thing with Wonder Woman. She is a fierce warrior. She is powerful and dangerous. But she is driven by kindness. She is drive by love. She is driven by hope. And that is something that was missing in the DC Cinematic Universe. A *hopeful* tone. This is what the first Wonder Woman movie brought us. Light in a dark movie universe.

There was a lot of talk about how Warner Brothers took a real gamble on Patty Jenkins as director. That is a whole other discussion. But if it was a gamble? It paid off. And Gal Gadot is proving herself to be the right choice for the role. She has grace and kindness, but is equally convincing as a warrior.

Wonder Woman is most certainly the best DC film, in large part due to the fact that it really understands it’s hero.

June 2, 2017 0

The Hunter Or the Hunted? Pt 6 (Alien Covenant, 2017)

After the beating Prometheus took from critics and fans, the rumor is that Ridley Scott proclaimed, “They want Aliens? I will give them f___ing Aliens.” And so the Prometheus sequel morphed into an Alien Prequel.

Set ten years after Prometheus, we are introduced to a ship called the Covenant. It is carrying thousands of colonists (and embryos) and is headed for a distant planet suitable for human colonization. Piloted by a crew of married couples. When tragedy strikes and kills the captain, the crew goes to fixing the ship. They desire to honor the death of their captain, but Oran (now as the acting captain) is focused on the business. As they finish the work, a transmission is intercepted. It leads to the discovery of a habitable planet just weeks away. Somehow this transmission and planet escaped notice. Oram wants to visit the planet, as their original destination is seven years away. Daniels (who was married to the deceased Captain) expresses concern that this is a bad idea. Also on the ship is a Synthetic named Walter (played by Michael Fassbender). While he looks like David, he is a decidedly different character.

They land on a lush, yet seemingly lifeless planet. And things rapidly descend into horror. Some of the crew is exposed to spores that result in proto-xenomorphs that burst from the backs of victims. You know, instead of from the chest. David saves the crew, only to be revealed as a lone hermit who spent the last ten years trying to create a weaponized life form. In a flashback we discover that when Shaw and David arrived at the planet, he dropped the goo on the Engineer populace. Now he hopes to do the same to humanity.

The film borrows from all the previous films in it’s resolution. For example, there is an airlock fight like Alien and Aliens. The film has a lot of ideas that never play out. And worse, the questions of Prometheus are cast aside, as is Shaw. The film telegraphs it’s twist ending from miles away.

The film takes several moments to cast Billy Crudup’s Oram as a disgraced man of faith. Not disgraced in regards to his faith, but rather that his faith has had him blackballed from further advancement within the company. The problem is, aside from a couple mentions of his faith, we never really see what that faith is in…or why it has been an impediment.

Daniel seems to be in shock the entire film, some of which is understandable, but then she suddenly becomes the “Ripley” of the film. And they try and out-Ripley with Daniel. She swings around the outside of a ship with a giant gun blasting away at the xenomorph.

For the large part, the effects are good, though there is one scene where a newly birthed xenomorph is clearly (and pretty embarrassingly) CGI. Like Prometheus, the ideas seem unexplored and the story incomplete.

I did not hate the film. Fassbender was great in his dual roles. Walter had an entirely different tone and cadence to David. I have always liked the design of the Alien franchise. And the ships in Prometheus and Covenant do not feel like they cannot occupy the same space as the rest of the franchise. In Alien we saw an industrial transport ship in Aliens a military vessel, in the third film a dilapidated prison and in Resurrection a military station. All of these were utilitarian. The Prometheus was a private company’s high tech research vessel and the Covenant is a luxury transport.

I really like the design of the proto-xenomorphs. They are creepy and unnervingly vicious. I liked the characters for the most part, and felt Danny McBride’s Tennessee one of the more stand out characters, in spite of being a fairly standard character in these types of films. I would put Covenant above, say, the Alien Vs Predator films or Alien Resurrection. But it does not rise to Alien or Aliens either. The movie takes so many shortcuts, it results in characters looking a bit stupid. “Lets not wear protective gear in a new environment, after all, we can breath the air!” It is still a disappointing follow up with a annoying and dismal final reveal.

June 2, 2017 0

The Hunter or the Hunted? Pt 5 (Prometheus, 2012)

Resurrection seemed to kill the franchise. But after two Alien vs Predator films, Ridley Scott became very annoyed and wanted to right the ship. Kind of. The vaguely titled Prometheus would be set before Alien, but it was not a direct prequel. Rather, it would be Alien Adjacent. This certainly made for an intriguing idea, and trailers showed a lot of hints of the unfamiliar future with brief glimpses of familiar sites.

The final product is an imperfect attempt at an epic tale. Borrowing heavily from Erich Von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods, Prometheus opens with a gorgeous and vast shot of lakes and mountains. We travel along this landscape until we come upon a “man”. He is tall and muscular, with marble like skin. A large spaceship (which is the same type of ship from the first Alien where the eggs are discovered) is leaving him behind. He drinks a strange black drink and instantly his body starts to break down and he falls into the water, his DNA dispersing.

If you are not sure what Chariots of the Gods is, it was a book in the 70’s that claimed that all religion and technology we know today was the result of guidance from extra-terrestrials who were revered as Gods. Prometheus takes this a step further, positing that mankind was created by these aliens. They become known as “the Engineers” in the film. Considering that Scott completely ignores the Alien vs Predator films, I am surprised he pretty much steals this concept from them.

The film leaps to the future, where we meet Elizabeth Shaw and her fellow archeologist (and boyfriend) Charlie. They have been traversing the globe comparing various ancient sites, specifically the artwork of cultures from all over the world that share common themes. They believe they have assembled the coordinates to a home world of “The Engineers”. A crew is assembled by dying Peter Weyland to visit the planet. They are told he will be dead by the time they arrive.

Once on the planet, the crew discovers an ancient ship with bodies of the engineers and holograms of them running from some threat. Many poor choices are made and everything goes wrong.

The film gives us all sorts of “almosts”. Almost a facehugger. Almost an Alien. Almost the planet from Alien. The film has grand attempts to explore themes of faith, diety, humanity and creation. A lot of this focus is on Shaw and the Synthetic David. David is one of the more interesting characters…he is also both sympathetic and disturbing.

The ending is a massive storm of confusion and destruction, in which Shaw becomes determined to discover why the Engineers have chosen the course they chose in relation to humanity.

Prometheus is gorgeous to watch, which breath taking visuals. It is a stunning and spectacular feats with a strong cast, including Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba and Michael Fassbender. Fassbender especially shines as synthetic David.

But the story seems only half cooked. They have ideas at play that never meet fruition. The unanswered questions seem allowable, as the film was clearly left open for a follow-up. With Prometheus, we have a film that is not terrible but not quite great. And if it was part one, it might even be a great start and set up. But, that was not not meant to be. Instead we are left with an incomplete story.

June 1, 2017 0