You Take the Good, Take the Bad (Life, 2017)

A sci-fi thriller set aboard the International Space-station, Life is a competent film. The effects are good enough to allow for suspension of disbelief. The cast is quite likeable. The story is uncomplicated.

A research team discovers a life form in soil samples from Mars. Eventually, the life form grows and as often happens, it gets free and starts killing people. The scientists must find a way to keep the creature from reaching earth and…well, not die.

It might sound like I disliked Life. But actually? I enjoyed it just fine. I never got bored and liked the characters. But it was not nearly as risky, even the ending feels like an attempt to feel edgier than it is.

Again, I enjoyed the film, but it won’t be joining the pantheon of Sci-Fi monster movie classics. But it was okay.

March 25, 2017 0

The Bigger They Come Part 9 (King Kong, 1976)

In 1976, we saw the first King Kong Remake. Producer Dino De Laurentiis had this made amid legal hassles over who actually owned the rights to King Kong. The setting is moved to the 1970’s and it is a new batch of characters. Fred Wilson is an oil executive trying to reach the newly discovered Skull Island. He is certain it will be a treasure trove of fossil fuels. Jack Prescott is a primate paleontologist who stows away. He ends up being used as the staff photographer. Finally, the freighter comes upon a raft with the unconscious Dwan, a beautiful young blonde.

The motives are different, but the results are the same. The team discovers a giant wall (a surprise as it was assumed that the island had no native peoples). The native chief is enthralled by Dwan and tries to trade girls for her. They later kidnap Dwan and offer her up to Kong. Jack leads a team to save her, and then Fred decides to bring capture Kong. It follows the original story pretty closely here (though substituting the World Trade Center for the Empire State Building).

One of the biggest changes is how Kong is a lot less sympathetic. He is a bit of a creep, at one point practically molesting Dwan. Fred Wilson is not like Carl Denham. Denham was an obsessed dreamer as well as an opportunist. Fred is simply a man of great greed.

The remake starts out serious, gets very campy and then ends with an attempt at being “powerfully dramatic”.

Of all the versions of the Kong story, this take on Skull Island is the dullest. It has few creatures and there is little sense of danger.

Kong is clearly a guy in a suit, especially noticeable when he walks. But the mechanics of the gorilla head are actually quite effective. The face is especially effective.

Overall, the 1976 remake is a dud, in spite of a fairly strong cast.

March 25, 2017 0

The Bigger They Come Part 8 (Godzilla: King of Monsters, 1956)

Filmmakers wanted to bring Godzilla to American audiences, and what they thought Godzilla needed was a white guy’s perspective. Godzilla: King of Monsters was not so much a remake as it was a revision of the original film. Adding footage of Raymond Burr, the film becomes a narrated flash black.

Opening in the wake of Godzilla’s attack, Burr’s American journalist Steve Martin starts to recount the destruction. The story is basically the same, except it is now all told through a white American’s eyes. Suddenly, the human stories of the film feel less personal and more foreign than they should.

The atomic fears are not removed, but altered a bit by changing the perspective of the story to America’s eyes. It is still an entertaining story, but it feels like the cliff notes version.

March 24, 2017 0

The Bigger They Come Part 7 (Godzilla, 1954)

In 1954 with fears of nuclear annihilation feeding filmmakers hearts, it is no surprise Japan provided the most memorable monster of all.

The film begins with a series of mysterious freighter accidents. As attempts to determine the cause turn up no answers, an unseen threat is creeping towards Tokyo. This is, of course, our titular monster. Godzilla makes land and starts to terrorize the locals.

A lot is made of what Godzilla himself represents in the fears of the atomic age. Certainly, the dramatic images of Godzilla’s destruction evoke the horrors of Hiroshima. But when it comes to the fears of atomic weaponry, we see it in the character Serizawa-hakase, a scientist who stumbles upon the creation of a weapon so horrible, he dare not share it with the world. When it is discovered, he is called upon to provide it for stopping Godzilla…but is it worth the sacrifice?

While Godzilla is pretty obviously a man in a suit smashing miniatures, the storytelling is very effective and the characters compelling. Ishirô Honda tells a tale that overcomes the limitations. Which says a lot, considering this first incarnation of Godzilla is a bit bug eyed and flails like Donald Trump at a rally.

March 23, 2017 0

The Bigger They Come Part 6 (Son of Kong, 1933)

King Kong was quickly followed up by Son of Kong.

Song of Kong finds Carl Denham trying to avoid the public after the King Kong debacle. He ends up returning to Skull Island. He and a few companions get stranded there. They discover a “pint sized” Kong. Unlike the first film, this is not an adversarial relationship. Instead, they befriend the mini-Kong.

While the effects are are up to par with the original, this is a far less memorable film. There is a reason it is forgotten. It is kind of a dull affair, in spite of attempts to recapture the original film’s excitement.

The cast is primarily new, except for the returning Robert Armstrong (Carl Denham), Frank Reicher (Capt. Englehorn) and Victor Wong (Charlie the Chinese Cook). Son of Kong is a minor footnote in the Big Ape genre for certain.

March 22, 2017 0

The Bigger They Come Part 5 (King Kong, 1933)

In 1933, Merian C. Cooper began making giant ape movies. King Kong still stands as the most memorable. Carl Denham is committed to make an epic film on the newly discovered Skull Island. Bring his cast and crew, they discover horror as Ann Darrow is kidnapped by the native people and sacrificed to Kong.

King Kong is a pretty impressive feat for it’s day. While the stop motion does not compare to, say, Ray Harryhausen’s later works. The sets are also pretty impressive.

The story moves at a fast pace, rarely taking time to slow down. The performances are all pretty good, though most people really only remember Fay Wray (in part for screaming a whole lot). Darrow is, typically for the times, strictly in the “Helpless Damsel” mode.

The Savage Natives trope is embarrassingly outdated. Peter Jackson made no attempt to change this in his 2005 remake, while Kong: Skull Island overcompensates by going the Noble Savage route. It is one of those rather frustrating stamps of the past that lacks justification beyond “It was the times”.

King Kong is a memorable piece of genre film history and overall a fun watch in spite of it’s shortcomings.

March 21, 2017 0

The Bigger They Come Part 4 (Pacific Rim, 2013)

Guermillo Del Toro is a man of unique vision. He always has his own take on traditional monsters. In Cronos, he tackled vampires in a heartbreaking tale of a grandfather who finds a mysterious device. Both Crimson Peak and the Devils Backbone are period pieces focusing ghost stories where humans are the truly frightening characters. And so we find that del Toro’s love letter to Japanese giant Monster movies and Anime mech cartoons and brought together with his own vision.

In a near future, the earth finds itself under attack by giant monsters nicknamed Kaiju. At first, the giant creatures are able to be taken down with conventional weapons…but as newer Kaiju emerge, a new approach is needed. The nations of the world build giant robots, called Jaegers, controlled by two pilots who are psychically linked. Raleigh and Yancy Becket are celebrity pilots, but when a fight with a Kaiju ends in tragedy, Raleigh walks away.

He is called back into action by Stacker Pentacost and paired with young pilot Mako Mori. Raleigh, Mako and several other pilots are about to take on a special mission. They need to close the interdimensional portal in the Pacific Ocean.

As expected, Del Toro created a visual feast. The Kaiju are immense and impressive. The Jaegers have weapons and are exciting to watch. The characters are not especially unique but are used effectively. Charlie Day and Burn Gorman are entertaining as eccentric scientists specializing in Kaiju sciences. And the always enjoyable Ron Perlman is a stylish black market dealer who traffics in Kaiju parts. And Idris Elba is always reliable for a gruff but heroic role.

Fun and bombastic, Del Toro has given us a fun film. It is not a deep film, but it is a ride.

March 14, 2017 0

The Bigger They Come Part 3 (King Kong, 2005)

Following the smashing success of the Lord of the Rings films, Jackson had the cred to get a pet project off the ground. A remake of 1933’s classic King Kong. He wanted to make an epic, and it is far from the cheesey camp of the 1976 film starring Jessica Lang, Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin.

Instead of updating the location to modern times, Jackson meticulously recreates 1930s New York. He introduces us to Carl Denham, a director who dreams very big and is trying to secure financing to go to a mysterious island shown on a map he has acquired. He hires down on his luck playwright Jack Driscoll to write a script for a grand adventure. He finds a beautiful leading lady in struggling actress Ann Darrow. His male lead is the egotistical Bruce Baxter.

They get on a boat, go to Skull Island, explore, find monsters, the Natives kidnap Ann who is sacrificed to a mysterious monster. The monster is the giant ape Kong who takes a liking to Darrow. Jack and Carl lead the crew to rescue Ann. Denham, of course, has an ulterior motive of getting film of the monsters on the island. They save Ann, capture Kong and Kong is brought to New York. Kong Breaks free and runs amok in the city.

Jackson hits all the beats, and it all sounds exciting. He is very faithful to the original story. Except…well, in typical Peter Jackson fashion, he overdoes it. The film takes an hour to set things up. A full hour before they get to Skull Island. All in a misguided attempt to set up character motivation and romance. Once on Skull Island, the film picks up and gets very exciting. But an hour of setup and added time for the reveal of King Kong…makes for a dull and slow film. The whole cruel savages approach to Skull Island’s natives is embarrassingly dated.

The performance by Andy Serkis as Kong is really impressive looking. The digital Kong is still impressive looking. But the film clocks in at three hours (and that is before Jackson’s expanded cut) and that results ina ridiculous amount of bloated storytelling.

March 13, 2017 1

The Bigger They Come Part 2 (Godzilla, 2014)

Godzilla has always seemed to have some trouble when Hollywood takes the reins. 1998’s misguided spectacle is the pinnacle of this. Gareth Edwards and his team opted to take a step back. They did not, of course, go with the “Man in Rubber Suit” approach…but their digital Godzilla is far more in line with the traditional Godzilla.

Starting in 1999, there is a mysterious and horrifying event at a nuclear power plant in Janjira, Japan. American employee Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) loses his wife (Juliette Binoche) in the event, while his relationship with his son Ford becomes estranged as the years pass and Cranston’s obsession with the accident grows. In 2014, Ford is in the military and returning home to his wife and son. He gets a call that his father (still in Japan) has been arrested. The location of the event is off limits to the public, due to claims of radiation. Joe convinces Ford to explore Janjira one more time…and they discover a a secret research facility and some large monster referred to as a Muto that appears to be in hibernation. Of course, it wakes up and starts seeking it’s other half.

This results in the awakening of something else that comes in to fight these giants. You know…Godzilla. Godzilla is setup in this film as the hero, with no questions by the end of how people see him.

Edwards takes a very slow reveal approach. This serves the film well, making it very satisfying when the audience gets to see Godzilla in full monster lizard glory. At the same time, the film’s primary focus is on Ford and nurse (and wife) Elle. And honestly? They are tremendously boring characters. So, when the film does not have Cranston or Ken Watanabe or Godzilla on screen, things get dull fast.

The opening credits are really nicely done, giving the audience old news reels indicating the existence of monsters…we get brief hints of Godzilla (mostly his back-plates) and evidence the military attempted to kill him.

Overall, the story is pretty simple, giant monsters appear and fight and cause destruction. It is a fairly strong attempt to capture the feel of older Godzilla films, and in some ways does it smashingly well. It is the centering of Ford and Elle that lacks any emotional punch that is needed in a film like this. What makes it a bit more disappointing is Cranston and Binoche do have chemistry that makes them compelling…and they pull it off in about ten minutes of screen time.

March 12, 2017 1

The Bigger They Come

So, starting with the Kong Skull Island review, I am going to be looking back at other Giant Monster films. There may be some breaks as I catch up on some older films. But I am going to see how comprehensive a set of reviews I can assemble for this theme.

March 11, 2017 0