The Beginning (Unbreakable, 2000)

After the wild success of the Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan re-teamed with Bruce Willis for another film. Of course, everyone wanted to know what he would do next.

Bruce Willis is David Dunn, a regular guy with a wife and kid whose life is forever changed when he is the lone survivor of a massive commuter train wreck. But it is not that he simply lived…he walked away without a scratch.

A stranger, Elijah Price enters his world who is convinced that Dunn is a uniquely gifted man. He pushes David to look to his past, where David realizes he rarely has been sick, save one event. But aside from a near drowning, he has never broken a bone and can be very hard to hurt in general. Price convinces the skeptical David that he has amazing powers…he is strong, semi-impervious and also has a… sixth sense, if you will, that allows him to get a sense of a person when he touches them.

He starts to use this to stop criminals, trusting Elijah. The film juxtaposes the two men. While Willis’ Dunn is seemingly indestructible, Elijah suffers from a unique condition in which his bones are severely fragile. So fragile that the most minor of pressure can shatter a bone. But where his body is in constant danger of destruction, his intellect is great. His power is the strength of his mind.

This works really well. You see how Elijah is able to push David to become a believer in his situation, to embrace his power, in spite of his early skepticism. This also brings he and his son closer, as his son is excited by the idea that his father is a super-hero.

I really appreciate how Willis’ performance grounds the film. You find yourself unsure if you can trust your eyes. But you cannot help but hope it is true…that David is not being manipulated into buying into a delusion. And Elijah Price’s certainly helps the viewer.

The movie does have a twist, but in comparison to the Sixth Sense, it seems a bit less…drastic. It is absolutely a game changer, as the film is set up as a realistic super-hero origin story. This is one of Shyamalan’s best films. Willis and Jackson deliver terrific performances in a compelling story.

January 30, 2019 0

Life Without a Soul (Blade Runner 2049, 2017)

It is 35 years since the first Blade Runner. Agent K is a blade Runner and also a modern replicant. He is given a mission after the bones of a replicant are found that indicate she died in childbirth. Replicants should be unable to conceive, let alone carry a child to term.

K’s human boss wants him to find the child and kill it. But things become complicated when he finds evidence that his false implant memories may be real, leading to the question of whether K is the mysterious child of Deckard and Rachel (Sean Young’s Replicant from the original film).

Further problems arise when we find that Niander Wallace, who has profited off the failure of the Tyrell Corporation and become the leading force of Replicant and digital A.I. technology, is also looking for the child. The one thing that has eluded him has been the ability for replicants to reproduce. He sees this as a key component in their evolution (well, most everyone does).

The films is visually stunning. The neon dreams that fill the city, the holographic girlfriend Joi (showing both K’s isolation as a Blade Runner and Replicant and his desire to connect), the desolate Las Vegas…every shot in this film feels like independent artworks.

The ending gives the audience just enough to be satisfying without wrapping everything up in a neat little package.

Not playing coy about K’s identity as a replicant is something that gives the film strength. In one scene, K expresses a concern about killing something “born” to his superior Lieutenant Joshi. He notes that being born implies there is a soul there. Joshi sends him off with the cold note that he has gotten along fine without a soul. I am trying to determine if it is a problem for me that Joi is probably one of the most sympathetic beings in the entire film. But I suspect director Denis Villeneuve would like to hear that. By and large, the Replicants are the center of the show here. Luv, Wallace’s right hand, is downright terrifying.

Villeneuve has given the audience a beautiful and captivating film.

February 6, 2018 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

What a Scrooge Part 5 (A Christmas Carol, 2009)

Truth be told, I was not anticipating much with this film. It was motion capture and seemed like a vanity project for Carrey to show off.

And yet, the motion capture was not as distracting as I expected. The character designs had an old storybook look.

And yes, it is an opportunity for Carrey to show off, but this film works in his favor. Carrey provides the voice of Scrooge and all three Ghosts. The film has some of the most imaginative takes on the ghosts, as only animation allows.

The Ghost of Christmas Present has a flame for a head, symbolic of the birth of hope (at least to me) to be mined from the past. While the Ghost of Christmas Present appears very much like other incarnations in his wreath crown and red robe, Carrey plays him with a wicked glee. This is a powerful component of the Ghost that can often be missed. He enjoys sticking it to Scrooge by using his own words against him. The best adaptions of the story remember this.

Marley is spot on. He is downright horrifying, as is fitting to the story. If your Marley is not fear inducing, you are getting it all wrong. And here, Marley’s arrival is intense.

The performances are all effective. Oldman’s Marley is grim, angry and desperate. His Bob Cratchit kindly and gentle. Colin Firth brings warmth and joy to Fred. But Carrey? He shines as Scrooge. He brings the right amount of fear and bitterness to Scrooge. His ghosts echo his voice ever so slightly, as if each ghost has a direct link to Scrooge.

Post conversion Scrooge hits all the right notes. He is giddy, joyful and full of hope. There is a glint of childish mischievousness in him as he plays off the expectations of those around him and then surprises them.

The one sore spot for me is that there two absurd and over the top effects sequences. The first has Scrooge rocketing through the sky after extinguishing the ghost of Christmas Past. The second is where Scrooge shrinks and grows while trying to outrun the horses of the Ghost of Christmas Future.

But overall, writer/director Robert Zemeckis and his cast seem to understand the story, and put together a pretty effective version of the tale. They get the horror element, the scary aspect of the story, but also the hope and redemption. I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

December 21, 2015 0