Monday, November 25, 2013


Thor: The Dark World (2013) Directed by Alan Taylor

 

Sif: I had things under control!

Thor: Is that why everything's on fire?

 

It’s been two years since the alien attack on New York…two years since Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) last saw her love, Thor (Chris Hemsworth).  However when gravimetric and quantum anomalies begin cropping up, she and her intern Darcy (Kat Dennings) and HER intern, Ian (Jonathan Howard) investigate interesting floating trucks and strange teleportation phenomena.  It is of course a prelude to bigger problems, the convergence, a 5000 year event where the nine worlds converge, and the veils between Asgard, Midgard (that’s us), Jotunheim, and even Svartalfheim become very…permeable.

 

And because Jane is who she is, she is sucked through a portal directly into the most secret vault Asgard ever built, and infected with a Dark Elf weapon of mass destruction, the Aether.  That’s like thee or me being sucked into the warehouse where they put the Ark of the Covenant, or into NORAD’s launch code room.  And then hitting the launch button.

 

Anyhoo, the very act of touching the Aether awakens the last of the Svartalves, and their leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) is on his way to do battle with Asgard, find the Aether, and use it, and the Convergence to blot out all light in the universe.

 

And since they are subtle creatures of high magic and immense power, Thor will need help in the sneaky department….his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) God of Mischief.

 

It is a great set up; the McGuffin is a WMD, and it’s in Thor’s girlfriend.  The fate of the nine realms is at stake as well as the throne of Asgard.  And Thor is presented with  a choice; the throne of Asgard, or the life of a hero.  The expected duty of marriage to the lovely Sif (Jaimie Alexander) or the brief doomed affair with Jane.  Remember, Thor is Asgardian.  His life span is measured in millennia.  Jane will wither and die in decades. 

 

And that is what moves this above the simple action flick with killer special effects (and oh my, it does have those in abundance!)  No, this is a very human drama; a father with two sons, one who ulcerates for the throne, and is totally unfit for it, the other who is perfect for the job, who by definition, wants nothing to do with it.  It is about a mother, Frigga (Rene Russo) who must watch a beloved child suffer his well deserved punishment, who must balance her desire to soften her husband’s heart against her duties to support him as her king.  It is about a father, Odin, (Anthony Hopkins) who must first be King, no matter the dictates of his heart.  And it is about a heart, Thor’s, which must find a path that serves the people who count on him, but is also true to itself.

 

It is also funny.  Intern Darcy, Intern’s intern Ian, and frequently nude astrophysicist Eric Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård, what is it about the Skarsgård men that they just can’t keep their clothes on?) makes sure that the movie doesn’t drown in its own weight of splendor and gravitas. 

 

Honestly, this is a superior movie to the first.  They listened to the feedback on the first film, and took out the elements that did not serve, and strengthened the movie over all.  If this keeps up, the third could win an Oscar.  One of the biggest complaints about the first was a lack of Chemistry between Thor and Jane.  I don’t know what Portman and Hemsworth did to address the issue, but it has been addressed, and the chemistry works.  In a year rich with Superhero Movies, this last one stands out as one of the finest.

Saturday, November 23, 2013


Riddick (2013) Directed by David Twohy

 

One down... Three down. Six down.  Nine.  You see where I'm going with this?—Riddick


When last we left Riddick (Vin Diesel), he was Lord Marshall of the Necromongers.  You knew that wasn’t going to last.  Now we find him on a desert planet, banged up, scratched and torn, with a broken leg, and not much going for him than a stubborn refusal to die.


The planet he thought he was going to was Furya; his home.  But that was just the bait Vaako (Karl Urban) set him up with.  The first chance one of his ‘loyal minions’ got, Krone (Andreas Apergis) betrayed him, left him for dead and went back home, one assumes to become the new Lord Marshall, since you keep what you kill….
 

Riddick doesn’t die easy.  Not for the tiger-striped Jackal Wolves, not for the Ptera-Vultures, and not for the Water Scorpions.  Every challenge he meets, and overcomes, because he’s Riddick.


He and his pet tiger-striped jackal wolf head off for lusher lands only to find a Merc station.  That means food, shelter, bear traps, and other fun stuff.  It’s the perfect place for Riddick to shed his civilized veneer, and get back to being an animal.  But when Jackal Wolf sees rain in the distance, Riddick knows from his reaction his time on this planet is just about up….


And so he calls for a taxi, by broadcasting on The Bounty Hunter Network exactly where he is.  He attracts two ships, one belongs to Santana (Jordi Mollà) and his crew of rough and tumble mercs who just want the bounty on Riddick’s head (double if he is brought back dead).  The other ship is a more professional operation run by Boss Johns (Matt Nable).  Riddick only needs one ship.  You would think they would just give it to him….it certainly would be easier on them.


It is a return to Pitch Black, and the theme of Man Versus Nature, or in this case, Homicidal Killing Machine Versus Planet Full of Predators Gone Wild.  Gone is the mythic “Destiny” storyline of the Chronicles of Riddick, and it’s just back to one man who is going to survive, and will cut down anything that gets in his way.  It is the formula that made Pitch Black a cult classic, and that straying from made The Chronicles of Riddick such a disappointment. 


It’s got the old magic.  And it’s got a teaser shot of a naked Riddick.   Less teasery and more substantial is the shot of Dahl’s (Katie Sackhoff) breast.  So yes, this movie officially has T&A.  And much more than that it has that patented brand of calm self assured Riddick Violence, delivered in copious doses.  The Cans of Whupazz come in six-packs around here. 


It of course has some problems…it sort of goes with the territory.  The one that stuck in my mind was the fact that it really is Pitch Black all over again.  “There is something horrible that comes out only when….”  We saw this movie.  It was great.  Now here’s the same movie, and yes, it is good.  But…didn’t we see this before?


If that doesn’t bother you (or if you can overlook it for the space of 119 minutes) then this movie is a great way to end the Summer Action Movie Season.

Friday, November 22, 2013

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE Remember Who the Enemy Is.


The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) Directed by Frances Lawrence

 

Prim: Since the last games, something is different. I can see it.

Katniss: What can you see?

Prim: Hope.

 

The second part of any trilogy has an uphill battle.  The first part is the set up.  The third part is the climax.  The second part often has a little trouble finding its own voice.

 

Not here.  The twisted world of Pan-Am makes sure that there are twists and turns, and raised stakes; after all, the Hunger Games are all about showmanship.

 

Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) understands showmanship.  His confession of love for Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was brilliant showmanship.  It is irrelevant that it is also true…for Peeta.  The crowd believes it, and falls in love with Katniss Everdeen, a girl who is lovable precisely because she has no use for or skill in pretense.  Snow doesn’t like the crowd loving Katniss.  Katniss has an unfortunate habit of speaking her mind.  She has an unforgivable gift for making grand gestures.  What Snow wants is a tool he can use to pacify the crowds.  The Hunger Games are bread and circuses…short on the bread, heavy on the circus.  Katniss is supposed to be a symbol that the best and the brightest of the 12 districts are nothing more than play things for the Capital.  But Katniss tends to play by her own rules.

 

So does President Snow (Donald Sutherland).  This is the 75th Hunger Games, and that means it’s a Quarter Quell, a time to remind the districts how heavy is the boot of the Capital upon their throats.  In the last Quarter Quell, they demanded twice as many tributes.  That was the one where Haymitch (Woody Harralson) was the sole survivor.  This year…they are drawing tributes only from the victors….

 

I could tell you about the rest of the movie, the strategy, the clever machinations of the Gamesmaster, Plutarch Heavenesbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) the 24 interesting ways to die, the alliances, the betrayals of the Hunger Games, but instead I want to talk about why I think these movies and the books that inspired them are important in today’s world.

 

Part and parcel of what makes Pan-Am such a hellhole to live in is the extreme inequality of wealth; the districts starve while in the capital, they throw up so they can eat more.  The capital cares only about appearance, and the latest thing, with little concern for substance. They care about pain.  They care about fear.  They care about power.  They want the populace to be so afraid of losing what little they have, they can’t think about what they should have.

 

Mostly, they are concerned about symbols.  Symbols can cut through fear, they can cut through lethargy. Symbols like the Mocking Jay, symbols like Katniss Everdeen, and Peeta Mellark who were willing to die rather than let the capital separate them.

 

There are so many good reasons why children should be required to read these books, and to watch these movies.  First, Katniss is a wonderful role model.  Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t starve herself to fit into a size 2, and yet, no one could deny that she is a lovely young lady.  Further, Katniss’ competence, intelligence, and spirit make her far prettier than Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) and his crew could ever do with any amount of special effects clothing lines, eye-shadow and foundation. 

The movie values courage, ingenuity, and doing the right thing, even when the cost is high.

Most of all, I think the theme of the movies are, “I asked ‘Why doesn’t someone do something?’ then I realized, I was Someone.”

 

That is a wonderful message at any age. 

 

And the most delightful part of course is that this is only the second part of the trilogy.  We have one more to look forward to, and I do.