Star Wars - Episode V
The Empire Strikes Back Cert: PG*1 / 122 mins / Dir. Irvin Kershner / Trailer
And so it goes. Weeks turn into months, the lockdown steadily lifts (for now, at any rate) and cinemas begin to staggeringly open their doors once more. As anyone dropping in will be aware, it's been pretty quiet around these parts of late. And not just in writing about movies, but also even watching them to begin with. There are plenty of people who can review what they watch in their living rooms better than I can, so I've used this enforced downtime as just that - downtime*2.
In a bid to lure the punters back and actually have some content, Cineworld has scheduled screenings of the Back To The Future movies, the original Harry Potter saga and Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. And under any other circumstances, I'd be there for all of those in a heartbeat. Then again, under any other circumstances they wouldn't be on. So. I'm as twitchy as anyone about societal 're-entry' at this point*3, and it was going to take something pretty damned special to get me back down there while the UK's virus-related casualty list continues alarmingly on a daily basis.
Fortunately, Star Wars is pretty damned special.
CREST This year marks the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back's debut, and since its actual birthday in May was an understandably muted affair, the film is riding the current crest of opportunistic cinematic re-releases. And so it goes. Star Warswas my last theatrical visit before lockdown kicked in, so it seems only fitting that it's what gets me back in the building after five months. But how the hell am I supposed to review a film which has corded its way into my DNA over the last four decades?
It's a masterpiece. Of course it is, that's hardly a new observation. While I don't find The Empire Strikes Back as self-containedly satisfying as A New Hope*4, it's long been established as the most emotionally nuanced movie of the Original Trilogy, with moments of genuine smirk-inducing humour sitting flawlessly beside the tonal (and at some points visual) darkness. Not only is there firm character development throughout for the film's protagonists, but the cast's performances also intuitively indicate the changes which have taken place between, since the Battle of Yavin.
DROPS But along with George Lucas' story and Leigh Brackett's and Lawrence Kasdan's screenplay, the lion's share of credit for Empire's successes has to go to director Irvin Kershner. We already know the cast are fantastic by this point, but it's Kersh who really gets the performances out of them. The story moves along at a cracking pace, and rather than have the players increase their own volume to match, we concentrate on their emotional rather than physical reactions. Luke's commitment to becoming an actual Jedi after what could easily have been a near-death hallucination on the plains of Hoth; Han's dedication to keeping his newfound friends/family safe, only planning to leave to confront Jabba when he knows it's best for both him and the Rebellion; Leia's dawning realisation that the things which drive her crazy about Han are an integral part of why she's fallen in love with him; Vader's growing inner-conflict with the knowledge that the son of Anakin Skywalker has become a power in the galaxy, and whether he can (or even should) remain loyal to his dark side pledge now he has something to protect once again.
And all of this manages to clear the hurdle of sequel-itis; The Empire Strikes Back doesn't rehash or reheat ideas from its predecessor, it successfully expands out a story which already had a triumphant ending. It's not a standalone movie of course, and having the big ground battle in the first act combined with the cliffhanger finale creates an unrest which didn't sit well with me when I was younger. But looking back now (at myself as much as at the film), I can see those structural choices are intentional and precisely implemented, and they make this movie the utter joy it is.
The Empire Strikes Back is an unconventional triumph which dares filmmakers to step up to the plate with their own follow-up projects; a challenge that sees them more-than-often coming nowhere near close to matching. And so it goes.
HARBOUR As a nostalgic aside, this has been the first time I've seen Empire in an actual cinema since its 1997 Special Edition run, and Cineworld Didcot joins the Episode V sub-list alongside the Odeon Newcastle, Robins Durham, Dreamland Margate, Carlton Westgate and Horsebridge Whitstable.
What, you mean you don't keep a spreadsheet of these things? Okay, weirdo...
Er... Star Wars?
If you can, do.
Yes, yes and yes.
Yes and yes.
That seems unlikely since it's one of the two Star Wars movies that everybody likes.
Of course there ruddy well is.
Level 0: This is Star Wars.
...but ...if (IF) you wanted to go around the houses with it... The Empire Strikes Back stars Mr Harrison Ford, who was in Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade with Michael Sheard, who also rocked up in The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission alongside Bruce Boa, who was in Bond-film Octopussy as was Jeremy Bulloch, who also played the same character earlier in For Your Eyes Only next to Julian Glover, who was in Hitler: The Last Ten Days with Alan Harris, who can be seen in Hanover Street which starred... Harrison Ford.
*2 Okay, I've got a podcast now. But it's not 'a lockdown podcast'. Just a podcast which happened to come out during the lockdown. And although listeners could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, my co-host and I were planning, tweaking, tuning this and recording pilots months beforehand. It's not a lockdown podcast. Even though it's getting lost alongside all the ones which are. C'est la vie. Or whatever passes for la vie in the trashfire that is 2020. [ BACK ]
*3 Probably moreso than many, to be fair. Seriously, I was doing hand-gel and avoiding people way before it was mainstream. And yes, I'm going to pull hipster-points on that one. No people = less disease, that's just maths. [ BACK ]
*4 On that subject, Empire's birthday means it's also 40 years since "Star Wars" became subtitled A New Hope, and I do wish the class bores would stop banging on about that as if it's some brand new Disney marketing ploy dreamt up to sell cereal (which, incidentally, Star Wars has been doing for 36 years). See also: the Han/Greedo debacle (23 years) and Jar Jar Binks (21 years). You don't have to like it lads, but you will have to accept that for many people, it's always been like that. The only domestic release of 'Star Wars' without the A New Hope subtitle is on the non-anamorphic bonus discs of the 2006 DVD release. Even your old VHS tapes are proving your ideological purity to be unfounded. There. I said it. [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (tenth-pass)
Cert: 12A / 142 mins / Dir. J.J. Abrams / Trailer Previous reviews:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
So Finn is a Jedi, now. Okay that's not strictly true, Finn is Force-sensitive, now. Or rather he always was, a bit. It's the thing he was trying to tell Rey for the whole of The Rise Of Skywalker. And that's fine. It's great, even. We've known since 1977 that this mysterious essence exists in all living things, indeed it's created by them. And Finn is a living thing. We just know that some beings are more adept at tuning into it. And those beings are typically Jedi, whereas Finn was a conscripted Stormtrooper.
But there's nothing precluding him from having a high midichlorian-count, of course*1. With the best will in the world, Palpatine and Vader wiping out the Jedi over fifty years earlier was never going to prevent new ones from being born. Force powers are inheritable, but mini-Jedi are born to non-Force-sensitive parents all the time. It's why the Jedi Order had a reputation for being child-snatchers, that wouldn't have spread if the only new Jedi were born in the temple, somehow to a largely celibate order.
FLAG
But speaking of abduction, why didn't the First Order flag Finn as one to watch? You'd expect them to have some screening equipment in place for the kids they recruit, at least. Based on the Empire-model, the organisation would either quietly dispose of potential Force-wielders or move them across to the Inquisitor-corps and make use of the bonus abilities. Who needs a bunch of fire-starting five yr-olds running around the place?
Let's not forget that Finn wielded a lightsaber on his character-poster for The Force Awakens, something we assumed at the time was related to him holding his own against Kylo Ren on Ilum (well, for longer than most would be expected to anyway). But Finn's power is demonstrably much lower on the scale than Rey's, and without any formal training. TRoS is the movie, after all, where he sees his friend using the Force for healing and suggestion, not just combat and telekinesis. While he's in awe of Rey's abilities, it's more a quiet reverence and a niggle of familiarity. Now that Finn's aware of the Force tingling within himself, it's growing every day.
BETTY So it's not beyond the realms of plausibility for one of the Sequel Trilogy's new heroes to find himself coming to the Jedi party a little later. But then, the film seems to suggest that newcomer Janna might be Force-sensitive, too. And the entire squadron she deserted with on Kef Bir. Although in my own personal head-canon, I think that where Finn describes the Force to her as "a feeling", Janna's agreement may be closer to "a conscience". Because unless they were a special project put together by the First Order and hadn't begun their Sith-intern training, the implication there is that anyone can be a Jedi.
And while that's charming in the same way as everyone running a race getting their own medal, the knock-on effect of that optimism is that Anakin, Luke and Rey Skywalker aren't particularly special by virtue of their bloodlines or abilities, only their choices (there is a separate post to be written about the importance of choice, though). The whole narrative of The Chosen One is pretty much diluted when anyone could have trained and become powerful enough to take down Vader and the Emperor, they just didn't, or didn't want to.
We can all be heroes without the Force, that's what Han Solo is there to show.
But I'm very cool with Finn being a Jedi-in-training. Much like Rey building her own orange-bladed lightsaber, it's another foundation laid for future adventures, be they on the screen or the page.
And apart from anything else, Broom Boy is going to need a sparring-partner...
The Star Wars.
Obvs.
Obvs.
That one's up for debate, but probably not.
Try me.
Not that I can tell.
Level 0: It is Star Wars.
...but if you wanted to go around the houses with it, The Rise Of Skywalker features Lupita Nyong'o, who starred in Black Panther alongside Forest Whitaker from Taken 3 which had Liam Neeson in it. Neeson was also in The Commuter with Andy Nyman, who starred in 2000's Dead Babies next to Paul Bettany, who was of course in Wimbledon with Jon Favreau, the director and voice-artist behind 2016's The Jungle Book which starred... Lupita Nyong'o.
*1 Hahahaah, oh yes I went there. FIGHT ME. [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Okay you know the drill, this post is less a cumulative appraisal and more a list of 'notes as we go' through The Rise of Skywalker. Because of this, it features spoilers. Great, whacking, Star Destroyer-sized spoilers. So if you haven't seen the film yet, stop reading now. Apart from anything else, there's no real context for most of them as I assume you've seen the movie, so they won't make sense to you coming to this review blind. But because I'm nice like that, the spoilers don't start until after this bump.
It's also worth pointing out that as sarcastic as I'm about to be, I do love The Rise Of Skywalker and I'm feeling more 'at home' with it on each subsequent viewing. This is playful joshing.
And this is your last chance to turn back...
The Bad Guys
• Right, this galaxy-wide broadcast from the Emperor who's been thought dead for the last 35+ years is quite an important thing, right? Am I meant to have read the lead-in novel to get this? Will we get to hear the broadcast? Surely we would if it's important enough to be the first thing the crawl mentions, right?
• Is this the longest gap between the start of a Star Wars movie and the first line of dialogue? That's quite a bold move.
• Wow, the Knights Of Ren really are the briefest window-dressing in this movie, aren't they? Almost as much as those red-armoured Sith Troopers.
Vader: "So there are only two of the Wayfinders, is that right?"
Emperor: "Yes, and they're totally safe. Don't worry, I'm on it."
Vader: "And can I ask where you keep them?
Emperor: "Well one of them is in a vault behind that door ten feet away from you. I mean it's not out on display but always close at hand so I can grab it if I have to leave here in a hurry for any reason."
Vader: "Ooh, nice touch. And what about the other one?"
Emperor: "I've left it upside down under a garden ornament just out in the open on some planet you've never heard of. Got a couple of lads watching it though so it'll be safe as houses."
Vader: "..."
• Y'know what? If Rian Johnson had brought The Emperor out of absolutely nowhere at the beginning of his movie and had him say "I have been every voice you have ever heard inside your head", toxic-fandom would have been calling him every EXPLETIVE under the sun for it.
The Good Guys
• Wait, the rebels have to fly all the way to a hidden base to transfer a message through a cable? Is the e-mail down? Get onto IT about that, lads.
• In the lightspeed-skipping sequence, are those pipe/towers at Bespin?
• I'm very much enjoying grumpy, sarcastic Poe Dameron in this. Ironically, he's far more likeable than his gee-whiz pirate-lite from the previous two movies.
• Oh, Rey is trying to summon the spirits of deceased Jedi. I wonder if this will come up again later in the film?
Poe: "Somehow, Palpatine survived" Rose: "...do we believe this?" Poe: "I hope so mate, there'll be no further explanation of how, so just take it as read, yeah?"
• So the secret Sith world is Exegol? Not like, say, Moraband or something? Okay, that's fine.
Finn: "Rose, last chance?" Rose: "The general asked me to stay here and literally study schematics of old ships rather than go on an adventure to save the Rebellion like I did earlier. It's almost as if my screen-time has been cut for some reason while retaining my contractually stipulated appearance in the movie." Finn: "Okay, somebody's touchy." Rose: *looks over spectacles*
• Evil space-chimp is running Sith hat repair-shop now. Okay, that's fine.
Pasana
• Guys, stop making desert locales which aren't Tatooine. Or like return to Jedha instead. Please.
• I am loving C-3PO's humour in this movie, he is fantastic.
• Oh, Rey has been asked her surname and she's stuck for an answer. I wonder if this will come up again later in the film?
• Oh, a physical object has been teleported using the Force between Rey and Kylo Ren. I wonder if this will come up again later in the film?
• So wait, Ochi's ship is just "there", parked on a rock? You can just leave stuff out on Pasana and it doesn't get stolen, ransacked or vandalised? You'll be telling me next the ship is working and ready to go.
• Bonus points for six-legged elephant droid in the desert, serving precisely no practical purpose. Lovely stuff.
• The speeder-bikes with massive wheels seemed cumbersome and impractical in the trailer, and here they're shown to be cumbersome and impractical. Fair play.
• Oh, Rey has healed another living creature by transferring life-energy using the Force. I wonder if this will come up again later in the film?
Poe: "Okay, we've only got eight hours left!" Finn: "Are we doing this literal countdown-thing again? Like last time, in the film that everyone complained about? Poe: "Shut up, Derek."
• Okay, I love Joonas Suotamo but why does Chewie look like a guy in a suit for this film? I know Joonas is around the same height as Peter Mayhew, but they're built differently (Joonas is a basketball player, Peter was a hospital porter with bad posture) and they move differently. Peter coached him for TFA and that seems to have been forgotten. It totally looks like there's padding around his middle under the yak-hair. It's very much a guy in a suit. Less of this, please, bit of respect.
• OMG! Chewbacca's dead!! Haha, not really.
Kijimi
• Okay, where is my 3¾" figure of C-3PO wearing a coat, please?
• OMG! C-3PO's going to be lobotomised!! Haha, not really.
• When they're all like 'mate, doesn't R2-D2 back up your memory?', why doesn't Babu Frik just make a backup before he performs the procedure? He's such an expert slicer he's forgotten that making backups is the cornerstone of IT?
• Zori Bliss is great. Which comes as something of a pleasant surprise because I've only ever seen Kerri Russell being absolutely dreadful in stuff before.
• Why is D-O here, though? I get that there's toy-potential, but he doesn't really do a lot, does he? As soon as he starts giving the Rebels information about Exegol, Rey just transmits markers from her X-Wing anyway.
• C-3PO: "Oh, my first laser-battle!". A smashing callback to Attack Of The Clones there, and illustrating the full factory-settings extent of his wipe.
• Speaking of which, the change in mannerisms between the C-3PO who sat down in Babu Frik's chair and the one who got out of it is remarkable. They're both definitely Threepio, but it shows how much Daniels has evolved the characterisation over four decades.
• The split-screen of Rey and Kylo's conversation here is lovely, especially the way the locations intersect and overlap.
• Oh, thank you for the reminder of the teleporting objects through the Force with Vader's helmet. I wonder if this will come up again later in the film?
• Actually, why didn't Kylo just give Vader's helmet to the space-chimp to repair as well?
First real point of order though, when Kylo admits to Rey "I didn't lie, your parents were nobody, they chose to be", that's not Abrams trampling all over Johnson's writing from The Last Jedi. When Kylo made that assertion in the previous film, he was doing so based on information planted by Snoke (indeed Palpatine, as we now know) specifically to disrupt the protagonists' faith. Pretty much every line spoken by Kylo Ren can be attributed to lies, arrogance or being flat-out wrong about the subject at hand. And while I'm happy to put my hands up and say I was incorrect about claiming Rey would turn out to be Han and Leia's daughter (ie Ben's brother), I'll reiterate that I never believed for a second that the 'nobody' hypothesis would turn out to be literally true. Short version of all this: it's not a retcon lads, it's the reveal to the existing buildup*1.
Kylo: "My mother was the daughter of Darth Vader, your father was the son of Palpatine-" Rey: "Yeah I'll be honest, it sort of feels like everybody's turned over two pages at once, there. I'm meant to just accept this with no context, yeah? Who is Palpatine other than some dead guy that everyone frowns about?"
Endor
• Horses on Endor. Okay, they've got tusks, but it's still a fantastic callback to the Battle For Endor movie.
• Love that the Sith-dagger has that Jonesian Staff Of Ra feel, not least since it seems the blade was forged as part of a prophecy of the second Death Star being destroyed. Although much like the staff, it really seems like you have to be in the exact elevation, distance and angle for it to work. Fair play.
• Okay, Chewie said that the Falcon's landing gear was out of action, but why does that mean they have to come to a skidding stop churning up half a field in the process? Couldn't he, like, slow to a stop and then just drop the ship down?
• I know LFL are making the absolute best of the footage they've got with Carrie Fisher, but her exit in this movie makes absolutely no sense. Although given Padmé apparently died of a broken heart...
• OMG! Ben Solo's dead!! Haha, not really.
• So Han is-- ...y'know what? Okay, I'll give you that one. Although as they both admit he's figment of Ben's imagination, obviously this means we're going to see actual Force-spirits of actual former-Jedi later in the film, right?
Ajan Kloss
• That transmission that Finn, Poe, Rose and Beaumont hear, the one Beaumont translates. Is that the transmission mentioned in the crawl? Because they're acting like they're only hearing it for the first time, but they're really not surprised about it. This strand of the plot really needs more time allocated to it.
• Alright Billy Dee, I know you're pleased to be back but you don't have to grin your way through every scene like you're Gina Carano in The Mandalorian.
Ahch-To
• And the second point of order is Luke, here. Let me assure you that when he walks on-screen, makes a wry quip about 'respecting' the weapon of a Jedi and admitting he was wrong about staying on Ahch-To, that's not Abrams reversing Rian Johnson's script, it's him underlining the point. It was clear in The Last Jedi that Luke was wrong. That was the point; he's fallible. The Last Jediis a film about failure. Although obviously (and I know this is not the place to get into this) a lot of people seem to believe that their childhood hero should have precisely the same personality and outlook he did 35 years earlier, as if they themselves have been completely unaffected by what life has thrown at them over three and a half decades. Luke was wrong, and there's no redemption for a fallen hero without sacrifice. Or weren't you paying attention to Return Of The Jedi?
• I notice Luke's spirit is translucent, not solid like Yoda's was. Okay, that's fine.
• Please for the love of God stop CGI'ing young Leia. It looked terrifying in Rogue One and that hasn't changed.
• And that X-Wing is just going to work out of the water like that, yeah? With or without a navigator droid? I mean was the cockpit watertight? Because the padding of the seat and helmet-interior is going to have perished years ago, otherwise. Okay, that's fine.
Ajan Kloss
• C-3PO: "You want to put what in my head? Under no circum-" is the greatest joke in this film. Bravo.
Exegol
• When I first heard that Richard E. Grant was in the new Star Wars film I figured he'd have a couple of lines as an officer in the background, but he's really bloody in this isn't he?
• Two best snatches of dialogue in this movie:
"Jam their speeders."
"...I can't sir"
"Why not?"
"they're not using speeders..." and
"It's not a navy sir, it's just... people" Both showing that the Final Order is every bit as blinkered as the old Empire. Beautiful writing.
Palps: "Kill me and my spirit will pass into you, as all the Sith live in me..." Rey: "Right, wait, is this something that's always happened, or have you just invented this? Explain pls."
• Ben Solo just rocking up in a black sweater to take care of business. Where did he get the working TIE fighter? Can't have been on Endor. Did he call through for it pretending to be still-bad? Never mind, add it to the list of questions.
• Oh look, Rey's force-teleported a weapon to Ben. Well isn't that a thing?
• Although Ben's John Wickian shrug when he gets the lightsaber is the second-greatest joke in this film. Bravo again.
• Hahaha, hi Wedge. I see they brought you back for literally three words. Oh mate.
• Oh look, Rey has managed to communicate with the spirits of deceased Jedi. Well isn't that a thing?
• Although you do realise cinema is a visual medium, right? Just running a load of voices - many of which sound quite similar by the way - maybe not the best way to communicate this breakthrough?
• OMG! Palpatine's dead!! Yeah, really. Apparently. But seriously tell me why he won't just rock up in another movie in ten years' time? He even said himself that he's died before, and I see nothing of permanence here any more than being dropped screaming into an exploding Death Star.
• When Ben is crawling his way across the floor to Rey, is anyone else's brain playing Superheroes from the end of Rocky Horror?
• Oh look, Ben has transferred life-energy to Rey using the Force. Well isn't that a thing?
• So #ReyLois a thing. Okay, that's fine.
• Right, there are a lot of people dying on Exegol, there. It's not just stormtroopers and officers, there's the maintenance and support crews, the cleaners, the caterers, the plumbers - this is like the red jumpsuits and the scissors in Us, where did all this stuff come from? How is this a secret base when hundreds of thousands of people have disappeared here to populate it? I mean they've got to have been brought here because if they've been born and raised on Exegol then where are the schools, the hopspitals, the pubs and the shops? The First Order massed in the Unknown Regions, and now Palpatine's Final Order are massing in a different part of the Unknown Regions. I know they're big but is no one noticing all the shit going missing? Anyway, here they are all dying. That's a bit harsh, mate. Mind you, with two Death Stars and Starkiller Base under their belts, I suppose genocide is pretty much in the Rebellion's HR manual by now.
• And the not-inconsiderable remnants of The First Order are still around in the 'regular' galaxy, right? All that was destroyed here was Palpatine's secret-navy and the officers who'd flown in to command. Back in The Last Jedi, The First Order dudes had pretty much taken over the galaxy, so there were definitely more of them about than the destroyers chasing the Resistance fleet. I mean yeah, any First Order presence is now rudderless, but as it's an organisation seemingly made up of utter sociopaths, it's not going to take too long for some a-hole to rise and fill the vacuum. More fodder for the novels and comics, and that's all good.
Ajan Kloss
• Okay, I am totally here for that kiss between Commander D'Acy and Rebel Pilot Tyce, because a) representation is important especially in smaller, throwaway moments, and b) I know it will infuriate the movie-gammons and I feed on their high blood-pressure like a facetious vampire. Bring that shit on.
• Why do we get that shot of Bespin? Endor and Jakku I understand, but we haven't been to Bespin for years. Unless that was Bespin in the lightspeed skipping earlier?
Maz: "Chewie, this is for you" Chewie: "Oh, while everybody's busy hugging and having their own reunion parties. Getcha. No award-ceremonies is enough for me, thank you."
Tatooine
• So wait, the Lars Homestead is still just "there" on Tatooine and no one else has moved in? No new tenants for an operational moisture farm, or just squatters or anything? The place doesn't get ransacked or vandalised? Okay, that's fine.
• As I mentioned before, this film is great at wrapping up the Sequel Trilogy, but not the OT and certainly not the prequels. Anyone telling you otherwise is doing marketing. This is the close of a trilogy, not the nine-part saga.
• And apart from anything else, Rey burying those sabers like that is a clear sign that we will be back, even if it's with the stable-boy from The Last Jedi. This shit is not over.
• And where does that black-handled saber with the orange blade come from? She just rocks up at the homestead with it clipped to her belt. How much time has lapsed between Exegol and Tatooine?
• Oh look, someone has been asked her surname again. Well isn't that a thing?
Woman: "There's been no one here for so long. Who are you?" Rey: "I'm Rey". Woman: "Rey, who?" Chippy Imperial recruitment officer pops into frame: "Well you're on your own, so... Solo it is! There, I've written it down, it's legal now and that's that."
Rey looks at camera.
Iris-out. Credits.
The Star Wars.
Obvs.
Obvs.
Adam Driver spends the entire third-act without a single line of dialogue; that is magnificent.
Already have once this week...
Okay, I think there's a Wilhelm buried low in the mix coming from Ben when Palpatine blasts him into that pit. But the acoustics weren't great in the auditorium today so it was less clear than my second-pass.
Level 0: It is Star Wars.
...but if you wanted to go around the houses with it, The Rise Of Skywalker stars Naomi Ackie, who was in The End Of The F**king World with Geoff Bell from that RocknRolla, a movie which also featured Thandie Newton who was in 2018's Gringo with David Oyelowo, who had a role in 2009's Small Island alongside Hugh Quarshie, a regular on Holby City at the time in 2011 when Silas Carson was in a bunch of episodes, an actor who appears in 2019's The Corrupted with Naomi Ackie...
*1 Although I would be genuinely amazed if Rian Johnson had "she's Palpatine's granddaughter" scribbled in the margins of his Last Jedi pad. One of my few bugbears about this trilogy is the way the newly-organised Lucasfilm have been winging-it and just hoping everything will turn out for the best, and writing the Saga-films on the hoof is by far the worst offender here. More on that another time... [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Batman (1989, 30th anniversary screening)
Cert: 12A / 126 mins / Dir. Tim Burton / Trailer
Well, it was my birthday last week and as if to hammer the point home, time is teaching me I'm now of an age where I can go to 30th anniversary screenings in full nostalgia mode, having attended the cinema to watch the movie the first time round, too. Tim Burton's Batman ushered in the age of me regularly Going To The Pictures with my friends*1. I didn't live particularly close to a cinema, and movies before this tended to either be family outings or even just waiting for the VHS (and bear in mind that back in those days, the journey to the small screen took around a year).
MACHINE Batman also drew me into the multimedia marketing machine surrounding its release. The specially produced comic adaptation featured scenes and character likenesses based on stills from the film, and along with the high-contrast, tonally-blended, full colour printing it was leagues ahead of the rapid-fire, block-colour-and-halftone pulp Marvel fare I'd been used to previously. I loved comics anyway (mainly Marvel, although that stands to this day), but this was in indicator that they could be more.
And that score. Danny Elfman's iconic work here was the first time outside of John Williams' Star Wars that a movie soundtrack had really excited me, one I could listen to separately and still clearly evoke the imagery inside my mind. It was the album which made me understand the role that the right music can play in enhancing a film while adding to the overall identity. A far cry from Williams' equally superb work for Superman, there were no romantic overtones to this new Batman theme, just a pounding, dynamic urgency.
PUGH Prior to 1989, our superheroes had arrived onscreen clad in brightly coloured spandex (a reflection of their comic origins, to be fair). Batman rocked up in black, bulletproof rubber body armour, patrolling the streets of a Gotham City which looks for all the world like Blade Runner's Los Angeles if it had become run-down before the off-world boom. There's very little daylight in the movie, every character seemingly a nocturnal creature or one who just doesn't need to sleep. With 1980s tech meeting 1940s wardrobe and a self-awareness which that's ahead of its time, Burton's work is a great foundation for the Nolan retelling.
Along with writers Warren Skaaren and Sam Hamm, Burton brings a theatrical, borderline pantomime, classically gothic take on the anti-hero, flamboyantly dark and knowingly playful (a point which went over my head when watching this as a youngster). There's a lightness of touch that rarely feels the need to rely on outright gags, but coasts along with a wry subversiveness. The film broods but it never wallows. I'm looking at you, DC.
CUTHBERT Michael Keaton may not be the most fearsome Batman, but he's the most accessible Bruce Wayne and is far and away the best combination of the two. He brings a fragility to both halves of the role that other actors have been unable to accomplish - or worse still, just haven't attempted. We shouldn't sympathise with either a billionaire businessman or a surly vigilante, but we're on this guy's side all the way through. Keaton shows us Batman's vulnerability and determination, not his inflexible strength. As well as showing us how Batman does his thing, Keaton gives us a window into why.
It's also worth noting that Keaton and Michael Gough make the most endearing Bruce/Alfred combination to date. There's genuine warm emotion there on both sides, and we understand their relationship instantly. Y'know, rather than having Michael Caine trying to remember how to cry while Christian Bale looks faintly embarrassed*2.
DIBBLE And put your hand up if you're old enough to remember the clamour of "yeah, this new movie Batman is DARK like it's meant to be, man! This is how grim the original comics were!", while Jack Nicholson prances around in a purple suit with Prince playing in the background. Nicholson is terrible of course (his usual form), but his performance as The Joker is definitely what this movie needs. It only really tips over in the scenes he shares with Jack Palance, where they're trying to out-overact each other onscreen and are somehow both succeeding.
The pacing of the first half is masterful, perfectly formed and spinning the plates of its main characters with care and precision. The story begins to run out of steam once the setup is accomplished, dragging its heels in bringing everything to the cathedral-top conclusion, but it's so much fun that this doesn't matter. On the whole, it's still a hell of a lot more focused than a lot of other Batman appearances, even (let's face it, especially) within its own series.
GRUBB And the remastering on display for this presentation is absolutely gorgeous. Crystal clear and with vivid colours, the care which has gone into this is a credit to all concerned. Even when you notice the very-obvious miniatures (ie when the chemical plant is exploding), the craft which has gone into assembling them is still evident, first and foremost. There are a couple of very brief shots which don't seem to have been re-touched, but the optimist in me things that this is to reinforce the amazing work throughout the rest of the film. That said, it's been a long time since I watched this (to my shame), so those moments may always have looked terrible.
Batman 30th anniversary screenings and vintage marathons are happening across the country via the major chains and a few of the independents. If you can, do…
Er… Batman films? I mean it's definitely also Tim Burton™, but that aspect is far more restrained here than other work where he's allowed free rein. If anything, this makes Tim work harder to produce a better film, but there we go.
If you get the opportunity, hell yeah.
It is. (even though I don't have this at home as noted, so who am I to make recommendations?)
*1 There were a few sporadic others before this - Spaceballs being one, although we don't talk about that film here - but Batman was the opening of a door, so to speak. [ BACK ]
*2 Look, I do love the Nolan films and I respect the Caine's canon as much as anyone, but he's generally not a good actor. He can act well, he just usually chooses (and is somehow permitted) not to. [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
It's an unusual feeling for me, being someone who sees more than their fair share of BBFC cards, to be watching the ident screen with the green-detailing of a U-certificate. It's not that I actively avoid the Us, more that most of the movies seem to be PG at the least. All the more interesting then that the summary notes read "mild comic violence, rude humour, very mild bad language". Rude humour? How much 'rude' can you put into a film which is suitable for everybody? Well providing you keep it resolutely silly, the answer is 'a fair bit'. The fact that one of the main characters is called Dick hasn't been lost on the writing team.
Yes, the eagerly anticipated Lego Batman Movie finally swings down into cinemas for weekend-previews ahead of general release. The short version: enormous amounts of fun, and I say that as someone who went for the animation, comedy and bricks without being a Batman geek per se. Chris McKay's film is consistently funny and has a script far too tightly packed to take in on the first viewing. And while it may not be anywhere near as meta as its forebear, it's very self-aware nonetheless and quick to poke fun at its own ancestry, albeit in a playful way.
Learning quickly from The Big Boys, the Warner Animation Group have opened their latest outing with an five-minute promo teaser for the upcoming Lego Ninjago movie. And while kids and Lego-geeks will be rightfully excited, I suspect that it'll be the first real test for the series, being slightly too niche for civilian audiences that previously fell within the catch-all net of Lego™ and Batman™.
Aside from being a perfectly robust family adventure movie, the main event however, is also like some wonderful case-study in brand-licensing. The film is positively stuffed with Batman characters and references of course, with Lego interpretations from pretty much all eras of the canon and expanding out into the wider DC continuities. There are also various appearances by more generic Lego faces (particularly their Monster Fighters line), but the net is cast wider still into other Warner properties with characters from the Gremlins, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Matrix movies showing up, among others. Which is all well and good, but Warner seem to have hammered out an appearance-deal for some of Universal's trademarks too, with King Kong, the Creature From The Black Lagoon and velociraptors from Jurassic Park rounding out the antagonistic team. While I genuinely love this level of crossover, it draws needless attention to the absence of Marvel superheroes. And sure, we didn't get any of those in the first Lego movie, but we at least got Disney's newly acquired Star Wars in the mix. This time round however, even that olive branch has been withdrawn. Nothing underlines the messed-up world of licensing agreements more than this movie featuring hordes Daleks, which are then referred to as "British Robots"*1.
This is undoubtedly the most fun we've had in the caped crusader's company for some considerable time, although I have to say I found it a little disposable. I preferred the film when it was being a Batman movie rather than a DC one, if only because the number of references and easter-eggs (both scripted and visual) makes for a very crowded screenplay. And the movie will work just fine for audiences who aren't picking all of those up, but it'll still feel a little cluttered. Truth be told, I think I just need to see the movie again, and soon.
*1 This could be an elaborate and self-referential in-joke, but when the only Marvel reference allowed in the script is the Batcave's password being "Iron Man sucks", that seems unlikely... [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
And so it goes. Weeks turn into months, the lockdown steadily lifts (for now, at any rate) and cinemas begin to staggeringly open their doors once more. As anyone dropping in will be aware, it's been pretty quiet around these parts of late. And not just in writing about movies, but also even watching them to begin with. There are plenty of people who can review what they watch in their living rooms better than I can, so I've used this enforced downtime as just that - downtime*2.
So Finn is a Jedi, now. Okay that's not strictly true, Finn is Force-sensitive, now. Or rather he always was, a bit. It's the thing he was t
