High-concept, action sci-fi isn't a genre you'd normally associate with the pen of Luc 'Taken' Besson, and after the Freeman/Johansson vehicle Lucy, that isn't about to change. His tale of a young woman who develops accelerated intelligence and telekinetic powers after an experimental narcotic leaks into her bloodstream, suggests that Besson wanted to make a superhero film, but thinks that comic books are somehow beneath him.
My main problem with the film is that I just couldn't buy into any of it. At all. I know that the super-powers exhibited in the Avengers series are absolutely fictional, for example, but they're set in a world which is real, and are governed by real-world physics. Lucy on the other hand, is based sincerely around the misconception that we only use 10% of our brains. It's not a wild and dangerous speculation to point out that this is bollocks, in the same way as Mars won't really appear to be the same size as the moon this year. Nonetheless, Besson takes a provenly incorrect starting point, and builds a story around it which defies all common sense, suggesting that humans all possess the brainpower not only to move physical objects with out minds, but also to overwrite the basic structure of science. And it all happens from the accidental ingestion of a drug which is designed in the film to be ingested, without a single person in the organisation which created it having examined the effects of its use. At all.
The real scientific experiment here may be 'what happens when I don't employ a proof-reader for my script?'.
In and of itself, it's perhaps not as bad a starting block for a movie as I'm making out, but the film fails to convince at every turn. Resident brain-expert Morgan Freeman basically spends an hour and a half shrugging and asking "how does that work?", while Scarlett Johansson's powers increase exponentially and she replies "look, it just does, alright? Science, and that". I wouldn't go so far as to say the film is stupid, just wilfully ignorant. For example, if Lucy can change the colour, length and style of her hair to avoid airport security, why can't she change the structure of her facial features? If Lucy can make a room full of police officers pass out at will, why does she spend the next half hour avoiding the Korean crime syndicate who are attempting to hunt her down? Why is a woman who can bend matter, still constricted by gravity and inertia?
By the time that Freeman asserts that our universe "isn't governed by mathematical laws", the whole thing has devolved into a nonsensical chase caper, with less cause-and-effect than the average Tom & Jerry cartoon. Lucy isn't a movie where you can leave your brain in the car park (you want Besson's 3 Days To Kill for that), simply because it keeps hurling fabricated suppositions at its audience for them to think about. There's just nothing I could believe in, even within the context of the film. And if you can't explain your premise using logic and reason, you may as well have your heroine gain her powers after being exposed to a solar-storm, or somesuch.
On a more technical level, Lucy is a curious mix of high-end CGI effects work, and regularly intercut cheap-looking library footage of safari animals, volcanos, cityscapes etc, which suggests that the budget had been well and truly spanked long before the film's final edit. Scarlett Johansson's performance is surprisingly agile, although hers is the only one, giving the impression that this could have been a much stronger film had it been in different hands from the start.
What's more worrying is that distributors Universal also seem to lack confidence in their product's appeal. The trailers beforehand (The Riot Club, Medea, Let's Be Cops, Sin City 2, Before I Go To Sleep, Sex Tape - in that order) suggest that the studio has no idea who will be watching this film, and so aren't sure what to pitch at them for future attractions. Although I'm sure if any of those feature Morgan Freeman as a beleaguered academic, it'll be right up the audience's street.
For a film about increased intelligence, Luc Besson takes a perverse delight in insulting the intellect of his audience, and it's perhaps ironic that I felt slightly more stupid for having sat through it.
Science-fiction for people who hate science, Lucy takes the incredible and makes it truly unbelievable…
Oh, it pretty much is, yeah.
Not nearly enough.
No. It doesn't.
Whatever.
A little bit, yeah.
I shouldn't think so.
Didn't hear one.
Has Johansson got an unfeasibly large overdraft she's trying to pay off, or something?
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.
Not really a 'review' as such, more of a 'report', hence no seven-questions and no rating. Disney UK were hosting a showcase event at their HQ in Hammersmith, London on Monday evening, and as I happened to be in the vicinity*1 I thought it'd be rude not to pop along. After being sent the long-way round from one entrance of the building to the other, Mrs Blackout and myself duly gave our details in the reception area and had our souls stolen by Uncle Walt's desk-mounted photographic capture-o-graph device, before being issued with a nondescript (although handsome, nonetheless) visitor's pass (hover your mouse over the 'Age of Ultron' poster, above). We were then escorted to 'the screening room' where a very charming Disney employee whose name I can't remember gave us a short introduction (and a disclaimer that she was a Disney geek rather than a Marvel geek, so we were to go easy with the questions).
The evening was a sort of launch event for the Captain America: The Winter Soldier DVD and BluRay release (which went on sale that very day), and the presentation was split over two halves; firstly we'd be seeing some of the bonus features from the Winter Soldier BluRay, then we'd be having a look at the first Ant-Man trailer and Avengers: Age Of Ultron teaser from San Diego Comic-Con.
So the lights dimmed, the chap at the control-desk clicked his buttons*2, a besuited security gentleman discreetly paced the room's perimeter, and the screening began. The bonus features we watched (not all of the ones on the disc) were fairly standard for tentpole releases these days; a fast-cut blooper reel full of stumbling and corpsing, a series of extended scenes (usually 30-60 seconds of dialogue leading into an existing exchange, and plenty (plenty) of those shots where someone high up the food-chain of the film (from either side of the lens) sits in a chair speaking to someone on the left of the camera about how wonderful everyone involved with the production is. It's charming enough but it's filler, and gives you more of an idea what it would be like to be a guest on-set rather than someone who works there. I'm aware that an accurate 'making-of' documentary for a film this size would be painstakingly intricate and dull in equal measure, but I also believe that the fans of the superhero genre would take more interest than most in one, were it presented.
There's also a feature in the bonus material which features Anthony 'Falcon' Mackie yelling his on-set catchprase, "cut the check!", after successfully completing a challenging take. Or, judging by the compilation we watched, as a Pavolvian response every time the director called 'cut'. Many of these clips are then repeated throughout the other featurettes. I'm sure that working on the film and hearing his holler four or five times a day was nowhere near as testing as hearing it twenty times in two minutes, but how he escaped without having been beaten up by the audio crew is beyond me.
+ + + + +
And so, after a short break the lights were re-dimmed and we were treated to three more features. Firstly, the blooper-reel from season one of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (with a similar pace and feel as above), followed by the first teaser for 2015's Ant-Man. The clip featured a be-suited Paul Rudd (ie the only thing to identify him was his voice) in what appeared to be one of his first runs at being miniaturised, taking verbal direction from, I assume, Hank Pym as he runs, jumps, falls and flies on the back of a fly/hornet. It was all quite chaotic and over very quickly, and looks great in a high-action, high-comedy sort of way.
Age of Ultron. We saw the teaser for Avengers: Age of Ulton. Not the one above, actual assembled, presented footage. It begins with the Avengers relaxing in a night-lit apartment building, and Thor depositing his hammer, Mjolnir, on the coffee table as Rogers, Stark, Banner and Barton playfully attempt to lift it to assess their 'worthiness' (Natasha Romanoff demurely declines this challenge, declaring that it's a question she doesn't need the answer to). A noise from the doorway attracts the group's attention, and there stands a rickety - but absolutely livid - incarnation of Ultron. What follows is an action-montage from the 'big' scenes of the film*3, complete with a twenty-foot Iron Man, enough carnage to fill a scrapyard the size of New York, and enough Ultrons to help staff it. This could be an event-movie in more ways than one, and may have the biggest impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date…
The trailers went down as well as you can imagine with the packed screening room, and while Disney/Marvel may have been preaching to the choir, everyone left with their faith bolstered.
It may seem like an odd move to run a promo-screening for products which its audience will be buying anyway, but Disney's PR department are trying to adopt a closer, more hands-on approach with the fans. A wise move in this day and age, particularly with the impending DC Universe timeline, and a move that's certainly doing them no harm.
*1 No, seriously, I did happen to be in London that day. I wouldn't have gone all the way there for a presentation which lasted less than an hour, otherwise (not that I'm casting any kind of judgement on the people who did). Look, I love Marvel as much as the next geek, and it just happened to coincide with my busy media schedule, mkay?
*2 No, really, you could see the mouse moving on-screen and everything. There was something reassuring about the clunkiness of it all; this wasn't a pre-programmed playlist, although it was still a guy playing various files from a hard-drive. But you could see him doing it. Look, I liked that.
*3 Interestingly, it appears that Quicksilver's part in this film will be significant after all, and that Marvels MCU timeline is finally going to butt heads with Fox's X-Men one. *rubs hands with glee*
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.
Are you a hustling, bustling, go-getting, empathically-stunted 30-something 'professional'? Then step right this way, as Peter Chelsom's got a film he'd like to show you. No, don't worry about bringing emotions; the screenplay has those for you, which it will be handing out in blunt, calculated, mechanical order...
The story of a moderately-successful psychiatrist with a Perfect Life™ feeling adrift in contemporary society, the titular Hector embarks upon a journal-annotated trip which will span several countries as he searches not only for his elusive happiness but also its cause and meaning. Along the way he meets old friends and makes new ones, each with valuable lessons to teach.
What's that? Sounds a bit familiar? Well, Hector's jotter, its writings and doodles spring to life throughout the film giving us, among other things, a numbered series of observations as we progress on the journey. The first of these entries is "1. Making comparisons can spoil your happiness", which seems ironic considering that the film constantly reminds you of a middle-class mashup of 'Yes Man' and last year's 'Walter Mitty', only with the British Awkardness™ turned up to excruciating levels (although thankfully no-one skateboards past a volcano in this one).
The film's downfall is its attempt to cover the bases of both 'quirky, stylised comedy' and 'inspirational emotional journey'. Sadly, it has so much trouble spinning one of these plates that it really has no hope of managing both. The second (but by no means secondary) problem is that it's so damned patronising all the time. After ironically warning patients of his in the first act about the dangers of an uncontrolled ego (and overblowing minor inconveniences), Hector gives the audience a whistle-stop tour of his Fantastic Life™ before having a half-arsed existential crisis while his long-time girlfriend wears the Thick-Rimmed Glasses Of Moaning And Bossiness™ (before spending the rest of the film as a visual bookmark for the first act). Hector then jets off around the former colonies where he can learn inspirational truths from people who have less money than him*1, almost turns the film into Pretty Woman Lite™, and has an escalating series of scrapes centered around pens. All the while, slowly discovering that maybe happiness isn't a destination after all, but a journey itself? He's basically sent around the planet to learn something he could read on a mug in a gift shop on London's Oxford Street.
And if you haven't been spoken down-to enough for an hour and a half, Christopher Plummer arrives in the final reel to spell everything out (almost to-camera, at one point) and make sure you haven't missed the point. Complete with a greatest-hits montage of the film you're still watching. At this stage in his career, Simon Pegg knows comedy well enough to excel at it naturally, but his achilles heel is sentimental sincerity and it's precisely this kind of role which may pay the mortgage, but holds him back from progressing into other acting styles where he could shine.
It's almost as if he's learned nothing from 'Run Fatboy Run'.
Still, at least we get the "happiness / a penis" joke out of the way in the first five minutes. Oh, and how come the early Skype conversations are watermarked with their logo, but later in the film they're not?
A self-help manual for the emotionally repressed and easily inspired, Hector's heart is in the right place, but is every bit as condescending as its faux-angst-ridden protagonist. The Search For Happiness has some interesting ideas, but really needs to seek professional help…
Yeah, that's about the size of it.
Some of the sight-gags are funny, but nowhere near enough for a film's worth..
Oh, probably. The film has exactly the sort of box-ticking agenda you'd expect it to.
Do not pay to see this film.
A bit.
I shouldn't imagine so.
Didn't hear one.
Have you read the book that this is based on? Is it as painfully patronising as the film? I'm just asking because I'm not really likely to pick it up, now…
*1 to be fair, the film does feature people who have more money than Hector, but in these cases, he teaches them to be better people. Do you see, though? DO YOU SEE?
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.
The lengthy, unbroken opening shot of David Michôd's The Rover gives you a precise measure of how the film is going to be delivered. Natasha Braier's camera moves slowly, quietly, but never lazily towards its subject in exactly the same was as the screenplay teases out gems of background information whilst the story unravels with bleak intent. A title card reads "Ten years after the collapse", but doesn't go on to furnish us with details of exactly what collapsed, or how widely its effects are being felt. All that matters is where the characters are now, and what they're dealing with (or not dealing with, as the case may be).
Set in Australia during a time of worryingly contemporary societal breakdown, gruff loner Eric (played by Guy Pearce) has his car stolen by three armed robbers. After a failed attempt to recover it, he's left for dead in the outback where circumstance unites him with the brother of one of the outlaws (played by Robert Pattinson), who was also abandoned after a botched raid. The two form an uneasy (and largely unspoken) alliance to track the gang down and each set their respective records straight. But in this landscape, strangers aren't to be spoken to, and fewer are to be trusted.
The economical script paired with a solid screenplay gives Pearce the opportunity to turn in a very physical performance as Eric, which he does with grim ease. When he speaks, he's articulate, but guttural and direct, with a glint just short of desperation in his eye. Also on fantastic form is Pattinson as the socially inept Rey, in a performance which could be attributed to his character suffering from learning disabilities, or just the collapse of society and lack of education; the effect here is much the same, and he's outstanding either way.
The film is reminiscent of Blue Ruin in tone, and while it may not have the same emotional spark, it shares the raw tension and constant sense of impending violence. The only downside is that with a cinematic release as limited as The Rover has had, its intended audience may well miss it on the big screen and have to watch those Australian dustscapes and sunsets at home.
The best line comes from the world's most unenthusiastic gun salesman:
"If you don't have 300, you can fuck off."
To be fair, you really have to see that in context…
The film's has some darkly comic moments, but other than that, yeah.
Sure did.
Does indeed.
The cinematography's gorgeous on a big screen, but the story will work just as well on DVD/BluRay.
Probably not.
I will, but not for a while.
Didn't catch one..
Given that Pattinson's focused, energetic performance works well here, which other genres would you like to see him try?
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.
