Ad Astra (Spoilers in the footnotes)
Cert: 12A / 123 mins / Dir. James Gray / Trailer
"Y'know what, Terry?" said the HR assistant at Space Command Headquarters as he mused over a crumbling Hob-Nob, "I'm starting to think that blasting emotionally repressed people with clearly unresolved family issues into the unflinching void of space could be what's causing our problems, rather than solving them...". Alas, this ponderous scene was cut from the final theatrical presentation of James Gray's Ad Astra. All the other ponderous scenes were left firmly attached, but let's hold out for a director's-cut reinstatement on the Blu-ray, yeah?
MISSION So. Brad Pitt plays Roy McBride, a near-future astronaut specially selected for a mission to contact The Lima Project, an exploration vessel which disappeared decades earlier carrying his astronaut father Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones). Donald Sutherland turns up for ten minutes in an attempt to add gravitas to a largely gravity-free environment. Liv Tyler plays Brad's wife Mrs McBride*1 who stays on Earth looking sad and out of focus.
For better or worse, Ad Astra is almost exactly The Space Film™ you think it's going to be. There are deliberate and repeated nods to the world of 2001 of course*2, as well as tonal references to First Man, Interstellar, The Martian, The Black Hole, Armageddon and Gravity. Hell, there are even notes of Alien*3 and Total Recall in this. All I'm saying is that since Brad has to go on a secret mission to Mars with overtones of conspiracy theory and unexpected combat, why not just make this a Doom sequel and have done with it*4?
SISTERS While there's some stunning cinematography*5, the film spends so much time gazing out of the window and stroking its chin that it hopes the cracks in the story won't be visible*6. Those don't matter when held up to the emotional core of the film, but even that substance itself is slight given the wasted potential of the acting talent on board. The screenplay is not afraid to ask questions, but doesn't really have the vocabulary to ask them clearly, so no satisfying answers are forthcoming.
Ad Astra feels very on-the-nose and offers little that audiences won't have enjoyed elsewhere. That said, the film looks outstanding and is sure to be worth the uplift of an IMAX ticket. Only you can decide if that's a mission worth accepting...
Well I think we've covered that.
For the visuals, yes.
This is going to lose a lot on its way to the small screen (even if your telly's huge).
No.
Yes.
No.
Level 2: Liv Tyler is in this (just about), and she was in that Lord Of The Rings alongside Christopher 'Dooku' Lee and Andy 'Snoke' Serkis and Elijah 'Rucklin' Wood.
*1 We don't hear her character say much but Liv is seen swigging from a 2-litre bottle of Irn Bru at one point, so it's safe to assume her name literally means "Scottish Wife". A disappointing lack of imagination, there. [ BACK ]
*2 Although speaking of in-universe continuity, I haven't seen Space Cowboys but I know Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland are in that so I'm just assuming this is part of the same cinematic universe. Do not @ me to say Tommy or Donald die in that film or somesuch so that can't be the case, my mind is made up. I am still not going to watch Space Cowboys either way. [ BACK ]
*3 And it turns out Tommy Lee Jones was the monster all along! Gnawing his way through the scenery like an acid-bleeding Xenomorph to the barely concealed horror of anyone trapped in a room with him. You can dial it down mate, this isn't Event Horizon... [ BACK ]
*5 Although there's so much lens-flare here that I expected to see JJ Abrams' Enterprise edging into the frame at any moment.
[ BACK ]
*6 Why does Brad need to travel to Mars in the first place, though? They tell him it's so they can broadcast a clear signal out to the edge of the solar system, but they only send an audio recording. He could have made an mp3 on Earth and e-mailed that over to Mars for them to forward. I know they then try to detain Brad afterwards, but they could have just done that on Earth and saved the petrol. Who's in charge at Space Command? No wonder they're in trouble.
Also, what has Tommy Lee Jones been eating and drinking on that ship for the last three decades? It's not big enough to have its own garden or eco-system, and he'd be dead from vitamin deficiency if he'd tried to survive on packaged rations. Less of the science more of the fiction, I think. Which I suppose is fine, but y'know... [ 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.
In the opening montage of Dennis Gansel's action-sequel, the barometer on The Stath™'s house/boat reads 'fair'. Many other directors would have had it set at 'stormy' and lingered on the shot a microsecond longer. As it turns out though, the prediction is cinematically accurate, as everything which follows is moderately enjoyable and without a single hint of actual drama.
Don't worry if you haven't caught up with the first movie, it isn't even referenced other than a clip played on a character's mobile phone (not even kidding). Reassuringly stupid, Mechanic: Resurrection plays out like an action-movie parody advert for a deodorant or a premium lager. Anything outside of the action sequences and fight-scenes veers between distinctly-substandard and spectacularly bad, but at least the film doesn't rely on the cheap xenophobia that so many of its genre-buddies use in lieu of villain-building.
Two questions come to mind as the viewer ploughs through Mechanic: Resurrection. 1) Jason, is this because they rebooted The Transporter without you? and 2) Jason, did you write this? This troubled yet sensitive yet lethal character who succeeds at everything and doesn't have to change a single iota throughout the film's running-time? As with all the best reluctant heroes, this film sees The Stath™ go into self-imposed hiding before getting back into trouble around four minutes later when he interferes in somebody else's business. Next thing you know, he's blackmailed into doing a series of jobs and all's right with the world. A sort of GTA inspired mission-pickup plot device showcases The Stath's™ assassination techniques as being far more entertaining and inventive*1 than the script could ever hope to be.
The thing which probably bothered me most is that throughout the film, The Stath's™ face-fuzz routinely alternates between 'heavy stubble' and 'short beard'. Back and forth, for the whole damned thing. Although I imagine short facial hair over the course of a feature-length shoot is the bane of film editors everywhere. And to a lesser extent, it didn't go un-noticed that the cut/scabbed lip Jessica Alba arrives with, heals completely and without trace after she goes swimming in the sea ten minutes later. The health benefits of salt-water clearly lost since Victorian times, it appears. Neither of those are deal-breakers, of course, but if I pick up on things like the make-up department's continuity gaffes, it means that the film is singularly failing to hold my attention.
And as the film enters its third act, a third question coincidentally occurs: Has Academy Award winning actor Tommy Lee Jones' dramatic-currency devalued so much that he's prepared to don rose-tinted Lennons and a soul-patch as a second-tier bad guy in what is essentially a straight-to-video action sequel?
Evidently so…
Often terrible, often hilarious, but Mechanic: Resurrectionis genuinely more fun than the last Bourne outing…
Jason Statham in that film he did after the Guy Ritchie ones..
Well as big and loud as the film is, it was clearly designed for the small screen...
Just about, but its intentions were hardly ground-breaking...
No.
No.
Inexplicably, no.
Perhaps the sound editor wanted to preserve the documentary-level realism of the piece, instead?
Level 2: The Stath™ was, of course, in Expendables 3, as was Harrison 'Solo' Ford.
All roads lead to Han, today.
*1 Oh, and if there's news report footage from a bystander filming the skyskraper-swimming-pool spiralling water out before it breaks, then there's got to be footage of The Stath™ swinging around underneath it at the same time, as he didn't make his escape until the whole thing shattered. So much for his 'making it look like an accident', which was the very reason he was hired. You had one job, The Stath™. One.
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.
[INT. A LUGGAGE LOCKER-ROOM, ATHENS. DAY.]
Jason Bourne uses a key he has been given to retrieve sensitive material which has been placed in an otherwise unidentified locker for him. Among the weapons and passports is a black USB drive containing encrypted data. We know it's encrypted because the drive has the word ENCRYPTED embossed into it in 36pt white Helvetica caps. #VisualStorytelling
^^ That's what Post-Snowden™ filmmaking means, apparently. Well, that and putting the word "Snowden" into the script every fifteen minutes or so, in a bid to resonate with the audience who'll have heard the name but know little of the situation surrounding it. Although we'll come back to that demographic of viewer in a while.
And so we're back, this fifth installment of the franchise making reference to the fourth one with about the same frequency and fondness as its marketing campaign (which is to say not at all)*1. Jason Bourne (Mr Damon) is making a tidy living off-the-grid by punching people in car-park punching competitions, when former-CIA operative Nicky Parsons (Ms Stiles) tracks him down in a bid to get his face onto CCTV cameras throughout European capital cities. By absolutely no coincidence at all, the CIA (Mr Lee Jones and Ms Vikander) pick up on this. Because it's 2016, there are also heavy-handed references to social-networking and privacy-vs-security issues, courtesy of Mr Ahmed. Anyway, carnage ensues.
Now, I've been quite facetious about the whole thing so far, but Jason Bourne*2 is actually a fairly entertaining film. Tonally, it runs a middle-ground between the first three movies' habit of belligerently withholding plot-points from the audience, and the fourth one's habit of spoon-feeding them instead. Despite repeatedly lunging for the zeitgeist with both hands, the film brings little new to the genre (or to the series, in fact), but it's reliably solid nonetheless.
The performers are something a mixed-bag, as we've come to expect. Julia Stiles acts the part but has trouble delivering her clunky dialogue with any real commitment. Meanwhile, Alicia Vikander fares slightly better, but seems to have joined in with the whole espionage-thing by changing her accent every twelve minutes. And Tommy Lee Jones struggles with his inability to personify anyone other than Tommy Lee Jones™, second only to Matt Damon's identical debilitation. You're constantly reminded that you're watching the cast, rather than the characters, but when they're this good anyway, it doesn't de-rail the movie.
I don't think this entry is the best in the series, and yet I say that as someone who hasn't particularly loved that series anyway. Despite my (manifold) gripes, the early installments were far more robust in terms of film-making. But the sequel-klaxon is duly sounded here, so I'm sure Mr Greengrass will be having another go.
Jason Bourne is either a self-aware, modern tour-de-force which simultaneously entertains and philosophises with the audience using a combination of action and meta-reconnaissance, or it's a cheap-ass thriller using the Bourne-brand as a pass to ride with the big-boys, using shaky-cam to overcome the 12A restrictions on graphic violence and using the climate of techno-paranoia as an inadequate smokescreen for bullshit, clichéd machismo.
It's definitely one of those, but I'll admit it's enough fun either way...
Best line: a scene early in the film shows a covert hacking-hub in Greece. Among the controlled chaos within as activists bustle around the operations centre, one line is subtitled for the audience from the Greek: "...use SQL to disrupt their databases!". Now, given that SQL is a programming language designed for building and managing databases, that's a bit like saying "use the custard to disrupt their trifle!" and is indicative of a script which hurls faux-technobabble at the audience hoping they won't have any real knowledge of the subject(s) being discussed. This level of unwieldy background noise runs throughout the film, of course, but it's the fact that this line is translated and presented on-screen which makes it stand out, blowing its own cover instantly. This is the best use of 'I don't know what that means but I'll write it anyway' since "They're ready to go... the hashtags will tip them over!" back in April.
I'm going to go right ahead and say Bastille Day, even though this isn't as much fun.
Only if you like 'em big and loud.
You won't lose too much by watching this at the tail-end of a Bourne-marathon in your living room.
As amiable as it is, not quite because it takes itself so seriously.
Nope.
Nope.
There is.
Level 1: This movie stars Riz 'Bodhi Rook' Ahmed.
It's okay that reference will be familiar soon enough, trust me.
*1 I don't care what people say, I quite enjoyed The Bourne Legacy. I mean, I've never felt the need to watch it again since, but I quite enjoyed it.
*2 Really though, what kind of title is that? We're used to them being a bit more dynamic, springboarding off the borderline-pun of The Bourne Identity (because he wasn't 'born' with it; do you see?). Anyway, I've thought of some better titles if they want to ret-con it for the DVD release...
• The Bourne-Broker
• The Bourne Cocktail
• From Dusk Till Bourne
• Hung, Bourne and Quartered
• Bourne Free
• Bourne Again Seriously Universal, hit me up. No need to pay me, a mention in the credits will be fine…
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.
Lincoln Cert: 12A / 150 mins / Dir. Steven Spielberg
That's the second film this year with an engaging start, a spectacular end, and a dialogue-heavy mid-section that had me thinking 'Okay, you know where this is going, I certainly do, so how about you stop fucking talking about it and show me?'
Don't get me wrong, all of the performances are outstanding, but the film loses much-needed power in dawdling.
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.
CAUTION: Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
Men In Black 3 (or MiB³ if you're down with The Kids*1), in 3D. 105 mins / Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
I'm wasn't convinced. I didn't see the Men In Black films back in the day as I suspected they were just a summer-blockbuster vehicle for a post-ID4 Will Smith. Having watched them both in recent weeks, it appears I was right. The first film's likeable enough, but with no real warmth or feeling. The second is piss-weak, full of unlikeable characters and effects that look worse than the previous installment five years earlier.
But y'know what? I liked the trailer for MiB³, and Smith's way better now than he was back then, so why the hell not, eh?
The Plot: When intergalactic criminal Boris The Animal escapes from the Lunar Max prison on the moon, he's determined to wreak revenge on the MiB agent responsible for putting him there. Jumping back in time to 1969 he kills Agent K, erasing him from history, so that he can pave the way for an alien invasion of Earth. Now it's down to Agent J to unravel the mystery of how and why, stop Boris and save his partner...
The Good: I like a time-travel film, me. Now there's a temptation when you send your characters back to an iconic time (in this case, 1969) to try and condense all of that culture into a five-minute intro piece, shoehorning in celebrities and events of the time. MiB³ does fall into this trap a little, although after the pointless appearance*2 of Andy Warhol, the writing settles down and we get the time-travel used properly. Not 'cleverly' as such, but properly. There are shadows of Back To The Future hanging over the final set-piece, but that's only to be expected, and it's nice to see characters remembering that they have a time-travel device and actually using it.
A nice stylistic touch is that once J jumps back to 1969, all of the aliens milling about immigration in MiB headquarters look like original-era Star Trek xenos. Look, I enjoyed it, and I don't even do Trek.
But the real heart of the film lies with Michael Stuhlbarg, evoking the spirit of Robin Williams' Mork (including a bit of fourth-walling at one point). His character Griffin is a humanoid-alien who can see all possible outcomes of a situation, the joke being that he's never entirely sure which universe he's in until events occur. Griffin is funny, touching, and more interesting than any other character in the film.
That said, Will Smith is on great form too, and it's good to see the evolution of an actor over the three films. Not that MiB has taught him his craft, but each film is like a snapshot of him at a different level. Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones work well as a double-act (even if they're not together on-screen), fleshing out a character that desperately needs it. Everyone else is pretty much phoning it in, I'm afraid. Secondary characters have never been MiB's strong point. Not 'awful' as such, but given very little to work with.
As for the ending? No spoilers here, but I suspect some will think of it as a shark-jumping moment. Personally, I quite liked it. Forced as it is, it brings a bit of depth to characters I'd been struggling to like for three movies.
The Bad: A lot of the sharpest gags are in the trailer, so they have a little less impact when you see them again in a less punchy setting. It's also worth noting that there are sections in that trailer that aren't in the movie at all ("Two grown men, talking to the wall…"), but that's becoming more and more common these days.
Is it just me, or does the subplot with Agent O go completely against the subplot from MiB with Agent K's coma/wife? Y'know, if we're supposed to think of him as a sympathetic character, an'all?
When J acquires the time-jump device, he asks its owner how, if time has been changed, he's the only one who can remember Agent K. "Oh wow!", says Price, "That must mean you were there!", setting up a callback/explanation that never really appears, as it still makes no sense when you actually think about it. You'll need to watch the film to understand why this doesn't work, as an explanation would be a bit spoilery, I'm afraid.
The Ugly: Jemaine Clement as Boris The Animal. He's not a particularly competent 'villain' (although I suspect a lot of that's down to how he was written), but Clement's voicing of the character is truly bizarre. It's trying to channel the camp of Tim Curry and pomposity of Simon Pegg, but with the charm and wit of neither.
The Third Dimension: It's there, it works, but it doesn't really bring anything to the party. The VFX are fantastical enough to not need 3D, but I suppose seeing a bunch of aliens lurching out of the screen is a nice callback to the B-Movies of old, so I'll forgive it. But if you're on the fence, you won't lose much by seeing it in 2D.
Worth £8+? For me, yes, but I suspect I enjoyed it for different reasons that the filmmakers intended.
In Short: Building on the strengths of MiB, but not falling into the traps of MiB2. Tricky starting, great ending. Better than it has any right to be, in all honesty.
*1 And I am down with The Kids. In fact The Kids ring me if they want to know what's down. Hence their largely awful fashion sense. *2 Don't get me wrong, I like Bill Hader, but other than a device to introduce Griffin's character the appearance of Warhol is just 'hey look! It's someone famous from the sixties! How whacky is THAT??'
DISCLAIMERS: • ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• 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.
