Scan and Pan
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
28 Weeks Later
The film opens in the same time period as the first film. Donald (Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) are hiding out in a rural cottage with several other people. When the cottage is attacked by people infected by the Rage virus (which causes zombie-like behavior), Donald panics and leaves his wife to be killed. Twenty-eight weeks later, the infected have all died of starvation and a section of London has been made safe by the US military. Survivors and those who were outside of the country when the outbreak began are allowed back into the safe zone, and Donald is reunited with his children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton). When a new outbreak occurs inside the safe zone, it's up to an Army medical officer (Rose Byrne) and sniper (Jeremy Renner) to lead them to safety.
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) replaces Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) in the director's chair for this sequel, although Boyle and the first film's screenwriter Alex Garland serve as executive producers. Fresnadillo picks up where Boyle left off, taking the audience on a horrific ride through a familiar world turned chaotic, and he's more than up to the task of keeping you on the edge of your seat for 99 minutes. If 28 Days Later was Alien, this would be Aliens. It's also quite a gory film at times, so viewer beware.
The screenplay by Fresnadillo, Jesús Olmo, Rowan Joffe, and Enrique López Lavigne has a rare emotional resonance for a horror film by making you care about the characters, even though you suspect that very bad things will happen to them. It expands on the first film's themes while suggesting that real horror results from the choices people make in the face of terror and death. Like George A. Romero's zombie films, there's also some charged social and political commentary, which here parallels the war in Iraq.
Cinematographer Enrique Chediak (Turistas) uses harsh lighting, desaturated colors, and handheld cameras (both film and video) to capture a sense of immediacy that thrusts you directly into a situation that is as terrifyingly real as a report from a war zone while under fire. John Murphy (28 Days Later, Miami Vice) provides a strong score but he and Fresnadillo also know when to silence the music for greater impact.
Carlyle never fails to deliver a strong performance, and this holds true again. The scenes where he realizes what he's done to his wife and where he has to tell his children about their mother's death are effectively carried by his acting. McCormack makes an impact in limited screen time as his wife. Poots and Muggleton are convincing as the teenaged daughter and younger son, and it's their reactions that draw one into the story as it unfolds. Byrne, Renner, and Harold Perrineau (Lost) are well-cast as the military characters, with Renner nicely conveying the conflict between obeying orders and making his own ethical choices.
28 Weeks Later succeeds by being more than a retread of a sequel and by intelligently balancing the requisite action scenes with characterization. It also never sells out on its bleak worldview. If you liked the first film, you should like this one, too. If you never saw the first film, this sequel can be watched as a standalone story. Recommended.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
This follow-up to 2002's 28 Days Later is every bit as good as its predecessor and perhaps even surpasses it.
The film opens in the same time period as the first film. Donald (Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) are hiding out in a rural cottage with several other people. When the cottage is attacked by people infected by the Rage virus (which causes zombie-like behavior), Donald panics and leaves his wife to be killed. Twenty-eight weeks later, the infected have all died of starvation and a section of London has been made safe by the US military. Survivors and those who were outside of the country when the outbreak began are allowed back into the safe zone, and Donald is reunited with his children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton). When a new outbreak occurs inside the safe zone, it's up to an Army medical officer (Rose Byrne) and sniper (Jeremy Renner) to lead them to safety.
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) replaces Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) in the director's chair for this sequel, although Boyle and the first film's screenwriter Alex Garland serve as executive producers. Fresnadillo picks up where Boyle left off, taking the audience on a horrific ride through a familiar world turned chaotic, and he's more than up to the task of keeping you on the edge of your seat for 99 minutes. If 28 Days Later was Alien, this would be Aliens. It's also quite a gory film at times, so viewer beware.
The screenplay by Fresnadillo, Jesús Olmo, Rowan Joffe, and Enrique López Lavigne has a rare emotional resonance for a horror film by making you care about the characters, even though you suspect that very bad things will happen to them. It expands on the first film's themes while suggesting that real horror results from the choices people make in the face of terror and death. Like George A. Romero's zombie films, there's also some charged social and political commentary, which here parallels the war in Iraq.
Cinematographer Enrique Chediak (Turistas) uses harsh lighting, desaturated colors, and handheld cameras (both film and video) to capture a sense of immediacy that thrusts you directly into a situation that is as terrifyingly real as a report from a war zone while under fire. John Murphy (28 Days Later, Miami Vice) provides a strong score but he and Fresnadillo also know when to silence the music for greater impact.
Carlyle never fails to deliver a strong performance, and this holds true again. The scenes where he realizes what he's done to his wife and where he has to tell his children about their mother's death are effectively carried by his acting. McCormack makes an impact in limited screen time as his wife. Poots and Muggleton are convincing as the teenaged daughter and younger son, and it's their reactions that draw one into the story as it unfolds. Byrne, Renner, and Harold Perrineau (Lost) are well-cast as the military characters, with Renner nicely conveying the conflict between obeying orders and making his own ethical choices.
28 Weeks Later succeeds by being more than a retread of a sequel and by intelligently balancing the requisite action scenes with characterization. It also never sells out on its bleak worldview. If you liked the first film, you should like this one, too. If you never saw the first film, this sequel can be watched as a standalone story. Recommended.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
Bug
Agnes (Ashley Judd) lives in a seedy motel in rural Oklahoma and works as a cocktail waitress at a roadhouse that caters to lesbians. When the film begins, she's living in fear that her abusive ex-husband Jerry (Harry Connick, Jr.) will find her now that he's been released from prison. One night, her lesbian biker friend R.C. (Lynn Collins) introduces her to a shy drifter named Peter (Michael Shannon), who soon becomes Agnes' lover. When Peter wakes up one night to find bug bites on his body, he's convinced that the room is infested with bugs coming from inside his body.
Screenwriter Tracy Letts faithfully adapts his own stage play and early on it looks like it could turn into an interesting film, but it's never able to escape its stage origins. It's slightly over an hour and a half of people mostly talking. Worse, the motivations of some of the characters seem to change at whim, so it's hard to believe what they're doing. It's not so bad in the first two acts thanks to the quality acting, but the third act makes it impossible to continue suspending one's disbelief. Veteran director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) keeps it from feeling too stagey through good use of camera movements that open things up, but sadly it's a disappointing effort from a filmmaker whose best days are well behind him.
Cinematographer Michael Grady (Factory Girl) keeps the film visually interesting, using lighting to signify changes in time and to reflect the psychological states of the characters. Production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone (Cabin Fever, Rocky Balboa) really only has one set to work with, but he turns it into a realistic place that takes on an increasingly disturbed quality as the story progresses.
Judd delivers a strong performance, even if the script doesn't always make her actions believable, grabbing hold of her character and not letting go until the third act, when her performance jumps the tracks along with the rest of the film. Shannon, who originated his role on stage, is compelling as the shy drifter who may be dangerously delusional, and his outbursts are frightening in their sudden intensity. Connick is excellent as a charming but abusive ex-con, making us believe that Agnes would have fallen for him in the first place and that she would now be terrified of him. Collins is also good as R.C. and, truth be told, there's far more chemistry between Judd and Collins than between Judd and Shannon. Irish actor Brian F. O'Byrne has a bizarre turn as Peter's doctor, but the problem is how the character is written than O'Byrne himself.
One suspects that Lionsgate used a deceptive marketing campaign because that was the only way they were going to get an audience for a filmed version of an off-Broadway play that's not scary, not psychologically or philosophically deep, and which leaves one not quite sure of what the point was. Not recommended.
[1.5 out of 5 stars]
Marketed as a disturbing horror film, Bug is actually a psychological drama. However, it's not a particularly good one. It's too talky by far and it turns ridiculous in the third act. Good performances by its cast aren't enough to overcome its numerous flaws.
Agnes (Ashley Judd) lives in a seedy motel in rural Oklahoma and works as a cocktail waitress at a roadhouse that caters to lesbians. When the film begins, she's living in fear that her abusive ex-husband Jerry (Harry Connick, Jr.) will find her now that he's been released from prison. One night, her lesbian biker friend R.C. (Lynn Collins) introduces her to a shy drifter named Peter (Michael Shannon), who soon becomes Agnes' lover. When Peter wakes up one night to find bug bites on his body, he's convinced that the room is infested with bugs coming from inside his body.
Screenwriter Tracy Letts faithfully adapts his own stage play and early on it looks like it could turn into an interesting film, but it's never able to escape its stage origins. It's slightly over an hour and a half of people mostly talking. Worse, the motivations of some of the characters seem to change at whim, so it's hard to believe what they're doing. It's not so bad in the first two acts thanks to the quality acting, but the third act makes it impossible to continue suspending one's disbelief. Veteran director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) keeps it from feeling too stagey through good use of camera movements that open things up, but sadly it's a disappointing effort from a filmmaker whose best days are well behind him.
Cinematographer Michael Grady (Factory Girl) keeps the film visually interesting, using lighting to signify changes in time and to reflect the psychological states of the characters. Production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone (Cabin Fever, Rocky Balboa) really only has one set to work with, but he turns it into a realistic place that takes on an increasingly disturbed quality as the story progresses.
Judd delivers a strong performance, even if the script doesn't always make her actions believable, grabbing hold of her character and not letting go until the third act, when her performance jumps the tracks along with the rest of the film. Shannon, who originated his role on stage, is compelling as the shy drifter who may be dangerously delusional, and his outbursts are frightening in their sudden intensity. Connick is excellent as a charming but abusive ex-con, making us believe that Agnes would have fallen for him in the first place and that she would now be terrified of him. Collins is also good as R.C. and, truth be told, there's far more chemistry between Judd and Collins than between Judd and Shannon. Irish actor Brian F. O'Byrne has a bizarre turn as Peter's doctor, but the problem is how the character is written than O'Byrne himself.
One suspects that Lionsgate used a deceptive marketing campaign because that was the only way they were going to get an audience for a filmed version of an off-Broadway play that's not scary, not psychologically or philosophically deep, and which leaves one not quite sure of what the point was. Not recommended.
[1.5 out of 5 stars]
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Spider-Man 3
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finally feels like life is going his way. The city loves his costumed alter ego and he's ready to propose to his actress girlfriend Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). Then things start to go wrong. His former best friend Harry (James Franco) still thinks Peter killed his father, the villainous Green Goblin, and becomes the new Goblin to take revenge. Then Peter learns that the real murderer of his beloved Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) was petty criminal Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), who's been transformed into the supervillain Sandman by an accident involving a particle accelerator. If that's not enough, an alien symbiote has bonded with his Spider-Man costume, turning it black and warping his personality, while a new rival at work named Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) threatens his job and later his life as the vicious menace known as Venom.
Director Sam Raimi returns for his third go-around, and again demonstrates that he can balance action, characterization, and humor to accurately render a comic book world on screen. With a $258 million budget, the largest film budget ever in absolute dollars (although 1968's War and Peace and 1963's Cleopatra had larger budgets when adjusted for inflation), Raimi can do just about whatever he wants, and this means top drawer action scenes and visual effects. He doesn't disappoint. However, perhaps it was a little too much, as he reportedly often found himself running between different units during shooting instead of focusing on the main one, and the end result lacks the heart and soul that he brought to the previous films.
The screenplay by Raimi, his brother Ivan (Army of Darkness), and veteran screenwriter Alvin Sargent (A Star is Born, Ordinary People, Spider-Man 2) is solid albeit flawed. They try to fit in one too many storylines (the Venom storyline deserved a full film to itself and feels shoehorned into this one), the second act is overlong, and as a whole it lacks the depth and emotional resonance of the previous film. That said, it's still full of entertainment value and it's mostly a satisfying conclusion if Raimi and his stars don't return for future installments. Like the early stories written by Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee, the angst of Peter's life is as important, sometimes more so, than the action. The film at least tries to get to the heart of what makes the character great and it dares to be more than just another action movie even if it doesn't always succeed.
Bill Pope (The Matrix, Spider-Man 2) provides crisp, bright cinematography which, combined with the production designs of Neil Spisak (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2) and J. Michael Riva (Lethal Weapon, The Pursuit of Happyness), captures the look of a comic book without appearing fake. Costume designer James Acheson (Brazil, The Last Emperor, and both previous Spider-Man films) is up to his usual standard of excellence, with the new black Spider-suit and Sandman's ripped directly from the comics costume standing out. Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Ghost Rider) effectively combines his new compositions with themes composed by Danny Elfman for the previous films into a cohesive whole. Film editor Bob Murawski (Army of Darkness and both previous Spider-Man films) could have easily trimmed the flabby midsection and the editing as a whole isn't as tight as in the first two films.
Maguire effortlessly embodies the angst of Peter Parker and the heroic strength of Spider-Man in a performance filled with a geeky charm that's engaging even when he turns into a self-centered jerk under the influence of the symbiote. Dunst once again makes a charming and believable Mary Jane. The screen lights up every time she's on it, even if the script sometimes shortchanges her. If this is indeed their final appearance in the franchise, it'll be a poorer one without them. Franco always seems wooden, but it's not quite as bad this time as he seems to have grown into the role of Harry a bit. Church's Sandman convinces us that he's more than a one-note villain, but doesn't have enough screen time to create a more full blooded performance. Grace effectively plays Brock as a charming creep who seems to be under the influence of a potent and addictive drug when Venom-possessed, but again the crowded film simply doesn't give him enough time for further development.
J.K. Simmons is again so perfect as Peter's boss, newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson, that it's as if the real Jameson was transported to our universe to play himself. Bryce Dallas Howard is quite good as Gwen Stacy and James Cromwell is solid as her police captain father, but the characters seem awkwardly placed into the continuity of the films. Rosemary Harris has fewer scenes as Peter's Aunt May this time, but she's still an effective presence in his life, while Cliff Robertson returns for flashbacks as her murdered husband. Bruce Campbell has a small but hilarious role as a maitre d' in a French restaurant (he's had a small role in each film as a different character each time). Elya Baskin and Mageina Tovah return for some funny scenes as Peter's landlord Mr. Ditkovich (a nod to Spidey's co-creator, Steve Ditko) and his daughter Ursula. Co-creator Lee has a cameo as an old man who talks to Peter in Times Square, and he ends it with the appropriate words "'Nuff said."
Spider-Man 3 isn't as good as Spider-Man or the flawless Spider-Man 2. There are too many stories crammed into 139 minutes and the middle of the film seems too long. Attempts to explore the characters and their emotions seem forced at times. But it's not a bad film. It rates as above average for the genre while providing quite a bit of entertainment value.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
The third films in superhero film franchises seem to be persistently cursed with mediocrity. Think of Superman III, Batman Forever, or X-Men: The Last Stand as examples. Does this film avoid the curse? Yes and no. It's certainly the weakest of the three Spider-Man films by far, but it's still an entertaining one. If it's disappointing, it's largely because it has the unfortunate luck of following the flawless Spider-Man 2 and is unable to recapture that film's magic.
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finally feels like life is going his way. The city loves his costumed alter ego and he's ready to propose to his actress girlfriend Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). Then things start to go wrong. His former best friend Harry (James Franco) still thinks Peter killed his father, the villainous Green Goblin, and becomes the new Goblin to take revenge. Then Peter learns that the real murderer of his beloved Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) was petty criminal Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), who's been transformed into the supervillain Sandman by an accident involving a particle accelerator. If that's not enough, an alien symbiote has bonded with his Spider-Man costume, turning it black and warping his personality, while a new rival at work named Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) threatens his job and later his life as the vicious menace known as Venom.
Director Sam Raimi returns for his third go-around, and again demonstrates that he can balance action, characterization, and humor to accurately render a comic book world on screen. With a $258 million budget, the largest film budget ever in absolute dollars (although 1968's War and Peace and 1963's Cleopatra had larger budgets when adjusted for inflation), Raimi can do just about whatever he wants, and this means top drawer action scenes and visual effects. He doesn't disappoint. However, perhaps it was a little too much, as he reportedly often found himself running between different units during shooting instead of focusing on the main one, and the end result lacks the heart and soul that he brought to the previous films.
The screenplay by Raimi, his brother Ivan (Army of Darkness), and veteran screenwriter Alvin Sargent (A Star is Born, Ordinary People, Spider-Man 2) is solid albeit flawed. They try to fit in one too many storylines (the Venom storyline deserved a full film to itself and feels shoehorned into this one), the second act is overlong, and as a whole it lacks the depth and emotional resonance of the previous film. That said, it's still full of entertainment value and it's mostly a satisfying conclusion if Raimi and his stars don't return for future installments. Like the early stories written by Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee, the angst of Peter's life is as important, sometimes more so, than the action. The film at least tries to get to the heart of what makes the character great and it dares to be more than just another action movie even if it doesn't always succeed.
Bill Pope (The Matrix, Spider-Man 2) provides crisp, bright cinematography which, combined with the production designs of Neil Spisak (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2) and J. Michael Riva (Lethal Weapon, The Pursuit of Happyness), captures the look of a comic book without appearing fake. Costume designer James Acheson (Brazil, The Last Emperor, and both previous Spider-Man films) is up to his usual standard of excellence, with the new black Spider-suit and Sandman's ripped directly from the comics costume standing out. Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Ghost Rider) effectively combines his new compositions with themes composed by Danny Elfman for the previous films into a cohesive whole. Film editor Bob Murawski (Army of Darkness and both previous Spider-Man films) could have easily trimmed the flabby midsection and the editing as a whole isn't as tight as in the first two films.
Maguire effortlessly embodies the angst of Peter Parker and the heroic strength of Spider-Man in a performance filled with a geeky charm that's engaging even when he turns into a self-centered jerk under the influence of the symbiote. Dunst once again makes a charming and believable Mary Jane. The screen lights up every time she's on it, even if the script sometimes shortchanges her. If this is indeed their final appearance in the franchise, it'll be a poorer one without them. Franco always seems wooden, but it's not quite as bad this time as he seems to have grown into the role of Harry a bit. Church's Sandman convinces us that he's more than a one-note villain, but doesn't have enough screen time to create a more full blooded performance. Grace effectively plays Brock as a charming creep who seems to be under the influence of a potent and addictive drug when Venom-possessed, but again the crowded film simply doesn't give him enough time for further development.
J.K. Simmons is again so perfect as Peter's boss, newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson, that it's as if the real Jameson was transported to our universe to play himself. Bryce Dallas Howard is quite good as Gwen Stacy and James Cromwell is solid as her police captain father, but the characters seem awkwardly placed into the continuity of the films. Rosemary Harris has fewer scenes as Peter's Aunt May this time, but she's still an effective presence in his life, while Cliff Robertson returns for flashbacks as her murdered husband. Bruce Campbell has a small but hilarious role as a maitre d' in a French restaurant (he's had a small role in each film as a different character each time). Elya Baskin and Mageina Tovah return for some funny scenes as Peter's landlord Mr. Ditkovich (a nod to Spidey's co-creator, Steve Ditko) and his daughter Ursula. Co-creator Lee has a cameo as an old man who talks to Peter in Times Square, and he ends it with the appropriate words "'Nuff said."
Spider-Man 3 isn't as good as Spider-Man or the flawless Spider-Man 2. There are too many stories crammed into 139 minutes and the middle of the film seems too long. Attempts to explore the characters and their emotions seem forced at times. But it's not a bad film. It rates as above average for the genre while providing quite a bit of entertainment value.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
The Invisible
Nick (Justin Chatwin) is a quiet, intelligent high school student who aspires to be a writer. While trying to help his best friend Pete (Chris Marquette), he comes into conflict with another student, the violent criminal Annie (Margarita Levieva). After Annie is arrested, she suspects that it was Pete who turned her in. In fear for his life, Pete blames Nick (however, both Pete and Nick are innocent), and Annie and her thuggish friends decide to beat him up. Annie goes too far, and Nick's body is left in a drainage pipe in the woods. When Nick goes to school the next day, he quickly discovers that no one can see or hear him, and he must somehow solve the mystery of what's happened to him.
Director David S. Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins and writer/director of Blade: Trinity) takes a very low key approach to the story, favoring characterization over spectacle. Like the film it's a remake of, it's based on a novel by Mats Wahl, and the screenplay by Mick Davis (who also wrote the screenplay for the original film) and Christine Roum (Bodyguard II) is unusually intelligent for a supernatural story centered on teenagers and works quite well as a metaphor about guilt and redemption, with an emotionally satisfying payoff at the end. The original film reportedly has a much darker ending, but the ending here finds a note of hope without cheapening what came before it.
The film is set in Washington State but filmed in British Columbia, and cinematographer Gabriel Beristain (Blade: Trinity, The Ring Two) contributes a moody, overcast look that sets an appropriate tone for the story, matched by the score of Marco Beltrami (Hellboy, Underworld: Evolution) and an excellent selection of alternative rock songs chosen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas.
Chatwin makes a good lead for the film and is very realistic as a young man suddenly faced with a mystery with literal life or death consequences for him. Levieva, who resembles a younger Eliza Dushku, steals the film with a compelling performance as a tough but achingly vulnerable young woman who has one chance for atonement. Marquette is good as Pete, whose fear-caused actions inadvertently have tragic consequences. Marcia Gay Harden plays Nick's mother and has one emotionally wrenching scene that completely sells her as a grieving mother. Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin (who was considered for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale) has the least original role as Annie's thuggish boyfriend and partner in crime, but he avoids overacting and makes the character at least seem believable. Callum Keith Rennie and Michelle Harrison are solid as the detectives investigating Nick's disappearance.
Studios often dump their weaker films in cinemas in the springtime to bide time for the big summer season. The Invisible very easily could have been one of those weaker films, another routine supernatural film with teenaged protagonists, but it's not. It's a good film, well-written and well-acted, and one that deserves to be very visible to filmgoers. Recommended.
[4 out of 5 stars]
This American remake of the 2002 Swedish film Den Osynlige is an intelligent supernatural mystery with noirish undertones.
Nick (Justin Chatwin) is a quiet, intelligent high school student who aspires to be a writer. While trying to help his best friend Pete (Chris Marquette), he comes into conflict with another student, the violent criminal Annie (Margarita Levieva). After Annie is arrested, she suspects that it was Pete who turned her in. In fear for his life, Pete blames Nick (however, both Pete and Nick are innocent), and Annie and her thuggish friends decide to beat him up. Annie goes too far, and Nick's body is left in a drainage pipe in the woods. When Nick goes to school the next day, he quickly discovers that no one can see or hear him, and he must somehow solve the mystery of what's happened to him.
Director David S. Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins and writer/director of Blade: Trinity) takes a very low key approach to the story, favoring characterization over spectacle. Like the film it's a remake of, it's based on a novel by Mats Wahl, and the screenplay by Mick Davis (who also wrote the screenplay for the original film) and Christine Roum (Bodyguard II) is unusually intelligent for a supernatural story centered on teenagers and works quite well as a metaphor about guilt and redemption, with an emotionally satisfying payoff at the end. The original film reportedly has a much darker ending, but the ending here finds a note of hope without cheapening what came before it.
The film is set in Washington State but filmed in British Columbia, and cinematographer Gabriel Beristain (Blade: Trinity, The Ring Two) contributes a moody, overcast look that sets an appropriate tone for the story, matched by the score of Marco Beltrami (Hellboy, Underworld: Evolution) and an excellent selection of alternative rock songs chosen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas.
Chatwin makes a good lead for the film and is very realistic as a young man suddenly faced with a mystery with literal life or death consequences for him. Levieva, who resembles a younger Eliza Dushku, steals the film with a compelling performance as a tough but achingly vulnerable young woman who has one chance for atonement. Marquette is good as Pete, whose fear-caused actions inadvertently have tragic consequences. Marcia Gay Harden plays Nick's mother and has one emotionally wrenching scene that completely sells her as a grieving mother. Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin (who was considered for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale) has the least original role as Annie's thuggish boyfriend and partner in crime, but he avoids overacting and makes the character at least seem believable. Callum Keith Rennie and Michelle Harrison are solid as the detectives investigating Nick's disappearance.
Studios often dump their weaker films in cinemas in the springtime to bide time for the big summer season. The Invisible very easily could have been one of those weaker films, another routine supernatural film with teenaged protagonists, but it's not. It's a good film, well-written and well-acted, and one that deserves to be very visible to filmgoers. Recommended.
[4 out of 5 stars]
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Next
Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) is a small time Las Vegas stage magician with the ability to see two minutes into his future, with the exception of a vision where he meets a beautiful young woman named Liz (Jessica Biel). After they finally meet and she begins to fall for him, he finds himself being pursued by FBI Agent Ferris (Julianne Moore), who's willing to go to any lengths to force Cris to help her track down terrorists planning to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, as well as the terrorists themselves, who know that his ability is a threat to their plan.
Beyond a character named Cris who can see the future, the film has absolutely nothing in common with Dick's story. Screenwriters Gary Goldman (Big Trouble in Little China, Total Recall), Jonathan Hensleigh (Die Hard With a Vengeance, Jumanji), and Paul Bernbaum (Hollywoodland) have taken a potentially intriguing concept and constructed a formulaic action film. After taking the time to set up how Cris' powers work, they then proceed to violate their own rules, which is the same way they treat the audience with their cop out of an ending. The villains are cardboard cutouts and it's never made clear why a coalition of Germans, French, and Asians want to nuke a US city in the first place. All three writers are capable of much better than this. Director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, xXx: State Of The Union) can usually be relied on for some exciting action scenes at least, but they seem strangely perfunctory here.
Cage is solid as the cool but brooding hero. Cage the actor isn't the problem here as much as Cage the producer, who presumably had a large hand in the development of the film. Of all the actors, Biel comes off the best as the obligatory love interest in danger, taking a routine role and delivering a performance that's surprisingly vulnerable and charming. Moore, meanwhile, seems to be sleepwalking through her role. Peter Falk has a fun cameo as Cris' curmudgeonly friend, Irv.
Next simply isn't a very good film. The thought-provoking ideas of Philip K. Dick have been replaced with Hollywood formula by filmmakers who don't seem to be trying very hard.
[2 out of 5 stars]
The latest Hollywood adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story has an interesting premise but the finished product doesn't capitalize on it and is a big disappointment considering the talents involved.
Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) is a small time Las Vegas stage magician with the ability to see two minutes into his future, with the exception of a vision where he meets a beautiful young woman named Liz (Jessica Biel). After they finally meet and she begins to fall for him, he finds himself being pursued by FBI Agent Ferris (Julianne Moore), who's willing to go to any lengths to force Cris to help her track down terrorists planning to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, as well as the terrorists themselves, who know that his ability is a threat to their plan.
Beyond a character named Cris who can see the future, the film has absolutely nothing in common with Dick's story. Screenwriters Gary Goldman (Big Trouble in Little China, Total Recall), Jonathan Hensleigh (Die Hard With a Vengeance, Jumanji), and Paul Bernbaum (Hollywoodland) have taken a potentially intriguing concept and constructed a formulaic action film. After taking the time to set up how Cris' powers work, they then proceed to violate their own rules, which is the same way they treat the audience with their cop out of an ending. The villains are cardboard cutouts and it's never made clear why a coalition of Germans, French, and Asians want to nuke a US city in the first place. All three writers are capable of much better than this. Director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, xXx: State Of The Union) can usually be relied on for some exciting action scenes at least, but they seem strangely perfunctory here.
Cage is solid as the cool but brooding hero. Cage the actor isn't the problem here as much as Cage the producer, who presumably had a large hand in the development of the film. Of all the actors, Biel comes off the best as the obligatory love interest in danger, taking a routine role and delivering a performance that's surprisingly vulnerable and charming. Moore, meanwhile, seems to be sleepwalking through her role. Peter Falk has a fun cameo as Cris' curmudgeonly friend, Irv.
Next simply isn't a very good film. The thought-provoking ideas of Philip K. Dick have been replaced with Hollywood formula by filmmakers who don't seem to be trying very hard.
[2 out of 5 stars]
