Scan and Pan
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Eastern Promises
Midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) finds a Russian-language diary on the body of an anonymous young woman who dies while giving birth at a London hospital. Although her father was Russian, Anna can't read the language and relies on her uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) to translate for her. She also finds a business card for a Russian restaurant inside the diary and makes inquiries with the owner, the deceptively charming Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), in reality a boss in the Russian Mafia. While trying to unravel the mystery of the baby's parentage to find living relatives, Anna's life becomes intertwined with that of Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), Semyon's driver and a rising star in the ranks of the crime organization.
Cronenberg's direction of a screenplay by Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Amazing Grace) seduces the audience into the film's shadowy world from the very first scene. It's a place where menace lurks behind a seemingly ordinary facade, a place where violence is as sudden as it is deadly. It's set in London, but Cronenberg and Knight take us into an unfamiliar London, an underworld of immigrant criminals for whom masculinity and violence are inextricably linked. Cronenberg's finely crafted narrative is brooding and hypnotic, with at least one harrowing fight scene that's destined to be remembered for a long time and a surprising denouement.
Cronenberg's usual collaborators--cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, production designer Carol Spier, costume designer Denise Cronenberg, editor Ronald Sanders, and composer Howard Shore--are up to their usual high standards of craftsmanship in bringing this unfamiliar side of London to life. In particular, Shore's use of Russian motifs in the score lends a sense of unspeakable sadness and unfolding tragedy to the film.
Mortensen is brilliant as Nikolai, a man who's seen and done some of the worst things a man can do but still seems to have a conscience lurking somewhere beneath his stone cold exterior. His subtle performance just seems so authentic, as does his accent. He went to Russia to research the role and his attention to detail pays off in one of the best performances in a film this year.
Mortensen's performance is matched by Mueller-Stahl as a crime boss whose manners and soft-spoken facade belie what a dangerous man he really is, and his understated performance only makes him seem more menacing. Watts is believable as a woman courageously putting herself in danger for a baby she helped bring into the world. Other noteworthy performances are delivered by Vincent Cassel as Semyon's son Kirill, a captain in the criminal organization who drinks to excess and whose homosexuality isn't as repressed as he'd like (it's clear that he's in love with Nikolai); Skolimowski as Anna's uncle and Sinéad Cusack as her mother; and Mina E. Mina as the Turkish proprietor of a barber shop where a gangster is murdered.
Eastern Promises is another gem from Cronenberg, a film that appears simple on the surface while an intelligent complexity lies just beneath the surface waiting to be uncovered. It's one of the best films of 2007 to date, and it's worth seeing just for Mortensen's performance although it also offers so much more.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
Director David Cronenberg follows up A History of Violence with another film about violence encroaching on the world of ordinary people, this time set in London's Russian underworld. Like its predecessor, it's a compelling piece of filmmaking with an outstanding cast of actors.
Midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) finds a Russian-language diary on the body of an anonymous young woman who dies while giving birth at a London hospital. Although her father was Russian, Anna can't read the language and relies on her uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) to translate for her. She also finds a business card for a Russian restaurant inside the diary and makes inquiries with the owner, the deceptively charming Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), in reality a boss in the Russian Mafia. While trying to unravel the mystery of the baby's parentage to find living relatives, Anna's life becomes intertwined with that of Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), Semyon's driver and a rising star in the ranks of the crime organization.
Cronenberg's direction of a screenplay by Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Amazing Grace) seduces the audience into the film's shadowy world from the very first scene. It's a place where menace lurks behind a seemingly ordinary facade, a place where violence is as sudden as it is deadly. It's set in London, but Cronenberg and Knight take us into an unfamiliar London, an underworld of immigrant criminals for whom masculinity and violence are inextricably linked. Cronenberg's finely crafted narrative is brooding and hypnotic, with at least one harrowing fight scene that's destined to be remembered for a long time and a surprising denouement.
Cronenberg's usual collaborators--cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, production designer Carol Spier, costume designer Denise Cronenberg, editor Ronald Sanders, and composer Howard Shore--are up to their usual high standards of craftsmanship in bringing this unfamiliar side of London to life. In particular, Shore's use of Russian motifs in the score lends a sense of unspeakable sadness and unfolding tragedy to the film.
Mortensen is brilliant as Nikolai, a man who's seen and done some of the worst things a man can do but still seems to have a conscience lurking somewhere beneath his stone cold exterior. His subtle performance just seems so authentic, as does his accent. He went to Russia to research the role and his attention to detail pays off in one of the best performances in a film this year.
Mortensen's performance is matched by Mueller-Stahl as a crime boss whose manners and soft-spoken facade belie what a dangerous man he really is, and his understated performance only makes him seem more menacing. Watts is believable as a woman courageously putting herself in danger for a baby she helped bring into the world. Other noteworthy performances are delivered by Vincent Cassel as Semyon's son Kirill, a captain in the criminal organization who drinks to excess and whose homosexuality isn't as repressed as he'd like (it's clear that he's in love with Nikolai); Skolimowski as Anna's uncle and Sinéad Cusack as her mother; and Mina E. Mina as the Turkish proprietor of a barber shop where a gangster is murdered.
Eastern Promises is another gem from Cronenberg, a film that appears simple on the surface while an intelligent complexity lies just beneath the surface waiting to be uncovered. It's one of the best films of 2007 to date, and it's worth seeing just for Mortensen's performance although it also offers so much more.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
Resident Evil: Extinction
Five years after the events of the first two films, the world is a wasteland overrun by zombies. Alice (Mila Jovovich) is now a nomad roaming the desert that used to be the western United States, until she comes across a convoy of survivors lead by her old friend Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter). Alice convinces them that the only safe place is Alaska and decides to help them get there, but she doesn't know that Umbrella Corporation scientist Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) is still alive and using all of his resources to find and capture her.
Director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) is at his best when he can apply his kinetic shooting style to action scenes, but screenwriter Paul W.S. Anderson (who wrote both previous films and directed the first one) eschews the non-stop action of the first two films for a slower paced story that places zombie fighter Alice in a post-apocalyptic, Road Warrior-esque setting. It's competent enough, but it lacks the pure adrenaline rush of the first two films.
Instead of building up to what should be a big climax, the final showdown between Alice and Dr. Isaacs seems perfunctory, and the convoy subplot is wrapped up in an unsatisfying fashion. There aren't nearly enough action scenes, but the ones it does have work well, with Alice having to fight hordes of zombies, zombie dogs, and even zombie crows this time. More action would have served the film better, though.
Cinematographer David Johnson (Resident Evil) and production designer Eugenio Caballero (Pan's Labyrinth) use the Mexican desert landscape to create a look very different from the usual urban or rural farmland settings of zombie films. Charlie Clouser (Death Sentence) provides an appropriate score for zombie killing mayhem, complemented by Collide's cover of "White Rabbit" over the end titles.
Jovovich continues to confidently portray the beautiful zombie killer Alice, nicely complemented here by Larter (Heroes) as the tough leader of the convoy. The rest of the cast is competent, including Fehr as ex-soldier Carlos, Glen as the corrupt scientist, Mike Epps as L.J. (another survivor from the previous film), Spencer Locke as a young woman who forms a friendship with Alice, and singer Ashanti as the convoy's nurse.
Resident Evil: Extinction feels like the filmmakers weren't really trying very hard to make an entertaining film and will leave fans of the franchise wanting much more than they actually get.
[2.5 out of 5 stars]
The latest entry in the film series based on the popular video games is a disappointment compared to its predecessors, with not nearly enough action to sustain itself.
Five years after the events of the first two films, the world is a wasteland overrun by zombies. Alice (Mila Jovovich) is now a nomad roaming the desert that used to be the western United States, until she comes across a convoy of survivors lead by her old friend Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter). Alice convinces them that the only safe place is Alaska and decides to help them get there, but she doesn't know that Umbrella Corporation scientist Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) is still alive and using all of his resources to find and capture her.
Director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) is at his best when he can apply his kinetic shooting style to action scenes, but screenwriter Paul W.S. Anderson (who wrote both previous films and directed the first one) eschews the non-stop action of the first two films for a slower paced story that places zombie fighter Alice in a post-apocalyptic, Road Warrior-esque setting. It's competent enough, but it lacks the pure adrenaline rush of the first two films.
Instead of building up to what should be a big climax, the final showdown between Alice and Dr. Isaacs seems perfunctory, and the convoy subplot is wrapped up in an unsatisfying fashion. There aren't nearly enough action scenes, but the ones it does have work well, with Alice having to fight hordes of zombies, zombie dogs, and even zombie crows this time. More action would have served the film better, though.
Cinematographer David Johnson (Resident Evil) and production designer Eugenio Caballero (Pan's Labyrinth) use the Mexican desert landscape to create a look very different from the usual urban or rural farmland settings of zombie films. Charlie Clouser (Death Sentence) provides an appropriate score for zombie killing mayhem, complemented by Collide's cover of "White Rabbit" over the end titles.
Jovovich continues to confidently portray the beautiful zombie killer Alice, nicely complemented here by Larter (Heroes) as the tough leader of the convoy. The rest of the cast is competent, including Fehr as ex-soldier Carlos, Glen as the corrupt scientist, Mike Epps as L.J. (another survivor from the previous film), Spencer Locke as a young woman who forms a friendship with Alice, and singer Ashanti as the convoy's nurse.
Resident Evil: Extinction feels like the filmmakers weren't really trying very hard to make an entertaining film and will leave fans of the franchise wanting much more than they actually get.
[2.5 out of 5 stars]
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Superbad
High school seniors Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are the best of friends, but they're not very successful with girls. When they're invited to the last party of the school year, they promise their respective crushes, Jules (Emma Stone) and Becca (Martha MacIsaac), that they'll supply all the alcohol necessary for the party. Their plan is that the young women will get drunk enough to actually sleep with them. Thus begins an epic quest by Seth and Evan to procure the alcohol with the help of their friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and his fake ID, all in the hope of finally getting laid before graduation.
The raunchy humor of Seth Rogen (the star of Knocked Up) and Evan Goldberg, both former staff writers for Da Ali G Show, isn't for the easily offended, but those who don't take offense will be rewarded with a good, sometimes uproarious comedy that just gets better as the situations become more complicated. The heart of the film is the genuine friendship between Seth and Evan (yes, the writers named the main characters after themselves), played out as a love story between two young heterosexual men. Underneath it all is a bittersweet recognition of the inevitability of change. While it does slow down a little toward the end, director Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers) generally keeps the antics going full steam ahead while taking an approach to the material that's more realistic than overly broad.
Russ T. Alsobrook (Reign Over Me) contributes solid cinematography using the Panavision Genesis digital video camera. Lyle Workman (The 40 Year Old Virgin) adds a funky score performed by a band led by Bootsy Collins, while music supervisor Jonathan Karp (Knocked Up) chooses an equally funky selection of songs.
Hill and Cera are spot on as the oafish Seth and the awkward Evan. Hill has the more difficult task of making an obnoxious character likeable, but he successfully navigates that tricky terrain. The nebbish Mintz-Plasse is a scene stealer as Fogell, whose acquisition of fake ID in the name of McLovin sets up so many of the film's comedic situations. Rogen and Bill Hader are hilarious as a pair of irresponsible police officers. Stone, MacIsaac, and Aviva Farber are quite good as the objects of Seth, Evan, and Fogell's lust, and their roles have more substance than the usual female characters in teenage sex comedies. Kevin Corrigan and David Krumholtz are funny in small roles as people at a party where Seth and Evan end up while hunting for alcohol.
Superbad may be rude and crude, but it's also genuinely funny and has something to say about friendship between young men. When it was over, my facial muscles hurt from grinning so often and so broadly, and can you really say anything better about a comedy than you'll smile and even laugh until it hurts?
[4 out of 5 stars]
Call this the summer of Judd Apatow. After writing and directing the hit comedy Knocked Up released earlier this summer, he returns as the producer of this hilarious if ribald film about friendship, horny teenage boys, and growing up.
High school seniors Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are the best of friends, but they're not very successful with girls. When they're invited to the last party of the school year, they promise their respective crushes, Jules (Emma Stone) and Becca (Martha MacIsaac), that they'll supply all the alcohol necessary for the party. Their plan is that the young women will get drunk enough to actually sleep with them. Thus begins an epic quest by Seth and Evan to procure the alcohol with the help of their friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and his fake ID, all in the hope of finally getting laid before graduation.
The raunchy humor of Seth Rogen (the star of Knocked Up) and Evan Goldberg, both former staff writers for Da Ali G Show, isn't for the easily offended, but those who don't take offense will be rewarded with a good, sometimes uproarious comedy that just gets better as the situations become more complicated. The heart of the film is the genuine friendship between Seth and Evan (yes, the writers named the main characters after themselves), played out as a love story between two young heterosexual men. Underneath it all is a bittersweet recognition of the inevitability of change. While it does slow down a little toward the end, director Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers) generally keeps the antics going full steam ahead while taking an approach to the material that's more realistic than overly broad.
Russ T. Alsobrook (Reign Over Me) contributes solid cinematography using the Panavision Genesis digital video camera. Lyle Workman (The 40 Year Old Virgin) adds a funky score performed by a band led by Bootsy Collins, while music supervisor Jonathan Karp (Knocked Up) chooses an equally funky selection of songs.
Hill and Cera are spot on as the oafish Seth and the awkward Evan. Hill has the more difficult task of making an obnoxious character likeable, but he successfully navigates that tricky terrain. The nebbish Mintz-Plasse is a scene stealer as Fogell, whose acquisition of fake ID in the name of McLovin sets up so many of the film's comedic situations. Rogen and Bill Hader are hilarious as a pair of irresponsible police officers. Stone, MacIsaac, and Aviva Farber are quite good as the objects of Seth, Evan, and Fogell's lust, and their roles have more substance than the usual female characters in teenage sex comedies. Kevin Corrigan and David Krumholtz are funny in small roles as people at a party where Seth and Evan end up while hunting for alcohol.
Superbad may be rude and crude, but it's also genuinely funny and has something to say about friendship between young men. When it was over, my facial muscles hurt from grinning so often and so broadly, and can you really say anything better about a comedy than you'll smile and even laugh until it hurts?
[4 out of 5 stars]
The Brave One
Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) are viciously attacked by thugs while walking through Central Park late at night. Erica survives, but David is killed. When Erica is released from the hospital, she illegally purchases a firearm for protection. After she witnesses a man murder his wife, she's forced to kill him in self-defense. Feeling strangely empowered by this act, she embarks on a career as a vigilante while also developing a friendship with Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard), who begins to suspect that she's responsible for the shooting deaths of several criminals.
Director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) has certainly made more meaningful films, but his career has always veered between personal films and more commercial Hollywood productions. In this case, Jordan seems unsure of whether he's making a film that explores the destructive nature of revenge or a film that revels in it, but it's as much a struggle between trying to be thoughtful about the subject matter and the film's commercial aspirations.
One thing can be said with certainty. Jordan successfully takes us into Erica's world and allows us to see through her eyes. When Erica finally leaves her apartment for the first time after returning from the hospital, she's consumed by anxiety and paranoia, and Jordan effectively induces a collective case of PTSD in the audience as well. While the violence isn't as gruesome as in other recent films, it's still sudden and lurid.
The screenplay by Roderick Taylor (American Outlaws), Bruce A. Taylor (Instant Karma), and Cynthia Mort (whose previous credits include writing episodes of television sitcoms Roseanne and Will & Grace) is essentially a distaff version of Death Wish, but it also has a level of characterization usually lacking in the genre. It vividly depicts how each act of violence committed by Erica slowly eats away at her. She's as permanently scarred by them as she is by the violence committed against her and her fiancé. Revenge is a nasty business and the film doesn't shy away from this. Sometimes, though, it wants us to cheer her on as she exorcizes her personal demons with a gun. It's both a cautionary tale and an exploitation film.
Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot (Interview with the Vampire, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) uses expressive lighting and a prowling camera to create a sense of paranoia that mirrors the main character's psychological state. The score by Dario Marianelli (The Brothers Grimm, V for Vendetta) adds to the dramatic tension.
Foster delivers an intense performance that transcends the exploitative aspects of the story. While she seems to only take on 'women in distress' roles at this point in her career, this film reminds you that she's a fine actress who can bring gravity and depth to her characters. Howard is compelling as a lonely but driven police detective who wants to believe that he'll always follow the law, but his friendship with a woman he has growing suspicions of begins to challenge that. Foster and Howard have good chemistry and it's refreshing to see a film where the opposite sex leads aren't required to be romantically linked.
Andrews takes time away from his role on television's Lost to play Erica's ill-fated fiancé, and he makes the most of his limited screen time. The rest of the cast is also solid, including Nicky Katt as Mercer's sarcastic partner, Mary Steenburgen as Erica's boss, Dana Eskelson as a police sketch artist, and John Magaro as a stoner who witnesses the precursor to one of Erica's attacks.
With the release of Death Sentence a few weeks ago, the revenge fantasy genre seems to be making a comeback. Both films have strong lead performances and are inclined to show the consequences of their protagonist's actions. The Brave One could have been better had it tried to be a serious drama or a revenge fantasy instead of both, but it's certainly satisfying enough on both levels.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
Can a revenge fantasy with Jodie Foster as a gun-wielding urban vigilante instead of Charles Bronson really work? The answer is yes.
Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) are viciously attacked by thugs while walking through Central Park late at night. Erica survives, but David is killed. When Erica is released from the hospital, she illegally purchases a firearm for protection. After she witnesses a man murder his wife, she's forced to kill him in self-defense. Feeling strangely empowered by this act, she embarks on a career as a vigilante while also developing a friendship with Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard), who begins to suspect that she's responsible for the shooting deaths of several criminals.
Director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) has certainly made more meaningful films, but his career has always veered between personal films and more commercial Hollywood productions. In this case, Jordan seems unsure of whether he's making a film that explores the destructive nature of revenge or a film that revels in it, but it's as much a struggle between trying to be thoughtful about the subject matter and the film's commercial aspirations.
One thing can be said with certainty. Jordan successfully takes us into Erica's world and allows us to see through her eyes. When Erica finally leaves her apartment for the first time after returning from the hospital, she's consumed by anxiety and paranoia, and Jordan effectively induces a collective case of PTSD in the audience as well. While the violence isn't as gruesome as in other recent films, it's still sudden and lurid.
The screenplay by Roderick Taylor (American Outlaws), Bruce A. Taylor (Instant Karma), and Cynthia Mort (whose previous credits include writing episodes of television sitcoms Roseanne and Will & Grace) is essentially a distaff version of Death Wish, but it also has a level of characterization usually lacking in the genre. It vividly depicts how each act of violence committed by Erica slowly eats away at her. She's as permanently scarred by them as she is by the violence committed against her and her fiancé. Revenge is a nasty business and the film doesn't shy away from this. Sometimes, though, it wants us to cheer her on as she exorcizes her personal demons with a gun. It's both a cautionary tale and an exploitation film.
Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot (Interview with the Vampire, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) uses expressive lighting and a prowling camera to create a sense of paranoia that mirrors the main character's psychological state. The score by Dario Marianelli (The Brothers Grimm, V for Vendetta) adds to the dramatic tension.
Foster delivers an intense performance that transcends the exploitative aspects of the story. While she seems to only take on 'women in distress' roles at this point in her career, this film reminds you that she's a fine actress who can bring gravity and depth to her characters. Howard is compelling as a lonely but driven police detective who wants to believe that he'll always follow the law, but his friendship with a woman he has growing suspicions of begins to challenge that. Foster and Howard have good chemistry and it's refreshing to see a film where the opposite sex leads aren't required to be romantically linked.
Andrews takes time away from his role on television's Lost to play Erica's ill-fated fiancé, and he makes the most of his limited screen time. The rest of the cast is also solid, including Nicky Katt as Mercer's sarcastic partner, Mary Steenburgen as Erica's boss, Dana Eskelson as a police sketch artist, and John Magaro as a stoner who witnesses the precursor to one of Erica's attacks.
With the release of Death Sentence a few weeks ago, the revenge fantasy genre seems to be making a comeback. Both films have strong lead performances and are inclined to show the consequences of their protagonist's actions. The Brave One could have been better had it tried to be a serious drama or a revenge fantasy instead of both, but it's certainly satisfying enough on both levels.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Shoot 'Em Up
Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) is minding his own business at a bus stop when he observes a pregnant woman being pursued by a man with a gun. Against his better judgment, he rescues the woman and helps her give birth. When more men with guns show up and start shooting at Smith, the woman is killed in the crossfire and he finds himself unable to abandon the baby. He approaches Donna (Monica Bellucci), a prostitute he knows who specializes in lactating fetishes, for help with the baby, but what they don't know yet is that the baby is the real target, and the charmingly sociopathic Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and his associates will stop at nothing to kill it.
Writer/director Michael Davis (100 Girls, Monster Man) delivers one high octane, physics defying, physically impossible action scene after another, while gleefully sending up the conventions of action films. If it's all just an excuse for an hour and a half of ultraviolet mayhem, well, I say bring it on. There's more twisted fun in any one scene of this film than should be legal. The action scenes are all imaginatively staged, including some of the most amazing shootouts ever put on screen (skydiving shootout, anyone?). Davis doesn't slow things down with extraneous backstory, and rather than being a weakness it actually allows him to create a more interesting protagonist, while the dialogue is peppered with campy one liners and some of the best lines are reserved for Hertz.
Cinematographer Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Woo's The Killer) gives the film a gritty look, but it's his background in Asian action films that allows him to do some crazy things with the camera to fully realize Davis' vision of a violent live action cartoon. Editor Peter Amundson (Blade II, Hellboy) keeps the pacing razor sharp from start to finish. Former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger (Underworld) adds music that perfectly underscores the film's mayhem, complemented by a hard rocking soundtrack with songs by AC/DC and Motley Crue among others.
Move over, James Bond, Mr. Smith is the new British man of action on the scene. No matter how absurd the action becomes, the always charismatic Owen plays things deadpan straight and oh so perfectly hard boiled. Giamatti is one of the best actors working in film today. Here he chews and chews and then chews some more scenery in an outrageous performance that's frankly as good as his more serious roles. This isn't a bad actor hamming it up, this is a great actor delivering a deliciously campy performance. Bellucci shines as the prostitute with a tragic past who finds herself in the middle of flying bullets while being expected to take care of someone else's baby.
Also good are Stephen McHattie as the owner of a gun manufacturing company, Daniel Pilon as a pro-gun control politician, Greg Bryk as a government agent, Julian Richings as Hertz's driver, Ramona Pringle as the baby's mother, and Laura DeCarteret as a woman at a museum who becomes part of a hilarious diversion created by Smith.
You want ultraviolent mayhem? Shoot 'Em Up delivers ultraviolent mayhem. And then some. Just when you think it's gone as far over the top as it can, it simply raises the bar for how over the top should be defined.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
If this extremely over the top action film was a person, I'd ask it to marry me. It's insanely brilliant in the same way that Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse was earlier this year, while also recalling the best films of John Woo or Takashi Miike with its sheer audacity.
Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) is minding his own business at a bus stop when he observes a pregnant woman being pursued by a man with a gun. Against his better judgment, he rescues the woman and helps her give birth. When more men with guns show up and start shooting at Smith, the woman is killed in the crossfire and he finds himself unable to abandon the baby. He approaches Donna (Monica Bellucci), a prostitute he knows who specializes in lactating fetishes, for help with the baby, but what they don't know yet is that the baby is the real target, and the charmingly sociopathic Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and his associates will stop at nothing to kill it.
Writer/director Michael Davis (100 Girls, Monster Man) delivers one high octane, physics defying, physically impossible action scene after another, while gleefully sending up the conventions of action films. If it's all just an excuse for an hour and a half of ultraviolet mayhem, well, I say bring it on. There's more twisted fun in any one scene of this film than should be legal. The action scenes are all imaginatively staged, including some of the most amazing shootouts ever put on screen (skydiving shootout, anyone?). Davis doesn't slow things down with extraneous backstory, and rather than being a weakness it actually allows him to create a more interesting protagonist, while the dialogue is peppered with campy one liners and some of the best lines are reserved for Hertz.
Cinematographer Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Woo's The Killer) gives the film a gritty look, but it's his background in Asian action films that allows him to do some crazy things with the camera to fully realize Davis' vision of a violent live action cartoon. Editor Peter Amundson (Blade II, Hellboy) keeps the pacing razor sharp from start to finish. Former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger (Underworld) adds music that perfectly underscores the film's mayhem, complemented by a hard rocking soundtrack with songs by AC/DC and Motley Crue among others.
Move over, James Bond, Mr. Smith is the new British man of action on the scene. No matter how absurd the action becomes, the always charismatic Owen plays things deadpan straight and oh so perfectly hard boiled. Giamatti is one of the best actors working in film today. Here he chews and chews and then chews some more scenery in an outrageous performance that's frankly as good as his more serious roles. This isn't a bad actor hamming it up, this is a great actor delivering a deliciously campy performance. Bellucci shines as the prostitute with a tragic past who finds herself in the middle of flying bullets while being expected to take care of someone else's baby.
Also good are Stephen McHattie as the owner of a gun manufacturing company, Daniel Pilon as a pro-gun control politician, Greg Bryk as a government agent, Julian Richings as Hertz's driver, Ramona Pringle as the baby's mother, and Laura DeCarteret as a woman at a museum who becomes part of a hilarious diversion created by Smith.
You want ultraviolent mayhem? Shoot 'Em Up delivers ultraviolent mayhem. And then some. Just when you think it's gone as far over the top as it can, it simply raises the bar for how over the top should be defined.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Balls of Fury
Ping pong wunderkind Randy Daytona (Brett DelBuono) competes for a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics, but loses in humiliating fashion to an arrogant East German player (Thomas Lennon). Worse, his father (Robert Patrick) bet heavily on him and is killed on the orders of crime lord Feng (Christopher Walken) when he can't pay his debt. Nineteen years later, the adult Randy (Dan Fogler) is a low-level Reno entertainer until FBI Agent Rodriguez (George Lopez) enlists him in a plan to get to Feng through his underground ping pong tournament.
Writer/director Robert Ben Garant and co-writer Thomas Lennon are two of the three creators of television's Reno 911!, a frequently hilarious parody of police reality shows, so it's a mystery to me how they could make a film so totally bereft of laughs. It's like they've never seen a comedy before and are just making their best guess about how to create one. Perhaps they were replaced by pod people. I don't know. I do know that this film is an abject failure as a comedy. It might have some future use as an instrument of torture, though. The only thing even mildly amusing is the entire cast singing along to Def Leppard during the end credits. And for a film about a ping pong tournament, the competition scenes are almost non-existent.
Tony Award-winner Fogler is likable as Tony, and there are times where you see what a funny guy he could be with the right material, but then the awfulness of the script buries him again. Walken can usually make a film, even a bad one, better simply by his presence, but not this time. Lopez is flat as the FBI agent with James Bond fantasies. DelBuono as the cocky younger Randy, Lennon as the German champion, and James Hong as Randy's trainer fare better despite the material they have to work with. Patrick's scenes are so few that you'll quickly forget he was even in it. Aisha Tyler is too good and too funny to be wasted on the role she has here. Maggie Q is supposed to be the eye candy love interest for the hero, but the poor girl looks so skinny here that I just wanted to offer her some food. Masi Oka of Heroes has a blink and you'll miss it cameo.
How bad is Balls of Fury? There are more laughs to be found in an Ingmar Bergman drama. Dumb comedies can be entertaining. Unfunny ones...well, not so much. Stay far, far away from this one.
[1 out of 5 stars]
I wanted to like it. The trailers suggested it would be a dumb but hilarious parody of martial arts tournament films (Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon in particular). Dumb but hilarious generally works for me. Instead, it's one of the most painfully unfunny films in recent memory.
Ping pong wunderkind Randy Daytona (Brett DelBuono) competes for a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics, but loses in humiliating fashion to an arrogant East German player (Thomas Lennon). Worse, his father (Robert Patrick) bet heavily on him and is killed on the orders of crime lord Feng (Christopher Walken) when he can't pay his debt. Nineteen years later, the adult Randy (Dan Fogler) is a low-level Reno entertainer until FBI Agent Rodriguez (George Lopez) enlists him in a plan to get to Feng through his underground ping pong tournament.
Writer/director Robert Ben Garant and co-writer Thomas Lennon are two of the three creators of television's Reno 911!, a frequently hilarious parody of police reality shows, so it's a mystery to me how they could make a film so totally bereft of laughs. It's like they've never seen a comedy before and are just making their best guess about how to create one. Perhaps they were replaced by pod people. I don't know. I do know that this film is an abject failure as a comedy. It might have some future use as an instrument of torture, though. The only thing even mildly amusing is the entire cast singing along to Def Leppard during the end credits. And for a film about a ping pong tournament, the competition scenes are almost non-existent.
Tony Award-winner Fogler is likable as Tony, and there are times where you see what a funny guy he could be with the right material, but then the awfulness of the script buries him again. Walken can usually make a film, even a bad one, better simply by his presence, but not this time. Lopez is flat as the FBI agent with James Bond fantasies. DelBuono as the cocky younger Randy, Lennon as the German champion, and James Hong as Randy's trainer fare better despite the material they have to work with. Patrick's scenes are so few that you'll quickly forget he was even in it. Aisha Tyler is too good and too funny to be wasted on the role she has here. Maggie Q is supposed to be the eye candy love interest for the hero, but the poor girl looks so skinny here that I just wanted to offer her some food. Masi Oka of Heroes has a blink and you'll miss it cameo.
How bad is Balls of Fury? There are more laughs to be found in an Ingmar Bergman drama. Dumb comedies can be entertaining. Unfunny ones...well, not so much. Stay far, far away from this one.
[1 out of 5 stars]
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
The Simpsons Movie
Homer Simpson (voice of Dan Castellaneta) causes a massive environmental disaster in Springfield and must find a way to redeem himself. That's all of the plot I care to divulge because to say more would spoil some good gags.
There are eleven writers credited, including Simpsons creator Matt Groening, yet the film has a cohesive storyline and consistently funny jokes. Although the momentum sags a little toward the end, for the most part it feels like it's right where it belongs on the big screen rather than like a long television episode. If it isn't quite as good or as bitingly satirical as the show's greatest years, it's still much funnier and irreverent than the broadcast version has been in a long time.
Director David Silverman has worked in various capacities on the television show since it debuted in 1989, so his familiarity with the characters allows for a smooth transition to the cinema screen, and it's even in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to make it more visually expansive than on the small screen (the wider image is used as part of a gag). The animation is also far more detailed and colorful than ever before. Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) contributes a fun score that also manages to sound epic at times, while finding ways to use Danny Elfman's famous Simpsons theme. Green Day also contributes their own version of Elfman's theme.
Castellaneta, Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Harry Shearer (Ned Flanders), and Hank Azaria (Chief Wiggum) could effectively voice their characters (and also the secondary ones they perform) in their sleep at this point, but they seem especially inspired by the good script here. Kavner in particular has one scene that may be her best ever as Marge. Among the guest stars, Albert Brooks is spot on as the power mad head of the EPA while Tom Hanks has a funny cameo as himself.
If you're a Simpsons fan who's been disappointed by recent seasons, then The Simpsons Movie will renew your faith in Groening and the funniest dysfunctional family in Springfield, _____.
[4 out of 5 stars]
For far too many seasons, The Simpsons television show has been in decline and not living up to its own legacy. Apparently the creative staff were just saving all of their good ideas for a movie.
Homer Simpson (voice of Dan Castellaneta) causes a massive environmental disaster in Springfield and must find a way to redeem himself. That's all of the plot I care to divulge because to say more would spoil some good gags.
There are eleven writers credited, including Simpsons creator Matt Groening, yet the film has a cohesive storyline and consistently funny jokes. Although the momentum sags a little toward the end, for the most part it feels like it's right where it belongs on the big screen rather than like a long television episode. If it isn't quite as good or as bitingly satirical as the show's greatest years, it's still much funnier and irreverent than the broadcast version has been in a long time.
Director David Silverman has worked in various capacities on the television show since it debuted in 1989, so his familiarity with the characters allows for a smooth transition to the cinema screen, and it's even in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to make it more visually expansive than on the small screen (the wider image is used as part of a gag). The animation is also far more detailed and colorful than ever before. Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) contributes a fun score that also manages to sound epic at times, while finding ways to use Danny Elfman's famous Simpsons theme. Green Day also contributes their own version of Elfman's theme.
Castellaneta, Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Harry Shearer (Ned Flanders), and Hank Azaria (Chief Wiggum) could effectively voice their characters (and also the secondary ones they perform) in their sleep at this point, but they seem especially inspired by the good script here. Kavner in particular has one scene that may be her best ever as Marge. Among the guest stars, Albert Brooks is spot on as the power mad head of the EPA while Tom Hanks has a funny cameo as himself.
If you're a Simpsons fan who's been disappointed by recent seasons, then The Simpsons Movie will renew your faith in Groening and the funniest dysfunctional family in Springfield, _____.
[4 out of 5 stars]
Monday, September 03, 2007
Death Sentence
Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a successful businessman who seemingly has it all, including a loving wife (Kelly Preston), a hockey star son (Stuart Lafferty), and a younger son (Jordan Garrett). Returning home from a hockey game one night, Nick and his eldest son stop for gas at a convenience store in a bad part of town. Their timing couldn't be worse, as a gang of men suddenly rob the store and kill Nick's son while he watches helplessly. When Nick learns that the killer Joe Darley (Matt O'Leary) will only get a short prison sentence, he recants his testimony so Joe will be released, allowing him to take personal revenge on his son's killer. The only problem is, the Joe's brother Billy (Garrett Hedlund) is the leader of the gang, and now he wants revenge on his brother's killer. Nick finds himself in a war of attrition that has tragic consequences.
Director James Wan (Saw, Dead Silence) delivers a polished and relentless revenge thriller with good action choreography. As familiar as the premise may be, it still makes for surprisingly gripping viewing. It's made with conviction and there's nothing extraneous to slow it down. Loosely based on a novel by Brian Garfield that was a sequel to Death Wish, the screenplay by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers reworks the characters and plot to make it a separate entity. Wan and Jeffers are aware of all the usual tropes of the genre and use them to maximum effect here. Yes, those tropes strain credulity at times, but done right they can still work, as they do here. It's a brutal film, but it also has a necessary sense of irony about the evolution of the protagonist from family man to grim avenger that's so often missing from similar films. The final scene between Nick and Billy brings that full circle.
Cinematographer John R. Leonetti (The Mask, Dead Silence) gives the film an appropriately dark and gritty look, while production designer Julie Berghoff (Saw, Dead Silence) visually balances safe suburbia and a scary urban environment. The score by Charlie Clouser (Saw, television's Numb3rs) adds to the film's tension.
Bacon plays the role of Nick with conviction, and his performance adds some emotional heft to the story. He makes you feel both his character's desperation and his internal conflicts as he begins his mission of vengeance. Aisha Tyler has a strong turn as a police detective who suspects that Nick has turned vigilante. John Goodman manages to be both menacing and funny while he chews the scenery as a local crime boss. Preston, Lafferty, and Garrett are believable as Nick's family. The antagonists are the usual one dimensional thugs common to the genre, but Hedlund is convincing as Billy and the other actors are adequate.
Death Sentence is a B-movie in the very best sense of the word. It may be exploitation fodder, but it also delivers thrills and entertainment value. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but if it's yours, it's definitely worth seeing.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
This descendant of Death Wish is quite an effective thriller thanks to solid direction and a good performance from its star.
Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a successful businessman who seemingly has it all, including a loving wife (Kelly Preston), a hockey star son (Stuart Lafferty), and a younger son (Jordan Garrett). Returning home from a hockey game one night, Nick and his eldest son stop for gas at a convenience store in a bad part of town. Their timing couldn't be worse, as a gang of men suddenly rob the store and kill Nick's son while he watches helplessly. When Nick learns that the killer Joe Darley (Matt O'Leary) will only get a short prison sentence, he recants his testimony so Joe will be released, allowing him to take personal revenge on his son's killer. The only problem is, the Joe's brother Billy (Garrett Hedlund) is the leader of the gang, and now he wants revenge on his brother's killer. Nick finds himself in a war of attrition that has tragic consequences.
Director James Wan (Saw, Dead Silence) delivers a polished and relentless revenge thriller with good action choreography. As familiar as the premise may be, it still makes for surprisingly gripping viewing. It's made with conviction and there's nothing extraneous to slow it down. Loosely based on a novel by Brian Garfield that was a sequel to Death Wish, the screenplay by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers reworks the characters and plot to make it a separate entity. Wan and Jeffers are aware of all the usual tropes of the genre and use them to maximum effect here. Yes, those tropes strain credulity at times, but done right they can still work, as they do here. It's a brutal film, but it also has a necessary sense of irony about the evolution of the protagonist from family man to grim avenger that's so often missing from similar films. The final scene between Nick and Billy brings that full circle.
Cinematographer John R. Leonetti (The Mask, Dead Silence) gives the film an appropriately dark and gritty look, while production designer Julie Berghoff (Saw, Dead Silence) visually balances safe suburbia and a scary urban environment. The score by Charlie Clouser (Saw, television's Numb3rs) adds to the film's tension.
Bacon plays the role of Nick with conviction, and his performance adds some emotional heft to the story. He makes you feel both his character's desperation and his internal conflicts as he begins his mission of vengeance. Aisha Tyler has a strong turn as a police detective who suspects that Nick has turned vigilante. John Goodman manages to be both menacing and funny while he chews the scenery as a local crime boss. Preston, Lafferty, and Garrett are believable as Nick's family. The antagonists are the usual one dimensional thugs common to the genre, but Hedlund is convincing as Billy and the other actors are adequate.
Death Sentence is a B-movie in the very best sense of the word. It may be exploitation fodder, but it also delivers thrills and entertainment value. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but if it's yours, it's definitely worth seeing.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
Sunday, September 02, 2007
The Lookout
Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a talented hockey player who causes a car accident that claims the lives of two friends, maims his girlfriend, and leaves him brain damaged. Four years later, he lives with a blind roommate named Lewis (Jeff Daniels) and works as a janitor in a bank, struggling to rebuild his life. Still cognitively impaired, he becomes an easy mark for ex-con Gary (Matthew Goode) and beautiful ex-stripper Luvlee (Isla Fisher) in the former's plan to rob the bank Chris works in.
Screenwriter Scott Frank (Dead Again, Minority Report) makes his directorial debut with a good film that favors character and dialogue over action. While in some ways it's predictable, the pleasure of watching it comes from well-conceived characters and a slow building of suspense to pull the viewer into the story. Frank makes us care about what happens to Chris, and this is the hook that everything else is built around. The voice over narration at first seems repetitive of what we're seeing on screen, but it quickly becomes apparent that it shows how Chris tries to function with a disability and becomes very important to the story's resolution.
Cinematographer Alar Kivilo (A Simple Plan, The Ice Harvest) gives the film a moody, low key look that subtly suggests film noir without any stylistic excesses, which complements the simple but expressive sets of production designer David Brisbin (After Dark, My Sweet). The score by James Newton Howard (Lady in the Water) nicely matches the tone of the film.
As he was in Brick, Gordon-Levitt is compelling as a young man caught up in a web of danger. His character's frustration over his limitations is palpable, but he never overplays it. He's best known from the television sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, but he's developed into quite a good dramatic actor. Daniels is almost unrecognizable as Lewis, but his performance as Chris' only friend feels genuine. Goode is, well, good as the manipulative Gary, and plays him in a way that makes it plausible that Chris would buy into his plan. Fisher is believable as she uses her physical charms to ensnare Chris while seemingly developing real feelings for him. Greg Dunham is intimidating as Gary's henchman, Bone. Also good in small roles are Carla Gugino as Chris' caseworker, Bruce McGill as his father, Alberta Watson as his mother, and Sergio Di Zio as a friendly policeman.
If you're searching for a suspenseful film with good performances, The Lookout should satisfy you. It's one of those films that seems to get overlooked when it's released, but don't let that stop you from seeing it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is really good.
[4 out of 5 stars]
Although it failed to make its mark at the box office, this understated thriller with a strong cast is worthy of a look on video.
Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a talented hockey player who causes a car accident that claims the lives of two friends, maims his girlfriend, and leaves him brain damaged. Four years later, he lives with a blind roommate named Lewis (Jeff Daniels) and works as a janitor in a bank, struggling to rebuild his life. Still cognitively impaired, he becomes an easy mark for ex-con Gary (Matthew Goode) and beautiful ex-stripper Luvlee (Isla Fisher) in the former's plan to rob the bank Chris works in.
Screenwriter Scott Frank (Dead Again, Minority Report) makes his directorial debut with a good film that favors character and dialogue over action. While in some ways it's predictable, the pleasure of watching it comes from well-conceived characters and a slow building of suspense to pull the viewer into the story. Frank makes us care about what happens to Chris, and this is the hook that everything else is built around. The voice over narration at first seems repetitive of what we're seeing on screen, but it quickly becomes apparent that it shows how Chris tries to function with a disability and becomes very important to the story's resolution.
Cinematographer Alar Kivilo (A Simple Plan, The Ice Harvest) gives the film a moody, low key look that subtly suggests film noir without any stylistic excesses, which complements the simple but expressive sets of production designer David Brisbin (After Dark, My Sweet). The score by James Newton Howard (Lady in the Water) nicely matches the tone of the film.
As he was in Brick, Gordon-Levitt is compelling as a young man caught up in a web of danger. His character's frustration over his limitations is palpable, but he never overplays it. He's best known from the television sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, but he's developed into quite a good dramatic actor. Daniels is almost unrecognizable as Lewis, but his performance as Chris' only friend feels genuine. Goode is, well, good as the manipulative Gary, and plays him in a way that makes it plausible that Chris would buy into his plan. Fisher is believable as she uses her physical charms to ensnare Chris while seemingly developing real feelings for him. Greg Dunham is intimidating as Gary's henchman, Bone. Also good in small roles are Carla Gugino as Chris' caseworker, Bruce McGill as his father, Alberta Watson as his mother, and Sergio Di Zio as a friendly policeman.
If you're searching for a suspenseful film with good performances, The Lookout should satisfy you. It's one of those films that seems to get overlooked when it's released, but don't let that stop you from seeing it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is really good.
[4 out of 5 stars]
Halloween
After ten tear old Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) kills most of his family on Halloween, he's institutionalized under the care of Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). Fifteen years later, the adult Michael (Tyler Mane) escapes and returns to his hometown on another Halloween to find his only surviving relative, his now teenaged sister Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton).
Writer/director Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects) doesn't simply take the original film written by Carpenter and Debra Hill and remake it, he expands on it while undeniably making his own film (which was exactly what Carpenter advised him to do after Zombie sought his blessing). It's full of his characteristic dark humor and colorful dialogue, but it also takes the central figure of Michael Myers and provides him with a stronger backstory that makes him seem more frightening than ever. Zombie imbues his version with a manic intensity that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
Some have raised the question of whether a remake was necessary. Well, this isn't a pointless remake like Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho or an inferior piece of work like so many other remakes. It stands alongside the original Halloween as an equal. If there can be numerous reinterpretations of Hamlet, is it any less legitimate to reinterpret Halloween? I would argue that a remake should be judged on its own merits and not condemned simply for being a remake.
This is Zombie's first feature film to be shot with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio (the same as the old CinemaScope or Panavision processes), which is also how the original was filmed, yet his framing feels as tight and in-your-face as in his previous efforts. Cinematographer Phil Parmet (The Devil's Rejects) creates a textured visual look with low-key, harder lighting sources, while also subtly distinguishing between the different time periods of the story. Tyler Bates (The Devil's Rejects) contributes an archetypal horror score, and finds several ways to fit Carpenter's famous theme from the original film into it. Zombie also serves as music supervisor, and the on-screen mayhem is set to a soundtrack which includes KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, Peter Frampton, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, and most appropriately, the Misfits (with the Danzig era song, "Halloween II").
The role of Michael Myers isn't one that requires a great actor inside the mask. Like David Prowse as Darth Vader, it requires a menacing physical presence, and the six-foot-eight former wrestler Mane provides exactly that. Faerch is truly disturbing as a child psychopath on the rampage, and that also bleeds through to how one perceives Michael as an adult. McDowell's steady acting aptly portrays Loomis as a lonely man whose closest human relationship over the years may just be with a monster while also using that relationship to become a successful author. Taylor-Compton is likable as Laurie and believably transitions to terrified prey later in the film.
Zombie fills the screen with familiar faces in smaller roles, including Sheri Moon Zombie as Michael's mother, William Forsythe as her abusive boyfriend, Sid Haig as a cemetery caretaker, Sybil Danning as a nurse, Udo Kier as the head of the asylum, Brad Dourif as the sheriff, Dee Wallace-Stone as Laurie's adoptive mother, Clint Howard as a doctor at the asylum, Ken Foree as a truck driver, Bill Moseley as a security guard, and Danny Trejo as another guard who tries to befriend Michael.
The reimagined Halloween takes the tired slasher genre and reinvigorates it. Rob Zombie is a craftsman who brings his own unique vision of horror to the story of Michael Myers, and it's easily the best American horror film I've seen since Zombie's 2005 endeavor, The Devil's Rejects. This is a must-see for all horror fans.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
It's not often that one can say that a remake is not only good in its own right, but also strikingly successful. This reimagining of director John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic is one of those rare times where it's true.
After ten tear old Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) kills most of his family on Halloween, he's institutionalized under the care of Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). Fifteen years later, the adult Michael (Tyler Mane) escapes and returns to his hometown on another Halloween to find his only surviving relative, his now teenaged sister Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton).
Writer/director Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects) doesn't simply take the original film written by Carpenter and Debra Hill and remake it, he expands on it while undeniably making his own film (which was exactly what Carpenter advised him to do after Zombie sought his blessing). It's full of his characteristic dark humor and colorful dialogue, but it also takes the central figure of Michael Myers and provides him with a stronger backstory that makes him seem more frightening than ever. Zombie imbues his version with a manic intensity that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
Some have raised the question of whether a remake was necessary. Well, this isn't a pointless remake like Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho or an inferior piece of work like so many other remakes. It stands alongside the original Halloween as an equal. If there can be numerous reinterpretations of Hamlet, is it any less legitimate to reinterpret Halloween? I would argue that a remake should be judged on its own merits and not condemned simply for being a remake.
This is Zombie's first feature film to be shot with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio (the same as the old CinemaScope or Panavision processes), which is also how the original was filmed, yet his framing feels as tight and in-your-face as in his previous efforts. Cinematographer Phil Parmet (The Devil's Rejects) creates a textured visual look with low-key, harder lighting sources, while also subtly distinguishing between the different time periods of the story. Tyler Bates (The Devil's Rejects) contributes an archetypal horror score, and finds several ways to fit Carpenter's famous theme from the original film into it. Zombie also serves as music supervisor, and the on-screen mayhem is set to a soundtrack which includes KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, Peter Frampton, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, and most appropriately, the Misfits (with the Danzig era song, "Halloween II").
The role of Michael Myers isn't one that requires a great actor inside the mask. Like David Prowse as Darth Vader, it requires a menacing physical presence, and the six-foot-eight former wrestler Mane provides exactly that. Faerch is truly disturbing as a child psychopath on the rampage, and that also bleeds through to how one perceives Michael as an adult. McDowell's steady acting aptly portrays Loomis as a lonely man whose closest human relationship over the years may just be with a monster while also using that relationship to become a successful author. Taylor-Compton is likable as Laurie and believably transitions to terrified prey later in the film.
Zombie fills the screen with familiar faces in smaller roles, including Sheri Moon Zombie as Michael's mother, William Forsythe as her abusive boyfriend, Sid Haig as a cemetery caretaker, Sybil Danning as a nurse, Udo Kier as the head of the asylum, Brad Dourif as the sheriff, Dee Wallace-Stone as Laurie's adoptive mother, Clint Howard as a doctor at the asylum, Ken Foree as a truck driver, Bill Moseley as a security guard, and Danny Trejo as another guard who tries to befriend Michael.
The reimagined Halloween takes the tired slasher genre and reinvigorates it. Rob Zombie is a craftsman who brings his own unique vision of horror to the story of Michael Myers, and it's easily the best American horror film I've seen since Zombie's 2005 endeavor, The Devil's Rejects. This is a must-see for all horror fans.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
