The main thing is I just feel kind of bored by all these big, bloated action/morality tales. Not that they're anything new, but I feel like they've never been so... pervasive. And a fundamental problem with virtually every superhero movie is that it's rarely about the superhero, or even the movie: in one way or another, movies like these are products. Big, expensive, flashy products, designed solely so you will buy something. Tickets, at least, but the kids will want the toys; car companies are jumping on board; there will be the happy meal. Like any product, some franchise films are better than others, but after so many... I don't know how to describe it. My soul just feels drained.
Additionally, there is virtually no suspense in these movies. They can be exciting, thrilling, funny - great genre films hit all sorts of emotional tones - but no single franchise movie will ever endanger itself. That's the part about The Dark Knight Rises that I'm not looking forward too - we know that no matter how hard things may get for Batman, no matter how dire things may seem, he will emerge victorious. If the hero can never be put in danger - and I mean real/life-or-death danger - then there's always this feeling at the back of your mind, that you're watching a movie. (Consequently, this is what makes the work of someone like Guillermo del Toro so exciting - you never know what's going to happen.)
I realize I'm to blame. I bought the tickets, and for the most part we enjoyed the fruits of Hollywood's mechanistic labor. The point I'm trying to make is that after a while, you just need to stop and be a little more selective in your intake. Find something a little more unusual - something you may not even like - just to have something different. It's like food. Burgers and fries will get the job done, certainly nothing wrong with it, but when that's all you have, you start to feel... well, kind of gross. Even if you have a really great burger every once in a while, most of them are just so-so, and you kind of owe it to yourself to take a break.
So that's what I'm doing. After this, a little "burger break," if you will. Time to see what else is out there.
(dir. Marc Webb)
The latest installment in the Spider-Man franchise is a better movie than perhaps all of its predecessors, it just happens to be completely unnecessary. After shattering box office records ten years ago, and then shattering them again with sequels, and then ending on a universally-agreed bad note, it seemed Spider-Man was done with the cinema... Not so. Someone thought that five years later would be a good time to essentially "do-over" the series. This time around, Peter Parker isn't the broad geek played by Tobey Maguire - he's angsty, he rides a skateboard, he argues with people, he researches cross-species genetics in his spare time... He's still a nerd, but a nerd with an edge, played quite convincingly by Andrew Garfield, despite the fact that Garfield could never pass for a high school student (why not do the logical thing and just make Peter Parker a college student?). Emma Stone likewise does a nice job, bringing moxie and humor to her role as love interest, a welcome change from the doe-eyed damsel played by Kirsten Dunst...
One of the big problems this time is the villain, played by Rhys Ifans. He starts off well, bringing subtlety, guilt, and internal conflict to his role, but once he "becomes" the Lizard, he's just boring. And that's the biggest problem with the movie. The first half is really quite spectacular: it fully captures the innocence and even some of the campiness of the Spider-Man comics, while still establishing its characters and their motivations. Martin Sheen does a great job as Uncle Ben because he has a purpose beyond just a plot device (though he is eventually boxed into that role). It's funny, it's interesting, it's dramatic, but gradually all of that slips away. Even during Peter's initial reactions to his superpowers and his self-made "training," the film still remains strong. It's when the Lizard shows up that everything goes on autopilot, and it feels like the rug was pulled out beneath you. His motivation is weak, and even Peter's motivation for stopping him is fairly weak. The action scenes, the climax, and the ending are all fine and hit the right notes, but they're so by the book that they lack the freshness of the first hour. (Also, sidenote: I understand his increased strength, reaction speed, all that, but one tiny issue I've always had with Spider-Man is his world-class gymnastic ability. Just doesn't make sense to me. Looks cool, yes, but it's too much of a stretch for my mind.)
The Dark Knight Rises - 3/5
(dir. Christopher Nolan)
I have to admit, I'm a bit of a Nolan apologist. Meaning, the man has his problems, and I will grant you that. While his budgets have ballooned immensely, he has not really grown as a filmmaker. Virtually every story is told in the same way (ie, lots of cross-cutting, an overabundance of medium shots despite the widescreen format, near incessant exposition); he still can't really shoot an action scene despite several attempts; and the sound mix has a bad habit of coming out of balance... But the man has gumption, and he has ambition in spades. He's clever (too clever?), he has a penchant for high-brow, original concepts, and he always manages to structure and pace his stories very well. Nolan's making high-quality entertainment; and while there's nothing wrong with that, he's yet to make a great movie.
So, how is his latest, The Dark Knight Rises? From a cinematic perspective, with everything that happened in Aurora, the movie itself kind of got lost (and rightfully so in comparison)... That said, though, we're not going to get into the shooting (not now anyway, maybe a gun control post one day?), and we're going to focus strictly on the movie... It's pretty good. I have to say, I was kind of let down. Just a little. But then, it's also better than I expected. I'm not a comic book reader, but I thought the casting of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman was a terrible idea; likewise Tom Hardy as Bane (also, there is not enough of a dynamic between Bane and Batman for a movie). Surprisingly, Anne Hathaway is actually quite good in the role. Her "sexiness" is more campy than alluring, but she manages to imbue the character with more humanity than the script demands. Hardy is decent, there's just not enough to Bane for him to be as compelling as, say, Joker, or Ra's al Ghul... at least, not enough to him for a movie in which he's a supporting character.
The rest of the cast is good as always (Gordon-Levitt in particular does a nice job), it's just the structure and script that leave you wanting. Nolan has gotten a tad bit better with his writing - ie, he's still over-explaining things, just not the whole time - but he's not a good enough action director to make the knock-down/drag-out fights visually exciting. Example: there's a lengthy brawl between Bane and Batman early in the movie in which Batman quickly realizes he's underestimated Bane's strength. I like that the sound is dropped out, reduced simply to these two talking and hitting one another, but visually it's a dull scene to watch. The two are literally walking around, punching each other... I'm not saying we needed some Paul Greengrass/Bourne-style frenetic cutting, but Nolan should realize that he needs better choreography if he's going to use these lengthy static shots. The fight scenes aren't all like this, but that's just an example of what I'm talking about: it should be epic, scary, intense, maybe even visually exhausting; instead it just kind of ambles along.
Overall, I liked it. The story is interesting, there's a nice twist I wasn't expecting but still works, and the conclusion is excellent. The movie ends in probably the best way possible - venerating this cultural icon while still celebrating his humanity, leaving open possibilities for the future, and definitively ending Batman's story. I just wish it was a more exciting film to watch viscerally.
No comments:
Post a Comment