Review: "GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS" Does Too Much

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 of 2024 (No. 1959) by Leroy Douresseaux

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Running time: 132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for sequences of monster action violence and destruction, and for some language

DIRECTOR:  Michael Dougherty

WRITERS:  Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields; from a story by Max Borenstein and Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields (based on characters owned by Toho Co., Ltd.)

PRODUCERS:  Jon Jashni, Alex Garcia, Mary Parent, Brian Rogers, and Thomas Tull

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Lawrence Sher (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Bob Ducsay, Roger Barton, and Richard Pearson

COMPOSER:  Bear McCreary

SCI-FI/ACTION/MILITARY

Starring:  Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O'Shea Jackson, Jr., David Strathairn, Anthony Ramos, Elizabeth Faith Ludlow, CCH Pounder, and Joe Morton

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a 2019 monster movie and action film directed by Michael Dougherty.  Produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, this film is the third entry in the “MonsterVerse” film series, which began with Godzilla (2014).  Godzilla: King of the Monsters pits the monster-monitoring agency, Monarch, against a legendary monster, and the only hope for the world is the missing Godzilla.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters opens five years after the events depicted in Godzilla (2014).  The world is now aware of the existence of giant monsters called “Titans.”  Monarch is the U.S. government agency that monitors and studies the Titans (which it once called “MUTOs” or “massive unidentified terrestrial organisms).  It has bases (bunkers) around the world where its scientists struggle to find a way in which humanity and the Titans can share the planet.

In a bunker located in the Rainforest of Xishuangbanna in China's Yunnan Province, Monarch scientist Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) has developed a device, called “ORCA,” that can emit frequencies that can attract Titans or alter their behavior.  However, her research has attracted the attention of Alan Jonah (Charles Dance), a former British military officer turned eco-terrorist, who wants control of ORCA.  He kidnaps Emma and her daughter, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown).

Monarch scientists, Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins), approach Emma's estranged husband and Madison's father, Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler), to help track down Emma, Jonah, and ORCA.  However, Jonah has already forced Emma to use ORCA to awaken the legendary “Monster Zero,” the three-headed dragon known as King Ghidorah.  Now, Serizawa must convince the U.S. government and military that the only Titan capable of stopping Ghidorah is “Gojira,” a.k.a. “Godzilla.”  But where is Godzilla?  Also, where do newly awakened Titans, “Mothra” and “Rodan,” stand in this battle royale of monsters?

The “MonsterVerse” is an American multimedia franchise that includes movies; a streaming live-action television series (Apple TV+) and a streaming animated series (Netflix); books and comic books; and video games.  It is a shared fictional universe that includes the character, “Godzilla” and other characters owned and created by the Japanese entertainment company, Toho Co., Ltd.  The MonsterVerse is a reboot of Toho's Godzilla franchise.  It is also a reboot of the King Kong franchise, which is based on the character, “King Kong,” that was created by actor and filmmaker, Merian C. Cooper (1893-1973).

The fifth film in the MonsterVerse series, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, is due to be released sometime in March 2023, so I have decided to watch and review the previous four films:  Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters (which is the subject of this review), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the ultimate giant monster smack-down.  With the wizardry of digital VFX and supernatural CGI, King of the Monsters is a monster mash infused with visual splendor.  This movie is non-stop action, practically from the start.  It is so much an action movie that if you could cut it, King of the Monsters would bleed fire and brimstone.  To add the craziness, each new monster reveal is mind-blowing and even mind-bending...

...but after about 75 minutes, Godzilla: King of the Monsters wore me down.  The writers and actors have fashioned a cast that has almost twenty characters with dramatic potential.  The Russell family subplot about the loss the son, Andrew, is only used to sell dysfunctional family contrivances, which is a shame.  The monster movie theatrics get bigger and bigger with each minute of this story, but the drama and story shrink with each minute until they are flimsy like wet toilet paper.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is as exciting as any other blockbuster.  Few, if any, monster movies will ever be as epic as it is when it comes to big monster fights.  Few monster movies will ever be as gorgeous as it is in terms of cinematography, special effects, production values, and visuals.  This is “cinema of sensations” writ large and out of control, and that's a shame.  Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a monster of a movie, but I wish its human element was just as awesome.

[This film has one scene after the end credits.]

B

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, March 21, 2024

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Review: "KONG: SKULL ISLAND" is a Monster Movie Paradise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 of 2024 (No. 1958) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for brief strong language

DIRECTOR:  Jordan Vogt-Roberts

WRITERS:  Max Borenstein, Dan Gilroy, and Derek Connolly; from a story by John Gatins

PRODUCERS:  Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, Thomas Tull, and Alex Garcia

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Larry Fong (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Richard Pearson

COMPOSER:  Henry Jackman

Academy Award nominee

ADVENTURE/HISTORICAL/HORROR and MILITARY/SCI-FI

Starring:  Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, John Ortiz, Tian Jing, Toby Kebbell, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Eugene Cordero, Marc Evan Jackson, Terry Notary, and Richard Jenkins

Kong: Skull Island is a 2017 monster movie, sci-fi military, and period, adventure film directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts.  It is a reboot of the King Kong film franchise and is also the second film in the “MonsterVerse” film series following 2014's Godzilla.  Set at the end of the Vietnam war, Kong: Skull Island focuses on a group of military personnel and civilian scientists who must fight to escape an uncharted island full of giant monsters that includes the island's king, the mighty Kong.

Kong: Skull Island introduces Bill Randa (John Goodman), the head of the U.S. government organization, “Monarch.”  It is 1973, and the U.S. is ending its mission in Vietnam.  Randa fears his time is running out to launch a mission to a recently discovered island that has long been shrouded in mystery and legend, “Skull Island.”

He convinces a U.S. senator to fund an expedition to the island, and subsequently recruits a U.S. Army unit commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) to accompany him.  Also on the mission are recent Monarch recruits, geologist Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) and biologist San Lin (Tian Jing).  Randa also hires James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), a former British Special Air Service Captain, as a hunter-tracker for this expedition.  Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), an “anti-war” photographer, forces her way onto the expedition.

The expedition begins with thirteen U.S. army helicopters penetrating the fearsome storms that surround Skull Island.  Randa and Brooks told Packard that they wanted to map the island by dropping seismic explosives, and shortly after arriving on the island, Packard's men begin dropping the explosives, which does help to map the island.  The explosions also draw the attention of a giant ape, which promptly attacks the helicopters.  Soon, the expedition is divided into two groups of survivors.  One is led by Packard who wants revenge against the giant ape, and the other by Conrad who wants to reach a rendezvous point where they will be rescued.  The giant ape, however, is “Kong,” king of Skull Island, and he isn't the only deadly, giant monster on the island.

The “MonsterVerse” is an American multimedia franchise that includes movies; a streaming live-action television series (Apple TV+) and a streaming animated series (Netflix); books and comic books; and video games.  It is a shared fictional universe that includes the character, “Godzilla” and other characters owned and created by the Japanese entertainment company, Toho Co., Ltd.  The MonsterVerse is a reboot of Toho's Godzilla franchise.  It is also a reboot of the King Kong film franchise, which is based on the character, “King Kong,” that was created by actor and filmmaker, Merian C. Cooper (1893-1973).

The fifth film in the MonsterVerse series, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, is due to be released sometime in March, so I have decided to watch and review the previous four films:  2014's Godzilla, 2017's Kong: Skull Island (which is the subject of this review), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).  I have previously seen Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island, but only recently made attempts to review them.

Kong: Skull Island is proudly both a monster movie and a King Kong movie.  Like Peter Jackson's 2005 film, King Kong (Universal Pictures), Kong: Skull Island digs into its “lost world” pulp fiction and pre-Code horror movie roots.  Kong is as King Kong as any other cinematic version of the character, and the result is an exhilarating film that is fun to watch even after repeated viewings.  Most books about writing fiction and screenplays will emphasize that the characters should drive the narrative, but Kong: Skull Island's narrative is driven by its plot, by its other-worldly setting, and especially by its monstrous gods and god-like monsters.

There are quite a few interesting characters in the film.  Samuel L. Jackson makes the most of his Lt. Col. Packard, who is driven crazy by his insane mission to kill Kong as a salve for his bitterness about the end of the American misadventure in Vietnam.  John C. Reilly once again displays his tremendous character actor chops as the lost-in-time, U.S. Army Air Force Lt. Hank Marlow.  Tom Hiddleston is a good heroic lead as James Conrad in a film in which the human hero is not the film's most important character.  Brie Larson also shows off her acting skills by chopping out some space for his character, Mason Weaver.

However, the characters are just pawns in the film's plot, which involves surviving Skull Island's various monsters and advancing to the rendezvous point.  The setting of Kong: Skull Island is a lost world Eden that is part tropical paradise and part jungle horror, an environment in which the most beautiful place is the most dangerous.  The amazing things to see on this island are its deadly denizens, which includes gargantuan spiders, man-snatching carnivorous birds, and seemingly unstoppable lizards that are literally nothing more than perfectly designed death machines.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention the practically mute human natives of Skull Island with their dazzling array of face and body painting and eclectic costumes.

At the center of Kong: Skull Island is the film's most important character and element, Kong, himself.  He is a thing of beauty, the best special effect in a movie favored with enough impressive CGI to have earned itself an Oscar nomination for “Best Achievement in Visual Effects.”  Kong's introduction into the story, a breathtaking display of fight choreography pitting him against a squadron of military helicopters, is as good as the best fight scenes audiences will find in the top superhero movies.  Whatever glitches in the overall narrative and character development Kong: Skull Island has, Kong's introduction glosses over.  Kong is made king again in Kong: Skull Island, and that is why it is a damn shame that there is not a Kong: Skull Island 2.

[This film has an extra scene at the end of the credits.]

A-

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, March 17, 2024

NOTES:

2018 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, and Michael Meinardus)

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Review: "GODZILLA" 2014 is Still Awesome

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 of 2024 (No. 1951) by Leroy Douresseaux

Godzilla (2014)

Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, three minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence

DIRECTOR:  Gareth Edwards

WRITERS:  Max Borenstein; from a story by Dave Callaham

PRODUCERS:  Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, Brian Rogers, and Thomas Tull

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Seamus McGarvey (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Bob Ducsay

COMPOSER:  Alexandre Desplat

SCI-FI/ACTION/MILITARY/THRILLER

Starring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Carson Bolde, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Richard T. Jones, and Victor Rasuk

Godzilla is a 2014 science fiction-monster film and military thriller directed by Gareth Edwards.  Produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, the movie was the first in the “MonsterVerse” film series, and it is a reboot of Toho Co., Ltd.'s Godzilla film franchise.  Godzilla 2014 focuses on the reappearance of monstrous creatures that have the power to destroy human civilization, but one of them may be humanity's only hope for survival.

Godzilla opens in 1999.  Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins), two scientists from “Project Monarch,” are investigating the skeleton of a monstrous creature that was unearthed in the Philippines.  Meanwhile, in Janjira, Japan, Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), the supervisor at the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant, prepares for another day of work with his wife, Sandra Brody (Juliette Binoche).  Something odd has been happening in and around the power plant, and before the day is over, the plant will collapse due to what seems to be an earthquake.  It is an incident that will leave Joe Brody broken and haunted.

Fifteen years later, Lt. Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a U.S. Navy EOD officer (United States Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal).  The son of Joe and Sandra, Ford has moved on with his life and is now on-leave in San Francisco with his wife, Elle Brody (Elizabeth Olsen), a nurse, and their son, Sam (Carson Bolde).  However, Ford is forced to return to Japan when he learns that his father has been detained for trespassing in Janjira's quarantine zone (Q zone).  Joe is determined to find the cause of the meltdown 15 years ago at the Janjira power plant.  Ford thinks his father is crazy and does not believe anything he tells him.

However, what Ford is about to witness will introduce him to the world of the MUTO (massive unidentified terrestrial organism).  One such MUTO has the power to disrupt human civilization by emitting an intense electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and now, it's headed for the United States.  Monarch's Dr. Serizawa believes that the only thing that can stop the MUTO is an ancient alpha predator he calls “Gojira.”  But Gojira is also a MUTO...

The “MonsterVerse” is an American multimedia franchise that includes movies; a streaming live-action television series (Apple TV+) and a streaming animated series (Netflix); books and comic books; and video games.  It is a shared fictional universe that includes the character, “Godzilla” and other characters owned and created by the Japanese entertainment company, Toho Co., Ltd.  The MonsterVerse is a reboot of Toho's Godzilla franchise.  It is also a reboot of the King Kong franchise, which is based on the character, “King Kong,” that was created by actor and filmmaker, Merian C. Cooper (1893-1973).

The fifth film in the MonsterVerse series, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, is due to be released sometime in March, so I have decided to watch and review the previous four films:  Godzilla (which is the subject of this review), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).  I have previously seen Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island, but I have not previously reviewed them.

I watched parts of Godzilla 2014 more times than I can remember over the last decade.  It is a fascinating American “kaiju” film.  “Kaiju” is a Japanese sub-genre of science fiction that features giants monsters, and the term can also be used to refer to the giant monsters themselves.  Godzilla 2014 is very well directed by Englishmen, Gareth Edwards, who first came to notice because of his excellent 2010 film, Monsters, and later gained notoriety as the director of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).  Edwards is a natural when it comes to big monsters and big monster conspiracies and threats.

The film includes some good performances, although Bryan Cranston is the real standout with his intense, heartbreaking turn as Joe Brody.  Elisabeth Olsen as Elle Brody is sidelined and wasted, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson gamely plays Lt. Ford Brody as the film's ostensible lead, who is more dragged along by the film's action than leading it.

What makes this modern Godzilla film exceptional to me is the work of the technicians, artisans, and crew that don't always get credit for making a film work.  Godzilla's camera work, the lighting, the film editing, the film score, the visual effects, the sound editing and mixing combine to create a film that is successful in what it conveys.  What this film is pushing to us is a deep and abiding sense of mystery.  It is in the shadows that hides the monsters and incredible battles.  It is in the mood altering and heartbeat pacing score by the great Alexandre Desplat.

The mystery is in the sound and in the silence.  It is in the flitting light and frequent flares and in the subtle film editing that hides itself while controlling the film's pace and mood.  Godzilla's technical skill is the art of cinematic craftsmanship coming together, and that is best exemplified in the beautiful, breathtaking “Halo drop” sequence.

Godzilla's sense of mystery keeps the film from coming across like lowbrow, popcorn entertainment, which was the fate of director Roland Emmerich's 1998 film, Godzilla.  Godzilla 2014's characters are in the dark almost as much as the audience is.  By maintaining a sense of mystery, the film's narrative could convince me that humanity may be on the precipice of extinction, and it did.  I highly recommend the MonsterVerse Godzilla, and I'll keep watching it.

A

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, February 10, 2024

The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "THE FINAL COUNTDOWN" is Still Timeless Entertainment

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 37 of 2023 (No. 1926) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Final Countdown (1980)

Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)

MPAA – PG

DIRECTOR:  Don Taylor

WRITERS:  David Ambrose & Gerry Davis and Thomas Hunter & Peter Powell; from a story by Thomas Hunter & Peter Powell and David Ambrose

PRODUCERS:  Peter Vincent Douglas

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Vincent J. Kemper (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Robert K. Lambert

COMPOSER: John Scott

SCI-FI/MILITARY

Starring:  Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross, James Farentino, Ron O'Neal, Charles Durning, Victor Mohica, Soon-Teck Oh, and Alvin Ing

The Final Countdown is a 1980 science fiction war film from director Don Taylor.  The film features an ensemble cast starring such Hollywood legends and icons as Kirk Douglas, Charles Durning, and Martin Sheen.  The film focuses on the crew of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that is tossed back in time to the year 1941 near Hawaii, just a day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Final Countdown opens in 1980.  The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Nimitz, departs Naval Station Pearl Harbor for naval exercises in the mid-Pacific Ocean.  It is commanded by Captain Matt Yelland (Kirk Douglas).  The ship also takes on a civilian observer, Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen), a systems analyst for Tideman Industries.  Lasky is working as an efficiency expert for the U.S. Defense Department on the orders of his reclusive employer, Richard Tideman.

Once at sea, the Nimitz encounters a mysterious, electrically-charged storm that eventually becomes a vortex.  While the ship passes through the mystery storm, its radar and other equipment become unresponsive, and the crew falls into agony.  After the event, Capt. Yelland and the crew are initially unsure of what has happened to them.  They also discover that they have lost radio contact with U.S. Pacific Fleet Command at Pearl Harbor.

Yelland wonders if there has been a nuclear strike on Hawaii, but soon Lasky and Commander, Air Group Richard T. Owens (James Farentino) begin to suspect that they been tossed back in time to December 6, 1941.  That is one day before “a day which will live in infamy,” December 7, 1941 – the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Now, comes the big questions.  By itself, the Nimitz has the aircraft power to destroy the Japanese fleet.  So should Yelland launch that air power and change history by stopping the attack on Pearl Harbor?

The Final Countdown is one of my all-time favorite films.  I have a soft spot for time-travel movies, especially such films as Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and of course, The Terminator (1984) and its sequels.

In spite of my intense love for this film – yes, I said intense – I can see its flaws.  I think The Final Countdown's concept would work better as a television miniseries or even as an ongoing series.  Its relatively short runtime is not enough time for the film to really be indulgent in revealing its most important character, the U.S.S. Nimitz.  Director Don Taylor gives us several scenes of the planes, jets, fighter aircraft, etc., but every scene of the ship's interior makes it obvious that the film needs to take a deeper dive into the bowels of the Nimitz.  All that military hardware demands more screen time, or at least, I'm the one demanding more of it.

Most of all, the time travel angle of the story seems to come and go so fast, and the screenplay does not really grapple with what would happen if Captain Yelland and his crew inserted themselves into the attack on Pearl Harbor.  It glosses over that and over the many points of view that would result from the kind of command structure that a ship like the Nimitz has.

The wild card characters are Senator Samuel S. Chapman (Charles Durning) and his secretary, Laurel Scott (Katharine Ross).  Their appearance in the narrative is a considerable development and creates conflict and complications in the decisions that the captain and crew of the Nimitz will make.  Time constraints mean that the film doesn't really deal with these two characters.

I spotted so many cracks in this recent viewing of The Final Countdown, I still really love this film.  I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite movies stars, such as Kirk Douglas (Out of the Past), Martin Sheen, and Charles Durning (To Be or Not to Be) in roles that called upon their usual film personalities.  I don't think I remembered that Ron O'Neal (Super Fly, 1972) was in this film, but he gets his chance to emote and overact.  I have seen this film at least three times, and this was the first time that James Farentino;s presence also registered with me.

Yes, The Final Countdown seems to be missing at least another half-hour of story, but the first time I saw it, when I was a teenager, it blew my mind.  I saw it again years later, and I was surprised to find that I still loved it.  I just watched The Final Countdown again, and guess what?  I still love it, even adore it.  That's why I'm being generous with the grade I'm giving The Final Countdown.  I need a Blu-ray or DVD copy.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

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Review: "TOP GUN: Maverick" Surpasses the Original and is Hugely Entertaining

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 of 2022 (No. 1846) by Leroy Douresseaux

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Running time:  131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some strong language
DIRECTOR:  Joseph Kosinski
WRITERS:  Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie; from a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks (based on characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.)
PRODUCERS:  Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, and Christopher McQuarrie
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Claudio Miranda (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Eddie Hamilton
COMPOSERS:  Lorne Balfe, Lady Gaga, and Harold Faltermeyer

DRAMA/ACTION/MILITARY

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Bashir Salahuddin, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Glen Powell, Jack Schumacher, Manny Jacinto, Kara Wang, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jake Picking, Raymond Lee, Jean Louisa Kelly, Lyliana Wray, Ed Harris, Chelsea Harris, and Val Kilmer

Top Gun: Maverick is a 2022 action and military drama film directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Tom Cruise.  The film is a direct sequel to the 1986 film, Top Gun.  Maverick focuses on a veteran U.S. Navy flight instructor ordered to transform a group of the Navy's top young aviators into a fighter squadron that can take on an impossible mission.

Top Gun: Maverick opens over three decades after the events of the first film.  Former “Top Gun” candidate, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) currently serves as a U.S. Navy test pilot.  Over his 33 years of service, he has purposely dodged promotion in order to continue flying for the Navy.  A stunt with the “Darkstar scramjet” program looks as if it is going to be the thing that finally gets Maverick grounded.  However, Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is Maverick's former rival and his friend.  Iceman saves Maverick from being grounded by giving him orders to return to where they first met, the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program in San Diego, CA.

There, Maverick must train an elite group of 16 Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission – a dangerous and practically impossible mission.  However, there are plenty of ghosts from his past waiting for him there, including Penelope "Penny" Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), Maverick's former lover, who is a single mother, a bar owner, and the daughter of a former admiral.

The most troubling ghost from Maverick's past, however, may be one of the young aviators he must train, Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller).  He is the son of Maverick's late best friend and RIO (Radar Intercept Officer), Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.  Maverick still blames himself for Goose's death during a training flight (as seen in Top Gun), and, in a way, so does Rooster, who also blames Maverick for hurting his career as an aviator.  As he pushes this elite group of aviators to test their limits and beyond, Maverick wonders if he may finally be grounded and fears that he may also end up causing the son's death as he believes he caused the father's death.

I don't like Top Gun.  I think that it is not a very well made film.  I love Top Gun: Maverick, which is a direct sequel to the original film and is intimately tied to it.  In a way, Maverick takes some of the best story elements of the first film and gives them dramatic heft, depth, weight, and a gravitas that they really did not have in the original.

Top Gun: Maverick is just all-around well made.  Joseph Kosinski does a much better job at directing the sequel than the late Tony Scott did with the original.  Maverick's screenplay, which like the original, is the result of several writers, nonetheless comes across like a seamless work produced by a single talented story mind.  The film editing is superb, so Maverick's editor, Eddie Hamilton, should also get an Oscar nomination next year, because the editors of the first film were Oscar-nominated for their … problematic work.  Even Maverick's musical score is better, although quite a bit of Harold Faltermeyer's music from the first film does make it into the sequel.

Top Gun: Maverick may also be Tom Cruise's best dramatic performance in over two decades.  Not only do his emotions seem genuine, but his emotional range is shocking.  Cruise has award-worthy moments in this film, especially a pivotal scene between Maverick and Iceman.  Cruise and Miles Teller also seem to work very well together, and Teller once again proves that he has some serious dramatic chops.  Jennifer Connelly, an Oscar-winner, as Penny, makes the most of what comes across as an extraneous token female character.  Actually, quite a few actors make the most of their roles and screen time in this surprisingly heartfelt and genuinely emotional film.

Top Gun: Maverick is, of course, an intense action-thriller with some amazing flight and combat scenes and sequences.  It kept me on the edge of my seat, worrying that one of the young pilots or Maverick would be killed in a crash or in combat.  And no, the filmmakers apparently did not use computer-generated effects for the flight scenes.  This is all advanced cameras, fighter planes, and human pilots, making the film a masterpiece of practical filmmaking and U.S. Navy flying.  Top Gun: Maverick surpasses Top Gun as a military-action film, and is something the first film was not, an emotionally resonate and real military drama.

Yes, it does seem to work a little too hard at pushing our buttons with dramatic conflict and melodrama.  But I honestly enjoyed the heck out of this film in a way that I did not expect – even after hearing so many good things before I saw it.  Top Gun: Maverick is … well, awesome, and this time, I really feel the need for speed and for more Top Gun.  And Tom Cruise still looks good on a motorcycle.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, May 27, 2022


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Original "TOP GUN" is Still a Bad Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 of 2022 (No. 1845) by Leroy Douresseaux

Top Gun (1986)
Running time:  110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  Tony Scott
WRITERS:  Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. (based on the magazine article, “Top Guns,” by Ehud Yonay)
PRODUCERS:  Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jeffrey Kimball (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Chris Lebenzon and Billy Weber
COMPOSER:  Harold Faltermeyer
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/ACTION

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside, Tim Robbins, John Stockwell, Barry Tubb, Rick Rossovich, Whip Hubley, James Tolkan, Adrian Pasdar, Meg Ryan, and Clarence Gilyard, Jr.

Top Gun is a 1986 action and drama film directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise.  The film was inspired by an article entitled, “Top Guns,” which was written by Ehud Yonay and published in the May 1983 issue of California Magazine.  Top Gun the film focuses on a daring young U.S. Navy pilot who is a student at an elite fighter weapons school where he competes with other students and learns a few things from a female instructor.

Top Gun opens on the Indian Ocean aboard the vessel, the “USS Enterprise.”  The story introduces United States Naval Aviator, Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), and his RIO (Radar Intercept Officer), Lieutenant Junior Grade Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).  While on a mission flying their fighter aircraft, Maverick and Goose have an encounter with a hostile aircraft.  As a result of the incident, Maverick and Goose are invited to the U.S. Navy “Fighter Weapons School” in Miramar, California (also known as “Fightertown U.S.A.”).  The top one percent of naval aviators (pilots) get to attend Fighter Weapons School, also known as “Top Gun” (or “TOPGUN”).

Naval aviators have to complete a five-week course of classroom studies and flight training (called a “hop”).  The top graduating aviator receives the “Top Gun” plaque.  Maverick's rival for Top Gun is top student, Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), who considers Maverick's attitude foolish and his flying dangerous.  Maverick also becomes romantically involved with Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), an astrophysicist and civilian instructor, an unwise move for both.

Will Maverick earn the Top Gun trophy?  Or will his reckless ways and tendency to disobey orders endanger those around him and cost him his future.

Until recently, I had never watched Top Gun, not even a minute of it.  From the first time I saw a trailer for it, I thought Top Gun looked stupid, although I was a Tom Cruise fan at the time of its release (as I still am).  I only recently watched it in preparation for seeing the long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, which has a good looking trailer and has received glowing early reviews.

But I was right.  Top Gun is stupid.  It is poorly written, especially on the character drama end.  Writers Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. are credited as the film's screenwriters.  The film's credited “Associate Producer,” the late Warren Skarren (1946-90), was a screenwriter known for rewriting the screenplays of big Hollywood projects (such as Beetlejuice and the 1989 Batman film).  Skarren apparently did some heavy rewriting for Top Gun's shooting script.  However, the film seems to be made from the parts of several screenplays that were combined to form a new script.  That especially shows during the character drama scenes, which are sometimes awkward, sometimes nonsensical, sometimes inauthentic, and sometimes all three at the same time.

To me, the film looks poorly edited (which was Oscar-nominated), once again, mainly on the drama scenes.  The film's musical score, composed by Harold Faltermeyer, is mostly atrocious.

However, the flight action sequences and the aerial stunts are quite good.  When the film is in the air with those fighter jets or when Maverick is riding his motorcycle, Top Gun can be entertaining and invigorating.  The drama is just so bad that it makes me forget the film's good stuff.

In 2015, Top Gun was added to the “National Film Registry” because it was considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”  For me, the only reason that would be true is because of its lead actor, Tom Cruise.  I think Top Gun is the film that made  Cruise a celluloid god.  He became his generation's biggest movie star and remains so.  Top Gun began a decade (1986-96) that gave us “peak” Tom Cruise.  Yes, he is still in his prime, but that was the decade that saw him give his most acclaimed and memorable performances, and in 1996, he began his most successful film franchise with the first Mission: Impossible.  Yes, Cruise has given other memorable and acclaimed performances, but never so many as in that time period of 1986 to 1996.

So Top Gun is significant because of Tom Cruise.  He is so handsome and fresh-faced here, and his youth, dynamism, and screen presence save this thoroughly mediocre film.  Even with the great action sequences, this film would have been at best a cult film had any actor or movie star other than Tom Cruise been the lead.

Yeah, I could talk about the other actors who were in Top Gun, but what they did could not rise above the mediocrity of this film's drama – both in screenwriting and in directing.  Tom Cruise – in a fighter or on a motorcycle – is Top Gun.  As much as I am a fan of his, however, I wouldn't watch this shit again.  But yes, I will see Top Gun: Maverick.

4 of 10
C
★★ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, May 25, 2022


1987 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Music, Original Song” (Giorgio Moroder-music and Tom Whitlock-lyrics for the song “Take My Breath Away”); 3 nominations: “Best Sound” (Donald O. Mitchell, Kevin O'Connell, Rick Kline, and William B. Kaplan), “Best Film Editing” (Billy Weber and Chris Lebenzon), and “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Cecelia Hall and George Watters II)

1987 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Giorgio Moroder-music and Tom Whitlock-lyrics for the song “Take My Breath Away”); 1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Harold Faltermeyer)

2015 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Days of Glory" Chronicles the Forgotten WWII Fighters, the "Indigenes"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 118 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Indigènes (2006)
Days of Glory (2006) – International English title
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for war violence and brief language
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: FRANCE with Algeria, Morocco, and Belgium; Languages: French and Arabic
DIRECTOR: Rachid Bouchareb
WRITERS: Olivier Lorelle and Rachid Bouchareb
PRODUCER: Jean Bréhat
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Patrick Blossier
EDITOR: Yannick Kergoat
2007 Academy Award nominee

WAR/DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring: Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Roschdy Zem, Bernard Blancan, and Matthieu Simonet

Indigènes or Days of Glory (as the film is known by its English title) earned a 2007 Oscar nomination for “Best Foreign Language Film” as a representative of Algeria. Indigènes recreates a chapter largely erased from the pages of history and pays overdue tribute to the heroism of a particular group of forgotten soldiers who fought and died during World War II. Days of Glory chronicles the journey of four North African soldiers who join the French army to help liberate France from Nazi occupation during World War II.

Saïd Otmari (Jamel Debbouze), Yassir (Samy Naceri), Messaoud Souni (Roschdy Zem), and Abdelkader (Roschdy Zem) leave their country, Algeria, a French colony, to fight for France, which they call the “Motherland.” They chafe under the command of the Sergeant Roger Martinez (Bernard Blancan), a French Algerian. The men fight passionately for France, although they’ve never been to the country. Still, despite the North Africans’ bravery and loyalty as they travel fight from Italy to France, they face daily humiliation, inequality, and naked bigotry from the French. The four men eventually find themselves alone in a small French village defending it from a German battalion. This pedagogical or educational film is also a reminder that the controversies of French World War II history remain today, especially as the French government has denied the surviving North African soldiers their pensions.

Days of Glory is a good, but not great, historical film. Its strength is in the chronicling of the prejudice and bigotry these non-white or non-European soldiers faced while sacrificing their lives, limbs, and peace of mind for France, a country that many still believe largely did not fight for itself against the Nazis. For war movie buffs, the best combat sequence takes place in the movie’s closing act.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Algeria)

2006 Cannes Film Festival: 2 wins – “Best Actor” (Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Bernard Blancan – To the male ensemble cast) and “François Chalais Award (Rachid Bouchareb); 1 nomination: “Golden Palm” (Rachid Bouchareb)

2007 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Foreign or Independent Film”

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Review: Oscar-Nominated Doc "Restrepo" is a Real War Story

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Restrepo (2010)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – R for language throughout including some descriptions of violence
DIRECTORS: Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
CINEMATOGRAPHERS/PRODUCERS: Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
EDITOR: Michael Levine
Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY – War

Starring: Dan Kearney, LaMonta Caldwell, Sterling Jones, Kevin Rice, Juan “Doc” Restrepo, and the Men of Battle Company 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team

Restrepo is an Oscar-nominated documentary from Sebastian Junger, the author of The Perfect Storm, and photographer Tim Hetherington. Hetherington and Junger spent a year embedded with the Second Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan during their 15-month deployment.

Most of that time, they were hunkered down in the Korengal Valley in an outpost (OP) named OP Restrepo, which the soldiers named after their fallen comrade, Juan “Doc” Restrepo, a platoon medic killed earlier in the deployment. The filmmakers document the platoon’s brotherhood, hard work, fear, boredom, and joy.

Riveting, compelling, and harrowing, and even poignant, scary, and gut-wrenching in places, Restrepo is a pure documentary. By that, I mean the filmmakers, Hetherington and Junger, document their subjects without commentary and with only the camera as an indication that they are even present. Any opinions and feelings the viewer has are mostly the result of their on interpretations of what they see. They recorded; you decide.

Still, as good as this film is, Restrepo feels like it is missing something, and I still can’t figure out what it is I think is missing. Still, every American should watch at least a quarter of the film. That’s a little over 23 minutes. You can spare the time.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2011 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Documentary, Features” (Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger)

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Review: "The Expendables" is the Real Kick Ass

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 73 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux -
The Expendables (2010)

Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong action and bloody violence throughout, and for some language
DIRECTOR: Sylvester Stallone
WRITERS: David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone; from a story by David Callaham
PRODUCERS: Kevin King, Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton, and John Thompson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeffrey Kimball (director of photography)
EDITORS: Ken Blackwell and Paul Harb
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

ACTION

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Giselle Itié, Charisma Carpenter, Gary Daniels, and Terry Crews with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger

The late summer 2010 box office season has offered one surprising gem, The Expendables, an explosive action film co-written, directed, and starring Sylvester Stallone. Much has been made of this film being a throwback to the old macho, testosterone-fueled action films of the 1980s. Indeed, this movie does have a First Blood and friends, Team Rambo vibe to it. In fact, 80s action stars, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, swagger (and wheeze a bit) through cameo appearances.

The Expendables, however, isn’t some homage, parody, or sentimental recollection of action movie days gone by. The Expendables is an authentic ass-kicking, ass-stabbing, cap-popped-in-ass action movie, and boy, is it good. [No panty-waists allowed!]

The story focuses on the Expendables, an elite band of mercenaries led by an American named Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone). The teams consists of Ross’ right-hand man, former Special Air Service soldier, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham); martial artist Yin Yang (Jet Li); sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren); demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture); and weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews).

Ross accepts a high-paying assignment from the mysterious “Mr. Church” (Bruce Willis) to assassinate General Garza (David Zayas), the brutal dictator of (fictional) Vilena, a small Caribbean island nation. On a reconnaissance mission, Ross and Christmas learn that Garza is being backed by James Munroe (Eric Roberts) a corrupt ex-CIA agent. With his henchmen, Paine (Steve Austin) and The Brit (Gary Daniels), Munroe manipulates Garza and his military into terrorizing the island’s inhabitants, while Munroe seeks to control the drug trade he once fought as CIA. Inspired by Sandra (Giselle Itié), a beautiful islander, Ross becomes determined to stop Munroe and Garza, even if he has to do it alone – although his Expendables obviously won’t let him.

I don’t remember 80s action movies being quite as violent and as gory as The Expendables, although Die Hard 2 had an equally high body count. The violence, however, is not a problem for me. Movies like the Jason Bourne franchise and the recent Live Free or Die Hard offer so much high-tech gloss that the low-tech, bloody mayhem of The Expendables is like cool, sweet lemonade on a scorching hot summer day. This is a meat and potatoes action movie in which brute force does the ass kicking without computerized weapons.

Of course, the acting is mostly mediocre, but still surprisingly sincere. Watching The Expendables, you might get the idea that these guys had fun making this movie, but still took their work very seriously. Jason Statham is the standout here, and Terry Crews’ Hale Caesar should have had more screen time, while Jet Li’s Yin Yang felt extraneous.

Stallone has surprised everyone and made a real action movie, a man’s man action movie. At his age and after plastic surgery, Stallone is starting to look like Boris Korloff’s Frankenstein. Still, by sticking to his old guns, he and his cinematic kitchen staff have made an action movie meal that sticks to the ribs. Hollywood should ask for The Expendables’ recipe.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, September 06, 2010

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Review: George Romero's "The Crazies" Mocks Bureaucracy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Crazies (1973)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
DIRECTOR/EDITOR: George A. Romero
WRITERS: Paul McCollough and George A. Romero
PRODUCER: A.C. Croft
CINEMATOGRAPHER: S. William Hinzman (director of photography)

ACTION/MILITARY/THRILLER

Starring: Lane Carroll, W.G. McMillan, Harold Wayne Jones, Lloyd Hollar, Lynn Lowry, Richard Liberty, Richard France, Harry Spillman, and Will Disney

The Crazies is a 1973 satirical drama and military thriller from director George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead). The film, which has some elements from the horror genre, takes place in a small Pennsylvania town. There, the military is trying to contain an outbreak of a manmade virus that causes death or permanent insanity in those it infects.

The Crazies has two major storylines. One focuses on how politicians and the military try to contain the outbreak, and the other focuses on the civilians who try to stay alive during the chaos, in particular a quartet led by two former serviceman. The action takes place in and around the small town of Evans City, Pennsylvania. Apparently, a few weeks before the story begins, an army plane crash-landed in the hills near the town. The plane was carrying a biological weapon – a top-secret virus codenamed Trixie.

Heavily-armed U.S. troops (clad in white NBC suits) arrive in Evans City and declare martial law. In an attempt to contain Trixie and see which citizens are infected, the military begins to gather the citizens in a central location, but as the military sets up a quarantine perimeter outside of town to stop the virus from spreading, chaos ensues. Two Vietnam veterans who are now firemen, former Green Beret, David (W.G. McMillan), and infantryman, Clank (Harold Wayne Jones), hatch a plan to leave town. With them are David’s pregnant girlfriend, a nurse named Judy (Lane Carroll); Kathie Fulton (Lynn Lowry), a teenager; and her father, Artie (Richard Liberty). Their escape attempt may be too late for some, as the madness caused by Trixie begins to set in.

Many viewers probably consider The Crazies to be a horror movie, especially because it is directed by George Romero. Much of the film, however, is a pointed satire of military and political bureaucracies, focusing on the intractability of the decision and policy makers and also the general disorganization of institutions that are supposed to be quite organized. This satire is certainly interesting, but it slows the narrative, sometimes to a crawl. Still, Romero’s sly wit and blunt commentary occasionally give birth to some good scenes (like the standoff between the military and the local law).

The best parts of the film involve the quintet trying to escape the madness. These five people exemplify the character traits, personalities, and actions that are typical of characters in Romero films that are trapped in some kind of doomsday scenario. The actors’ good performances bring freshness to these familiar Romero types. W.G. McMillan as David and Lane Carroll as Judy have excellent screen chemistry and seem like a real couple. The Crazies reflected the chaotic times in which it first appeared, but McMillan and Carroll are still the heart of this film. Their characters’ trials and tribulations add drama to this film and make it seem like more than just pointed satire.

6 of 10
B

Monday, July 26, 2010

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Green Zone Juggles Politics and Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 56 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Green Zone (2010)
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and language
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITER: Brian Helgeland (based on the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Greengrass, and Lloyd Levin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Barry Ackroyd
EDITOR: Christopher Rouse

WAR/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla, Jason Isaacs, and Yigal Naor

Director Paul Greengrass and actor/movie star Matt Damon came together to produce two of the three Jason Bourne movies (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum). They reunited for the film Green Zone, which is not a Jason Bourne movie or anything like that. Green Zone is a movie set at the beginning of the Iraq War. Green Zone is part military action movie, but it also has something to say about the reasons for the Iraq War.

The story focuses on Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) and begins early in the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Miller leads a team of U.S. Army inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) believed to be stockpiled in and around Baghdad. After investigating a series of sites and finding nothing, Miller begins to suspect that the intelligence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction is faulty, at best.

Miller’s military superiors and other high-ranking officials dismiss his theories about flawed intelligence, and he comes into conflict with U.S. Defense Intelligence Agent Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) who seems to be guiding much of the American occupation of Iraq. After meeting, Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), a Middle East-based CIA officer, Miller stumbles upon an elaborate cover-up of the reasons behind the Iraq War. Now, Miller must navigate the intersecting agendas spun by competing operatives, as he hunts for answers that may clear Iraq’s fallen regime of war crimes or even stop an insurgency from being born.

Green Zone is a politically engaged film. Using Matt Damon’s Roy Miller as a vehicle, Paul Greengrass and screen writer Brian Helgeland addresses Greengrass’ contentions about the decision to invade Iraq (the country’s alleged possession of WMDs) and subsequent decisions made during the U.S.-led Coalition occupation (in particularly the decision to disband the Iraqi army).

Greengrass’ problems with the Iraq War have also been the subject of many television and theatrical films (both fiction and non-fiction). Making these arguments about Iraq within the framework of a military action thriller actually can result in a movie with an identity crisis, which is the case with Green Zone. Greengrass attempts to make his points about the war, unveiling them during the course of Roy Miller’s investigation, which involves talking to and shooting at people.

The first 55 minutes of the movie mostly sets up the story, and it follows Miller as he gradually makes a series of startling discoveries about the run-up to the Iraq War. This is more dry and dull than interesting. The first half of the film is so slow and awkward that it is almost a disaster. Honestly, Greengrass’ contentions about the Iraq War are only interesting in the context of the movie’s second half. That’s the action/thriller half which has Roy Miller trying to find Iraqi General Mohammed Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor) before a Special Forces unit does. This second half will remind audiences of those breathless action scenes Greengrass and Damon pulled off in their two Jason Bourne movies.

It is cool that a Hollywood movie would confront the controversies of the Iraq War, but the best thing about Green Zone is the tense pacing and smartly constructed action sequences. Unfortunately, the politics are, at best, distracting and, at worst, debilitating to the movie.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, July 25, 2010

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Review: "Tears of the Sun" Offers Sentiment with Military Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 30 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tears of the Sun (2003)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – R for strong war violence, some brutality and language
DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua
WRITERS: Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo
PRODUCERS: Ian Bryce, Mike Lobell, and Arnold Rifkin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore
EDITOR: Conrad Buff IV
COMPOSER: Lisa Gerrard and Hans Zimmer

WAR/ACTION/DRAMA with elements of a thriller

Starring: Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hauser, Eamonn Walker, Charles Ingram, Tom Skerritt, and Malick Bowens

Is Tears of the Sun a good movie? Well, the boy parts: the action, the blood and guts, the special ops intrigue, the shootouts, the male camaraderie, etc. are good There’s lots of that and it’s as good, in that respect as, say, Black Hawk Down. The parts of the film that’s supposed to pass for girl stuff: concerned foreign doctors, martyred priests and nuns, and defenseless refugees are negligible. It’s not that you won’t feel sympathetic to the plight of natives being hunted by genocidal soldiers because there are some touching moments and some very riveting, frightening moments, but they get in the way of a very good movie about a group of brave soldiers.

A special operations commander, A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis), leads his team into remote Nigeria to rescue an American doctor (Monica Bellucci). However, Dr. Lena Hendricks refuses to leave without her village friends whom she calls “my people.” When Waters gets to feeling that he can’t leave Lena’s people behind to be slaughtered by vicious rebel troops, he puts himself and his men on a perilous journey through the thick Nigerian jungles to bring the doctor and her people to safe harbor. Not only does escorting civilians slow the team down, but there’s a horde of vicious killers on their trail.

Director Antoine Fuqua has a deft touch with the military scenes. They’re exciting and invigorating; he has the infinite patience to let his camera soak in the special operatives stealth work and also the vigor to grasp the sudden and rapid violence of a firefight. In Training Day, Fuqua wasn’t good with the film’s few sentimental and romantic moments. They might have been important in establishing Training Day’s characters, but the sentiment took a back seat to the conflict between the lead characters.

Here, the soft moments, those moments when the film focuses on the plight of the refugees and the hideous, soul wrenching horror of post-colonial Africa, are boring and they hamper the film. Unlike Training Day, sentiment is important to Tears. I just didn’t care about that in this film, although I do care when I’m not busy demanding blood and gore from my entertainment. The special ops guys mesmerized me: their camaraderie, their bravery, their sense of humanity and kindness even in the face of long odds, and their believe in the team that makes them do even the things upon which individuals disagree. All this machismo in a movie makes for effective war propaganda.

The quality of the acting ranges from very good to average. Willis is himself, a bit of ham at the most inopportune moments, and Ms. Bellucci’s succeeds in making an annoying character quite annoying and self-righteous. The actors who make up Waters team including Cole Hauser are excellent; they carry the film and make it worth seeing. And that’s the recommendation, Tears of the Sun is an entertaining film with edge of your seat action and scenes that skirt your nerves along the razor’s edge, very similar to Black Hawk Down, albeit a lower rent version, but still a good film.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Film: Best Director” (Antoine Fuqua)

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The Hurt Locker: Do Believe the Hype

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 40 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Hurt Locker (2008/2009)
Running time: 131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – R for war violence and language
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow
WRITER: Mark Boal
PRODUCERS: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, and Greg Shapiro
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Barry Ackroyd
EDITORS: Chris Innis and Bob Murawski
COMPOSERS: Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Academy Award winner

WAR/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Evangeline Lilly

When the 2010 Academy Awards ceremony was over, The Hurt Locker, an independently produced war movie set in Iraq, was named “Best Picture” of 2009. The film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, became the first woman to win the Oscar for “Best Director.” That would have seem unlikely just two years earlier because films about the war in Iraq were failing at the box office and getting mostly mixed reviews from film critics. The Hurt Locker is special, however; it is truly a great film.

The Hurt Locker is set in the summer of 2004. Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) of Bravo Company are part of a small counterforce specifically trained to deal with the homemade bombs know as IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), and they’ve just lost their team leader. The officer who takes over the team, Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner), shocks Sanborn and Eldridge with how he simply disregards military protocol and basic safety measures. Depending upon one’s perspective, James is either a swaggering cowboy looking for kicks even when the margin of error is zero, or he is the consummate professional, meticulous in the mastery of his treacherous craft.

Sanborn and Eldridge have only 38 days left in their tour of Iraq, and if they are to survive that remaining time, they must learn to understand James and to work with him, even if they cannot contain him or control his behavior. With each mission seemingly more dangerous than the last, James blurs the line between inspiring bravery and reckless bravado, and for Sanborn and Eldridge, it seems as if it is only a matter of time before disaster strikes.

If someone asked me if I were surprised at how good The Hurt Locker is, I would say yes. If someone asked me if I were surprised that Kathryn Bigelow could make a film as good as The Hurt Locker, I would say no. Prior to this film, Bigelow had shown a penchant for tense thrillers (Near Dark) and evocative character drama (The Weight of Water), and The Hurt Locker is a taut, riveting, psychological thriller, rich with resonant character drama. This film is a confluence of events, in which a great script needed a skilled and talented director to turn it into an incredible film.

In fact, everything about The Hurt Locker is superbly done. The script by Mark Boal, who was an imbedded journalist in Iraq in 2004, is one of those screenplays that is a memorable story of war because it is also an incredible story not about the war, but about the young men on the ground fighting it. Bigelow transforms the power of Boal’s screenplay (which eventually won an Oscar) into a film that captures Boal’s spellbinding story of unique warriors.

This film feels explosively real because Bigelow gets great performances of her characters, especially the Bravo company trio of James, Sanborn, and Eldridge. Jeremy Renner makes James’ addiction to his job and the way he does it a beautiful, mesmerizing thing. The underrated and underappreciated Anthony Mackie is consummate in his depiction of the by-the-book Sanborn. Brian Geraghty is a delight as the conflicted, boyish Eldridge.

Kathryn Bigelow and her creative crew and collaborators turned the war film into art. Bigelow’s actors made The Hurt Locker the great modern war film about modern war. In their performances, they say everything about war and about the kind of war that is Iraq without being political.

10 of 10

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 6 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Kathryn Bigelow. Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, and Greg Shapiro), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Kathryn Bigelow), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett), “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Paul N.J. Ottosson), “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Mark Boal); 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Barry Ackroyd), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jeremy Renner)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 6 wins: “Best Film” (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, and Greg Shapiro), “Best Cinematography” (Barry Ackroyd), “Best Director” (Kathryn Bigelow), “Best Editing” (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Mark Boal), “Best Sound” (Ray Beckett, Paul N.J. Ottosson, and Craig Stauffer); 2 nominations: “Best Leading Actor” (Jeremy Renner) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Richard Stutsman)

2010 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Kathryn Bigelow), “Best Motion Picture – Drama, and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Mark Boal)

Friday, June 04, 2010

Review: Ridley Scott Delivers Another Great Film in "Black Hawk Down"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Hawk Down (2001)
Running time: 144 minutes (2 hours, 24 minutes)
MPAA – R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITER: Ken Nolan (based upon the book by Mark Bowden)
PRODUCERS: Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Slawomir Idziak (director of photography)
EDITOR: Pietro Scalia
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer
Academy Award winner

WAR/ACTION/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Jason Isaacs, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Eric Bana, Sam Shepard, Ewen Bremner, Tom Hardy, Ron Eldard, Charlie Hofheimer, Hugh Dancy, and Tom Guiry

On October 3, 1993, just over 100 American Delta units and Ranger infantrymen were dropped by helicopter into the city of Mogadishu, Somalia to abduct two of Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s lieutenants. Aidid had been stealing food provided by relief agencies for the Somalis; Somalia was suffering through a devastating famine, and images of the dead and dying filled the American television screens. By stealing the food, Aidid was using starvation to make his rivals submit to him.

The mission to capture his aides was only supposed to last an hour. However, a firefight between American military and Aidid’s forces led to the downing of two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and that was the start of a prolonged and bloody fight. When the last American finally reached safety, the mission had lasted 15 hours. Nineteen Americans were killed and 73 wounded, and hundreds of Somalis were dead.

Directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator, Hannibal), Black Hawk Down focuses on the efforts of the Rangers and Delta forces to rescue the men of the downed helicopters. The story follows different groups of American servicemen. In two of the stories Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett) and his Rangers engage Aidid’s forces in prolonged street fighting, and Lt. Colonel Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore) leads a group of rescuers that gets lost in the maze of Mogadishu’s streets, where Somali gunmen and snipers rain gunfire upon the Americans.

Black Hawk Down is some of the best work Scott has ever done. While it shares the intensity of Saving Private Ryan, in particularly the hair-raising reenactment of D-Day landings on Normandy beach, much of Black Hawk’s impact comes from its dramatic structure, which emphasizes character and story. In addition to Sgt. Eversmann and Lt. Colonel McKnight’s group, the film also follows the plight of the only survivor of the second downed Black Hawk, Chief Warrant Officer Durant (Ron Eldard), who was a prisoner of Aidid’s forces for a few weeks after The Battle of Mogadishu. Staff Sgt. Ed Yurek (Tom Guiry) leads his decimated Ranger group through gunfire to safety. Scott follows the beleaguered Americans, moving deftly from one group of servicemen to the other, keeping the intensity of the drama very high.

Though very violent and occasionally quite gory, Black Hawk Down is the story of these brave men and their struggle to not only survive, but to also rescue and to save the lives of their fellow soldiers. Beyond issues of patriotism and bravery is the strength of dedication and skill of these men. Scott’s war movie is a movie about the camaraderie of soldiers.

While Scott is at the top of his craft in this film, the acting is also of the highest quality. The cast is quite convincing in their roles as soldiers, and the Somali extras aren’t bad either. Tom Sizemore delivers his usually quality work in a supporting role, but the surprise here is Josh Hartnett. A pretty boy in the Tom Cruise tradition, Hartnett hit his stride in this performance. His concentration and intensity in delivering on his role as Sgt. Eversmann is fascinating to watch. If the film’s ideas and intentions must, in the final analysis, hang upon the shoulders of one soldier, Hartnett ably supports the story.

Black Hawk Down will rise above many other war films because it is something more – a war story, a soldier’s story, and a combatant’s story. One cannot help but be impressed by how the storytellers and the cast convince us that in the face of the greatest of dangers, these men will not stick to their credo “Leave no man behind,” be they dead or alive. Black Hawk Down is special.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Editing” (Pietro Scalia) and “Best Sound” (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, and Chris Munro); 2 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Slawomir Idziak) and “Best Director” (Ridley Scott)

2002 BAFTA Awards: 3 nomination: “Best Cinematography” (Slawomir Idziak), “Best Editing” (Pietro Scalia), and “Best Sound” (Chris Munro, Per Hallberg, Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, and Karen M. Baker)

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Review: "A Soldier's Story" Still Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 41 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Soldier’s Story (1984)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Norman Jewison
WRITER: Charles Fuller (based upon his play, A Soldier’s Play)
PRODUCERS: Patrick J. Palmer, Ronald L. Schwary, and Norman Jewison
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Boyd
EDITORS: Caroline Biggerstaff and Mark Warner
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Howard Rollins, Jr., Adolph Caesar, Art Evans, David Allen Grier, David Harris, Dennis Lipscomb, Larry Riley, Robert Townsend, Denzel Washington, William Allen Young, Trey Wilson, and Patti LaBelle

In this gripping film that takes place near the end of World War II (1944), Captain Davenport (Howard Rollins, Jr.), a proud black army attorney, is sent to Fort Neal near Tynin, Louisiana to investigate the shooting death of Sergeant Waters (Adolph Caesar), who was murdered by unknown assailants near the black army base. Davenport’s interviews with the men under Sgt. Waters’ command reveal that he was a vicious man who despised Negroes who didn’t meet his exacting standards of speech, appearance, and duty. Although two bigoted white officers seem to be the lead and likely suspects, Davenport is sure that there is something going on behind the scenes that either he isn’t seeing or is being hidden from him. But what is it and who is hiding it?

When it was released back in late 1984, A Soldier’s Story received a lot of attention not only because of its large and mostly black cast, but also because the leads were also black actors (unlike The Cotton Club). The film featured the star turn by up and coming actors including Robert Townsend (who would go on to direct Hollywood Shuffle), David Alan Grier, a character actor best known for being on the early 90’s TV sketch comedy, “In Living Colour,” and also a young but not-so-raw Denzel Washington – two years from the role that would earn him his first Oscar nomination.

The film’s best roles belong to Howard Rollins, Jr. and Adolph Caesar (who were never on screen together), both of whom are now deceased. Rollins plays Captain Davenport with such gripping strength that he instantly commands the attention of the audience whenever he is on screen, even when he’s in the background. Rollins clearly understood that for Davenport to be a believable character in his particular situation, he would have to play Davenport as having a magnetic personality, an indomitable will, and a large amount of arrogance – if Davenport were to do his job while suffering the slings and arrows...

Caesar’s Sgt. Waters is a relentless force embodying the conflicting ideas of what a black man should be and how he should live in those particular times, a black America in an America on the verge of the Civil Rights movement. He wants black men to be proud, but he understands that a black man most live in a white world as an intelligent black man, although not as one who threatens white men. It’s this dichotomy of pride and deference that festers in Waters’ mind.

Charles Fuller adapted A Soldier’s Story from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, A Soldier’s Play. As good as the performances are, it’s this incredible script that is simultaneously a fine mystery, an amazing depiction of history, and precise social commentary. Although director Norman Jewison directs this at times as if it were a TV movie, he understands the complex issues brought forward by Fuller’s writing. Jewison allows the script’s flashbacks to define the elements of the murder mystery: the victim, the suspects, and the context. Through Rollins’ performance as Capt. Davenport, Jewison doesn’t intrude as Fuller’s script brings everything together into the present while dealing with the conflicting notions of what it means to be a black man. It’s spellbinding movie stuff. So what does it mean to be a real black man? Who knows? But A Soldier’s Story, a remarkable film ably performed by a fine cast, gives us something to think about.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Adolph Caesar), “Best Picture” (Norman Jewison, Ronald L. Schwary, and Patrick J. Palmer), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Charles Fuller)

1985 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Adolph Caesar), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Charles Fuller)

Monday, February 20, 2006

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