Review: "HELLBOY" Reboot is Hella Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Hellboy (2019)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, and language
DIRECTOR:  Neil Marshall
WRITER:  Andrew Cosby (based upon the Dark Horse comic book series, Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola)
PRODUCERS:  Lawrence Gordon, Carl Hampe, Yariv Lerner, Lloyd Levin, Matt O'Toole, Mike Richardson, Les Weldon, and Philip Westgren
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Lorenzo Senatore
EDITOR:  Martin Bernfeld
COMPOSER:  Benjamin Wallfisch

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/HORROR/ACTION

Starring:  David Harbour, Ian McShane, Daniel Dae Kim, Sasha Lane, Milla Jovovich, Stephen Graham (voice), Penelope Mitchell, Mark Stanley, Brian Gleeson, Mario de la Rosa, Alistair Petrie, Sophie Okonedo, and Thomas Haden Church

Hellboy is a 2019 superhero, horror, and dark fantasy film from director Neil Marshall.  The film is based on the Hellboy character and comic books created by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics.  The film is a reboot of the Hellboy film franchise, which began with director Guillermo del Toro's 2004 film, Hellboy.  Hellboy 2019 finds the title character trying to stop an ancient sorceress who is bent on destroying humanity.

Hellboy opens in the year 517 A.D.  Vivienne Nimue (Milla Jovovich), the evil “Queen of Blood,” unleashes a plague on England.  King Arthur uses his legendary sword, Excalibur, to dismember Nimue.  Because even dismemberment will not kill Nimue, Arthur has the parts of her body hidden in different secret locations across England.

In the present-day, Hellboy (David Harbour), a powerful demon who works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD), returns to the organization's headquarters in Colorado.  There, he is assigned by BPRD leader, Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane), his adoptive human father, to travel to London to assist the Osiris Club, an ancient English society similar to the BPRD, in hunting three giants that are plaguing Great Britain.

Meanwhile, a pig-like creature, Gruagach (voice of Stephen Graham), is on a quest to retrieve Vivienne Nimue's limbs so that, once she is whole again, she will grant him his wish for revenge against Hellboy.  Nimue, however, has other plans for Hellboy, which don't include his destruction.  Now, only Alice Monaghan (Sasha Lane), a young spirit medium, and Ben Daimio (Daniel Dae Kim), a British “M11” agent, and Hellboy stand between Nimue and Hell on Earth.

I am not a big fan of Guillermo del Toro's original Hellboy film.  It has great production values, and is a gorgeous movie fill with fantastical visual elements.  But the story is executed in a clunky and awkward fashion and the characters are not that interesting.  However, del Toro's follow-up to that film, the Oscar-nominated Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), is one of my all-time favorite films, and I consider it to be one of the all-time best films adapted from a comic book.

Director Neil Marshall's 2019 Hellboy reboot was a box office bomb, with its worldwide box office failing to recoup even the film's production costs.  On the other hand, I think Hellboy 2019 is far superior to Hellboy 2004 and is closer to Hellboy II, in terms of quality.  In fact, Hellboy 2019 almost seems like a reworking of the plot of the 2008 film.

First, I should say that there are a few things that I don't like about Hellboy 2019.  For one thing, although I am a fan of the actor Ian McShane, I do not like his version of Hellboy's father, Trevor Bruttenholm, who seems to be nothing more than a monster fighting, soldier of fortune caricature.  Also, I absolutely hate the new costume and makeup design for Hellboy.  It is true that I prefer Ron Perlman, the actor who played Hellboy in del Toro's films, but David Harbour does represent himself quite well as Hellboy in the new film.  The new Hellboy is just too ugly.

What is there to like about Hellboy?  Most of the supporting characters in this new film don't amount to much, but Sasha Lane makes Alice Monaghan stand out as a character worthy of being next to Hellboy.  After a dry start, Daniel Dae Kim keeps Ben Daimio from being a one-note joke.  The story and their performances find a way to make those two characters fit next to Hellboy in a way that other supporting characters do not.

Andrew Crosby's screenplay for Hellboy 2019 creates a plot, settings, and characters that genuinely seem to be part of a world deeply connected to the supernatural and to otherworldly places.  Crosby fills the story's main narrative and its nooks and crannies to the point of overflowing with strange and magical beings and places.  [See Baba Yaga.]  Hellboy's back story, conflicts, and dilemmas resonate as authentic.  For instance, Hellboy's dilemma of being caught between the world of humans and the world of monsters creates a sense of drama and conflict because it makes the viewer constantly guess about the decisions Hellboy makes.  Is he going to turn against humanity and side with the monsters, at least to some extent?  [That dilemma is raised to lesser extent in del Toro's Hellboy II.]

David Harbour takes Cosby's character work in the screenplay and creates a version of Hellboy that seems plausible and worth following around in this adventure.  As Hellboy, Harbour is as good as Perlman was as the character in Hellboy II, although (once again), Harbour's Hellboy is “fugly.”

Neil Marshall takes Cosby's script and leads his collaborators into creating a rip-roaring, hell-raising action film that is probably the first true blend of the superhero and horror genres.  Marshall's film is gripping and fun from beginning to end, with only a few bumps along the way.  It is crazy and fun to watch in its craziness

Much of the commentary I came across on the Internet said that Hellboy 2019 was absolutely terrible.  What I have discovered, instead, is that this new Hellboy film is worthy of being the first film in a wonderful new Hellboy film series.  Alas, a series is unlikely to happen after the new film's poor box office performance.  I am sure, however, that via home entertainment and cable television, fans will discover what a fine film Hellboy 2019 is.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, May 15, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.


---------------------------

Review: "John Carter" Will Show You a Good Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 73 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carter (2012)
Running time: 132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
DIRECTOR: Andrew Stanton
WRITERS: Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon (based upon the novel, A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
PRODUCERS: Lindsey Collins, Jim Morris, and Colin Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dan Mindel (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Eric Zumbrunnen
COMPOSER: Michael Giacchino

FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/SCI-FI

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Bryan Cranston, Daryl Sabara, and (voices) Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church

The subject of this movie review is John Carter, a 2012 American science fiction and fantasy film released by Walt Disney Pictures. John Carter is the first live-action film from director Andrew Stanton, who won Oscars for directing the computer-animated films, Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008) for Pixar.

John Carter is largely based upon the 1917 novel, A Princess of Mars, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the creator of Tarzan of the Apes). A Princess of Mars began life in 1912 as Under the Moons of Mars, a serial in the pulp fiction magazine, The All-Story. A Princess of Mars is the first novel in the 11-book “Barsoom series” The film focuses on a former Confederate Army officer of the American Civil War who is transported to Mars, where he meets a princess in desperate need of a savior.

It is 1868, and John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is in the Arizona Territory where he has a dangerous encounter with the Apache. After escaping them, Carter hides in a cave. He has an extraordinary experience in which he gets transported to the planet Mars, which the inhabitants call “Barsoom.” There, he meets 15-foot tall Martians called Tharks and the human-like Red Martians. Two of the Red Martian cities, Zodanga and Helium, have been at war for a thousand years. However, the Therns, a group of mystic types, have taken Zodanga’s side.

Thern leader, Matai Shang (Mark Strong), gives Sab Than (Dominic West), the leader of Zodanga, a special weapon which will turn the tide of the war in his favor. Now, Than can force a ceasefire and use his advantage to demand that Tardos Mors (Ciaran Hinds), surrender his daughter, Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins), to him for a marriage that will unite Zodanga and Helium. When Dejah meets John Carter, she see someone who can save her people from Than’s machinations. After the losses he suffered during the Civil War, however, is John Carter ready to help a princess of Mars?

First, let me say that as far as I can tell, not only are there no African-American actors in John Carter, but there are also no Black actors providing voices in this film. That’s consistent with Pixar films, in which there are, at best, token participation of African-American actors and other actors of color. Anyway…

John Carter is an entertaining film. It was something of a major box office disappointment, and Disney reportedly took a write-off somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 million dollars because of John Carter. Some movies deserve to be flops, but John Carter isn’t one of them. It’s one of those odd, swashbuckling, effects-laden adventure movies that come across as weird when you only see a few minutes of it in a trailer or commercial. These movies fail to meet box office expectations, but I think when people see them, they realize what harmless, even charming fun these movies are. Another example would be Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, another pricey Disney disappointment at the box office.

A Princess of Mars and the other Barsoom novels would go on to influence science fiction writers such as Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury and such film’s as James Cameron’s Avatar and George Lucas’ Star Wars. However, the series is outdated and quaint, and the genre to which it belongs, interplanetary romance, is practically dead. Some readers of science fiction and fantasy and also people interested in pulp fiction and nostalgia will like the Barsoom stories. Beyond that, much of the audience for movies may ask, what’s the point of this? So much about this movie is just too old-fashioned, outdated, and weird for modern audiences.

John Carter is, from the point of production values and special visual effects, quite well made. The screenplay is as wonky as the source material, but the actors seem genuinely interested in selling their characters and this concept. The big problem with this movie is that the gadgets, tech, and other science fiction stuff – all the cool toys – are under-utilized. John Carter is more like a sword and sandal/sword and sorcery, Conan the Barbarian movie than it is a science fiction movie. Plus, there isn’t enough Mark Strong in this film; you can never have too much Mark Strong.

Anyway, movie audiences that enjoy anything science fiction and fantasy will find an entertaining oddity in John Carter. I liked it, and wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, September 13, 2012

---------------------------

Review: "Over the Hedge" is a Surprising Delight

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 107 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Over the Hedge (2006)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some rude humor and mild comic action
DIRECTORS: Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
WRITERS: Len Blum, Lorne Cameron and David Hoselton, and Karey Kirkpatrick with Chris Poche (based upon characters created by Michael Fry and T. Lewis)
PRODUCER: Bonnie Arnold
EDITOR: John K. Carr
COMPOSER: Rupert Gregson-Williams
SONGS: Ben Folds

ANIMATION/COMEDY/ACTION/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Haden Church, Allison Janney, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Avril Lavigne, Omid Djalili, Sami Kirkpatrick, Shane Baumel, and Madison Davenport

The subject of this movie review is Over the Hedge, a 2006 computer-animated film from DreamWorks Animation. This action comedy is based upon the syndicated newspaper comic strip, Over the Hedge, created by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. The film focuses on a raccoon who uses his friends to help him repay a debt.

RJ (Bruce Willis) is an opportunistic raccoon, and his greed causes him to destroy the treasure trove of a dangerous bear named Vincent (Nick Nolte). Vincent gives RJ less than a week to replace his loot. Fortune leads RJ to a sprawling new suburban neighborhood, where he figures he can replace all of Vincent’s things (such as potato chips, a red wagon, a blue ice cooler, etc.).

Meanwhile, Verne (Gary Shandling), a turtle, and the woodland friends that make up his family: a hyperactive squirrel named Hammy (Steve Carell); a sassy, but low on self esteem skunk named Stella (Wanda Sykes); a melodramatic possum named Ozzie (William Shatner) and his daughter, Heather (Avril Lavigne); Lou & Penny (Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara), a porcupine couple with three little ones, wake up from their long winter’s nap only to discover that a tall green thing has cropped up in the middle of their forest home. RJ arrives just in time to inform Verne and his group that the “thing” is actually a hedge, and over the hedge is the “gateway to the good life” – a neighborhood full of humans. Humans live to eat (where as the animals eat to live), and they have lots of food and lots of stuff, he tells them – stuff they can take for themselves.

Verne is suspicious and a little jealous of RJ’s assertive nature, but Verne’s woodland band is ready to follow the manipulative raccoon into the domain of their over-indulgent human neighbors. Verne believes that they have more to fear than to gain from humans, and he is right. Gladys (Allison Janney), the president of the neighborhood association, hires a murderous pest exterminator, Dwayne (Thomas Haden Church), to get rid or RJ, Verne, and the rest of the animals. Can RJ and Verne put aside their differences in time to save the group? Will RJ be able to replace Vincent’s things before he shows up to kill the poor raccoon?

Although there were times in DreamWorks Animation’s latest computer animated film, Over the Hedge, when I was sure the filmmakers were simply trying to make another middle of the road, easily digestible family film, there were many more times when I was shocked at how genuinely sly, witty, smart, and lightly subversive this cartoon movie is. The narrative takes the side of the group over the individual, in this case because the group survives best as a unit and not on the whims of an individual prone to always look out for number one. There’s lots of clever commentary on American consumerism and also on how much people waste, and class division comes up in the form of the woodland animals being poor people who are conservative and gather to live, while the humans over the hedge in suburbia are more about gathering things for status. The movie also takes several digs at junk food.

The quality of the computer animation in DreamWorks Animation’s films (produced by PDI) continues to improve with each film, and that’s evident in Over the Hedge. The texture of the animals’ fur, the reflective surfaces, and the sets (the neighborhood lawn grass is good enough to call attention to itself) are all quite impressive. The surface consistency looks more real; it’s as if the animals’ skins, fur, quills, etc are authentic and not rubber suits. Character movement, which took a leap forward for DreamWorks in last year’s Madagascar, improved here. RJ, Hammy, Ozzie & Heather, and the porcupine triplets move with such grace and fluidity. There is a subtlety to their facial expressions that gives a sincere feel to their emotional displays, and when combined with smooth physical movement, makes their performances feel genuine.

If Pixar (now officially owned by the Walt Disney Company, just a few weeks prior to this review) is like Disney in that the studio create animated feature films that focus on story and the art of animation, DreamWorks is like Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes in that it emphasizes broad comedy (sketch, slapstick, situation, etc.) of varying appeal to adults, and it stresses caricature and cartoon-style drawing in the design of its characters. PDI also goes for the “squash and stretch” animation that marked the work of cartoon short directors like Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, so in many ways DreamWorks’ computer animated films are like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, and Droopy cartoons.

While Over the Hedge occasionally drags in its first half, the voice acting comes together to strengthen both the film’s narrative and its message of family. The acting also makes for some surprisingly strong comedy. Bruce Willis, well known as an action movie hero, first came to fame in the romantic, detective comedy television series, “Moonlighting.” Audiences tend to forget his boyish charm and wit, his sharp sarcasm, and a sense of humor that make him a very good comic actor. It takes a bit of warming up, but he makes a great foil for Gary Shandling’s über-responsible family patriarch. Shandling also takes a bit of warming up to, but that’s true of most of the cast. The film’s writers play well to the actors’ strengths.

Who knew it was possible to get such excellent comedy out of the perception that William Shatner overacted in the original Star Trek TV series and films? Here, his penchant for over dramatizing or melodrama is turned into pure comedy gold. The writers also make good use of Wanda Sykes’ saucy personality and constant sarcasm, as well as her ability create characters that ingratiate themselves to others while still being a smart ass. By the end of the film, my favorite character by far was Steve Carell’s Hammy the squirrel. Carell can do manic, panic, and hyperactivity and can babble with the best. When combined with the superb character animation done on Hammy, Carell creates a memorable cartoon animal character – one worth seeing again.

Over the Hedge is also a good action comedy. The chase that closes its last act is almost as good as the kind of slam-bam showdowns in the Toy Story franchise and could rival a car chase in a Lethal Weapon movie. It’s this facility for action comedy and funny characters that makes Over the Hedge DreamWorks’ best non-Shrek film to date.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, May 21, 2006

----------------

Review: "Sideways" is a Bit Too Pleased with Itself

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sideways (2004)
Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some strong sexual content, and nudity
DIRECTOR: Alexander Payne
WRITERS: Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne (from the novel by Rex Pickett)
PRODUCER: Michael London
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Phedon Papamichael
EDITOR: Kevin Tent
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA with elements of romance

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh, Marylouise Burke, Jessica Hecht, Missy Doty, M.C. Gainey, Alysia Reiner, Shake Tukhmanyan, and Duke Moosekian

Miles Faymond (Paul Giamatti), a divorced middle school teacher and struggling/failed novelist, takes his friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church), who is to be married the following weekend, on a wine tasting tour of California. Both men are reaching middle age and feel they have nothing but disappointments to show for their life, especially Miles, who is a mean drunk and takes at least two prescription anti-depressants.

Miles has taken this trip several times, and he’s looking forward to entertaining his friend before his altar-bound day. Jack, however, wants to get laid before he gets married. In that fashion, he seduces (or is seduced) Stephanie (Sandra Oh), a bartender at a winery and Jack encourages Miles to make a move on Maya (Virginia Madsen), a waitress Miles actually knows from previous trips. The results of these two flings are wildly different for each man.

Sideways is the critical darling of 2004, with some critics apparently praising it as the film of their generation. It’s entertaining and has some wonderfully poignant and romantic moments, but road trips and traveling scenes in films are sometimes viewed as a sign that the storyteller is killing time before getting to the heart of the story, except there isn’t much heart to this story. Director Alexander Payne has certainly made a good film, but ain’t much meat on the bone. Sideways may be the glossy, short-on-substance version of an art movie. Miles, the lead character, is not having an existential crisis; he’s just joyless and often boring, while Jack is a colorless cad. I found myself glad that Jack was (only) a supporting player and wanting him to be on screen as little as possible, though his colorfully bawdy conversations do liven the film.

None of the performances stand out, especially Virginia Madsen’s, which has earned her an Oscar nomination. She plays the character so downtrodden that it’s almost difficult to accept that the girl does have college ambitions. Church’s performance, which also earned him a Oscar nod, is okay, but not worth wasting a lot of words on. Some feel Paul Giamatti was robbed as he didn’t get an Oscar nomination, but he basically played a better-dressed version of his Harvey Pekar character from American Splendor. I do give him credit for making a bore endearing, but Giamatti has a nice guy quality. I blame the character problems on the writing, that it needs Giamatti to make Miles intriguing even when the material is a little light and not well done. There are moments in Sideways when Giamatti lifts this film on his shoulders and makes the story compelling, even when his character is just being annoying. Giamatti isn’t the tall, dark, and handsome type, but he has something that works on the big screen. Maybe, that alone is enough of a reason for Oscar to come calling… eventually.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Michael London), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Alexander Payne), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Thomas Haden Church) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Virginia Madsen)

2005 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor)

2005 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor); 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Alexander Payne), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Rolfe Kent), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Paul Giamatti), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Thomas Haden Church), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Virginia Madsen)

-------------------

Emma Stone Gets an A for "Easy A"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 106 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Easy A (2010)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic elements involving teen sexuality, language and some drug material
DIRECTOR: Will Gluck
WRITER: Bert V. Royal
PRODUCERS: Zanne Devine and Will Gluck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Grady
EDITOR: Susan Littenberg
Golden Globe nominee

COMEDY

Starring: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Aly Michalka, Penn Badgley, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Bryce Clyde Jenkins, Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Dan Byrd, Cam Gigandet, Fred Armisen, and Malcolm McDowell

The recent teen comedy, Easy A, takes as its inspiration the classic American novel, The Scarlet Letter (1850), written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Easy A focuses on a clean-cut high school student who uses rumor and innuendo to improve her social status at school.

At Ojai North High School, no one really notices Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone), except her bitchy best friend, Rhiannon Abernathy (Aly Michalka). It is to Rhiannon that Olive lies about losing her virginity to a college student, and, in what seems like an instant, that little white lie is all over campus. This causes Olive to run afoul of the campus Christian crusader, Marianne Bryant (Amanda Bynes). Olive compounds that first lie by helping Brandon (Dan Byrd), her gay friend who is being bullied, stage an act to trick their fellow students into believing that Dan is now straight. Soon, however, Olive learns that being the talk of the school isn’t necessarily a good thing – especially when the talk is that you are easy and a whore.

Although it belongs to the well-worn teen comedy genre, Easy A is fresh and spry. Much of the credit for that should go to the film’s star, Emma Stone, who comes across as being much more mature than her age (22) would suggest. This film’s plot, pacing, and philosophy flow through her, and Stone handles it with ease, talent, and uncommon professionalism for an actress her age.

The other thing that makes Easy A seem different is that it is real or tells its tale by dealing with issues and situations confronted by real teenagers. Director Will Gluck and screenwriter Bert V. Royal are able to mine so much excellent comedy, humor, and satire from that realism. Easy A rips people apart for being so hypocritical and judgmental. It derives humor not only from that, but also from the fact that people are often critical of others to cover for something about themselves they don’t like.

The film understands that the complicated, rough and tumble politics of high school are a microcosm of what happens in the larger world. We all want to be accepted and loved, and yes, we will use other people and tell lies to get our way.

Easy A is brutally honest and funny. Sometimes, it isn’t as clever as the filmmakers think it is, which makes the film awkward, especially in the last act. Still, I give this movie credit for being a teen film that tackles the high school rumor mill and social ladder with such sparkling wit and lack of political correctness. Easy A envisions teen angst and the high school drama from a different angle, and the reward for watching it is a memorably good time at the movies.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

NOTES:
2011 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Emma Stone)

Review: "Spider-Man 3" is Too Crowded

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 76 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Running time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
WRITERS: Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent; from a screen story by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi (based upon the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
PRODUCERS: Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Grant Curtis
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bill Pope
EDITOR: Bob Muraski
BAFTA Award nominee

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, James Cromwell, Theresa Russell, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, Bruce Campbell, Elizabeth Banks, Cliff Robertson, Ted Raimi, Perla Haney-Jardine, Elya Baskin, and Mageina Tovah

Sam Raimi returns to direct Spider-Man 3, and this time he has the hero and film juggling a gaggle of new characters, which ultimately weighs down this film and denies the best villain of this installment, Venom, the substantial screen time that would have made SpM3 as good as Spider-Man 2.

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has finally struck a balance between his life as the costumed superhero, Spider-Man, and his civilian life, which includes his girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) or M.J., but there are so many troubles brewing on his horizon. First, Harry Osborn (James Franco), the son of Spider-Man’s most dangerous enemy, the villainous Green Goblin, strikes at him using some of his father’s technology. Next, Peter learns that Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) was the man who really killed Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). A freak scientific accident fuses Marko’s DNA with sand, and he becomes the shape-shifting Sandman. If that weren’t enough, Peter, a photographer for the Daily Bugle meets his new rival, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), a sneaky twerp willing to do just about anything to impress the Bugle’s editor-in-chief, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), in order to get the fulltime photographer position Peter wants.

Peter and M.J. (who knows that Peter is also Spider-Man) are also at odds because M.J. feels that whenever she needs a shoulder to cry on, Pete is too busy talking about being Spider-Man and how popular the hero has become with the general public. Their relationship crumbles when M.J. sees Spider-Man/Peter Parker kissing Eddie Brock’s girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard). Meanwhile, Peter has encountered an alien substance, a symbiotic creature, which merges with Spider-Man and his traditional red and blue costume and turns it black. The union also changes Peter’s personality, and it is the new, more aggressive and selfish Peter who publicly humiliates Brock. Unbeknownst to Pete, Brock will play a major part in bringing forth Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis, Venom. As Peter Parker tries to repair the rifts between he and his closet friends and also rediscover his compassion, Sandman and Venom form an unholy union to have their revenge against the wall-crawling hero.

Spider-Man 3 is a special effects extravaganza, featuring dizzying chase scenes in which characters are whirling, twirling, spinning, soaring, plunging, etc. between the buildings and structures of New York City. Above the street and below, Spider-Man and his adversaries defy gravity and avoid destruction even when gravity or the force of their own punches and kicks send them spiraling toward an extra hard landing. Computer rendered characters including CGI version of Spider-Man, Sandman, Venom, “Goblin, Jr. Harry Osborn, and the civilians they endanger (including M.J. and Gwen) account for the bulk of the complex action scenes, which couldn’t be pulled off with such dazzling, dizzying flair using real actors.

In the end, however, Spider-Man 3 is like the original 2002 Spider-Man movie – a lot of sound and fury dropped in between poignant character drama. The core of this movie is the message of compassion, forgiveness, and heroism. Early in the film, things are going so well for Peter – he’s going to propose to M.J. and the public adores Spider-Man – that when an obstacle presents itself or a little rain falls in his life, he’s turns to anger, pride, envy, and vengeance. In fact, most of the characters are looking for retribution or dealing with bitterness and personal defeat.

Try as Raimi, his co-writers, and cast might, the film has no soul, however. It’s simply a loud, superhero action fantasy built on CGI. There are too many characters and subplots to allow the drama and message to fully bloom into hearty flowers. Spider-Man 3 has the thrills and chills of superhero and villains colliding, but it is exceedingly dark and gloomy, which doesn’t allow the heroism to come through until the end. Of course, if this is really just popcorn entertainment, who cares if the human drama is just window dressing?

5 of 10
B-

Friday, May 11, 2007

NOTE:
2008 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Scott Stokdyk, Peter Nofz, John Frazier, and Spencer Cook)

--------------