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Edge of Darkness

February 16, 2010 by

Mel Gibson, long absent from headlining films as an actor, returns with the gritty, generically-titled revenge-thriller “Edge of Darkness.”  The movie pits him as a Boston Police Detective, Tom Craven, investigating the murder of his daughter.  Shortly after picking up his 22-year-old from the airport to stay with him, she is gunned down on the front porch and dies in his arms.  With her death appearing to be a botched attempt on his own life, Craven begins an investigation that will lead him into his daughter’s secret life of political conspiracy, you know… the kind where everything is classified and no one can be trusted, including a shadowy operative ‘fixer’ (Ray Winstone) who follows Tom around and never fully discloses whether he is there to help, or lead Tom into a deadly trap.

Skillfully directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro) from a script adapted by William Monohan (Oscar-winner for The Departed), “Edge of Darkness” is a goofy plot full of holes and question marks with a conspiracy behind it that isn’t as well constructed as it think it is.  Oddly enough, that doesn’t much matter.  Gibson, even after an eight-year absence, is still a presence to be reckoned with, despite having a little less hair and a few more lines in his face.  His credibility remains (forget the personal life garbage), and the man is back.  His restraint in the film makes his mission more intense, and even when everything is resolved and other character motivations and plot advances seem shaky, Gibson remains that solid force that holds this thing together.  The direction of Campbell and the darkness of the script from Monohan also helps immensely.  Let me make this clear… “Edge of Darkness” is not “Taken.” There’s nothing Jason Bourne or cartoonish about the action here.  Campbell’s film is slow-moving, procedural, and much more mystery than shoot-em-up.  That actually helps establish a real-world context, and makes some intense moments all the more surprising and effective.  For those wanting bang-bang and impressive stunt-work, look elsewhere.  That’s not on the agenda, although there is action and big-budget action moments, the movie is all about atmosphere, and not for those with a short attention span.

After all is said and done, “Edge of Darkness” crams a lot of hooey plot devices and questionable conclusions in the way of a gritty thriller, from its lack of the father-daughter relationship being well-established, to its head-scratching conspiracy.  That’s okay.  Gibson, Monohan, and Campbell deliver an exciting film, and I expected no less.  Audiences should be pleased with Gibson’s return–the man is in fine form, and who better to deliver the vengeful goods than our very own mid-50s Martin Riggs?  I’ve never seen a Gibson film I didn’t enjoy, and no I haven’t seen them all, but I’ve seen probably about 2/3 of his line-up.  “Edge of Darkness” adds to the list.  It’s a tough, violent R-rated thriller that plays very well while you watch it.

[Rating:3.5/5]

Filed Under: Action, Drama, Mystery Tagged With: , , ,

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

February 15, 2010 by

Once Upon a Time in MexicoWe all gotta start somewhere. Robert Rodriguez, one of the few mainstream directors who could hold his own opposite Quentin Tarantino, began his career with an extremely low-budget film called El Mariachi. He soon followed that with 1995’s Desperado. And while neither film was a cinematic masterpiece (I reviewed the former and latter), they were interesting and somewhat compelling character pieces focusing on a somewhat mysterious wandering mariachi who had a guitar case full of guns and squared off against local drug kingpins.  The third in the Mariachi trilogy, however, is a different story (har!) altogether.

Before I get to the meat of the review, though, take a moment to read the IMDB plot summaries of each.

El Mariachi: A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.

Sounds interesting enough, right?  Simple, effective, and to the point.

Desperado: A gunslinger is embroiled in a war with a local drug runner.

Again, this seems like a decent storyline with room for some good conflicts.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico: Hitman “El Mariachi” becomes involved in international espionage involving a psychotic CIA agent and a corrupt Mexican general.

Wait a second…hitman? International espionage?  psychotic CIA agents and corrupt military officials?  If brevity is the soul of wit, this movie has its work cut out for it.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico: Antonio Banderas

Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi once again. He's ready to bust some heads, but not even he knows why.

I have no problem with thinking big.  In fact, some of my favorite movies are epic in scale.  But big just for the sake of big is usually a recipe for failure.  Unfortunately, like George Lucas cluttering up Star Wars with all sorts of meaningless characters and contrived conflicts in Episode I, Robert Rodriguez took a perfectly good character and transformed his (presumably) final chapter into a mess of politics and poorly-executed government intrigue.  The result is a movie that wanders from character to character, in which the Mariachi himself is almost an afterthought.  Meanwhile, the storyline is so convoluted that it becomes a chore to try and keep up with it all.  “Mexico” is a film that strives for too many things and ultimately succeeds at almost none of them.

With the two previous films there was no doubt about who the central character was: the Mariachi.  In the third film we have a handful of characters to follow:  Agent Sands (Johnny Depp, giving it his level best), the aforementioned “psychotic CIA agent;” Billy (Mickey Rourke), a convicted felon who is trying to right past wrongs; Ajedrez (Eva Mendez), a double-crossing government agent, Barillo (Willem DaFoe), the drug kingpin who is trying to stage a coup and take over the government…and oh yeah, El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas doing an excellent job considering what he has to work with), the mysterious guitar-playing gunslinger who doesn’t actually have much to do with anything.  In fact, it’s as if Rodriguez, who reprised his role as writer and director, constructed a plot about drug kingpins, double agents, government takeovers, and international espionage and then realized he had to find a way to fit his Mariachi character into it somehow.

Mickey Rourke, Willem Dafoe

Mickey Rourke and Willem Dafoe, tackling issues and taking names.

Even the shootouts and gunfights–Rodriguez’ bread and butter, and a hallmark of the Mariachi films–are kind of a mess.  One that takes place inside a cathedral, with the Mariachi defending himself against a small horde of nameless Bad Guys, is stylistically impressive but emotionally empty.  The same can be said for another gunfight in the middle of a crowded street later in the movie, as if Rodriguez knew he had to throw in some violence even though it doesn’t serve much of a purpose for the overall story.  But perhaps the worst transgression of this movie is its treatment of what little there is of the Mariachi character.  The Mariachi from the first two films plays by his own rules, and does what needs to be done.  The Mariachi in Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a government agent who is ostensibly going after the killers of his wife and daughter, but is mostly content to do what he is told by shady operatives.  Worse yet, Rodriguez turns the Mariachi into a parody of himself:  at one point Antonio Banderas literally rides his guitar case like a surfboard down a flight of stairs.  Worse yet, near the end of the film one of the men in his mariachi band pulls out a remote control and literally drives his guitar-case-on-wheels through the streets and underneath a truck, at which point it explodes and kills all the men inside.  I understand Rodriguez’ tongue-in-cheek style, but this is cinematic buffoonery.

There are a few redeeming qualities to be found here, despite the movie’s myriad flaws.  Agent Sands is one of the more interesting characters I have seen onscreen in quite a while, and the plot does have its share of compelling intrigue and backstabbing.  It’s just not very well put together, and doesn’t make for a fitting entry into the Mariachi franchise.

Rating:[Rating:2/5]

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Demolition Man

February 6, 2010 by

Demolition ManSome bad movies are guilty pleasures, and some are just bad.  Demolition Man, unfortunately, lands with a resounding thud squarely in the latter category.  Despite so many elements that could have worked in its favor, the movie ultimately falls apart due in no small part to a woefully convoluted, meandering script combined with some incredibly bad acting. Now, I enjoy me some brainless action movies, but sometimes I come across one that is just too awful to recommend to anyone.  And even though I had high hopes for Demolition Man to be, at the very least, enjoyable or fun if only for its value as mindless entertainment, it turned out to be so terrible that only a good Deathstalkering could save it.  Oh Mike, Crow, Tom Servo…where art thou when I need thee?

The opening fifteen minutes of the movie are a paint-by-numbers of action movie cliches, but True Lies this is not.  Demolition Man actually seems to take itself seriously, even as Sylvester Stallone, playing John *cough* Spartan, rappels from a helicopter into a building where insane evil mastermind Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) is holed up with a couple dozen hostages.  And like a checklist, the action movie cliches begin to pile up like the bodies of evil henchmen:  Spartan the loose cannon who doesn’t play by the rules, thinking Phoenix is bluffing about having hostages in the building, fights through hordes of expendable bad guys, meets and spars with Phoenix, accidentally starts the building on fire, and runs down a hallway while the whole place explodes around him.  Having taken Phoenix into custody, Spartan finds out that the hostages (why had Spartan kidnapped them?  What were his demands?  What was he trying to accomplish?  Such things matter not to director Marco Brambilla.) were in fact in the building and he now responsible for the death of over 30 innocent people.

John Spartan

John Spartan, the Demolition Man. Subtle this movie most certainly is not.

The only fitting punishment for Phoenix?  Freeze him!  That way he can be rehabilitated over the next 70 years by machines that say really nice things to frozen dudes for decades on end so they will mellow out and be able to re-enter society free from violent tendencies.  Conveniently, this is also the best way to deal with Spartan–the movie’s namesake–because, you know, his totally unorthodox methods of fighting crime get lots of stuff blowed up.  But gosh darn it, 30 years into Phoenix’s rehabilitation, something goes wrong and he is accidentally unfrozen!  He begins to wreak havock on Future Los Angeles, a place where violence has been virtually eliminated and the police, grown soft after not fighting crime for decades, have no idea how to deal with an Insane Criminal Mastermind.  The solution?  Thaw out John Spartan, of course!

The ridiculous plot only gets worse from there on out, as the movie wanders from being a paper-thin exploration of how people can become so dependent on technology that we risk losing what makes us human to an all-out ‘splosion fest in various Future Locales.  In Future World, physical touch is considered taboo so people experience pleasure by wearing virtual-reality helmets.  Cursing is outlawed and individuals are fined “one credit” for each instance (an insufferable joke that overstays its welcome almost immediately).  But this James Cameron-esque attempt to add a bit of depth only results in a handful of awkward scenes that do not advance the plot and only serve to create an uneven pacing throughout the film.  Even the barest attempt at developing a relationship between Spartan and Lt. Lenina Huxley is forced and entirely unbelievable.

Simon Phoenix

Somebody forgot to tell Wesley Snipes that yellow hair and blue overalls are the opposite of intimidating.

And so what we have left is a film that is one poorly-staged shootout after another between the well-nigh invincible John Spartan and his nemesis Simon Phoenix, the stark-raving-mad evil genius computer hacker (not kidding) with Kung Fu skillz.  And even this silly premise might not be such a bad movie were it properly directed, but every fight or shootout is so poorly blocked and mindlessly executed that it looks as though you’re watching a ninth-grade home video project.  After a shootout in a museum, Spartan is chasing Phoenix across a clearing when his quarry jumps down an embankment…and Spartan just stops running.  It’s as though writer Peter Lenkov didn’t know how to end the scene, so he just, well, ended it. Even worse, the climax has Stallone swaying slowly back and forth on a giant mechanical arm in the freezing chamber while Snipes laughs like an Evil Maniac and unloads clip after clip while hitting everything in the room but Stallone.  It’s madness, I tell you.  Madness.

In short?  You know a movie is terrible when the best thing about it is a Rob Schneider cameo.  And Demolition Man is that movie.

Rating:[Rating:1.5/5]

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The Hurt Locker

January 21, 2010 by

Here is the sharp, intelligent action-thriller audiences have been craving and probably missed.  Why the studio opted to keep this one in limited release is beyond me.  “The Hurt Locker,” directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Strange Days), could’ve broken the stigma on Iraq-war films and, with some solid marketing behind it, may have easily performed to the tune of at least $60 million, or a total similar to 2005’s “Jarhead.” Oh well, so much for living in the past.  The intensity of the film can still be taken on its own terms, and luckily “The Hurt Locker” has been making the rounds in most critics’ top-ten lists for the year, receiving a lot of Best Picture buzz and wins around awards’ circles.  And the credit is most certainly due.  This film is razor-sharp.

Jeremy Renner (28 Weeks Later) shows off some acting chops as Sgt. William James, the new team leader of a group of bomb diffusers operating in Iraq.  He has two other soldiers working with him to provide his cover fire as he dresses himself in a protective bombsuit to disarm the weapons.  His rogue-like ways soon test the other members’ trust in their squad-leader, and the risk of their already-dangerous job increases.

This film has a superior director in Kathryn Bigelow, whose amazing talent and feel for the material makes for a truly ambitious film.  Her movie captures much of the action ‘pow’ while keeping it in a realistic, intense, and intelligent environment.  The actors help, especially Jeremy Renner whose performance has received a good deal of attention.  While the film caught critics’ attention last year at film festivals, it is finally earning its keep this year.  Granted, the film didn’t get enough exposure or box office performance to find a Best Picture Oscar, but the Academy nominations are certain, and Bigelow might walk away with a much-deserved “Best Director” statue if she can fend off former hubby Jim Cameron and his “Avatar” opus.  “The Hurt Locker” is easily one of the best war films of the last decade, and I’m glad to see it finding the recognition it’s received this year. 

[Rating:4/5]

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Desperado

January 19, 2010 by

DesperadoAfter cutting his cinematic teeth with the low-budget film El Mariachi, director Robert Rodriguez gained some clout and influence to complete the next chapter in his series about the mysterious Mariachi–the musician with a mysterious past who exacts vengeance with weapons stored in a guitar case.  For the follow-up story he was able to hire some A-level acting talent including Steve Buscemi, Quentin Tarantino, and even Cheech Marin, while also introducing American audiences to famous latin actors like Joaquim de Almeida, Salma Hayek, and yes, Antonio Banderas (who has hardly done any Spanish films since).  Along with the higher caliber of acting, Desperado boasts other improvements like insane gunfights, big explosions, and, in some parts, some exceptional cinematography.  But is it a better film than El Mariachi?  That’s a tough one to answer.

El Mariachi introduced us to the guitar player who lost everything, including the woman he loved, at the hands of a brutal Mexican druglord.  It was a gripping tale, if poorly acted and haphazardly edited.  Desperado is simply a tale of revenge, with the Mariachi out for blood for pretty much the duration of the film.  Having already hit rock bottom, he is now out to get the people who shot his would-be girlfriend at the end of the last movie.  But to tell the story this time around, Rodriguez uses some tricks from the first movie including a case of mistaken identity, a very similar love story, and a video game-like body count on the way to the final showdown with the drug lord at the end of the movie.  While Banderas does an exceptional job at playing the vengeful but vulnerable Mariachi, his character doesn’t show the depth of his counterpart from the first movie.  He is conflicted about his mission to kill, but with so many repeated elements from the first movie, his character doesn’t have the same weight as the original.

Desperado Antonio Banderas

The Mariachi...a Mexican Dirty Harry?

Even though the production values are ramped up significantly in Desperado, I think it’s also one of the films downfalls too.  Rodriguez stages an intensely frantic gunfight near the beginning of the movie, but the violence is so over-the-top that it almost turns into a cartoon.  The Mariachi, having attended the Jack Bauer School of Bullet Dodging (i.e. just standing there), in well-nigh invulnerable while being shot at with all manner of weaponry from dozens of bar patrons.  Not only does he escape without a scratch, he at one point shoots his handguns while flicking his wrists at right angles.  It’s stylish, I guess, but comes across as silly more than anything.  The same goes for other action scenes in this movie:  stylish but cliché or devoid of much substance.  There’s even a wow-I-didn’t-see-that-coming scene where the Mariachi and his new squeeze Carolina (Salma Hayek) walk away from an explosion.  In fact, the entire ending shootout becomes so ridiculous that it actually undermines any semblance of seriousness that Rodriguez might have created throughout the rest of the film.  The Mariachis friends show up to help him battle another legion of henchmen, only these guys have guitar cases with fully automatic rifles and rocket launchers inside (and to reload? Just give the case a quick jolt upwards by the handle!).

In many ways, Desperado is kind of like the Special Editions of Star Wars:  the originals were fine without all the excess CGI glommed on, and here it’s as if Rodriguez is so eager to show off his new bag of cinematic tricks that he forgets to craft a truly compelling story-driven narrative.  It’s not that the movie isn’t a good action movie, it’s just that’s kind of all it is:  just another action movie.

Rating:[Rating:3/5]

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Sherlock Holmes

January 16, 2010 by

The other big release living in James Cameron’s shadow over the holiday season, “Sherlock Holmes” pits Robert Downey, Jr. in the titular, brilliant detective character, this time in a 2009 F/X-filled upgrade courtesy of Guy Ritchie.

The plot is a little shaky, but seems to involve the sorcerer Lord Blackwood’s attempt to take over the world in all-too-evil fashion.  After his capture and sentenced hanging early on, he returns from the grave to entice the interest of the doubting Detective Holmes and his most trusted counterpart Watson (Jude Law) to investigate.

Law and Downey have a real chemistry here, consistently delivering the laughs and swashbuckling fun. In fact, this end-of-the-decade rendition of the classic character is both unlike anything audiences have seen before and perfectly suitable. The film boasts an infectious “Pirates of the Caribbean” vibe, and Downey is always worth the watch.  Having recently jump-started his career again, it’s a pleasure to see the talented A-lister swashbuckling his way through this fast and often funny adventure film. But to my digress, the film has the wrong director: Guy Ritchie. He takes a lot of directorial nods from his “Rock N Rolla” and “Snatch” to deliver a confusing, almost uninteresting narrative.  The plot never kept me involved, even when the set pieces and two lead actors did.  With that said, the action and comedy deliver for the most part, and for that reason “Holmes” will be a fun time for most, you will just wonder what’s going on.  I have to express my minor disappointment, but nonetheless, I am looking forward to a more engaging sequel.

[Rating:2.5/5]

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The Book of Eli

January 16, 2010 by

Denzel Washington strays from his recent Tony Scott thrillers (Deja Vu, Pelham 123) to participate in an odd post-apocalyptic tale (yes, another one of those).  While I think much of the audience interested in this film already knows what Denzel’s “Eli” character is protecting as he wanders through what’s left of Earth’s wasteland following a nuclear fallout, I will refrain from revealing the big mystery.

With “The Road,” “Terminator Salvation,” “2012,” “I am Legend” and even “Wall-E,” audiences have seen the end of the world quite a bit lately.  “The Book of Eli” fits right in.  While this film deserves to be stronger than it is, the Hughes Bros. (absent for a decade) deliver a gutsy, expensive mainstream movie.  The set design is amazing–you can definitely tell lots of studio money went into this one.  The action sequences are sharp, bloody, and stinging.  Some of the flick feels a little generic, but I expected as much.  While it won’t be the post-apocalyptic film to remember, it is a challenging and consistently entertaining film with the likes of Denzel Washington (in a refreshing out-there movie for him, even if he often settles back into “Man in Fire” mode) and Gary Oldman (back to his smarmy evil best).  The action delivers, and while the message of it is certainly obtuse, “The Book of Eli” is a daring offering considering its subject matter.

[Rating:3/5]

Filed Under: Action, Drama Tagged With: , , ,

El Mariachi

January 8, 2010 by

I haven’t seen many films directed by Robert Rodriguez, which may come as a bit of a surprise to some who know my penchant for action and adventure films.  Nevertheless, for whatever reason, I’m just not very familiar with Rodriguez, despite his prominence as a filmmaker.  I know he directed Desperado, a prominent action movie that launched the American career of Antonio Banderas.  I also know he and erstwhile pal Quentin Tarantino have collaborated on a few projects.  And I saw From Dusk till Dawn about 15 years ago, if that counts for anything.  And so it was from this framework that I figured I’d give some of his movies a shot and see what happens.

To start things off I watched El Mariachi, the first full-length movie Robert Rodriguez directed.  In fact, he wrote, directed, edited, and did much of the crew work himself because the meager budget of $7,000 (financed chiefly through Rodriguez’ participation in a medical study) just didn’t allow for much else.  And while El Mariachi is far from great, it’s a good example of professio ex adversum:  art from adversity.  What Rodriguez lacked in anything resembling production value, he made up for with a captivating central character, an interesting story, and a fast-paced directing style that keeps things interesting and engaging for much of the picture.

The film tells the story of a young Mexican guitar player (Carlos Gallardo) who has set out on his own to find fame and fortune as a mariachi.  He ends up in a sleepy town where the locals mistake him for a killer who dresses in black and carries a guitar case full of weapons.  Realizing that people are after him, the Mariachi decides that hiding out isn’t much of an option, so he finds ways to fight back, sometimes with bloody results.  He also befriends a local woman named Domino who works as a bartender and also has some interesting ties to a drug lord who is connected to the real killer.  It’s an interesting story with a few twists along the way and a surprising ending to boot, and all in all a pretty solid canvas for Rodriguez to paint some compelling action scenes and build a few interesting characters along the way.

The damsel in distress: He's going to scare her with what is clearly a 25-cent cap gun.

While it might be easy to dismiss El Mariachi as a bit too cheesy, a bit too low-budget, and certainly lacking in grandiose Hollywood-style explosions and slow-motion gunslinging scenes, I admire Rodriguez for putting together a fast-paced action film despite the odds against him.  The efficiency with which he tells the story is striking:  we know very little about the Mariachi (who, incidentally, has no name in the movie) but his story is compelling nonetheless.  He and Domino have a relationship that is believable, if far from actually being romantic.  And the action scenes with shootouts in bars and the city streets are surprisingly effective thanks to Rodriguez’ solid cutting and editing even though the weapons and blood squibs are so obviously fake.

And so on its own the film is just average, while at times borderline cheesy.  But as a film that was crafted with passion and dedication despite all odds against the director, it’s practically astounding.  I’m anxious to see Desperado now, the follow-up film that made Rodriguez a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood.

Rating:[Rating:3.5/5]

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