Skyfall (***1/2)

Until recently, I had never especially cared for the James Bond series. It all seemed little cartoonish, and the various post-Sean Connery, pre-Daniel Craig Bonds seemed a bit too self-satisfied for my taste. But with Casino Royale, which made Agent 007 a little dirtier, a little sweatier, and, of course, unlucky in love (not sex), I was won over. The newest film, is, for at least the first half, the equal of that first Craig film. The opening is nearly as good as any chase sequence I’ve seen, with Bond tracking a computer drive, and the man carrying it, on a variety of wheeled vehicles, most notably a backhoe, while destroying much of Istanbul. The drive has the identities of secret agents on it; unlike other opening sequences, the chase sets up the rest of the movie.

Along with most of the other action, it’s highly improbable, but not obviously ridiculous. The primary villain, played by Javier Bardem with a blond dye job, verges on the cartoonish, but with certain human emotions and motivations. At times, the film both harkens back to the series’ past or consciously turns in a new direction. Nods to the past include the return, after an absence, of the character Q (Ben Whishaw), now retooled as the now-familiar type of the computer geek. Judi Dench again plays M; the character has a heightened role in the plot. At the same time, a scene in which Bond employs a simple radio-beacon device subtly mocks the reliance of earlier installments on elaborate gadgetry. This Bond does not order that his martini be “shaken not stirred,” but does take a picturesque drive in his Aston Martin.

But the most notable thing remains the Craig/Bond persona. He is not cocky, or especially debonair, at least compared to, say, Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan; his characteristic expression is somewhere between dour and thoughtful, rarely smiling, never smirking. The toughness and physicality recollects Connery, but I doubt if anyone would have spoken of the 1960s model as having “unresolved childhood trauma,” as happens here. Moreover, Connery would not have been seen with gray stubble, as Craig is. He’s taken some time off, for reasons the opening makes clear, and gotten rusty enough that he has to pause and rest his hand while clinging to the bottom of an elevator in a Shanghai high-rise.

While Casino Royale was adapted from an Ian Fleming story, and Quantum of Solace directly related to events in that movie, the story here stands alone. Screenplay credit goes to Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who’ve collaborated on all Bond films from 1999’s The World Is Not Enough on, and Josh Logan (Hugo), with Sam Mendes (American Beauty) directing. Ralph Fiennes, as a British spy chief, and Naomie Harris, as a field agent who appears in the opening and later, are welcome cast additions with, it appears, recurring roles. Harris and Craig share some of the wittiest banter in the movie, but French actress Bérénice Marlohe, appears as the more traditional Bond girl. It would give away a plot point to say why her character arc is slightly distasteful, but in any case “romance” is a small part of the plot. After a nice sequence in a Shanghai skyscraper, the action flags in the middle before the literally explosive conclusion, whose setting finally explains the title.

IMDb link

viewed 11/17/12 11:50 am at Riverview and reviewed 11/18–25/12

The Invasion (**3/4)

Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig star in the fourth filmed adaptation of Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers. The first two, both called Invasions of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978) are considered sci-fi classics or near classics, but this is a new adaptation rather than a remake per se. So gone are the pod people. Replacing them are the virus people who become infected after a space shuttle crash. Since our heroes are a psychiatrist and a scientist, they figure out quicker than some that something weird is happening to the people around them. A contagious, but menacing, calm pervades. Worry turns to fear, and fear fights with restlessness, since the virus takes hold during sleep.

The movie was reportedly the subject of a studio hatchet job. Warner Brothers replaced nominal director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) with James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), who shot new action scenes. While the resulting film is perfectly coherent and reasonably entertaining, parts seem out of place. What’s the point of the scene where the two stars discuss whether they’ll be friends or lovers, when the issue never comes up again and has no effect on the plot? Presumably the execs figured they could deep six most of the existential shit, throw in a few action scenes, and convince people that this was the next summer popcorn flick. Judging by the opening weekend grosses, it didn’t work. More to the point, the movie is caught midway between two visions. The action stuff is okay but seems to have come at the expense of further exploring the single idea in the film. That is, can humanity’s most destructive instincts be overcome without also destroying creativity and individuality?

This Invasion should be all about building upon this theme and ratcheting up the silent paranoia that grips the uninfected. But, just like with that disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow, large chunks of time are spent on a parent trying to rescue a trapped kid. Will even one person watch this movie and think, hey maybe Nicole won’t be able to save her pre-teen son from being turned into an automaton by her evil ex-husband? You’ve got the whole world being threatened—show that, show what the government is doing, show what people in Tokyo, or Johannesburg, are doing. All we get is meager media reports.

The saving virtues are that the characters are mostly believable, their behavior doesn’t seem false, and in certain places the climate of dread is appropriately reproduced. But the paradox in the movie, the way the infected don’t seem to mind, is the fascinating thing that is barely explored. Thus the little what if epilogue will probably produce more mild shrugs than dropping jaws.

IMDB link

reviewed 8/23/07

Grindhouse (**3/4)

? Writer-directors Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and Quentin Tarentino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) indulge their love of 1970s exploitation films with this double feature that includes intentionally “damaged” film, fake retro trailers, and other bits meant to re-create the ambience of a beat-up old theater in the pre-megaplex era. The two features are Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, a zombie flick, and Tarentino’s Death Proof, a girls-night-out adventure culminating in a car chase, with Kurt Russell playing a mysterious, has-been stuntman. A few of the actors, like Planet Terror star Rose McGowan, show up in both halves of Grindhouse.
+ Really the appeal of both movies is in nostalgia. Both movies are apparently set today (judging by the cell phones both plots employ), but everything else feels deliberately old-fashioned, including the special effects. This makes the zombie stuff look more cheesy, and the car-chase stuff more realistic. That was among the reasons I liked Tarentino’s half better, but the main one was that where Rodriguez’s film is a straight homage, Tarentino’s movie blends the sensibility of his earlier works with a car chase that, while not the best I’ve seen, has some unusual elements that help make it a little different than something I’d have seen on a UHF station late at night 25 years ago. In addition to better characters and more compelling dialogue, Death Proof shows off the director’s quirky side, such as his affinity for forgotten pop and soul gems. (Kudos to Rodriguez, too, for writing his own score.) As in the talkier parts of Pulp Fiction, Tarentino blends in lots of stuff that doesn’t advance the plot, simply because it’s interesting.
- Aside from the retro appeal, and the innovation of having a machine gun used as an artificial leg, I found Rodriguez’s half of the movie pretty tedious, exactly like I probably would watching some of the bad 1970s movies that probably inspired it. Death Proof barely has a plot at all, but it partly makes up for it with other elements.
= **3/4 overall. (Slightly upgraded for the clever concept.) Planet Terror **1/4 I guess your opinion of Rodriguez’s half depends a lot on your reaction to the phrase “typical zombie movie.” It’s not my favorite genre, I’ll confess. Death Proof *** For those who like Tarentino’s quirkier side, or pre-CGI car chases, or both.

[reviewed 4/26/07]