Morgan Freeman

Eyegasmic ‘Oblivion’ With Tom Cruise Wins Your Optics, But Loses Your Brain

HollywoodChicago.com — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:21:14 -0400

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “Oblivion” is a Pyrrhic victory that wins its battle, but loses the overall war. While this is the kind of visual production value you’d expect on a $120 million budget, an ostentatious steak dinner in the special effects department never makes up for a story that tastes more like cheap ramen noodles.

In an expensive film of this grandiose scale, neither can it afford to insult you with oversimplification nor overly complicate itself beyond your ability to reasonably comprehend it. While “Oblivion” from “TRON: Legacy” director Joseph Kosinski definitely doesn’t pander to the simple minded, its slipshod story devolves into a sci-fi discombobulation that gets lost in its own twists and turns.

Jack (Tom Cruise) cautiously approaches a drone in “Oblivion”.
Image credit: David James, Universal Studios

“Oblivion” draws inspiration from more than two handfuls of other major films. For starters, “Prometheus” – though its story line is literally in another world – feels similar to “Oblivion” in terms of its majestic environments and its overall loneliness. Though both films feature vast imaginary lands with few primary characters, “Prometheus” succeeds in one key area where “Oblivion” fails: it inspires you to ask questions.

When “Oblivion” complicates itself with two Tom Cruises and two Melissa Leos and how they interact with one other, you might be willing to remain misunderstood without caring to find a clear understanding. By contrast, a film like “Prometheus” – or other sci-fi masterpieces like “Star Trek,” “Star Wars” and “Alien” – inspires you to question deeply controversial curiosities about science, god, religion, faith and other lifelong debates.

Olga Kurylenko in “Oblivion”.
Image credit: Universal Pictures

In “Oblivion,” all along you get the feeling you’re dealing with an “I, Robot”- or “Eagle Eye”-esque artificially intelligent supercomputer that’s barking out commands from the mother ship. And in “Oblivion,” it’s hard to enjoy Melissa Leo’s Sally character because you have to constantly question why Andrea Riseborough’s Victoria and Tom Cruise’s Jack never do.

Victoria and Jack – and Olga Kurylenko’s delightful Julia – are among a handful of people left on Earth. They feel bored while carrying out just two remaining weeks of their unnecessary clean-up mission to fix drones that are battling mysterious “scavengers”. The rest of the human race is on a space station waiting to be shipped off to a moon on Saturn or they’re already there.

The Bubbleship rests on its launch pad at Skytower in “Oblivion”.
Image credit: Universal Pictures

Nevermind the weak back story of why humans had to ditch our planet in the first place. Nevermind the understanding of what these “scavs” are. And nevermind the fact that we never feel like the film’s primary characters still need to be on Earth in the first place while they do pointless things that just give the film an outlet for spending its $120 million production budget.

Sure, “Oblivion” certainly invokes “Star Wars”-esque fly scenes. “Oblivion” features a couple scenes in particular that blow even “Star Wars” out of the water with a Tom Cruise-driven spaceship versus mechanized drones. This film literally looked fun to be among the conceptual designers who created the futuristic weapons, communication technologies, floating houses, spacecraft and costuming.

But in place of anything “Oblivion” offered up as eye candy, I wanted just one thing it never made me feel: curiosity.

Andrea Riseborough in “Oblivion”.
Image credit: Universal Pictures

The film is billed with Tom Cruise as the lead and you know the Morgan Freeman name, but that’s misconceiving. It’s really all eyes on Tom Cruise with co-stars Melissa Leo and, most importantly, Olga Kurylenko. While Freeman never disappoints in his own abilities to absorb a character, he’s much too easily forgotten in his “Oblivion” role as Beech. The film’s writers are to blame.

“Oblivion” is Joseph Kosinski’s product. He serves as director, writer, producer and comic book guy, too. But unlike in “The Shawshank Redemption,” which wouldn’t have been anything without Freeman, this time Freeman could have been someone else and we’d have been fine with it. He neither adds to nor detracts from the film, which ultimately leaves his presence a disappointment because we should have gotten much more mileage out of him.

Tom Cruise (left) is grilled by Beech (Morgan Freeman) in “Oblivion”.
Image credit: David James, Universal Studios

Olga Kurylenko, on the other hand, can be newly seen in “To the Wonder”. If you’re not yet aware of her, you will be now and you’d better pay attention. She’s a star who captures your eye, curiosity and your heart in her co-starring “Oblivion” and “To the Wonder” roles.

In all, “Oblivion” features a grade “A” special effects department, lead actor and supporting characters – but its steam dissipates within a grade “C” script that should have spent much more time understanding the plot successes of the gold-standard sci-fi classics.

“Oblivion” stars Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo, Zoe Bell, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Abigail Lowe, Isabelle Lowe and David Madison from writer, director and producer Joseph Kosinski and writer Michael Arndt and Karl Gajdusek based on the comic book by Joseph Kosinski and Arvid Nelson. The film, which has a running time of 126 minutes an opened on April 19, 2013, is rated “PG-13” for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language and some sensuality and nudity.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Gerard Butler Stars in Violent, Stupid ‘Olympus Has Fallen’

BrianTT — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:37:56 -0400

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Antoine Fuqua’s “Olympus Has Fallen” (or “Die Hard in the White House”) is a stupid, exploitative movie that wants to be “Call of Duty: Black Ops” in film form but ends up more like one of its countless, ineffective rip-offs. There are moments of goofy, B-movie fun (certainly more of them than in the much-worse “A Good Day to Die Hard”) but not enough to get over the brutal nonsense that makes up most of this action flick. Extremely violent and insensitive given the attacks on Washington on 9/11, “Olympus Has Fallen” just isn’t as much as fun as the best “Die Hard” rip-offs and so it becomes just another loud, annoying wannabe.

Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a loyal protector and friend not just to President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) but his entire family, including son Connor (Finley Jacobsen). When a severely tragic event scars Banning, he’s forced to leave the President’s side and take a desk job in the Treasury Department. Trying to heal his emotional scars with the support of the lovely Leah (Radha Mitchell), Banning’s life is forever changed on the day that the United States is attacked in a way that makes what happened on 9/11 look like a warm-up.

Olympus Has Fallen
Photo credit: Film District

First, a plane armed with heavy machine guns sprays bullets into the National Mall in D.C. before destroying the Washington Monument in a sequence that should put a lot of viewers on edge. I’ll never forget the articles after 9/11 that suggested that the disaster would forever change the way we looked at action movies. Just over a decade later, a foreign plane is being crashed into a landmark in Washington, D.C. and innocent people are being sprayed with bullets in an escapist action film. I will say that most of the action is so over-the-top that no one can really take it seriously as exploitation but if you’re at all sensitive to that kind of thing, you may want to consider an alternate.

It turns out that the chaos in D.C. has been organized with a very specific target in mind. The North Koreans are taking the White House. A heavily armed ground force takes the lawn, killing the White House guards and heading into the building. By having an agent on the inside, the nefarious terrorist Kang (Rick Yune) gets into the bunker with the President, Secretary of Defense (Melissa Leo), Vice President (Phil Austin), and a selection of other government employees for the writers to kill off in brutal ways. Kang and his team want to start World War III. Negotiating on the outside is the man now forced to be sitting President, Speaker of the House Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs (Angela Bassett), and General Edward Clegg (Robert Forster). And, of course, there’s Agent Banning who can save the world on his own.

There are shoot-outs in “Olympus Has Fallen” that are undeniably well-choreographed. That’s impossible to deny. And Butler makes for an engaging lead, spurting out “Die Hard”-esque quips with more energy than Bruce Willis in his latest installment and handling the physical demands of the role with ease. Eckhart makes for a believably square-jawed Commander in Chief, Freeman is well-cast as the kind of leader we wish we had, and Bassett & Leo are simply too good for these parts, just reminding people how difficult it is for actresses of their age to get decent roles (Leo, in particular, is stunningly wasted given her recent Oscar win).

Olympus Has Fallen
Photo credit: Film District

The problem is that “Olympus Has Fallen” is total nonsense on a plot and dialogue level. I compared it to “Call of Duty: Black Ops” in the intro but in case you’re unfamiliar with those games, character and anything approaching believability are afterthoughts. I wouldn’t have minded if Fuqua and the team behind “Olympus” had gone for straight-up, B-movie silliness but then, judged on that level, the movie just isn’t fun enough. There aren’t nearly enough interesting set-pieces, the plot is surprisingly predictable (the one character who ends up being a traitor might as well have the word tattooed on his forehead), and, once again, that nagging sensation that entertainment based on a bloody, brutal attack on the White House that takes hundreds of innocent lives is kind of in bad taste.

Ultimately, “Olympus Has Fallen” is more forgettable than horrendous. Fuqua knows how to stage an action movie and Butler knows how to lead one. The supporting cast is ridiculously strong with the two Oscar winners (Leo & Freeman) and great character actors like Forster and Cole Hauser. With all of the talented people involved, I kept wishing I was enjoying it more, trying to make excuses for it. I ran out of them before Agent Manning could save the day.

”Olympus Has Fallen” stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Dylan McDermott, Rick Yune, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, and Radha Mitchell. It was written by Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt and directed by Antoine Fuqua. It will be released on March 22, 2013 and is rated R.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Adam Fendelman: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Realizes Nolan’s Trifecta: One of History’s Greatest Trilogies

HollywoodChicago.com — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 00:08:46 -0400

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO (No-Spoiler Promise!) – In a Hollywood test tube, pour one part Michael Bay and his pure “Transformers” eye candy plus another part Quentin Tarantino with his rich writing and masterful characters. The resulting mutation is Christopher Nolan and his near-perfect Batman conclusion – “The Dark Knight Rises” – to one of the greatest trilogies of all time.

Complimented with some of the world’s best-known and most-loved superhero characters from DC Comics, we have Bob Kane to blame for his epic concoction. Kane created his Batman amalgamation from a combination of Zorro (a wealthy playboy/masked hero), the Shadow (a dark superhero) and Dracula (a bat-like creature). But even Batman – as we especially see in “The Dark Knight” and now “The Dark Knight Rises” – is only as strong as his most villainous horror.

Tom Hardy as Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Image credit: Ron Phillips, DC Comics

Since 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” “Rises” four years later always faced one major mountain: bringing to life an antihero as flawless as the late Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning Joker.

Tom Hardy’s Bane had monstrous shoes to fill. “Rises” would have failed miserably had Hardy – who you sometimes can’t understand, by design, through his pain-relieving mask – not converted that mountain into such a beautiful nightmare. The result is two consecutive Batman films turning in two of the most memorable, most terrifying, most “R”-feeling villains for a “PG-13” film.

This film needn’t intoxicate the blockbuster-hungry masses with skin, smut nor language. Rather, intense sequences of joy-riding violence and menacing action shots more titanic than you’ve ever seen will both earn awe-inspiring respect from teenagers and adults while simultaneously giving serious caution to parents about bringing any kid aged 10 to 13.

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Image credit: Ron Phillips, DC Comics

The third time around, Nolan bests even himself from two earlier films while his aggression translates into over-the-top Hollywood spectacle. Because of it, we can forgive some holes.

Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman instantly knows how to ride the intricate Batpod, which can roll its tires over and immediately turn at 90-degree angles? (Ridiculously sweet effect, by the way, along with the flying Batplane.) And a weak, out-of-commission Batman visits a doctor after eight years who says his body has degenerated. Suddenly, though, he’s able to don his familiar Batman suit even though he’s intrinsically constructed to be weaker than Bane?

Breathe. Forgive. In Nolan we trust. To understand Nolan is to understand what women want (which men clearly can’t do). But this much is certain: Nolan is as much about story – if not more so – as he is about direction and colossal Hollywood spectacle. You can literally feel the insanity he went through while intricately penning this, which culminates a whirlwind of franchise history with his own masterfully unexpected twists and turns.

The Bat in “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Love it or not – and most everyone will – Nolan’s pigeonholed into bigger, better and faster so much so that sometimes he loses discretion and an ability to hold back.

While I personally wouldn’t have amped down a single moment of intensity in a film that barely allows you to breathe from second one through minute 164, not everyone can stomach it all. Real-life bloodshed in Colorado surrounding the film will be forever coupled with this film like 9/11 has been etched into the American consciousness.

But the most important decision you can make about whether or not to experience Batman’s protective reign over Gotham – drawn out of cavernous hibernation by Bane after eight years – isn’t if you should see the film. When you do – because you know you want to regardless of what I say or any of the few dozen critics whose lives have literally been threatened on the fruit-flinging site Rotten Tomatoes for thinking it rotten – you need only decide where.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake in “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Image credit: Ron Phillips, DC Comics

Allow me to make that choice stupid simple: IMAX or not at all. Nolan manically shot nearly half of “Rises” using hulking IMAX cameras. The 70-millimeter frame of the go-big-or-go-home format is 10 times the size of standard movie film. Nolan also demanded of Warner Bros. to distribute his epic finale in 100 IMAX theatres minimum that project it on actual film rather than the code-based digital medium that has been steadily superseding celluloid.

And it’s for sound reason, too, because experiencing this cinematic behemoth on a standard theatrical screen is like recreating “The Godfather” with high school theatre students. Move over, 3D. The film was filmed in IMAX for IMAX screens. You’d might as well waste your time renting “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” at home if you don’t slurp this one in on the projector we could see on Earth from its beam of light on the moon.

IMAX footage consumes more than 60 minutes of this majesty and therefore liberates it – yielding exactly what a moviegoer feels. Never before has IMAX been as critical to a film’s narrative. Seeing it any other way is like closing one eye on one of the film’s most important characters.

Tom Hardy as Bane (left) and Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman in “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Image credit: Ron Phillips, DC Comics

At the global box office, anything less than $1 billion will be underwhelming. Though apples to “The Avengers” oranges, that Marvel film has put up $1.4 billion and “Rises” needs to knock closely on its door. All in all, if “Batman Begins” or “The Dark Knight” didn’t earn your pledge to at least respect other Batman fanatics, “The Dark Knight Rises” will. You’ll now believe in Batman, and in 2012, you’ll finally feel like you’ve just witnessed one of the biggest movies you’ve ever seen.

“The Dark Knight Rises” stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Liam Neeson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Juno Temple, Alon Aboutboul, Nestor Carbonell, Tom Conti, Josh Pence, Aidan Gillen, Joey King, Matthew Modine, Josh Stewart and Daniel Sunjata from writer and director Christopher Nolan and writer Jonathan Nolan. The film, which has a running time of 164 minutes and opened on July 20, 2012, is rated rated “PG-13” for intense sequences of violence and action, some sensuality and language.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Brian Tallerico: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Gives Fans Epic Conclusion to Beloved Trilogy

BrianTT — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:00:37 -0400

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – With “The Dark Knight Rises”, Christopher Nolan epically follows through on most of the themes he set up in “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” with amazing technical skill and an ambitious sense of scope. No one can deny the effort and intensity of this closing chapter of the most acclaimed superhero saga in the history of film. However, while this level of artistic integrity is rare in Hollywood blockbusters, it doesn’t always lead to a perfect final product. There is a fine line between epic majesty and self-indulgent bloat and “The Dark Knight Rises” crosses it at times. There is quite possibly a 5-star masterpiece within this film but a few of Nolan’s mistakes as a filmmaker counterbalance some of the many smart ones he has made along the production process of the entire trilogy.

“The Dark Knight Rises” plays with many of the same themes as the two films that came before it, most notably the role of an icon in the public eye and how image can mean as much as action. The image of the Batman can mean more to the people of a city like Gotham than what Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) actually does behind that mask. Conversely, a powerful anti-authority image can rally a population to anarchy. Ra’s Al Ghul in “Batman Begins,” The Joker in “The Dark Knight,” and Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises” – on many levels, these villains are cut from the same mold. They inspire people to follow them into the darkness through fear, intimidation, and control.

The Dark Knight Rises
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

We meet Bane, the big bad of “TDKR,” in a powerfully conceived opening sequence involving a plane hijacking. If The Joker was a symbol of chaos, Bane (Tom Hardy) is a symbol of brute force. He speaks through a Darth Vader-esque mask that we learn is basically keeping his face together after beatings he endured in a legendary prison, from which he was reportedly the only person to ever escape. He was born in Hell and he has emerged from it to bring pain to the citizens of Gotham. As conceived, Bane should be a powerful force of nature, an impending storm that sweeps over the film. As realized, he is less than that largely due to a series of poor design decisions (including his muffled audio and cartoonish accent) but also because he’s simply too talkative. With Bane, Nolan falls victim to monologue-ing. Bane would have been a significantly more powerful villain with half of the dialogue. He should have been an imposing figure instead of a talkative madman and it’s a major tonal mistake.

Luckily, Bane is only the least of a quartet of interesting new characters. Joining the familiar faces are Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Officer John Blake, a rookie who was once inspired by Wayne, and the great Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, a potential love interest for Bruce. What about Wayne himself? Well, he’s been living in the shadows for the years since the death of Harvey Dent and the demonization of Batman. Crime has come to a stop in Gotham. Batman isn’t needed. Life is but a song. And then Bane comes to town. Much of the joy in “The Dark Knight Rises” is in the way that Nolan weaves his characters in and out of his thematic fabric and so I’ll avoid any further plot details. Suffice to say that every character, including ones you know and love like Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), and Alfred (Michael Caine) will play a major role in how Nolan has envisioned the end of his trilogy.

The Dark Knight Rises
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

There’s no denying that “The Dark Knight Rises” is a striking technical accomplishment. It has the sweeping scope, courtesy of Wally Pfister’s fluid camera work and Hans Zimmer’s majestic score, befitting of a modern epic. And when the film does get action-packed, particularly in the final act, one is reminded that Nolan has a true gift for the genre. If none of the set pieces are as impressive as the parallel ones in the final act of “The Dark Knight,” it’s a minor complaint. This is still the kind of action movie that demands your rapt, edge-of-the-seat attention.

And it demands it for 164 minutes. In many ways, “The Dark Knight Rises” is ALL climax, since it’s designed to pay off the entire trilogy. Consequently, it leads to a disappointing repetition of tone. It is aggressive, in-your-face, and non-stop (I literally think the score takes a break once). Little moments of emotion (most effectively from Caine) and whimsy (most effectively from Hathaway) are too few and far between and it makes the film somewhat sterile overall. Even a brief moment of sexuality feels like it happens only because the power went out. Ultimately, I wanted more build or climb to the action when what Nolan delivers is essentially almost all peak of the mountain.

It’s not just in the plotting. Nolan repeats himself here – both trilogy-wide and within this film – more than he has before in his career. There are repetitive monologues and even what could be called a wholly unnecessary character (Matthew Modine’s cowardly cop, designed I believe as a counterpoint to Levitt but ill-conceived). I could cut twenty minutes from “The Dark Knight Rises” (half of Bane’s dialogue and almost all of Modine) and it would be a significantly more potent experience.

The Dark Knight Rises
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

At the same time, there are too many accomplishments here to just dismiss the film. There’s the aforementioned technical expertise on display, the ambitious thematic work across all three films, and, finally, the ensemble. Hathaway is very good (finding the right balance of sexuality and confidence for Catwoman) but the film belongs to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in many ways. He gives such a grounded, natural performance in the movie that he virtually pulls the movie’s more ridiculous moments down to Earth through his notable skill at being completely believable in the moment. After all is said and done, it’s his work that is the most memorable element of the most high profile film of the year.

There seems to be a pressing desire on the part of many critics and fans anticipating “The Dark Knight Rises” to proclaim it as either amazing or disappointing. It’s almost as if people can’t admit that it’s neither. It’s a powerful film from one of our most interesting filmmakers, a fitting end to what will be a wildly influential trilogy, but it’s also a flawed work, more so than most of Christopher Nolan’s films to date. This gifted director has worked through his stunningly ambitious reimagining of the legend of one of fiction’s most striking characters and, as much fun as it’s been, I’m looking forward to seeing what he does out of the shadow of the bat.

“The Dark Knight Rises” stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Modine, and Gary Oldman. It was written by Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan and directed by Christopher Nolan. It is released on July 20, 2012 and is rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Patrick McDonald: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is Glorious Epic of Heroic Proportions

PatrickMcD — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:32:52 -0400

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Sound the gong for one of the best films of the summer, as “The Dark Knight Rises” delivers an awe-inspiring blockbuster on virtually every level of storytelling and performance. Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Christopher Nolan create grand, metaphoric and visionary cinema.

From the first flicker of a spectacular airplane hijack, to the rich and expressive conclusion, the Batman film again establishes a new high mark of this now peculiar genre of superhero movies. It deftly balances the wild psychological ramifications in The Batman character of protector, vigilante, fight expert and human being with the majestic action sequences, which fit perfectly within the context of a story that makes the strange cityscape of Gotham emblematic of our current fears and expectations.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has retired The Batman in the eight years since he defeated The Joker, and is still used as a scapegoat in the death of “Two-Face” Harvey Dent. Gotham City exploits Dent’s memory as a excuse to virtually eliminate crime in the city, by using extreme incarceration and laws that suppress due process. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) is put front and center with the success, and keeps the truth about The Batman’s role in Dent’s demise to himself. There is one cop named Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who becomes a skeptic, and his origin and obsessions match Gotham’s caped crime fighter.

Confrontation: Bane (Tom Hardy) and The Batman (Christian Bale) in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Two new villains are on the horizon. The vicious Bane (Tom Hardy) and a mysterious master cat burglar named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway). Both spur Bruce Wayne to end his retirement of The Batman, much to the chagrin of his caregiver Alfred (Michael Caine). But this re-emergence is fraught with uncertainty, having to do with a failed invention of Wayne Enterprises – created by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) – that Bane wants to possess. In the confrontation between The Batman and Bane, the hero will be challenged to again save Gotham City, if only he can save himself.

In the realm of the superhero film, the reason the Dark Knight series advances beyond the the others in the genre is that it relies on an insane, dark soul to figure out what is appropriate to satisfy The Batman’s obsessive revenge motivation, which often has nothing to do with the outside evil he fights. This psychosis is familiar to anybody who has struggled to do the right thing, because the right thing often changes and blurs as society reflects itself in the mirror. The genius of brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s screenplay, and Christopher Nolan’s direction, is that they make all the characters look in that mirror and in many cases go through it.

Another key is the casting. Christian Bale is an absolute honest performer as Bruce/Batman, and he has to carry the film much more broadly than in “The Dark Knight.” He is put through a ringer in this one, but here is much more nimble with the character. Anne Hathaway, who took some fanboy scorn when she was cast as Selina Kyle, is tart and salacious as basically a thief who has to come in from the cold. Michael Caine gets to show off his chops, and even gets a couple scenes that are a reminder of his suave movie characters. Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the little-seen-lately Matthew Modine, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard and villain Tom Hardy all have their place in the Gotham universe, and all bring fresh and exciting takes to the often overwrought supporting roles in superhero movies.

What may be most impressive is the symbolism that is woven into every scene. The “rising” of the Dark Knight immediately brings to mind Jesus, but Bruce Wayne’s resurrection comes after many more trials and crucifixions. The villain Bane, in his rampage, wants to take Gotham City back for the “people,” but squelches dissent through intimidation and kangaroo courts, that asks the prosecuted to cross over a frozen river in exile. These quasi-religious and governmental themes resonate without interfering in a story that seeks to bring those themes to evolution.

Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) Rides into View in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

And finally, it’s a monumental comic book story, the kind that redefined the landscape in the early 1970s, matured in the 1980s with the Dark Knight books by Frank Miller and is brought into focus in the previous film entries, “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” As “The Dark Knight Rises” culminated like grand opera, with each character trying to understand their place in this Gotham state of being, my tears flowed like I was experiencing the final aria, as my youthful comic book love was nurtured anew and blossomed again from under the hard shell of my own darkness.

There is a foreign language chant in the film, one that is repeated over and over as an ultimate challenge is attempted within the story, one that is highly emblematic of everything the movies wants to accomplish. There is no surprise when the translation is revealed as “rise, rise, rise…”

“The Dark Knight Rises” opens everywhere on July 20th. Featuring Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Modine, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Screenplay by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Rated “PG-13”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Feel Goodness of ‘Dolphin Tale’ Overcomes Clichés

PatrickMcD — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 08:40:10 -0400

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – In the tradition of live-action Disney films of another era, “Dolphin Tale” wears its heart on its sleeve, while at the same time using the characters as two-dimensional window dressing around a based-on-truth story of humans and an animal bonding together to inspire a nation.

The truth is real – a dolphin named Winter accidently loses her tail, and without it faces a handicap that could lead to her demise. Dolphin Tale creates a fiction around that fact and has a boy bond with the animal, leading the adults to help her regain momentum. The film’s strength lies in using the real dolphin to illustrate its own journey and what she represents to inspire humans who have lost their limbs. The weakness is trying to shoehorn a number of well-intentioned fictional roles around her, who don’t accentuate much about the truth, and follow character roadmaps that have been seen before.

Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) is a 12 year old boy who is a mechanical tinkerer but doesn’t have much time for school. Banished to a summer of make-up classes by his mother Lorraine (Ashley Judd), he laments his fate on the Florida beaches where he lives. His favorite cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell) is also leaving for the army, and that pushes him deeper into his shell. Riding his bike one day, he comes upon a Dolphin who is caught in a crab trap, and helps to free it before the marine life rescue unit takes over.

Boy and His Dolphin: Nathan Gamble as Sawyer with Winter in ‘Dolphin Tale’
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

That unit is led by Dr. Clay (Harry Connick Jr.), who runs an institution that rehabilitates sea creatures and releases them back to their environs. The dolphin, named Winter by Dr. Clay’s daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), isn’t given much of a chance – the doctor had to amputate her swimming tail. When Sawyer visits Winter, Dr. Clay notices their bonding, and puts the boy on the rehab team. Sawyer also gets an idea. Dr. Cameron (Morgan Freeman), is working at the Veteran’s Hospital fitting prosthetics onto lost-limbed veterans (cousin Kyle has come back injured and is in the doctor’s care), and Sawyer asks if he can do the same for Winter’s tail. The rest is how man helps animal, and animal helps man.

This film is so earnest and purposeful that it’s hard to realize, again, that perhaps the real story would be more interesting than the flimsy fiction they have to build around it. Winter plays herself, and was obviously trained to do the “Flipper”-like antics that endears her to the adults, and the audience. A subplot is thrown in that the marine life institute is being threatened by developers, and the cousin Kyle story is awkwardly used as a accent to the dolphin’s struggle. The war where he gets his injuries is never mentioned, and his condition is “fixed” by a brace, with no indication of battle scars.

The acting comes off as wooden, even with the large contingent of notable performers. Ashley Judd is given little to do as mother Lorraine, except change her mind once she sees the benefit of Sawyer’s work with the institute. Kris Kristofferson plays Dr. Clay’s father, a role any older actor could have done, given the screen time and half dozen lines. Morgan Freeman is trying to play his role as written, that of a curmudgeonly VA doctor who doesn’t have time to help a “fish” – as he calls Winter – but in the end is smiling with everyone else.

This is just nitpicking. The movie was very similar in nature to the Disney live-action animal movies and TV shows like Flipper, in that the premise is all heart and family entertainment, and the subtlety of performance is secondary or in this case, not necessary. The fact that director Charles Martin Smith is using the actual dolphin who went through all the rehab and the use of the artificial tail, gives this adventure all the credence it needs. In a cold, cynical world, the connection between a dolphin and the boy who rescued her is a warm fuzzy slam dunk, and only a Scrooge would dare rain on that parade.

Doctor and Patient: Morgan Freeman as Dr. Cameron in ‘Dolphin Tale’
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Right before the credits roll, there is a video montage of Winter’s real story, that of several marine life experts bonding together to figure out how to get this intelligent creature back to her swimming ways. It parallels the movie, but there is something about the grainy, gritty video images that express the situation more starkly and in reality than the 3D film before it. It makes Winter that much more heroic.

This is exceptional entertainment for children, it speaks to their level of understanding about both the cruelty and sanctity of humans versus nature. Winter bonds with her new family, jumps through hoops and teaches that the joy of living is always available despite the obstacles any creature may encounter.

“Dolphin Tale” opens everywhere on September 23rd. See local listings for 3D showings. Featuring Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson, Frances Sternhagen and Morgan Freeman. Screenplay by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi. Directed by Charles Martin Smith. Rated “PG-13”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Talented Ensemble Wasted on Incredibly Dull ‘Red’

BrianTT — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:51:14 -0400

Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – They say you can learn as much from a bad movie as you can from a good one. If that’s true, what’s the lesson to be taken from the extremely boring and misguided “Red”? Perhaps that moviemaking is not the sum of its parts and that you can’t just get together an amazing cast, shout action, and expect magic.

There’s simply no denying that “Red” features a spectacular cast with Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Richard Dreyfuss, and Mary-Louise Parker, but the caliber of the ensemble almost makes the piece all the more baffling. What did they see in this script? If the film featured a B-level cast and was released straight-to-DVD, no one would give a damn about “Red” but when people this talented get together there’s an expectation of entertainment that this inert comic book adaptation just doesn’t deliver.

The most often-ridiculed genre used to be video-game-to-screen but we’re starting to develop a film festival from Hell of inferior films based on non-superhero comic books. Sliding just barely above the horrendous “The Losers,” “Red” is another graphic-novel adaptation about a group of killing machines fighting the man. But while films like “Watchmen” and “Wanted” sometimes stumbled due to an over-use of style, director Robert Schwentke goes the other way and develops absolutely no personality of its own. Most of the cast sleepwalks through the piece and except for a couple of clever shots that you’ve already seen in the preview, there’s nothing colorful about this mess.

Red
Photo credit: Summit Pictures

A half-asleep Bruce Willis stars as Frank Morris, a man who used to be one of the world’s deadliest but has been reduced to the boredom of everyday life in suburbia. Frank is so desperate to make a connection that he’s begun flirting with the representative (Mary-Louise Parker) who handles his pension and the two have developed a long-distance relationship of sorts. Before Frank can work up the courage to visit his phone buddy, he’s attacked by a group of masked men trying to kill him.

In the first of many “huh” decisions, Frank heads to Denver and essentially kidnaps his one remaining connection to the human world, assuming that the killers will next target her. The complete lack of chemistry between Willis and Parker would make this variation on “Knight and Day” unbearable alone but the pair is soon joined by the rest of the team known as “R.E.D.” (Retired, Extremely Dangerous).

Frank meets up with the cantankerous Joe (Morgan Freeman), the certifiable Marvin (John Malkovich), the flirtatious Russian agent Ivan (Brian Cox), and the smooth Victoria (Helen Mirren). The gang eventually crosses paths with a deadly younger agent (Karl Urban), a defense contractor (Richard Dreyfuss), and even the Vice President (Julian McMahon).

Red
Photo credit: Summit Pictures

On paper, it probably sounds great. But movies don’t exist on paper. Even with all of these super-talented people to watch, “Red” is an absolute bore. It’s one of those films that mistakes apathy for cool. With glacial pacing and so little character development that I longed to spend more time in the government basement with Ernest Borgnine just because he had a little personality, “Red” drags its feet from one action sequence to the next. And even the action sequences aren’t nearly memorable enough.

Director Schwentke and writers Jon and Erich Hoeber seem unwilling to take any risks with “Red.” They think that John Malkovich shooting a missile or Bruce Willis dodging the corner of a moving car are enough to keep viewers interested instead of, you know, things like tension, suspense, or sexual chemistry. To be blunt, I never gave a damn what was going to happen next in “Red.”

The biggest problem is that if a film is going to be as resolutely shallow as “Red,” then it needs to embrace its B-movie lack of depth and at least present a stylish exercise. There’s no depth to “Crank,” but at least there’s an attempt at something visceral; something that connects. With “Red,” it feels like there’s no attempt at all. So many films based on graphic novels value style over substance. “Red” went with the third option and chose neither.

‘Red’ stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Brian Cox, Julian McMahon, and Richard Dreyfuss. It was written by Jon and Erich Hoeber and directed by Robert Schwentke. It opens on October 15th, 2010. It is rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman Deliver Predictable Drama With ‘Invictus’

BrianTT — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:15:14 -0500

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Director Clint Eastwood has given up on subtlety, choosing instead to tell old-fashioned, direct stories with as much technical skill and dramatic competency as possible. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the legendary director’s “Invictus,” but it’s also not nearly as memorable or thrilling as it could have or, given the true story that it tells, should have been.

Personally, I find Eastwood the most interesting when he deals in gray moral situations like the ones at the core of “Mystic River,” “Unforgiven” or “Million Dollar Baby”. Lately, with films like “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Changeling,” “Gran Torino,” and, now, “Invictus,” there is no gray. He seems to have lost any interest at all in striking a subtle chord. Every single character development and plot turn is telegraphed in the previews and merely underlined by the film itself. It’s old-fashioned cinema and, in this case, it fits the dramatic beats more adequately than some of his recent work, but it never gets below the basic facts of what really happened to unearth the human story.

Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in Warner Bros. Pictures and Spyglass Entertainments drama Invictus, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
Photo credit: Keith Bernstein

“Invictus” opens with the release of Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) from prison and his rise to power as the leader of South Africa. When Mandela took power after the close of the apartheid era, the nation was wildly divided with may whites refusing to recognize his leadership and blacks seeking for a complete housekeeping of the country that kept them down for so long.

A symbol of the days of apartheid was the rugby team known as the Springboks. When Mandela attends a Springboks game and sees blacks rooting for their opponent, he realizes that there is political currency in this team of athletic young men. He could have (and was encouraged to) merely disband the team, but he realized that if he could get whites and blacks to cheer for them together that it would be a major step on the way towards honest unity in his country.

Mandela learns that the World Cup of rugby is to take place in South Africa in just a year and he contacts team captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) to encourage him to lead his team to victory by telling him of his concept of their social importance. Of course, “we could unite our people” is a pretty good locker room speech and Pienarr uses the backing of Mandela to inspire his team to greatness. “Invictus” is a sports movie where the team has “won” more when they build a united fan base more than when what happens in the big game.

Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar in Warner Bros. Pictures and Spyglass Entertainments drama Invictus, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
Photo credit: Keith Bernstein

Clearly, the true story of “Invictus” has inherent dramatic power, but you already know that even just from the plot description above. You could watch any ten minutes of “Invictus” and get what you need from it. The film has almost no rising action other than curiosity as to whether or not the Springboks won it all, but, as I mentioned, that’s not really socially important. Whether or not they took home the prize isn’t really relevant to what the team meant to a country at a crossroads. While a sports movie where winning isn’t essential to success makes for a socially interesting drama, it makes for something of an inert one. This is a film that could more accurately be called “interesting” than “inspiring”.

A few individual accomplishments help the film rise above the inadequacies of the dull script including the gravity and majesty that Freeman brings to Mandela and Tom Stern’s (a regular Eastwood collaborator) notable cinematography. They’ve both worked with Eastwood before and they deliver excellent work again. Damon is less memorable but that’s a product of the character and script more than the actor’s fault.

Ultimately, satisfaction with “Invictus” comes down to expectation. Eastwood tells an interesting story with technical proficiency and there are people who go to the movies looking for a predictable story that’s merely well told. On that level, the film works as a model of old-fashioned storytelling and there’s no reason to hate it. I just wish there was more reason to love it.

‘Invictus’ stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. It was written by Anthony Peckham and directed by Clint Eastwood. It opened on December 11th, 2009. It is rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

‘The Dark Knight’ Bestows Role of a Lifetime For Heath Ledger, Epic Proportions For Itself

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:01:00 -0400

Rating: 5.0/5.0
(rarely perfect)

CHICAGO – With only three short words comprising the film’s enigmatic title, “The Dark Knight” also boasts three epic claims to fame: the role of a lifetime for the late Heath Ledger as the hauntingly deranged Joker, one of the best films of 2008 and one of the greatest superhero films of all time.

In a year when Hollywood has the superhero woody comparable to when westerns were the greatest thing since sliced bread, “The Dark Knight” not only fares well against blockbuster competition with films like “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” but also manages to rise above chartbuster status into a whole new league of undisputed justice.

Heath Ledger stars as the Joker in “The Dark Knight”.
Photo credit: Warner Bros., copyright DC Comics

Though a decidedly dark and outcast Batman is the heart behind the marketing machine for “The Dark Knight” from writer and director Christopher Nolan (who also directed the film’s first iteration in 2005 entitled “Batman Begins”), Christian Bale in the seminal role as one of history’s most beloved characters has his show stolen by Ledger’s villain.

Christian Bale as Batman in “The Dark Knight”.
Photo credit: Warner Bros., copyright DC Comics

While to some it may be surprising to classify Bale’s performance as “B” list and Ledger’s as “A+” list, you almost feel modesty in Bale’s screen time to honor the true man of this film’s 142 minutes.

While “The Dark Knight” completed principal photography prior to Ledger’s death, Bale delivers an intricately muted role as compared to Ledger. While entwined with the power inherent in his superhero marauding, Bale’s also humbled from working with another man who was delivering the culmination of his life’s work.

Health Ledger disappears so convincingly and completely into the Joker that you struggle to remember him in anything else.

This is a telling testament to an illustrious – albeit too short – career of an actor who memorably broke free in transformative roles in films including “Brokeback Mountain”. Nolan – who for this film was significantly influenced by the 1995 film “Heat” – says he selected Ledger for the focal Joker role based on his “fearlessness”.

Ledger’s Joker is developed to the finest of details even down to his unruly tongue action and the sounds of his excess saliva. Moreover, Nolan and co-writing brother Jonathan Nolan (David S. Goyer was also integral in the film’s story) deliver to Ledger the best profundities of any talent in the star-studded film.

Christian Bale as Batman on his Batpod in “The Dark Knight”.
Photo credit: Warner Bros., copyright DC Comics

These include: “I use a knife because guns are too quick. Otherwise, you can’t savor all the emotions. You know who people are in their last moments [of life].” “It’s not about money. It’s about sending a message.” “I’m a dog chasing cars. I don’t have plans. I just do things. I’m not a schemer.” “This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.”

Eckhart is handed a literary gem, too: “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

In his beautifully deranged state of chaos and anarchy, the Joker even utters the cheesy “Jerry Maguire” line “you complete me” to Batman and follows with: “You’re just a freak – like me. You’ve been cast out like a leper.”

Michael Caine at Chicago’s Navy Pier for the red-carpet premiere of “The Dark Knight” on July 16, 2008. In the film, Caine plays Alfred Pennyworth.
Original photography for HollywoodChicago.com by Kris Kasperek of iKLiKphoto

We are not to forget that “The Dark Knight” won’t be the last time we see Ledger at work. Despite a threat to shut down the 2009 Terry Gilliam film “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” following Ledger’s death on Jan. 22, 2008 at the young age of 28, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell are completing with the assistance of some shrewd script rewrites.

But along with the glory of Ledger’s Joker – a performance that will remain throughout history as having trumped any iteration before him including interpretations by Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero – the power of “The Dark Knight” is in its totality. The film didn’t even need “Batman” in its title and is in fact the first Batman film not to use the iconic name.

Gary Oldman at Chicago’s Navy Pier for the red-carpet premiere of “The Dark Knight” on July 16, 2008. In the film, Oldman plays Lt. James Gordon.
Original photography for HollywoodChicago.com by Kris Kasperek of iKLiKphoto

Along with the incessantly marketed roles for Bale and Ledger, Nolan in this deeply developed and brilliantly complex film redefines the concept of a supporting cast. He not only uses them in integral roles but draws high impact out of them in ways you typically only achieve from lead roles.

In addition to furnishing an Oscar-worthy role for Ledger’s interpretation of the Joker (the academy can conceivably nominate the film for six or so categories also including best picture, screenplay and art direction), Aaron Eckhart as district attorney Harvey Dent (known in the Chicago-filmed Gotham as the “white knight” in contrast to Batman as the “dark knight”) and then the villain Two-Face along with Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon also deliver personal bests with performances unmatched in their own careers.

Chin Han at Chicago’s Navy Pier for the red-carpet premiere of “The Dark Knight” on July 16, 2008. In the film, Han plays Lau.
Original photography for HollywoodChicago.com by Kris Kasperek of iKLiKphoto

Moreover, Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne’s faithful confidant Alfred Pennyworth is as fundamental to this film as Bale’s Batsuit is to Batman. Maggie Gyllenhaal – who thankfully replaced Katie Holmes for the part of Rachel Dawes (tension exists with her dual love between Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne) and neither Rachel McAdams nor Emily Blunt (who were rumored for the part) would have fit the bill – indeed cashed a fitting check.

Director Christopher Nolan at Chicago’s Navy Pier for the red-carpet premiere of “The Dark Knight” on July 16, 2008.
Original photography for HollywoodChicago.com by Kris Kasperek

Nolan honored his son, Rory, with the working title “Rory’s First Kiss” while filming extensively in Chicago. Chicagoans embraced the city with open arms during filming and become regularly involved with “The Dark Knight” viral marketing, which has been the most elaborate in the history of film.

After capturing the first set photo of the Batsuit from Chicago filming and publishing more than a year of comprehensive local coverage, those who participated in the countless viral campaigns recall sophisticated events including Harvey Dent campaigning in downtown Chicago (many thought someone was actually running for a political seat) to cell phones embedded in cakes.

Countless viral Web sites for the film popped up with aggressive regularity while printed newspapers were distributed, the bat signal beamed atop Chicago’s Sears Tower, Anthony Michael Hall’s character was revealed here and there was even the real-life explosion of Chicago’s defunct Brach Candy factory, which was purchased by the film for transformation into a Gotham hospital. The Joker hysterically does his deadly deed in a nurse’s uniform, too.

In retrospect, seeing the film is a huge payoff for viral marketing followers because a climax is revealed to everything the campaigns teased.

“Why so serious?” How’d the Joker get his scars? Why a “world without rules”? Who likes to just “watch the world burn”? Does Harvey Dent’s double-headed coin make it into the film from the comics? How does the new Batpod spawn from Batman’s Tumbler (which hilariously changes from a ruinous “loiter” mode to devastating “intimidation” mode)? Why is the Joker indeed a “man of his word”? All answers are revealed.

Christian Bale (left) stars as Batman and Heath Ledger (right) stars as the Joker in “The Dark Knight”.
Photo credit: Warner Bros., copyright DC Comics

While you can enjoy “The Dark Knight” in regular theaters, its epic nature is tailor made not only for the big screen but actually for the biggest screen on IMAX. Nolan made use of custom IMAX cameras to shoot several scenes, and while you won’t notice the difference at the traditional ciné, you’ll see the screen transition from widescreen to full screen for IMAX and then back to widescreen.

Some, though, may merely dismiss this film with a fleeting “Batman isn’t for me”.

From experiencing the coming together of the film over the course of a year and being moved by all the fruits of its labor in high-impact IMAX, though, you clearly needn’t be a diehard “Batman fan” or even a Batman fan at all to enjoy “The Dark Knight”.

You even needn’t be a Chicagoan who appreciates the way “The Dark Knight” majestically shines a spotlight on the Windy City. You need only be a person who enjoys seeing a historic film so complete that it’s nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But perhaps Kevin Smith sums it up best in his early review of “The Dark Knight”: “It’s ‘The Godfather: Part II’ of comic-book films and three times more earnest than ‘Batman Begins’ (and [bleep] was that an earnest film).”

As for the lingering question beyond “The Dark Knight” about whether there will be a third film, we won’t discuss whether all loose ends are indeed tied up. Instead, we’ll leave you with this simple gem: Batman’s not just a vigilante superhero. He’s becoming something more.

“The Dark Knight,” which is directed by Christopher Nolan and features Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, Colin McFarlane, Joshua Harto, Michael Jai White and William Fichtner, will open everywhere on July 18, 2008 in traditional theaters and in IMAX. The film will show in IMAX for a continuous 72 hours for its opening Chicago weekend.

View our exclusive, 35-image red-carpet coverage of “The Dark Knight” in Chicago on July 16, 2008.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Wanted’ With Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy Concocts Curving Bullet in Gluttonously Entertaining Blockbuster

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:01:00 -0400

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – With curving, clinking and kissing bullets, “Wanted” indeed does Chicago proud. And Angelina Jolie sells it. And Morgan Freeman is ominous. And in his body of work, James McAvoy – the star of this orgasmic summer blockbuster – becomes a man.

Fox (Angelina Jolie) shoots from the driver’s side of her Dodge Viper in the action-thriller that tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

Many Chicagoans have been keenly aware of the film’s local filming throughout downtown Chicago and Broadview, Ill.

Angelina Jolie as Fox in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk

After also focusing its filming lens throughout the Czech Republic and Hungary, Chicago’s prominence reigns surprisingly dominant and central to the film’s assassin-based plot of one “apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice”.

James McAvoy is the man of the hour, and in a short 110 minutes, is handed a Hollywood renovation from an initially fear-laden, listless boy to a surgically precise killer who’d give Matt Damon’s character (Jason Bourne) in “The Bourne Ultimatum” a fight for his life.

“Wanted” features Chicago front and center not only in its aesthetics but also central to its high-adrenaline pacing and action sequences. The Universal Pictures film needed exactly this big-city, fast-action feel to haunt McAvoy with the necessary vibrations in his quest to decide who he really is.

While “Wanted” is chock full of innovation – especially in its fight sequences and “The Matrix”-inspired special effects on ludicrously entertaining Hollywood steroids – the film at times still falls victim to the traditional stereotypes of what you’d expect in an assassin action-thriller with an ever-increasing death count.

“Wanted,” which was pushed back to a June 27, 2008 release date from an initial March 28, 2008 plan, won’t accrue the high marks and huge numbers it deserves because of its story alone. This is an outright action fest of sensory enchantment, carnal killing and orgasmic delight.

James McAvoy as Wesley in the action-thriller that tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk

While ultimately not blown away by the power of its story as a whole – yes, it can be said “Wanted” is just another assassin film with big names, fancy sequencing and the PR machine in full gear – James McAvoy’s character is an important one many people can relate to. As well, it actually conveys a valuable message.

On the flip side, the “Loom of Fate” is a god-awful plotline decision. A loom in a textile factory that spells out who you should kill and assassins blindly follow the decades-old machine to the bloody death of someone they’ve never met and know nothing about? Cut. Edit. Rewrite. Something else. Just not that.

But like McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, are you also in a dead-end, 9-to-5 desk job that you either just tolerate or actually despise because you have bills to pay even though your passion might be something else entirely that can’t pay your living?

A handcrafted bullet makes its way to an unfortunate target in the action-thriller that tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

Not all of us have the bravado to utter the sure-to-get-fired “death mouth” to the boss. Certainly in the real world we don’t then transform into a crushing assassin and find our calling in offing people. But this is just a metaphor to inspire you to find and live your own calling.

While the plot’s somewhat tired – yeah, yeah: no one can trust anyone, everyone’s out to get someone and one man must learn to rise above them all – first-time U.S. film director Timur Bekmambetov sells the journey as one that’s genuinely inspirational.

The “Wanted” we’re seeing now, though, came from an entirely different origin: comic books.

Not only was the entire “supervillains take over the world” storyline dropped in this “Wanted” but originally in the comic book the story takes place in an alternate present day. Bekmambetov’s “Wanted” strays so significantly from its comic origins that you can hardly tell where it came from.

The premise was for these supervillains to “band together … and use their vast collective powers – including mad science, magic and mind control – to eliminate all the world’s superheroes and rewrite reality in their own dark image.”

Instead – and along with delivering a delicious and indisputably entertaining film – screenwriters Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan manage to dig down deep and pose one of the more thought-provoking questions a blockbuster has taunted audiences with in some time:

“What have you done with your life lately?”

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our huge, high-resolution “Wanted” image gallery.

RELATED AUDIO
Listen to our episode-two podcast on “Wanted” and more.

RELATED READING
Read more news on “Wanted”.
More film reviews from critic Adam Fendelman.

It’s a critically important question. On one hand, intended “Wanted” moviegoers have already committed to purchasing their ticket because Hollywood allows us to peer into the darkest depths of our most primal instincts and unshackle the chastity belts of our most sensual fantasies.

But on the other – a side you wouldn’t foresee in a film with the mission to dish out a decidedly raucous ass kickin’ – McAvoy’s pursuit to buck the normalcy of his paper-pushing life and his verbally abusive cubicle boss in favor of something that makes him feel alive shouldn’t inspire us to unleash our literal killer within.

In the subtle subtext of this entertainment behemoth, we are urged to find our own path that transforms our life into one that’s worth living. We are to choose one where waking up and falling asleep every day isn’t all for nothing. Rather than just floating by, it’s time to wake up and be alive.

“Wanted,” which opened everywhere on June 27, 2008, stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Common and David O’Hara.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com