Shane Hazen

‘Rendition’ a Mediocre Message Movie With What Should Be Self-Evident Politics

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:10:03 -0600

AUSTIN, Texas – German writer Franz Kafka meets the war on terror in “Rendition,” which is a message movie with what one would consider a self-evident message: torture is bad. We live in a political climate, though, where that isn’t self-evident.

Reese Witherspoon and Peter Sarsgaard in “Rendition”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
While “Rendition” is timely and invigoratingly noble, it doesn’t really have any perspective. It’s to torture what “Amistad” was to slavery. It’s a $30 million AP brief.

Directed by Gavin Hood (“Tsotsi”), the movie assumes a “Babel”-like structure of tangling Hollywood stars with relative unknowns in intermingling storylines. The inciting story involves an Egyptian expatriate – Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) – who is detained while coming home to Chicago to his pregnant wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon).

Unlike Josef K. (a character in Kafka’s novel “The Trial”), he is told his charges: a phone call he received in the opening scene was from a terrorist who was involved in a suicide bombing. This explosion was meant to kill Abasi Fawal (Yigal Naor) who interrogates at a secret detention prison.

Surviving the explosion was Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal). He’s a new CIA man who must now oversee Fawal as he tortures Anwar.

Meryl Streep in “Rendition”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Like Josef K., there’s the ambiguous possibility that Anwar might have in fact designed the bomb. While Isabella lobbies her old boyfriend (Peter Sarsgaard) – now an aide to a senator (Alan Arkin) who literally has a copy of the Bill of Rights framed behind his desk – Anwar’s release is continually denied by Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep).

Streep is given the film’s most thankless job in playing Whitman, whose specific government position is never mentioned but is apparently omnipotent and without oversight. Her character and the movie’s screenplay don’t have the energy to call the Geneva Convention antiquated (as some pundits have).

With her mild Southern accent, she touts “7,000 people alive in central London tonight” including her granddaughter because of rendition-gathered intelligence. Steep plays Whitman as someone who lives and breathes Dick Cheney’s “One Percent Doctrine”.

Written by Kelley Sane, the script was on a 2005 black list of Hollywood’s best never-produced screenplays. It isn’t bad.

Omar Metwally (center) in “Rendition”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Its only dramatic mistake is a sore-thumb subplot involving Fawal’s daughter (Zineb Oukach) shacking up with an Islamic fundamentalist (Moa Khouas). What seems comparatively insignificant for too much screen time builds too late into flashy, “Watchmen”-like narrative gymnastics.

The writing isn’t into the prospect of defending some supposed necessity for extraordinary rendition or torture, which is understandable – after all – because it’s torture. Though laws changed in 2006, the Bush Administration briefly defined the act as anything less painful than organ failure.

While I might be mistaken, I’m not really sure Bush’s name is mentioned in the movie. Clinton’s name is evoked in the spirit of bipartisanship as the first instigator of extreme rendition.

By badly trying to present “both sides,” “Rendition” becomes ashamed of its righteousness. Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon are each given one yelling scene Arkin’s Sen. Hawkins and Sarsgaard’s Alan Smith represent the average citizen’s complacency even as they morally stick with a sinking-ship status quo.

Reese Witherspoon in “Rendition”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
The movie mistakes passivity for objectivity and defeated characters for nuance. This makes for some tepid drama. “Rendition” certainly can’t address the entertainment industry’s glorification and obfuscation of torture.

As polemic, I can’t deny that “Rendition” really does work. At my screening, the largest cheers came when Smith tells Whitman: “Maybe I should send you a copy of the Constitution.” Regardless of its own ambivalence, the movie is ultimately on the side of the angels.

The reason torture suddenly came back to the bargaining table in the national dialogue isn’t just because of Sept. 11 and fear.

It’s because of people’s lack of imagination to other people’s pain thresholds. If it has to be a $30 million AP dispatch to illustrate that ignorance can deprive anyone of their most inalienable rights, that’s certainly brave.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com

‘Juno’ the First LiveJournal, Blogger Film; Writer Diablo Cody a Standout Star

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:30:03 -0600

AUSTIN, Texas – No one says anything plainly in “Juno”. Hyper clever, hyper literate and hyper pop savvy, it tells a light story of teenage pregnancy in a package of verbose middle classiness.

Ellen Page (left) and Olivia Thirlby in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Furthering the influence of the Internet on filmmaking in the 21st century, “Juno” has hyper-thought cleverness and the distinct personality of voice that comes from the personal blogging set. It’s the first LiveJournal or Blogger film.

That’s not entirely odd, though, since 2007’s unjustly maligned “Hot Rod” could’ve been the first feature-length YouTube movie. The dialogue in “Juno” doesn’t just call out to be read. It’s like hypertext that calls to be clicked on.

Under the razor-thin direction of Jason Reitman, “Juno” – unlike “Hot Rod” or “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters” – is a pure movie. It dispenses any obtuseness and has the instincts of an audience pleaser.

Where an average movie about pregnancy turns its water-breaking scene into a dramatic, third-act starter (which even “Knocked Up” did), this film’s screenplay (scribed by hilarious blogger and memoirist Diablo Cody) has its eponymous character signal a pop-culture reference double threat: “Thundercats are go!” (This is a combination of Thundercats and Thunderbirds.)

Ellen Page and Michael Cera in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
The movie has two standout stars – Ellen Page as Juno and Cody as the screenwriter – while Reitman (himself the distinct and clever voice behind “Thank You for Smoking”) wisely steps aside for a one-off and applies a perfect, hands-off directorial approach.

He sprinkles certain moments of gravity here and there.

As for Page, I’m not even sure she’s a talented comedienne. She just has the range to act that funny. While there’s none of the same intensity she brought to “Hard Candy” here, there’s still some of the (barely used) tenderness she brought to Kitty Pryde in “X-Men: The Last Stand”.

In “Juno,” she never falls into smugness despite spending most of her screen time being a wise girl. That’s probably because – in this film’s rich screenplay – she’s never necessarily the smartest person in the room. Each adeptly cast role gives a character a speech or moment to shine.

Director Jason Reitman in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Allison Janney’s nail-obsessed stepmother has the hilarious dressing down of an ultrasound technician while J.K. Simmons has the funny reaction to learning who knocked up his daughter: “Next time I see him, I’m punching him in the wiener.”

That would be Michael Cera, who is still earning his own career-launching lauds from “Superbad”. Despite having the least amount of quotable lines, he milks awkward stutters and sweetness better than anyone his age.

The couple played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman – in what at first seems like a superfluous subplot – lends the movie most of its gravity. Garner’s baby-lacking matriarch has her best moments when Juno tells her she’s lucky not to be pregnant.

The gem is the turn by Bateman, who tweaks the sarcastic authority of his “Arrested Development” persona into a surprisingly bottom-line, to-be father who never got over the night his band opened for the Melvins. When Bateman, Garner, Simmons and Page first meet on screen, it’s the film’s centerpiece scene.

Jennifer Garner (left), Jason Bateman and Ellen Page in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Again, this movie belongs to Cody from her blogging. She’s originally from Chicago, by the way, but moved to Minnesota to live with her Internet boyfriend – Jonny – who’s now her husband. Seriously. They now live in Los Angeles.

Cody is used to clever wordplay to pad earnest moments of connection and soul bearing. Formerly a brief stripper, Cody’s long-running blog (formerly here) gained national exposure with her memoir “Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper”.

While the book and blog are almost equally as entertaining (if a little overwritten), Cody’s style – when applied to dialogue – has a leaner, tongue-jumping humanism to it.

Reitman gives generously selfless direction. He finds the widely sought comedy light touch that’s essential here. How many times have you seen a clever movie where the mumble mouths and lazy eyes of actors are passed off as dry wit?

From right to left, Olivia Thirlby, Allison Janney and Ellen Page in “Juno”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
I recently screened “Juno” at the Austin Film Festival where both Reitman and Cody introduced the film.

Reitman said he remembered the day he first read “Juno”. As he introduced her, he told the audience: “You’ll remember this as the day you met Diablo Cody.” Cody promptly replied: “That is the stupidest intro I’ve ever heard.”

Cody could go either way from here. Delivered by inferior actors or directors, her dialogue could quickly grow annoying and go the way of Zach Braff’s blog. Then again, she could be next Kevin Smith.

Reitman himself is too good a writer to only direct.

Page’s range is once in a generation. She’ll be a draw for anything she stars in from here on out. For all these diverse talents, I ultimately came away from “Juno” just wanting these three to get together and make many, many more movies.

Juno is slated to open in limited U.S. theaters (including Chicago) on Dec. 14, 2007. We selected this film as one to watch for on Sept. 14 Our Oscarman rating for this movie currently ties with our highest films.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com

‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ Screams Readiness For Franchise Extinction

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:36:22 -0600

AUSTIN, Texas – “Resident Evil: Extinction,” which opens on Friday and to the dismay of many critics didn’t screen across the U.S., is yet another cineplex excursion that’s beneath contempt.

Milla Jovovich in “Resident Evil: Extinction”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Directed by Russell Mulcahy, who is best known for the serviceably charming pulp translation of “The Shadow,” the franchise is injected with a promising Mad Max riff by writer and producer Paul W.S. Anderson – yet does nothing with it.

At best, I’ve always thought of Anderson (who directed the first film and wrote the second) as a poor man’s Stephen Sommers. To have the second consecutive sequel where Anderson couldn’t be bothered to direct (only write and produce) really says you’re in for “B”-movie hack hell.

So “Extinction” is another video game-based sequel by test-marketed numbers where everything about it was cooler in the trailer. The Mad Max stuff turns into mostly trucks driving in a desert while an imaginative attack by zombie crows plays like a video game of “The Birds”.

Ashanti in “Resident Evil: Extinction”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
At a certain point – maybe somewhere in the first act where there aren’t characters as much as feet-entering, low-angle frames – the desert-scape starts to reveal a 16th-wave Sergio Leone influence (but mostly from testosterone guitars).

The males do their acting with beard stubble while the women grit their teeth to look all hardened. All the while, model and actress Milla Jovovich is the most confounding presence of all.

I spent most of the film trying to figure out why such a luminous woman has her face so consistently digitally airbrushed. While she may have just liked how writer/director Kurt Wimmer spruced her up in “Ultraviolet,” almost every close up of her has Photoshop skin tones.

Milla Jovovich in “Resident Evil: Extinction”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Outside of her lithe figure, I never even understood why she was repeatedly cast as an action heroine. Perhaps Sony is still paying writer Luc Besson’s bill of goods. Jovovich really only acts in two modes: frailty and penis envy. In both instances here, she has a gun.

While zombies safely remain the screen villain with the most tender, thinnest and most sliceable flesh this side of Orcs from “Lord of the Rings,” some of the Jovovich’s balletic slicing is the best action in the movie (though a lot of it is frequently ruined with lazy CGI gore).

If you aren’t sufficiently scared, the sound design will dwarf you into submission by going from silent to loud like a Pixies’ slasher score.

“Extinction” is a zombie movie bored with zombies. When one character is bitten in the first 10 minutes and keeps it a secret for the rest of the film, you wish it might’ve become bored with zombie clichés.

This is heroically juxtaposed when another character – who isn’t given solely callow character beats – nobly sacrifices himself in an explosion.

Milla Jovovich in “Resident Evil: Extinction”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
This third “Resident Evil” is what it is: another soulless studio flick where everyone involved is going through the motions (especially the audience). While it has the beats of a movie, it’s purely product and you can’t even really begrudge it for that.

It’s a movie only ’roided zombie fans, optimistic executives and mothers can love.

Like the other two flicks, “Extinction” does have one nifty scene: the last one, which is a cliffhanger. For maybe a few naïve seconds, you’re enticed for a hypothetical movie that – depending on the box office – might or might not follow.

It’s not until you remember the tedium you’ve just sat through (itself a prolonged drag of the last movie’s cliffhanger) that it may dawn on you that the “Resident Evil” movies only find themselves when selling a completely different movie.

See our 31-image “Resident Evil 5” video game slideshow.
Read our “Resident Evil: Extinction” theatrical review.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com