The Dark Knight

Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger & Aaron Eckhart

After a strong beginning for this new franchise in Batman Begins and following months to hype and expectation and even tragedies, The Dark Knight lives up to all expectations becoming a film that rewards on many levels.

To start, since it is what most people will be talking about, Heath Ledger is excellent as The Joker! It is an excellent performance and it is certainly Oscar-worthy (Oscar winning though? I guess we will see. We still have the rest of the year to go). After well received early footage of his performance and following his unfortunate death, this is a performance that Ledger will be remembered fondly for.

I am not sure it is Ledger's best performance (some people panned it, but his performance in Brokeback Mountain was incredibly strong and full of nuance) and, while his Joker dominates the screen when he's on it, Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent is the film’s strongest performance (helped by his character having an arc to follow where The Joker is a straight villain, though a thrilling one). Ledger's Joker is twisted, mean and funny, full of little nervous ticks. I am a big fan of Jack Nicholson, but this is the best live-action performance I’ve seen of The Joker. It will be hard to accept anyone else in the role if they bring the character back for future installments.

As for the rest of the film, there is much to recommend. Never trying to dumb things down as some blockbusters do, Nolan delivers a gritty, intelligent crime film. It has been said that The Dark Knight is almost a superhero equivalent of Michael Mann's Heat and I think I have to agree. The multiple characters and sub-plots and the decisions characters have to make and whether their choices will force them to change their principles is deftly handled and weaves together satisfyingly. Christian Bale’s Batman/Bruce Wayne isn't sidelined to focus on the villains and gets plenty of drama. Michael Caine is great as usual as Alfred. Gary Oldman delivers a strong performance and his character Gordon is perhaps a bigger hero than Dent (remaining less likely to be corrupted) and Maggie Gyllenhaal makes me wish they'd cast her in the role of Rachel all along bringing added humanity to her role.

Aaron Eckhart, however, delivers the best performance. Eckhart always been a good actor though had yet to have any material to really challenge him and allow him to live up to his potential but he gets the chance to do so here. Harvey Dent has always been a tragic character and Eckhart manages to make Dent a character we really care about, we hate what he becomes without hating him for becoming it. In a film with Bale as Batman and Ledger dominating the screen as The Joker, that Eckhart can hold his own in the film and make an even stronger impression is very impressive. He deserves as much attention as Ledger though will likely be overlooked come Oscar season.

There are some, minor, complaints about The Dark Knight that sometimes distract. The Batman costume suit still looks bad early on in the film (I hadn't been keen on the look of the suit in Batman Begins) but the improvements made later are an improvement and the amount of advanced technology used by Batman was somewhat excessive. The sonar/surveillance system was a step too far eventhough it perhaps made a statement about the appropriate use of surveillance technology. There were a few sub-plots that didn't seem to be going anywhere until much later (the accountant for instance was one sub-plot was distracting and took too long in revealing its relevance to the overall plot). Also, while Maggie Gyllenhaal is good as Rachel Dawes, her character is over shadowed by many other characters. These are minor issues and this is still a near perfect film superhero film.

Overall, The Dark Knight has raised the standard of quality for superhero films like its predecessor, Batman Begins, had done before it. The story, pacing, characters and action are all very strong. I do believe that the standard set here will make it difficult for a third film to equal or surpass The Dark Knight in quality but if Nolan returns to direct then anything is possible. A fantastic film and the best blockbuster film of 2008.

Rating: 5/5

WALL-E

Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring (voices): Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight & Jeff Garlin

Pixar’s latest animated feature is not only its most daring film to date but is also it’s most charming and entertaining since Toy Story.

Having revitalized and revolutionized the animated film industry in 1995 when they released Toy Story, Pixar Animation Studios (under the Disney umbrella) have consistently lead the pack ever since in not only pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished with computer animation but also delivering the finest in story and characters. Being so critically and commercially successful might lead other companies to become too comfortable in their success, stick to a winning formula and just rake in the rewards but not Pixar. Forever wanting to experiment and find new ways to tell stories, WALL-E is their riskiest film to date and also their most charming in years.

It is hard to imagine another studio producing a film that barely has any dialogue and starring a robot that communicates mostly in a series of beeps and half-formed, computer garbled words. Not only does Pixar do this, they make it work and for his lack of speech and human features, the robot WALL-E (pronounced Wally) is more human than you might believe. Set in the far future, Earth has been abandoned and is now uninhabitable due to rubbish and pollution. While the humans are away, they have left robots to clean up after them and WALL-E is the last. Years alone (the ‘bodies’ of old, defunct roots occasionally seen strewn amongst the waste piles), WALL-E has developed a personality of his own. Going about his duty everyday, he collects random items of interest for his collection suggesting that even the things we throw away are of use to someone else. His only company is a cockroach (who has his own running gag throughout the film of being ‘un-killable’), WALL-E longs for company spending his time watching and old VHS copy of the film Hello, Dolly! and looking for love.

Company then arrives. A ship landing nearby leaves a shiny new robot named EVE to scan the planet for proof that the planet can support life again. Initially uninterested in the lonely WALL-E, his persistence forms a bond between the two until life is found (a plant WALL-E discovered) and EVE goes into standby mode to await retrieval. WALL-E’s attempts to revive her are touching and his commitment to protecting EVE while showing EVE his world in spite of her being unable to respond are incredibly touching and more romantic than many a live-action human romance. So full of personally is this little computer-generated robot, we find ourselves rooting for him when EVE is taken back into space with WALL-E hitch-hiking along to protect her.

Once in space, and with our star firmly established, the plot speeds up. WALL-E finds himself on a ship where the last of the human race reside, only now they have become fat and lazy, living their lives in floating chairs with their attention barely shifting away from the television/computer screen hovering in front of them. With the human race’s condition and a living environment that is a monument to big industries taking over all aspects of our lives, the messages in the film are very clear. It is, perhaps, a little disappointing considering how clever the characterization of our robot cast, that the messages of waste and consumerism being harmful to society are so blatant but they do work so it is a minor complaint at best. Another minor complaint is that the human characters introduced at this stage are less interesting than our robot cast but again they serve a purpose and send a more subtle message than the humans have become such a lazy, uninvolved, ‘robotic’ society that the actual robots have more individuality than the humans.

WALL-E becomes an unlikely hero, his personality rubbing off on everyone and everything around him (distracting humans from their screens to look at the world, distracting robots from their daily tasks to wave and have them realize they can do more than what they are programmed to do). Along with EVE, the human captain of the ship and a ragtag bunch of malfunctioning robots, WALL-E becomes a savior of the human race in a frantic race to the finish that still manages to fit in plenty of charming moments and the slapstick comedy that Pixar is well-known for (WALL-E himself is a Charlie Chaplin-esque figure).

Overall, WALL-E is a great character and a great film. Pixar’s risk taking pays off. The film is funny, dramatic and manages to make you care about a computer animated robot as much as you could care about another human being. The film might occasionally stray from being fun and clever to just being fun but that is hardly a major criticism. WALL-E will win over adults and children alike and has raised the bar for quality higher, not just for Pixar, but for all-ages animation and storytelling.

Rating: 4/5

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Director: Eric Brevig
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson & Anita Briem

An enjoyable action/adventure film suitable for all ages enhanced on the big screen by the use of 3D which is utilized to deliver effective thrills.

There is something about seeing a film in 3D that brings out the child in any audience. It is the feeling of experiencing something new on the big screen, of films reaching out to touch you, the audience. As such, Journey to the Center of the Earth is very enjoyable and is, perhaps, more enjoyable that is should be. There is nothing groundbreaking in the film’s plot, or dialogue, or acting, or even CGI, but Journey to the Center of the Earth is the first live action film to be released in full 3D (previous films, like Beowulf, being all CGI affairs). The filmmakers and actors know that this film is intended as a fun romp with a 3D gimmick and they play to this fact with relish.

The story revolves around a scientist, Trevor (Fraser) and his nephew Sean (Hutcherson) finding evidence that a volcanic event that occurred 10 years previously that lead to the disappearance of Trevor’s brother, and Sean’s father, Max. Heading off to Iceland to investigate and bringing along reluctant guide Hannah (Briem), the trio find themselves discovering that the world described in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, is real. Their adventure then leads them to encounter many wonders such as flying fish, carnivorous plants, dinosaurs and more. It isn’t hard to predict whether our trio will get through safely or not, or when a creature appears on screen that it’ll will come flying out towards the audience through the use of 3D, but somehow that does not distract from the enjoyment of it all and some scenes are plenty entertaining (a mine-cart ride like that of an Indiana Jones film) even without the 3D enhancements.

The performances, while nothing spectacular, are nevertheless enjoyable and charming. Brendan Fraser brings an infectious feeling of warmth and excitement to his role as a scientist that always believed that such wonders could exist and is excited at the prospect of experiencing them outside of a lab. Hutcherson has a fairly standard character arc of sullen teen that discovers his own inner strength and to find himself opening up to care about those around him after years of feeling abandoned by the loss of his father and Anita Briem is mostly believable as a guide who seems exceptionally capable of handling almost any situation.

As mentioned, the plot is enjoyable if fairly predictable in places but it manages to still provide several compelling character developments especially upon a discovery that is made halfway into the film that has strong, personal consequences for Trevor and Sean that proves that the film is capable of surprising you beyond its use of 3D.

Overall this is highly watch able. See it on the big screen if you are able to so that you can benefit from the 3D experience. Even if you don’t, there is still much to be liked and it’ll be great for the younger audiences either way.

Rating: 4/5 if seen in 3D, 3/5 if seen otherwise.

The Mist

Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden & Toby Jones

Frank Darabont, acclaimed director of The Shawshank Redemption, returns to the big screen with another Stephen King adaptation. This time, Darabont replaces prison drama with old fashioned Stephen King horror.

In 1994, when Frank Darabont adapted a short, non-horror, Stephen King story The Shawshank Redemption, it gained positive reviews but made little money at the box office. However, on video, the film became a big hit and has since become one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, constantly appearing in the Top 5 of Top 100 Greatest Films lists. Darabont followed this up with another critically acclaimed prison drama called The Green Mile, also adapted from a Stephen King tale. Then Darabont made The Majestic. No Stephen King adaptation this time, and though not a bad film, it neither made money nor achieved any critical success that even closely approached Darabont’s earlier films. Darabont has now chosen, with The Mist, to return to adapting Stephen King. However, with no more prison dramas or similar to adapt, Darabont has adapted one of King’s horror stories and, in doing so, puts his film up to comparison against, not only Darabont’s own earlier adaptations, but also against the huge number of Stephen King horrors already adapted into films and for television. The result is a film, while good, suffers somewhat from early entries into the Stephen King genre and from other horror films in general.

Frank Darabont’s strengths are in characters, developing them and in getting strong performances from the actors cast to play them. Darabont succeeds in that regard here by again casting character actors rather than big names. Thomas Jane delivers a solid performance as David Drayton, an artist and father who just wants to protect his child when a strange mist envelops a small town, a mist containing unseen creatures that pick anyone left stranded in the mist. In support the are strong performances from Tony Jones (Infamous) as a supermarket worker who struggles to overcome his fears, Andre Braugher (Homicide: Life on the Street) as Drayton’s brash neighbor and Marcia Gay Harden, usually known for playing dutiful wives but her playing the town’s religious fanatic, a cold and manipulative individual.

In addition to the performances, Darabont is effective in creating a mood of dread. As the mist descends on the town, a group of survivors barricade themselves inside a supermarket. Initially they fear the mist to be some chemical or gas but soon coming to realize its danger is darker than they imagined. Mostly unable to see what lie within the mist and with only glimpses of the dangers, most of the danger and fear in early scenes is achieved through sound and sometimes the absence of it. A sense of dread is effectively built up; exploiting old fears of things you can’t see in the dark to produce chills. It is a method of achieving scares that is rarely seen in current cinema which relies frequently on gore.
However, when attacks do come and creatures are seen more clearly, it lacks the impact of scenes where we could see very little. Some of this is due to CGI. While not exactly poor, it stands out especially when CGI comes into contact with actual actors. Darabont is not a director experienced in using CGI and sometimes it appears obvious that his actors are reacting to things that aren’t there, the use of CGI often not meshing well with the live action. One type of creature in the mist, a type of spider, is more effective seen in short glimpses and in the shadows than once fully revealed.

The film’s finale however is one that has impact. Foregoing the enigmatic ending of King’s original story, and opting against a happy mainstream ending, Darabont goes for something altogether bleaker. It might upset audiences but it does not go where you expect and that helps set it apart from many other horrors, going for emotional impact rather cheap scares.

Overall though, there are better Stephen King adaptations, better horrors and certainly better Frank Darabont films. While there is plenty to recommend this film, the ineffective use of CGI and its effect on the film’s atmosphere undermines some of the film’s better qualities making it feel as though The Mist might have been better served as a mini series for television than on the big screen.

Rating: 3/5

Hancock

Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Will Smith, Jason Bateman & Charlize Theron

Will Smith turns in another audience pleasing performance in this promising superhero action/comedy.

Superheroes are big business in Hollywood and so is Will Smith so it seems only natural to pair the two to produce a summer blockbuster. The result is Hancock which is an entertaining blockbuster even though it does not quite live up to its potential. Hancock is a superhero film that begins with a lot of promise and several smart choices. The first smart choice is that, instead of adapting an established superhero franchise for Will Smith, they create an original hero with his own back story and motivations. The next smart choice was to make this new hero a jerk.

Hancock is a drunk and a nasty drunk at that. When he does choose to use his powers to help, then he does so with little care or effort leaving damage in his wake and he is labeled less of a hero, more of a menace. Hancock is most enjoyable when its lead character is less likeable, the end results of his attempts at heroism being as humorous as the kind of stunts seen on internet sites like Youtube (in fact it is mentioned that many of Hancock’s rescues end up on Youtube including an incident where Hancock saves a beached whale by flinging it into the ocean). Will Smith also relishes in the opportunity to deliver some hilarious and acerbic insults at the many members of the public who choose to criticize him for his failures.

Hancock’s life and attitude starts to change though after he rescues a well-intentioned public relations specialist Ray (Bateman). Stopping a train, while causing a mile long pile-up, to save Ray results in another round of complaints, but Ray who is grateful that Hancock has saved his life offers to do Hancock a favor and work on improving his image to the public. Not used to such kindness, Hancock struggles with how to react and while the gags still continue, an injection of drama into the plot helps make Hancock more rewarding. Getting glimpses into Hancock’s past helps provide insight into his character and the mystery surrounding Hancock’s origins are more interesting at this point when neither Hancock, or the audience, have answers to the mystery. Claiming to have awoken in a hospital 80 years ago, with no memory but equipped with super-powers, we find Hancock is a man alone. Unable to find others like him and unable to remember his past, he has become a loner and one who hates himself (saying no one ever came looking for him when he awoke in the hospital and wondering what kind of person he must have been to be abandoned like that).

Ray manages to convince Hancock to serve time in prison for the property damage he has caused by his heroism insisting that by doing so, he is showing the people he is willing to change and be a better hero while making the public miss him when crime begins to escalate in his absence. When Hancock is called upon for help at last it is to an excellent action sequence which also mixes some well placed humor at the expense of the superhero genre (Hancock having to wear a superhero costume whilst offering words of support to police officers in the nervous manner of someone unaccustomed to doing so before). It is, however, shortly after this scene that the film takes a turn towards a less original, more standard superhero direction. A big plot twist involving Ray’s wife and her attitude towards Hancock (built up during the first half) seems unbelievable (even for a film about a man that can fly) despite a few obvious hints earlier in the film, and had already been revealed in the trailers for Hancock prior to the film’s release. From here the comedy is sacrificed for an explanation of Hancock’s origins which is less interesting than the mystery surrounding them suggests and the final third of the film becomes fairly standard melodrama and action, though the action sequences still look good and entertain.

Despite a less interesting second half, Hancock is still an entertaining film overall and this is also due to a trio of enjoyable performances. Will Smith, as mentioned before, relishes in the chance to play a hero, whether it be the boozy foul mouthed version at the beginning of the film or self-sacrificing hero of the second half. Smith delivers the kind of wise-cracking performance he is often loved for. Supporting him is Jason Bateman who’s even more capable than Smith at delivering a witty one liner (as evidenced in his TV series Arrested Development) and is also able to make Ray an incredibly likeable, and believable, nice guy who is, perhaps, the real hero of the film. Finally we have Charlize Theron. Theron playing Ray’s wife reveals there is much more to her character, and her reason for being cast in the role, at the film’s halfway point and despite the contrivances in her character and the plot from this point, Theron handles the character’s personality well.

Overall, while slightly disappointing and predictable at the end, Hancock remains and enjoyable film with plenty of comedy, some intriguing drama, enjoyable action and solid performances by the cast throughout. You will come away wanting more but, as with all superhero films; there will no doubt be more Hancock on the big screen to come.

Rating: 3/5