Captain America: The First Avenger

OPENING: 07/22/2011

STUDIO: Paramount Pictures

RUN TIME: 125 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Avenge

Opening Statement
This summer’s quartet of comic book superhero blockbusters comes to a close with Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Fortunately, this final stepping stone on the way to Marvel’s The Avengers proves to be 2011′s most satisfying superhero flick.

Facts of the Case
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, Fantastic Four) is a scrappy, 90-pound kid from Brooklyn. The year is 1942, and Steve wants nothing more than to serve his country by joining the military and going overseas. He’s been turned down time and time again; he’s too small and too sickly to serve. Still, the persistence eventually pays off: Steve is finally accepted and is shipped off to basic training. Shortly after his arrival, a military scientist (Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones) persuades Steve to become his first test subject in a very important experiment. Steve is injected with a remarkable serum which instantly transforms him from the Army’s least intimidating soldier into a bulky, powerful hulk of a man.

Alas, Steve’s new powers aren’t going to be put to use on the battlefield. Our would-be war hero is sent on an important but nonetheless humiliating publicity tour; selling war bonds by dressing up in a ridiculous red, white & blue costume and dancing onstage with a group of chorus girls. However, when Steve learns that his old pal Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan, Black Swan) is missing in action overseas, he determines to stage a rescue mission. With the aid of arms manufacturer Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper, Young Victoria) and the no-nonsense Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell, The Duchess), “Captain America” begins a dangerous mission which will eventually bring him face-to-face with the villainous Red Skull (Hugo Weaving, The Matrix).

The Evidence
After the depressingly generic Green Lantern, I was feeling a little burnt out on superhero movies. It was a little difficult to work up much enthusiasm for Captain America; did I really want to sit through another by-the-numbers origin story created for the specific purpose of teasing a sequel? Thankfully, Captain America is precisely the refreshing change-of-pace the genre needs at this moment in time. This is a movie which is both charmingly earnest and genuinely surprising; two factors which have been missing from too many films about men in spandex.

Director Joe Johnston warmed up for this film some twenty years earlier with his under-appreciated The Rocketeer. Captain America: The First Avenger also offers shades of such entertainingly retro outings as The Phantom and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, but it’s less aggressively self-aware than those films. It pays homage to old-fashioned war movies and equally old-fashioned comic books in a manner which is entertaining but never too distracting; the world Johnston has created is absorbing and the story works on its own terms.

Johnston is clearly having a ball with this particular cinematic playground, as this is a film which just oozes affection for the era in which it is set. Johnston doesn’t so much recapture a moment in time as recapture the pop culture vibes of that era; creating a movie which seems to have been assembled from a collection of newsreels, comic books and war movies of the early 1940s. His art deco design boasts numerous visual delights, and his staging of the aforementioned publicity tour is a fascinating piece of cinema: it’s an unexpected departure from the norm for this sort of film, it’s marvelously staged, it’s delightfully satirical and unexpectedly affecting all at once. The battle scenes later in the film have a kind of four-color “gee whiz!” quality about them while still managing to maintain some measure of weight. The balancing act Johnston pulls off in this area is most impressive.

Lead actor Chris Evans is perhaps saddled with the most difficult task of all the Marvel Studios superheroes, as he’s required to play a character who is good-hearted, earnest and compassionate. Those are great human qualities, but they can also be the foundation of a dull character in the hands of an incapable actor. Fortunately, Evans manages to hit just the right note and maintain a strong screen presence. There’s something about him which suggests Gary Cooper’s turn in Sgt. York; a kind of shy, thoughtful tenderness beneath the war hero exterior. He’s equally convincing as the runt from Brooklyn and as the muscle-bound man of action, and the CGI work done on both versions of the character is impressive enough that we don’t spend much time thinking about it.

The supporting cast is also solid, with Tommy Lee Jones standing out in a very Tommy Lees Jones-ish role as a gruff, world-weary Colonel. Jones is given a handful of good lines which he nails with his understated delivery. Hayley Atwell makes the most of a ever-so-slightly underwritten role, bringing a great deal of personality to this film’s obligatory love interest (as a result, we end up caring about her considerably more than we did about Natalie Portman in Thor or Blake Lively in Green Lantern). We also get three esteemed actors having a blast with gloriously hammy German accents. In order of success: Hugo Weaving (whose intonations often seem to transform into a Werner Herzog impression), Stanley Tucci (as wonderfully understated as ever) and Toby Jones (whose impressive facial expressions compensate for his exceedingly wobbly accent).

I’m obliged to report that not everything is wonderful. The Red Skull’s plan will undoubtedly prove a little confusing to those unfamiliar with the comics (that sort of shorthand is best left to throwaway in-jokes, not major plot points), and the character’s actual actions are never really as interesting as Weaving’s hypnotic performance. Dominic Cooper is a little underwhelming as a young Howard Stark; failing to deliver the pitch-perfect charisma John Slattery offered in Iron Man 2. Additionally, the movie finishes on a wrong note, as one character delivers a line which strives to be simultaneously funny and touching but which actually proves merely awkward.

Obviously, the ultimate purpose of Captain America: The First Avenger is to build up to Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. I have conflicted feelings about this, as Captain America handles this material very smoothly yet still seems as if it would be better off without it. Had Johnston been directing a stand-alone film without the need to segue into a larger blockbuster, he could have delivered something even more moving and impressive. You’ll know what I mean when you see the film.

Closing Statement
Still, given the constraints that it’s working under, Captain America: The First Avenger is very nearly as good as it possibly could have been. It’s arguably the most successful Marvel Studios film to date (only Iron Man could compete), and one of the strongest efforts of Johnston’s career.

The Verdict
8/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

OPENING: 05/20/2011

STUDIO: Disney Films

RUN TIME: 137 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
In the fourth Pirates opus, Jack’s back. But can this new story under a new helmer be as good as its predecessors?

Opening Statement
There are many people who love the initial entry of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, although seeing the awfulness that was The Country Bears and knowing that The Haunted Mansion was soon to follow, Pirates just seemed like a similar ploy for Disney to pillage their old tourist attractions and try to eke out a few doubloons. However, Pirates found a savior in Johnny Depp and his oddly mannered but oddly alluring Jack Sparrow. He is still the best reason to watch any of the three (now four) Pirates films. He has carved out for himself a place on the list of greatest characters ever committed to celluloid. The success of Pirates led to the inevitable sequels and the unavoidable franchise that developed. Most said the films that followed the first Pirates installment were unfocused and bloated, a CGI discordance. I however find their breadth and scope, the imagination and the gutsy-ness it took to bring these stories to the screen, both amazing and inspiring. The fourth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, is a worthy successor into the further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Facts of the Case
Jack finds himself crossing wits and swords with a lady from his past, the mysterious Angelica (Penelope Cruz). She takes him on board the Queen Anne’s Revenge, ship of the brutal and unjust pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and becomes embroiled in a search for the Fountain of Youth. This is a race to see who gets there first. It is run between the Spaniards, Blackbeard’s crew and the indestructible Hector Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) who is more concerned with revenge for his lost ship and his lost leg then after immortality. Along the way they must all contend with zombies, mermaids and all sorts of other devilry.

The Evidence
New to the series is director Rob Marshall, he of Nine, Memoirs of a Geisha and the Academy Award winning Chicago, taking over for Gore Verbinski, director of the first three Pirate films. He brings a new sensibility to this movie without taking anything away from what has been established before. As you can see from his filmography, Rob knows a thing or two about song and dance, and this plays into the newness he brings. On the previous iterations of Pirates, Jack got by and won battles on his wits, quick thinking and luck more then anything else. However, this time Rob choreographs the fight scenes like dance routines (Step-two-three-four, Stab-two-three-four) and as such Jack comes across as having somehow learned gymnastics and acrobatics and therefore having far more skill and grace then he’s ever shown before.

What Rob does not do away with, and that which I am glad he does not, is the brutality and the weight of the situations taking place. The Pirate films could have so easily become cartoon-like in their depictions of the life on the high seas, bloodless and play violence, especially under the guidance of the Disney machine. But Gore Verbinski did not shy away from showing a gutted old salt, a boy on the gallows or a sailor meeting his crushing demise under the tentacles of the Kraken and, thankfully, Mr. Marshall is not shy either. There is a scene near the end of the film where a whirlpool rips the flesh off a man’s bones. It brings with it the heft and punch it should…as well as a harkening back to a certain Last Crusade.

Rob brings along with him a couple of actresses he worked with on Nine; the first being Dame Judy Dench who makes a brief and comedic cameo as a society lady. The second is Penelope Cruz, teaming up with Depp for the first time since Blow, who I feel is miscast as the daughter of Blackbeard. She does not have the ruggedness of appearance or personality that we’ve seen in this series from other women of the sea, but instead has to try and balance a loyalty to her father that exposes her emotions with a hardness of heart towards all those she uses and manipulates. It is a disservice to both her as an actress and to the series. There is also a subplot that develops between a missionary and a mermaid (sounds like the beginning of a joke) that went on far too long and which also ended rather ambiguously for the poor missionary. I suppose the writers were trying desperately to fill the hole left by the expulsion of the Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly storyline, but really, any time away from Jack and his crew was time ill spent.

Closing Statement
Those small defects aside, this movie will join its three brothers on my DVD shelf. I was shown breathtaking sights that I could never have envisioned on my own. The film took me on a journey, an adventure, from one end of the world to the other, though perils and wonders with people I enjoy spending time with. The story expanded my imagination and brought into new light things that I previously thought I had already known. I had fun, and cannot ask for anything more from a film. Savvy?

The Verdict

8/10

Black Death

OPENING: 03/25/2011

STUDIO: Magnolia Pictures

RUN TIME: 97 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Repent

Opening Statement
I’ve never been much of a horror film junkie–not because I don’t like the genre, but because I foolishly insist on holding it up to the same standards of quality as I do every other genre. As far as I’m concerned, the levels of gore and the creativity of the kills are almost entirely insignificant in contrast to the story, the acting, the overall craftsmanship, etc. That’s why I’m grateful for films like Black Death, a thoughtful and genuinely unnerving period piece which effectively explores still-relevant subjects.

Facts of the Case
Our story takes place in the Year of our Lord 1348, when the bubonic plague is sweeping across England for the first time. Many believe that the plague is some sort of punishment from God, though there is a great deal of debate as to who has offended God and how. Ulric (Sean Bean, Patriot Games), the Bishop’s envoy, believes he knows the answer. There is talk of a pagan village which somehow completely evaded the plague, and Ulric is persuaded that this village has caused God to bring down a curse upon the entire country.

Ulric recruits a young monk named Osmund (Eddie Redmayne, Elizabeth: The Golden Age) to lead his team to the village (Osmund is familiar with the area) and serve as a spiritual advisor of sorts to the men. Upon arrival, Ulric and his men discover that the village appears to be a charming, idyllic little society, causing some of the men to question their initial assumptions about this supposedly terrifying community. Even so, Ulric remains persuaded that there is deep evil lurking within this place.

The Evidence
Black Death begins on a note of grim despair and grows progressively gloomier from there. It becomes clear very quickly that this is a tale which will end in tragedy; the only question is just how large the scale of that tragedy will be. A cinematic depiction of the horrors of the bubonic plague is certainly a despondent subject in and of itself, but this is merely a backdrop to an unflinching examination of man’s inhumanity to man and the dark side of unwavering belief.

One of the most admirable traits of Black Death is the manner in which it refuses to adopt a holier-than-thou stance towards the individuals in the film. It’s easy to look back at the misguided brutality of the era and judge it as mindless evil, but this was an era in which science had explained very little about how the world works. There is genuine belief that if the correct supernatural forces are appeased in some way, the plague will simply vanish. There isn’t a medical cure, so surely there must be a spiritual one? These characters are ignorant, but not willfully so.

And yet, then as now, there are many who simply use religion as a means of excusing their own vices and small-minded belief systems. Ulric may be a True Believer who is deeply convinced that he is on a holy mission, but most of the men who have joined him simply have a taste for bloodshed and barbaric behavior. If engaging in such behavior counts as serving God, then hey, they’re on God’s side.

By now you may think you’ve figured out what kind of film this is. You may very well be wrong. This isn’t a film in which the evil, mindless Christians launch an assault upon the gentle, peaceful pagans in the name of heaven. What the Christians eventually discover in the pagan village is horrifying, partially because it’s so familiar: a dark mirror image of barbarism and poisonous dogma. Black Death is such an effectively bleak picture because it depicts a world in which any traces of goodness are quickly suffocated. It is a world in which Christianity, atheism and paganism are similarly incapable of bringing humanity to a good place, because the plague of humanity’s nastiest elements (fear, intolerance, bloodlust) have infected them all.

The film is well-directed by Christopher Smith (best-known for his witty horror flick Severence), who brings an unyielding sense of dread and a surprising artfulness to the proceedings. There were moments when the scenes of Ulric and his men on their long journey to the pagan village reminded me of Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, the Wrath of God, though in this instance the building madness meets them halfway. Interestingly enough, many of the most horrific scenes take place in broad daylight, which curiously works more effectively than a shroud of darkness would have.

The performances are effective, if a shade anachronistic at times. Young Eddie Redmayne is technically the lead, as he has the most screen time and has the most substantial character arc. He moves from clear-eyed curiosity to intense agony in expert fashion; forming the film’s flickering emotional core. Sean Bean achieves something tricky in his role, convincing us that there is some semblance of pure-hearted innocence in his violent character. He is so certain that he is doing the right thing; we almost pity him at times. The pagans are represented by the mysterious Carice van Houten (Black Book), who adds a potent undercurrent of menace to her surface-level Patricia Clarkson-ish charm.

Closing Statement
I suppose Black Death isn’t a horror film in typical sense–there aren’t many things jumping out of the shadows accompanied by loud musical stings–but its subject matter is undeniably horrific. Many things in the film are chilling, but perhaps none moreso than the creeping realization that we haven’t yet escaped the cold cycle of historical repetition. There’s no escaping the film’s power, either: once its bleak grip takes hold, you can’t look away.

The Verdict
9/10

Rango

OPENING: 03/04/2011

STUDIO: Paramount Pictures

RUN TIME: 107 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Johnny Depp is Rango

Opening Statement
After helming the first three installments of the wildly popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Director Gore Vebinski tackles his first animated feature, bringing the voice talents of Pirates star Johnny Depp along with him. The result is a fun, frisky, visually inventive film that manages to avoid the usual animation-flick conventions.

Facts of the Case
Our hero is a lizard (Johnny Depp, From Hell) named… well, we’re not exactly sure what his name is. But he’s a lizard, he lives in a glass tank and he spends his days participating in some sort of paranoid-schizophrenic community theatre with a variety of inanimate objects. One day, the lizard is flung from his tank into the middle of a dusty road. Suddenly, he finds himself alone in an unfamiliar world. With the aid of an armadillo (Alfred Molina, Spider-Man 2) and a terse female lizard named Beans (Isla Fisher, Wedding Crashers), our protagonist finally makes it to the little town of Dirt.

Because no one in Dirt knows the lizard, the little green guy decides to create a new identity for himself. From now on, he will be known as Rango, the roughest, toughest gunslinger in the west. Alas, with such claims inevitably come fights with bad guys. Despite the fact that he’s in way over his head, Rango is determined to tackle his new challenge. Not only will he take on the bad guys; he’ll work to figure out why Dirt’s precious water supply has disappeared.

The Evidence
I really dig Rango, but I’m not sure that you will. Permit me to explain myself. I enjoyed Gore Verbinski’s first Pirates of the Caribbean installment, but I think that series got better in its second and third installments. That’s largely because Verbinski grew less interested in plotting and more interested in exploring his flights of loopy imagination. The third film’s trippy “Multiple Jacks” sequence was a high point of the series for me, but others found it an incredibly irritating bit of self-indulgence. Your feelings towards that sequence may very well inform your feelings towards Rango, which basically picks up where the “Multiple Jacks” sequence left off.

What a weird little movie this is. The plot is simple – too simple, it could be argued – an easily digestible variation on Chinatown with a tortoise played by Ned Beatty replacing John Huston’s Noah Cross. The plot only exists to set up Verbinski’s exercises in visual lunacy, as the director starts with a foundation built by Sergio Leone and goes haywire from there. In one sequence, Verbinski incorporates elements of both Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey in a large-scale action set piece involving a character in drag battling a horde of angry moles riding bats.

If that sounds tedious on paper, be assured that it’s thrilling in execution. The countless movie references present in Rango aren’t wearisome attempts at injecting some pop culture pizzazz into the proceedings (I’m looking at you, Shark Tale). This is a movie madly in love with movies, and it references old Clint Eastwood flicks not to be cute but rather in an attempt to create an experience that generates a similar spine-tingling kick. Rango’s love of cinema extends even further – it could be argued that the film is one which takes place entirely in the head of a movie junkie; a world filled with residents who worship a great movie star. No, really.

The film is largely a fast-paced experience, filled with busy action scenes and lots of physical comedy, but it does have a few serene moments of quiet beauty. While I really appreciated the understated moments, the busy scenes certainly have plenty of fun stuff to offer. While action scenes often feel obligatory in children’s movies, Verbinski loads this movie with so many visual treats that we’re never bored. The film also demonstrates an eagerness to entertain that’s reminiscent of Mel Brooks at times; throwing up one quick joke after another. Some are corny and some are groan-worthy, but they’re delivered so cheerfully and in such quick succession that you’re bound to start giggling after a while.

The voice work is uniformly solid, with Depp in an enjoyably manic turn that veers between Kermit the Frog-style yelps and lusty, deep-throated growls. Old pros like Alfred Molina, Ned Beatty, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Stephen Root bring color and gravitas to the gruff supporting cast, while Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin bring youthful energy to the film’s principle female characters. The character design is absolutely terrific throughout, as the filmmakers seem less interested in creating plastic toys for happy meals than in designing grizzled beasts you can’t take your eyes off of. The cast isn’t very cuddly, but then that’s the case in most westerns.

Most animated flicks these days attempt to offer entertainment for viewers of all ages, but Rango is one of the few likely to play better for adults that it will for children. Young kids will appreciate the film’s energy, but it’s doubtful they’ll grasp its often-subversive wit. Parents may want to take the “Parental Guidance” rating a bit more seriously this time around, as the film features a greater level of innuendo, macabre humor and violence than the majority of animated films (characters are actually killed from time to time). The kids at my screening certainly enjoyed it, even if they did leave the screening quoting lines like, “Can I gut-shoot somebody?”

Closing Statement
While Rango does offer a simple and predictable plot, almost everything else about the movie feels fresh and offbeat. Whether or not you have kids to bring along, this one is well worth checking out.

The Verdict
9/10

The Eagle

OPENING: 02/11/2011

STUDIO: Focus Features

RUN TIME: 114 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge

Opening Statement
Director Kevin McDonald has been building a solid reputation in recent years, helming the much-lauded historical drama The Last King of Scotland and the unexpectedly melancholic, intelligent thriller State of Play. Now McDonald offers up The Eagle, a red-blooded 2nd Century action/adventure. While the film isn’t as noteworthy as his previous outings, it’s still a modestly enjoyable old-fashioned entertainment.

Facts of the Case
The year is 140 AD, and the place is Roman-occupied Britain. Our protagonist is a Roman commander named Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum, Fighting), whose heroics on the battlefield save his men from destruction at the hands of British rebels. Unfortunately, the battle leaves Marcus wounded, which causes the powers-that-be in Rome to give him both a medal and an honorable discharge. Frustrated by this turn of events, Marcus vows to continue serving Rome in his own way. His goal: to find out what happened to the long-lost Ninth Legion.

You see, in the year 120 AD, the Ninth Legion (led by Marcus’ father) traveled into Northern Britain and then disappeared. Lost with them was a golden standard in the shape of an eagle; one of the most prestigious items in all of Rome. Marcus is eager to know what happened to his father, but his first priority is to find the great eagle and bring it back to Rome. Accompanied only by a British slave named Esca (Jamie Bell, Defiance), Marcus begins the most important mission of his life.

The Evidence
You see, in the year 120 AD, the Ninth Legion (led by Marcus’ father) traveled into Northern Britain and then disappeared. Lost with them was a golden standard in the shape of an eagle; one of the most prestigious items in all of Rome. Marcus is eager to know what happened to his father, but his first priority is to find the great eagle and bring it back to Rome. Accompanied only by a British slave named Esca (Jamie Bell, Defiance), Marcus begins the most important mission of his life.

To appreciate and enjoy The Eagle, one has to approach the film in the spirit it intended. Do you remember those rousing historical fiction books geared at younger readers that were so very popular some decades ago? You know, the ones where young protagonists would go on some grand adventure that just so happened to provide readers with both a thrilling tale of derring-do and a general overview of a particular historical era. The Eagle is the cinematic equivalent of such books, just as it should be: it’s based on one written by Rosemary Sutcliffe.

I’m not suggesting that one should have to turn their thinking cap off to enjoy the film, but that one needs to accept that it is a tale of individual heroism and adventure rather than a larger analysis of this particular period in history. One could certainly question the virtues of the oppressive Roman Empire, and one could regard the deaths in this film as pointless attempts at preserving little more than symbolic vanity. You wouldn’t be incorrect for looking at the film from that perspective, but you would be missing out on the rough and tumble fun The Eagle has to offer. This is the story of two young men attempting to restore their lives and complete a dangerous mission, so let us leave it at that.

Indeed, the relationship between Marcus and Esca is easily the film’s most compelling and rewarding element, as McDonald provides us with a change of pace from the usual buddy-movie relationship template. The fact that Marcus is a Roman Commander and Esca is his slave certainly makes any attempts at friendship rather complicated, and it’s those complications that make the relationship so interesting. Just when the characters start to settle in, the screenplay throws a new wrench into their dynamic to shake things up in an interesting way.

The quest itself is perhaps less consistently engaging, but McDonald does a reasonably good job of setting an appropriately mysterious mood. There are occasional hints of dark fantasy sprinkled in from time to time, along with the usual dose (but not an overdose) of frantically-staged action sequences. A handful of reliable supporting players turn up to add color to the fairly dour proceedings from time to time: Denis O’Hare (True Blood) and Donald Sutherland (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) get a good bit of screen time during the first act, while Mark Strong (Robin Hood) appears for a pair of key scenes later on.

Channing Tatum isn’t exactly the world’s most charismatic actor (I’ve seen livelier chunks of granite), but he’s actually well-cast in the role of Marcus. He certainly looks the part, and Tatum’s slightly dense moodiness plays nicely against the character’s contrasting nobility and vanity. Tatum is at his best when the character is forced to do things that would ordinarily be regarded as beneath him; the actor captures wounded pride persuasively. Still, there’s no question that Jamie Bell owns the film. Bringing a steely-eyed intensity to the table, Bell delivers a performance that recalls the method actor drive of a young Daniel-Day Lewis. Bell is sternly plainspoken enough to convince us that he’s a man of his word, but suspiciously quiet enough to make him an enigmatic figure we doubt from time to time. This guy is a real actor.

Closing Statement
Though The Eagle tells a tale of ancient Rome, its spare structure it runs closer to classic westerns than to the overstuffed Roman epics of yesteryear. Indeed, John Ford’s The Searchers has been cited as a key influence on the filmmakers. While the film lacks the resonance and impeccable craftsmanship of that film, it works quite well as a simple entertainment. In the modern era of needless excess and movies overrun by special effects, an action/adventure that places an emphasis on story and characters is more than welcome. The Eagle is worth a look.

The Verdict
7/10

Death Race

Opening Date: 08/22/2008

STUDIO: Universal

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge
Get ready for a killer ride.

Opening Statement
It finally happened. Instead of waiting for a video game to be made so Hollywood could adapt it into a bad movie, Hollywood got impatient and made it itself. The results are predictably generic: explosions, bullets, dismemberments, scantily-clad girls and insane car crashes. So what exactly is the problem with that?

Facts of the Case
In the near future, the United States economy has collapsed. Unemployment is rampant, and society is holding on by the barest of threads. Private corporations now run all prisons in America for profit, and Terminal Island Prison has found great success in hosting Death Race, an internet-broadcast cage match between convicted inmates racing heavily-armored and weapon-toting vehicles throughout the prison grounds. The last man standing wins their freedom. The most successful and profitable racer for the prison, the masked Frankenstein recently suffered a large crash at the hands of his rival, Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson), and the ratings have been dropping steadily in his absence.

Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) has just finished working his last shift at a steel factory that has declared bankruptcy. Pocking his final measly wages, he returns home to his wife and newborn baby. A former race car driver, Ames’ career derailed due to his naturally criminal tendencies, but he is happy and content in the arms of his wife, who has him on the straight and narrow path. As he goes upstairs to check on his baby, a masked intruder enters the house and murders his wife. Ames is knocked unconscious and awakes with the bloody knife in his hand.

Framed for the murder of his wife, Ames is sentenced to Terminal Island, where he immediately attracts the attention of the icy warden, Hennessey (Joan Allen), who has read his file and wishes to recruit Ames to drive in Death Race. Ames initially refuses, but is unable to resist the lure of potential freedom, should he win. To his surprise, he is handed the Frankenstein mask. Unknown to the public, the last driver was killed inches from the finish line, and fans are still anxiously awaiting the much-lauded return of their favorite driver. A man in a mask can be replaced, and Hennessey is anxious to have her ratings star return to the track.

A prisoner only needs to win five races to earn their freedom, and the previous Frankenstein has won four races. Ames only needs to win one, and he is assured of an early release. But as Ames slowly gets his bearings in the deadly arena, he soon realizes the warden has no interest in allowing her successful driver to escape the Death Race. Worse, he begins to suspect that his presence in the prison—arriving shortly after the famous Frankenstein is killed in action—may not be a coincidence…

The Evidence
A brain-dead visceral modernization of a schlocky exploitation film, Death Race is empty, hollow, and embarrassingly entertaining. Death Race resembles less a film and more a large, live-action trailer for an upcoming video game; entirely artificial, mindless and ruthlessly fun. Cars chase each other through a desolate industrial warehouse environment, mounted with rockets and machine guns and oil slickers. They knock each other into rails, trigger glowing panels on the ground that “activate” their weaponry, and the last one surviving wins the Death Race. Unless you keep your druthers about you, you might find your hands unconsciously gripping your popcorn bucket, steering the cars left and right out of pure video game reflex.

Death Race has the complexity of a land mine. You step into the theater, some gentle pressure is applied, and within thirty seconds things are blowing up everywhere. Legs go flying. The sheer exploitative quality of it is frighteningly direct—almost pleasantly so. Franky, it’s nice to know where you stand with a movie. At no point does the film even attempt to engage your brain; this is a film of visceral gut reactions, of blood thirst and car chases and revenge and calamity. These are all autonomous reactions, like working your heart and lungs, requiring no activity from your mind in any way, shape or form. You simply sit back and watch things hit the fan

It is difficult to critique a film this straightforward and unforgiving honest. You can’t really fault Death Race for failing to engage the brain of its audiences any more than you could critique it for not having any musical numbers. For what it is, and for what it aims to do—create a gigantic, ninety-minute live-action video game—it does it quickly, effectively and entertainingly. The film opens with bullets flying, and it never stops until the credits roll. Any character and plot development is handled during the opening credit sequence, leaving the rest of the film unrestrained by such constricts. Within ten minutes, Ames has been introduced, framed for murder and tossed into jail, where he inherits the mantle of Frankenstein. No time for love, Doctor Jones!

The plot, such it as is, works in the most rudimentary of senses. Despite the inherent lunacy of the overall concept, the film obeys its own rules and carves out a nice, simple story: man gets framed for murder, man goes to prison, man gets blackmailed into Death Race, man races and destroys everyone in his path. Nice, easy and predictable. Most of the action sequences exhibit that nauseating shaky camera style that is so popular these days, but the sheer scope of some of the crash sequences are fist-pumpingly bodacious. The performances from the cast are entirely one-note, because they only have the one note to play, like a timpani player in an orchestra. They just bang and bang and bang on that drum. Statham can play this brainless action hero role in his sleep. The villain, played by Allen is so painfully nasty and bad, so over-the-top in her bitchiness that it leaves her ultimate comeuppance immensity satisfying. Her presence here is the biggest mystery of the film. On the one hand, what the hell was she thinking? On the other hand, as the audience, we are awfully glad she thought it, because she’s the only thing that even comes close to a satisfying dramatic performance here.

The biggest complaint that fans of the original Corman production will have with Death Race is that it lacks the dystopic humor of its seventies predecessor. Gone is the fascist America where television audiences hungered for pedestrian fatalities—instead, we have an internet webcast of convicted felons blowing each other up. Death Race is an entirely one-note affair and is totally bereft of the satisfying campy humor that made its predecessor such a rousing cult classic of exploitation cinema. In fact, the film bares little resemblance to its forbearer, save for the vaguest of concepts involving heavily armored and weaponized vehicles blowing each other up, and David Carradine, who contributes a voice-over cameo as the original Frankenstein in a nerdy nod to the original.

It is especially amusing to dissect the thin, skeletal plot to Death Race looking for some depth or satire. The film is so straightforward and action film-ish that there is almost no mental substance to be found anywhere. If there is any subtlety here to be had, it probably got run over by gigantic machine-gun-toting Mustang cars. The original film envisioned a fascist America where television audiences yearned for blood and carnage, but in the futuristic state of Death Race, set an embarrassing four years in the future, apparently audiences want a real-life video game. Stupid, to be sure, but consider it for a moment. After all, director Paul W.S. Anderson makes his living adapting video games into live action films, essentially bringing real-life video games to the big screen where audiences flood the studio coffers with endless streams of cash. Maybe there’s something to Death Race after all…

No, I changed my mind. There’s nothing here. Sorry. It was worth a try.

Closing Statement
Death Race sets the bar low and hurtles over it with ease. Cars crash, bullets fly, bodies splatter with reckless abandon; all exactly what the trailer promised. An Oscar winner it isn’t, but few films deliver exactly what they promise, and that counts for something. It might be a dumb video game-turned-action film, but Death Race may be the most straightforward and upfront film this summer. Plus, it’s one hell of a video game teaser trailer.

The Verdict
This one can probably wait for the video store, but darned if it wasn’t a fun way to kill ninety minutes.

6/10

Iron Man

OPENING DATE: 05/02/2008

STUDIO: Paramount

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge

Armor up.

Opening Statement

Well, they finally did it. They finally made a good comic book adaptation. Not just nerdy good, but actually really good. It might be the first sign of the Apocalypse, but after seeing Iron Man, I couldn’t care less. Bring it on.

Facts of the Case

Wealthy industrialist, weapons designer, charming playboy and billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac) is the walking personification of success. The CEO of Stark Industries, the largest weapons manufacturer in the world, he dates beautiful women, drives fantastic cars, has access to the most incredible technology known to man, and uses it to make big bombs that blow things up. But on a trip to Afghanistan to demo his new missile technology to the eager US government, Stark’s convoy is attacked by armed militants. The last thing Stark sees before passing out is the name branded on the bomb that explodes in front of his feet: Stark Enterprises.

Imprisoned and ordered by radical terrorists to construct a missile, Stark struggles to survive, direly wounded by his own products of war. With the help of a fellow prisoner, Stark agrees to build the weapon, but decides to make a few… modifications. The end result: a towering behemoth of metal armor that Stark uses to escape the compound.

Rescued and returned to the US, Stark has a crisis of conscience. Having seen first hand the effects of his own brilliance in the hands of fanatics, he questions his company’s objectives, much to the alarm of his business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski). After all, a weapons company that decides not to make any more weapons would be a very unprofitable decision…

Stark is adamant to find some sense of justice, and with the aid of his assistant Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare In Love) and his friend Colonel Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow) decides to refine the design of armor into something a bit more sophisticated… something that could help him undo some of the wrong he has caused on the world.

Hint: it is made of metal, it flies, and he paints it hot rod red.

The Evidence

Iron Man feels less a comic-book action film and more a classic Hollywood adventure film, one that soars and dives and laughs and thrills its audiences. This litmus test can be witnessed at any movie theater on the faces of wives and girlfriends dragged miserably to yet another stupid comic book film by their husbands or boyfriends, leaving the theater with rosy cheeks and grins from ear to ear (this Judge’s wife included). It might be slightly ironic to say aloud, but if ever a summer blockbuster adaptation of a comic book was made with love, Iron Man is it.

Eschewing all attempts to grab wads of cash and throw together a shoddy film of bad product placement, the franchise having been kicked between studios since the 1990s, Iron Man was spearheaded and financed by Marvel Comics directly, leaving nothing to chance in the hands of a third party. And by all appearances, Marvel made a very smart decision: Iron Man stands to be easily become one of the most profitable and critically acclaimed comic book adaptations of all time; a surprisingly accessible and heartfelt superhero film, perfectly balanced between political commentary and big explosions, gravitas and humor, with one of the most brilliant casting decisions ever put to celluloid. You know, for a comic book movie.

Despite the inherent action-oriented ramifications of the franchise, Iron Man is surprisingly character driven, giving equal screen time to mind-boggling feats of CGI as to good ol’ fashion dialogue, romance and questions of ethics. One could even go so far as to classify Iron Man as a character drama first and foremost, due in part to the complexity of Tony Stark as a hero. Modeled originally after eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, Tony Stark was envisioned to be brilliant, egomaniacal, alcoholic, charmingly reckless and just the tiniest bit nuts. Out of the gate, he is a flawed figure, one that only gets more flawed as the moral ambiguity of being a deliver of military death catches up to his ego. We are not quite used to seeing heroes in this fashion. He is not the goody two-shoes boy scout of the Superman films, nor is he the guilt-ridden hormonal college kid from the Spider-Man films, or the pensive brooding anti-hero from the Dark Knight films. Tony Stark is a man of action—usually drunken action—and his logic follows suit.

In fact, the dude is a pretty lousy hero. Tony Stark is not a martial arts expert training in some Himalayan temple, nor is he an alien, or blessed with magical powers or superhuman abilities. He is just a guy, admittedly a brilliant, drunken, eccentric playboy who fires first and aims second; a man whose solution to the dark realization of his weapons falling into the hands of terrorists is to build a bigger weapon and go blow them all up in the form of a hot rod red and gold suit of armor, even at the expense of his own bottom line. Stark is riddled with character flaws and self-serving agendas with the unshakable moral code of being a gigantic walking weapon. Hey, if you had a flying metal suit, you’d be a cocky bastard too.

Luckily for us audiences, this snappy attitude permeates the film throughout in dialogue, in hints of romance and perhaps most surprisingly, in social commentary. The character roots have been modernized, taking Stark out of the jungles of Vietnam and smacking him into Afghanistan, giving the film a surprisingly effective relevance in a modern-day climate of war, or at least as relevant as a superhero movie can be, you know, considering the whole “made up” thing. You feel for the character as he realizes the damage he has caused, and cheer for him as he puts his skills to good use and tries to undo the damage the only way he knows how—by blowing more stuff up. Despite the occasional moments of gravitas, the film is surprisingly light and fun in tone, the quirky dialogue reminiscent out of Jon Favreau’s early films with a surprisingly sharp wit most often reserved for small-budget comedies, not summer popcorn blockbusters. Some of the best scenes in the film come from Stark’s constant tinkering and perfecting of his model, like the flying boots. The science is imperfect to say the least, and more than a few miscalculations result that would make the Three Stooges take notes. Hilarity ensues, to say the least.

Despite the over-use use of non-existent fantastical technology, Iron Man sells audiences on its vision of a man in a flying suit surprisingly well. There are no gigantic leaps of logic required, no massive suspension of disbelief—we actually buy into the myth that a gifted engineer can craft for himself an absurdly large suit of iron in a cave in Afghanistan and kick some terrorist butt. The special effects, a nice mix of CGI and conventional props and the fantastic sound editing give every step and gear whir of the Iron Man suit a nice tactile feel, both visually and audibly. It looks and sounds like one would expect a totally bodacious suit of armor to look and sound like, and when the bullets fly, your brain throws up the devil horns.

It is a testament to Iron Man that the most outstanding element of the film is not the CGI, or the explosions, or even the plot, but the casting. It is nothing short of a dream casting to find an actor who so perfectly personifies the role of a fictional comic book character down to the threads on his shirt. The critical consensus across the board is that Robert Downy Jr. is it for Iron Man. The dude is perfection as Stark, bringing a mix of swagger, humor and humility to the role, remaining sympathetic and likeable while maintaining the egomania. This is important for future development of the franchise, because in the comic, Tony Stark is, well… kind of a dick. This is Downy Jr’s film from start to finish, soaring high into the stratosphere, and with anyone else under the metal suit, Iron Man would sink to the ground.

This is not to suggest the rest of the cast are asleep at the wheel; far from it. Howard gets a healthy dose of screen time as Stark’s personal pilot and military adviser, who looks longingly at the Iron Man suit (a prophetic nod to all comic book fans in the know). He plays the yang to Faverau’s buddy-on-buddy banter style of comedic delivery, with most of his scenes involving quick and hilarious argument-styled conversations with Downy Jr. that could be taken straight out of Faverau’s earlier comedies. Paltrow is surprisingly enjoyable as Stark’s tireless assistant, an uncharacteristically toned down leading lady role, and Jeff Bridges makes a surprisingly intense douchebag. The dude abides, let me tell you.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

If Iron Man is a film told in three acts, the first two acts bear almost the entire weigh distribution of awesomeness. The final act is far from disappointing, but feels less inspired, acquiescing to the obligatory showdown between superhero and supervillain, corny villainous monologues, needless wanton destruction of private property and random explosions of things that probably would not explode in real life. Good times will be had by all, rest assured, but if the film has a weak moment, it lays here, simply because we’ve seen this before.

Closing Statement

Iron Man is the first genuine blockbuster hit of the summer that lives up to its hype—it busts blocks and then some. Also, be sure and stick around until after the credits, comic fans. Trust us.

The Verdict

9/10