‘Cloud Atlas’ is supremely complex, stunning epic
By Steve Crum
Spanning 500 years, Cloud Atlas had to be the ultimate creative challenge facing the three screenwriters-directors, production crew, and actors. It is also a challenge for the audience, in both pro and con ways.
Let me put it this way. If you can make it through the first third of the nearly three hour epic, things get clearer. Those “things” include fragmented plots and layered characters. This is the kind of film requiring vigilant attention. Do not leave to get snacks. You will be Cloud Atlas lost forever.
Credit writer-directors Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, and Andy Wachowski for successfully adapting David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas novel to the film medium. Unfortunately, their creation will likely register as too daunting, too confusing for the mainstream audience. That would be unfortunate, because of the movie’s cinematic and philosophical riches.
But as long as one is very patient, and willing to ride with six separate story lines that dart back to forth to forth to back and in between, then there is no problem. Otherwise, Cloud Atlas is problematic. With a narrative that seems at first to be all over the place, the multiple stories are sometimes hard to grasp. Stories are joined in disjointed ways. The good news is everything gets clearer as the film progresses. Patience is indeed the virtue here.
Cloud Atlas features stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, and more–each portraying five or six characters. In multiple cameos, look for Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant. Credits note two or more producers, composers, designers, and directors of photography. Collaboration City, indeed.
The film’s overall theme smacks of reincarnation, exemplified by studio press banter: “Drama, mystery, action, and enduring love thread through a single story that unfolds in multiple timelines over the span of 500 years. Characters meet and reunite from one life to the next. Born and reborn.” Stories are set in the past (1849), present (various years in between), and future (2144-2300’s).
Visuals throughout Cloud Atlas are Oscar caliber stunners, from sets to digital effects to stunts to makeup. Regarding the latter, Halle Berry is even transformed into a man in one time period. She is so believably a guy that I did not realize it was Berry until the end credits. In a reverse, Hugh Lofting’s brutish woman guise surprised as well. What a hoot! Or hooters.
A figurative time capsule captures the complex story lines: in 1849, a San Francisco lawyer protects a runaway slave on a ship in the Pacific Islands…in pre-WWII Great Britain, a poor but gifted composer commits an act which influences the creation of a lifelong work he calls “Cloud Atlas Sextet”…a 1973 journalist tries to avert an industrial disaster…a present day publisher faces unjust imprisonment as he nears great success…in 2144, a genetically engineered young lady, bred to follow orders without thought like a robot, begins adopting human emotions, and acting upon them…and in 2300 or thereabout, a goat herder faces both his conscience and violent surroundings in an evidently post-apocalyptic world. Hanks, Berry, and cast all act in key roles of each segment, and do so quite gloriously. I will not muddle the mind explaining or even listing all their characterizations.The fact that a key character per story wears the same birthmark reinforces the reincarnation premise that ties the tales together. However, are these really the same individuals reborn or merely symbolic beings representing the struggles and glories of mankind? Or both? “Our lives are not our own” is uttered by one character, which could be taken as a predestination inference. The film consistently preaches that everyone’s life is shaped by the feelings and actions of others.
What is blatantly missing is any direct reference to religion playing a part in these characters’ lives, Christian or otherwise. This is an observation, and neither negative nor positive.
Cloud Atlas is an epic, visionary work expounding upon life existing as a domino effect.
This is a complex and must see film.
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GRADE on a Scale of A-F: A-
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Maybe the trailer will help clarify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByehYal_cCs
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Maybe the trailer will help clarify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByehYal_cCs
Factual, ultra tense ‘Argo’ is one of 2012’s top films
By Steve Crum
The rescue of Israeli hostages in 1977’s Raid on Entebbe came to mind at the outset of settling into Ben Affleck’s tautly directed Argo. Both films are based on real events that occurred two years apart, and both are presented in storytelling that flips back and forth from rescue planners to each country’s detained citizens. However, there is a major difference in the two incidents.
The successful raid on Entebbe (in dictator Idi Amin’s Uganda) is a story focused on a squadron carrying out a precision military rescue laced with machine guns, hand grenades, and gritty combat. Argo’s rescue “force” is one determined CIA agent, Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), whose brash and ultimately successful plan is to rescue six Americans in Tehran, Iran. He will do so virtually single handedly–with incredible help from Hollywood movie insiders, no less. It should be no spoiler to reveal the outcome of the rescue since it is historic fact. That said, I admit to having never heard anything about this sidebar story of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, perpetrated by Iran’s infamous Ayatollah Khomeini.
Chris Terrio’s script, based on writings by Antonio J. Mendez (yes, the same Mendez depicted in the film) and Joshuah Bearman, opens in near documentary style, on Nov. 4, 1979. Militants storm the walls surrounding the U. S. Embassy in Tehran, and take 52 Americans hostage. (They will remain captives for over a year.) But that is not Argo’s real story. Argo focuses on the six Americans who barely escaped and hid out in the Canadian Embassy, also located in Tehran. They are given sanctuary in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber).
Since the Iranians had no vent against Canada, the property was a safe haven. Of course, their presence had to be kept secret. Once the Iranians discovered the six were missing, however, a dragnet to find then ensued. At the same time, our homeland CIA was planning their escape. Realize too that separate negotiations were ongoing regarding the captured 52.
CIA operative Mendez’s plan turns on a pretty far fetched premise: travel to Tehran alone under the guise of a Canadian filmmaker scouting possible filming locations. Once there, he would visit the Canadian Embassy, and prepare the six “guests” to escape. With the help of Hollywood studio special effects guru John Chambers (John Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) a shelved sci-fi script is chosen, entitled Argo (sort of a B-grade Star Wars), and publicity is immediately put into place for credibility. Even the Hollywood community believes this to be a production in the works. If Hollywood itself believes the ruse, surely the Iranians will too. And so it goes.
Argo is a lesson in near perfect pacing with the first 2/3 in slow, temperate gate with light humor supplied by the characters of Goodman, Arkin, and Bryan Cranston (as CIA honcho Jack O’Donnell). The groundwork is specifically laid out. The film’s final 20 minutes are some of the most seat-edged, harried moments of this or any film. Bee-rother.
The plaudits have to go to Ben Affleck, whose producing/directing/acting trifecta makes Argo one of the top films of the year, and a natural for the Oscar.
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GRADE on an A to F Scale: A
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Overlong ‘Bourne Legacy’ features dazzling chases, convoluted plot
By Steve Crum
Fans of the first three Bourne movies will want to see this fourth franchise installment, The Bourne Legacy, which–as the title implies–is a kind of homage. Those who have never seen the previous films (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) will definitely want to see those movies before seeing Legacy. Otherwise, the complex plot, which references the previous films, will be confusing to the point of exasperation. I did see and greatly enjoy the previous Bournes, but was dizzied at what the heck was going on in this new take. No doubt this is the end of the franchise.
Director/co-screenwriter Tony Gilroy helms The Bourne Legacy, his first time in that director batting position. Once again, the story is “inspired” by Robert Ludlum’s Bourne book series, much like the James Bond movies are loose adaptations of Ian Fleming’s novels. Unfortunately, metaphorically, Gilroy does not score any homer with this one. That is no slight to the cuticle biting action sequences that earmark the Bourne movies. In the first two Bournes (that sounds so familial), the action balanced the dialogue and character development. In Legacy, the action really dominates, punctuating often long, rambling dialogue sequences. The capable actors do their best in both realms, particularly leads Jeremy Renner (as Aaron Cross) and Rachel Weisz (Dr. Marta Shearing).
Replacing Jason Bourne as the central character, without a “new” Jason Bourne, is the daunting task here. Instead of Matt Damon in the lead, we have a kind of Bourne wannabe, since Cross has been trained and chemically programmed by the same nefarious, CIA connected government agency that previously shafted Jason five directions. To supposedly make matters clearer, which made matters even more muddled to me, there are constant references to Jason Bourne along with flashing his 8 x 10 Matt Damon photo a half dozen times throughout the story. Hopefully, Damon received payment for his product placement. There is a stunning Canadian location sequence (filmed in Alberta) opening the story, in which we are introduced to central character Cross as he trains himself to survive in desolate mountain surroundings. He climbs, jumps, ropes, and even dives into freezing water, a stunt actually performed by Renner in one take. For the unaware, the Bourne films feature actual stunt men and women as opposed to digital effects. This is a plus for an action movie these days, and the difference truly shows. The reason for his training is answered in due time, so in the meantime, we get to see some grueling workouts. Little by little, Cross’s identity is sketched out through flashbacks and concurrent conversations at CIA headquarters, featuring Edward Norton, Scott Glenn, and Stacy Keach as slimy leaders upholding what they consider truth and justice the American way. They are tied in with secret testing on soldiers (like Bourne and Cross).
A planned, tragic incident at the government’s secret spy lab triggers a chase involving both Cross and chemist Shearing (Weisz), with CIA operatives in pursuit. It all has to do with Shearing helping Cross deal with his (CIA) drug dependency. I won’t spoil the plot with specifics. By the way, the on location filming in Manila is spot on and worth the reported hassle filming in that extremely crowded downtown locale. Much of Legacy’s best action bits were shot there, with the motorcycle chase finale the most breathtaking of them all. Forgive my hedging, but the early on sequences of wolves attacking Cross as well as the drone firing missiles at our hero are impressive too. Kudos to editor John Gilroy and composer James Newton Howard for heightening the suspense and action. It is a shame similar accolades cannot be given to the film’s dialogue and plot. Leaving the overlong screening, two strangers walking behind me were seriously trying to figure out plot details, particularly in regard to Aaron and Jason. I was hoping to get some answers myself before they turned the corner.
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GRADE on a scale of A-F: C
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At least the trailer is brief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzy9qQ3mDE
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At least the trailer is brief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzy9qQ3mDE
Finale of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy rises, dazzlingly
By Steve Crum
Bruce Wayne’s servant/protector/confidant Alfred pep talks his master early on in The Dark Knight Rises. “Don’t worry, Mr. Wayne,” Alfred says, “it takes a little time to get back in the swing of things.” The line, written by the film’s brilliant screenwriter-director-producer Christopher Nolan, and his brother Jonathan, is both prophetic and literal. Indeed, by the time the non-cowled Bruce Wayne first makes his appearance, a super thug and his gang are amok in Gotham City, pillaging and murdering.
Forget about Batman himself appearing just yet. That comes even later in the story. It is worth the wait.
Forget about Batman himself appearing just yet. That comes even later in the story. It is worth the wait.
The third of Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises is once again laced with grimness, despair, and a heinous villain. Although 2008’s The Dark Knight features an Oscar winning turn by Heath Ledger as the most memorably psychotic of all Batman villains, The Joker, Tom Hardy’s vicious Bane comes in a strong second. As all good DC and Marvel geeks (like yours truly) know, a superhero is only as good as the super villain. This makes or breaks the central conflict. Bane looks like a WWE wrestler with a Hannibal Lector mask attached to his face as a breathing mechanism. As such, he breathes–deeply, a la Darth Vader. And his voice sounds like Sean Connery’s. James Bond never, ever broke guys’ necks, at least not like Bane does. Add to the mix another Batman nemesis, Catwoman aka Selina Kyle, here played less sympathetically than in previous movies and TV episodes, by Anne Hathaway. Hathaway enhances the role physically and emotionally. Her real life dancing skills have segued into gymnastic moves that make her lady burglar sequences credible. Backward flips out a window might have been accomplished by a double, but why–when Hathaway is capable.
To take on Bane, Catwoman, and sundry other ventures, including the depletion of Wayne Foundation finances, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) must first emerge from self-imposed confinement at Wayne Manor. Wallowing in his guilt and depression over the death of his friend, District Attorney Harvey Dent (see the last movie), Wayne has been living a Howard Hughes-like existence for the past eight years. Adding to his misery is the fact that most of society blames Batman for Dent’s murder. He is a wanted fugitive, something most superheroes encounter at one time or another in their plot lines.
Batman’s never faltering ally is Police Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), who now has an ally himself in John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young and capable detective serving under Gordon. Besides them, Wayne’s father-like servant Alfred (Michael Caine) and Wayne Foundation design tech guru Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), moral and physical support for Batman is nil. By the way, there is a solid performance by the nearly unrecognizable Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate.
Once Batman finally gets back to action, with the audience’s dander by that time primed to the max, the film explodes in scene after dazzling scene of air to street attacks and counter attacks. Highlights include Batman’s newly designed airplane, The Bat, which can hover in mid-air or fly at supersonic speed. It is impressive that so many battle scenes occur in broad daylight, which means the digital effects must be flawless. They are indeed. There is an awesome, yes that adjective is overused–but not here, sequence during a jam packed football game at a huge stadium. It is not the Red Sea parting, but close. Nolan has succeeded in creating essentially a successful third act finale of one of the best trilogies ever filmed. Its plausible script, particularly for a comic book movie, happens also to have timely political references to wicked Wall Street and the gullibility of people easily swayed through bandwagon sensibilities.
The film’s two negatives are slight, the first being a too convenient subplot of Bruce Wayne’s imprisonment well into the film. It puns the film’s title. There is also the hokey, but expected, conclusion which involves a set-up, delivery, and fake-out. Then again, all should probably be forgiven since we are dealing with a comic book-inspired, fictional character who fights for humanity’s good. Bring on the fantasy.
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GRADE on a scale of A to F: B+
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Enjoy the trailer of this trilogy conclusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8evyE9TuYk
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Enjoy the trailer of this trilogy conclusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8evyE9TuYk
It’s six times superhero in marvel-ously mounted ‘The Avengers’
By Steve Crum
Even then, 50 years ago, it was an extra frill, providing an extra thrill, when two or three cowboy heroes combined forces to defeat evil. The Hollywood Western has been replaced by The Hollywood Comic Book long since, with superhero teams like X-Men and The Fantastic Four blasting villains to smithereens.
The Avengers aka Marvel’s The Avengers (to offset confusion with a certain vintage British TV series) dazzlingly overwhelms with six times the hero, most of whom have successfully carried their own individual movie franchises as singular entities. Conversely, the X-Men and F-4 guys and gals have always fought super villains as a team, Wolverine being the exception.
The trick with The Avengers is to satisfy each superhero’s fan base while simultaneously divvying out each hero’s scenes in equal portions. Director-screenwriter Joss Whedon has pulled it off with muscle flexing aplomb. The only reservation I have is to wonder how in the name of graphic novel heaven are they going to top or even equal Marvel’s The Avengers? This is a precedent setting superhero flick if ever there was one. It is exciting, loud, funny, violent, and action-jammed. Plus Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is the proverbial butter on our movie popcorn.
For the record, we also get Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), The Incredible Hulk (played for the first time by Mark Ruffalo–who does a fine job), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), and first timer (at least on screen ) Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Director of the international peace keeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D., is forced to recruit each hero into a special task force to fight earth’s annihilation using the Tesseract, an untested energy source that will open a portal to Chitauri forces guided by Thor’s demented half-brother, the exiled Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Loki immediately invades S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters and kidnaps, using mind control, several of its key scientists, including super archer Hawkeye/Agent Clint Barton. Immediately, Fury and compatriots travel the world to persuade Tony Stark/Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, David Banner/The Hulk, and Agent Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow to join an Avenger task force. All agree to participate. (Thor ascends from his planet to fight Loki alone, but eventually joins The Avengers.) Then the fun is to observe the bickering and one-upmanship occurring between Iron Man and Captain America.
While all the superheroes are given their due spotlight throughout the movie, it is The Incredible Hulk who comes across the most surprisingly best. Credit what he has been screen written to do, the digital effects, and Ruffalo’s acting style as Banner. Downy’s egotistical, smart ass remarking Stark is also a big positive. Thanks also to Gwyneth Paltrow, reprising her Stark assistant/girlfriend Pepper Potts.
Even though Act 3’s spectacular invasion sequence in downtown NYC brings to the mind’s eye reminiscent images from Transformers movies, the key missing from those giant toy robot movies is The Avengers, the most bizarre, flashy, and patriotically driven heroes ever conceived. When the tardy Hulk finally joins the foray (there is good reason he is late), the hellish bashing really explodes. Sorry, bad guys.Don’t even tell me to wait another year or so for the next Avengers escapade. I might start turning green.
Addendum to those Marvel movie fans of us who by now know to wait through the turtle-fast credit roll to see a little extra footage…and to those who never realized such: stick around. You will witness our superheroes in a deliciously silly clip.
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GRADE on an A-F Scale: A-
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The action-laden Avengers trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrNdBpGMv8