Dear Readers,
I promised you a summer “Rants and Raves” post, so here you go.
Finding Dory
I believe that “Finding Nemo” is one of the best children’s movies ever made. The story is interesting, the characters compelling, and the animation is beyond glorious. So when I heard that they were making a sequel in “Finding Dory,” I greeted the news with both excitement and trepidation. And overall, I was right on both counts. “Finding Dory” is, in many ways the equal of its predecessor. The story follows a diverse and interesting group of characters who make the plot engaging and delightful. Particularly compelling were Hank, the introverted antisocial septapus (an octopus who is missing a limb), and Destiny, a short-sighted whale shark who was also Dory’s best friend. Both characters are forced to face their limits and push themselves outside of their comfort zones to help their friends, which is what made Marlin’s journey in the first movie so fascinating. I particularly enjoyed Hank, whose antisocial desire to stay in a tank, away from other people forever was both relatable and humorous. The story also did a good job in playing with the side characters; replacing the seagulls screeching “MINE?!” in the first movie, we had seals barking “OFF, OFF,” whenever someone tried to intrude on their rock. What was a bit disappointing for me was the visual spectacle. There have been marvelous advances in animation since the first film… the Pixar short that played before the movie showed just how far the art has come. One of the most gripping aspects of the first film was the amazing animation and gorgeous detail in the ocean scenery. A specific plot choice cut much of that amazing beauty out of this film. Where before we had gorgeous reefs with a diversity of life and color and constant movement, in this film we were relegated to polluted, sparsely populated waters with a murky feel. While there were aspects of the plot that necessitated this transition, personally, I found the new visuals significantly less engaging and compelling. Overall, I thought that “Finding Dory” was a fine film, but did not necessarily live up to either the hype or the benchmark set by the first film.
X Men Apocalypse
As the third major superhero team-up movie of this year, “X Men: Apocalypse” ranked solidly between “Batman v. Superman” and “Captain America: Civil War.” The creators of the new X Men franchise know their material very well, and always do justice to the amazing characters they present. Unlike the less than stellar “B.v.S.” “X Men” was able to balance the large number of personalities and present a story that allowed each character being showcased to have moments of development and interest. What kept the film from reaching the same level as “Civil War,” however, was the generic and rather uninteresting and underdeveloped villain. In “Civil War” we were engaged in the fight between the two sides because both had a point, and both had characters with whom we could identify. Apocalypse, however, is at once too powerful to be relatable to the human viewership, and too self absorbed and pretentious to actually be interesting. He monologues, soliloquizes, and self aggrandizes without actually allowing the viewer to engage with any sort of personality. He is, ultimately, a force, with loud opinions that he tries to impose on everyone around him. The lack of a relatable villain does not stop with him, however. Of the “four horsemen;” powerful mutants who have pledged their alleigence to Apocalypse, two are nothing more than pretty faces that get set up as cardboard cutouts to be knocked over by our main characters. Of the two remaining horsemen (Storm and Magneto), only Magneto is given any sympathetic motivation and time for development. His story arc is, perhaps, the most compelling in the film, however, the depth of time spent with Magneto in some ways detracts from the background stories of other interesting mutants like Storm (or the other two horsemen, who were so innocuous I can’t remember their names).
While I would have liked more developed villains in the story, overall, “X Men: Apocalypse” was very enjoyable. The film was also able to play with some very interesting themes, particularly the role of the divine in a film where people can have powers previously associated with deity. The question of a higher power was dealt with very subtly and tastefully, but as a person of faith, I appreciated the care that was taken in including a thematic religious element in a story that so heavily depended upon biblical imagery. The other major aspect of the film that I enjoyed was the magnificent use of the character of Quicksilver. After seeing the character so casually killed off in the M.C.U.’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” I was curious to see how Fox would respond in their portrayal. Quicksilver was every bit as enjoyable in “Apocalypse” as his brief cameo in “Days of Future Past” hinted he could be. The film makes excellent use of his speedster abilities, showcasing him in a scene where he rescues the occupants of a large building from a massive explosion. Where Marvel seemed nervous about exploring the potential of this hugely powerful character, Fox jumped in headfirst, playing with the possibilities and using him to great advantage.
Overall, “X-Men: Apocalypse” was a good see over the summer, engaging and fun like a superhero movie should be (if not quite up to Marvel standards).
Zootopia
During a summer in which the tension between police officers and the African American community has been high, “Zootopia” was a surprisingly thoughtful and refreshingly creative examination of the issue. A thoroughly enjoyable and well paced romp through a world run by animals, “Zootopia” uses the dichotomy of predator and prey in this new, “ideal world” to explore concepts of cultural identity, stereotypes, and the way in which assumptions about people can color the perceptions of even the most well intentioned. Because this is a children’s movie, ultimately the issues are worked out with far more efficiency and grace than we ever see in the real world, however, many of the principles, of taking a step back and treating other people with the same concern and trust with which we would like to be treated ring true and provide at least a stepping stone in the conversation about police and racial tensions. “Zootopia” was a surprisingly thoughtful and engaging children’s film that used cliched elements (underdog makes good in a buddy cop film) to ask interesting and pertinent questions without oversimplifying or vilifying either side of the argument.
Central Intelligence
I will be the first to admit that I am not a comedy person. While I love comedic moments in a film, I can’t stand the outlandish scenarios, predictable dialog, and obvious plot “twists” that accompany the average comedy (both of the romantic and action varieties). So I was a bit hesitant to see “Central Intelligence”. I finally saw this film on a girl’s day with my sisters, both of whom love to watch comedies, and while the film was not necessarily my cup of tea, I had a good time, and was able to engage with the film through my sisters’ enjoyment.
“Central Intelligence” plays with both the “buddy cop” comedy, and spoofs the “James Bond” action flick. As such, it does fall into some of the traps of predictability and poor script writing that accompany both genres. There is nothing particularly surprising about the story; it follows the well trod lines of its genre. To some extent, that was the charm of the film. There were no surprises, but as an audience, there was delight in anticipating exactly the way in which the story would unfold. The script might have lacked originality, but you could see every punch line coming and say it with the character, which brought its own joy. The familiarity of the story was the essence of the film, and what made this B rate action movie a delight all its own.
Ghost Busters
Critics were universally split on the new “Ghostbusters” movie. To some, even the idea of a remake was an offense to the sanctity of the original. For most, the divide came with the choice to gender swap the cast, bringing in a number of well known female comedians for the leads. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Don’t get me wrong; nothing will ever replace the original in my heart, however, the new film does a good job of updating the material, bringing the concept to a new generation, and providing a different take on the characters. While I found some of the scenarios a bit predictable and over the top, I thought the cast did a good job of walking the line between the nostalgia of the old and the expectations of a new viewership. Particularly enjoyable was Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzman, a quirky, mildly disturbed physicist and engineer who basically creates all the team’s tools and weapons. While the other ladies are enjoyable, McKinnon steals the show for me. Chris Hemsworth is also hilarious as Kevin, the pretty but idiotic receptionist for the Ghostbusters (insert obligatory social commentary quip here). Although sometimes he is a bit over the top in his performance, overall the character is enjoyable, and in my opinion, one of the highlights of the movie. The other great selling point for this movie for me was the gadgets and STUFF! that the team create to restrain and capture ghosts. The film goes full on action movie with it, creating weapons that enable characters to punch ghosts, shoot them, restrain them with laser whips, and blow them up from a distance, which allows for a pretty badass action sequence at the climax of the film. Where the original was pretty tame in their solution to the ghost problems (I mean, really, how crazy an idea is it to “cross the streams”), this film delights in being over the top and dramatic in how it handles the paranormal.
That being said, one of the major problems of the film is with how much it relies on its intrinsic social commentary. Instead of character development, we sometimes get on the nose references to the fact that it is a gender swapped cast, continually pointing out that our leads are (GASP!) women who (GASP!) are intelligent and (GASP!) interested in science. The fact that the film is constantly pointing out how liberal it is in allowing women to be funny and play interesting, intelligent characters undercuts the idea that it shouldn’t be surprising that women can play interesting and intelligent characters. It talks down to the audience by constantly reminding them that these ladies are capable badasses instead of just allowing the ladies to be capable badasses. I am not saying that the film should not have had social commentary, or even that the amount of commentary that we got was hugely damaging to the film, it was just a bit much and a bit annoying in places. But overall, Ghostbuster was still a hugely enjoyable film, well worth seeing.
Star Trek: Beyond
I was totally unprepared for how good this film actually was. Looking at the list of movies over the summer, I was expecting either Suicide Squad or X Men to be my favorite summer movie. Star Trek: Beyond blew me away with its great balance of character, story, humor, action, and all around quirky genius, and looking back I can say without qualm that this was definitely the best movie I saw this summer.
I know that was a bold statement, so I am going to hit on some of the sections I mentioned were excellent about the film. First, the characters. As the third film in the series, we have had an opportunity to get to know the basics of most of the characters. All the actors have had the chance to adjust to the roles, and now the creative interpretation has begun. While it sometimes felt in the first two films like the characters were playing the actors from the original playing the characters, in Beyond, the actors brought their own takes on the characters. This gave us a chance to get some real development and insight into what makes the crew of the Enterprise so special. Particularly endearing were performances from Karl Urban as Doctor “Bones” McCoy, and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Both characters are intrinsically difficult to portray, as they are so iconic and have such unique voices, they could easily become caricatures of themselves. Both actors, however, brought a great deal of thoughtfulness, heart, and humor to their performances, and both ended up being standouts in the film. Chris Pine and Zachary Quintos also brought fantastic performances as the dynamic duo of Captain Kirk and Mister Spock. The more these two work together, the better they become, bringing a great deal of subtlety and insight to the classic bromance. If I have one criticism about the characters in this film, it was because so many of the performances were so good, I actually wanted more time with certain characters than was feasible, having to balance such a large ensemble cast; I wanted to see more of Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura, which simply wasn’t possible while keeping the movie a reasonable length.
Next, story. OK, I will admit, of the things I loved about this film, this is probably the one with the most issues. While I was always entertained by the plot, occasionally the set-ups were a bit obvious, so the pay-offs were a bit underwhelming. There was nothing really surprising about the twists if you are familiar with the genre and type of story they were telling. That being said, to some extent, the very predictability of the plot was helpful for the storytelling. As I mentioned in my discussion of Central Intelligence, one of the great things about genre is the joy of guessing the ending and being proven right. And Star Trek: Beyond did this incredibly well. Even though the set ups were a bit obvious, many of the premises were so outlandish that when they payed off it was fun just to see how the writers made them work. Many of the best, funniest or most dramatic turns were accomplished in this way, which made the story a hodgepodge of constant guessing, justification, and satisfaction.
Suicide Squad
If there was one movie that was a disappointment this summer, it was Suicide Squad. After the success of Deadpool, many people were really looking forward to another anti-hero superhero film. The cast looked good, the costumes looked interesting, and the trailers for the movie were excellent. Unfortunately, the inability of the D.C. universe to make an exceptional superhero film continues. There is nothing particularly wrong with Suicide Squad, it just isn’t special. The cast of characters are simply not compelling and interesting enough to keep the audience fully engaged. Deadpool was a larger than life personality. He overwhelmed the film with charisma, and kept the audience engaged by sheer force of will. Because Suicide Squad is an ensemble film, however, none of the individual characters are given enough attention to keep that level of fascination for the whole film. Instead, we get flashes of the brilliance; Harley Quinn is generally enjoyable, and Deadshot has some brilliant moments, but they are flashes in an otherwise tedious film. The rest of the characters are too shallow to be memorable. The film further struggled with its inability to simply let the villains be villains. The whole premise of the Suicide Squad is that they are the force sent in when there is no other option than to do something morally reprehensible. They are bad guys, sent to do bad things, to prevent worse things. There is nothing particularly bad about the mission for this Squad, however. Their role could easily have been filled by any number of heroes in the D.C. pantheon; the Flash, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Green Arrow, the Green Lantern, any one of these heroes could have faced the Sorceress successfully. There was nothing morally reprehensible about the Squad’s actions. In fact, the film went out of tis way to make them seem redeemable, characters that were a bit screwed up, but who mostly wanted to change and to be heroes. That is entirely out of character for both the characters, and for the tone the film claimed to be trying for; the unashamed “we’re the bad guys” panache. Instead, we got a film where the characters couldn’t commit to either being unadulterated evil or uncompromising good. Thus, the whole team comes across as wishy washy and inconsistent. While Suicide Squad is by no means a bad film, it simply did not live up to the potential of the concept or characters.
