Excalibur (1981)

Title: Excalibur (1981)

Director: John Boorman

Cast: Nicol Williamson, Nigel Terry, Nicholas Clay, Helen Mirren, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart

Review:

I’ve always found the legend of King Aurthur and the Knights of the Round Table interesting because it  is a layered story that branches out into many themes. It covers many aspects of the human condition and augments how selfish we can be, how imperfect we truly are and how uncontrollable human emotions can be. This is exemplified in the story by the raging passions that permeate throughout every generation portrayed in the film. From father to son, to grandson, wild passions overtake logic and reason, leading most of the time to tragedy. It is a story that urges us to control our passions and listen to reason, because often times uncontrolled passions can destroy entire lives. This is demonstrated through the character of Lancelot, one of King Arthur’s most trusted knights. Lancelot falls in love with King Aurthur’s wife, Lady Guenevere. In this story, Lancelot cares not for the catastrophic results of his secret love affair, he only cares for satisfying his passions and lust. Every time someone falls in love in Excalibur, the results are catastrophic. In many ways, love, lust and passion are demonized in this story, which of course demonstrates how this story is meant to propagate Christian ideals and mentalities, which of course rubs me the wrong way. I’ve always hated how the bible demonizes sexuality; at the end of the day sexuality is one of humanities strongest and most natural traits. But what the hell, I still love this story, I always root for Merlin the Magician who always comes off as the wisest of the bunch. He tells one of the passionate lovers “You are not listening. Well, your heart is not. Love is deaf as well as blind” Funny how it is Merlin, a follower of the old ways, a magician, who ends up being the wisest character in the film.

This battle between the old religions and Christianity is at the crux of Excalibur. This is a story of the battle between pagan religions, which are centered around magic and old gods, and the new ways of Christianity which are centered around the teachings of the bible. It’s true, this story can be seen as Christian propaganda in some ways, yet, I find it fascinating how it has always demonstrated that Christianity wasn’t always there, it had to shoehorn its way into society. Once upon a time things weren’t about Jesus and going to heaven, a whole other slew of beliefs comforted people. Fascinating how humanity has always needed that psychological support in life, something to make us think we are not all alone in this universe. It’s the idea that something is watching over them that humanity has always found themselves lulled into. At one point in the story, when Arthur’s kingdom is in shambles and going through a particularly rough time, the solution is to go and find “the holy grail” the cup that Christ drank from during the last supper. Supposedly, this cup will bring peace and happiness to the kingdom. But of course, we all know what this cup really exemplifies: the idea that society needs religion and its established morals to function properly.  The idea being that without Christianities values and ideals, we are lost. I of course don’t agree with this side of the story because as the story demonstrates, no matter how much you have Christ in your lives, human passions are always stronger, the human side dominates. Mistakes are made, but these are mistakes we can learn from. And call me old fashion, but I like to believe we are better then that, I like to believe humanity is essentially good at heart, with the exception of a few rotten apples. But, I also recognize that no matter how idealistically we look at humanity, there’s always the ideal of what we want to be, and then there’s what we are. A continually learning, evolving race of beings.

This is also a story that deals with politics and power, and the importance of learning to hone that power properly, not abuse it.  The sword, Excalibur, represents power that when used wisely is meant to “unite all men”. I thought it was so interesting how in this film, John Boorman’s Excalibur, King Arthur actually breaks the sword in half because of his uncontrollable rage, his abuse of power. Merlin tells him “You have broken what could not be broken. Now hope is broken” showing once again what happens to people when they see their leaders abuse power; a feeling of hopelessness takes over the land. This is also exemplified in the story with King Uther, who was also obsessed with owning the sword of power. At one point Uther tells Merlin “The sword, you promised the sword! I need the sword to be king!”  and Merlin tells him “And you shall have it, but to heal, not to hack” letting us know that the true nature of power is to bring peace to its people, not to obliterate them or abuse them which is what often times happens with those in power, they end up using it against those they are supposed to protect and serve.

The story of Arthur and his knights has been told many times, each version focusing on whatever part of the story they want to focus on, some focus more on the magical side of things while others focus more on the romance between Guenevere and Lancelot, for example Jerry Zucker’s First Knight (1995) is like that. It stars Richard Gere as Lancelot and Sean Connery as King Arthur and it was more of a romantic story of how the passion between Lancelot and Guenevere destroys a kingdom. One of my personal favorite versions of this story has always been Merlin (1998). On this television mini-series Sam Neil plays Merlin the Magician and Miranda Richardson plays The Lady of the Lake and an extremely memorable Queen Mab. In this mini-series directed by Steve Barron, the story is told from the perspective of Merlin himself; we actually get to know the magicians origins. This time around, it’s his story and since it’s a mini-series, the filmmakers really elaborated on the tale and even expanded it. Merlin is an extremely fun film with great visual effects and amazing performances from an equally great cast, highly recommend you check that mini-series out.  John Boorman’s Excalibur is one of the best versions of the story as well, it’s an epic and lush production, hell, it even gets a bit surreal with its dream sequences and visions. But knowing Boorman, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, this is the director who gave us Zardoz (1974), one of the trippiest movies ever made. On this version of the story Boorman chose to diminish the focus on the magical aspects. If there is magic, it is a subtle thing and handled through the use of practical effects, which is a breath of fresh air in this CGI dominated world. A lot of the magical aspects were handled through the use of imaginative lighting and old school effects, it was a smoke and mirrors type of production.  

I have to give props to John Boorman for the look of the film, an aspect of it that got many accolades from critics when it was first released. Excalibur also gave Liam Neeson his first shot at acting in a full length feature film. Patrick Stewart also plays one of Arthur’s knights. And speaking of the knights, they all wear these shiny armors that give them a god like feel which by the way, is one of the other themes that the film also touches upon, man thinking themselves gods end up needing Christ because they couldn’t handle the power of godhood. As you can see, this is a story and a film that touches upon many relevant themes dealing with the human condition, but above all it augments the ugly side of human nature, our worst qualities, it does this to hopefully stimulate us into being better human beings.

Rating:  5 out of 5  

Clash of the Titans (2010)

Title: Clash of the Titans (2010)

Director: Louis Leterrier

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Sam Worthington

Written By: Travis Beachman, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

Review:

Wow, I haven’t been this disappointed with a film in a long time! Normally, when I write a review, I give a bit of a backdrop to the film, but with this movie I’m just going to go right out and say it: this movie was freaking awful! It was such a disappointment on so many levels! Im not a remake hater, I like to give remakes their chance, and Ive actually been one of the ones who has been anxiously awaiting for this movie for a while now. The original Clash of the Titans (1981) was such a classy film. Lush production values, a great sense of adventure, an amazing musical score, and the unforgettable stop motion animated creatures of the legendary Ray Harryhausen. So of course I was pumped to see this film! I even took five of my friends with me to see it, because I thought this remake was going to resemble the original, and maybe improve a thing or two. Sadly, after the film was over I got all the blame for taking them to see this terrible remake. Where did this movie go wrong? Well, they changed some story elements around. I’m going to do a lowdown on the changes they made, just to keep you, my readers informed.

Louise Leterrier the director of this remake. Somebody please, unleash the Kraken upon him!

Thematically speaking, the first film was a love story. It was all about Perseus trying to find a way to kill The Kraken, a gargantuan sea monster that’s supposed to destroy the city of Argos. He wants to destroy this creature because he is in love with the princess that is supposed to be sacrificed to it. At heart, the original Clash of the Titans was two things: First a monster movie and second, a love story. On this new one, the filmmakers decided to make it about revenge. They changed, what was originally a lighthearted adventure story into a story about revenge, about men going against the gods. In this sense I think the movie looses some of the innocent charm that the original had. Why does modern and contemporary have to equal gritty, dark and angry?

Perseus circa 1981, and modern day Perseus

Thematically speaking, it is true that this movie is angrier. I guess that’s to be expected considering the times we are living. Many people are angry at governments, religions and generally, the way things are being done in society. This movie tries to mirror those feelings by having its main character, Perseus reject his rights as the son of Zeus. Zeus and his gods represent governments in power, and how in their lost for money and power they are forgetting about the people and their suffering. Considering how films are mirroring what happens in our world, I understood that the movie wanted to go in that direction. People are not so easily fooled anymore, people know whats going down. Or at least have a decent idea of the incredible amount of injustice that is going on in the world. On this film, humans suddenly reject the gods, destroying their statues and burning their temples. Declaring this era as “the era of man”. I liked that line of dialog when the Queen says “we are the Gods now!” To be honest, this was really the only thing I enjoyed about this remake. Too bad these themes were not backed up by a good film.

The residents of Mount Cheese Ville

And speaking of dark and angry, on this film Perseus is just that. He is angry at the gods for having killed his family. Hades is the god responsible for this, so Perseus wants nothing more then to destroy Hades. Along the way, he will also save the people of Argos and the Princess, but love is no longer what motivates him. It’s anger, its revenge. This goes in contrast with the Perseus from the original, who was simply a guy in love, who accepted the gifts from the gods and did what was right. The new Perseus wants nothing to do with the gods! He is fine with being “just a man”, he wants to stick with humans and their suffering, suddenly turning into a Christ like figure. By the way while watching this movie based on Greek mythology, I was paying attention at just how much Christianity copied elements from Greek mythology and incorporated it into their mythology. It is an interesting game you can play while watching this movie, trust me, you are going to need something to keep you awake, because believe it or not, this movie has its slooow moments. Perseus even rejects this awesome "gift from the gods" that turns into a sword only when he holds it, kind of like that sword He-Man used in the Masters of the Universe. In one scene, Perseus even calls upon the power of Zeus and lightning comes down from the skies and hits the sword! Just like He-Man! Maybe Leterrier is saying he wants to direct that new Masters of the Universe movie that is in the works?

So we’ve replaced love for anger and revenge this time around. Fine, this movie is darker. But was it a good monster movie? This is actually one of the few things that pissed me off about this new Clash of the Titans. Let’s take the Medusa sequence for example. I remember the original sequence in which Perseus and his men are venturing into Medusa’s temple as being a truly eerie and mysterious sequence. It had lots of suspense and atmosphere to it! Medusa was a horrifying monster! She had snakes on her head and scaly skin! She was green! She was for all intents and purposes a monster! And when we finally get to see her, what a movie moment! Not so on this new one. For some reason, they decided to make Medusa a hot chick with snakes on her head. Such a disappointment! Medusa is supposed to be horrifyingly ugly, that’s what her curse was all about, making her horrendous! To top things off, the creature itself was not well achieved. The CGI looks like CGI (never a good thing) and in my opinion, these new Medusa didn’t do a “one up” on the original Ray Harryhausen creature. The original Medusa was better! What a wasted opportunity to do something cool.

Heres another example of a missed opportunity. The director also decided to do a homage to Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts (1963) by including these black winged demons flying around, pestering our heroes. Unfortunately, these little winged demons ended up being another bunch of disappointing CGI creatures. All you see is a blur, you don’t really get a good look at these creatures which is always something bad in a monster movie. In a monster movie, the audience will always want to get a good look at the monsters or else they will feel cheated. And that’s exactly how I felt with these little winged demons. I could hardly take a look at them because they were moving so fast! Cheap and lazy animation? You be the judge! One of the many things that the original Clash of the Titans got right was how it relished that moment when they finally reveal the creatures! Because that’s what we came to see, cool Greek mythology monsters! I got an idea for you Mr. Leterrier, if your going to pay homage to a classic, make sure you do it right!

Another downer: the scenes that take place in Olympus were so cheesy! Zeus and his god buddies got nothing better to do then stand around on top of pedestals, looking at each others shinny armor! Ha! In the original, Mount Olympus had this grand majestic feel to it, not so on this one. Mount Olympus was actually kind of laugh inducing! When you make class a actors like Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes look bad, you know you are in a bad movie. Sam Worthington is not a likable hero on this film, for most of the film; he simply does not look like he wants to be there. He doesn’t infuse life to his Perseus, it’s a very stale and uninspired performance. When you have a hero that audiences cannot identify with, you got a problem.

Our angry, angst ridden hero

The movie did get a thing or two right. The Kraken is freaking gargantuan and gigantic, I liked those scenes with The Kraken emerging from the ocean with those giant tentacles. I just wish his scenes would have been a bit more extensive and that he could have caused a lot more havoc. As it is, he emerges for a couple of minutes to wiggles his tentacles around a bit. He had to be a much bigger menace considering his power and his size. Still, The Kraken was an awesome sight to behold. Another thing this movie did a one up on was The Pegasus. On the original film, Pegasus was a stop motion effect that I was never happy with. Apparently, animating feathers was not an easy task, so the final effect of Pegasus flapping its wings around and flying wasn’t that well achieved in my book. Not so on this new one, Pegasus really does look like a horse that can fly. I was happy with the effect for Pegasus this time around. The Scorpion scenes stand out as one of the highlights of the film, but then inexplicably, the same creatures that attacked the good guys in one scene, end up helping them out in the next. There are a lot of little inconsistencies like that one in the movie, for example, exactly how does Perseus remain so clean cut and shaven? He looks like he just shaved! How does he get his hair cut so perfectly short, while all his fellow adventurers have beards and long hair? Why do the princess and many of the other actresses wear eye liner and lipstick?

And finally, I want to extend a hearty FUCK YOU to WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES, for having duped me into believing I was going to see a 3-D movie. Yes, I had read all the complaints about the 3-D, but honestly? I never thought it was going to be this bad! I went in thinking I was going to have fun with a little bit of 3-D, even if it was considered bad. What most reviews are failing to explain is that the film does not have the 3-D effect…EVER! You never feel as if you are watching a 3-D movie at any moment. My friends and I kept taking off the glasses to see if there was any difference. We realized after a while, there wasn’t really that much difference. This was just a low blow from Warner Brothers to the movie watching audiences. It was simply a quick way of making some extra cash. Riding the 3-D craze that is sweeping the nation for all its worth. I felt cheated, I really did! I hope Warner Brothers doesn’t pull this type of sleazy move on its audiences again, after all, if it wasn’t for us, they wouldn’t be here. The least they could do is treat us with respect and give us a decent 3-D movie if that’s what you say I’m going to be watching. I’m surprised nobody has sued Warner Brothers for their shameless faulty advertising. I got an idea: somebody unleash the Kraken upon Warner Brothers! Please!

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5