Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Directors: Anthony Russo ad Joe Russo

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Chumberbach, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldaña, Karen Gillan, Tom Hiddleston, Paul Bethany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Idris Elba, Peter Dinklage, Dave Bautista, Samuel L. Jackson, Benicio del Toro

We’d been waiting for this one for a long time. In fact, this film starts the culmination of a story line that started way back in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), the one in which we first came in contact with one of the Infinity Gems. The thing with this story though is that I fear that anyone who hasn’t been following the Marvel movies will feel a little lost. I mean “a little” because the movie does do a good job of summarizing things a bit for those who are just now being introduced to this universe, but still even then, my advice is to catch up with previous Marvel movies before this one. That way you’ll get the full effect. But those of you who have been feverishly following these movies should have a mega blast with this one. This is the end all be all of Marvel movies, well, at least till the next one. So, how was it? Did Avengers Infinity War deliver?

Thanos the megalomaniacal madman who has been looking for the Infinity Gems has tightened his search and wants those stones sooner rather than later. So he finally comes to earth where a couple of the gems reside. Once he acquires all six gems, they will turn Thanos into an all powerful godlike being. Sadly, Thanos’ idea of making a better universe is killing half of the population to make things more manageable. Will he achieve it even when the earths mightiest heroes are all against him? Can the Avengers take Thanos and live to tell the tale?

 The political implications of the story were amazing in my book. This is certainly a story for our times. Let’s see, a megalomaniacal madman with a twisted view of life is about to become the all-powerful ruler of the universe. Everyone dreads that he will actually achieve it…hmm, sounds like a power hungry madman we all know and hate don’t it? Not saying any names but you can read between the lines. *cough* Trump *cough* So yeah, parallels to our reality are there. If you can read between the lines of socio political events, the formula to force society into bringing down the population has been in effect for a while now. Governments think we’ve gotten too big for our own good, so they’ve forced the working class (read poor people) into a nearly impossible economical climate. By making life so expensive that having kids or owning a home will become a nearly impossible ordeal. It’s all masqueraded by a “crisis” of some sort, but the ultimate goal is to make everyone think about it twice before having kids. I love that Disney had the guts to say this with Infinity War, a film that everybody and their mother will see. It’s a message that’s hard to deny. And you guys know me, I love movies that are a mirror to society.

 But aside from political interpretations, the movie is fun from a superhero perspective. We have awesome superhero fights right from the get go. Five minutes into the movie it’s big guys kicking each others asses. There’s a major brawl that takes place in New York which is just wowzers. I mean, in terms of superhero action, with these gods going at each other in full force, the film does not disappoint. And it really couldn’t disappoint in that department because that’s what the Infinity Gauntlet storyline was about from the very beginning, every single superhero vs. Thanos, the all powerful godlike madman.

 I remember when I read this story way back in 1988 when it was first printed by Marvel Comics. It was an event comic book that every comic book geek had to have. And why? Because you wanted to know which hero was going to end up beating Thanos and if not, you wanted to know who was going to fail and how. Also, the big question of “who is going to die?” loomed heavy in all comic book geeks, the same way it is looming on everyone’s heads with this film today. That comic book series was a big deal amongst comic book fans back in the day and it still is one of the best comic book storylines I’ve read in my life. Highly recommend you check it out at some point. And I’m talking about the one drawn by George Perez and written by Jim Starlin, that’s the definitive version, the first and best version of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline if you ask me. There’s a couple of homages to that first Infinity Gauntlet story line in the film that fans will enjoy. The film is not an exact adaptation of that story, because that original series was solely about the fight. It took place in a planet in space with every character getting a chance at Thanos…and failing. It lasted six issues and spawned a whole slew of other books like Infinity Watch and Infinity War. But the film does do a good job of getting the gist of the entire concept and idea behind these old comics. The idea of a madman becoming all powerful.  

It doesn't get more epic then pulling down a moon to knock out your opponent.

So yeah, the film will please. It’s not as epic as the comics were because the comic book storyline included The X-Men, The Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer in the mix, but sadly these characters were left out of this movie for obvious reasons. Though now that Disney bought Fox…we might see these heroes pop up in the next film? I am hoping we will, because that will make the next film even more of a must watch! Can you imagine the X-Men, The Fantastic Four and The Silver Surfer joining the fight!? Holy moly will that movie be epic! All things considered Avengers: Infinity War will be one of the biggest money makers ever, well, at least that’s my prediction. It will certainly be a hard film to top! It’s satisfying in many ways, even on the dramatic side. I was disappointed in only two ways, Nick Fury was left out of the main action (I mean, he basically runs the Avengers) and also for some reason Ant-Man was not seen. Why leave him out? Where was he? Obviously, leaving out Ant-Man has something to do with the upcoming Ant-Man sequel, bu he was missed. I did love how they really fleshed out Thanos and let us know where he is coming from as a villain. He’s not just a cartoon character looking to destroy everything *cough* Justice League *cough*. They made Thanos a believable villain and an outstanding one at that. The heroes really have their hands full this time. Be ready because the film does end with a somber note…and you will definitely want to see how it all ends in the next film. Stay after all the credits for the extra ending!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Directors: Anthony & Joe Russo

Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Daniel Bruhl

I finally got to watch Captain America: Civil War, one of the most anticipated films of the year and it was quite noticeable that audiences were salivating to see this one, how much? Well, my plan was to see this one on an early screening, during the morning, on a weekday, you know to avoid the crowd. I got there early but to my surprise the first show was sold out! I started to realize that maybe I had underestimated this movie, so I decided I’d better buy tickets for the next show. The thing is this was a weekday, a school day and yet, there was a huge line to buy tickets and it was mostly kids on the line. Kids who were supposed to be in school I might add! My take on it was that Captain America: Civil War was way more important on their list than the math test they had that day. So yeah, looks like everyone and their mother wanted to see this one, which says a lot about the kind of money this movie is going to make once everything is said and done. On this screening of the film people were audibly excited, clapping when Black Panther and Spider Man first appeared, and yelling stuff like “no that movie didn’t just finish there!” Don’t know about you guys but I love watching a movie with a giddy audience. But, excitement aside how was this third Captain America movie?

Well, this time around, same as in a lot of recent comic book movies, the heroes are seen as the villains because they’ve caused so much death and destruction while ‘saving the world’. The government wants to bring in Captain America and his team of sympathizers in order to keep them under control and used whenever they see fit. But Captain America will have none of that. On the other hand, we have Iron Man, who sympathizes with the government and thinks they are right, heroes are out of control and need to be kept in check. Who’s right and who’s wrong? Of course this all leads up to the big battle, which is just as cool as you’d expect it to be.

This story line was recently played out in Batman vs.Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), a film in which the world starts seeing Superman as more of a threat than a savior. And same as in that one, the government wants to exert some sort of control over the super powered individuals. This similarity in plot lines and themes doesn’t surprise me because Hollywood has always fed on each other when ever a new idea pops up. When a new idea is hot, the 'modus operandi' is each studio will put out their own version of it, at the end of the day, what matters is how well they played out their version of the idea. Superman vs. Batman had flaws but I managed to enjoy it. You do get the feeling they could’ve gone further with the whole government trying to control superman thing. Instead, that film focused more on Superman fighting Doomsday and left the whole government after Superman story floating in the air. In retrospect, it does seem like Batman vs. Superman:Dawn of Justice (2016) should have stuck to one story line, maybe it might have had the cohesiveness that this film has, you see Captain America: Civil War stays with its proposed plot line and plays it out well, without introducing a new sub plot every five minutes. 

An example of this cohesiveness is the fact that they didn’t really go into the whole Infinity Gems/Thanos plot line that will be played out in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War films. They’ve been leaving little hints in other movies, and could have easily added something about that film on this one. Instead, there’s not much about the upcoming Infinity Gauntlet story line except for The Vision talking a bit about the yellow Infinity Gem that’s on his forehead. Other than that, this film is solely about Team Captain America, the group of heroes who want to be in control of their actions and Team Iron Man, the heroes who think it’s best to be a government lap dog. Who will win? Freedom or subjugation? Will superheroes be subdued?

The thing about this Captain America movie is that, it feels more like an Avengers film than a Captain America movie, I mean, look at the credits! This is one gigantic cast! Everyone gets their time on screen, but like I said, there's so many characters on this movie that we sort of lose focus on the main guy, Captain America. That’s really the only flaw I could find on this otherwise perfect comic book film. The action sequences are spectacular, loved that chase down the highway, where the heroes are running faster than the cars themselves, that was a novel approach to a chase sequence. The entire airport fight sequence was like, wow, gigantic in nature and had some unexpected twists and turns. Then of course we get the Black Panther and Spiderman intros, both of which got claps from the audience of mega geeks I saw the film with. I must say, Black Panther was so well introduced, it definitely feels like he could get his own movie, same with Spiderman, who’s portrayal was one of the moments that everyone was expecting the most here. I gotta say I loved this new Spiderman. He comes off as an inexperienced kid learning to be a hero. He doesn’t look like an adult trying to play a teenager, he is a teenager, he talks like a teenager and that’s how it should be. Loved the father son relationship that’s building up between Iron Man and Spidey, that was extremely cool. Another surprise is just how much Spidey is on this movie. I thought he’d do more of a cameo appearance, but he really is a part of the film. Actually it feels like his first try out at being an Avenger!  I’m really curious to see what Marvel will do with Spiderman: Homecoming (2017), the upcoming Spiderman film from Marvel. All in all, Captain America: Civil War is a film jam-packed with goodness, and all delivered in a coherent and thoroughly entertaining way. By the way, this movie has two extra endings, so stay all the way to the end of the credits to see both. Marvel/Disney has got comic book movies down flat, it seems like they get better with each passing film.

Rating:  5 out of 5

  

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Title: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Director: Shane Black

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Jon Favreau, William Sadler, Miguel Ferrer

Review:

Iron Man 3 is exactly what it’s supposed to be when you take in consideration that it’s directed by Shane Black. But who the hell is Shane Black you might ask? Well, most movie buffs will know that he’s the mastermind behind the scripts for such classics as Lethal Weapon (1987), The Last Boyscout (1991), The Monster Squad (1987), Last Action Hero (1996) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). Mind you, I said he’s the mastermind behind the scripts for these movies, not the direction, because that’s what Shane Black’s been doing for a large part of his career, writing awesome movies. By the way, during the 90’s, Mr. Black became Hollywood’s highest paid screenwriter! For The Last Boy Scout he got paid a cool 1.75 million dollars, the highest any screenwriter had gotten paid at the time. Then for The Long Kiss Good Night he got paid four freaking million dollars! And it was a box office failure! After that huge failure, Shane Black retracted from writing anything. Reportedly he wanted to get away from associating himself with big budget movies.  He then resurfaced into the limelight by writing and directing the fast paced action comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) which starred Robert Downey Jr, so it makes all the sense in the world seeing them working together again for this third Iron Man film. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was Shane Black’s first directing gig, and it was a successful one. Now he says that directing is what really gets his panties up in a bunch, he loves it. So, here comes Iron Man 3, his second shot at directing a film, and his biggest project to date, how did it go?

Iron Man 3 picks up right where The Avengers (2012) left off, with Tony Stark dealing with the whole aftermath of saving New York from an alien invasion and traveling through wormholes and all that. Apparently, Mr. Stark cannot deal with the fact that he saved millions of lives and possibly the entire planet from an alien invasion. Wormholes, demi-gods and aliens give Stark sporadic anxiety attacks. The mere mention of anything related to The Avengers or wormholes will get him all panicky. At the same time, there’s a new villain on the horizon. One that wants to destroy America! Will Iron Man be psychologically stable enough to battle his own demons and stop The Mandarin and his minions at the same time?

Staying true to the kind of characters that Shane Black likes to write, this time around Stark is an unstable protagonist. If you’ve seen some of Blacks previous films, you’ll find that many of his stories have protagonists who are unstable psychologically, angry and on the edge. I mean, the best example I guess would be the first film he ever wrote; Lethal Weapon. On that one we meet Martin Riggs, a guy who’s a borderline psycho. A guy who is depressed because he lost his wife. Without her, his life is meaningless, he doesn’t care if he gets shot, or dies, or what. In fact, the guy is downright suicidal! Another example would be the main character in The Last Boy Scout; a private detective called Joe. His daughter hates him and his wife is being unfaithful to him with his best friend! It is sufficient to say he hates his life as well. Bruce Willis goes throughout the whole movie looking all pissed off.  And so when I see Tony Stark having nightmares and getting anxiety attacks, it makes all the sense in the world because Shane Black loves writing characters that are troubled and confounded that way. His characters are always dealing with some terrible issue in their lives that doesn’t allow them to be happy. This is the kind of Tony Stark you’ll be seeing in Iron Man 3. How blue is Tony Stark in this movie? Well, to give you an idea, the film starts out with the one hit wonder by Eifel 65 called “Blue (Da-Ba-Dee)”; that’s how blue!  

This doesn’t mean that Iron Man 3 is all gloom and doom, because let’s face it, this is Disney, and they are not about selling gloom and doom. So what we have here is a light version of a dark and gloomy guy, I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it isn’t. This new Iron Man is a classic Shane Black troubled protagonist, but he’s just not about to blow his brain out. Tony Stark, though unhinged and delicate psychologically, still retains his wits and good humor about him, as if trying to hide all these bad things going on in his head. One of the elements I enjoyed the most about this Iron Man is how it strips the character down completely. The film starts out by having Tony Stark saying in a voice over, “you know who I am” this immediately lets us know what the main theme of the film will be. The dissection of what makes Iron Man; Iron Man. Is it his suit? Is it Tony Stark? Or is it a combination of both? There are many visual indications that what the film is trying to tell us is that it’s the man that makes the suit, and not the other way around. There’s this idea behind the film that without Tony Stark, these suits would just be clunky, clumsy things. There is an interesting duality to this character: the suit represents technology and Tony Stark represents humanity and there’s this clash between the two. They are trying to co-exist with each other, but it’s not a perfect match. Well, at least not in this film. So this is why during this film you will see Tony Stark relying less and less on his suit and more and more on his cunning. This is probably the reason why throughout the whole film, Tony is jumping in and out of the suit.  

Black established a motif, a recurrent thematic element in the film and it’s Stark, the human vs. the Iron Man armor. Though the suits are helpful in many ways, on this film they are also shown to be imperfect, failing, unreliable, a hindrance to Stark; some of the funniest moments come from this. Shane Black decided to portray the suit like something similar to a smart phone, you have to charge it if you want to use it, and sometimes when you need it the most, it’s not charged! Or the battery dies. So be ready to see one of these movies that turns its main character around. It turns its once indestructible protagonist into someone vulnerable, confused and disrupt. They used the same formula that was used for Skyfall (2012), in that film the filmmakers took James Bond and made him a vulnerable mess. In Iron Man 3 they  took the character, who is usually indestructible and stripped him of all his gadgets and powers and left him with the bare essentials, no additives, no preservatives, just pure unadulterated Tony Stark. This might prove to be a bit shocking to those who expect to get their usual indestructible version of Iron Man. In fact, you’ll see more of Tony Stark then you will of Iron Man himself. Sometimes Stark will only use parts of the suit instead of the entire suit. Or sometimes he’ll be working the suit from afar, from remote control. Point is, Mr. Black purposely drew a separating line between Tony Stark and his armor.

But is the movie any fun? I say hell yea it is. Shane Black might want to show us a darker, more disrupt version of Tony Stark, but he still has to deliver the goods on the action and “wowzers!”  department. So does Iron Man 3 deliver on the action? I say the film delivers a fine balancing act between being character driven, and exploring Stark on a deeper level while also delivering the show stopping action. Case in point: the scene where they blow up Starks mansion is a real grabber. So is the one that takes place in and out of Air Force One, then there's the climactic scene that takes place on an oil rig. We get The Mandarin as the films major villain, and though he might not be what comic book fans might expect, I thought he was still cool. I would have named him something else other than The Mandarin, because he isn’t The Mandarin from the comics. Its obvious Black was playing with our expectations of the character. I don’t know why he chose to deviate so radically from what the character is supposed to be, but for some reason he avoided The Mandarin’s oriental origins and completely eschewed the ten alien power rings that he’s supposed to wear on each finger.  They didn’t even include his superhuman martial arts abilities, though he does fight good. The only thing that’s left from the comic book version of the character is that he can slice Iron Man’s suit with his bare hands; so everything in this movie is pretty much in order, save for the way they decided to portray The Mandarin. But hell, if you don't follow the comics, never mind. Then he's just a cool super villain. 

In my opinion, Iron Man 3 is the best written of the three films. It does a good balancing act between exploring what constitutes Iron Man and heavy doses of awesome action. There’s a couple of new additions as well, for example, they went the way of RoboCop 3 (1993) and added a homeless kid into the story. The kid becomes Iron Man’s sidekick for a spell; which I thought was a good idea; it gives all the twelve year olds out there a character to identify with, and at the same time, it gave Tony Stark the chance of becoming a father figure. There’s more interesting developments and surprises, but I don't want to spoil them for you. Just make sure you stick till after the credits for a little extra scene/joke that was pretty funny. The film might disappoint some hardcore Mandarin fans, maybe the film will disappoint those who want to see Tony Stark inside of the armor for 95% of the film, but for those who want to get to know what makes Iron Man tick, for those who get more of a kick from watching Robert Downey Jr. doing his thing, well, then you’re gonna love this Iron Man flick.

Rating:  4 ½ out of 5   

  

The Avengers (2012)

Title: The Avengers (2012)

Director: Joss Whedon

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth

Review:

The Avengers is visual crack, seriously, your eyes will become instantly addicted to the silver screen. This movies so good, you wont want to blink! It’s been a while since I’ve been honestly and wholeheartedly floored by a film, so kudos to Joss Whedon for making a film that reminds me why I love going to the movies. I want to be blown away, I want to be wowed, I want to laugh. And I got all these things with The Avengers; a gigantic, bombastic, non stop thrill ride of a movie!  A love letter to super hero comics! It’s been a while since I heard gasps in the movie theater, but it happened last night. People where gasping whenever any super hero would show up on screen. People were clapping after action sequences, they even clapped when the Marvel logo went up on screen…it was an event.

Sure other films based on comic books have been made; and a lot of them have been quite good. For example, so far I rank Sam Raimi’s Spider Man 2 (2004) as one of those films that really captured what super hero comic books are all about, and I hold that film in high regard, but The Avengers blew it away. The Avengers is officially my #1 super hero film of all time. Watching this film, I felt like I was in geek heaven, there’s this thrill you get when you see all of these super heroes together up on the screen!

The story for The Avengers is fairly simple. Loki, the demigod from Asgard wants revenge. If you remember correctly, in THOR (2011), Loki wanted to be king of Asgard, but Thor stopped him before he could achieve his goals, so now Loki wants not only revenge, he also wants to rule over earth. He wants humans kneeling at his feet! In order to do so he enlists the help of an alien race called ‘The Chitauri’. SHIELD is an organization in charge of national security, so seeing as how this is a potentially earth threatening situation, they decide that the best way to confront this is to organize a group of the most powerful super heroes on the planet. And so The Avengers are born. Will they be enough to go up against Loki and his alien army? 

A lot of what makes this film work so well is the fact that Joss Whedon directed it. Here’s a man who is king of the geeks. He understands very well the pleasures of reading a good super hero comic book. He knows what super hero fans want to see in an Avengers film, because he is one of them. He knows what fan boys consider cool, and he gives it to them. How perfect is Whedon for directing this film? Well, apart from his vast television experience (he created Buffy and Angel) and having directed the incredibly underrated sci-fi/western Serenity (2005), he's also written quite a few Marvel comics himself, including his popular Astonishing X-Men run. Many directors have tried to capture this magic of reading comic books, of seeing powerful beings kicking the hell out of each other, but only some achieve it well. For example, Sam Raimi and his first two Spider Man movies, Bryan Synger and his X-Men films, Chris Nolan with this Batman franchise…and now Joss Whedon can be added to the ranks, and dare I say it he is the one who has made, what I’m sure will be considered by many as one of the best superhero movies ever made. In my opinion, this Avengers film eclipses all other Marvel movies, you kind of feel like they are less somehow after watching The Avengers, which is simply put loaded with non stop coolness from opening to closing credits.

The success of this film show us one thing: a movie will work better with the appropriate director at the helm, get a guy who knows what his talking about, a guy who knows a thing or two about the characters and their backgrounds, about special effects, about getting an audience hooked. I’m sure all those years in television production taught Whedon all about what needs to be done to keep the audience happy, to get them hooked. This is a director whose been given a lot of money to bring this film to life (reportedly 220 million) so basically, Whedon, King of Geeks was given the keys to heaven. Marvel Disney did well in trusting this guy with The Avengers, no one else could have gotten this film this right.

Whedon directs! 

So what’s so good about this film? Well, let’s see, it brings SHIELD to life is what it does. For years, as a comic book fan, I’d been reading stories involving SHIELD and now finally I get to see it come to life; and in such a spectacular manner. I mean, SHIELD’S flying fortress, wow, what a sight! Which reminds me, the visual effects on this film are top notch, cutting edge, state of the line. They’ve done a fantastic job of bringing these gods to life. The action sequences where fantastic! What I really loved about them is that the action sequences are extended. Once they start, they don’t seem to stop! The levels of destruction on this one are gargantuan! Battle sequences go on and on, and on, showcasing one awesome moment after the next. It’s an onslaught to the senses, which is why you’ll probably want to see it again. After all, this is a Marvel comics film we’re talking about, and Marvel Comics have always been king of the cliffhangers! Most of their comic books end with a caption that reads: “come back next week for the thrilling conclusion” or a “to be continued”. This was a very successful technique, I know it kept me buying comics for years! They’ve just applied this age old formula to films. This one also has an ending that will make you want to come back for that sequel, so after the credits, wait a couple of minutes, comic book fans will salivate at what they see, I know I was left thinking of the possibilities for the inevitable sequel.

Captain America comes full circle with this film by becoming the leader of The Avengers

The heroes are the star of the show and they all get their moment to shine. I loved how Whedon wrote this film because none of the heroes feel left out. They are all equally important in the story, they are all useful, they all got a purpose. And this film really connects with all the others that came before it, which I thought was awesome. Characters reference events that happened in their own respective films, which is why I personally recommend seeing all the other ones that came before it before you see this one. But honestly, I don’t think you’ll get lost if you haven’t, the films story is a simple alien invasion flick. But speaking about the heroes, I believe this is the best depiction of these guys on any movie so far. Hulk really smashes! Captain American leads! Iron Man is a genius, an asshole and a hero all rolled up into one! Thor is truly the God of Thunder controlling lighting bolts through his hammer. By the way, has anyone noticed how many Oscar  nominees are on this film? 

The embodiment of hotness, Scarlett Johansson

On the negative side of things I will say that the whole alien invasion story line in which Loki opens dimensional portals in order to bring an army of alien beings to assist him in his conquering of the earth sounded and at times looked extremely similar to Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). But don’t you worry about that because The Avengers is infinitely better than anything Bay has directed. Also, I wish Nick Fury had done a bit more in the film, it would have been cool to see Jackson kicking ass in some form or another in his own spectacular action sequence, but then again, he's not really a 'super' hero in the true sense of the word. Hey, at least he can shoot a bazooka! Okay, so my last words on The Avengers? It’s definitely worth the price of admission, so if I was you, I’d buy that ticket and take this ride! This is officially the first blockbuster of the summer! And it’s a good one, so what are you waiting for?  

Rating: 5 out of 5  

Less Than Zero (1987)

Title: Less Than Zero (1987)

Director: Marek Kanievska

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, James Spader

Review:

Less Than Zero (along with films like Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) and St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)) was one of those 80’s movies I never got around to seeing when they were first released because I was too much of a kid when they first came out and most of these movies where directed at a young adult audience, I was not even a teen when Less Than Zero came out and it was a film that was all about sex and drugs, not exactly themes that a 12 year old would be interested in, well at least I wasn’t. But after I reached adult hood, Less Than Zero caught my eye and was always on my ‘to watch list’ because it was based on a book by Bret Easton Ellis, the author behind the novel American Psycho, which also happens to be one of my favorite movies. Bret Easton Ellis also wrote a novel called Rules of Attraction, which also spawned an effective movie in my book. But I had never caught Less Than Zero. Upon watching it, I realized that all these years I had been missing out on a beautifully dark film.

Less Than Zero tells the story of three best friends: Clair (Jami Gertz) Clay (Andrew McCarthy) and Julian (Robert Downey Jr.), three privileged teenagers from wealthy families. After their high school graduation, things look promising. Julian is going to start up his own record label, Clair is interested in modeling career and Clay is interested in pursuing his college studies. As often happens with high school friends, life divides them, and each one goes off in pursuit of their life and their dreams. But when Clay decides to take a break from college and comes back home to revisit his two friends, he finds Julian and Clair sleeping together. This creates a problem because Clair was romantically involved with Clay. At the same time, Clay learns that Julian is knee deep in trouble. He’s not only strongly addicted to cocaine, but he also owes 50,000 dollars to his drug dealer! Will the trio ever go back to the way things were in the good old days? Will Julian ever cut with his drug addiction and regain control of his life? Will Clay forgive them for betraying him?

The film was based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the same name.

Less Than Zero is a film about the nightmares and horrors of drug addiction. It is not unlike films like Requiem for a Dream (2000) or Spun (2002) in its negative depiction of drug use. It’s the kind of film that attempts to scare you away from ever trying to use cocaine, and I think it achieves it. I mean, who wants to end up giving oral sex to strangers to pay off their drug debt, raise your hands? I didn’t think so. It is interesting that the film starts off on high school graduation day, with the three friends looking as happy, shinny and hopeful as they will ever be. This stupendously shinny opening sequence shows us three teenagers who have their whole lives looming over the horizon; as does every teenager on their graduation day. On that day we all have our possible futures dangling in front of our imaginations, the ultimate truth of what we will end up being still uncertain. This is exactly what happens with Julian who has plans of becoming a music producer. Will it ever happen? Or will Julian end up snorting his future up his nose? When Clay returns from college, he is confronted with the ugly truth that all those shinny possibilities turned into empty shells of themselves, all because of cocaine. And the film effectively captures the cocaine culture of the 80’s. There is one amazing Christmas party sequence where everyone and their mother is snorting cocaine while watching rows upon rows of television sets and fake snow falling from the ceiling. That whole scene effectively captures ‘generation x’ also referred to as the MTV generation. These were kids with a dark uncertain future in their minds. They saw the rise of cable television, the internet, home computers, and music television. Nothing exemplifies this more then the party scene with walls upon walls of television sets. In a very visually poetic scene, all the television sets are reflecting images of everyone at the party, in some strange way saying “look at yourselves”.

The film benefits from having a cast of excellent young actors. They all give credible performances in my book. Robert Downey Jr. gives a very honest, charismatic and vulnerable performance as Julian, a young man trying to escape from a whole he has dug himself too deeply into. Julian is not a pretty sight. He is living in denial when it comes to matters of how much money he owes, and how low his cocaine addiction has taken him. Truth is his father has kicked him out on to the streets, and even his brother despises him. He has plans to open up a nightclub, yet no one, not his father, nor his uncle will lend him the cash to start it up. Of course they don’t trust him with money; they know he will blow it all away on cocaine. Cocaine has turned him into a nomad, steps away from becoming a bum on the streets. Actually, he sleeps on the streets on more then one occasion in this film. Yet, he seems like an intelligent fellow, who has sadly fallen into a trap. You can’t really bring yourself to hate Julian, I guess the feeling Julian elicits is pity. Enter Clay, Julian’s would be savior. Andrew McCarthy, an actor better known for his 80’s comedies like Weekend at Bernies (1989) and Mannequin (1987), plays the dramatic role of the concerned friend who is having a hard time accepting who his best friends have become. The question immediately arises upon his arrival, are they still best friends? Is the magic still there? Or has everything gone sour? Clay is constantly in battle between leaving his friends behind and continuing with his own life, or helping them out.

But ultimately, this is a story about rich kids who have thrown away the opportunities that they were born with. It shows us that wealthy young people can lead messed up lives just as well as poor kids can. I loved how the film captured that hollow empty life style often times associated with living in Los Angeles. The tag line for the film fits it perfectly “It only looks like the good life” which is exactly what the film shows us. These kids live in big expensive houses, with huge swimming pools and beautiful cars, but are they happy? Are their lives fulfilling? Nope, they live empty, fake lives. Jami Gertz plays a girl who doesn’t know what to do with her life come graduation day, so she decides to go into modeling. She lives in her dad’s house, but he wont even take the time to talk to her on Christmas day. He is to busy screwing his new girlfriend in his bedroom. He does manage to scream “Merry Christmas honey” from behind closed doors. Lots of money, but no love, no caring. Jami Gertz plays the kind of character who lives in denial as well. Her conversations reflect emptiness. For a while, when Clay first shows up, all she does is avoid the things they truly need to talk about, pretending that everything is okay, making small talk, always smiling that nervous laugh that looks like she’s hiding something much darker and sinister behind it.

The beautiful Jami Gertz

The film is a loose adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s book. Easton Ellis himself wasn’t too happy with this film at first, but he mentions that it has grown on him over the years. Can’t say I blame him for not falling in love with the first time he saw it, many changes where made from book to film. The book was much darker, Clay being the character that suffered the most changes on the transition from book to screen. On the film Clay is the clean cut goody little two shoes who is trying to save Julian, his drug addicted hopeless friend. In the book, Clay was more of an ambiguous character. In the book Clay is a user as well, plus he is bisexual. The studio decided to eliminate both of these angles because they needed a character that audiences could sympathize with and in the book, Clay wasn’t exactly squeaky clean. So they went and changed Clay around to appease teenage Andrew McCarthy fans. How conservative was 20th Century Fox about this films production? Well, here’s an example: The Red Hot Chilli Peppers had an appearance in the film as a band playing in a club, but the studio opted to edit their scenes out because they were “sweaty and shirtless”. Whatever! The film that was shot was far edgier then what ended up on screen. The film was ultimately taken away from its director, denying Marek Kanievska a final cut of it. This is text book behavior for a studio that gets nervous about selling a film with an edgy subject manner. They try to soften things up a bit.

James Spader, the drug dealer of the film

Still, even with all these production woes and script changes, I think that a beautiful film managed to escape into the real world. And in this sense, Less Than Zero is a strange movie. It’s a beautiful looking movie about some very ugly things. It’s deals with issues of drug abuse and empty lifestyles yet the colors are so vibrant, the takes and compositions so beautiful to look at! I would say that this is one of the best films about drug addiction out there, and one of the top films that capture the L.A. experience and all its pitfalls and dangers. Be ready for a film with characters that you probably won’t like very much, selfish characters only looking out for their own personal satisfactions. People who at one time had all the hopes and opportunities in the world, but let it all go for a quick fix.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Natural Born Killers (1994)

Title: Natural Born Killers (1994)

Director: Oliver Stone

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore, Rodney Dangerfield

Review:

In Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killer’s Mickey and Mallory Knox, the films murderous protagonists are two character’s who have completely rebelled against society, proclaiming it crazy and worthy of being annihilated. They are a product of dysfunctional families that treated them like garbage and let the television set be their baby sitter. In one extremely original flashback sequence we get to see Mallory’s dysfunctional family life as if we were watching an episode of “I Love Lucy” only this time the show is called “I love Mallory”. Brilliant part about this flashback is that we see Mallory’s father (played by Rodney Dangerfield) as a father who abuses Mallory sexually, he talks dirty to her and beats her all the while we hear a laugh track in the background, as if we were watching a sitcom. This scene is just one of many that let’s us know that Natural Born Killer’s is a film that shows us a society that filters everything they experience through the distorted world view of the media and television. Instead of having a loving mother and father, Mallory and Mickey got sexually, physically and verbally abusive ones. It is no surprise that they are simply a result of the world they live in; when it really comes down to it the finger needs to be pointed at society. “These children that come out at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them. I didn’t teach them, I just tried to help them stand up” - Charles Manson

Mickey and Mallory are rebels every step of the way, they are looking for a way to exist in this world without being held down by its laws and regulations. This is a world that fucked them over, so they are fucking it over right back. Everything they do goes against the establishment, they are angry and pissed off, and so they decide to violently show their hatred towards the system. They want something? They take it. Somebody pisses them off too much? They kill them. They need a car? They steal it. One scene let’s us know that Mickey and Mallory are the ultimate rebels: their marriage scene. They are out in the dessert on route 666, when they decide to take a break and stop in the middle of the road, on a bridge. There in the middle of nowhere, with no bride’s maids or witnesses, Mickey and Mallory say their vows to each other and seal the pact with blood, by cutting each others hands and doing a blood pact. Mickey says “By the power invested in me, as God of my world…” No judge was present, no priest had to say any words, and no papers had to be signed, yet you feel that their love and devotion to each other is genuine and true. And so they go out through the rest of the film, doing what they want, when they want and how they want. Nobody tells these two what they have to do and how to do it. As a psychiatrist says in the film at one point: “Mickey and Mallory know the difference between right and wrong. They just don’t give a damn”

The film goes into similar territory visited by films like A Clockwork Orange (1971) in which Stanley Kubrick presented us with a rebel known as Alex De Large; a young man who refused to follow the rules. He would steal, rape and beat anyone he wanted to, just because he could, because he was young and strong. Yet, what Kubrick’s film shows us is that when you don’t play by the rules, the system can and most likely will force you to play by the rules. Another film that plays with the same ideas as Natural Born Killer’s is director Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson (2008). A film about an incorrigible  man who does everything the wrong way: intimidating, kicking and punching anyone who doesn’t agree with him. Bronson is a man who was simply “born bad” and he knows it, destined to live a life in jail for being so. Same as Mickey Knox says that he has found his true calling and says that he is a “Natural Born Killer”. These are people who simply see the world as being completely wrong, the rules of society and the way everything moves in the world is upside down to them. The anger they feel towards the world emerges in different ways. Problem is that when you look at society, you can’t help but agree with them to an extent. Yeah, there is an undeniable truth that things are crazy out there in the world, things are ass backwards wrong. Some people simply know how to deal with the craziness better then others.

This film got a lot of criticism for the violence it portrays. According to some critics, the film incites people to violence, to go out there and cause some damage. I don’t agree so much with this idea. Natural Born Killer’s is simply a reflection of the world we live in, it’s a comment on our current society. Before this film came along, there were already real life characters that behaved exactly the same way that Mickey and Mallory did in the film. What Oliver Stone shows us in this film is nothing new, it is a phenomenon that’s been happening in society for ages. Just like he does with practically every film he has ever done, Oliver Stone is simply showing us the messed up world we live in, through a cinematic reflection. Some people just can’t take the truth that’s all. They apparently live life with shutters in front of their eyes if they see this film and can’t see the truth in it. Society does create characters like these. Look at Charles Manson himself! Oliver Stone mentions that this film is partially based on Charles Manson who has often times stated “My father is the system. I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you.” Same thing can be said for Mickey and Mallory.

One of the films main points is that society is bombarded by the media. Television, the internet, newspapers, magazines, billboards, you name it and we are being bombarded by it minute after minute. I mean, you can’t walk two steps without someone trying to sell you something. You can’t even take a piss in a public bathroom without being told what to buy or who to vote for. Now they even have freaking television sets inside of elevators! Some media outlets show violence simply for the ratings they are going to get in return. The film criticizes this through the character of Wayne Gale, a Geraldo Rivera type of television personality who will show anything on television to get some ratings, the more violent the better. Actually, those scenes where Wayne Gale is interviewing Mickey were inspired by Geraldo Rivera's interview to Charles Manson. It’s the kind of sleaze bag ‘journalism’ that proliferated during the 90’s and therefore got criticized a lot, specifically in films. You can see it pop up in various films, the character of the t.v. journalist always getting the negative portrayal, always looking like some sort of vampire thriving on other peoples woes. On this film Mickey and Mallory are presented as children of television, kids who saw way too much of it and were probably raised by it. Mallory’s father is presented as man who drinks beer and smokes cigarettes while watching wrestling in his underwear. Mickey and Mallory’s memories are sitcom infused flashbacks, and finally, their big jailbreak takes place while television cameras are recording the whole event. The media, and its bombardment on our psyche and its influence on how we perceive the world is really felt through this film. So much so that Mickey and Mallory’s final violent statement is aimed at a media mogul! When the media guy pleads for his life Mickey says “You are scum, you did it for the ratings. You don’t give a shit about us or anybody else except yourself”

So yeah, this film was a big controversial thing. The MPAA kept telling Stone to cut out the violence, and Stone was obligated to do so since he was contractually bound to deliver an ‘R’ rated picture. When the film came out it was blamed for quite a few copy cat murders. Yes my friends, some people out there in the real world went out and committed murders, blaming the film for what they did. They stated that they had either seen the film the night before or that they were emulating what they saw on it The big question that pops up for me is: why did so many people connect with this film in a way that would make them want to behave in the exact same way that Mickey and Mallory did in the film? Is it because they feel the same hatred towards the system as Mickey and Mallory did? Did they see Mickey and Mallory as a pitch perfect reflection of themselves? In the end, I am not one of these people that would blame a film or a song for the way people behave. An artist cannot be held responsible for the way somebody will react to his or her art. It is the main reason why all these lawsuits against Stone and his film never pulled through, the first amendment backed Stone up. Plus, what is Oliver Stone doing in this film if not commenting on the way the world already is? Isn’t that what art is supposed to do?

This is precisely the reason why I admire Stone as a filmmaker so much, because he speaks about the way the world is through his films, and most of the time he holds nothing back. Natural Born Killers is like a barrage of information, fast, quick and scattershot, it’s the Oliver Stone way. If you see his films, many of them have that pacing, that frenetic, speeded up sensation, like life is going on in front of you and you better pay attention or you’ll miss something. Natural Born Killers is like a freight train of images, an avalanche of visual information. Stone uses so many styles and formats on this film, he’ll go from black and white, to color, to oversaturation, to shooting in 16mm , to showing projections in the background and he even uses some morphing! I mean, if Mickey and Mallory were breaking all the rules, I’d say that Oliver Stone was right there breaking them with them while making this film.

Final word: Natural Born Killers is a film that needs to be seen more then once. It comments on so many themes, and it encompasses so much that one viewing will simply not be enough for you to absorb everything. Yeah the film is violent, and yeah the main characters are troubled individuals dealing with their own personal demons in an extremely murderous and psychopathic way, but just remember, this film is not made for you to go out there and shoot whoever the hell looks at you the wrong way, its meant for you to learn from it, and see what we should never become: desensitized individuals with no respect or appreciation for human life. This film is there to tell you that not everything the media tells you is true. That the ones behind media don’t care about you, they only care about their ratings, about making their money. It’s here to tell you that maybe you shouldn’t watch television 24 hours a day seven days a week, maybe you should go out there into the world and live your life, go out with a friend, fall in love, have a good time, experience things, grow, care. Just like Mickey says in the film: “The only thing that kills the demon…is love”

Rating: 5 out of 5