Pacific Rim (2013)

Title: Pacific Rim (2013)

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Idris Elba, Ron Perlman, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi

Pacific Rim is the most fun I’ve had this summer so far, I mean, this 2013 summer season has been incredibly good, with big, loud, bombastic pop corn movies and it’s not easy narrowing it down to “most fun had this summer” but dammit, I had such a blast last night watching Pacific Rim that I officially declare it the most fun summer movie of 2013! And without a doubt, this is the best giant robot movie I’ve ever seen! Giant robot movies are not easy films to make because they will always involve either miniature effects work or lots of computer effects, in other words, these type of movies always require big budgets, if you don't have the money to pull off this kind of film and make it anyway, then you might end up with a goofy film like Stuart Gordon's Robot Jox (1990), which was one of the first attempts to bring a giant robot movie to the silver screen; by americans anyway. The results with Robot Jox or it's "sequel" Robot Wars (1993) were laughable at best. Then we have the Transformers movies, that while having the budget, didn't necesarilly have the best talent behind the camera. Which reminds me that as I watched this movie, a mental image of Michael Bay (the director behind the Transformers movies) furiously taking notes kept popping into my head. Yes sir ladies and gentlemen, with Pacific Rim Guillermo del Toro has just given Michael Bay an explosive class on how to make a giant robot movie work. So, what exactly made Pacific Rim such an entertaining ride?

In Pacific Rim there’s no time for building up a back story to nothing, we are thrown right smack into the middle of a world in which giant monsters are beginning to emerge from the depths of the ocean, scene one take one, giant monsters destroying the San Francisco Bridge. At first humans think that these giant monsters popping out of the ocean is something temporary, that these monsters will just go away, but soon they realize that these monsters just won’t stop coming, so the governments of the world join and create the “Jaeger” robots. These are robots gigantic in size that use different weapons to destroy the giant monsters, which by the way are referred to as ‘Kaiju’, a Japanese word that translates to ‘monster’. So the humans get all cocky because they are beating the monsters with their giant machines. But that cockiness soon fades away when even bigger monsters start to emerge from the depths of the ocean! Soon the Jaeger robots are considered a waste of money because too many millions are being lost, and too many fighters have died. The battle against the monsters is being lost! Can the dwindling Jaeger program go up against these giant creatures? And just what is it that these creatures are hoping to achieve by laying waste to our world?

Pacific Rim is Guillermo del Toro biggest movie to date, he’s worked with medium sized budgets before, for example Hellboy II (2008) cost 80 million dollars, which is the highest budget he’d worked with up to that point, but now Del Toro’s gone over the 100 million dollar mark with Pacific Rim which cost a whopping 170 million dollars! But trust me, you’ll see all that money up on the screen, this is certainly NOT one of those movies that costs 300 million dollars and you don’t see the money on the screen, nope here you’ re gonna see them, and you’re gonna be impressed. Seriously though, the effects work on this movie is simply amazing, the scope of the ideas is way bigger than any other Guillermo del Toro movie. This is the kind of director who has a lot of imagination. Right from the start of his career Guillermo del Toro has demonstrated that he is a director with true admiration and devotion to the sci-fi/horror genres. You can tell that all you need to do if you are producer is give this guy a couple of millions and he’ll bring his imagination to life on the silver screen for you, which is exactly what happened here; Pacific Rim was a project brought forth by the guys at Legendary Pictures. They searched out Guillermo del Toro to work on this project, and Guillermo del Toro made it his own. He took the script, re-worked it to his liking and placed his sci-fi loving stamp on the project. I’m so glad that it was Del Toro who ended up directing, this movie might have turned out to be a lesser film had he not been involved.

Comparisons to other films are inevitable, for example, many of you will immediately associate it with Transformers, but honestly, this movie blows all Transformers movies out of the water. The effects work alone surpasses anything that Michael Bay might have conjured up with his 200 million dollar films like Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). I give credit to Del Toro for making a far better movie with less money. For example, a great thing about Pacific Rim is that the giant robots look way more realistic, they don’t look like CGI creations, they look truly gigantic, truly massive in dimensions. And of course, I couldn’t help thinking of Godzilla films when watching this, because in all honesty, what is Pacific Rim if not Guillermo del Toro making his own Godzilla film? It’s true, I mean, to me, this is Guillermo saying okay, I’m not making a Godzilla film, but I am? I mean, the premise is the same you’d find in a Godzilla movie. Let’s see, giant monsters coming out of the depths of the oceans? Check! Humans creating robots to fight these giant monsters? Check! Human drama in the midst of it all? Check! If I had to compare this one to any of the Godzilla films, it would have to be to Godzilla AgainstMechagodzilla (2002) and Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) which by the way are two of my favorite Godzilla films ever.  On these two films the humans create a mechanical version of Godzilla to fight against the real Godzilla. The whole thing with humans driving Mechagodzilla is similar in nature to what we see in Pacific Rim. Plus, that whole element of monsters destroying buildings that is such a trademark in Godzilla films is very evident here. So what I’m saying is that any lover of Godzilla films or Kaiju films in general should be extremely happy with this film. For all intents and purposes, Pacific Rim is the biggest, most expensive and overall best ‘Kaiju’ movie ever made, and you can quote me on that one!  

Guillermo del Toro is such a massive genre fan, that when he does a film, well, you can see he loves many of the things us geek boys love, and he gives us exactly what we want. For example, there’s this scene that seems to have come straight out of a Voltron cartoon! Anybody here remember that 80’s cartoon? Most of the episodes ended with a giant robot fighting monsters in space? He always cut the monsters in half with his ‘blazing sword’? Well, you’ll see something on this movie that will bring all those Voltron memories rushing right back into your brain! It also brought memories of Mazinger Z, but I’m probably talking gibberish to most of you out there now. Also, In terms of monster mayhem and destruction, this one delivers. So this movie gets an “A” on the massive destruction of public property department, but what of the human drama? This is something that is always taken in consideration when watching a Godzilla movie. We all love the monsters and the destruction, but what of the human side of the story? Sometimes in a Godzilla film the human side of the story will blow chunks and sometimes it’s quite good, the best Godzilla movies are those that deliver on both grounds. Well, I'm happy to say that Pacific Rim delivers on both grounds as far as I’m concerned. The whole thing with the Jaeger pilots connecting their brains in order to drive these robots was such a great idea! They have to share their minds and memories in order to be able to join their brains to drive these gigantic robots! So there’s this whole psychological side to the film because these pilots don’t just drive these things, they have to get inside each other’s heads! Now that’s a pretty cool concept because not only do they have to drive these robots and fight these monsters, they also gotta do battle with their own demons.

It seems I can’t stop gushing over this movie, but what can I say, I truly loved it. It’s the kind of summer film that you immediately feel the urge to see again. Word of advice though, do not see it 3-D. The 3-D was a post conversion which means that it wasn’t originally filmed with 3-D cameras; the studio converted it into a 3-D film after they made the movie, so the resulting film won’t truly be 3-D. Since most of the film takes place during the night and in the middle of a storm, I’ve read some reviewers state that the 3-D actually hinders your full enjoyment of the film because as some of you might now, 3D glasses actually makes the images darker. So my advice is watch Pacific Rim in 2-D, the film does not look any less spectacular in regular 2-D, in fact, it might actually look better. Guillermo del Toro was against the 3-D conversion thing from the get go, but you know how studios are when an opportunity to make extra cash comes along. Can’t blame them, they need to make their money back and I hope they do because I wouldn’t mind seeing another one of these. I was happy to see Guillermo del Toro making such a huge summer blockbuster, really proud to see this director come full circle, he has truly bloomed into a class A director and I applaud him for that. Now go see Pacific Rim, if movies where a drug, then Pacific Rim is crack for the eyes! Pure entertainment, you won’t be disappointed! My only question is: how is director Gareth Edwards, the director currently filming the second American Godzilla film, going to top what Guillermo Del Toro has done here?

Rating: 5 out of 5  

Idris Elba (left) and Guillermo del Toro (right) talk out a scene on the set of Pacific Rim 

Quest for Fire (1981)

Title: Quest for Fire (1981)

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Cast: Rae Dawn Chong, Ron Perlman

Review:

While watching Jean Jacques Annaud’s Quest for Fire, I wasn’t aware that this French director had made so many films that I’ve enjoyed. For example Annaud was behind Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Seven Years in Tibet (1997). He also made a film I love very much: In the Name of the Rose (1986) an anti-religious film about two monks (Sean Connery and Christian Slater) who are sent to explore a series of murders that have taken place in a secluded monastery up on the hills of Italy. What I loved about In the Name of the Rose was that Annaud and his team of filmmakers actually went to Italy, found these amazing looking castles and locations and shot their film there. Nowadays filmmaking has gotten so lazy that if they had to film a film like In the Name of the Rose, they’d probably make the castles in CGI; but not Annaud. Annaud comes from the same school of filmmaking as Werner Herzog which teaches that shooting your film in real life existing locations is always better then special effects!

Annaud applied this same rule when the time came to shoot Quest for Fire, a film about cavemen surviving in the big bad prehistoric world. Quest for Fire was shot in various countries: Kenya, Canada, Iceland and Scotland. When we see these cavemen exploring the world in their travels we get these amazing vistas, not matte paintings, no computer generated images but actual mountains, rivers and forests which of course makes the film that much more real. Speaking of realism, this film achieves it rather well. I dare to say that this is the best cavemen film ever made. I have never seen this era depicted as realistically as here. The only other film that can probably compare is Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) which if you remember correctly opens during the time of the cavemen, when man had not yet discovered the advent of tools and weapons. Speaking of Kubrick’s 2001, many reviewers compare Quest for Fire with 2001’s opening sequence and I have to say I completely agree. Annaud shot the film with a Kubrickian level of authenticity and perfection. Another aspect of the film that gets compared to Kubrick's style of filmmaking is it's beautiful orchestral score, it really adds tot he majesty of the already astounding visuals. 

So what’s Quest for Fire all about? Well, it tells the story of three cavemen out in search for fire. You see, in this day and age (80,000 years ago to be precise) the survival of man depends on having fire. If you don’t have it, you die. The different tribes of humans and ape men all fight for it. In this film we are presented with the idea that there are different kinds of humans, some more evolved then others. On this film we get equal parts Homo sapiens, Homo-erectus’s and even Neanderthals. So the three main characters have to venture into this savage world filled with Sabretooths and Woolly Mammoths to find fire for their tribe, or the tribe dies. So the film is their adventures across the peril filled land. This film presents us with a time in human existence where life was all about being the strongest and surviving.  

This was Ron Perlman’s debut film and he does a convincing portrayal of a primitive caveman. He moves like a half-human half-monkey. He grunts to communicate and eats tree leaves for dinner. The film also stars a very young Rae Dawn Chong. In my opinion, Quest for Fire was Rae Dawn Chong’s finest day as an actress, it takes something to appear in naked and in body paint through out a whole film! In Quest for Fire she portrays a member of a slightly more advanced tribe of humans, they’ve developed a language, they’ve mastered art, learned how to use tools and weapons and they’ve even discovered humor! I thought this was an interesting aspect of the film, we meet various human tribes, some more evolved than others; some are closer to being monkeys, while others are closer to a human. Some grunt, some have a language, some don’t know how to make fire while others master it. In other words, in this film we see how humans can learn from each other to improve the human race as a collective.

We are also presented with the idea that violence has always been a part of who we are; on this film when two tribes meet, their first thoughts are to attack each other. By the way, the battles between tribes get pretty graphic on this movie so be ready for that. Also, the sex scenes are pretty graphic and violent as well, these are cavemen we are talking about; back in those days there was no law, no moral values. If a caveman liked a lady caveman, he would just go for her right then and there. But I did appreciate that the film has one caveman actually discovering the difference between lust and genuinely caring and loving somebody else. 

An extremely interesting aspect of this film is that Anthony Burgess came up with the caveman’s dialect; in other words, he invented a language for this film alone! But inventing new languages and words was nothing new for Anthony Burgess; as some of you may know he was the writer behind AClockwork Orange, a novel in which his characters speak ‘Nasdat’, a language which Burgess created specifically for that novel. Burgess was an expert in idioms and languages; he actually taught himself how to speak Persian if you can believe it! So when the filmmakers behind Quest for Fire needed to find someone to put ‘words’ into these cavemen’s mouths, they went with Burgess because of his expertise and background in linguistics; the result was a language called ‘Ulam’. 

Watching a film like Quest for Fire is an interesting experience, it’s the kind of film that will spark up conversations about the origins of man and how we all got here. It’ll get people talking about Creation vs. Evolution. Since the film has no dialog that we can understand, this allows for viewers to comment on what is happening on screen as they watch the film at the same time. But be advised, this is the kind of film where you have to try and interpret the story by the actions and visuals, not by dialog or exposition, so in some ways Quest for Fire functions like a silent film. The film is stunning visually, filled with beautiful vistas shot in real locations, but at the same time the film can be ugly and brutal. There is a rawness to it that can catch you off guard. Quest for Fire won the Oscar for best make up effects; some of these actors had to be in make-up for up to five hours every day to look like Neanderthals. It also won 2 Cesar Awards (the French Oscars) both for best director and best film, these very well deserved awards because it takes some ‘Cojones’ to go around the world making a film about prehistoric people. In my book, Quest for Fire is an extremely underrated film and should be seen my more cinephiles. Give it a chance, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Rating: 5 out of 5  

       

Conan (2011)

Title: Conan (2011)

Director: Marcus Nispel

Cast: Jason Momoa, Ron Perlman, Rose McGowan

Review:

I saw this one in theaters during its original release but never bothered to review it because I was so immensely disappointed with it. I re-watched it yesterday at my brothers house just for the hell of it and I reassured myself that I hated it as much as I did when I watched it the first time, in fact, even more so. The good thing about this second viewing is that I finally got to zero in on the reasons why I hated this new Conan flick so much! In this Film Connoisseur’s eyes, this remake simply did not work. At least not when compared to the awesomeness of John Milius’s sword and sorcery classic. What exactly made this remake such an awful film? Why was it such a wasted opportunity? Read on my fellow readers…read on.

 This remake starts a little bit further back in Conan’s life than the original film. On this one we actually get to see Conan being “battle born”, which means he was ripped from his dying mothers womb right in the middle of a war, on the battle field, which was actually kind of a cool way to start the movie. The scene is an example of how nonsensical this film actually is. The filmmakers didn’t care to make sense out of anything; they only care about making things look cool and having Conan strike heroic poses. For example, during the opening sequence we meet Conan’s mother (an old hag of a mother when compared to the bombshell that played Conan’s mom on the original) fighting in the battlefield. During these scenes we learn that Simerian women are so tough that they fight even when they are in an advanced state of pregnancy! Now that’s what I call a tough momma! So anyway, she gets stabbed by an enemy in her pregnant belly, and we see that the sword misses Conan The Unborn Baby by inches! Then, Conan’s dad rips the baby out of his wife’s womb! Just seconds before she dies she whimpers “his name will be…Conan!” One of the few cool things about this remake is that Conan’s dad is played by Ron Perlman, which is always a plus on any fantasy/sci-fi/adventure film. So anyways, Ron Perlman screams at the heavens and then raises Conan The Newborn Baby up in the air, right in the middle of the battlefield! Never mind all the swords that are swinging or the arrows that are flying through the air, or the war that is going on around him…this baby must be dramatically raised in the air for all to see! Cue the Conan logo, in 3-D no less. And enjoy that 3-D logo, because in theaters, the 3-D was so poor for this film that it’s really all that you saw in 3-D, the freaking Conan logo.  

I kind of liked this opening for the film, meeting Conan before he is even born! Sadly, the movie crumbles into pieces from there on in. First up, this remake skips one of the coolest sequences from the original, the scene where we actually see Conan becoming the war hungry, head slashing, enemy crushing warrior that he is. You know that scene in the original in which we see Conan become a slave? These are the scenes where he is enslaved and trained to fight other warriors, for money. We see Conan receiving sword lessons, becoming a man, and finally being released by his master into the world, to be his own person. We see Conan venturing into the world for the first time, on his own, learning to survive in this cruel savage world. These scenes are so important because we see Conan becoming Conan The Barbarian, and we feel connected with the character because we’ve seen him grow, we’ve followed him through his metamorphosis. Well, on this new remake, they totally skipped this sequence! They go from Conan The Kid, to Conan The Adult without any sort of way to let us know that time has elapsed. And this really is one of this films biggest faults, there is no smoothness between transitions, the film doesn’t flow. It feels like a bunch of moments clumsily glued together. This has always been a problem I have with the films of Marcus Nispel, the editing on them is terrible. But the disappointments don’t stop there, read on my friends.

Strike a pose!

The thing I loved the most about the original Conan The Barbarian (1982), and this is the reason why it’s one of my favorite films EVER, is that it was a religion bashing film. Yeah, it had the balls to say that religion is a brainwashing institution, and that we don’t need it. The ones responsible for killing Conan’s parents are the leaders of a religious cult that is spreading through the land. The leader has such power over his followers that they will jump to their deaths if he commands it. The film shows how the mind of the parishioner is at the mercy of the religious leader. So strong is the grip of this religious man over people that even King Osric’s daughter is brainwashed into following Thulsa Doom’s cult. Thulsa Doom’s followers worship this mad man as if he was a holy man. He proclaims himself as their God, their father. He tells them that their world would be nothing without him. And what does Conan do with this religious leader? He chops his head off that’s what he does! He shows the parishioners that Thulsa Doom isn’t a God, and that he can die, just like the rest of us. And then he hurls Thulsa Doom’s head down the steps of the temple and burns it down to the ground! Conan even kills one of the snakes they worship! In the end, Thulsa Doom’s parishioners end up going home, finally free from his powerful grip over their minds. And did this new remake even comment on any of these themes? Nope. They focused more on the fights, the killing, the monsters and the special effects, not the why behind these things. It only cares about everything being in slow motion. Gone is the weight behind the message that the original had. This new remake is an empty shell of a movie with a dumb story behind it.

Yes we still have a crazy religious leader on this new one, but the thrust of the story is his desire to acquire a magical mask that will bring his evil witch of a wife back from the dead, that’s it. And you know what? They could have probably done a cool movie about that as well. Unfortunately, this is the kind of film that never lives up to its full potential. You feel it could have gone further with its ideas, but that it was such a rush job that it never really takes off. The ideas are half cooked, half assed and lazy. An example of this is this scene where Conan fights this giant creature with tentacles. Sounds like a promising scenario for Conan to fight a giant monster, a potentially cool sequence near the ending of the film right? Guess again! You never even get to see the monster, only its tentacles! How disappointing. At least on the original we get to see the giant snake that Conan fights!

How half assed are the ideas in this movie? Well, at one point Conan fights these sand creatures, we never know what the hell they are, but these have to be the lamest creatures that Conan has ever fought! All Conan has to do is slash them with his sword and poof! They crumble away! These lame-o creatures may look cool, but they were not a worthy adversary for Conan, who never seems to really be in any peril in this film! On the original film, Conan freaking dies! And demons come to take his soul to hell with them! He is placed on ‘the tree of woe’ to starve for killing one of Thulsa Dooms giant snakes! On this remake nothing touches Conan, there was no vulnerability to the character, no humanity to it. On the original you liked Conan for his weaknesses, he kicked ass, but he messed up as well. On this one he is an indestructible asshole.

New Conan (above)  Old Conan (below) 

    

Another thing I loved about the original film is that they shot in these exotic locations, everything looked real. Not so on this remake in which half of the film was shot on a sound stage, with green screen. I hate it when I can tell everything is a set, I never felt that way while watching the original film. Point is, the original film is a far superior film in every single way. Why? Because the talents behind it were truly talented individuals who gave a damn about making a good film that actually said something. Oliver Stone wrote the original film, but who wrote this new one? Somebody who didn’t know what would make a good Conan film, that’s who. And who directed it? They guy behind the god awful Pathfinder (2007), which was a terrible Conan rip off to begin with! Apparently, Marcus Nispel always wanted to make a Conan film, and when he’s finally given the chance to do it, he does this lazy, dumb, crap fest of a Conan film. Marcus Nispel didn’t know how to make a Conan film that felt believable, which is what John Milius did so well. The world we see on the 1982 film felt real to me; even though it also felt like a Frank Frazetta painting coming to life. This is a balance that very  few directors achieve; making the fantastic seem real. Milius and crew actually went out and shot the film on location; with real wind and earth beneath his actors feet! Not green screen and Styrofoam. Oliver Stone wrote a film with some weight to it, unfortunately this new film is just the empty calories version of a Conan film, a major disappointment and a lost opportunity. They had more money and technology than John Milius had back in 1982, yet they still couldn’t make a better film. Which proves only one thing: what matters is the talent you put behind the camera, not the size of the budget. For this remake, the producers simply chose the wrong crew, they proved themselves unworthy of attempting a Conan film.

Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5

Frank Frazetta's Conan 

Drive (2011)

Title: Drive (2011)

Director: Nicholas Winding Refn

Cast:  Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman

Review:

Drive is a film that appeals to the senses in more ways than your regular run of the mill commercial film. Nicholas Winding Refn is that rare filmmaker that knows how to make you feel with his images, something that seldom happens when watching the latest Hollywood summer blockbuster for example. With a lot of those films, even though they try, in the end most commercial films are a lot of flash, a lot of action, but no feeling, no emotion. Not so with this latest Nicholas Winding Refn film, Drive aims to please the eyes as well as the heart. But don’t mistake this one for a film without any ‘cojones’, because it’s got a lot of those too! When Drive has too, it can get damn graphic and violent! 

Drive is all about a nameless man who earns a living as a stunt driver for the movies. But that’s just his day job, during the nighttime he gets paid for driving criminals in and out of their heists. Eventually, word gets around about his driving skills, and so mobsters want to use him, so they can make good money off of his driving skills. At the same time, the mysterious Nameless Driver falls for his lonely next door neighbor, whose husband just so happens to be away in jail. So she’s a lonely parent, raising her kid on her own. One day, her husband finally gets out of jail and returns to live with her. He tries living a ‘normal’ life, but being good and normal just isn’t in this guys genes. You see, the husband owes money to some thugs, and these thugs have gone as far as threatening his wife and kid if he doesn’t pay up. What will the Nameless Driver do about this? Will he selfishly walk away from the situation, or will he help his babealicious neighbor find the money to pay the debt that her husband owes the mob?

Nicholas Winding Refn has amazed me with each and every one of his films. I’ve only seen three so far: Bronson (2008), which is a film about the most famous convict in England and Valhalla Rising (2009), a trippy film about a barbarian who gets stranded in a strange new land filled with deadly natives who don’t exactly take kindly to strangers. And now Drive a simple, yet visually poetic film. Refn has so far proven himself to be the kind of director who places a lot emphasis on the visuals, and what they can evoke. There are moments in Drive where the main character doesn’t talk for long periods of time; he simply drives around town, taking in the lights, the sights and sounds of the big bad city landscape. He doesn’t talk, but you kind of get an idea of what he is thinking, or maybe you come up with your own idea of what’s going through his head. Point is, the silent scenes evoke some sort of response out of you even though nothing is said. In this way, these long moments of silence work like the silent films of the past. A lot can be said through visuals and performance alone and Drive does it exquisitely.

This strong silent type of character is nothing new to Refn who had a similar character in his previous film, Valhalla Rising. On that film we meet a character called ‘One Eye’, a barbarian character who very rarely spoke. In fact, he had a kid tagging along beside him that spoke for him as some sort of ‘Jiminy Cricket’ or something. With Drive, you can expect a film that exploits it’s moments of silence to the fullest, Refn uses yet again a strong silent character to tell his story. The Nameless Driver brings to mind Clint Eastwood’s legendary Man With No Name from all those spaghetti westerns he made. In those westerns, The Man With No Name , never spoke much and he was never a squeaky clean character. He was always walking the fine line between savior and bandit. The same can be said of the Nameless Driver in Drive. Here, we meet a lonely type of character, but one that is focused and knows exactly what his doing and why.

Drive is a film that has many influences attached to it. Like a Tarantino film that draws from many others that came before it, Drive draws a lot of it’s awesomeness from equally great films of the past. It has a bit of Bullit (1968), The Driver (1978), Le Samourai (1967), and by Refn’s own admission The Day of the Locust (1975). These are all a bunch of films that I will definitely be looking into in the next few months, just to see where Drive came from. With a title like Drive, a lot of people where probably expecting something along the lines of the Fast and the Furious movies, when in reality, Drive could not be further from those formulaic action flicks. Though it does have about two cool chase sequences, I don’t consider Drive to be action flick at all. It’s more of an introspective piece, almost entirely focusing on its one main character. One look at this film and you immediately know it’s not going to be your regular run of the mill pop corn flick. I mean, two of the production houses that joined to make this film are called “Odd Lot” and “Bold Films” so right off the bat we know were going to be in for something that thinks outside of the proverbial box.

Drive feels like a film both from the 70’s and 80’s. The credits are in pink neon letters, obviously as homage to films from the 80’s. The music in the film has a real retro-feel to it; the synthesizers make it sound like something straight out of the 80’s club scene, but interestingly enough the songs were all recorded post 2007, so it’s a deliberately retro soundtrack. By the way, this is the kind of soundtrack you’ll want to make a permanent part of your collection. Most of it is abstract music that sets the mood for the well orchestrated visuals. And man, this is one of those movies that perfectly matches both music and visuals. There’s a scene in which the Nameless Driver is silently driving around town, and he’s gone through a lot of shit, and this song plays in the background. The song is called “A Real Hero” by Johnny Jewel. Wow, that song perfectly picks up what the film is all about. Behind all its car chases, and shoot outs and Italian gangsters, this is really a film about a good guy trying to survive in an imperfect world. About a person who is struggling to do what is right, to be a real human being, a hero. To feel and love and care. And even though in the end, the Nameless Driver doesn’t seem to be destined to live “the good life” at least he tries.

Rating: 5 out of 5   

     

Afro Samurai (2007)

Title: Afro Samurai (2007)

Director: Fuminori Kizaki, Jamie Simone

Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman

Review:

Most, if not all Samurai films are linked to the theme of revenge somehow. I guess it’s only natural, after all, a Samurai kills for a living, and killing always has a way of coming back at ya, and revenge will always figure into the equation somehow. You choose to live that life; and death, blood, and revenge are all going to tag along. “You live by the sword, you die by the sword” and all that. And the world of Afro Samurai is all about blood, death and revenge. And hip hop music. You see the creator of Afro Samurai (Takashi Okazaki) came up with the character by mixing a few of the things he loved the most: Samurai’s, science fiction and swordplay with Hip Hop music and American Black Culture. This mixture of cultures crossed over to the actual production of the series, which brought together creative talent from both east and west. First up, the animation was done by the guys at Gonzo animation studio; these were the very same guys responsible for the ultra cool anime series Hellsing, which I loved. Then we have Afro Samurai’s actual creator, a Japanese comic book artist known as Takashi Okazaki. The voice talent is mostly made up of American actors. Afro Samurai himself and his imaginary friend known as Ninja Ninja are both voiced by non other than Samuel L. Jackson himself, who by the way is also credited as being one of the producers of the show. Ron Perlman (Yes ladies and gents, Hellboy himself) voices a character known as ‘Justice’, Afro’s #1 enemy. The music comes to us from RZA, who’s an experienced hip hop recording artist and collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on the  soundtrack for both of his Kill Bill (2003) films. So in the end, this is a project that brought together the best of many worlds.

 Story for Afro Samurai is all about headbands. That’s right my friends, headbands. The sword fighters of this world only care about wearing the #1 headband, because it means you’re the best, it means nobody can mess with you; but also because wearing the #1 headband will make you into a God. So everyone and their mother is taking a stab at this headband, problem is that only those with the #2 headband can defy the #1. And the one wearing the #2 right now, is Afro Samurai, a dude you don’t want to be messing with. You see Afro is out to avenge the death of his own father, who was decapitated by the current owner of the #1, a villain who goes by the name of ‘Justice’. Will Afro get to avenge his father’s death?

 What I liked the most about Afro Samurai is that the animation is really top notch, super stylized stuff. Afro’s Afro stands ten feet high while the wind hits it. Characters have swordfights while flying through the air, swords look ten feet long, but it’s all because of the angles. The angles that they choose, the places where they choose to put the camera, many of them are unique to the animation form, things are done on this series that can only be done on an animated feature and I loved that about it. This is the kind of film in which Afro can slice three dudes in half, at the same time with one swoop of his sword! This is a film in which Afro can end up fighting an android version of himself! After a good day of ass kicking, he then calmly takes a drag from his joint, which he is always smoking from. Maybe that’s why the dude fights so well! Point is, anything can happen on Afro Samurai.

 Some have accused this series of being the classic example of  “style over substance”, and I’d have to say that to an extent, I agree, but I’d also have to say that its not entirely true. I think a more accurate description of this film would that it does a fine balancing act between telling an involving revenge tale, and giving us some of that good old fashion hack and slash we always expect in a Samurai film. Yeah the film does concern itself with lots of cool angles, and colors and beautiful looking animation, but behind it all we have a bonafide revenge film every step of the way; and a very dramatic one at that. But it’s a safe bet to say that Afro Samurai concerns itself with being super cool, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s an empty film with only cool visuals to look at. Behind it all is a story about accepting death, about a young boys love for his father, about learning to harness what makes us unique and about learning to face ones fears. If I had to compare it to another Japanese animated film, it would have to be Ninja Scroll because it's also about a hero going up against one enemy after another. What makes Afro story evolve are the flashbacks we get in between, where we get to know who Afro is, and how he came to be in this complicated and dangerous predicament.

   

 Afro Samurai originally aired on Spike TV way back in 2007 as a five episode mini-series, I never saw it when it first aired, the version I recently watched was Afro Samurai Director’s Cut, which I think is the best way to watch it because it you watch all five episodes back to back, you’re basically watching a feature length film. The second Afro Samurai adventure is called Afro Samurai Resurrection (2009), and that one was released as a feature length film. I’ve yet to see that one, but it’s a problem I plan on resolving soon, so keep an eye out for my review of that one. For now, all I have to say about this mini-series is that hanging out with Afro-Samurai for two and a half hours was the booooommmb!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Mutant Chronicles (2009)

Title: The Mutant Chronicles (2009)

Director: Simon Hunter

Cast: Thomas Jane, John Malkovich, Ron Perlman

Review:

So ever since Sin City and 300 achieved box office success with their computer generated techniques of having all the backgrounds in the film be computer rendered drawings and making the actors the only real thing in the film, countless movies have tried to duplicate this formula. They've tried and failed? Nope, they've tried and died. An ugly death. Ever heard of a this science fiction film called The Gene Generation? You probably havent, but it tried to do the same thing, and failed horribly as well. Such an awful film. But it though its cgi could save it. It didnt. Mutant Chronicles is yet another example of how this technique can go horribly wrong.

The story concerns this machine that falls on earth and basically starts to turn humans into mutants. What do these mutants do? All they care about is destroying your brain with their hook like hands, and carrying you back to the mutant machine to turn their victims into mutants as well. Or something like that. In comes this special unit of humans from across the world to go into the mutant machine, and presumably, blow the thing up. Thats it!

What went wrong with this movie? Well, apparently this film director Simon Hunter (sorry dude, I got a feeling you wont be making movies anymore! Pack up your things and go home) was relying too much on the films computer generated images to blow everyone out of the water. Guess what my rookie director? In this kind of film, that is simply not enough. What kept a film like Sin City going? Was it the backgrounds? Was it the fact its striking black and white imagery? Nope. What held it together, what kept audiences watching were the characters, and the situations they got themselves into. And when you combine both visual awesomenes, with a great script and great performances, this type of film can be great. Unfortunately, the characters in Mutant Chronicles are so boring, so one sided, so lifeless that you just dont connect with them. The movie has a very dreadful palette, devoid of any color. Everything is grey and lifeless. In my opinion, the films look fits perfectly with this movies script and characters. You dont get to know them at all, all they do is blow shit up. And sense you cant connect, you dont care, you dont give a hoot where this movie is going, youll most likely disconnect it almost as fast as I did.

Weird thing is the film has a decent cast. Thomas Jane is perfect for the science fiction/action/horror film. He has that hero look to him. Kind of like a younger Christopher Lambert. On this film he plays the leader of the pack thats going into the mutant making machine. Along with him we have Ron Perlman playing of all things a priest, for what religion, who the hell knows, but he is a priest who wants to gather the mutant ass kicking army to go and destroy the mutant making machine. John Malkovich plays the polititian who gives the okay for the mission to move forward. The rest of the crew are a bunch of actors you've never even heard of, except for that Asian chick that played cute little Miho in Sin City. Im guessing Malkovich was paying somebody some kind of favor doing this cameo thing he did here. His participation in this film was almost as unnecessary as was his participation in Eragon. Actually, Malkovich plays the exact same role on Mutant Chronicles as the one he did in Eragon. Really, you see a guy like Malkovich on this kind of movie and you wonder what the hell he is doing there. He stands out like a sore thumb! Unfortunately, this cast is completely wasted in a lifeless story, that doesnt ask you to warm up to anybody. The actors just feel like robots moving the plot around, there is no life to these guys!

Finally, whats the purpose of these mutants? Why are they turning humans into mutants? Why are these machines doing this? Who the hell knows, all I know is that a movie with a lousy villain makes for a lousy movie. This was Mutant Chronicles case. We just get a group of bloodthirsty mutant creatures with hooks for hands who come, puncture your brain and then turn you into one of them. Thats it and thats all. No depth, no true purpose. You'd think that a movie thats based on an already established universe would have no problems giving us a film with characters that are fleshed out. Unfortunately, this was the case!

And what about the direction? The visual aspect of the film? The storytelling? Well, let me put it this way: I was watching this movie and suddenly I realized that what wasnt allowing me to connect with the film (aside from all the points Ive already mentioned) was the boring way in which it was directed. The way they set up the shots was so dreadfully boring, nothing interesting visually. Many camera angles were from far away, or completely static. In my opinion they disconnected us from what was going on in the film. There was no dynamic camera movement. Everything was dreadful and boring visually. The editing wasnt helping the film flow either, sombody put this film together really quick. So what we have here is a film that takes place in a future that looks like it was stuck in World War II (but with futuristic weapons! Get it?) and all the ships and machines run on steam, what some refer to as Steampunk. They had all the proper elements in which a science fiction film could thrive in. Unfortunately, the dreadful direction, storytelling, performances and script were so lifeless that the film never had a chance to take off, or grab you.

I got an idea for all those film producers out there. Before you go and give a couple of million dollars to a director, make sure its a very visually oriented director, an artist with a vision. Not a fanboy with a hard on for computer graphics. Cause in this kind of film, cool graphics just isnt enough. We need that human element in there, we need for someone to use computer generated images as a means to tell a good story. But not just anybody can do this. It has to be a director with a vision, with a desire to tell an involving story, to pull us into the mystery. A film without a visionary director behind it is nothing. Its lifeless, just like this film was. Theres nothing positive I can say about this movie, my advice is stay clear off this one, it truly blows!

Rating: 1 out of 5