Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Dawn of Justice?  Still in the dark if you ask me.  There was one good scene, about halfway through I guess; but otherwise there is too much plotting, and when we finally get to the final showdown, it’s all wham, bang, bash, explosion!  A a rather run-of-the-mill affair with little to recommend it.  Still the creative genius behind the Dark Knight trilogy (Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer) can’t help this turgid series.

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Super 8 (2011)

As the basis for one of 2011s big blockbusters, J. J. Abrams has taken us back to 1979 in an attempt to recapture some of the spirit of adventure in films such as ET, Stand by Me or The Goonies. A group of young friends are hell-bent on making their own zombie movie with their Super 8 camera for a local competition . When filming one night at a railway station they witness a spectacular train crash. Soon after, the small town of Lillian, Ohio, starts to experience some strange goings-on (people disappearing, all the dogs running away from town, microwaves being stolen etc), which are compounded by the Air Force arriving to “tidy up” the wreckage of the train crash. It seems that something was being transported in the train that crashed, something that the friends caught on camera while they were filming.

Essentially a creature-feature, Super 8 was tremendous fun. The main characters were the kids, with the story being told through the eyes of Joe Lamb, brilliantly realised by Joel Courtney. His best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) is the driving force behind the zombie movie, along with Cary, who loves to blow stuff up, and Martin who is constantly terrified. Elle Fanning is Alice, a girl who the guys are seemingly in awe of at the beginning of the film, but who is brought in to be in the zombie film (initially only because she can drive). However, her presence soon threatens Joe and Charles’ friendship. All of the characters are very believable and all of the performances are spot on. There is enough back-story and emotional exposition so that we care about these characters; a crucial point as their friendship is the focus of the film. I also thought that Kyle Chandler was very good as Joe’s Dad; he is the deputy sheriff, thrust into the fore both as a father (his wife died in an industrial accident), and as a deputy, as the Sheriff disappears early on in the curious happenings.

An atmosphere of mystery runs throughout the film. There is a great deal of tension as the audience has as little idea about what is happening as the characters in the story. I say that this is essentially a creature-feature, but we do not really see the creature for a long time, the reveal possibly being only 20 minutes from the end. In my opinion this is great, it is all part of the mystery; revelation too early on would have ruined any emotional investment in the film. When we finally do see it, the alien isn’t really scary (that’s not the point), but still somehow slightly underwhelming; I was reminded a lot of General Grievous actually. A lot of the great atmosphere can probably be attributed to the wonderful cinematography by Zack Snyder favourite: Larry Fong.

Any criticisms I have of the film are really only superficial. The ending is really quite cheesy, and after all the compact storytelling leading up to this point, seems strangely bolted-on, like it doesn’t really belong there. There are also several unexplained mysteries that remain, well, unexplained by the end of the movie: disappearing microwaves, or car engines? The truck that causes the train crash at the beginning should have been absolutely mangled, with nothing left of it, certainly no-one left alive in it. In fact, given the enormous size of the train, and the relatively small size of the truck, there shouldn’t have been a crash at all; the train should have just ploughed straight through the pick-up! I also found some of the famous J.J. Abrams lens-flare distracting sometimes, especially when there wasn’t even an obvious light source to cause it, and yet there was flare all over the screen.

But these are only insignificant complaints. The film was great fun, very entertaining, featuring some amazing action sequences, not least the initial train crash (which was LOUD!). I though that the cast were great, and the story that revolved around the kids was very believable, aliens not withstanding!

300

Having recently written a review of another Zack Snyder film, Watchmen, various people had made comments about 300. I have seen 300 before, and wasn't too enamoured of it, but I wanted to watch it again with an open mind, so I duly added it to our Love Film list. To my surprise I really enjoyed it.

300 is the story of 300 Spartan warriors led my King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler's teeth), and their brave stand against the hordes of the Persian army fighting under Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), a self-proclaimed emperor-god. I will make it clear now that I have no idea how historically accurate the film is; I suspect there may be a nugget of truth there, I really don't know. What I do know is that some of my previous niggles with the film were a bit unfounded.

One of my complaints was David Wenham; I just didn't think that he was narrator material. I think perhaps I was being a bit harsh. He doesn't have a striking, imposing voice, but it acts as a good foil for Gerard Butler. Also it is rather the point that he has a storyteller's voice, as he is asked by Leonidas to return to Sparta to tell the story of how the 300 stood against thousands. Indeed, at the climax of the battle when Leonidas' helmet and shield are cramping his style, I thought Wenham's narration was utterly convincing; it vaguely conjured up memories of Maximus' "Husband to a murdered wife..." line, but not quite.

Another of my complaints had been some of the effects, specifically the background effects. Actually, most of the time these are perfect; the crashing sea as the Persian navy comes to grief, and the background of the senate is pretty good. The only thing I didn't think was great was a couple of the scenes that were clearly filmed outside on a sunny day (Leonidas and Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) saying farewell in a field of wheat - Gladiator influence) as their faces are very well lit. However, in the scene the sky is very overcast so the whole setup looks incongruous. I thought so anyway. I realise the whole film is shot high contrast to give the comic-booky feel, those few scenes stuck out though.

Anyway, enough with the minor niggles, the film is great! Zack Snyder shows he has real verve and style with the way he filmed this, everything about it is dynamic. The whole film has a very stormy feel to it thanks to cinematographer Larry Fong, and all of the battles look brilliant; gladly the slow-mo isn't overused and works really well. Gerard Butler is great as King Leonidas. I think maybe perhaps he could be accused of overacting at points: Tonight we dine in Hell! We will fight in the shade! Prepare for Glory!, but it's all really part of the fun.

                                King Leonidas played by Gerard Butler's teeth!

So despite my earlier misgivings, I really enjoyed 300, perhaps it's one of those films I should own, as I can foresee wanting to see it again, for some pure entertainment. Great main character, great fights, brilliantly filmed. Just one more thing: can someone please explain to me how I managed to recognise Michael Fassbender by his teeth?! A quick check on IMDB and yes, Fassbender is in this! By his teeth? I think I've only seen him in Inglorious Basterds, by no means am I that familiar with him! Strange.

Anyway. One more time everybody:

THIS IS SPARTA!

Watchmen (2009)

Tonight, a Comedian died in New York.

I hadn't read the novel before I saw the film, but when I finally did, I appreciated what a massive undertaking it was to try and bring it to the silver screen. I did have misgivings about Zak Snyder after 300, because I just don't get on with it for various reasons, but he completely redeemed himself with Watchmen. I wont go into the plot here as it is far too complicated. If you want a summary then for goodness sake see here!

Right from the beginning it is great. The Comedian being beaten while Nat King Cole's Unforgettable is playing is just brilliant. Then the credits play along with The Times They are a Changing, while we see lots of old photographs, nicely animated (not in a Harry Potter kind of way!), giving a lot of background info into the origins of The Minute Men and the Watchmen. Not only does this look great, but it manages to tell a lot of back story in a short time; though I guess it is perhaps too fast if you don't already know the story.

The cast all fit their characters perfectly. To me they were all unknowns, but they all perform with aplomb making the characters leap off the pages of the novel. Dr Manhattan (Billy Crudup) is suitably detached from everyone; Dan (Patrick Wilson) is a slightly nervous, trustworthy average Joe, Rorschach (Jackie Earl Haley) is brilliantly unforgiving and gritty, and Adrian Weidt (Matthew Goode) is confident and suave without being cringeworthy. To name just a few. I'm not sure a better cast could have been found, and casting a huge named actor/actress would definitely have been a no no, as that would have risked not believing that character is from the novel

Obviously the design of the film was taken from the book, there are so many shots in the film that are exactly as they appear in the graphic novel. Even when there are several pictures from the novel that progressively move out or into a scene, these are translated as panning/zooming shots, which all looks fantastic. There are also many little references to the graphic novel (Dan is getting new locks on his door: Gordion Knot reference; posters advertising The Black Frieghter, The (Gunga?) cafe) which means there is plenty of detail to keep fans of the novel interested, without getting bogged-down, and all the while not losing site of the main plot. This all allows for a thoroughly entertaining story with a very rich-environment.

Having spent time telling you how accurate the film is to the book, there is one major deviation: the end. However, I don't really have an issue with it. In the book, huge aliens are zapped to various locations over the globe using Dr Manhattan-type technology developed by Adrian Weidt. This seeming "invasion" brings the world together and prevents nuclear war. I think that this would be hard to realise (not taking anything away from the ability of the director), and would run the risk of looking a bit silly. So the decision to go with nuclear blasts with the characteristics of Dr Manhattan allows the pitfall of potential sillyness to be circumnavigated, without taking anything away from Adrian's end game. The use of the nuclear detonations also ties in with the rest of the nuclear arms race theme of the story.

I could probably go on for ages about how great this movie looks (real credit should go to Zak Snyder and director of photography Larry Fong), and about the nice touches (eg Dan always doing a bit of a double-take every time he sees Rorschach on the street without his mask on, and the Rorschach image left in the snow in Rorschach's blood after Dr Manhattan has killed him), but I really shouldn't. Suffice to say that I think this is a great film, though at 2 hours 20 min, not a short one, but justice had to be done for the source material. All of the music is also perfect, though a lot of it is mentioned in the book; it's really as if Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons were expecting this to be made into a film one day! I think this is a great film (in case you hadn't got that by now!), one that becomes more enjoyable each time you watch it.

One last thing I would like to draw attention to is the shot at the Comedian's funeral in the rain. A very mute, almost grey palette is used in the shot, and as the camera pulls away from the graveyard under the wrought iron gate we see the legend "Cemetery". A very similar shot can be seen in the Sucker Punch trailer see here as the car approaches Lennox House. Is there a similar shot in 300? Maybe I'm being silly, thinking it as a trademark shot!