Independence Day-Resurgence

Independence Day-Resurgence

In 1996, the day before leaving for Switzerland, I went to the midnight show of Independence Day. It was a highly anticipated film. The special effects were impressive (who can forget the Empire State building exploding). The story was transparent and the film had humor.  It was also very lucrative.

This movie is a mess. It uses five writers. The more writers used the more chaotic the film becomes. With all the destruction, this film resembles a demolition derby rather than a movie. Destruction is pervasive; it is the hallmark of the film. No landmark on any continent is spared. The original film also used destruction but the director had a purpose, to use it as the catalyst to fight the aliens

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The actors were mere props. Some of the acting was stilted and others uninspired. There were actors from the original film: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsh, Vivica A. Fox (the striper mom).  They did not energize the film. Pictures of Will Smith were plastered on the walls of the White House so he must be dead (Actually he was filming Suicide Squad). His grown son was his stand in. Liam Hemsworth (Thor’s brother) is one of the leads. No one’s acting was memorable, including Harmsworth’s, but good looks forgive many sins.

The essence of the plot is “let’s get them before they get us”. Same as the other flick but here bedlam highjacks the film. The movie wallowed in excessive and expensive CG. This is a weakness of the poor writing and feckless directing.  The production cost is $165m (plus advertising= $330m). I hope the Chinese (their market rivals ours) have a large appetite for schlock.  

p.s.-To kill time I snuck into the movie “The Shallows” with Blake Lively. I was more curious than interested. I caught the last third of the film. From what I saw It was very good; tension was palatable with Blake trying to outwit a shark. The setup is she is stuck on an out crop of rocks and only a few yards from shore and high tide is rising. The shark waits. The shark made human sashimi of some errant surfers. Jaws is the holy grail for this genera. This film is a worthy candidate for shark movies.

X Men Apocalypse

 X Men Apocalypse

This probably is the worst written superhero film to date. Four writers are credited for this mess implying there were several rewrites and they still didn’t get it right. The divergent subplots did not coalesce. The overall plot is simple, world domination (it took four guys to figure this out!). Getting there was overly complicated. The disappointment is this film follows the last film” X Men First Class” which was a critical and financial success.

The cast is voluminous, with major and minor characters. The stalwarts are:

James McEvoy as professor Charles Xavier

Michael Fassbinder as Magneto

Jennifer Lawrence as Mystic

Nicholas Hoult as Beast

Having so many characters strains the cohesiveness of the film and sometimes is a distraction. Utilizing these characters was a challenge the director and writers failed. Some performances are brief and lacked impact. Remembering their names and powers is challenging for anyone over 60. Please refer to Wikipedia. 

Jennifer Lawrence is out of costume and looked especially fetching with blond tendrils falling on her shoulder. But when duty calls she releases her inner Smurf and transforms into Mystic blue and nude. Wolverine makes a cameo appearance. He is a human Cuisinart shredding soldiers with his talons. McEvoy and Fassbinder rekindle their love hate relationship. As the bad boy Fassbinder does little talking but much damage. McEvoy reprises his savoir of mankind role. There acting was a snooze,

The villain En Sabah Nur, the “First Mutant” (I thought that was Keith Richards?), is played by Oscar Isaac. With makeup and prosthesis, he is nearly unrecognizable, which for the sake of his career is a good thing. His star trajectory is on the rise (Star Wars, Ex Machina) so this role hopefully will just be a bump in his career

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For the most part the film was dower. Repartee was serious and not light hearted.  This movie is another downward spiral for the superhero genera. What hold the presses, to date the movie has made $402m (production cost $178m). Forget what I said!

Captain America-Civil War

This is my 100^th review

Captain America-Civil War

One of the best things about this movie was absence of Batman. Contrasting Civil War (CW) with Batman vs Superman frames what makes CW a financial and critical success. The plot is understandable, with a few twits, as opposed to the fog of B v S. The actors have good chemistry even when they fight each other. Relations in B v S turned toxic. Robert Downy Jr.’s sarcastic repartee and sharp comments from other actors lightened up the drama. Humor was sorely absent from B v S, making it grim. CW has an unfair advantage using two directors, Antony and Joe Russo. Given the mess B v S, even with a lifeline from a second director, the movie would still have drowned. One thing both have in common is former allies battling each other; hey just like the Republican Party.

Captain America is the leader of the rebellious faction, opposed by Ironman and his team. There are guest appearances by non-Avenger super heroes making solid contributions to the movie. Chadwick Boseman (a.k.a. James Brown, the perfect preparation for his role), stars as Panther the first black Marvel super hero.  He is in neither camp, but mainly fights Captain America with his steel claws. The return of the Winter Solider, Sabastian Stan, provides a pivotal role. He is the childhood best friend of Captain America and is cast as villain. Captain America’s conflicted loyalties create the underlying tension of the movie.

 CG is the back bone of the film and done well. The stunt work was impressive and garnered positive responses from the audience.  The unrelenting explosions and pyrotechnics hastened the movie’s two and half hour run time (much appreciated by the elderly and their bladder).

A big part of the movie is the battle royal; some scenes were quite intense.  The steam of insults and witticisms hurled by the actors provided comic counter point to the mayhem.  Scarlett Johansson is skilled at deflating male egos. Robert Downy Jr.’s motor mouth runs on.

The film’s production cost is $250m ($500m with advertising). Internationally the movie made $291m, and prospects for domestic box office are huge. This means Hollywood will be churning out more superhero movies.  “Nothing succeeds like success”.

At the end of the movie the audience applauded as did I; the producers were delighted.

p.s.- Make sure to check out the credit ending.