Tag Archives: Action

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

18 Friday Jul 2014

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Hiccup is a Viking lad
Upon the isle of Berk.
He cannot seem to please his dad
With his inventive work.
 
His father Stoick only cares
For hunting dragon pests,
But Hiccup is the worst of heirs,
As everyone attests.
 
He shoots a dragon from the sky,
A Night Fury, the worst,
But when he tries to watch it die,
His feelings are reversed.
 
He lets it live; it follows suit,
And cautious friendship grows.
He names the beast Toothless to boot,
And learns what no one knows.
 
Since half the dragon’s tail was torn,
It cannot fly away,
But Hiccup crafts prosthetics worn
Around its tail each day.
 
As he is trained with fellow teens
To fight each flying creature,
Astride his pet Hiccup careens,
With practice as his teacher.
 
With inside knowledge of the brutes,
He handles them with skill
And wows his dad and the recruits
And earns the right to kill.
 
A girl named Astrid follows him
And threatens to reveal,
But Toothless scares her on a whim
Yet proves he has appeal.
 
They find the hidden dragon nest,
Ruled by a giant beast,
And Hiccup sees they act the pest
Or else become its feast.
 
So Hiccup tries to prove his point
In front of his whole town,
But Hiccup’s efforts disappoint,
And Toothless is brought down.
 
His father stubbornly insists
To find the dragon nest,
And Toothless grudgingly assists
With Stoick’s killing quest.
 
Since Hiccup knows they cannot fight
That dragon monster thing,
He and his Viking friends take flight
On dragons they’re keeping.
 
The monstrous dragon is released,
And Stoick saves Toothless.
They all engage the mammoth beast,
And Hiccup’s acts impress.
 
He taunts the beast, astride his friend,
And brings it down with flair,
But very nearly meets his end
If not for Toothless there.
 
Though injured, Hiccup quickly mends,
And witnesses with glee
Dragons and Vikings can be friends
And live in harmony.
__________________
 

After the Madagascar movies, I began to not expect much from DreamWorks. Their focus on parody made them pale in comparison to the originality of Pixar, but How to Train Your Dragon was a welcome surprise. Boasting a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s awesome in both concept and execution. Based off of Cressida Cowell’s book series, the film combines rowdy Scottish-accented Vikings with various species of the legendary flying reptiles to create something exciting, touching, and just plain cool.

Jay Baruchel brings a geeky likability to Hiccup, and Gerard Butler deepens his voice and accent to give heft to Stoick the Vast. Other roles are filled decently by America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Craig Ferguson, etc. The character I especially admire is Toothless, the Night Fury. I love how his behavior is often cat-like, and his scenes of flight are so exhilarating and beautiful that I wish I had one of my own.

As far as the story, there are some clichés, such as the overbearing, disappointed parent who doesn’t understand the more open-minded child (sounds like The Little Mermaid). The various teen stereotypes aren’t all that memorable, but their interactions in the entertaining training scenes are. There’s even the familiar he’s-dead-no-wait-never-mind cliché, though unlike other movies, Hiccup doesn’t escape completely unscathed, giving the loss more weight. Even with its action-oriented story, the film also extols inventiveness and the value of reading and, yes, open-mindedness.

John Powell’s fantastic Celtic-influenced score heightens the excitement and the fun; it’s probably my favorite score of all of DreamWorks’ animated films. My VC doesn’t much care for the film, considering the dragons to appear too cartoonish, but I think How to Train Your Dragon is DreamWorks Animation’s best film in years. I hope to see the sequel soon.

Best line: (Gobber, to Hiccup about his father) “Now, you’re thinkin’ about this all wrong. It’s not so much what you look like, it’s what’s inside that he can’t stand.”

 
Artistry: 6
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 9
Visual Effects: 9
Originality: 6
Watchability: 8
 
TOTAL: 45 out of 60
 

Next: #174 – Mulan

© 2014 S. G. Liput

158 Followers and Counting

 

Castle in the Sky (1986)

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Air pirates board an airship and threaten many lives.
A girl climbs out the window and hopes that she survives.
As pirates try to grab her, she slips and falls to earth,
But she’s saved by her crystal, which has a hidden worth.
 
It floats her down to safety, where Pazu’s arms await,
An engineer’s apprentice, who wonders of her fate.
He takes her to his cottage, and when Sheeta awakes,
He tells her how she floated, the crystal as her brakes.
 
He tells her of his father, who saw a floating isle
Called Laputa, a legend he’ll find in daring style.
But Dola and her pirates arrive to claim the lass,
And they both flee as pirates continue to harass.
 
The military shows up, but Sheeta’s scared of them.
Our heroes float to safety, suspended by her gem.
Once they speak with a miner, who warns them of the same,
The girl reveals that “Laputa” is part of her full name.
 
The government abducts them, imprisoning the pair,
And Colonel Muska spells out to Sheeta why she’s there.
He shows an ancient robot, advanced technology
That Laputa holds somewhere, which she will help them free.
 
When Pazu is sent back home, he teams with Dola’s gang
To rescue Sheeta, but she is having quite a bang.
She reawakes the robot, which goes on a rampage,
And Pazu saves her just in time as giant guns engage.
 
To find the floating island, they join the pirate crew,
For Dola and her pirates are nicer than they knew.
Since Muska took her crystal, he’s on his way as well,
And both airships are threatened by storms that crash and swell.
 
Pazu and Sheeta land on a peaceful grassy plot,
Just one of many turrets that Laputa has got.
They tail a lonely robot, discovering in awe
The lofty, ancient ruins that once were Laputa.
 
But then the military arrives to plunder loot,
Though Muska’s digging deeper for things of great repute.
The agent kidnaps Sheeta, descending to the core,
And taps the castle’s power which he was looking for.
 
He names himself a royal, like Sheeta, and a king,
And massacres the army as robot hordes take wing.
As Pazu hunts for Sheeta, she with her crystal flees.
Again they find each other, but Muska’s hard to please.
 
When they are at a standoff, the kids know what to say,
A spell of great destruction, which serves to save the day.
The pirates and the children escape and reunite,
But both Pazu and Sheeta fly off within their kite.
___________________
 

When Cartoon Network decided to play several Studio Ghibli films back in 2006, I steered clear of it due to my family’s poor reaction to Spirited Away, but I recall seeing a commercial that included a scene of giant robots climbing through hallways. I had no idea from which film it was, but the scene stuck in my head. When I eventually gave anime another chance and saw Castle in the Sky, I was delighted that I not only recognized that scene but also loved the movie. Castle in the Sky is the highest movie on my list directed by famed animator Hayao Miyazaki (though not necessarily the highest Studio Ghibli film), and it is a rousing adventure that showcases Miyazaki’s brilliant imagination.

Since Studio Ghibli had not been founded by the time of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky was the studio’s first official film, one that I think is much better than the more well-known Spirited Away. The hand-drawn animation is often beautiful, and certain scenes, like the impressive destruction at the end, are even spectacular. Set in a Welsh-inspired world of flying machines and steampunk inventions, the film (inspired by the floating island of Laputa in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels) is reminiscent of an Indiana Jones story with its crystalline MacGuffin and a race between pirates and the government to find an ancient civilization of power. Though Muska is a more straightforward villain than others in his filmography, it also bears Miyazaki’s recognizable fingerprints, such as his favoring of nature over technology and his love of flight. It even includes a cameo for the squirrel-fox from Nausicaä.

In the Disney dub, James Van Der Beek and Anna Paquin are likable as Pazu and Sheeta, respectively, though Paquin’s accent fluctuates a bit. Cloris Leachman sounds like she’s having fun as the no-nonsense pirate matron Dola, and Mark Hamill lapses into his famous Joker voice as the villainous Muska. My favorite thing about the film, though, is its score. Joe Hisaishi exceeded even Nausicaä’s score with his glorious orchestral compositions. Thus, the final Japanese song “Carrying You,” which borrows the film’s best theme, is in my End Credits Song Hall of Fame. Castle in the Sky is a classic of Japanese animation that has wide appeal to Western audiences. Even my anime-despising VC had to admit that it was “pretty good.”

Best line: (Louis, a pirate) “Mom, you amaze me. How do ya know these things?”   (Dola, while eating) “Oh, well, ya can’t be a sensitive woman like me without learnin’ a few things. Sheeta and I are exactly alike: all warm and mushy and sensitive!” [burps]

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 9
Visual Effects: 8
Originality: 9
Watchability: 8
Other (I like other films more): -3
 
TOTAL: 45 out of 60
 

Next: #176 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

© 2014 S. G. Liput

157 Followers and Counting

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

14 Monday Jul 2014

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(This poem is more detailed than others; spoiler alert.)
 
Erebor was a mighty kingdom, built by dwarves with gems and gold;
Men of Dale and forest Elves bowed down before their kings of old,
But the dragon Smaug arrived to claim their treasures and their throne,
And the dwarves were scattered, dreaming of their vengeance and their home.
 
Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit, living in his cozy hole,
Happy to avoid adventures other than a Sunday stroll.
Smoking on his doorstep one day, Bilbo has a sudden meeting
With the roaming wizard Gandalf, who discusses Bilbo’s greeting.
Bilbo soon retreats inside Bag End, not knowing what’s in store;
Soon there is a fateful knock upon the hobbit’s rounded door.
 
There upon his threshold is a large and pushy dwarf named Dwalin;
Once he shows himself inside, he’s followed by his brother Balin;
Then come Fili, brother Kili, and more dwarves, in all thirteen.
Gandalf then explains he brought them with the promise of cuisine.
Lastly, Thorin Oakenshield arrives to finalize the band;
Bilbo is displeased at this reunion, sudden and unplanned.
 
After feasting on his food, the dwarves discuss why they are there;
They plan taking back their homeland, though they’re cautioned to beware.
Gandalf promised them a burglar, and he chose Bilbo as such,
But the hobbit’s overwhelmed and not pleased with adventures much.
Bilbo claims he cannot go, so they depart to start their quest,
But he soon decides to leave and join with Thorin and the rest.
 
Not far into their adventure, they run into three large trolls
And are caught before Bilbo outsmarts their culinary goals.
Gandalf saves the company, but Radagast, a wizard brown,
Then arrives reporting there’s an evil of bygone renown.
He has been to Dol Guldur, where ancient wickedness yet grows.
Who this reborn foe could be is too disturbing to suppose.
 
Orcs attack astride their wargs, and Thorin’s band is forced to flee
To Rivendell at Gandalf’s urge, though Thorin does so grudgingly.
Lord Elrond still welcomes them and offers food to every chap
And reads the hidden moon-lit letters on a valued Dwarvish map.
This provides a deadline to attain the Lonely Mountain’s height.
Gandalf meets with fellow leaders to discuss things in the night.
 
After Thorin leaves the Elven city, lest their fortunes change,
Thirteen dwarves and one small hobbit climb the Misty Mountain range.
Thunders rumble, mountains crumble, as stone giants fight and toss,
Yet the team locates a cave without a single member’s loss.
Bilbo then is tempted to return back home, for he’s no aid,
But then goblins catch the party, threatening their escapade.
Bilbo manages to flee but falls into a cavern, where
He perceives a golden ring, as well as Gollum’s lightless lair.
With his glowing dagger, Bilbo is too deadly to be harmed;
Therefore, Gollum plays a game of riddles with the hobbit armed.
After teasers back and forth, the hobbit meets with sly success
When he gives his twisted foe a question Gollum cannot guess.
 
In the meantime, Thorin’s being taunted by the goblin king,
Who intends to seal their doom, most likely with much suffering.
Gandalf suddenly appears to free them all and find a route;
Massive combat then ensues as they all battle their way out.
Bilbo finds the ring makes him invisible, but mercy shines
When he spares poor Gollum’s life and joins the dwarves outside the mines.
 
He explains why he came back because he’ll help howe’er he can,
But then they are chased into some cliff-side trees without a plan.
Thorin’s foe, a large pale orc called Azog, wants his blood at last,
And he nearly claims his life till Bilbo saves the dwarf outcast.
Gandalf calls the eagles for a rescue in the nick of time,
Thorin thanks the hobbit for his stand against the goblin slime,
And a distant dragon waits to guard his hoarded gold sublime.
___________________________
 
Trekking through the wilderness are Thorin, Bilbo, and the rest,
Fleeing from that ugly orc, who’s proving to be quite the pest.
Gandalf leads them to a house as they are hunted by a bear,
Which protects them from the goblins after giving them a scare.
Waking up, they meet their host, who was the bear, the sequent morn
And get some wary new assistance from the skin-changer Beorn.
 
Next, it’s further on to Mirkwood, site of dark affairs of late.
Gandalf says that he must leave and bids them walk the path, not straight.
As they journey through the forest, it exerts a strange effect,
And they act as if they’re drugged and soon are lost through their neglect.
After Bilbo climbs a tree and sees the Lonely Mountain near,
Giant spiders capture them and wrap them in a web of fear.
 
Bilbo frees himself in time and saves his allies with his ring,
And his dagger proves its sharpness and is christened by him Sting.
As the spiders close around them, elves appear and slay them all,
Taking all the dwarves as prisoners back to their King Thranduil’s hall.
Legolas then cages them since Thorin does not bargain well;
Kili, though, can’t help but flirt with lovely wood-elf Tauriel.
 
Bilbo, still invisible, discovers how to get them out,
Freeing them and placing them in barrels, though they have some doubt.
Soon they’re floating down a river, but before the elves step in,
They’re attacked by hordes of orcs, led by that one with pale skin.
Legolas and Tauriel assist in slaughtering a lot
As the dwarves escape through carnage, but young Kili still is shot.
 
After landing near the lake, the group encounter bargeman Bard,
Who agrees to smuggle them to Laketown for a price that’s hard.
He is less than popular among the village government,
Who consider him a rebel, sowing protest and dissent.
Though he helps the dwarves inside, their need for weapons makes them rash,
And they raid the armory but are arrested in a flash.
 
Thorin then reveals his name and earns the village’s support;
Bard, however, fears the dragon his ancestor could not thwart.
No one listens to his doubts but revel in the king’s return,
And they see the questers off without the tiniest concern.
Bofur, Oin, and Fili stay to care for Kili’s injury
And are ambushed in Bard’s house by orcs that just won’t let them be.
 
Bilbo finds the hidden keyhole in the rocky mountainside
And must go within alone to find the jewel of Erebor’s pride:
Burglaring the Arkenstone is why they brought him on this quest,
So he wanders through the giant halls, an uninvited guest.
Smaug, the great and powerful, can smell him, even with the Ring,
And speaks to him in mocking tones to learn why he is visiting.
 
Back in Laketown, Tauriel and Legolas arrive to save
Everybody from the orcs, as well as Kili from his grave.
Gandalf, meanwhile, has been busy, looking into Dol Guldur,
Where he now suspects an evil so severe he must be sure.
He stands up to Azog’s orcs but is brought low by one dark lord:
Sauron has returned in force and with a massive goblin horde.
 
In the mountain, Smaug decides to burn the burglar, guaranteed,
And though Bilbo tries the exit, he is stopped by Thorin’s greed.
All the dwarves then scatter through the lofty vaults of their king’s house,
And the dragon chases them in one huge game of cat-and-mouse.
Thorin will not die like this and chooses to have vengeance still.
Thus the dwarves light up the forge, for they’ve a dragon yet to kill.
 
After many close escapes, they fill a giant, ancient mold,
Using Smaug’s own dragon fire to produce their molten gold.
With no time for it to set, the statue that the crafters make
Melts away to gild the dragon, all (they think) for vengeance sake.
Yet this only angers Smaug, and he flies off to show his ire.
He will take revenge on Laketown, and his visit will be dire.
Bilbo watches as the dragon plans to scorch the town with fire.
_____________________
 

The Hobbit is admittedly an overblown story, at least as told by Peter Jackson. Tolkien’s story is so much simpler than The Lord of the Rings, but Jackson ratcheted up the epicness of the classic children’s story to spread over another trilogy. This is both a benefit and a liability.

On the plus side, Martin Freeman wonderfully steps into the role of Bilbo Baggins, originally played by British thespian Ian Holm. His awkward mannerisms are perfect for the role, and his moment of mercy toward Gollum rang true, something that will end up saving the world by the time of Return of the King.He is a laudable hero to follow through the adventure. Ian McKellan reprises his lovable role as Gandalf, and it is certainly enjoyable to reunite with the lovely tranquility of Hobbiton and with characters like Elrond and Galadriel, even if some have no place in this story. The action scenes are also the highlights of the films. In the first film An Unexpected Journey, there’s the gargantuan stone giant battle, the over-the-top goblin free-for-all, and the harrowing domino-tree escape, and The Desolation of Smaug has the cringe-worthy spider scene, the amusement-ride-style barrel chase, and the slam-bang confrontation with Smaug himself. These scenes exceed those in the Lord of the Rings for bombacity but sometimes threaten to take over the films.

On the negative side are mainly the characters. When I first heard that The Hobbit would be a twosome and then a trilogy, I thought Peter Jackson would use that extra time to build on each of the dwarves, get to know them, and make the audience care for them since some don’t survive the end (I’m purposefully not reminding myself who). Yet with only one more film to go, I’d say he’s failed at that. I like the handsome Fili and Kili for their bravery and daring, kindly old Balin for his prudence and affection for Bilbo, and Bofur for his comic side and for the fact I recognize James Nesbitt. Indeed, these four get the bulk of the dialogue and screen time. The others are just along for the ride, tagging along, distinguished more by the styling of their hair and beards than anything else. Heck, Bombur hasn’t spoken once through two long movies; he’s just the fat one. Repeat viewings have allowed me to notice little details and nuances that help define each character, but those do not a personality make. Also, the fact that I know everyone survives until the last movie saps the action scenes of much of their danger. As for Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, he fills the character with grim determination, but Thorin is too serious and ultimately greedy to be truly likable. (Nonetheless, (major Lost alert!) Evangeline Lilly seems well-suited to play the wood-elf Tauriel after playing main heroine Kate on my favorite show. The love triangle is another point that’s weak, I’m afraid.)

The film also suffers from its over-packed plot. It’s almost as if Peter Jackson forgot how to edit unnecessary scenes, for there are several. The entire Council of Rivendell slows things down too much and adds hardly anything to the plot. Other little scenes, like moments with Radagast the Brown or Legolas’s overly eager orc slaughtering, could easily have been snipped down.

Still, the visual effects are outstanding, as are the sweeping views of the New Zealand countryside. While the goblins in the first film had a strange look to them that made them more cartoonish and less real, the other creature effects are seamless, most especially Smaug, the great wyrm of the Lonely Mountain. Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice makes him so immensely menacing to match the awesome CGI, creating perhaps the best dragon on film to date. I also very much like Howard Shore’s score, and the songs from the ends of both films (Neil Finn’s “Song of the Lonely Mountain” and Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire”) are both in my End Credits Song Hall of Fame.

The Hobbit films as a whole are a mixed bag with moments of brilliance recalling The Lord of the Rings and over-indulgent sequences of mayhem with underdeveloped dwarves. I’m glad that Jackson made The Hobbit, even if most fans of the book are not, but I do wish he had made them more streamlined and character-driven. Either way, I eagerly await The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies later this year.

Best lines: (An Unexpected Journey; Gandalf, to Galadriel) “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I’ve found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid… and he gives me courage.”

(The Desolation of Smaug; Tauriel, to Legolas) “Are we not part of this world? Tell me, Mellon, when did we let evil become stronger than us?”

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 9
Visual Effects: 10
Originality: 7
Watchability: 8
Other (violence): -4
 
TOTAL: 44 out of 60
 

Next: #178 – The Terminal

© 2014 S. G. Liput

155 Followers and Counting

 

Twister (1996)

05 Saturday Jul 2014

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When Jo was a cute little girl,
She witnessed the wind in a whirl.
Her father was trying
To help but went flying
When deadly gusts started to swirl.
 
Grown up, she now studies the weather
Which treats a large truck like a feather.
Her split husband Bill
Used to share in her skill;
They both used to chase storms together.
 
But now he is seeking divorce,
With his new fiancée, but of course.
Melissa seems nice,
Giving carnal advice,
But Jo doesn’t rush to endorse.
 
Then Bill learns of Jo’s latest cause,
A system improving what was,
Some sensors to map
A tornado death-trap;
It’s called DOROTHY, like in Oz.
 
Bill further learns Jonas is near,
His rival who’s less than sincere.
He’s copied for free
Bill’s idea: DOROTHY.
And Bill won’t let him pioneer.
 
So while Oklahoma begins
To waken with whirligig winds,
Melissa and Bill
Tag along for a thrill
To watch as a great tempest spins.
 
The first DOROTHY has a fall,
And Bill and Jo have a close call,
But soon they’re right back
On a double storm’s track;
Melissa’s near ready to bawl.
 
The team visits Jo’s rural aunt,
Who always has dinner to grant.
While there at Aunt Meg’s,
They have great steak and eggs.
They’d all like to stay, but they can’t.
 
The next twister found jumps about,
And DOROTHY II is knocked out,
Yet Jo is obsessed
With her funnel cloud quest,
And Bill has to stop her and shout.
 
Her father’s death gave her the drive
To see twisters’ power alive.
Bill tells her somehow
They must focus on now
In order for marriage to thrive.
 
A drive-in that’s showing The Shining
Is where their team ends up reclining,
But then a storm hits
And just rips it to bits.
The whole place may need redesigning.
 
By this time, Melissa’s distraught
And leaves Bill, for things are too taut.
Bill says he’s beyond
Love for storms and his blonde,
But she clearly sees he is not.
 
When Meg’s house is hit by a twister,
They all rush right there to assist her.
Once she’s safe and sound,
Yet another comes round,
A storm with no equal or sister.
 
They modify DOROTHY’s spheres
To catch all the wind as it steers.
It fails yet again,
But they’re horrified when
Jonas dies from not heeding their fears.
 
As the mile-wide twister swirls round,
Obstructions and dangers abound.
As Bill and Jo drive,
Trying just to survive,
The right opportunity’s found.
 
They let the last DOROTHY fly,
Exulting at their latest try,
But then the cyclone
Just won’t leave them alone.
They flee to a pipe shed nearby.
 
Securing themselves tightly there,
They watch as they float in the air.
They hold as they enter
The tornado’s center,
And it dies out, leaving the pair.
Now they have much data to share.
____________________
 

Many disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno are blown out of proportion for the sake of the film, while others like The Impossible are more realistic but focus on catastrophes that are still rare. Tornadoes happen all the time out in the Midwest, and sometimes it takes a film like this to remind those who don’t live there of the power and devastation of these storms. That’s not to say Twister isn’t rather overblown as well, with a convenient rash of tornadoes breaking out within driving distance (which is still plausible) and tons of special effects. While it received mixed reviews overall, even critics couldn’t help but praise the effects used to bring the twisters to life and iconically fly cows across the screen (or maybe the same cow).

They may not be Oscar-worthy, but Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton pair quite well as meteorologist action heroes, and both at least seem like real people. Jami Gertz also has some memorable moments as Bill’s overwhelmed girlfriend Melissa, and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alan Ruck are great fun as the leaders of the storm-chasing entourage. Cary Elwes skillfully drops his English accent to play Dr. Jonas Miller, preparing him for other villainous roles later on. By the way, that was Alexa Vega of Spy Kids fame playing the young Jo at the beginning. In addition (Lost alert!), there’s Jeremy Davies, who played Daniel Faraday on my favorite show. It’s a small role as one of the members of Jo’s storm team, but when I saw this film after Lost, I said “Oh, my gosh, it’s Daniel!” (He’s the one who gets up from Meg’s table to let Melissa sit down.)

The final twister is truly spectacular in its enormity, tossing around everything from houses to oil tankers, but because it’s so big and powerful, it strains credulity that no one but the bad guy got hurt. I mean seriously, with all that debris flying around, none of it hurt Bill and Jo as they were running through the heart of it? It’s one of those action movies that conveniently protects the main characters from all harm, but the scenes of destruction are believable enough to make up for that. The drive-in scene and the collapsing house scene are both edge-of-your-seat sequences so impressive that they were recreated for the theme park attraction down at Universal Studios. Twister is a whirlwind of a movie with plenty of thrills and laughs, a memorably greasy breakfast scene, and remarkable visuals that have kept me from ever wanting to move to Oklahoma. No offense.

Best line: (Melissa, on the phone during a twister) “I gotta go, Julia; we got cows!”

 
Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 9
Visual Effects: 8
Originality: 7
Watchability: 10
Other (language): -3
 
TOTAL: 43 out of 60
 

Next: #187 – Frozen

© 2014 S. G. Liput

147 Followers and Counting

 

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

01 Tuesday Jul 2014

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Indiana Jones is back! Within a Chinese bar,
A deal involving artifacts is going well so far,
But soon he drinks a poison, and sheer chaos then ensues
As he retrieves the antidote, since he’s too good to lose.
 
By accident, he grabs a girl named Willie, who can sing,
And young Short Round drives them away, with bad guys following.
They think they’ve flown to safety, but events change in a flash
As villains parachute away and leave their plane to crash.
 
Among the Himalayas, our three heroes have one hope:
They use a blown-up raft to then toboggan down a slope.
They soon locate a village with no children and no joy,
And Indy swears to find some stones and every girl and boy.
 
Marching through the jungle, Willie constantly complains,
But something else scares off their guides till not a one remains.
They find an ancient palace of a quite young Indian prince,
And everyone seems civilized, though dinner makes them wince.
 
But when night falls, a man jumps Indiana from behind,
And they discover passageways they were not meant to find.
Once done with bugs and booby traps, they see the head adult
Perform a violent ritual to serve the Thugee cult.
 
They see the stolen sacred stones and plan to take them back,
But all of them are captured in a sudden sneak attack.
While Shorty is imprisoned with the other captured youth,
Our hero’s forced to drink some blood that makes him act uncouth.
 
He helps prepare poor Willie for the coming sacrifice,
Behaving like he is bewitched and just no longer nice,
But Shorty knocks him out of it, and Indy saves the day,
Then freeing Willie and the kids, who quickly run away.
 
The trio’s chased in mining carts as all the tunnels flood,
But Mola Ram, the evil priest, still has a taste for blood.
Emerging on a canyon wall, they cross a rope bridge, where
The three are cornered by the priest, his thugs, and evil glare.
 
When Indiana takes a risk to cut the bridge in two,
He takes out most of Mola’s minions, leaving just a few.
While climbing up the broken bridge, the priest opposes Jones,
Who feeds him to the crocodiles but keeps one of the stones.
 
The British come a little late but save them from the cult,
And long-lost kids return back home, where parents all exult.
The elders thank our hero for their stone with magic strong,
And Jones and Willie share a kiss (but it won’t last for long).
______________________
 

Here we have the second Indiana Jones, both the second one released and the second one on my list. Temple of Doom is one of those films that is a strange mix of ingenious inspiration and unfortunate creative choices. On the one hand, there are sequences of sheer brilliance, such as the opening scene with the gong, the mine cart chase, the spiked-ceiling booby trap, and the rope bridge standoff, all scenes that blow away most action movies and have been frequently imitated.

On the other hand, Lucas and Spielberg threw in many violent and annoying elements that detract from the film’s overall watchability. Did anyone want to see a guy get impaled by a flaming shish kebab or someone’s heart be ripped out? Is that inflatable raft scene really plausible? Kate Capshaw is lovely (Spielberg thought so too), but she’s helpless and irritating with all her whining and I-broke-a-nail prissiness. The bugs Willie must endure are a bit much but nothing compared with that bizarre dinner table. Chilled monkey brains, anyone?

Thus, it has much to criticize, while retaining much of the entertainment value of Raiders. Harrison Ford remains the quintessential action hero, yet he’s even turned into a villain, caging Willie and striking Short Round, although he is being mind-controlled at the time. Young Jonathan Ke Huy Quan is surprisingly likable as Short Round, much more so than other eager young sidekicks, like, ahem, Francis in Swiss Family Robinson. It makes me wonder what happened to his character since he never appears elsewhere, as well as Willie for that matter. Oh, that’s right, she married Spielberg instead.

Overall, Temple of Doom is an unnecessarily violent film (it helped establish the PG-13 rating) that is still quite worthy of the Indiana Jones name. Until Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it was considered the worst of the Jones films, but it has enough merits to still exceed many lesser adventure movies. It may be a bit bumpy, but it’s one heck of a ride.

Best lines (during the booby trap scene): (Willie, after seeing two corpses) “There are two dead people in here!” (Indy, in the shrinking room) “There’s gonna be two dead people in here! Hurry!” (and Indy, a little later) “Willie, we are going to DIE!” (the way he says it is priceless)

 
Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 9
Visual effects: 9
Originality: 8
Watchability: 8
Other (violence, language): -4
 
TOTAL: 42 out of 60
 

Next: #191 – Joyeux Noel

© 2014 S. G. Liput

146 Followers and Counting

 

Gravity (2013)

28 Saturday Jun 2014

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Three astronauts are conversing in space
As they work on the space telescope,
Till one gets a piece of debris through his face,
And the others are left without hope.
 
A medical engineer named Ryan Stone
Is sent whirling out in the void,
But Matthew Kowalski, with comforting tone,
Gets her to their shuttle (destroyed).
 
That onslaught of wreckage, an old satellite
That the Russians were unwise to blow,
Will orbit around and have them in its sight
In the next ninety minutes or so.
 
Matt calms her and tells her they’ll carefully soar
To the space station off in the distance.
Stone tells of her daughter, who died at just four,
And Matt tries to spur her persistence.
 
They make it, but Matt makes a bold sacrifice
And goes drifting away into space
To let Stone get aboard, though he gives her advice,
While she finds a way into the base.
 
As she floats through the halls, a fire breaks out,
And she narrowly gets to a pod,
A Soyuz spacecraft, which she’s happy about,
Till its chute won’t allow her abroad.
 
She tries to get loose but is hit by debris,
And she barely escapes that as well.
It shatters the station and sets the ship free,
But she’s out of fuel, she can tell.
 
She attempts giving up, but is spurred to survive
By Kowalski, or rather his ghost,
So she figures a way to (just barely) arrive
At a plummeting Chinese outpost.
 
She gets in the Shenzhou space capsule to land,
Determined to live or die trying,
She says that the ride down will truly be grand
And can’t avoid laughing and crying.
 
She tells Matt to visit in heaven her daughter,
And burns through the earth’s atmosphere.
She finally lands (just by chance?) in some water,
Thus ending her spaceflight career.
 
Her module and suit nearly cause her to drown,
But she swims to the pond’s muddy banks,
And, feeling Earth’s gravity weighing her down,
She walks off, relieved, giving thanks.
____________________
 

Gravity was the most eye-catching film of 2013 and with good reason. It is pure spectacle, full of long, continuous scenes designed to make the audience say, “How did they do that?” From the quietly tense devastation caused by the zooming debris to the seemingly simple weightlessness of the characters and everything else, Gravity is a wonder to behold.

At the heart of the Oscar-winning visual effects are the two leads, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Both are excellent, but I actually preferred Clooney’s performance. Bullock is certainly the star, but other actresses could have done just as well (Halle Berry, Cate Blanchett, or Julia Roberts, for example). Clooney’s smooth, reassuring voice gave his character much more personality, and I thought he was just as worthy of an Oscar nomination as Bullock.

Though it’s less than a year old, Gravity has already begun to earn a reputation as overrated, full of impressive special effects and little else. I agree to some extent, but it does offer more than just visuals. Ryan’s backstory is quite touching and emotional, as is her wish for someone to pray for her since she was never taught how.

In addition, films like Avatar and the Transformers movies were visual feasts for the eyes but were so long as to be overindulgent. Gravity is comparably short at just 91 minutes, and Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón achieved much more artistry in that time than any of those films combined. The scene of Ryan floating as if in the womb and that of her rising from the water in the evolution-inspired finale (with a welcome “Thank you” sent heavenward) are two beautiful sequences that wouldn’t be found in other effects extravaganzas. The immersive, Oscar-winning score does much to build tension and emotion, especially paired with well-timed cuts to spatial silence.

My VC felt there was too much of Bullock just breathing hard, as well as annoying alarms going off, but I prefer these to the vast stretches of nothing in the similarly artistic but nowhere-near-as-entertaining 2001: A Space Odyssey. While there are similarities to other space disaster films like Marooned, WALL-E (hello, fire extinguisher!) and Apollo 13 (especially since Ed Harris played “Houston” here as well), Gravity is a film like no other, presenting seamless visuals sure to blow you away.

Best line: (Ryan Stone, in a massive understatement) “I hate space.”

 
Artistry: 10
Characters/Actors: 8
Entertainment: 7
Visual effects: 10
Originality: 5
Watchability: 6
Other (language and brief violence): -4
 
TOTAL: 42 out of 60
 

Next: #194 – Hoosiers

© 2014 S. G. Liput

144 Followers and Counting

 

Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

27 Friday Jun 2014

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The Robinson family is wrecked
On some rocks, and the ship’s crew defect.
Their ill-fated cruise
Leaves them much they can use,
Though they’re not sure what to do next.
 
The father and sons Ernst and Fritz
Get all to the shore in one blitz.
On the ship the next day,
They scare pirates away
With only a flag and their wits.
 
Since New Guinea’s off their radar,
The five just made do where they are.
A house like no other
Intimidates Mother,
And she wants a good safety bar.
 
But once the men finish, the tree
Proves a comforting place to sightsee.
The men’s great inventions
Calm her apprehensions,
And they settle down cheerfully.
 
Young Francis collects his own zoo
With ostrich and elephant too,
To join all the pets
That they rescued from threats
On the ship left behind by the crew.
 
To see if they’re all on an isle,
The older sons sail for a while.
They rescue a lad
But can’t save his granddad
From pirates both fearsome and vile.
 
They learn it’s a girl they retrieved,
Dressed up so she won’t be perceived.
Through forest and swamp,
With Roberta they romp,
Till they reach the treehouse, relieved.
 
The pirates will no doubt return,
So they build defenses in turn.
Both Ernst and Fritz vie
For Roberta’s fair eye,
But both of them have much to learn.
 
They all take a break for a race,
But soon pirates swarm the whole place.
They thwart their offenses
With homemade defenses
From high on a mountainous base.
 
With fruit bombs and many a pit
And one with a tiger in it
And logs and big rocks,
The small family blocks
The pirates, who won’t seem to quit.
 
They try climbing up from the back,
Which makes their defense nearly crack.
When a ship then arrives,
It saves all of their lives
By halting the pirate attack.
 
Roberta’s granddad gives advice,
But most of the family think twice.
Roberta and Fritz
Stay together; Ernst splits,
But the rest stay in their paradise.
__________________
 

Swiss Family Robinson was the best non-musical live-action Disney film made during his lifetime (and for some time after). It works well as both a loose adaptation of Johann Wyss’s classic novel and as a stand-alone adventure tale. There are a number of changes from the books, such as the inclusion of a pirate attack, a bigger role for the girl (named Emily in the novel), and the omission of a fourth son named Jack. Even so, the film expands on the amazing ingenuity of the Swiss family, furnishing their treehouse with all kinds of clever inventions. It also includes pirates, a menagerie of exotic animals, and countless other adventure elements to enthrall kids and their parents alike.

For me, the film’s biggest liability is young Kevin Corcoran as Francis, who is annoying in just about every scene he’s in. He’s a brat, who’s so enamored of animals that he ignores his parents’ warnings and common-sense safety, such as when he stupidly gives away their position to bloodthirsty pirates for the sake of two dogs! The other boys are fine, and Tommy Kirk as Ernst reminds me of Wil Wheaton’s Wesley Crusher (in a good way). John Mills projects authority and warmth as the Father, while Dorothy McGuire lends maternal warmth and worry to Mother Robinson.

The final battle with the pirates is one of the great early action sequences, but other moments shine too, such as the silent prayer Mother insists on when they first reach the island. (You wouldn’t see that in a remake nowadays.) Swiss Family Robinson is a marvelous family film that may not be on par with adaptations like Dr. Zhivago or Gone with the Wind, but it’s no less of a classic.

Best line: (Father, upon reaching the beach) “First thing we’ve got to do is to, uh, unload the raft. Then, uh… put up some sort of shelter for the night.”   (Mother) “No. That’s not the first thing.” [She kneels in grateful prayer, and the others follow suit.]

 
Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 8
Visual effects: 8
Originality: 7
Watchability: 7
 
TOTAL: 42 out of 60
 

Next: #195 – Gravity

© 2014 S. G. Liput

142 Followers and Counting

 

The Great Escape (1963)

26 Thursday Jun 2014

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In 1943, the Germans thought they’d gotten wise
When they designed a camp to hold the most troublesome guys,
The prisoners who always tried escaping from their jail
And caused a lot of headaches for the Nazis on their trail.
 
But in their aspirations for a perfect prison dream,
In fact they put together the best liberation team.
The leader “X” was Roger, who was wanted far and wide,
And Danny was the “Tunnel King,” who dug three shafts outside.
 
The “Scrounger” was named Hendley, who finagled all supplies
And helped the “Forger” Colin Blythe, who lost sight in his eyes.
Then Sedgwick built all tools and had a big suitcase to carry,
And Hilts was called the “Cooler King,” who earned much solitary.
 
These men and more worked day and night to build three tunnels out
Named Tom and Dick and Harry, for there was no better route.
They masked their noise and hid the dirt in several clever ways
And tried to hide their plan below the Germans’ watchful gaze.
 
The Nazis still discovered Tom, which caused a suicide,
But all then worked on Harry to soon reach the woods outside.
The night arrived, and their whole plan discreetly took effect
As men began escaping through their passageway unchecked.
 
The hole came short of reaching woods but still they sneaked away,
Until the Germans heard a sound, to everyone’s dismay.
They stopped the flow but seventy-six escaped the camp in all,
Which launched a massive search for every man in this cabal.
 
Although they tried to blend right in, with forged passports and clothes,
Some chances and some poor mistakes and gaffes served to expose,
For all but three were seized again and fifty men were shot,
And Hilts marched calmly to his cooler when he too was caught.
Thus ended this escape attempt and their most brilliant plot.
_______________________
 

As I said in my Memphis Belle review, most war movies have different focuses than just a battlefield. In The Great Escape, POWs get the spotlight, and there’s not a single battle scene. Instead, we get a true story with an incredibly clever and detailed plot to escape from a German war camp. It’s one of those classic manly men ensembles of the 1960s, but here everyone is entirely likable, unlike, say, The Dirty Dozen.While the mostly British officers could just as easily have sat out the war, they instead fulfilled their “duty” to escape, and, though the film drags on rather long, it’s an incredible thing to see their plan put into effect, provided you have enough popcorn to keep you awake.

The actors are all skilled thespians, but sadly not all of them stick out, perhaps because they no longer have the star power they held in 1963. I recognized monikers like Ashley-Pitt, MacDonald, Sedgwick, and Cavendish, but I couldn’t tell who they were unless someone directly called them by name. Still, a number of the men make an impression, if only with their code names: Richard Attenborough as “Big X,” Donald Pleasence as the blind “Forger,” James Garner as the “Scrounger,” Charles Bronson as Danny, and of course Steve McQueen as Hilts, one of his most memorable roles. Interestingly, Bronson’s character of Danny is one of the few to reach freedom, just as he was one of the three who survived in The Dirty Dozen. I guess some guys are just lucky.

A number of elements of the film have been parodied to no end. The scenes involving the men wheeling down the narrow tunnel have found their way into several shows and movies like the similarly plotted Chicken Run, and the iconic score has also been imitated by shows ranging from Disney’s Recess to Hogan’s Heroes, which had a similar storyline involving POWs. And of course who can forget McQueen riding that motorcycle?

The actual escape is the tense highlight of the film, and it keeps the audience on their toes. Though it’s satisfying to see so many sneak away, the sad part is that most of them die. Considering the light-hearted tune in the score, it’s a rather dark ending, but one that is true to history. Overall, The Great Escape is an entertaining and clean war film that pays tribute to men who weren’t content to just sit around, men who harassed the enemy to the last and did their countries proud. To the fifty!

Best line: (Ramsey, having been told of the great resources used to guard the camp) “Well, it’s rather nice to know that you’re wanted.”

 
Artistry: 6
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 8
Visual effects: 6
Originality: 8
Watchability: 7
 
TOTAL: 42 out of 60
 

Next: #196 – Swiss Family Robinson

© 2014 S. G. Liput

140 Followers and Counting

 

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

21 Saturday Jun 2014

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Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind,
Explores the toxic jungle that is spreading o’er the earth.
The girl admires Ohmu, colossal insects, armor-skinned,
Who can be quite aggressive but do have a hidden worth.
 
She saves her friend Lord Yupa from an anger-blinded Ohmu,
And flies upon her glider to announce his soon return.
In their protected valley, her small people built a home,
Content to let fierce kingdoms fight; it’s none of their concern.
 
But soon a crippled airship from Tolmekia appears
And crashes in the valley, killing everyone on board.
The threat of jungle infestation sparks the people’s fears,
And plus, the living cargo is too dire to be ignored.
 
Kushana of Tolmekia soon comes to claim their prize,
A deadly giant warrior, which bathed the earth in flame.
They kill the valley’s king but still they claim to be good guys,
For burning down the forest is their ill-considered aim.
 
The warrior’s developing as Nausicaä is bound
With others by Kushana on a journey through the air.
Their airships are shot down by one small plane that’s also downed.
The princess and Kushana land within a jungle snare.
 
Escaping from an Ohmu nest thanks to Nausicaä’s calm action,
Kushana and the other fly while Nausicaä must stand
To save the shooter pilot who is from another faction
Called Pejite, but the two of them are captured by quicksand.
 
They find themselves below the jungle, where the air is clean,
And realize that the jungle plants absorb the earth’s pollution.
Mankind corrupted all the earth, and now most people mean
To burn the jungle, ruining the planet’s last solution.
 
They fly their way to Pejite, which is ravaged by insects.
Survivors plan to lure the Ohmu to Nausicaä’s homeland
To take out the Tolmekians and all of their subjects
And catch the giant warrior to have at their command.
 
Their ship is ambushed yet again, which lets the princess flee.
She goes ahead to see the Ohmu stampeding toward the valley.
The Pejites have an injured baby o’er an acid sea,
And she succeeds in freeing it before the big finale.
 
Kushana wakes the giant which annihilates some Ohmu,
Before it melts away, too undeveloped to survive.
The baby Ohmu and Nausicaä then stand before her home
In front of the invading insects, rushing to arrive.
 
They run her over but then stop to see this brave young lass;
They heal her wounds and so fulfill an ancient prophecy.
Kushana and her men return back home at this impasse,
And now the earth and all mankind may live in harmony.
______________________
 

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was Hayao Miyazaki’s breakout film as a director. It’s an environmentally heavy sci-fi action film that highlights Miyazaki’s pacifist ideology and his wildly imaginative storytelling. While Disney was working on the likes of The Black Cauldron, Japan was producing animated gems like this.

Technically made before the start of his Studio Ghibli, Nausicaä was a tale that didn’t have much support at first because most anime depends on pre-existing properties in the world of manga (Japanese comic books). Since he couldn’t get funding without an already popular manga, he made one and published Nausicaä in serial form from 1982 to 1994. This earned him the necessary backing, but since only 16 chapters (out of 59) had been completed by the time of the film, the plot encompasses only the part that he had finished. While it was a huge blockbuster upon its release because of the manga, the movie ends a bit abruptly, and it feels like there is more of the story to tell, even though the film is ambitious enough as it is.

The hand-drawn animation is detailed and impressive throughout the two-hour film, especially in the climax, and it has that Miyazaki touch that raises it above most other anime. The voice acting in Disney’s English dub is uniformly good, featuring Alison Lohman, Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman, Chris Sarandon, Edward James Olmos, Mark Hamill, and the inimitable Patrick Stewart as Lord Yupa. Joe Hisaishi’s outstanding score also grabbed my attention when I first saw it and, not counting the synthesizer segments, is one of my favorite film scores. As for the plot, it’s incredibly detailed, and my above poem only scratched the surface of the layered events, characters, and motivations. With its complex mythology, messianic prophecy, and giant misunderstood insectoid creatures, the closest thing I could compare it to is Frank Herbert’s Dune series.

The environmentalist theme is rather clunky, blaming mankind for polluting the earth’s topsoil and water and building the giant warriors to destroy everything while providing no details about the circumstances. Thankfully, though, the film doesn’t browbeat humanity too much, and when the focus is on the science fiction and the characters, it’s some of Miyazaki’s best work. My VC, who doesn’t care for anime, at least saw and appreciated it for what it was, but, for me, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind remains an influential sci-fi classic.

Best line: (Asbel, after eating some “healthy” nuts) “Why does everything that’s good for you have to taste so bad?”

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 8
Visual Effects: 7
Originality: 9
Watchability: 7
Other (heavy environmentalism): -3
 
TOTAL: 42 out of 60
 

Next: #201 – Murphy’s Romance

© 2014 S. G. Liput

135 Followers and Counting

 

Superman (1978)

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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The distant planet Krypton, after stopping an attack
By Ursa, Non, and Zod, confines all three (but they’ll be back).
But scientist Jor-El still feels that Krypton’s on the brink
Of imminent destruction, which nobody else will think.
 
As Krypton starts to crumble, he sends out his infant son,
And once the world explodes, the young Kal-El’s the only one.
He flies throughout the stars before crash landing on our sphere
And is adopted by the Kents, who know he’s not from here.
 
“Clark” grows and calls the earth his home, the Kents his mom and dad,
But tries to hide the speed and strength that he has always had.
When Jonathan, his wise old father, passes from this earth,
Clark finds the hidden secret of his otherworldly birth.
 
He leaves with one green crystal for the Arctic, strangely led,
And throws it to create a giant fortress there instead.
Recordings of Jor-El reveal the secrets he will master,
The reason for his powers which he’ll use to stop disaster.
 
Years later, at the Daily Planet Clark Kent is employed,
Now acting timid; any danger he’s quick to avoid.
Though he’s a hero, strong reporter Lois Lane can’t tell
And thinks him geeky when he faints and says the old word “swell.”
 
A helicopter accident puts Lois Lane in danger
Until she then is rescued by a blue-and-red-clad stranger.
He flies around Metropolis, performing decent deeds,
Preventing crimes and helping citizens with all their needs.
 
Intent on learning more of him, Lane gets an interview
With enigmatic Superman, and one free night flight too.
Her articles and news reports attract the veiled attention
Of evil mastermind Lex Luthor, who drips condescension.
 
He formulates a wicked scheme to redirect two bombs
And sink the California coast without the slightest qualms.
He steals a foreign meteor that glows with greenish light,
Attracting Superman to cripple him with Kryptonite.
 
Though Superman is rescued and stops one bomb, he’s too late;
The other causes earthquakes, sealing California’s fate.
Our hero still saves buses, towns, and fault lines too, although
He cannot save poor Lois Lane from landslides even so.
 
Heartsick with grief, he breaks a rule, reversing our Earth’s time,
To bring back Lois and prevent the worst of Luthor’s crime.
He drops off Luthor at a jail, and flies ‘twixt Earth and space,
The ever-faithful guardian of all the human race.
_____________________
 

The first modern superhero movie, Superman was a really big deal when it was released in 1978, pulling out big name stars like Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman and charging big bucks for product placement. (I hope it was worth it, Cheerios.) Watching it thirty-six years later, the special effects are still effective, quite deserving of the Special Achievement Award they received, and John Williams’ magnificent score remains as iconic as it was then. Anyone who can compose for Jane Eyre and Superman and make them both synonymous with the film is a master composer.

As I said in my Superman II post, Christopher Reeve is Superman, and I have yet to see anyone who can wear the red cape as well as he could. Gene Hackman introduces Lex Luthor with the perfect blend of villainy and charisma. (Villains are always more menacing when you see their hands first, right?) Margot Kidder also does well as Lois Lane, and I like the little quirks the filmmakers added to her character, like her constantly misspelling of words. Embracing the role of Daily Planet chief Perry White, Jackie Cooper acts as an entertaining forerunner to J. Jonah Jameson of the Spider-Man films.

The film does have some faults other than the San Andreas one. Some scenes go on much too long, such as the rather boring opening credits, the construction of his Fortress of Solitude, and his flight with Lois Lane. Since they still had Williams’ memorable score, it’s not as bad as Star Trek: The Motion Picture in that regard, but these scenes make the film longer than it needed to be. Also, Lex Luthor makes some astounding leaps of reasoning to deduce that a particular meteorite in Africa came from Superman’s home planet, and “it stands to reason” that it must be deadly for the man of steel. It’s a good hypothesis, but there’s nothing to back it up. Likewise, the final scene where Superman reverses Earth’s rotation to reverse time is perhaps the least scientific portrayal of time travel ever put on film. Again, I don’t see how he knew his actions would have the desired effect when they could just as easily have caused more earthquakes or something worse.

It’s not a perfect superhero film, but as one of the first comic book blockbusters, it’s an incredibly influential one for the genre, aiming for gravitas while also retaining some campy charm. The recent Man of Steel had plenty of the gravitas and much more eye-popping effects, but it lacked the charm. Superman Returns was unsuccessful at both for me.Though Marvel has taken over superhero films for the most part, DC had a strong start with Superman, and it still makes audiences “believe a man can fly.”

Best line: (Superman, during his interview with Lois) “I’m here to fight for truth, and justice, and the American way.” [I didn’t like how Superman Returns ruined that line.]   (Lois) “You’re gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country!”

 
Artistry: 6
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 7
Visual Effects: 5
Originality: 9
Watchability: 7
 
TOTAL: 41 out of 60
 

Next: #204 – Peter Pan (to complete my trilogy of films with people flying around)

© 2014 S. G. Liput

133 Followers and Counting