Tag Archives: Action

Snowpiercer (2013)

06 Saturday Apr 2019

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem about the possible, so I tackled the improbability/possibility of sci-fi dystopias.)

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What would you call an improbable threat
For the future that no one has witnessed as yet?
Dystopian visions are dozens per dime,
Propped up by the volatile nature of time.

Who knows if we might be supplanted by apes,
Or drive over ruined, deserted landscapes?
Who knows if we might be beset by undead,
Or banned from free thought by a Big Brother head?
Perhaps we might battle an alien foe
That strikes from above or attacks from below.
The sun may desert us or scorch us to ash,
Or robots may kill us or clean up our trash,
Or humans may live in a virtual setting
That no one recalls since it’s built on forgetting.
Or maybe, just maybe, mankind may well learn
From all its mistakes that so often return
And set up a world of the peaceful and wise,
Not built on the backs of control and dark lies.

But with all of the ifs that end nightmarishly,
I think that’s unlikely, but hey, it might be.
_____________________

MPAA rating: R

It’s hard to know how I feel about Snowpiercer. On the one hand, I can appreciate the ambition that went into this epic dystopian vision, and on the other, I’m confounded by the bizarrely unrealistic concept that remains straight-faced throughout all its weirdness and violence. It’s a film I’m glad to have seen once, but I’m not sure I want to see it again.

After a half-baked attempt to stop global warming sends the planet into a deep freeze, the only remaining humans are those aboard the Snowpiercer, a high-speed train looping endlessly across the globe. The wealthy live in luxury in the front of the train, while those in the back scrape by in squalor and authoritarian suppression, personified by the loathsome Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton with false teeth). After seventeen years, the have-nots make their final push for change as their leader Curtis (Chris Evans) aims to take the engine.

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The biggest problem with Snowpiercer is buying into its unlikely dystopia without being distracted by just how unlikely it is. So much science fiction is dedicated to conjuring future worlds where vices are taken to extremes or improbable outcomes challenge our perceptions, so in some ways, Snowpiercer is in good company. But then again (and my views may be tainted by a semi-famous and extremely negative review I read a while back), there is such a thing as too many plot holes. Why is one Korean girl psychic? How is it that the wealthy of the front section have perfectly maintained amenities and clean clothes with no visible manufacturing or service areas? It’s a train after all; there’s only so much room in the cars, all of which Curtis passes through to get to the front, often with random themes, like an aquarium or a rave. Surely this train isn’t as self-sustainable as it appears with no outside resources. Considering the body count and how pyrrhic the battle becomes, how can the ending be viewed as anything but a total downer waving a shred of false hope?

It’s a lot to overlook, yet, if you can, there’s much to appreciate as well. The set design and limited CGI effects (mainly any exterior shots) have a convincing world-building flair, and the fight scenes, while unnecessarily bloody, are tense and shocking, with a strange preoccupation with limb amputations. The film does excel as an action movie and has moments of pointed social commentary about the breakdown of society, though its almost cartoonish class struggle themes were done far better in The Hunger Games series.

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Snowpiercer seems to be divisive, and all in all, I can’t completely agree with either end of the spectrum. It’s not a total train wreck (pun intended) as some faultfinders have derided it, but neither does it seem worthy of its effusive critical praise and 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m somewhere in the middle, dubiously positive you might say. If you can manage to take its grim craziness in stride, Snowpiercer may be the dystopia for you.

Best line: (Wilford, the creator of the train) “Curtis, everyone has their preordained position, and everyone is in their place except you.”  (Curtis) “That’s what people in the best place say to the people in the worst place.”

 

Rank: Honorable Mention

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
620 Followers and Counting

 

Captain Marvel (2019)

24 Sunday Mar 2019

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What makes a hero, I ask you, my friend?
Some inhuman power defending good ends?
Some courage or virtue beyond normal means
Or blasting the bad guys to small smithereens?
Perhaps perseverance, refusing to yield,
Or wielding a weapon, a sword or a shield?
No, heroes are simple yet more than all these,
And those they inspire can spot them with ease.
_____________________

MPAA rating:  PG-13

Well, I’d say the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a new MVP. No, not Captain Marvel, although she’s pretty cool too. I’m talking about a scene-stealing cat named Goose (which is a Top Gun reference since Carol Danvers was an Air Force pilot). There are still endless possibilities in the MCU, many of which are opened by this very movie, but I’d be happy if every movie from now on had a cameo from Goose.

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As for the rest of the movie, widely touted as Marvel’s first film with a main female protagonist, Captain Marvel is a success beyond the cultural box it ticks. I had some reservations about Brie Larson playing Carol Danvers, just because of how serious she is in most of the trailers, but she is a welcome addition to the MCU, finding a healthy balance between self-assured power and typical Marvel humor. It does help that she usually has someone to play off of, sometimes Jude Law as her Kree trainer Yon-Rogg but mostly that someone being Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, who has two eyes and is digitally de-aged (incredibly well, by the way) since this is set back in 1995. Having already starred together in Kong: Skull Island and Unicorn Store, the two have great buddy-movie rapport as they take on the war between the shape-shifting Skrulls and the Kree Empire.

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A word to the uninitiated: Captain Marvel doesn’t try to give many concessions to the casual Marvel viewer. There are moments in the first quarter or so that are bound to leave people confused, but it picks up when events (and Captain Marvel herself) get more down to earth. The alien Skrulls, who can impersonate anyone, make for an intriguing foe, especially with Ben Mendelsohn as their leader, and the makeup work for them is much more effective than if they had been created solely with CGI. And as usual with Marvel, the effects and action are top-notch, especially when Danvers reaches her maximum power (the “Whoo!”s she makes while destroying alien ships really add to the fun).

My VC wasn’t all that excited for Captain Marvel. Not being much of a feminist, she didn’t like the gender switch, since she associated the name Captain Marvel with the male hero Mar-Vell from the comics (never mind that the name originally belonged to the DC character now known as Shazam). While it didn’t remove all her reservations, the film managed to win her over to accept this version of the character. I think this was not only due to the fun ‘90s setting but also its message of perseverance that is universally human, not being limited to male or female. Whether Carol Danvers is known as Ms. Marvel or Captain Marvel (neither name is actually used in the movie), she’s a welcome heroine for the MCU for reasons beyond the fact that she’s a she.

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Captain Marvel is a well-made origin story that sits squarely in the middle of the MCU rankings and, like last year’s Black Panther, doesn’t seem to have much bearing on the next Avengers movie following in its wake, aside from providing background for a major character. Nevertheless, it has lots of well-planned ties into the larger MCU (loved Stan Lee’s tribute, and I’ll never look at Fury and his scar the same way again!) and still whets the appetite of us Marvel nerds; the first thing I said when the credits rolled was, “At least we only have another month to wait,” to which my VC replied, “Thank God!” Now, in addition to all the hopes and fears I had for Endgame, I can add the hope that Goose will make an appearance. Fingers crossed!

Best line: (Carol Danvers) “What does your mother call you then?”
(Nick Fury) “Fury.”
(Carol) “What do your friends call you?”
(Fury) “Fury.”
(Carol) “Kids?”
(Fury) “If I ever have them? Fury.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
613 Followers and Counting

 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

11 Friday Jan 2019

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The universe is vast and grand
And larger than we can explore,
Yet what if there were more than one
With possibilities galore.

In one dimension, you might be
Reclining underneath a tree.
In one, you’re driving;
One, in bed;
In one, surviving;
One, you’re dead.
In one, you may be ten feet tall
Or climbing up a building wall.
In one, your hair is blond or red;
Another, you have none at all.

You might be human or a fish
Or living in a Petri dish,
Or made of metal, made of wood;
You might be evil, might be good;
You might be famous or obscure,
Or wearing tentacles or fur.

Who knows what new alternative
Beyond dimension walls might live?
____________________

MPAA rating:  PG (probably the most family-friendly big-screen version of Spider-Man to date)

Many out there who are experiencing superhero fatigue might roll their eyes at the prospect of yet another Spider-Man movie. After all, they’ve already covered this Marvel character with an excellent trilogy with Tobey McGuire, two lesser reboot films with Andrew Garfield, and an MCU incarnation with Tom Holland, so how else could another film retread the same material? A better question after actually watching Into the Spider-Verse is “How can a film with so much prior history turn out to be possibly the most original and innovative movie of the year?”

I remembered the Spider-Man cartoon from the ‘90s had multiple versions of Peter Parker teaming up at times, but I never expected that kind of universe-spanning storyline to make it to the big screen, considering that the spider-mantle keeps getting handed off every few years. Animation was clearly the best medium for it, especially with the involvement of producers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie), the latter of whom also co-wrote the screenplay.

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The story is quite simply everything we know and love about Spider-Man mixed, mutated, and amalgamated in ways I never thought I’d see. By diving into the multiverse, full of different incarnations of the wall-crawler, it combines the familiar with the new to create something fun and unexpected. For one thing, there are at least seven spider-people total, along with alternate versions of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, and while the story focuses on Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a black teen bitten by a universe-hopping spider, there is so much going on in Into the Spider-Verse that I won’t even try describing it all, which is best anyway since I don’t do outright spoilers anymore.

Miles himself is an authentic and relatable kid, street-savvy but smart, who is pulled in way over his head when the hulking Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) opens up a portal to other dimensions, summoning varied Spider-people, from a spider-powered Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) to an over-the-hill Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) to a talking pig from a universe of funny animals (John Mulaney). While it gets as crazy as it sounds, the characters are marvelously written, each one with their own in-jokes, histories, and personal arcs, most notably the older version of Peter Parker, who is forced to mentor Miles in order to get back to his own universe.

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The character dynamics are great, yet I feel like I’ve barely scratched everything to love about this movie. I never knew much about Miles Morales’ origin story in the comics, but it’s hard to imagine it being better than this film version. There are touchstones to the familiar Spider-Man origin, but it plays out with clever and unique differences, which, along with the multitude of jokes and gags, especially reward the geeky knowledge of fan nerds like me. I don’t usually like familiar characters being reimagined for the sake of diversity, as Hollywood so often does, but the multiverse concept is the perfect way to handle it, introducing new versions of characters, whether it be a black Spider-Man or an anime-style girl and robot team, while leaving the familiar intact.

And let’s not forget the animation; it’s quite literally unlike anything we’ve seen before, a mixture of 2D and 3D with images that feel ripped from the panels of a comic book while also boasting amazingly fluid action scenes. Somehow, the mixing of animation styles (anime, exaggerated cartoon) merges with the main style seamlessly, which fascinates me to no end. Comics are an unmistakable visual influence, such as the dotted background texture of many scenes, and I liked how thought bubbles and such became more pronounced when Miles began experiencing the heightened senses of his spider-powers.

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Speaking of heightened senses, the animation in Into the Spider-Verse is likely to yield sensory overload, not unlike Lord and Miller’s earlier film The Lego Movie. The pace and visuals are similarly frenetic, though more sophisticated and not as hard to follow, especially during the eye-popping, reality-warping finale, which might be as close as I ever get to an LSD trip. Every scene is full of such life and detail that I honestly cannot wait to see it again.

While I loved everything –characters, animation, action, story, the touching Stan Lee cameo/tribute—I will say one thing didn’t thrill me, namely the soundtrack. Befitting the urban setting of Miles’ world, it’s largely hip hop and rap, the value of which still eludes me. (Seriously, what’s catchy about someone talking to a beat?) Post Malone’s “Sunflower” was the only song I halfway liked, but that’s likely a personal gripe, since I’ve heard other people laud the soundtrack. One brief scene featured a great little snippet of John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion),” which only made me wish the soundtrack had less rap and more ‘80s rock.

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My VC enjoyed the movie overall and agreed the visuals were amazing and Oscar-worthy, yet, though she recognized the trippy style as something outstanding, it simply wasn’t for her. Then again, she also tends to discount the value of animation, viewing it generally as lesser than live-action, to which I quote the talking pig: “You got a problem with cartoons?” I certainly don’t. This film just keeps getting better in my head the more I think about it, and I’m actually looking forward to the inevitable spin-offs and sequels it will spawn. If you have any fondness for the character of Spider-Man, I suspect there is something or many things you will love about this movie. Spider-Man may be a well-worn franchise by now, but Into the Spider-Verse just reinvented it in a way no one saw coming.

Best line:  (Miles, buying a Spider-Man costume) “Can I return it if it doesn’t fit?”  (Stan Lee) “It always fits, eventually.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
600 Followers and Counting!

 

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

06 Sunday Jan 2019

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Danger after danger,
And mission after mission,
Facing constant opposition,
Can exact a taxing toll
On the few who fight for strangers
Who know nothing of their role.

Mission after mission
Must depend on these defenders
Who know nothing of surrenders.
They are safety’s heart and soul,
Keeping evil in remission
And the world under control.
_____________________

MPAA rating:  PG-13

Well, it took a little longer than I was expecting, but here at last is the final installment of my Mission: Impossible marathon, a chance to catch up with this franchise that started way back in August. I had intended to see Fallout at a second-run theater after watching Rogue Nation, but sadly I missed it and had to wait for the DVD. Hearing all the praise for this latest film only raised my hopes that it would match its predecessors, and, at least in the action department, it didn’t disappoint.

One thing I’ve enjoyed about M:I films since J.J. Abrams got involved back with Mission: Impossible III is the greater focus on continuity. They each had their own storylines and their own characters that were mysteriously never seen again, but there were carryovers beyond Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt alone. Ving Rhames is still around since the first film, and Fallout sees the welcome return of other characters too, like Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn, Alec Baldwin’s IMF Secretary, Michelle Monaghan as Hunt’s wife Julia, Rebecca Ferguson’s British agent Ilsa Faust, and Sean Harris’s hissable villain Solomon Lane from Rogue Nation. As the only villain to not be outright killed by movie’s end, it made sense to bring Lane back for another round, though I really wish they could have gotten Jeremy Renner back again. While the constant action depends on the characterization established in past films, the IMF crew have their team dynamic down to a science, and they bounce off each other splendidly, with Ferguson fitting in well in her second outing as Hunt’s female equivalent.

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Of course, there are new faces too, most notably Henry Cavill’s FBI agent ordered to accompany the IMF team on their latest mission to recover three nuclear cores they neglectfully lost before a group of terrorists can use them. Honestly, Cavill is a passable Superman, but his muscles and deep voice are better served in this kind of role (plus, he’s got a beard and mustache, much to my VC’s delight), and his stoic delivery leaves his loyalties in doubt from the start. Yet it’s still the familiar faces that make M:I better than your typical action movie, particularly Cruise, whose character is faced with several moral tests along the way, making him question the value of one life over many.

So what about the claims that Fallout is the best film of the franchise and even one of the best action films of all time? I’d say that’s debatable, the former assertion more than the latter. I would agree that this is the most action-packed movie of the series, culminating in one of the most intense climaxes of them all. Cruise continues to dazzle with his absurdly ambitious stunts (watching him break his leg during the shoot is still painful), and the chases and fistfights are as good as they’ve ever been. There’s a one-take skydive that is particularly awe-inspiring and nail-biting. As far as action, it delivers in spades, but the plot takes a little while to settle in. This series is known for its twists, but the story gets a little muddled changing directions in the first half before we get to the villain goals and what must be done to stop them. At one point, there are three double-crosses in quick succession so it takes some effort to keep up.

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As far as rankings, I just can’t quite decide. I’ve said before that I like M:I:iii, Ghost Protocol, and Rogue Nation about equally, but for different reasons. M:I:iii has the most personal stakes and best ending, while Ghost Protocol has the best plot and team dynamic, and Rogue Nation has the best script and mixture of everything the series does well. I have no problem adding Fallout to the grouping, since it has the best climax, though I was a bit disappointed with how it backtracked on the happy ending of the third film. Fallout is once again a credit to the series and could act as a good conclusion if they decide to stop here. I don’t know if Cruise and company will continue churning out these action hits, but if they do, I’m game for whatever comes next.

Best line: (Walker, frustrated with the lack of a plan) “Hope is not a strategy.”   (Ilsa) “Oh, you’re new!”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining the last three sequels)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
600 Followers and Counting!

 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

16 Sunday Dec 2018

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History repeats itself more often than it should,
For man is vain and foolish even after childhood.

The same mistakes will plague mankind until at last we learn,
Though when that may or may not come is cause for some concern.

Self-destruction is a right we mastered long ago;
We’re just too curious to see, this time, how it will go,
And so we do not slow.
__________________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

For starters, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was never very high on my list of highly anticipated movies this year. The first Jurassic World was good and I like anything with Chris Pratt, but the law of diminishing returns definitely applies here. Some years after the incidents of Jurassic World, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Pratt) are called back to the island of dinosaurs to rescue as many as possible before the volcano erupts, and naturally the sponsor of the expedition has some ulterior motives.

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It wasn’t until I actually saw the movie that I realized why my excitement for it was so low: the trailers. The entire first half of the movie on the island was spoiled in the trailers, making even scary or spectacular scenes carry zero tension for me. I’m sure future viewers who didn’t see the trailers beforehand might not have this problem, but I wish the trailer editors wouldn’t divulge so much, even the ending itself. Granted, the second half, mostly set in an expansive mansion on a dark and stormy night, carries a great deal more anxiety, shock value, and stylish horror flourishes, but skilled director J.A Bayona can’t completely reinvent the wheel.  Arrogant characters still make dumb decisions, and despite efforts to stay inventive, it feels like this series doesn’t have much new to offer.

There’s an ongoing argument of whether the dinosaurs should be allowed to die out again or not, a question about which my VC felt strongly. She didn’t see why everyone was insisting on saving the dinos, and while I lean more toward the conservationist viewpoint of keeping them alive but contained, I do think the film’s message is left muddled. (Plus, why Claire is suddenly so protective of the dinos, I don’t know.) By the end, one character sides with saving the deadly animals above all other concerns, putting their lives above human ones, which is a thoroughly wrong-headed sentiment that left a sour taste none of the other sequels have. My VC and I agreed that “because they’re alive” isn’t a good enough reason to put human lives in danger when it comes down to either us or them.

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Oh, and one other thing. Everyone was talking about the dinosaurs becoming extinct again after the volcanic eruption on Isla Nublar. What about Site B on Isla Sorna, which has never been mentioned since Jurassic Park III? There should still be dinosaurs on that island, right? Anyway, I don’t mean to sound like I hated it, since it still had many of the ingredients that made the first Jurassic Park and Jurassic World enjoyable, just watered down and overly spoiled by trailers. Time will tell if the next sequel can redeem this one’s weaknesses.

Best line: (Ian Malcolm, in a welcome but all-too-brief cameo) “Change is like death. You don’t know what it looks like till you’re standing at the gates.”

 

Rank: Honorable Mention

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
599 Followers and Counting

 

Justice League (2017)

12 Wednesday Dec 2018

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With planet Earth facing its worst danger yet,
Six heroes emerged to contend with the threat.
One swam,
And one ran,
And one wasn’t a man,
One dressed like a bat,
One was half a tin can,
And one may have died,
But he’ll come if he can,
So never fear, Earth, for your heroes are here!
No, not the Avengers; they’ll just disappear,
Until they beat Thanos in Endgame next year.
Wait, what was I saying? Oh, the DCEU…
While waiting for Marvel, this team ought to do.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

It says a lot that I had to see Avengers: Infinity War on opening weekend, while I only just got around to watching Justice League a year after its release. Justice League isn’t necessarily a bad movie nor one as mockable as Batman v. Superman, but its aspirations overstep its ability, making DC’s superhero team-up come up short in every comparison with Marvel.

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In this not-quite-culmination of the DC Extended Universe, Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) seek to recruit a collection of disparate superhumans (Jason Momoa’s buff Aquaman, Ezra Miller’s geeky Flash, and Ray Fisher’s conflicted Cyborg) to ward off an alien invasion following the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), who is still praised as a beacon of hope despite the fact everyone seemed afraid and distrustful of him in the previous films. The battle scenes are epic, the effects impressive, and the casting not half bad (Miller’s a tad annoying, and I’m still getting used to Affleck), yet the echoes of MCU plot points are just too obvious to ignore. The villain Steppenwolf (all CGI voiced by Ciaran Hinds) arrives like Loki through a space portal and starts collecting three powerful Mother Boxes, generic Infinity Stone equivalents that can destroy the world and have a mythic history blatantly torn from The Lord of the Rings.

Justice League has some prime ingredients in its recipe, if only it was baked more gradually. I continue to be baffled by DC’s story strategy, combining all these heroes in (for half of them) their first appearance and then providing them stand-alone features. It’s one more way that Marvel has the edge, because when everyone met each in the first Avengers, at least the audience knew of their history. Here, the backstories of Aquaman, Cyborg, and Flash are only hinted at, offering backstories we neither care about nor fully understand. Plus, being thrust together by world-ending danger, there’s little sense of camaraderie or chemistry as a team, or at least not as much as with the Avengers; only Wonder Woman (still the best part of the DCEU) has any weight to her history or her rapport with Batman. And I still question why Cyborg is even here, when I’ve always associated him with the Teen Titans, despite recent revisions in the comics.

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There are always questions of who copied who between DC and Marvel, but in this case, it feels like DC is still playing catch-up to something Marvel undoubtedly did better years before. With Joss Whedon’s tweaks to director Zack Snyder (who will hopefully step away from controlling this franchise), Justice League is at least better and more fun than Man of Steel or Batman v. Superman. Individual parts just work much better than the whole at this point. Aquaman looks pretty darn cool from the trailers, though, so perhaps there’s still some hope for DC.

Best line: (Lois Lane) “There are heroes among us. Not to make us feel smaller, but to remind us of what makes us great.”

 

Rank: Honorable Mention

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
596 Followers and Counting

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

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When deadly traps and finger snaps can bring the universe to dust,
And most heroics boil down to saving life itself or bust,
It’s effortless becoming numb to world-annihilating threats
And yawning while you wait until the pall of doom and gloom resets.

And that is why you sometimes want some slightly more light-hearted fun,
Reminding you not every story has to be a cosmic one.
A chase, a smile, a smaller trial, when carried out with proper style,
Has enough unique appeal to satisfy this cinephile.
____________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

It’s simply a coincidence that I planned to review a Marvel movie the day after the great Stan Lee’s death. While I’m still deeply saddened at the loss of a comic book icon, I’m also grateful for his cultural contributions, which have not only taken over the 21st-century box office but have provided countless hours of entertainment, a prime example of which is Ant-Man and the Wasp.  The first Ant-Man was an unlikely success that surprised more than a few skeptical viewers, and I’m just as surprised that its follow-up is even better.

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A light-hearted caper like Ant-Man and the Wasp was bound to leave one of two impressions, coming on the heels of a huge, stuffed, sobering juggernaut like Avengers: Infinity War. Either it would be seen as fluff filler that felt out of place after Infinity War’s cliffhanger, or it would be a refreshingly light change of pace from the end-of-the-world exploits we’ve come to expect from the MCU, not unlike the first Ant-Man. Though some critics have voiced the former view, I favor the latter. While Marvel excels at balancing its doom and gloom with humor, sometimes you need a superhero movie where the stakes stay relatably small, and what better vehicle for those “small” stakes than Ant-Man himself?

Of course, the key to ensuring that such a small-stakes story still matters is letting the stakes matter to the characters. After the public debacle in Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is nearing the end of his house arrest and remains a lovably earnest father to his daughter Cassie. Meanwhile, original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) are on the run from the government while seeking Hank’s long-lost wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) somewhere in the infinitesimal Quantum Realm. Chasing both clues and tech to make that possible, they recruit Scott into their risky size-altering mission.

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Ant-Man was a heist film at its core, and while Ant-Man and the Wasp retains a lot of its predecessor’s style, it transmogrifies it into a twisty nonstop chase, freewheeling from one fight or set piece to the next with gleeful abandon. It’s essentially a MacGuffin hunt, with the MacGuffin usually being Pym’s tech-filled lab shrunk to the size of a breadbox. (The way it’s tossed around, he must have everything in the building bolted down!) Of course, Pym and Hope need it to save the original Wasp, but it’s also desired by a greedy small-time gangster (Walton Goggins) and by the semi-intangible Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), whose intentions are more sympathetic than most Marvel antagonists.

Rudd and Lilly continue to strengthen their tag team chemistry, and while it’s significant that Lilly’s Wasp is the first title superheroine of the MCU (and the last of the original Avengers roster from the comics to join), she owns the role in a way that makes a kick-butt female with wings seem only natural as Ant-Man’s partner. (By the way, can she use the wings when she’s normal-sized or just when shrunk? I know I’d be using them all the time.) Also returning is Michael Peña’s Luis, who is still possibly the best comic relief sidekick of the MCU, and Randall Park makes a fun appearance as Scott’s parole officer trying to catch him in the act of breaking his house arrest.

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Ant-Man and the Wasp may not have the star power or all-around epicness of Infinity War, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed it just as much for different reasons (and minus the soul-crushing deaths). It’s a smaller affair than others of its MCU brethren, but it’s purely fun entertainment with no shortage of thrills and laughs. Plus, it’s probably the most family-friendly Marvel film yet and feels nicely self-contained, with a conclusion that’s more heartwarming than usual while leaving enough room for future stories. One of my older coworkers saw it with her grandkids and loved it, even though she’d never even seen the first Ant-Man. You’d think that Marvel would be showing signs of fatigue after twenty films, but I certainly can’t tell based on #20.

Best line: (Hank, speaking of his wife Janet and Scott’s brief time in the quantum realm) “We think when you went down there, you may have entangled with her.”   (Scott) “Hank, I would never do that. I respect you too much.”   (Hank) “Quantum entanglement, Scott.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining Ant-Man)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
594 Followers and Counting

 

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

22 Monday Oct 2018

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There once was a spy on the front
Who could save the whole world with a stunt.
He often was hunted
But did as he wanted,
For no one could match Ethan Hunt.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

At this point, I’m not surprised that Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is yet another great addition to this series. What distinguishes it, though, is how it finally recognizes the value of continuity, something I put great value on in both TV show and film franchise. From the very first scene, we get Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) bantering with Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) in three different locations, only for all three to be dumbfounded at Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt’s latest death-defying stunt to save the day. It’s a perfect combination of this series’ strengths, and for once, the audience already knows everyone involved, like catching up with old friends.

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That only continues when Brandt is called by the FBI director (Alec Baldwin) to answer for the IMF’s riskier plays in Ghost Protocol, followed by Ethan being ambushed by the mysterious organization known as the Syndicate (namedropped at the end of the previous movie). Beyond the refreshing continuity, it’s also nice to make new friends, and the film quickly charts its own course with the introduction of Rebecca Ferguson as a mysterious agent undercover in the Syndicate. With Ethan wanted by both the Syndicate and the FBI, he must rely on his usual daring and teamwork to outsmart the Syndicate’s Moriarty-like mastermind (Sean Harris).

Rogue Nation really shines through its stars. Cruise is as cleverly fearless as ever, while Ferguson maintains an arm’s-length chemistry with him as her allegiances constantly seem to shift. Meanwhile, Pegg, Rhames, and Renner are ideal companions for Cruise, particularly Renner’s second guessing of one of Cruise’s risky decisions (which seemed ripped right out of the second National Treasure, by the way). When they cite their loyalty and friendship, it means something since we’ve gotten to see it develop over two-plus movies, and Christopher McQuarrie’s script and direction highlight how well they all work together.

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My VC liked Rogue Nation better than Ghost Protocol, placing it just shy of the third film, while I tend to view the last three movies as tied, just for different reasons. The third film had the best villain and the most emotional stakes, the fourth film had the best plot and some of the coolest action scenes, and Rogue Nation has the best mixture of everything this series does well and possibly the best script, including some outstanding “gotcha” moments that felt so good.

That being said, I do feel that this one is just a little more generic than the others. The best and most original action scene is Tom Cruise’s minutes-long foray into an underwater data tank, but much of the rest consists of foot chases, car chases, motorcycle chases, and fistfights, which are all executed masterfully but can’t quite escape that feeling of déjà vu. Likewise, a tense scene in an opera kept me guessing all the way through, but also reminded me of a similar scene in Quantum of Solace.  Writing this review a couple weeks after watching it, I already feel like this will be the entry that remains in my memory the least.

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I hate to sound so negative, because Rogue Nation is still a great movie. It’s just that, with three great entries in a row now, I’m starting to have to nitpick to figure out where they rank in this series. I’m happy to group it in with its two predecessors, and I’m more excited than ever to finally see Fallout, now that I’ve completed my catch-up marathon of prior films. I’m especially glad to see that the villain’s open ending in Rogue Nation will get a continuation in Fallout, but I’m also rather disappointed that Jeremy Renner is nowhere to be found in the cast list. Based on its glowing reviews, though, I still hope that Fallout will be the finale to this marathon for which I’ve been hoping.

Best line: (Benji, sarcastically) “Join the IMF! See the world! On a monitor. In a closet.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining the previous two)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
591 Followers and Counting

 

Next Gen (2018)

16 Tuesday Oct 2018

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The world’s an easy place to hate,
For it hates all too frequently.
And anger tends to escalate
The more it’s met with enmity.

One pain of heart
Can sow and start
A seed of hate
To germinate
And grow until
There’s no goodwill
For world or friend.
They all offend!
Life’s all about
The lashing out,
For no one cares
Or answers prayers;
Of that, they do not have a doubt.

But wait…
And hesitate to hate,
Just long enough to listen clear.
The world itself is quite the weight,
But others bearing it stand near
To show you how to persevere.
___________________

MPAA rating:  PG

It might be easy to write off a film that borrows plot elements from other stories as freely as Next Gen does, but this Chinese-American cartoon based on a graphic novel and delivered by Netflix manages to be more than the sum of its parts. Set in a futuristic world where personable robots are a ubiquitous household accessory, young robot-hating loner Mai (Charlyne Yi) becomes unlikely friends with an experimental droid called 7723 (John Krasinski) that might be able to save both her from herself and the world from a robot takeover. That description alone will probably conjure memories of The Iron Giant, Big Hero 6, and I, Robot, and Next Gen wears those similarities on its sleeve. Yet there’s more to appreciate beyond the familiar “boy and his robot” storyline (or “girl and her robot,” in this case).

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As I said, Next Gen’s biggest touchstone would have to be Big Hero 6, not only with its big friendly robot mascot but also its urban setting of Asian-Western fusion, with Chinese characters instead of Japanese. But this Netflix film has some intriguing differences as well. One of them is the extent of robot normalization, which goes beyond that of I, Robot. Almost every device in this world is semi-sentient, and while a lot of potential questions surrounding that aren’t even broached, it’s an intriguing setup. Mai’s mother (Constance Wu) is obsessed with her Q-Bot companions and their developer, the Steve Jobs-esque Justin Pin (Jason Sudeikis), and it’s not a coincidence that the robot fascination mirrors the distraction of smartphone use. It’s also worth noting that Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics apparently don’t apply, specifically the one about robots not harming humans, since a group of bullies order their robots to beat up on Mai for them.

Beyond the setting, there are some deeper than normal themes at play as well. Mai is resentful of her father’s abandonment of her and the way her mother uses robots to cope, and when she meets 7723, it’s only his weapons and the destruction they create that catch her interest. She’s quite angry and cynical for a cartoon protagonist, and interestingly, it’s 7723 that has to remind her to not lose her humanity when lashing out at the world.  7723 also has a struggle of his own; he values every minute spent with Mai, yet his memory cache is limited, forcing him to choose which memory files and systems to delete and make room for more. It’s not every cartoon that tackles existential questions reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so Next Gen’s themes are definitely a step above the usual “follow your heart” storyline we’ve seen all too often.

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On top of that, it’s a quality production, with fluid animation and some pretty awesome action sequences. One explosive scene in particular is one continuous tracking shot with no cuts. I already love those kinds of scenes in live-action, and, although it probably doesn’t require quite as much effort to pull off, I like that the technique is being used more and more in animation. (I could also cite the opening scene of The Secret Life of Pets or Diamond’s big fight scene in the anime Land of the Lustrous.)

As self-aware as it often is, it’s a shame that Next Gen feels obligated to conform to a few clichés, like the bully inevitably deciding “Hey, sorry I beat you up. Let’s be friends.” Likewise, Mai’s mother is pushed into a “you were right, I was wrong” confession that is so fast, it felt like the screenwriter checking off a plot requirement.

I will also say that Next Gen is probably better for older kids, and not just because of its deeper themes or a sudden death scene. There’s a funny running joke where 7723 can translate the barks of Mai’s excitable dog (Michael Pena), bleeping out his more profane words. I guess it’s on the level of any number of reality shows these days, but I don’t exactly welcome it when a kids’ cartoon features even the mouthing of the F-bomb.

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Next Gen isn’t perfect, but it comes closer to Big Hero 6 than I would have thought possible from a Chinese production company I’d never heard of. There’s a lot to love about it and how it addresses moving beyond tragedy and anger while remaining a fun and sweet adventure, and I certainly hope that this and other animation houses outside the mainstream can continue the high quality displayed here.

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
590 Followers and Counting

 

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

07 Sunday Oct 2018

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Doing the impossible
(Repeatedly, if possible)
Is so much easier to pull
When backs are braced and funds are full,
For then a hero dutiful
Can fight for right as usual
And put up with a villain’s bull.

It’s harder when support is gone,
Blindsided, chased, and set upon,
A dangerous phenomenon,
For then the evildoers spawn
While tempting good to stay withdrawn.
It’s then that heroes’ brains and brawn
Are specially depended on.
_______________________

MPAA rating:  PG-13

I’m so glad I finally decided to catch up on this series. The Mission: Impossible films may have gotten off to a rocky start, but J.J. Abrams’ third installment breathed new life into the franchise, which Brad Bird’s Ghost Protocol builds on even further. Every review I’ve seen has proclaimed Ghost Protocol the best installment of the series, but I think it’s more of a tie with its predecessor, though for different reasons (and of course I withhold judgment until I see the next two as well).

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Ghost Protocol may have seemed like an odd choice for Brad Bird’s first foray into live-action, but he did nail the super-spy vibe in The Incredibles and does the same here. Delivering a similar brilliant eye for action, he puts Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force through the ringer as they endeavor to stop a Russian madman (Michael Nyqvist) from initiating a nuclear war. From infiltrations gone wrong to the extended foot chases from which Tom Cruise must get most of his exercise, the fast-paced thrills are as good as they’ve ever been, with the crown jewel being that famous high-hanging sequence with Cruise actually clinging to the outside of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper. The whole caper surrounding that scene is the film’s “high” point (see what I did there?), but other sequences also impress, like the spies employing some fascinating new toys or the high-stakes struggle for a briefcase in one of the coolest parking garages I’ve ever seen.

My VC thought Ghost Protocol had more lulls than its immediate predecessor, and perhaps that’s true, especially with some early undercover scenes and elements that require patience to be explained, but that’s minor quibble. What Ghost Protocol has over any of its brethren is the team it assembled. Ving Rhames may be sadly missing for most of the runtime, but never has Ethan had such strong supporting players.  As a new field agent promoted from his tech job in M:i:III, Simon Pegg is more than welcome in a larger comic relief role, while Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner deliver actual motivation and personality as circumstances fling them onto Ethan’s team, offering more than just the competence of the interchangeable teammates in the past (Maggie Q, John Polson, etc.; you might be asking “Who were they again?”). It was nice seeing Josh Holloway as well (Lost alert!), even if it was a disappointingly brief appearance.

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So, while I’m not raving as much as some critics, I still found Ghost Protocol to be a darn entertaining entry in the series. (And it came out in 2011? How am I just now getting to this?) The villain wasn’t as memorable as Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it didn’t quite nail the satisfying conclusion of the third film, its ever-increasing stakes being not as personal as Ethan’s struggle for his wife, but Ghost Protocol matched or exceeded it in just about every other respect. The plot had plenty of the twists I’ve come to expect from these films, and the way gadgets repeatedly malfunctioned or were unavailable kept the IMF team guessing and the suspense high. It’s not often that the fourth film in a series can still leave viewers eager for the next installment, but now I’m looking forward to Rogue Nation even more.

Best line: (Benji Dunn, complaining about their code names) “Why am I Pluto? It’s not even a planet anymore!”   (William Brandt) “Well, Uranus is still available.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining Mission: Impossible III)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
589 Followers and Counting