zaterdag 17 augustus 2013

Today's Mini-Reviews: oldies packing some punch




The Lone Ranger: ***/*****, or 6/10

Big budget remake of the classic radio play and television series appropriates the success formula formerly applied to the Pirates of the Caribbean films, which is not surprising considering the same people and studio that made those swashbucklers are behind this project. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Disney and directed by Gore Verbinski, The Lone Ranger once again makes ample use of Johnny Depp's uncanny talent for playing weird, seemingly mentally unbalanced outcasts, considered a main audience draw for which Depp as usual received top billing, even though he does not play the titular character (in that regard it's Alice in Wonderland all over again). This time Depp assumes the mantle of the Lone Ranger's iconic Indian sidekick, Tonto, who recalls his adventures with the movie's actual hero at extreme old age, stuck in a sideshow tour as a noble savage. This framing of a tale within a tale is rather annoying as the movie tends to swivel from one version of Tonto to the other at moments where such distraction is not at all warranted and takes the pace out of the piece. Armie Hammer (The Social Network) plays John Reid, an overly morally righteous lawyer who must cope with the fact that the rules of law simply don't apply in the Wild West, especially when those in power make their own law. As a result, his valiant brother is killed and he himself is left for dead, until Tonto “resurrects” him and helps him get in shape as a masked Ranger who fights for justice and protects the weak from those who would corrupt the law for their own nefarious purposes. Enter an unscrupulous railroad tycoon and his sinister henchman with a taste for excessive violence (the ever eerie William Fichtner), who mean to instigate a war with the Indians in order to move in on their territory that contains huge silver deposits. Reid and Tonto, who is also an outcast amongst his own tribe for being a supposed nutcase, must find a way to expose the plot as well as save Reid's sweet sister-in-law and her young son.

This results in the usual action driven plot, moving from setpiece to setpiece through all the old Western locales, including a whorehouse run by Helena Bonham Carter (equipped with an ivory faux leg of large calibre), Native American teepee villages and the indispensable classic Fordian landscapes of canyons and unusual rock formations no Western ought to do without. Except from the climactic train chase, which admittedly is one of the finest and funniest ever put on film, most action scenes cannot escape a sense of staleness. Depp does his usual thing on autopilot, playing Tonto as a psychologically ambiguous character that gets into trouble regularly but always manages to pull himself out, more with luck than through his wits as he stumbles into one Keaton-esque gag after the other, while the naive but handsome Reid follows the predictable path from idealistic city boy to genuine Western hero. As was the case with the Pirates movies, there is a distinct supernatural flavor to the story which both feels confusing and often out of place, though adding to Tonto's mystique but also to his establishment as a totally silly character. And what's the deal with having Fichtner cut out and consume the hearts of his adversaries while he's clearly a stupendously terifying character already? Despite Depp's presence, The Lone Ranger couldn't connect with American audiences and ended up a domestic flop, though at the moment of writing it's too early to tell whether the same is true from an international perspective. For this failure producers and actors, in an odd moment of anger made public, blamed the critics who according to them panned the movie for its numerous production troubles, but that's a wholly nonsensical notion since due to the ever growing advent of opinionated online writing about movies critics just aren't heeded to as they once used to be: also, many movies critics regard as bad continue to do well regardless (Transformers, Scary Movie, etc.). Apparently the people that made this movie just didn't see both the lack of creative quality in their own project – though it's not as bad as some would have you believe, it's definitely not a grand and memorable blockbuster flick either – and the overuse of Disney's formulaic line of thinking that already started to backfire on the Pirates movies. Incidentally, those that follow the current TV-series Hell on Wheels, that largely delves into the same historic and thematic material as this film, will find little in here that that show didn't do before (and better). Except for the train chase of course.




Red 2: ***/*****, or 7/10

Sequel to Red (2010) (Retired: Extremely Dangerous), based on the graphic novels by Warren Ellis, continues the simple tradition its predecessor so successfully kicked off, delightfully combining well respected grand actors with dynamic action sequences and any number of nifty explosions. Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren reunite as a band of retired government agents, all still extremely accomplished killers nevertheless. Morgan Freeman has been traded in for Anthony Hopkins and David Thewlis, which is not the worst deal imaginable though Freeman's charming character is still sorely missed (but even in an over-the-top action franchise like this, dead is dead). Living a quiet, everyday life with his new girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), ex-CIA operative Frank Moses (Willis) has no intention of getting mixed up with gunfights and conspiracies again, but such things tend to find him regardless. When his paranoid, mentally unhinged pal Marvin resorts to faking his own death, Moses finds himself sucked into another plot revolving around a portable nuclear bomb hidden in the Kremlin, something he is rumoured to be involved in. As was the case in the previous film, it's necessary for him and his friends to travel around the globe in order to piece together the puzzle, which brings them to exotic (or close to), luxurious locales including Moscow and Paris, a staple of spy films but delivered with ample fervour not to get noticed. Thrown in the mix are Hopkins as an unbalanced inventor of weapons of mass destruction who has spend 20 years in a looney bin, Thewlis as a shady information dealer who much prefers the good things in life (like hideously expensive rare wines) over gunplay and gratuitous violence, Catherine Zeta-Jones as a foxy agent sharing a history with Moses and out to seduce him once more, and, as before, Brian Cox as a former Russian KGB-officer and hopeless romantic who appreciates the sight of his beloved Helen Mirren offing people over all else. As the merry band of aging killers shoots and bombs its way through the plot, Moses must also come to terms with his younger and inexperienced girlfriend, who now considers this sort of bloody adventure a neat holiday trip and bonding experience, and takes as much points as she can in the art of mayhem, much to his chagrin (and a far cry from the not quite so enthusiastic Sarah from the first film). Suffice to say, if you're not a fan of guns and other assorted weaponry, this movie is definitely not recommended to you. However, like the first Red, this successor is nothing but a highly entertaining action flick that appropriates the huge talents of the renowned actors it has brought together to great effect, clearly enabling the ensemble to have a blast itself. Though the movie is otherwise devoid of narrative surprises, the high levels of good fun and a decent number of high paced action scenes make for a decent way to spend your two hours.


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