Back in black... with vengeance

Men in Black 3: rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

In the midst of all the super hero action bombarding our cinemas this summer, you'd almost forget there's more to comic book movie adaptations than just superhumans epically fighting each other. However, just because super heroes are doing extremely well at the box-office, doesn't mean the Hollywood studios have given up on other type of comic book movies, especially when reinterpreting such comics for the big screen did very well financially for them in the past. Therefore, after “only” ten years of neglect, the Men in Black are finally back to once again protect us against the worst scum of the universe. Their last film turned out to be one of the worst sequels in recent history, almost ruining the franchise as a whole due to bad writing, bad chemistry between the lead actors and most of all, embarrasingly bad jokes, so this time their mission is to prove to the audience once again why we do want to watch their secret missions guarding us against extra-terrestrial violence. Fortunately, and surprisingly after a decade of inactivity, they succeed, making us fondly remember the first film and largely forgetting the debacle that was their second adventure.

Warning! Here be spoilers! Unlike the previous films, Men in Black 3 does not open in medias res during one of the coolest secret government agency's missions, or even on this planet, but instead witnesses a pretty nifty prison break on the moon's maximum security prison for dangerous aliens. It makes sense extra-terrestrial inmates are indeed locked up extra Terra, but apparently it would have been a more sensible move not to hire inapt, thick-headed, overweight human guards to handle security, as they all get viciously killed off, some in rather gruesome PG-13 ways, courtesy of the film's central bad guy, the one-armed Boris the Animal (thanks to the FX team an effectively scary and grotesque Jemaine Clement), who after reclaiming his freedom sets off to kill Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones). Mean while, to show a decent amount of time has passed between this film and the dismal previous MIB installment, we are re-introduced to Agents K and J (Will Smith), working closely together as partners, instead of one learning the intricacies of the job from the other like before. They're still not fully connecting emotionally, K being grumpy and cynical, while J is overly energetic and possesses a seemingly more complete range of human emotions, but such differences are only a good thing for the audience, since it makes the characters complete each other and play off one another perfectly, exactly as was the case in the first film, but was so painfully lacking in the second. And so the excellent chemistry between Jones and Smith is the best thing to return, as well as the most surprising considering it was absent last time, plus the two actors haven't worked together for a decade, but undoubtedly rediscovered their ability to bounce back witty dialogue and bizarrely funny gags between them with the help of a script that actually contained witty dialogue and bizarrely funny gags. It's a good thing the pair found each other again, since the relationship between them is the driving factor in Men in Black 3's plot line.

After spectacularly raiding a Chinese/alien restaurant for selling illegal extra-terrestrial animals as food, which also is used to remind the viewer just how well K and J work together on cases like these, K receives word Boris has broken out of jail, puzzling J as to what the deal is between them and K of course withholding information from him since it's not his damn business. Next day, J returns to the office only to find K missing and none of their colleagues remembering their top agents ever working together. Turns out Boris travelled back in time to successfully murder K and change history, so his people, the Boglodites, a dangerous parasitic race of aliens scouring planet after planet and killing all life in the process, can conquer Earth in the present after all, instead of being doomed to extinction thanks to K foiling their evil schemes in the past. With the invasion starting, J has no choice but to time-jump after Boris to 1969 in order to save his partner, and the future of planet Earth. Introducing time travel into a franchise that never seemed to revolve around it previously is often a bad sign (I can think of a TV show that did pretty good until messing with time proved to be the first stage in its undoing, as well as a beloved Sci-Fi franchise which got completely reset/screwed over because time travel offered just such an irresistibly easy cop-out solution), but in the case of Men in Black 3, it's more like an added bonus, since it opens up the possibility for having J and a younger K (now played by Josh Brolin) teaming up to save the future, making their relationship feel fresh, familiar and funny all at once. 

Brolin proves to be the perfect casting choice for the role of replacing Jones for most of the movie, having skillfully copied his accent, mannerisms and natural charm, and thus pulling off this less experienced but more human K both fully convincingly and compellingly. Plus, Smith and Brolin prove as good a combination of acting and action talent as Smith and Jones did, while keeping the existing levels of humour and character compatibility intact. Thanks to Brolin, who also cleverly uses this opportunity to remind us why he's often called one of the most acclaimed American actors at this moment, we don't miss Jones for a second, because we're totally buying he is Jones. Also, because of the now minimal age difference between the two characters, K and J are finally on a believably equal level, both of them knowing things the other does not and actually sharing them, instead of the much older K supplying all the knowledge, and J most of the resulting action, while the former keeps important stuff to himself for the latter (and the audience) to figure out.

Aside from reinvigorating the K & J relationship, the plot also utilizes the chance for laughs offered by the fish-out-of-water element of a guy from the present visiting the odd world of the past, though it does not make as much use of this opportunity as one would have expected, appropriating the date of July 1969 mostly for plot reasons because of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, which does not allow the film to linger too much on other, more cultural events of the same era which would have made for great comedic moments. Fortunately the jokes that do jump at this occasion work well, incuding older incarnations of MIB technology being of elephantine proportions compared to Smith's pocket size equipment, or Andy Warhol revealed to be a MIB agent who's tired of his own visual art and requesting to be allowed to fake his own death to get away from it. Most of the best temporally related jokes though are claimed by the alien Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg in a hilarious role), a survivor of the previous Boglodite act of genocide who offers the Men in Black a device to protect Earth from the imminent invasion, and, as a five-dimensional entity in disguise (i.e., a silly hat), can foresee any and all possible futures, making him ramble on and on about the various possible outcomes and the unlikeliest random elements effecting them.

Armed with Griffin's plethora of foreshadowings, K and J set out to deploy his device (by attaching it to the Apollo 11 so it can create a safety net around the planet) and defeat Boris, of which there are now two, the one from the present (that is, 1969) and the one from the future (don't worry, the time travel does not lead to overly complicated situations but remains fairly straightforward, which also works only in the movie's favour). The existence of two Borises simultaneously, both of them hating the other for what they perceive to be their weaknesses, could also have used more fleshing out, making the threat feel more real since future Boris knows exactly what will transpire and could steer past Boris away from his own mistakes, while both MIB agents are not fully aware of the precise order of happenings due to Griffin's mental incoherence; the plot however, fails to fully capitalize on this chance and has each Boris fighting a single MIB agent alone. At least the plot delivers some stunning action scenes on top of a missile launch tower to make up for this oversight, which is also deployed to make some good use of the 3-D effects (yes, this summer blockbuster too is released in 3-D), though it's the time-jump scenes that provide the most impressive displays of depth.

Overall, Men in Black 3 offers everything Men in Black 2 did not, the most important thing being the status of a worthy successor to the (still superior) first installment in this franchise, despite containing some minor plot imperfections. Director Barry Sonnenfeld, responsible for all three films, redeems himself for his previous failure, while Smith and Jones prove they can still work together to great results if aided by a good script. Brolin only adds more depth to their existing relationship by exploring it in more detail and straying away from the previously used master-apprentice dynamic between both characters. And at the same time, we get more aliens (new species, but also some old fan favorites including the obnoxious worm guys), more cool gadgets (like the much advertized gyro bikes) and a lot of new jokes, most of them actually funny this time around. Now, if we could only time-jump and erase Men in Black 2 from history somehow, this franchise would have a much better overall track record...

And now back to superhumans epically fighting each other.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/meninblack3/

A dictator late for his own funeral

The Dictator: ***/*****, or 6/10

At least there's one thing to be said for dictators: they make for bizarrely colourful characters, and their regimes often feature such ludicrous rules of conduct the rest of the world cannot do anything but wonder just how seriously these tyrants should be taken. It seems like a natural ingredient for a comedy, though given the subject matter most people don't dare to make a feature film out of it. Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator, already 72 years old, still rules supreme as the number one example as to how a brutal oppressive government can successfully be made fun of, though after WW II Chaplin admitted in hindsight he would not have made the movie had he known just how atrocious Hitler's reign of terror had been, making the film taste sour when watching certain scenes spoofing situations that in reality would have cost hundreds of lives. It can be said The Great Dictator was made too early, making it a light take on history that had yet to occur. The opposite now happens with Sacha Baron Cohen's latest raunchy comedy, simply called The Dictator, which, when compared to recent history, feels it was released a little too late to feel like it's truly up on current events.

The dictator is question is Admiral-General Aladeen (of course performed by Cohen), Supreme Leader of Wadiya (a fictional North-African country), who was born in power thanks to his father who violently seized control. Having ruled his nation since the age of seven, Aladeen is a typical 'spoiled brat' type of overlord, who views his country as his own private playground and has everybody who disagrees with him executed without mercy. Aladeen does whatever he feels like doing, including hosting and competing in the Wadiyan Olympics, which he wins by shooting his fellow contestants, as well as sleeping with celebrities who prostitute themselves for substantial fees (and the movie makes it clear there's a lot of those, which makes for the funniest roles both Megan Fox and Edward Norton have ever played). Like any rogue nation, Wadiya has its own nuclear programme, which according to a loudly snickering Aladeen will only be used for peaceful purposes. Of course, the UN won't fall for his not so convincing performance, so he's requested to address its representatives in New York or face air strikes. And thus, Aladeen heads to the USA, the birthplace of AIDS as he calls it, to ease the international community.

Warning! Here be spoilers! So far The Dictator doesn't seem much unlike Cohen's previous projects, Borat and Brüno, both of which also opened with a string of fairly random scenes applied to establish the film's main character and the bizarre world he inhabited, leading to a trip to the States that made the protagonist come into conflict with American extremities and himself, in yet more loose scenes that felt mostly like separate sketches instead of a progressive narrative. The Dictator however has a more consistent storyline. Soon after arrival at his New York hotel – where they charge an outrageous 20 dollars for Internet! – Aladeen finds himself victim of a conspiracy and carried off for torture and vicious death, only to be replaced by his most recently installed doppelganger, a very simple minded goat herder whose only job it is to be shot in the head. The plot against his life is planned by his uncle Tamir, who means to use the decoy Aladeen to move Wadiya towards a democracy only to sell off its oil reserves to foreign contractors and get excessively rich in the process, over the backs of the Wadiyan populace. Tamir is played by Ben Kingsley, a seemingly surprising bit of casting considering his unwavering status as one of the world's greatest actors, someone who most people would never expect to see in a raunchy comedy like this. However, for every masterpiece like Schindler's List or Gandhi, Kingsley has done a Thunderbirds or Love Guru, revealing he's up for anything if the money is right, not unlike the Megan Foxes of the celebrity world this film also pokes at with hilarious results.

Due to his experience in torture, Aladeen escapes his imprisonment only to be left on the streets of New York to fend for himself. When trying to get into the UN building he meets Zoey, a bisexual feminist activist (played by Anna Faris made unrecognizably boyish) who offers him a job at her eco-collective, where every employee is a political refugee, offering Cohen the full potential to make politically incorrect fun at every conceivable ethnic, gender or demographic minority. In the New York neighbourhood of Little Wadiya, Aladeen also meets Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas), the former chief of his nuclear program who he thought he had executed for disagreeing over the shape of Wadiya's first nuclear missile (Aladeen wanted it pointy, since a rounded shape would make it look like a giant flying dildo). In exchange for returning to his old job, Nadal agrees to help Aladeen get back to power. Though it seems rather gullible of a scientist sentenced to death to trust the one who gave the order, Nadal and Aladeen work together more effectively for story purposes than Aladeen does with Zoey, who's cooperation seems mostly an excuse for dirty gags, many of them funny, all of them sexist, racist or generally offensive (as we're used to from Cohen). However, in the latter case, the comedic result is much more convincing, while Mantzoukas unfortunately proves himself to be inexperienced when it comes to the gift of timing, making many of the funny situations he participates in sadly miss their mark.

Hilarity aside, the audience expects Cohen to make at least some political comments when it comes to dictatorships in an age where one after the other bites the dust. In this regard, The Dictator seems to have been produced a little too late to feel in any way relevant. Many of the much despised people Cohen, either implicitly or explicitly, refers to in this movie, have fallen victim to the results of their own tyranny by now, including Osama Bin Laden, Khadaffi, Charles Taylor and Berlusconi, yet the movie presents them, either in character or only in dialogue, as still active, or even still alive. Though the movie opens with an 'in memoriam' to Kim Jong-Il, this feels like a simple last-minute addition, done mostly to make the film appear to be more up with the times than it eventually turns out to be. The Dictator, alas, is revealed to be an already outdated project by the time it hit movie screens. Of course, there's still plenty of dictators left presently, but none of these remaining tyrants are either well known enough, disturbing enough or simply funny enough to be made (ab)use of in The Dictator, not even in late post-production additions like Jong-Il. It seems all the cool dictators have already passed away, or at least been forced to step down, just before Cohen could effectively spoof them in his hommage to oppressive regimes.

And an hommage it is, even if only for comedy's sake. In the end, Aladeen succeeds in foiling uncle Tamir's evil schemes, publicly tearing Wadiya's new constitution to pieces in front of the UN delegation, resulting in a speech applauding the many virtues of dictatorships over democracies, of course referring to America's insidious and slow, but poignantly present move towards the former in the recent decade, in which we again spot Cohen just missing the appropriate time frame in which to state his 'j'accuse', considering the level of repression in the USA has at least diminished under Obama compared to the Bush doctrine. While the anti-Jewish, anti-Islamic and anti-gay slurs Cohen revealed as ever present in American in his previous projects, seem ever prevalent (this movie resorts to exposing them too, to a minor extent), his views on America's level of democratic decline seems at the least outdated, undermining the point he makes on America appropriating anti-democratic behavior which it critiques in other nations (that is, if you feel Cohen ever bothers to make such points, which is also debatable). Like the way Cohen praises the wonderful grotesqueries of tyranny a little behind schedule, so to arrive his allegations towards the “American regime” too late to make them feel all that relevant to audiences. Oh well, at least we still have the jokes.

And at least in terms of comedy The Dictator delivers some positive results. Of course, many remarks and situations result in extremely crude, deviant sexual gags, as we've come to expect from Cohen, nor would we have it any other way by now. Some of them are genuinely funny despite their obviously adult content – why this movie only got a '12' certificate in the Netherlands is beyond me – while others are glaringly embarrassing to watch, including a woman giving birth and Aladeen coming to her aid by accidentally jamming his fist up her butt. Fortunately the cringe-worthy moments form a minority, while several instances of great humour undoubtedly will prove memorably hilarious, and quotable for years to come. The greatest gags involve Wadiyan life under Aladeen's rule, like many words having been replaced by the term 'aladeen', including 'positive' and 'negative', resulting in confusion when a doctor informs his patient of 'aladeen news' since he's 'HIV-aladeen'. Plus, we'll never forget the sight of a wall adorned with thousands of photos of Aladeen posing with a celebrity he has had sex with (including Oprah Winfrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger). Whatever point The Dictator has missed thematically, it compensates for the most part in terms of humour.

Overall, The Dictator will certainly never reach the status of an undying classic like The Great Dictator did, despite both films missing the mark historically. Even if the former had reached theatres, say, a year earlier, it would still contain various painfully unfunny gags taking the momentum out of the overall picture (which is already running short with only 83 minutes). However, like Borat and Brüno before it, the film also contains enough good jokes to make it a decent enough watch, and it proves that with every vile dictator gone, the world of comedy remains a little less colourful.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thedictator/

Date Night

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Adequate feel-good comedy about a bored married couple (Tina Fey and Steve Carell) who try to do something else for a change and go to an expensive fancy restaurant where they pretend, because the place is totally filled up, they're another couple that reserved a place (but didn't show up), which leads to a severe case of mistaken identity as they soon find themselves on the run from shady characters. This basically is a supposedly funny variation on Hitchcock's classic thriller North by Northwest, except the level of humor never rises above average, despite decent performances by the leading couple who at least show convincing chemistry in their roles as the protagonist pair who are confronted with car chases, break-ins and silly strip routines as they try to return to their not-so-bad status quo. Also includes an ever shirtless Mark Wahlberg as an ex-spy good samaritan and William Fichtner as a corrupt, sexually obsessed government official. Director Shawn Levy, from both Night at the Museum movies and The Pink Panther (remake) fame, adds yet another fairly entertaining but quickly forgotten flick to his repertoire.

Starring: Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Mark Wahlberg

Directed by Shawn Levy

USA: 20^th Century-Fox, 2010

Dark Victory

Rating: ****/*****, or 7/10

Typical but classic 'weepie' (or 'women's film') from the late Thirties, a star vehicle for Bette Davis who was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance but didn't win (no matter, since she was Oscar-nominated a whopping eleven times in total and took home two such trophies during her career). Davis portrays a young wealthy woman who enjoys life in a frivolous manner, drinking, smoking and sporting too much, until she is diagnosed with a terminal illness that will kill her within a year. Instead of crying over it (which is left to the audience), she chooses to concentrate on the important things in life, finds love with the doctor examining her and keeps her dignity until the very (bitter) end, thus going out in a 'dark victory' in her acceptance of the inevitable as she embraces her death instead of needlessly living in fear for the unavoidable for the remainder of her days. The final scenes in which she says goodbye to her new husband as he leaves for a business trip while she, unknown to him, is in the final stages of her physical collapse – in order for him to remember her as she wants him to – is a serious tearjerking moment like only the Thirties could provide; hence the genre nickname 'weepies'. Despite the emphatically tragic occurrences and strong performances making it feel compelling, the general level of melodrama is overly high for many (male) audience members, which is a reason films like these were mainly marketed to the female spectators. Co-starring Humprey Bogart in a pre-Casablanca role, not as a bad guy in this case.

Starring: Bette Davis, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Humphrey Bogart

Directed by Edmund Goulding

USA: Warner Bros., 1939

Dark Star

Rating: **/*****, or 5/10

Very low budget Sci-Fi comedy, the result of a student project done by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) and Dan 'Bannon (screenwriter of Alien), which eventually was released in a small theatrical run through low budget producer Jack H. Harris. The simple look and obviously largely absent production values make this a dull watch for the uninitiated, though it remains a cult favorite of many Sci-Fi aficionados. In the distant future, the crew of the starship Dark Star, on a mission to destroy unstable planets threatening human colonies, encounters various problems, among others a smart bomb with a God-complex, the infiltration of the vessel by an unknown alien life form resembling a beach ball (a plot element that would later form the basis of O'Bannon's much acclaimed space horror, except for its silly shape) and the usual computer faults. A few good ideas are found here, but some of them are hard to take seriously due to the lack of believable sets and effects. Nevertheless, they hint at the talent behind the film's creators, which would indeed grow to successful careers for the both of them in later years.This movie might very well warrant a remake, since there's a lot of intriguing material that would definitely benefit from some improvement.

Directed by John Carpenter

Starring: Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm, Dan O'Bannon

USA: Jack H. Harris Enterprises, 1974

Someone please sink this battleship...

Battleship: Rating **/*****, or 3/10

It seems the alien invasion subgenre of science fiction is in full decline as far as quality is concerned, though when it comes to quantity, it's rarely done better. The last few years numerous alien invasion films have invaded our movie theatres trying to rule the box-office, but most of them failed due to humanity's natural resilience against bad movies. Last year's examples include Skyline, Cowboys & Aliens, The Darkest Hour and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but on the 'badness' scale none of these were a match for the stupendously dismal World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles, which chronicled the fight of a rag-tag group of marines against a vastly superior extraterrestrial intelligence. It was a complete defiance of logic and a total waste of everybody's time and money, particularly for the audience – okay, so I can get in for free, but I'd still like those two hours back...– Now Battleship comes sailing into the cinemas to pull off the same trick (i.e., bore the audience some more at the expense of their no doubt hard earned cash that had better be spend on something more worthwhile), except it takes the fight to the seas instead of rehashing the land based routine. And in the process it manages to defile the name of a classic board game, on which it claims to have been based, though the connection is hardly ever present, other than in the simple presence of a battleship.

Apparently using the concept of one fleet of ships being pitched against another and taking each other out was either not politically correct in the current climate, or the studio executives considered it too boring. So the line of thought seems to have been that if there's no human adversaries to combat, the threat must come from outer space. Battleship opens with an expositional scene explaining the existence of large radio telescopes on Hawaii which are used to send signals to a distant solar system that might contain an Earth like planet. Lo and behold, the signals are received and the resident aliens return our call of hospitality by sending in an invasion force which crashes into the Pacific – except for one starship which hits downtown Hong Kong instead, resulting in the typical levels of destruction à la Armageddon, spectacular but devoid of emotion – around the same time a huge international naval exercise is underway in that area, featuring participants from many countries, and of course led by the good ol' United States ready to gallantly defend our freedom from foreign agressors seeking to take it from us (think Independence Day, except with less impressive results on all fronts).

Naturally, a face must be put on the heroic side to make the resulting drama (what little of it there is amidst all the action anyway) feel compelling, and that face belongs to Taylor Kitsch, in the role of Lieutenant Alex Hopper. Kitsch recently managed to save Mars from internal political turmoil by uniting warring factions against a common enemy in the epic space opera John Carter, so this next task should prove easy enough for him. Alex is kind of a rebel, a loudmouth screw-up with problems adhering to authority, who is about to get kicked out of the navy, much to the chagrin of his more responsible and successful older brother Stone Hopper (portrayed by everybody's favorite True Blood vampire actor Alexander Skarsgard, no fangs) who hoped the navy would provide some much needed stability for his loose gun kid sibling. To complicate matters, Alex is madly in love with the daughter of Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson in a typically commanding performance, something we're used to in his case), so the admiral holds him in great contempt and is all too eager to dismiss him from the service. Fortunately for Alex, aliens conveniently come and provide an opportunity to prove his worth and set things right, saving his love life and his career.

Warning! Here be spoilers! During the navy war games, strange objects are spotted in the ocean, at which point the admiral dispatches three vessels to investigate, including Alex's. Upon closer inspection, the objects turn out to be (very digital) alien spaceships which immediately deploy a huge force field, which envelops the Hawaii islands, and cuts the fleet off from the three destroyers locked within, after which a cat and mouse game ensues between the human and alien warships involving a lot of gunfire and explosions. Why the aliens can't simply protect themselves with separate force fields instead of proving to be all too easy to destroy with simple cannon fire is just one of the many questions the conflict raises over the next hour and a half. Within ten minutes two out of three navy ships have been destroyed and all officers including bloodsucker Eric Northman have been killed off, so Alex gets his chance to shine and kick some alien ass, accompanied by his distrusting crew who give him the benefit of the doubt only to find he can do the job after all. Among the ranks we find the recording artist Rihanna, offering some female empowerment in her first film role. Don't worry, she doesn't sing, and neither does she do much acting.

The aliens' interest in the Hawaii islands, other than their stunning natural beauty and fantastically sensual beaches of course, is focused on the presence of the aforementioned telescopes, which the aliens mean to commandeer so they can call in reinforcements from their home planet, since their space craft downed in China apparently was the only ship capable of communicating with home base (yeah, that makes perfect sense, if you take your audience to consist solely of morons). The action of Battleship therefore is not limited to the ocean, but also witnesses a struggle on land between the aliens and a small group of valiant braves consisting of Alex's girlfriend, a local telescope scientist and a crippled marine with prosthetic legs, attempting to foil the evil schemes of the invaders. Of course the girlfriend is total eye candy, the scientist is a stereotypical hairy nerd who turns to cowardice (after all, science created this mess which the navy must now clean up) and the ex-marine feels like an uncomfortable attempt to give credit to the many battle scarred troops in the armed forces who might not be compatible with the hard business of soldiery anymore but can still prove to be useful human beings when it comes down to it. A noble sentiment, but not the best time to express it if you want the audience to take things seriously.

The movie proceeds to press the latter point too much when the plot calls for a new ship to save the day after the three destroyers have met the fate their class name suggests they should have done to the enemy. Only one true battleship remains, the near legendary USS Missouri, and though it's a museum piece she's still ready for action, as is the sturdy crew of very old veterans who preserved her and get called upon for active duty once more. And so the movie reaches its lowest point when we see these seniors walk down the decks in excessive slow motion as truly heroic characters, reporting for duty in order to save the day. Any sense of seriousness this movie might have offered before this point now gets completely undone in a single moment of utter camp, while it remains unclear whether this is what director Peter Berg (also responsible for the not so funny superhero spoof Hancock) intended.

And so the final battle for the fate of the planet begins, when the Missouri squares of against the vile extra-terrestrials all by itself guns fully blazing. It proves to be as tiresome and overly loud a confrontation as the rest of them, and all too soon forgotten when the lights in the theatre go on. In fact, though the action might deliver some minor entertainment during the course of the movie, none of it proves memorable, also due to the obvious levels of computer generated imagery that never makes the invaders, be it the aliens themselves or their vessels, feel convincingly real. What's worse, in the heat of battle even the battleships feel overly pixelized at times. The design of the extra-terrestrial aggressors is also lacking originality, except for the silly beard like appendages on their face which makes the threat and thus the film itself that much harder to take seriously (if the platoon of old folks hadn't ruined it completely yet). And when you take into consideration that their motives for attacking humanity are never explained and clearly badly executed, it's obvious Battleship is yet another pointless addition to the plethora of lame alien invasion films that have plagued moviegoers for the last few years. Being based on a much beloved board game does not excuse studio executives to regurgitate their recent failures.

The original Battleship board game was a game of wits and skill, but the resulting movie employs neither and appears to be nothing but a haphazard attempt to out-Bay Michael Bay by applying his noisy and irritating style of action to yet another Hasbro owned toy franchise (as if the Transformers trilogy wasn't headache inducing enough), undoubtedly also intended to sell more Hasbro products. The latter might not be a bad suggestion, since saving the money for two tickets for this film can buy you the board game instead, which is guaranteed to make for more fun for two than watching the Battleship movie could ever hope to achieve.

Oh well, at least we still have The Avengers to remind us alien invasion films can still be done right occasionally...

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/battleship/

Darjeeling Limited, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

So far, Wes Anderson's worst film. However, a more apt description would be this is his least good film, since it's by no means a bad movie, once again utilizing his signature colourful style to great visual effect. It's the overly sentimental plot that gets stuck in family drama (another Wes Anderson staple) a little too often that's the main problem. Three brothers (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody), all very different from one another, trek across India by train in hopes of a bonding experience after having drifted apart due to the death of their father. They also set out in search of their mother (Anjelica Huston) who resides in those parts. Each has their personal demons to overcome in the process, be they drug related, depression, or a troubled relationship with a woman. While exploring the beauty of India via the railroad, each deals with his problems in his own way, which leads to various hilarious moments in the first half of the film, among other things involving a beautiful female train attendant, her overprotective lover and a venomous snake. Anderson's usually offbeat and oddball comedy sadly is traded in for overly melodramatic family squabbling and reconciliation in the picture's second half. Overall, this movie is a mixed bag, but far from a failure and otherwise as 'Wesandersonesque' as they come. Featuring bit parts of Natalie Portman and Wes Anderson's personal muse Bill Murray.

As a compendium piece to flesh out the Jason Schwartzman character, Anderson directed the short film Hotel Chevalier, which was shown as a short feature in front of The Darjeeling Limited in many theaters. It worked as a footnote released together with the main film, but by itself it seemed like an excuse to have Natalie Portman take off her clothes, which is also not a bad thing per se.

Starring: Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody

Directed by Wes Anderson

USA: Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2007

Dark Knight, The

Rating: *****/*****, or 10/10

Superb sequel to the excellent Batman Begins (2005). The already dark and sombre atmosphere of its predecessor is carried on in this film as the vigilante Batman (Christian Bale) is confronted with his ultimate nemesis, the insane criminal mastermind named simply the Joker (Heath Ledger (1979-2008) in his penultimate screen role, undoubtedly the most memorable character he has played in his sadly all too brief career). Continuing to step up his game in his master plan to bring chaos to Gotham City, the Joker unleashes a reign of terror on the town: in response, Batman is forced to use ever more desperate tactics to ensure the city's survival and order, aided by the relentless district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who is waging his own war against organized crime. However, even the pair of them can't stop the Joker from killing one person too many, the woman they both love (Maggie Gyllenhaal), with dire consequences to both Dent – turning him into the villain Two-Face – and Batman himself, who must take the fall for Dent's undoing so Gotham's laws he established stay in effect. Ledger's eerie and psychotic but in a twisted manner surprisingly amusing bad guy is a perfect counterpart to Bale's overly gritty and brooding Caped Crusader: after all, 'why so serious?', since this is still a comic book adaptation. However, of all the comic book adaptations done so far, this one deserves to be taken the most serious considering the gripping story, the compelling performances by the lead actors (Ledger was posthumously awarded with an Oscar) as well as grand established actors in supporting roles (among them, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman) and some edge-of-your-seat action scenes, including a night time freeway chase involving a truck and Batman's fan favorite vehicle gadgets, the Tumbler and the Batpod. Partially shot in IMAX, Nolan's preferred cinema format: on the home video releases, this leads to changing aspect ratios that tell you what was and what wasn't produced using IMAX cameras. Nolan would conclude his epic threesome of Batman films – dubbed the Dark Knight trilogy due to the overwhelming success of this film – with The Dark Knight Rises (2012), a formidable flick in itself, but no match for this movie, which in the mind of many (including myself) remains the finest superhero film of them all.

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

Directed by Christopher Nolan

USA: Warner Bros., 2008

Daredevil

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

One of the poorest of Marvel Comics adaptations, though still an entertaining action flick. As a kid, Matt Murdock comes into contact with toxic waste that blinds him for life but heightens all his other senses, including his need for justice. When his father is murdered by the mob, he makes it his life's cause to fight crime, by day as a lawyer, by night as the vigilante Daredevil who prowls the streets of New York in a red leather suit and beats up bad guys. This gets him on the radar of mob boss Kingpin (the huge Michael Clarke Duncan (R.I.P. 2012) is perfectly suited for the part, except the tone of his skin is not in sync with the original comic book character, but with such a neat actor, who cares?) and his crazed assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell) who is ordered to give the Devil his due. Poor Matt also has to deal with the beautiful but deadly Elektra Natchios, a girl he has fallen in love with but who believes his alter ego to be her father's killer. Plenty of interesting characters and an abundance of solid action scenes cannot fully make up for the pale shadow this movie grew to be compared to Marvel franchises like Spider-Man or X-Men at that time. Most of the blame can be assigned to Ben Affleck, who just does a terrible job at making his character a compellingly blind guy tortured by remorse and anger over his father's demise and driven by a relentless need to avenge crime. Similarly, the romance with Elektra feels contrived and is never exposed as much as it needs to be to come over as believable or something the audience needs to care about, despite the dire consequences in store for this supposed passion. At least Kingpin feels like a true menace, while Bullseye is just a delightful amoral and wicked person Farrell plays with apparent appropriate enthusiasm. The Director's Cut, running a good half hour longer than its theatrical counterpart, is the preferred version to watch, adding more depth to the characters and a few more subplots to flesh out the whole, but it cannot compensate for Affleck's feeble performance. Marvel movies hit their lowest ebb with Daredevil's spin-off flick Elektra (2005), which was released as a direct-to-DVD feature in many territories and destroyed the femme fatale character even more eagerly. Director Johnson was responsible for a second disappointing Marvel adaptation with Ghost Rider in 2007.

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 2003

Cult of the Cobra

Rating: ***/*****, or 5/10

Fairly entertaining but unremarkable horror film of the Fifties. A group of American G.I.s on leave somewhere in the “mystic East” secretly watches a religious ritual forbidden to outsiders. Though noticed, they manage to escape and arrive safely back in the States. Soon though, they're hunted down and murdered by a mysterious beauty (Faith Domergue, a cult favorite of Sci-Fi aficionados, having worked on This Island Earth (1955) and It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), among others) one by one. Unfortunately for the remaining survivors who are about to share their friends' fate, the woman has the ability to take a serpentine shape and thus evade getting caught by the authorities. Can any of them survive before the wrath of the shady Cobra Cult reaches its lethal conclusion? Can they hope to reason with their slippery assassin? Though high on atmosphere, the movie never manages to fully draw in the spectator due to its silly portrayal of eastern religion, the predictable succession of murders and the unconvincing special effects involving the snake transformations. And someone please explain to me why this horror/fantasy movie is featured in the Universal Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection set of films?

Starring: Faith Domergue, Richard Long, Marshall Thompson

Directed by Francis D. Lyon

USA: Universal Pictures, 1955

Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Lyrical and poetic attempt at an epic chronicle of a man aging backwards by David Fincher (Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1999)), who is obviously less at home in the fantasy genre than he is doing thrillers. Nevertheless, the film looks fabulous and stars an array of wonderful actors, chief among them Brad Pitt as the protagonist Benjamin Button who is suffering from this strangest of afflictions and the stunning Cate Blanchett as Daisy, the woman he keeps on loving all his life despite the obstacles time throws at their passion that keep them from forming a natural relationship. Born as a wrinkled and frail baby suffering from all the symptoms of old age, Benjamin is discarded by his disgusted father and left at a home for the elderly where he is raised by caretaker Queenie (Taraji P. Henson, who was Oscar nominated for her contribution). Growing up amongst the old folks, Benjamin isn't suspected to last long but surprises everybody by getting younger and younger, eventually leaving home to explore the world, which results in a voyage through the 20^th century similar to Forrest Gump (except not going for comedy, undoubtedly for the best), having the naive and ever positive Benjamin participate in WW II and witness the space race of the Sixties among other situations. Traveling the globe, he never loses contact with the love of his life and finally settles with Daisy when both reach middle age (the only moment of temporal equality for them both), after which they produce a child, only for Benjamin to realize his grotesque condition means he could never be a true father figure for his new born daughter. A sense of lust for life and adventure goes hand in hand with an unshakeable feeling of tragedy and melancholy when The Curious Case of Benjamin Button steers towards a dramatic ending that doesn't entirely successfully balance a bittersweet note with blatant sentimentality. The film is also an homage to the city of New Orleans which witnesses the beginning and end of Benjamin and his caring for Daisy: however, Fincher's decision to have the story be told by an aging Daisy on her death bed in a New Orleans hospital threatened by hurricane Katrina keeps on hindering the plot at various turns and adds an uneasy link with recent history the movie had better done without, also to keep the running time in check instead of letting it run rampant to 166 minutes, with many of the last act's moments losing pace and dragging on needlessly, thus making a potential masterpiece end up as just a curious case itself.

Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond

Directed by David Fincher

USA: The Kennedy/Marshall Company, 2008

Creature Walks Among Us, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 5/10

Second sequel to the original Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), set closely after the events of its predecessor Revenge of the Creature (1955). Previous director Jack Arnold, so talented in making Fifties' science fiction films work effectively instead of making them cheesy, has left the director's chair and delivered it to John Sherwood, who unfortunately lacks his finesse and understanding of the genre (his only other noteworthy directorial credit is the fun but campy The Monolith Monsters (1957)). After busting out of its marine park prison, the creature is tracked down in the Everglades and again captured, but horribly burned in the process. Surgery saves his life but also necessitates the removal of his lungs for his survival, so scientists turn him into an air breather with an overall more human appearance, but still undeniably not human. Used as a scapegoat in a melodramatic love triangle and the resulting murder plot between his new owner, his wife and her lover, the creature again breaks free and goes on a rampage, after which he is again subjected to man's violent nature. It's clear who is the monster this time. Though opening on an eerie note with the Florida swamp scene, the movie quickly loses steam and takes the franchise in a dull new direction, largely removing everything that made the monster so intriguing in the previous films. Though the movie contains some moderately thrilling action scenes and excellent alternative creature make-up, it's definitely the worst of the trilogy, and the only one not released in 3-D.

Starring: Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, Leigh Snowden

Directed by John Sherwood

USA: Universal Pictures, 1956

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Classic monster movie from the 'House of Horror', Universal Pictures: the last monster to be added to the staple of 'Universal's original monsters', as well as the only monster from the Fifties in the bunch, since the rest of them were all released in the early Thirties and Forties. As a dessert to the creature cake, it turns out a damn tasty course, even though in many respects it's a poor man's King Kong. It's also an interesting transitional movie between Universal's classic studio monster movies of old and the typical creature feature science fiction films of the Fifties, courtesy of Jack Arnold, one of the most prolific directors of the genre in this decade (his other works include It Came from Outer Space (1953), Tarantula (1955) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)). A band of scientists stumbles on the remains of an 'amphibian missing link', a Gill Man (never mind actual science here). However, the animal was not the only one of its kind, since a live specimen starts stalking the group, in particular the beautiful girl (Julie Adams) among them, resulting in an (in)famous underwater swimming duet between the pair. Sadly, the romance is one-sided as the creature finds out when he tries to get a little closer to the object of his fascination but is instead met with fear, violence and eventually greed as the explorers mean to capture the beast and take it back to civilization. However, the monster has some thoughts of his own on that subject and doesn't surrender so easily, with deadly consequences. Beautiful – and for that time, spectacular – underwater photography, a solid cast (including fan favorite Richard Denning, who starred in a number of Fifties' Sci-Fi flicks, not all of them as good as this one) and an excellent balance between drama, action and romance. One of the first movies to be released in 3-D during the short lived 3-D craze in the Fifties with which Hollywood studios hoped to lure audiences away from the new medium of television (unsuccessfully it must be said).

Starring: Richard Carlson, Richard Denning, Julie Adams

Directed by Jack Arnold

USA: Universal Pictures, 1954

Dark shadows loom over Tim Burton

Dark Shadows: Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Sometimes a good notion backfires, despite the right ingredients being present. In the case of Dark Shadows, Tim Burton's latest, the main problem is these ingredients have become stale and somewhat hard to swallow. Burton presents us with yet another one of his specialty dishes, a typically off-beat Gothic horror comedy, but it tastes old and mushy because it offers little surprises. Burton's dark and brooding yet also satirical and good spirited style has finally come to the point where it feels it has reached its expiration date, after already disappointing us two years ago with Alice in Wonderland. The situation is all the more grave considering the letdown revolves around a project Burton claims to have great affinity for, namely his re-imagining of the classic cult TV show Dark Shadows, which ran for well over a whopping 1,200 episodes from 1966 till 1971. The strange supernatural occurrences of the Collins family, involving vampires, werewolves, witches and the likes, sounds exactly like Burton's cup of tea, and therein lies part of the problem, since Burton apparently has become predictable, allowing his style to dictate his projects for him.

Dark Shadows sees the eighth collaboration between Burton and his personal muse Johnny Depp (for those of you who must know, the previous joint ventures, in chronological order of succession, were Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and the above mentioned Alice in Wonderland (2010)), which also comes as no surprise, since the film has a wonderfully bizarre character uncomfortable with his life and the people around him for a protagonist, and Depp has shown to excel at playing such characters, usually to the delight of the audience. The role of vampire Barnabas Collins, who has spend nearly 200 years buried in a coffin and finally awakens in 1972, setting off in an attempt to restore his family's position, as such seems tailor made for Depp. After Barnabas and his family have been cursed by a witch who strongly loved the decent man he used to be, the bloodsucker finds himself locked away into the grave for two centuries, only to be accidentally awakened by a construction crew. Barnabas returns to his former home, the grand Collinwood Manor from which his father used to run a fishing empire along the Maine coast, only to find it in a state of decay with his family decimated to a number of only four, the family fortune seemingly lost. He takes it upon himself to protect his remaining relatives from the forces that have plagued them for centuries, and vows to return the family business to its former glory. Alas, Angelique, the witch that turned Barnabas vampire so long ago (played by a deliciously vile Eva Green, who energetically throws herself into the role and obviously likes the bitchy character a lot) has since expanded her ambitions from mere witchcraft to the realm of economics, having taken over the Collins' family business, making her a successful businesswoman and respected pillar of the community, so the witch and the vampire find themselves at odds once more as the latter tries to win back what was once his.

In this struggle, Barnabas is backed by the Collins matriarch Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer, a woman of stature who's not afraid to make sleazy deals to keep her family together), despised by her teen daughter Carolyn (Chloë Grace Moretz nails this grumpy character perfectly, and fortunately happens to be her exact age as a bonus), distrusted by Elizabeth's brother Roger (Johnny Lee Miller playing the family scumbag successfully) and revered by Roger's son David (the young newcomer Gulliver McGrath), a boy who sees his dead mother's ghost. Thrown into this mix are the groundskeeper Willie (Jackie Earle Haley, ever creepy), David's new private teacher Vicky (the beautiful Bella Heathcote playing the girl with the biggest secret of the bunch) and the family psychiatrist and regular drunk Dr. Hoffman, in which we recognize Burton's other muse, his fiancé Helena Bonham Carter, who co-starred in six of his films before this one, making us wonder just who Burton actually loves more, Depp or the woman he means to marry. At least Barnabas does not stand alone, but every member of his entourage has demons all their own, some merely psychological, others all too real, adding to his existing troubles. Plus he also has to deal with the strange new world of the 1970s, its technological advancements (like cars and televsion sets) and cultural changes (including women's lib and youth subcultures) alike, which turns out to be encompassing the film's most memorable and hilarious moments, but unfortunately these get underexposed in favour of the rather bland family story line and the battle against the wicked witch.

Depp once again does his usual thing, portraying Barnabas as a soul out of time who must come to terms with a much changed world and unite his family against the evil witch that has sought to destroy them, but it's less than a stellar piece of acting simply because it all feels so familiar, as if we've seen this performance often before, with only slight variations every time. Fortunately Depp is not the only character in this film, though of course he is supposed to be the biggest draw for the general audience. Dark Shadows is seemingly blessed with a host of characters, each with his or her own issues and secrets. Warning! Here be spoilers! However, herein lies yet another problem, since the film's plot comes with so many characters most of them do not get a good chance to shine and remain poorly underdeveloped, despite personal afflictions that haunt them and have impact on the whole family struggle for survival. For one thing, Carolyn turns out to be a werewolf, but this is revealed only in the climactic end battle with Angelique, at which point it's too late in the film to be of narrative use other than to provide some more creature action and plot confusion. Similarly, Vicky is supposedly the reincarnation of Barnabas' dead wife Josette, but the exact how-and-why to this remains severely underexplained, though it does force a romantic subplot on the movie's overall story, and even a love triangle of sorts, since Barnabas still feels enough for his tormenter Angelique to give into her seductions, resulting into a wild night of carnal pleasure. Similarly, David talks to his dead mother, Roger plans to run off with the family treasure Barnabas has exposed and Dr. Hoffman infuses herself with Barnabas' blood in a scheme to live forever. Each character comes with story baggage, much of which just won't fit in the luggage compartment of the train that is Dark Shadows as it moves onward to its destination, and many things get left behind along the way.

This is all the more disappointing considering the actors do a good job portraying their characters and we would have liked to have seen them be put to more satisfying use: it would not have been a bad idea if Burton and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith – who wrote the novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the movie adapatation of which will reach theatres in August of this year, so 2012 isn't done with vampire movies just yet – would have scrapped a few of these subplots and twists in favour of the overall feel of a coherent story line. The subplots may have been moments of tease designed to be fleshed out in a potential Dark Shadows sequel, but on their own they don't work to the advantage of this movie on own. Also, the many characters and their separate plot lines make it seem we've watched a compilation of the first 200 episodes of the original television show.

Despite the many downsides to the film, most of which result in a messy overall plot, there's also things to enjoy in Dark Shadows. The film knows many a comical note, mainly in the moments Barnabas is faced with the vast differences between his own era and the swinging Seventies. So he's confronted by a huge McDonald's logo at the site of his resurrection, he mistakes his own grand-grand-etc. niece for a 'lady of the evening' due to her loose way of dressing, and he sits down for a philosophical debate about love with a group of hippies, which he brutally kills afterwards in his physical need for human blood (he's a vampire after all). Also of great joy are the soapy love/hate moments between him and Angelique, culminating in a passionate night of love making that does not stay confined to the bed but takes place all over the room, including the walls and the ceiling, after which Barnabas remarks this was 'a regrettable turn of events' as they sit in a totally wrecked room at the end of their sexual outburst. It's moments like these that provide for the most entertaining part of the film, and certainly the most memorable, considering the rest of the film proves all too forgetful afterwards. Unfortunately, they only make the film half decent, instead of actually good, a level the movie sadly does not reach, also in part to the unsatisfactory way the film seems to deliver its message that family should stick together no matter how odd some of its members are. If that's so, how come Roger ran off with the money, the house got burned down and the locals think the Collins family is just a bunch of sinister freaks? Sure, the evil has been vanquished, but it's a far cry from a happy end to conclude this motion picture with.

After seven projects working with the same director, usually in the same genre and the same visual style, the fact is the combination Burton/Depp has really gotten worn out and stale, indicating both men should probably take a long break from each other and meet some new people to escape the dreary routine they've succumbed to. Though Burton has used a grotesque style all his own that made him Hollywood's leading auteur, by now it has proven to be a huge 'been there, done that', resulting in disappointing films that only see a continuation of his style instead of some form of improvement upon it. Turning to a new genre altogether could be a solution to the routine Burton seems stuck in. Obviously, the director himself feels differently, since he's not done with family oriented Gothic horror this year: come October his latest stop motion piece Frankenweenie will be released. It may use a different format, but seems overall typically Burtonesque. At least it doesn't star Johnny Depp, maybe that will prove to be enough of a change this time...

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/darkshadows/

It Came From Cold War America, Chapter 5: Alien invasion movies

Been busy a lot the last few days (partially thanks to Game of Thrones, which is somewhat addictive) , and I didn't get to see any movies to critique. There's also little interesting movie news worthy of commenting on, plus I'm still working on the archives. Therefore, I thought I might as well take the time to post another chapter of my paper It Came From Cold War America, for it's been a while since I last posted a piece of this work, and I do like to finish what I started. It's still in Dutch. Sorry. But hey, there's neat pictures of old movie monsters to make up for it!

Chapter 5: Alien invasion movies

Paragraaf 5.1: Definitie subgenre

Het alien invasion subgenre lijkt eenvoudig te definiëren. In een eerste genredefinitie draait het om een buitenaardse macht die naar de Aarde komt om haar te veroveren en haar inwoners te onderwerpen dan wel te vernietigen. In veel gevallen is dit correct, maar er zijn uitzonderingen die wel degelijk onder dit subgenre geschaard moeten worden. Niet alle aliens hebben boze bedoelingen. Integendeel, er zijn er bij die het beste met ons voor hebben, en ons willen waarschuwen voor onszelf en onze vernietigingsdrang. Naar deze aliens wordt zelden geluisterd: de mensen – of beter gezegd Amerika, aangezien de aliens altijd hier belanden – reageren met dezelfde argwaan en haat waarmee zij elkaar (andersdenkenden, non-conformisten) bezien, waarop de consequenties hun eigen schuld zijn. Wat dat betreft is dit subgenre reflexief: het stelt zowel vragen over de manier waarop met outsiders wordt omgegaan als over ons eigen gedrag. Deze uitzonderlijke films zijn left-wing (zie hoofdstuk 3), en proberen het publiek te overtuigen dat de paranoia in deze periode niet terecht was, in tegenstelling tot de meer conventionele right-wing films van dit subgenre, waarin de mensheid de totale vernietiging door de hand van de indringers boven het hoofd hangt¹.

Een treffend voorbeeld van left-wing sciencefiction is The Day the Earth Stood Still -sounds familiar, eh? -  waarin een alien de mens komt waarschuwen voor zijn paranoia en strijd met andere naties, die een bedreiging vormen voor de intergalactische vrede: vervolgens wordt hij neergeschoten, opgejaagd en gedood, aangezien men zo bang is voor de mogelijkheid dat deze ene alien negatieve bedoelingen koestert dat men het risico liever niet neemt. Voor hij sterft stelt hij de mensheid een terecht ultimatum: leer in vrede te leven, of de Aarde wordt vernietigd teneinde de bedreiging die zij vormt voor andere planeten op te heffen (dus toch een soort van invasie). Een harde boodschap, maar geenszins onbegrijpelijk na de menselijke reacties die hij moest ondergaan.

Uitzonderingen daargelaten, de meeste aliens in de films uit dit subgenre hebben wel degelijk het slechtste met de mensheid voor. De Aarde moet hun planeet worden, en de mensen moeten verdwijnen of onderwerpen worden. In zo’n geval kan terecht van invasie gesproken worden. Niet alle aliens rukken echter uit met groot materieel. In sommige gevallen is het zelfs de vraag of er wel sprake is van een invasie. Wat te denken van het monster in The Blob? Dit “wezen” komt naar de Aarde en groeit door mensen te verslinden. Het is geen denkend creatuur, en misschien niet eens een levensvorm: het groeit domweg ten koste van andere levensvormen.

Ongeacht zulke uitzonderingen reken ik elke film uit de periode 1950-1959 die gaat over aliens die naar de Aarde komen, met welke bedoelingen dan ook, onder het alien invasion genre. Mijn voornaamste blik is gericht op de wetenschap in het subgenre, niet op een precieze afbakening van het subgenre, als dit zelfs al mogelijk is. In ieder geval hoop ik wel duidelijk gemaakt te hebben dat de term 'invasion’ niet te letterlijk genomen moet worden, maar dat het enige flexibiliteit vereist.

Dit subgenre is een product van de vijftiger jaren - in de filmindustrie althans, in sciencefictionliteratuur bestond het al langer² - en had zodoende weinig tijd om haar specifieke genreconventies te construeren. Door een effectieve herhaling van semantische kenmerken als ruimteschepen (voornamelijk schijfvormig), aliens en een hoog aantal special effects maakte het zich echter herkenbaar als apart subgenre³. Bovendien werd het een boegbeeld van het sciencefictiongenre als geheel. Desondanks heeft dit subgenre een sterke band met het horrorgenre. Het verschil met dit genre zit hem in de schaal: dikwijls vallen de aliens de mensheid aan en zaaien zij dood en verderf op een schaal die ongeëvenaard is in horrorfilms (althans in deze periode)⁴. Voorts, waar de monsters in horrorfilms geassocieerd worden met bovennatuurlijke kenmerken, worden de aliens doorgaans geassocieerd met hun technologie: hun kracht schuilt in hun wetenschappelijke peil, een niveau waar menselijke wetenschap schril bij afsteekt. Desondanks worden ze meestal koud en emotieloos neergezet, als typisch on-menselijk. Sobchack duidt dit als de reden dat ze meestal in kleine typische Amerikaanse dorpjes of andere identificeerbare settings landen, waar hun afwijking van de Amerikaanse norm het best tot uiting komt, en blijkt hoe sterk ze de huiselijke stabiliteit kunnen verwoesten⁵ (zoals in Invasion of the Body Snatchers sterk het geval is).

De meeste films in dit genre waarin de aliens de boosdoeners zijn volgen een strakke narratieve formule. De protagonist is een aantrekkelijke man, vaak een wetenschapper, die als eerste met de indringers geconfronteerd wordt. Hoewel hij aanvankelijk niet geloofd word door de gemeenschap, maakt dit ongeloof al snel plaats voor angst als de indringer zich laat gelden. Vervolgens moet de samenleving als eenheid terugslaan (communal solidarity)⁶, geleid door een verbond van wetenschappers en militairen, die uiteindelijk de indringers met succes weten terug te drijven of te vernietigen. Lucanio noemt deze formule de klassieke tekst⁷. Als voorbeelden voor deze formule kunnen Earth vs.the Flying Saucers, Invaders From Mars en The War of the Worlds genoemd worden. Uitzonderingen op deze formule zijn aan te treffen, maar in de minderheid. Dit komt voornamelijk door het feit dat deze formule in de eerste helft van de jaren vijftig een succes was waarvan de studiobazen verzekerd wilden blijven. Hierdoor werd de formule in korte tijd uitgemolken.

Paragraaf 5.2: Wetenschap in alien invasion movies

Wetenschap uit zich in het alien invasion genre op twee fronten. Het eerste is de menselijke wetenschap, het tweede de buitenaardse wetenschap. Beide vormen van wetenschap staan symbool voor opvattingen over wetenschap die in de jaren vijftig aanwezig waren. Ze zijn echter niet uitsluitend te typeren als ‘menselijke wetenschap is goed’ en ‘buitenaardse wetenschap is fout’. Het ligt gecompliceerder dan dat. Dikwijls speelt er een wisselwerking tussen beide vormen. Hier speelt weer de vraag welke intenties de aliens koesteren.

Als de aliens zuiver uit zijn op het veroveren van de Aarde, is de menselijke wetenschap doorgaans een positieve factor, die de mensen ondersteunt in hun strijd tegen de indringers. In films waar sprake is van een grootschalige invasie, gaat wetenschap een nauwe coalitie aan met het militaire apparaat, als teken van sociale eenheid. In deze symbiotische relatie is wetenschap de dominante factor: haar bedachtzame en nauwkeurige analyses van de indringers beslissen welke acties ondernomen dienen te worden. Hoewel de eerste reactie van de legerbonzen inhoudt alle denkbare wapens - het liefst atoombommen - tegen de indringers in te zetten, geven wetenschappelijke besluiten de doorslag. Pas als alle andere mogelijkheden gefaald hebben, geeft de wetenschap weifelend haar goedkeuring aan het gebruik van atoomwapens. Deze hebben echter nooit effect. Hierop is het aan de wetenschappers, doorgaans de protagonisten, om een laatste redmiddel te produceren: meestal slagen zij hierin, een zeldzame uitzondering als The War of the Worlds daargelaten (zie casestudy 1).

In films die invasies kleinschaliger aanpakken is het echter niet noodzakelijk dat de wetenschappers per definitie aan de kant van de mensheid staan. In het hele genre door spreken de wetenschappers hun bewondering voor de technologische capaciteiten van de aliens uit, welke ver boven die van de mensheid staan, ongeacht de verwoesting die zij aanrichten⁸. In enkele gevallen, vooral in de meer right-wing films van het genre, mondt die bewondering uit in ondermijnend gedrag, waarbij wetenschappers de alien een hand boven het hoofd houden om hem te bestuderen en kennis op te doen. Dit resulteert in verlies van levens en een vergroting van het gevaar dat de aliens voor de samenleving vormen. Hier is opnieuw The Thing from Another World een treffend voorbeeld, maar ook in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers en zelfs de left-wing The Day the Earth Stood Still bewonderen wetenschappers de aliens, hoewel het bij de laatste niet tot rampspoed leidt.

De indringers zijn meestal afhankelijk van hun technologie en gaan er een symbiose mee aan. Hierdoor worden zij koud en gevoelloos, net als de technologie zelf. Noonan beschrijft ze als ‘superior to the people of Earth in mental abilities and scientific know-how, but deficient in the essential humanity that defines the human race’⁹. Deze aliens hebben geen ethiek en kennen geen schroom over de verschrikkingen die zij veroorzaken met hun technische vaardigheden. Hierin verschillen zij van de mensen die hun technologie wel degelijk met moreel besef gebruiken, en in het geval van atoombommen zelfs met wroeging. Zo worden ze duidelijk tegenover de mensen geplaatst, als inhumane wezens die geen moraliteit hebben en ons komen vernietigen, waardoor het publiek zich meer identificeert met de mensen en hoopt dat de indringers verliezen (wat meestal ook gebeurt).

Tegenover de vernietigende indringers staan echter de welwillende wezens die het beste met de mensheid voor hebben. In deze left-wing films staat wetenschap vaak lijnrecht tegenover het leger, in tegenstelling tot de bovenstaande variatie op het genre. Het leger wordt hier meestal neergezet als een autoritair samenraapsel van ijzervreters die voor alle zekerheid de aliens eerder willen doden dan naar ze te luisteren. Hier tegenover staan de wetenschappers die wel oor hebben voor hun boodschap, hetzij omdat de belofte van vrede ze aanspreekt, hetzij omdat ze onder de indruk zijn van de technologie van de aliens. Wetenschap en de intellectuele elite worden hier beschouwd als het verstand van de mensheid, een bron van rationaliteit, die de boodschap van een glorieuze vreedzame toekomst omarmt¹⁰. Het sterkste voorbeeld is The Day the Earth Stood Still, maar ook in Red Planet Mars en It Came From Outer Space speelt dit thema, alsmede in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (waar de boodschap juist als iets negatiefs wordt gezien).

De acties van het intolerante leger dwingen de welwillende aliens vaak hun boodschap met een demonstratie van hun kunnen kracht bij te zetten. Deze aliens verachten geweld, maar schuwen het niet in noodgevallen, en hebben wel degelijk de technologische kennis om op grote schaal vernietiging aan te kunnen richten. Verder dan dreigementen komen ze niet, omdat de wetenschappers en hun mores hen doen inzien dat de mensheid wel degelijk potentieel heeft, en dus een tweede kans verdient. Hierop verlaten ze de Aarde om de mensheid tijd te geven na te denken over hun boodschap. In zoverre is wetenschap ook in deze variant van het subgenre de redder van de mensheid.

Casestudy 1: The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds is haast prototypisch te noemen wat betreft narratie, en voldoet aan de meeste factoren die Lucanio stelt in de klassieke tekst. Bovendien vervult het alles wat men bij de term alien invasion film verwacht. Globaal gezegd draait het om een invasie op Aarde door Marsbewoners die de planeet voor zichzelf willen hebben en daarvoor de mensheid trachten uit te roeien. De mensheid probeert daarop terug te slaan, waarbij wetenschap en het leger de handen ineen slaan. Onder leiding van een scientist hero wordt de vijand bestudeerd en bestreden. Opmerkelijk is dat dit in deze film tevergeefs is, aangezien geen enkele menselijke uitvinding de indringers kan weerstaan, in tegenstelling tot in de meeste andere alien invasion films waar dit wel lukt (Invaders from Mars, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, etc.). Slechts door blootstelling aan Aardse bacteriën, in deze film beschreven als ‘the littlest things which God in His wisdom had put upon this Earth’¹¹, gaan de aliens ten onder. In dit geval wordt de mensheid gered door goddelijk/natuurlijk ingrijpen, en niet door wetenschap.

Wetenschap komt er in deze film niet al te best vanaf. Het voldoet niet aan de verwachtingen die men er van heeft, aangezien het tot niets leidt in het gevecht met de aliens. De mensheid vertrouwt op de wetenschap om wapens te maken waarmee de indringers doeltreffend bestreden kunnen worden, maar geen enkel wapen blijkt enig effect te hebben. Zo faalt het bondgenootschap tussen leger en wetenschap in hun taak de mensheid te beschermen en de aliens terug te drijven. Wetenschap is voornamelijk goed voor verwoesting: alle mogelijke wapens worden ingezet tegen de Martianen, maar niets helpt. Zelfs de atoombommen berokkenen meer schade aan de mensen zelf dan aan de vijand. Ondertussen gaat de wereld kapot aan het gebruik van wapens: steden liggen in puin, en de mensen vluchten door kale, geschroeide landschappen. In de opening van de film wordt deze gedachte ondersteund: we zien een reeks beelden gemonteerd als een evolutie van wapens, steeds krachtiger (beginnend bij simpele tanks en mitrailleurs, uiteindelijk culminerend in een atoomexplosie), waarover de stem van de narrator klinkt:

‘In the First World War, and for the first time in the history of man, nations combined to fight against nations using the crude weapons of those days. The Second World War involved every continent on the globe, and men turned to science for new devices of warfare, which reached an unparalleled peak in their capacity for destruction. And now, fought with the terrible weapons of super-science, menacing all mankind and every creature on the Earth, comes the War of the Worlds!’¹² [my italics]

Ook de wetenschap van de aliens wordt gebruikt voor verwoesting. Na duizenden jaren technologische vooruitgang heeft de Martiaanse wetenschap een hoogontwikkeld arsenaal aan wapens geschapen, uitermate geschikt voor grootschalige verwoesting. De aliens zijn typische buitenaardse booswichten van de vijftiger jaren: ze zijn koud, emotieloos en meedogenloos. Ze laten zichzelf nauwelijks zien, maar hun aanwezigheid gaat niet onopgemerkt als ze in oorlogsmachines rondvliegen, en daarbij alle mensen die ze tegenkomen uitroeien. Hun oorlogsmachines hebben wel wat weg van de typische UFO’s die in de jaren vijftig in groten getale werden ‘waargenomen’. Ze zijn niet honderd procent schotelvormig, maar bestaan hoofdzakelijk uit ronde vormen, zijn egaal zilvermetalig met weinig detail, ze maken laag zoemende geluiden en hebben groene belichting (wat connotaties oproept met de stereotype ‘little green men’; de beste Nederlandse vertaling, ‘marsmannetjes’ verliest deze connotatie helaas): hierdoor hebben ze een onaardse, dreigende uitstraling. Het ontwerp van deze machines haakt in op de negatieve connotaties die doorgaans met vliegende schotels werden gemaakt in de jaren vijftig, die werden gezien als mogelijke voorbodes van een buitenaardse invasiemacht.

Hoewel de indringers mentaal gezien hoogontwikkeld zijn, zijn ze lichamelijk gezien juist onderontwikkeld: ze zijn klein van gestalte met onderontwikkelde ledematen - uitgestrekte, dunne, ongezond ogende armen, hun benen krijgen we niet te zien - maar met een enorm hoofd, alsof de druk van hun grote hersenen hun lichaamsbouw ineen heeft doen schrompelen. Zeker is dat ze niet helemaal uit organisch materiaal bestaan: hun hoofd bezit een uit drie gekleurde vlekken opgebouwd mechanisch ‘oog’, waarmee ze in een ander spectrum zien dan mensen. Het lijkt alsof de aliens deze technologie in hun lichaam hebben ingebouwd. Gezien het negatieve imago van wetenschap in deze film is het niet ondenkbaar dat dergelijke technologische ingrepen hen koud en emotieloos hebben gemaakt; door de opbouw van hun ogen hebben ze ook geen gelaatsuitdrukking, waardoor het moeilijk is gevoel aan hen toe te kennen. Door het verwerken van technologie in hun lichaam is hun natuurlijke ontwikkeling, en daarmee hun emotioneel spectrum, verstoord en afgebroken.

Opmerkelijk is de haast symbiotische relatie die de indringers met hun technologie aangaan: zonder hun technologie zijn ze zwak en makkelijk te verslaan, maar in hun oorlogsmachines zijn ze onbereikbaar en onoverwinnelijk. Zoals zij techniek in zichzelf verwerkt hebben, zo neemt hun technologie lichamelijke eigenschappen van hen over: hun opsporingsapparaat heeft dezelfde drie-ogige prismatische uitstraling als hun eigen hoofd, en hun oorlogsmachines hebben een zelfde platte opbouw als hun eigen schedeldak. Hun machines worden bestuurd door een brandstof die door de scientist hero getypeerd wordt als bloed. Zowel hun technologie als zijzelf hebben biomechanische eigenschappen, wat uiteindelijk leidt tot hun ondergang, aangezien beide niet bestand zijn tegen bacteriën¹³. De representatie van wetenschap in deze film, negatief als deze is, toont ons de Martiaanse samenleving als een cultuur die in lichamelijk en moreel verval is geraakt door technologische ontwikkeling. Doordat de wezens te ver gingen in hun wetenschappelijke ontwikkeling zijn ze te afhankelijk geworden van techniek, en is hun weerstand tegen natuurlijke processen afgebroken. Uiteindelijk schiet ook hun vertrouwen in wetenschap tekort als ze ten onder gaan aan gewone microben. Hun verslaving aan technologie heeft hen de das omgedaan.

De Martianen zijn het ultieme voorbeeld van het kwaad waartoe wetenschappelijke ontwikkeling kan leiden: een immoreel ras dat genocide niet schuwt voor haar eigen doeleinden. Met hun wapens vormen ze een bedreiging voor de hele mensheid, met mogelijk een uitzondering… Hoewel vermeld wordt dat mensen over de hele wereld (de VS, Engeland, India, Zuid-Amerika) verslagen worden, wordt echter niets gezegd over het lot van de Sovjet-Unie. Dit wekt argwaan op. Men kan geneigd zijn parallellen te trekken tussen de Russen en de wezens van Mars¹⁴. Beiden worden geconnoteerd met de kleur rood, de Russen op ideologisch gebied (de symbolische waarde van de kleur rood in de communistische doctrine), de Martianen vanwege de kleur van hun thuis, de Rode Planeet, alsmede hun eigen lichaamskleur in deze film. Bovendien zijn de Martianen koel en emotieloos: eigenschappen die men in Amerika in anticommunistische propaganda ook de Russen verweet.

Hoewel ook de menselijke wetenschappers in deze film hun kennis benutten om wapens te bouwen, worden zij toch sympathieker geportretteerd. Zij gebruiken logica en rationaliteit om situaties te analyseren. De scientist hero, dr. Forrester (Gene Barry) komt op het eerste gezicht emotieloos en star over, typisch voor wetenschappelijke protagonisten van Lucanio’s klassieke tekst: hij lacht zelden, en gedraagt zich koel en berekenend. Wat dat betreft heeft hij wel wat weg van de indringers. Misschien impliceert de film dat we onze eigen wetenschappers maar goed in de gaten moesten houden voor we net zo ver gaan met technologische ontwikkeling als de Martianen… Desondanks beschikt Forrester toch over enige charme en liefde voor zijn vrouwelijke metgezel Silvia (Ann Robinson): hij beschermt haar van de bedreiging van de wezens en troost haar als ze bang is. In de film treffen we hem het eerst aan terwijl hij met zijn collegae aan het vissen is. Door een dergelijke activiteit kan het publiek zich toch met hem identificeren: hij is niet de vreugdeloze wetenschapper die hij op het eerste gezicht lijkt, hij is niet slechts bezig met onderzoek, maar weet de simpele geneugtes van het leven te waarderen. Ook voor een square dance is hij niet bang. Maar als de gelegenheid zich voordoet kruipt hij snel terug in zijn wetenschappelijke schulp, als koele, leergierige onderzoeker, met weinig vertoon van emotie.

De kans voor analytisch wetenschappelijk onderzoek doet zich voor als tijdens de square dance de stroom uitvalt, en bovenal alle technologie (waaronder horloges) stopt te werken. Forrester begint meteen de oorzaak rationeel te onderzoeken, en komt tot de conclusie dat er een sterk magnetisch veld in de buurt is. In een korte expositiescène legt hij de werking van magnetisme uit aan de omstanders, en tegelijk aan het publiek: zo leert de toeschouwer ook nog wat (deze educatieve vorm van expositie werd al genoemd in paragraaf 4.3).

Als blijkt dat de Martianen geland zijn, wordt het leger erbij gehaald. In deze film werkt de wetenschap nauw samen met het leger, waarbij wetenschap dominant is. Het leger onderneemt niets zonder eerst naar wetenschappelijk advies te luisteren. De wetenschappers, onder leiding van Forrester, volgen de voortgang van de bestrijding van de aliens, en geven de legerbonzen advies voor hun tegenaanvallen. Helaas blijkt niets te werken: zelfs de atoombom, het machtigste wapen dat menselijke wetenschap heeft voortgebracht, haalt niets uit. Vervolgens is het aan Forrester en zijn collegae de taak om via gedegen studie van de indringers een middel te vinden om ze te verslaan. Na een confrontatie met de Martianen komt Forrester op de proppen met bloedmonsters en een stuk technologie. Onmiddellijk beginnen de wetenschappers deze aanwinsten te analyseren in de hoop een middel te kunnen vinden om de vijand te verslaan. Ondanks hun eerdere tegenslagen, die erop wijzen dat wetenschappelijke analyse niet het middel is om deze strijd te winnen, koesteren de wetenschappers hoop dat ze nog betere, destructievere wapens kunnen ontwikkelen.

Helaas ziet de man-in-de-straat dit anders. Als blijkt dat de atoombom, toch het ultieme wapen van de mensheid, niets uitgehaald heeft breekt er paniek uit. Chaos en plundering zijn het gevolg. Als de wetenschappers de stad willen verlaten, worden ze door de bange massa onder de voet gelopen. Hun spullen worden vernietigd en zijzelf worden hardhandig aan de kant geduwd. Forrester probeert de massa uit te leggen wie ze zijn en wat ze voor de mensheid kunnen betekenen, maar hij wordt neergeslagen. De mensen hebben geen oren voor wetenschappelijk gebrabbel en hebben hun vertrouwen in de wetenschap verloren. Zo geeft The War of the Worlds een vrij fatalistische kijk op wetenschap: als het erop aan komt staat de wetenschap machteloos, en verliest de mensheid zijn vertrouwen in wetenschappelijke capaciteiten. Wetenschap kan de mens niet redden van de ondergang: slechts een wonder kan dit nog.

En in deze film vind het wonder plaats. Terwijl Forrester en Silvia (een diepgelovige vrouw) schuilen in een kerk en bidden, gaat het mis met de aliens. Op het moment dat de wetenschapper inziet dat wetenschap heeft gefaald en hij bidt tot een hogere macht voor redding, komt er een eind aan de verwoesting¹⁵. Forrester’s bekering, symbolisch voor de zuiver analytisch geest doen inzien dat er meer is dan zijn ogen kunnen zien of wetenschap hem kan vertellen, luidt zo de redding van de mensheid in. De Martianen hebben geen weerstand voor Aardse microben en gaan ten onder. Hun technologie faalt: net als in het geval van de mensen blijkt hun vertrouwen in hun eigen wetenschap misplaatst. Het had ze de overwinning moeten geven, maar het bracht ze naar hun dood. De parallel met menselijke technologie, die ook faalt in het beschermen van haar scheppers, is duidelijk. In tegenstelling tot de goddeloze Martianen leert de mensheid op tijd dat er niet teveel vertrouwen in wetenschappelijke vooruitgang gestoken moet worden. De natuur – of God, in ieder geval een hogere macht – is nog steeds heer en meester. Niemand kan zich aan haar wil onttrekken, ongeacht hun wetenschappelijk peil.

Dit einde is atypisch voor het alien invasion subgenre. In de meeste andere films wist de wetenschap zich wel als redder van de mensheid te profileren. Op alle andere vlakken (scientist hero, verbond tussen leger en wetenschappers, analyseren van de indringers) is The War of the Worlds echter wel een typische alien invasion film.

1 Biskind 1983: 120-121

2 Jancovich 1996: 30

3 Lucanio 1987: 56

4 Biskind 1983: 102

5 Sobchack, Vivian Carol. The limits of infinity: the American science fiction film 1950-75. New Jersey: A.S. Burnes and Co. Inc., 1980: p. 121

6 Biskind 1983: 102

7 Lucanio 1987: 25-44

8 Jancovich 1996: 26

9 Noonan 2003: 65

10 Biskind 1983: 154

11 War of the Worlds, The. Reg. Byron Haskin. Paramount Pictures, 1953.

12 War of the Worlds, The. 1953.

13 Jancovich 1996: 55-56

14 Brosnan 1978: 92

15 Jancovich 1996: 56