REVIEW: The Crazies (2009)

  News of another Romero rehash (or just a remake of anything in general) usually inspires more groans than mirth. And after Tom Savini’s misguided Night of the Living Dead retread and the shallow drudgery of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, why shouldn’t it? However, a remake of The Crazies was an interesting concept in that it was very possible that a remake could improve on the heavy-handed original.

  David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) is the sheriff of Ogden Marsh, a small town in Iowa. One day, he is forced to shoot a local resident, who stalks onto the town football field with a shotgun while a game is in play. The gunman appears to be in a coma, a zombie-like state of murderous rage, which is eventually linked to an army plane crash in the marshes near the town. It turns out that the plane has dropped something in the water. The arrival of the army on the scene only makes things worse.

  So…is it any better? A funny beginning promises something new or, at least, entertaining, but this bleak tale of a town’s vicious containment by gas-masked soldiers leaves no cliché behind. The film offers no surprises and the violence isn’t entertaining or effective as its all left unseen in the vein of your typical 15-rated horror film. Gone are the days of adult-orientated splatter cinema, evidently.

  Romero’s film was a critique on American foreign policy, particularly in Vietnam. The remake doesn’t angrily politicise its story, which could be a good thing. Romero’s original was so obviously based on the war in Vietnam that it forgot to be a horror film, becoming almost a pseudo-docudrama. While a film like Paul WS Anderson’s woeful Death Race becomes a pointless exercise by removing the satire of the original Death Race 2000 (which is a masterpiece of both social satire and entertainment), The Crazies remake is improved by removing the clumsy preaching of the original. In fact it’s the best Romero remake and it does move along.

  One of its main disadvantages is that you would be hard pressed to care. It is a film full of carnage, but without the required horror. The film goes into all the gory detail that it can as a 15-rated film, but it is never effectively horrible. A better film with an apocalyptic theme, something like John Hillcoat’s The Road, takes its time and allows a palpable sense of foreboding and doom to pervade the story. This version of The Crazies has all the blood, but none of the power. The problem is that there is absolutely nothing that you haven’t seen before. The Crazies is a film has very little to say for itself, with even the ending revealing it to be the same old story we are all familiar with.

REVIEW: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first of the Millennium trilogy, a big-budget adaptation of a series of books by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. The story centres on both disgraced journalist Mikael and the violent and troubled young Lisbeth who, through alternate paths, become embroiled in a 40-year-old mystery- the disappearance of a young woman. They investigate with an entire extended family of suspects over their shoulders. Needless to say, things get more mysterious as they get more dangerous.

Going in, having never read the books, I had no idea what to expect. Being a Swedish adaptation rather than a Hollywood translation, I was prepared to like it on principle. The fact that it was made in Sweden was a good sign as my only previous experience of the recent Swedish crime fiction boom had been a turgid series of Kenneth Branagh-starring adaptations of Henkel Manning’s Wallander series. I found an entertaining film, though one that could easily have been a Hollywood film if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone was speaking Swedish.

It’s disposable-fun while it lasts but gone from your mind once it reaches its end. The spy thriller-like score, the picturesque Scandinavian landscape and the obvious high budget all help to create a good, speedy murder mystery. There’s something likeably old-fashioned about it and it does have a sense of humour. Indeed, the violence that lifts the film to an 18 rating feels slightly out of place, as the audience that may appreciate this film the most may be 15 years old. This is, however, a small qualm in this entertaining yarn, which uses its big budget not in the spirit of excess but to heighten the film’s visuals. Best are its chilling sequences in which photographs are analysed and murderers and victims found, which brings to mind Antonioni’s Blow-Up.

Regrettably, however, there are some problems. The film continues much too long after its denouement, losing its way and struggling to find a punchy note to end on. Here, things get a little schmaltzy and, at times, unintentionally comedic. The corny ending undercuts the sense of the seedy and violent underworld that the film had manages to convey so well earlier. Hollywood romanticism creeps into this dark realist tale, allowing for total closure. The fact that the world that this film creates does not allow loose ends is hard to believe. A peek into Lisbeth’s childhood via flashback may raise more mirth than empathy. Her younger self and her dad have the exact same grimace: an excellent bit of casting or a funny accident.

If these sound like quibbles, it’s probably because they are. All in all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a highly enjoyable thriller and well worth seeking out. I look forward to the next two instalments of the trilogy (The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) both coming out later this year.  

REVIEW: Life During Wartime (2009)

  Todd Solondz is not a mainstream filmmaker and probably never will be. His films are dark (though funny) and very much for a niche audience. He is probably best known for 1998’s hilarious ‘Happiness’, which tackled paedophilia and other difficult subjects. His new film, ‘Life During Wartime’, is a sequel to ‘Happiness’, picking up ten years later and following the logical progression of all the same characters.

  Again, it centres on three sisters. Joy (Shirley Henderson) is still having trouble with men and her marriage to Allen (played by Omar from ‘The Wire’, or Michael Kenneth Williams), an incurable pervert, is on the rocks. She is also seeing the ghost of Andy (Paul Reubens), from a previous failed relationship. Trish (Alison Janney) and her children are dealing with life after Bill (Ciaran Hinds), her ex-husband who has just been released from jail for paedophilia. Meanwhile, Helen (Ally Sheedy) is unhappy with success in Hollywood.

  Despite the fact that the film is a sequel to ‘Happiness’ (it was originally going to be called ‘Forgiveness’, thus reflecting its major theme just as the title of ‘Happiness’ did), all of its recurring characters are played by different actors. One of the film’s many oddities is simply the fact that the role Philip Seymour Hoffman made scary yet likable in ‘Happiness’ is now being played by Baltimore’s former legendary vigilante. And that’s before the film has even begun to be disturbing.
  The bulk of the characters deal with one ghost or another during the film and the main trouble is whether they can forgive or be forgiven. Much of the film’s running time is taken up with conversation pieces between two characters, usually with one or both on the verge of tears. The film is a sometimes subtle, sometimes over the top exploration of the after-effects of a family torn apart. It may appear slow and very vague, but it ends on a powerfully sad and oddly optimistic note.

What makes the film so strange and hard to peg may be, I fear, the amateurishness of its director, who mixes scenes of profound sadness and introspection with horribly tacky scenes of ghosts fading from view. The final scene is a perfect example, which sees the film at its most beautiful and resonant but, in the background, returns the fodder of the dreariest drama.

While ‘Happiness’ was serious and disturbing and slightly misanthropic, but also very funny and likable, ‘Life During Wartime’ is much more serious, much less funny and a lot less realistic. It seems as if Solondz got a lot of smoke in his eyes and his judgement was clouded by his constant belief that he was making his “masterpiece”. The film is hard to be entirely moved by simply because its seriousness is taken in such ridiculous extremes. It is a good film and a powerful film, but it feels like a director’s debut, full of promise but a bit silly.

REVIEW: The Last Station (2009)

  When the Oscars are looming, audiences must exercise caution when choosing a film to go and see. Oscar Dramas are a tricky class of film. Taking as an example 2008 Oscar race, for every Gran Torino and Frost/ Nixon there was a The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or The Reader. If you’re lucky, you could get something moving and riveting. If unlucky, however, you might end up with a dull movie with terrible Oscar Clips (the scenes in which venerable actors give loud and annoying bravura performances), which merely serve to startle you back into lucidity. The Last Station, oddly enough, falls between these two stools.

  The story closely resembles your typical Oscar Drama. Set over the last days of Leo Tolstoy’s (Christopher Plummer) life, it centres on Valentin (James McAvoy) a young disciple of Tolstoy’s writings, who becomes embroiled in a feud between Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), Tolstoy’s devoted wife of 48 years and the oily Chertkov (Paul Giamatti). Chertkov seems to have convinced Tolstoy to write a new will, which Sofya fears might disinherit her. Valentin is swayed one way then another, whilst struggling with the celibacy aspect of Tolstoy’s doctrine.

  Whilst it does sound like the perfect framework for some high-pitched melodramatic acting and Oscar-friendly period settings, the film is surprisingly entertaining for the most part. What helps it get by is its sense of humour which allows for several funny scenes. The sense of humour does remain strong for the first half of the film, with even a sting on the tail of one particular Oscar Clip. During this period, the film even retains a light comedy score.

  The problem with The Last Station is that it loses its way during the second half. Here, the comedy is replaced by wallowing with everyone giving everyone else significant and serious looks. The comedy score gives way to the more typical Oscar Score, all over-bearing instruments and droning chords. Before you know it, The Last Station has become just another dull Oscar Drama. What is particularly frustrating about the film is that the first half shows you what it could have been had the film-makers tried harder while the second half shows you what its going to be because they can’t be bothered.

  The performances are the same. In the first half, the four leads are all fun and likable (even Giamatti whose excellent performance as someone you really don’t know whether to like or dislike is the best in the film). However, by the end, their company isn’t all that enjoyable. Even plot and character motivations, initially so clear, become muddied and confusing.

  Initially a good film with great potential, it’s a pity that the film opts for by-the-numbers melodrama midway through.

REVIEW: MicMacs (2009)

  The new film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, of Delicatessen and Amelie fame, features quirky comedy, a plethora of weird characters and a political message. Through its comedic story, we are introduced to the homeless Bazil (Dany Boon), who takes revenge against two warring arms traders, both inadvertently responsible for his troubled existence. One produced the mine that killed his father; the other produced the bullet now lodged in Bazil’s brain. Assisting him in his seemingly futile mission is a diverse group of seven second-hand dealers, the “Micmacs”, each with a unique talent.

  The strange plot could have made for a heavy-handed and annoying film, but Jeunet draws on all the right influences. Within the film, there is a very distinct feeling of the silent comedy, particularly the works of geniuses Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. The plot and some of the score recalls the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone. An early scene in which Bazil stands between the two monolithic buildings of the arms dealers brings to mind A Fistful of Dollars. Most tangible, however, is the film’s link with 1940s American crime masterpiece The Big Sleep, both in its seemingly convoluted plot line and in its score (which borrows liberally from the earlier film). This is not to say that the film is a jumble of stolen ideas as Jeunet makes the film his own with his rich and unique style.

  There is a real visual beauty in Micmacs, from the range of colours within each scene to the setting itself (a Paris that is far removed from the usual clichés). A visual treat, the film also displays some genuine wit, not just in the visual panache of its nods to silent film but also in its wordplay. The scrap-heap inventions that litter the home of the Micmacs are brilliantly realized and the quirky comedy that sees a security camera do a double take and an elderly couple argue about as dog raise some real laughs.

  The characters are great fun, from the elderly yet Herculean Tiny Pete (Michel Cremades) to the evil arms dealers (brilliantly played by Andre Dussollier and Nicolas Marie) who vent their rage in increasingly hilarious ways without ever becoming caricatures. Bazil himself is a fantastic comedy invention with an unlimited range of gags. His schemes are all rich with ideas, particularly in an airport scene in which all the abilities of the Micmacs are utilized. His animated flights of fancy/ coping strategies are also great fun.

  All in all, the film is a pleasant surprise with a resounding beauty and wit that makes it a rarity. It should secure a loyal following and is a film that will easily please a mass audience. It may make light of a serious issue, but it is much better than the turgid Nicolas Cage “expose” Lord of War and much more entertaining. See it and enjoy.