MESRINE: PUBLIC ENEMY #1 (pt 2, 2008)

September 6, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. This is part two of director Jean-Francois Richet‘s tale of famed criminal Jacques Mesrine. As in part one, Vincent Cassel delivers a frightening portrayal of this psychopath who is addicted to the spotlight, danger, women and little else.

This second film drives home the point that Mesrine was little more than an ultra-aggressive hoodlum. What I mean by that is that he was no criminal mastermind. No real strategist. He just steals when he needs money and then quickly helps the press fill in the blanks on his escapades. Watching him swell with pride as he is pronounced France’s Public Enemy Number One is just plain creepy.

Ludivine Sagnier (so great in Swimming Pool) plays Sophie, his last girlfriend. Watching her reaction to her dog being shot in the final shootout tells you all you need know about her and her relationship with Mesrine.

Much of this part is based on the police chases and the efforts put into “catching” Mesrine and his accomplice. His new partner in crime is played by the terrific Mathieu Amalric (Quantum of Solace, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). Amalric has the steely eyed stare and the acting chops to hang with Cassell.

While I truly admire Cassell’s performance in these two films and I find both extremely well made, I still feel a bit empty about the subject matter. Mesrine was a brutally violent criminal who managed 3 daring prison escapes, numerous bank robberies, kidnappings and killings. However, there is just not much depth to the man. Maybe it’s true … some people just want to see the world burn. No matter what, these two films should be seen as close together as possible. This is ONE STORY cut into two pieces. Set aside 4 hours and see the entire thing.

For my comments on part 1, please click on this link:

https://moviereviewsfromthedark.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/mesrine-killer-instinct-pt-1/

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Posted by David Ferguson

MESRINE: KILLER INSTINCT (pt. 1, 2008)

August 29, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. Haven’t looked at next week’s new releases yet, but I am almost hoping for a rom-com after watching this film and Animal Kingdom back to back. That’s a couple of very rough, though well made films.

Jacques Mesrine was an infamous French outlaw/bank robber/kidnapper who actually began to feed on his media coverage. This film, as well as part 2, are based on his own writings while he was incarcerated. Somehow Vincent Cassel captures the pure evil of Mesrine and presents him as the charismatic and powerful figure he evidently was.

Having apparently lost his soul during the war in Algeria, Mesrine joins forces with a local crime lord played by French acting legend Gerard Depardieu. Their wake of criminal activity is only eclipsed by the pile of bodies. No surprise that Mesrine’s wife runs from him and he then hooks up with Jeanne, played by Cecile DeFrance. They seem to be the perfect match and quickly become known as the French Bonnie and Clyde. Only they are much more violent and brutal. In fact, Mesrine seems to thrive on risk and danger.

Mesrine manages a daring prison escape and even attempts to break back into the same prison to keep a promise of helping other prisoners escape. Director Jean-Francois Richet does an excellent job of displaying the menace of Mesrine and the absolute lack of morals he flashes.

The film never drags even while he is on the lam through Canada and the U.S. Since the film is broken into two parts (Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 will be released in a few weeks), I found it very interesting that the first film opens with what appears to be the end of part two. Maybe I am wrong, but that’s how it looks.

The score is terrific and Mr. Cassel delivers his best performance yet. He is riveting as Jacques Mesrine. Not sure I recommend it as a double feature with Animal Kingdom. They are both excellent films, but that’s an overload of crime and violence for one weekend!  Mesrine: Killer Instinct is French with English subtitles.

For my comments on part two, please click this link:

https://moviereviewsfromthedark.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/mesrine-public-enemy-1-part-2/

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Posted by David Ferguson

ANIMAL KINGDOM (2010)

August 29, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. An Australian movie that packs a wallop! Writer/Director David Michod delivers an unsettling look into one family’s life of crime and the corresponding order of things – the circle of life in the Animal Kingdom. Supposedly based on a true story, this is a tough family that you would not want as relatives.  These are not smooth operators like Scorcese provided in Casino or Goodfellas.  No, in fact, these guys are much worse.

The matriarch is played chillingly by Jacki Weaver. She is mother or grandmother to the guys (except for one outsider) in the band of crooks. While she messes with your mind through the story, it’s not until the final 15 minutes when she really kicks it up a notch and becomes flat out frightening in her power.

There are only a couple of actors that most people would recognize. Joel Edgerton is the outsider in the group, and the one trying to go straight by playing the stock market with his “earnings”. The other is Guy Pearce, who plays the detective trying to both solve the cases and rescue young Josh, played by newcomer James Frecheville.

Not only is this the type of story that sucks you in, it is a reminder of just how distracting movie stars can be to a film. The lack of stars allows us to really be absorbed into this family, or better, this world of crime, deceit, corruption and paranoia. There is not a single movie star – no one who can capitalize on his film history of characters and immediately generate recognition. Here, the viewer must get to know an entire family for who and what they are. This is powerful stuff for a film lover.

The winner for best psychopath is Ben Mendelsohn as Pope. His dead eyes will scare you. His demeanor will scare you. His actions will disgust you. There are two lines in the film that help us make sense of what occurs. Early on, the narrator tells us that “all crooks come undone” at some point. Later, the detective (Pearce) tells us that in the Animal Kingdom, you are either weak or strong. The lines seem pretty clear.

The focus of the film is on Josh (Frecheville) who gets plopped into this family of criminals after his mom dies of an overdose and he calls his long-lost grandmother (Weaver). Josh spends the rest of the film trying to blend in while staying clean. Of course, even his stoic mask doesn’t save him from the path of destruction created by Pope.  The only question is, can he find a way to survive or escape?

In the end, the film is about survival, adaptation and exploring what really defines strong and weak, good and bad. Are you weak or strong?  It’s not always easy to tell … and beware of the quiet ones.  If you enjoy powerful crime thrillers, this one is worth checking out … and be appreciative for the lack of Hollywood star power. That’s part of why it works!

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Posted by David Ferguson

SALT (2010)

July 25, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. Remember the Alamo! Remember the Cold War! OK, the Alamo has nothing to do with this, but if you can remember Russia as a superpower and the bad guy whom the U.S. spent years and billions trying to out-spy and out-defend, then this story might makes some sense to you. Of course, the story matters little here. What matters is the action and it is actually high octane and quite fun.

Angelina Jolie has always reminded me of the scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when Strother Martin is testing out Sundance’s shooting skills. When he misses the first target, Sundance asks “Can I move?”. He then proves he is much better when he moves. Angelina is the same. In her films that let her “move”, she is amazing. Think Mr. and Mrs. Smith vs. Changeling. The first she seems a natural, the second she came across as miscast. In this film, she does things no human being could do, but does these things with such commitment, that we actually believe she is capable. Her actions often border on parkour … especially when in an elevator shaft or bounding from truck to truck on a freeway.  We accept these stunts because it’s Angelina.

Support work is provided by Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, both who spend much of the movie trying to figure out how Angelina does the things she does … surrounded by their teams of weapons experts. Most of the time, the way she is outnumbered leaves you thinking that if she gets out of this jam, this movie is just stupid. But once she has escaped, you just feel a little more pumped up! That’s a sign of a fun action movie.

Sure, the story is ridiculous at most points and the plot holes are more canyons than holes, but it’s kind of nice to re-visit the double or triple spy days, especially when placed within daring stunts and chases that work.

The director of this is Phillip Noyce, who is best known for a couple of the Tom Clancy adaptations – Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. Mr. Noyce got me hooked 20 years ago on a little film called Dead Calm, starring a very young Nicole Kidman. That is a taut little thriller that takes place mostly on a sail boat in the middle of the ocean. If you’ve never seen it, you should.

So in regards to Salt, I will say that it’s a fun action-thriller in a twisty little cold war spy setting. Don’t get caught up in the plot details and just enjoy the action sequences by Angelina Jolie. Not very often I recommend ignoring a faulty script, but I actually enjoyed this one.

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Posted by David Ferguson

INCEPTION (2010)

July 18, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. Some movies are made as pure visual entertainment. Others are made as a vision of a story. The best combine elements of both. The great ones WOW you with what you see on screen, while keeping your mind focused on the multiple dimensions of a story that just won’t let you jump ahead. The previous sentence is my feeble attempt at describing what happens during Inception.

Writer/director Christopher Nolan turns 40 at the end of this month. He now has 3 instant-classic films to his credit: Memento, The Dark Knight and now Inception. I am not a good enough writer to describe just how talented he his at making films. What I can tell you is that this movie gave me a “runner’s high” … it put me “in the zone”. As a viewer, I felt in perfect sync at each twist and turn.

There are two pieces of advice I will offer. First, go see the film at a theatre on the big screen. Don’t wait for NetFlix. Second, pay attention to every scene and every line. Trust Mr. Nolan to take you on this wild ride. You may be able to figure out the ending (if there even is one), but you will have missed the real point of the film … how did you get here?

Here is a brief synopsis: Leonardo DiCaprio plays an expert thief. He is a thief who steals ideas by infiltrating the dreams of his targets and snatching their ideas. A very wealthy tycoon played by Ken Watanabe hires DiCaprio for a risky project of Inception – the inserting of an idea into the subject’s mind through dreams, rather than the stealing of an idea. DiCaprio’s team is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (with physical brilliance while lacking gravitational force), Tom Hardy (from Rocknrolla), master chemist Dileep Rao, and new recruit Ellen Page (“Juno” plays a brilliant architect prodigy with a genius of space and dimension). Cillian Murphy plays the target and Michael Caine is DiCaprio’s father in law … the link between who Leo is now and his previous life with his wife, played hauntingly well by Marion Cotillard.

A perfect Nolan touch is Ellen Page’s character name – Ariadne. A quick google finds that Ariadne, in Greek mythology, fell in love with Theseus and helped him escape Minotaur’s labyrinth. The film is full of mazes and is itself a labyrinth punctuated by a stunning and powerful score by Hans Zimmer. You will find yourself bouncing from dream to reality, jumping into another’s dreams, layering dreams upon each other … oh, and watching a mind-bending special effect as the city of Paris is folded over on top of itself.

Clear your mind for 2 and a half hours and let a terrific filmmaker take you on a journey through mindspace that we never really pay attention to. The payoff is dream-like.  This film was on my “films of interest” list on my First Half recap.  If you missed the recap, here is the link:  https://moviereviewsfromthedark.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/2010-first-half-recap/

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Posted by David Ferguson

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (Sweden, 2009)

July 11, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. This is the second of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, though we have a new director for parts two and three. Daniel Alfredson takes a more mainstream approach to filming and story telling and, of course, he loses the element of surprise we enjoyed in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, one of my favorite films of the year so far.

With Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist back as Lisbeth and Mikael Blomkvist respectively, it certainly helps to have seen the first film to fill in the character development that this one assumes. We are treated to a more intricate, complex story line in this one, but the fun research part we enjoyed in part one, comes up a bit short.

Swedish acting veteran/legend Per Oscarsson appears as Lisbeth’s first (and trusted) state assigned officer. He plays a small, but vital role and is quite interesting on screen – even at age 83! The story fills in some of the gaps on Lisbeth’s childhood and background but really leaves her a bit short on screen time despite being suspected of 3 murders.

Lisbeth’s look is somewhat softer in this one and we get full on views of her eyes, which rarely happened in part one. I believe the movie suffers a bit by making it easier to relate to her as a wronged woman. Still, the story is much better than the average thriller and the two lead characters are more interesting than most. I look forward to the final film of the trilogy … The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

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Posted by David Ferguson

HARRY BROWN (2009)

May 27, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. Michael Caine (at age 77) is like a favorite blanket … it just feels good to have him around. He always delivers a fine performance, and sometimes he puts it all together to provide proof of just what an outstanding actor he really is. Harry Brown is one of those films.

Some will take this as a revenge story in line with Bronson’s Death Wish, but I see it more in the vein of Gran Torino.   A “British” Gran Torino.  Caine’s Brown is not just after revenge for his buddy Leonard’s murder, but more importantly, he is trying to make a stand – to take back his neighborhood stolen by drug dealers and vicious punks.

Unfortunately for the film, a first time director (Daniel Barber) and a miscast Emily Mortimer don’t have the strength to keep up with Mr. Caine. Mortimer plays her detective role as if she is more of a social worker. It is actually painful to watch her. On the other hand, Ben Drew has a key role as Noel, a sinister punk lacking a conscience. His scenes with Caine are pretty intense.

The best scene of the film is when Harry Brown ventures inside a drug dealer’s lair to purchase a gun for his crusade. Caine must pull off the necessary subtlety and play it close to the vest in this quite volatile situation. Of course, not everything goes to plan and Caine’s character really takes off from there.

We are treated to the expected police department politics and the back-stabbing/not-who-I-thought-you-were character, but mostly this is one man’s mission to make things right and better. Who better than Michael Caine for that job?

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Posted by David Ferguson

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Sweden, 2009)

April 18, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. What usually sets apart a great mystery thriller from an average one is the story. In part one of the Millennium trilogy based on Stieg Larsson’s books, the story is really good, but the point of difference comes in the titular performance of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth. American audiences are rarely treated to this type of raw, gritty performance from an actress. She alone makes the film worth seeing.

Please don’t get me wrong … I really like the film. A murder mystery who-dunnit that on the surface appears like an Agathy Christie story, it quickly proves to us how looks can be deceiving – both in story line and in characters. Though the story wraps up a bit too neatly, the long winding road (over a fortuitous bridge) gives us a wild ride of hints, suspects and research that is a blast for those who enjoy such things.

Michael Nyqvist stars as Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative writer who gets set up on charges of libel against a powerful businessman. While awaiting his jail time, Blomkvist is hired by an 80 year old uncle of a girl gone missing some 40 years ago. Oh yes, she is part of the Vanger family who live on a private island and who have multiple members with a history of Nazi loyalties. As Blomkvist investigates the ancient mystery, it turns out he is being followed via super-hacker Lisbeth. After a few twists, these two turn into a highly unlikely, but very interesting and effective mystery-solving couple.

Besides the performance of Rapace, what really sets this one apart is that the villains really aren’t the most interesting characters – Blomkvist and Lisbeth are. We are treated to a great deal of character development for both, and trust me when I say, Lisbeth’s story is not pleasant.

I hear this will be Americanized in the remake and that makes me sad. The source material title for this story is “Men Who Hate Women”.  While director Niels Arden Oplev pulls no punches in his version, in a remake the edgy undercurrent of sex, abuse, politics and religious racism will undoubtedly be softened and surely the lead actress will bring little of the fascination that a fearless Noomi Rapace delivers.

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Posted by David Ferguson

REPO MEN (2010)

March 22, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. A sci-fi action thriller set in the near future, the film is based on the novel by Eric Garcia. It stars Jude Law and Forest Whitaker as organ repo men. No, not Wurlitzer pipe organs … artificial body organs. The idea is that any vital body organ can be replaced for a price. Just make sure to read the fine print in the repo clause before signing anything!

Liev Schreiber is the supervisor of Repo Men at The Union. Judging from the size of the building and the mass of the lab, business is booming in the artificial organ transplant business. And who could be surprised? The Union sales team has a perfect sales pitch – sign here or die. And actually, they don’t expect you to stay current on your payments, hence the Repo crew.

I never did figure out if this was supposed to be a comedy/satire or dramatic thriller. The actors seem to play it straight, but that actually adds to the humorous moments. Despite some fine and interesting songs on the soundtrack, the film is a bit of a mess at times … though there are also some fun action scenes. The warning must go out that gore abounds and the actual repo scenes are a bit squirm-inducing.

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Posted by David Ferguson

GREEN ZONE (2010)

March 13, 2010

 Greetings again from the darkness. The trailers and the involvement of director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon gave me the initial impression this was to be little more than a “Bourne” rip-off. I am happy to report that’s not the case. This is a fantastic story that is a cross between an Iraqi War movie and political thriller.

Matt Damon plays an officer responsible for following the military intel for WMD locales in the early days of the invasion. He gets more frustrated and untrusting as each target comes up empty. When he questions the intel to his superiors, he is “politely” told to follow his orders. At the same time, he is approached by a grizzled CIA veteran played by Brendan Gleeson. The CIA happens to agree with Damon’s character … the intel is faulty and the belief is an ulterior motive is at play by the administration.

Of course, this is not a documentary. It is merely another step in the exploration of what the driving force was for invading Iraq in the first place. Were WMD’s a cover for the pursuit of Saadam? The script is based on a book, and leads us to believe the WMD intel was rigged because that was a great reason to present to our allies and citizens. The disconnect between the administration and the CIA appears evident. A smarmy Greg Kinnear plays an administration official who has much power … and a special forces team reporting directly to him.

The film highlights the blunders and poor decisions made early on in the invasion. Not really sure if they were blunders or if the mission was simply misguided. Either way, this makes for a great story and an intense one to follow. A real statement is made when one of the locals who has been assisting Damon, surprises him and states something along the lines of “You don’t get to decide the fate of my country”. That’s not the exact quote, but it is the key point the film is making.  We also get a replay of President Bush on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln proclaiming “Mission Accomplished”.  That gets more painful upon each viewing.

The bad news is that Paul Greengrass is at his shaky camera worst. The first 15 minutes of the film and the climax chase scene to, through and outside the safe house were so bad that I felt queasy. I love well placed hand-held camera work, but this was beyond extreme – it was quite simply over the top and distracts from what should have been a near-classic.

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Posted by David Ferguson

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