The Hunger Games – From the producers of Survivor and Wipeout

Novel-based film trilogies have been huge money makers since the debut of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter film series in 2001, and The Hunger Games appears to be following in their footsteps.  Most novel-based trilogies are of the fantasy genre though, while Hunger Games is a post-apocalyptic science fiction series made on a (relatively) low budget.  There is an emphasis on social and political commentary not often seen in mainstream movies, and is more violent then Lord of the Rings and the like.  I am a bit late to the party, with Hunger Games already being out on Blu-ray, but let’s find out how The Hunger Games became a hit.

The beginning of the film brief explains what the titular Hunger Games are all about.  The country of Panem (formerly North America) is made up of 12 Districts, which all specialize in particular professions, and is ruled by a totalitarian government based in the absurdly wealthy Capitol.  74 years prior to the story, the Districts rebelled against the government, and were subsequently put down by the Capitol.  The former 13th District was destroyed, and the government established The Hunger Games as punishment for the remaining 12.  Every year, one boy and one girl from each district between the ages of 12 and 18 is chosen at random to participate in the Games – essentially a gladiatorial death match between the chosen “tributes”.  The Games take place in a large arena in various extreme locations (think Survivor), where the tributes have to survive and fight each other until only one is left alive.  The lone survivor gets to return to a life of fame and fortune.  The Hunger Games are shown on TV like your typical reality show and treated like the Super Bowl, glorifying the intense violence and suffering.

And they’re hosted by this guy

The main character of the series is Katniss Everdeen, a strong 16 year-old girl from District 12 (the poorest district of course).  Her father died in a mining accident, leaving Katniss to take care of her little sister Primrose while her mother was severely traumatized by the incident. Katniss herself is mature beyond her years as a result, but somewhat quiet and socially awkward.  At the “Reaping” ceremony where the tributes are chosen for the Games, Primrose’s name is drawn.  Katniss desperately volunteers herself in her sister’s place, and becomes a tribute alongside Peeta Mallark, a baker’s son. Katniss, who has terrific survival skills and is a good shot with a bow, is quickly identified as a strong competitor with a chance to win.

She has a somewhat. . . fuller figure then in the books too.

Katniss and Peeta are then taken to the Capitol, where they meet their assigned mentor – Haymitch Abernathy.  The winner of the 50th Hunger Games, Abernathy is an alcoholic and disillusioned with the Games and the government.  He initially refuses to help Katniss and Peeta, but eventually tells them that the best way to survive is to get the audience to like you.  Interested viewers in the Capitol can choose to sponsor a chosen tribute, and send them needed supplies during the Games.

Over the next few weeks, the pair appear on television several times, making a good impression on viewers and the Games’ MC thanks to Abernathy and the savvy of their stylist, Cinna.  Peeta, who has a crush on Katniss, admits his love for her in an interview.  This angers Katniss, but Abernathy insists they play the part of “star-crossed lovers” to win supporters over.

All the tributes also participate in training exercises with each other, and are given an overall score of 1-12 based on their abilities.  This is also where the “Careers” show up – tributes that train specifically for the Games from childhood and volunteer themselves.  A Career tribute will typically win the Games, but Katniss and Peeta have the skills to compete with them.

Do they look like nice people to you? Didn’t think so.

When The Hunger Games actually start, it becomes a mix of Survivor, TV sports and barbaric gladiator combat.  Alliances are made, blood is shed frequently, and plenty of political hustling goes on behind the scenes, particularly between the head Games-maker Seneca Crane and the ruler of Panem, President Snow.  And in the end, Peeta and Katniss deal a blow to the totalitarian government machine.

The influences and messages contained in the movie can be seen all over.  It mixes an ancient Rome-like interest in primal violence with over-the-top showmanship and live commentators, turning the titular Games into some kind of sick reality sport.  Not to mention how the rich residents of the Capitol bet on the Games and sponsor tributes like the whole event is the Kentucky Derby.  The Hunger Games can also be seen as a blow against reality TV’s obsession with the twisted, similar to films like The Truman Show and Death Race.

Her odds of survival were 30 to 1 – pay her no mind, Capitol residents

The Panem government is, without a doubt, as oppressive and brutal as they come.  The fact that The Capital resembles a modern-ized Roman city is a subtle, if unneeded, hint towards that conclusion.  Most of the main characters express their distaste of the government, giving off an anti-government message that has drawn criticism from some corners.  But if we really were ruled by a regime this oppressive, wouldn’t there be some widespread governmental distrust?  The fact that Panem was formerly North America may have been the thing that set off some detractors, but so was Code Geass’ Britannia, another highly self-serving fictional government.

Katniss has been widely identified as a strong and more than capable female figure, in no small part thanks to Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of her.  Her Katniss is similar to a character she played a few years ago: Ree Dolly of Winter’s Bone.  Both are women of few words and a lot of action, yet are deeply mature, having been forced to become the primary caretakers of their siblings AND their own mothers.  Katniss though, is a woman of even fewer words.  While there are a few people she can engage in witty banter with, she is normally quite awkward and soft-spoken – “I’m not good at saying something” is how Katniss describes herself.  But when she gets seriously determined. . . watch out.

Peeta, played by John Hutcherson, struggles with being the overlooked one next to Katniss, despite his honest feelings for her.  Perhaps accepting his lower chances of survival next to Katniss, he is far more eager to play up to the Games’ TV audience and gain their support.  He and Katniss grow closer over the events of the movie, though it could be debated they were just putting on a show for potential sponsors.  Real or not, it sets up a love triangle with an interested viewer back in District 12 – Gale, Katniss’ hunting partner with a secret crush on her.

Let the love-interest-speculation commence!

The films’ other characters don’t quite possess the depth of Katniss and Peeta, but are played well nonetheless.  Haymitch Abernathy is the drunken and reluctant mentor who is tired of watching District 12’s tributes die.  Once he becomes convinced of Katniss and Peeta’s determination and skills though, he awakens from his stupor to become a fierce ally, sparing no effort to secure sponsors and gain the support of the head Games-maker.

Speaking of the head Games-maker, Seneca Crane shares behind-the-scenes antagonist spotlight with President Snow, who he often consults during the Games themselves.  While Crane’s main concern is putting on a good show and pleasing viewers, Snow only cares about the political results of the Games, giving a hint of malice as he subtly advises Crane.  Donald Sutherland was effective as the villainous president in his short appearances – look for him to give a killer performance in the next film.

With beards like those, they just HAVE to be evil

The most visible of the tributes out to get Katniss once the Games become are the Careers, who immediately band together.  They are portrayed realistically – meaning they’re highly trained, egotistical killing machines.  I imagine one would end up like this when they’re trained to essentially be a teenage soldier, but the Careers end up as little more than compelling antagonists to root against.  The only other significant tribute is Rue, a 12 year-old girl from District 11, who forms an easy partnership with Katniss thanks to her resemblance to Primrose.  Though the reasons behind their pairing are only implied at best.

There is some sporadic comic relief, mostly before the games begin, thanks to the oblivious remarks of Effie Trinket, the Capital’s appointed overseer of District 12’s tributes.  And the egregious amounts of cheese contained in Katniss and Peeta’s journey through the media circus.  It’s especially jarring when the film switches from the fake TV personalities to the very REAL carnage of the Games.

The Hunger Games boasts a modest budget in comparison to other blockbusters, but still manages to look really good visually.  The modern, yet Romanesque architecture of The Capitol stands out in grand opposition to the near-destitute state of District 12.  That said, the forests surrounding District 12 and those in the Games have somewhat of a quant charm to them – particularly the latter.  Excluding really action-y or violent scenes, The Hunger Games themselves are shot in a relatively straightforward manner; it’s not difficult to follow any of it.

It’s not much, but it’s home.

Some of those oh-so-edgey shaky camera tricks show up during especially dramatic or violent scenes.  I do think it sets an equally unstable mood during said dramatic scenes, which is definitely a better use of the shaky camera than for action.  That said, the action scenes don’t overuse it, they use just enough to keep the gore to a minimum and maintain the PG-13 rating.  However, there were a few scenes (Katniss’ dream sequence for example) that made a rather awkward transition from written to visual form.

While I’m not the biggest fan of the costume design in this movie (it can be TOO over-the-top at times), I think The Hunger Games at least deserves an Oscar nod for it.  The residents of The Capital are effectively portrayed as the fakest people on the planet – sporting ridiculous hairstyles, tastes in clothing somewhere between the 17th century and a gay pride parade, and skin dyed any color from white to green.  Don’t forget Seneca Crane’s beard either.  Cinna’s creative masterpieces for Katniss and Peeta are just as impressive, employing literal fire in their designs to draw attention straight to them.  The TV commentators were as impressed as I was.

Typical casual attire for Capitol residents

The Hunger Games is a real treat, both visually and mentally.  The large amount of social commentary and the number of times you’ll wonder “Are they doing it for real or just appealing to sponsors?” will keep viewers engaged for a long time after the credits roll.  You can easily find films with more emotion, more wit, better action and better visuals, but The Hunger Games makes its limited amounts of both really count.  One shortcoming of the film is that it doesn’t reveal much backstory on Panem or the Districts, nor does it expand much on the supposed main antagonist, President Snow.  I can only hope those questions and more will be answered in the sequel. . . they’ve successfully roped me into the series.

Resident Evil: Retribution – What am I doing with my life. . .?

I’ve heard plenty of horrible, terrible things about the Resident Evil movies – mostly criticism of Milla Jovovich’s “Alice” character and how they failed to live up to the video game series they’re based on.  Despite this, the series has become a big money maker, especially overseas.  It was only by chance that I ended up seeing Retribution, the fifth film in the series.  Does this installment do anything to change the perception of the series?  Spoilers: it doesn’t.

The film shows its true colors right from the get-go; the opening credits are accompanied by a slow-motion version of what will be the first “real” scene in the movie, played in reverse.  This kind of stuff happens frequently in Retribution: where the film overuses bullet time and brushes proper plot and anything resembling character development aside in a desperate attempt to look “cool”.  But the opening credits are just showing a scene that the audience will see again in real time 5 minutes later – it’s really just unnecessary, like a lot of stuff that happens throughout this hour and a half of torture.

On the bright side, they follow up the opening credits with a “catch-up” of sorts in an attempt to inform newcomers what’s going on with Milla Jovovich’s Alice character narrating.  It basically boils down to the T-virus, an experimental bioweapon that turns people into zombies, leaking out across the entire world and causing a good old-fashioned zombie apocalypse.  The stupidly powerful company that created the T-virus, the Umbrella Corporation, continues to experiment with bioweapons despite causing A COMPLETE APOCALYPSE.  Yep, they have nothing even resembling ethics.  Alice is special, as she is the only person to successfully bond with the T-virus, so Umbrella is interested in re-creating her potential.  They previously cloned her a bunch of times to this end, but that didn’t exactly work out.  So now they’re trying to capture her again.  With a platoon of soldiers led by a mind-controlled friend (Jill Valentine) who is still alive for no particular reason.

Following the real-time version of the opening scene, we’re thrown into an alternate reality where Alice is a housewife living with her husband (a clone of a deceased character from previous films) and their young, deaf daughter Becky.  As you’d expect, zombies attack and kill the husband, and Alice and Becky try to flee the town with the help of Rain (a clone of a character who HASN’T APPEARED SINCE THE FIRST FILM).  Then they randomly crash into a truck and the zombified husband kills Alice.

The real Alice then wakes up inside an Umbrella facility, practically naked, and is interrogated by Jill.  When she refuses to talk, we the audience are rewarded with an ear-piercing screech meant to torture her.  Multiple times.  Luckily for her, a power failure gives her a chance to break out.  She eventually encounters Ada Wong, an agent for Umbrella’s former chairman Albert Wesker.  Wesker is now working in opposition to Umbrella, which has been somehow taken over by the advanced A.I. called The Red Queen (it has not appeared since the first film, of course), and is now trying to eliminate all of humanity.  In addition to hacking the facility, Wesker organized a mercenary team to invade and destroy the place – consisting of Barry Burton, Leon S. Kennedy, Luther West (from the previous film) and two other guys who don’t matter at all.

The majority of the film shifts focus between the pairing of Alice and Ada and the mercenary team as they make their way through the facility, which, for whatever reason, contains replicas of several major cities.  These fake cities exist for the purpose of testing bioweapons – they can be filled with clones (which Umbrella has a ton of randomly), and simply introducing a virus can simulate a zombie apocalypse.  The clones are made using the data of former Umbrella operatives, so the writers have an excuse to bring back long-dead characters just for the sake of it.  As you might have guessed, the “Alice” in the alternate reality was a clone.

So yeah – this film is full to bursting with plot holes, and is less of a coherent story and more an ongoing train of excuses to include more action scenes.  But that’s not even the worst part.

The vast majority of the characters are as flat and cardboard-like as they come.  How in the world Milla Jovovich is still the star of this series is beyond me – she is literally incapable of emotion judging from this movie, and I doubt she’s any better in the previous Resident Evil movies.  Even her attempts at deadpan humor fall flat thanks to her total lack of emotion, though I sometimes couldn’t help but laugh at how horrible the “humor” in this movie was.  Deadpan humor is essentially the only thing that keeps the entirety of Retribution’s dialogue from being blander than plain white bread.  The characters show so little emotion that this is the only type of small talk they are capable of.  This is partly the reason why two members of the mercenary team don’t matter at all: no appears to care in the slightest when they get killed off.  Sure, Leon and friends are mercenaries and may not know much about them, but that doesn’t mean they have to be robots.

Even the characters that originated from the Resident Evil video games seem like emotionless cardboard cutouts.  I admit I don’t know whether characters like Leon or Ada Wong are portrayed correctly since I haven’t played any games they’ve been in, but they’re still terrible.  Those two along with Wesker and Jill may be dressed exactly like their game counterparts, but that’s about where the similarities end and the robotic personalities take over.  Barry Burton is just a little better – though he’s as emotionless as everyone else for most of the film, he displays his joking badass personality from the video games during a climactic fight scene.

Actually scratch that. This guy looks nothing like Leon

Michelle Rodriguez played Rain in the original Resident Evil film, and returns as two separate clones of her long-dead character in this one.  The “good” Rain that helps out Alice has no memory of the original’s combat experience and is the only character in the film capable of getting flustered or worried.  The “bad” Rain accompanies the mind-controlled Jill and her soldiers in their pursuit of Alice and the mercenaries, and is a cocky jerkass.  Of course, we don’t see much of  “good” Rain – she can’t fight and has EMOTIONS GOD FORBID WE CAN’T HAVE THAT.

“Bu-but I campaigned for gun control. . .”

The visuals and fight scenes, luckily, are relatively well done.  The overhead shots showing the Umbrella facility, which is hidden deep in the snowy Russian wasteland, are pretty cool, especially thanks to the abandoned Soviet submarines concealing the underground complex.  The recreated cities inside the place may be little more than excuses to have action scenes in major cities that are long destroyed in series canon, but they are nice settings for fights regardless.  The zombies and all the other monsters in the film may not be that menacing, but they are brought to life with some really impressive CGI, and many of them originate from the video games.  The giant Axemen/Executioners that attack Alice and Ada are particularly awesome.  The Las Plagas zombies lifted from the Resident Evil 4 game look kind of stupid though, they’re basically just skeleton warriors with the dexterity to wield machine guns and drive vehicles.

Proceed with the synchronized axe swings!

On that same note, they try way too hard to incorporate the Umbrella logo into everything.  It’s on the floor of the interrogation room, the facility’s lobby has counters rise out of the ground in the pattern of the logo, and the silliest thing, the logo appearing in the eyes of the mind-controlled Jill.  Why would they even DO something so pointless?  And the corridors of the place are way too white and sterile; they’re trying to go sci-fi on us.

Milla Jovovich may be a horrible actor, but she does look quite sexy in her skintight outfits while beating the heck out of zombies.  One particular scene where she fights off a zombie horde in a corridor is actually choreographed really well – kick this zombie in the face, flip over another zombie and toss it to the ground, grab the gun and shoot this other one in the head.  This is done without stupid camera tricks, although with blatant overuse of bullet time.  But consider that this is Resident Evil – a game series about zombies and explosions, not something that should take influence from martial arts flicks.

Never mind the sexy kicks, EVERYTHING’S SO WHITE

Aside from the expected shoot-outs between Umbrella’s forces and the protagonists, there’s a car chase where Alice crashes a car directly THROUGH a truck and keeps driving, among other blatant disregards for the laws of physics.  And there’s the final fight; one that the protagonists seemed like they wanted to avoid at the cost of several allies’ lives.  It’s the most out-of-place martial arts fight scene ever, with Jill taking out a high-tech spear and Alice countering with two. . . mini-scythe things.  Adding “bad” Rain beating up bulky men nearly twice her size and the usual overuse of bullet time results in levels of cheese that are off the scale.

There’s not a lot more I can say about this movie other than this – don’t watch it.  Don’t spend money to see this train wreck of a movie.  It might look good visually, but it’s really cheesy and doesn’t even utilize 3D all that well.  Not to mention the stupid, nonsensical plot and wooden characters that don’t sound at all excited to be in this movie.  If you can successfully ignore all that and just enjoy this for the mindless action movie it is, then you are a better man than I.  If you can’t then avoid Retribution at all costs, along with the entire Resident Evil movie series for that matter.  I know I will.

Oh man, you were almost a Jill sandwich!

The Dark Knight Rises: Bane’s Voice and Anne Hatheway

I’ve been a huge fan of Batman in general since I was a child: I still love the 90’s animated series, the Arkham Asylum game series is great, and I used to own a ton of Batman action figures and the Batcave playset when I was little.  I also have legitimately enjoyed all the Batman films (except for Batman and Robin, obviously).  The Dark Knight Rises is the finale of the Nolan Batman trilogy, and as such I expected great things from this film.  Did Nolan, Bale and half the cast of Inception deliver?

Story

I can hardly claim to be an expert on comics, but the plot of The Dark Knight Rises was taken from 3 very well known Batman comic arcs: The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall and No Man’s Land.  Gotham has become a much more peaceful place since the events of The Dark Knight.  The Dent Act, named after the (false) fallen hero Harvey Dent, has kept the most dangerous criminals locked up in Blackgate Prison.  Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne retired the Batman persona and spent 8 years as a shut-in – never leaving the rebuilt Wayne Manor.  He is crippled in one leg from the events of the last film, but overcomes his injuries to become Batman once more upon the appearance of two villains: the mysterious cat-burglar Selina Kyle/Catwoman and the ruthless masked terrorist known as Bane.

Both Catwoman and a corrupt business mogul appear to be working with Bane’s group, who plan to bring destruction upon Gotham.  They specifically target Gotham’s rich and powerful citizens, Wayne Enterprises and Batman himself as part of their intricate plot.  While Batman pursues leads on the villain through Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon and patrol officer John Blake follow rumors on the street to Bane’s hideout.  Bane manages to stay one step ahead of them, however, and plunges Gotham into chaos. There is also one final shock near the end of the film: there is another well-known character from the Batman mythos involved with Bane’s plot.

No it is not The Riddler

While the film manages to put together an equal parts daring and well thought out plot as far as Bane’s scheme goes, they take perhaps an uncomfortable amount of liberties with his personal origins and motivations.  And at least for me, the fact that the story is a mashed-up version of three comic stories was made too obvious, while The Dark Knight managed to avoid making it obvious.  The movie also tends to drag on and on, being 3 hours and perhaps focusing too much on side characters and drawing scenes out for dramatic purposes.  What I do enjoy is the symbolism employed by the film with the word “rises” that is in the title.  Bane rises from what is called “hell on earth” to rain terror on Gotham, and like The Joker, is a chaotic and highly intelligent foe that the police cannot defeat.  Thus it falls to Batman to rise out of the ashes of retirement to combat him.  The ending is quite well done, though it doesn’t completely close every plotline – there could be a fourth movie if not for Nolan’s decision to end the film series as a trilogy.

Characters

The Bruce Wayne/Batman of The Dark Knight Rises starts out in a darker place, similar to the Bruce of Batman Begins.  This time though, it is his physical and emotional scars endured from the last film that haunt him: he not only retired Batman, but he spent 8 years as a recluse, holed up in Wayne Manor.  It is actually Selina Kyle who draws him back out, after she steals some precious items from him.  When he finds out about Bane, who the police are struggling to track down, only then does he decide to return despite his aged and battered body.

Does this look like a man who has seen daylight recently?

This decision not only leads to a huge fight with Alfred, but the realization that he now has limits he didn’t have before, and that he may have met his match in the brutal Bane.  Bruce ends up having to find new motivations and new ways to combat his foes this time around.  Some of the anger and darkness, which usually characterizes Batman, disappears whenever Catwoman is around.  Catwoman IS very different from every other character in the movie, but she is an individualist, just like Batman.

Speaking of Bane, there are some good and some bad things.  His design is terrific: he looks exactly like the chaotic terrorist he is, and appears truly menacing and brutal when he’s in control (most of the time).  They even come up with a great replacement for the somewhat gimmicky “Venom” of the comics by having Bane be in constant pain from a botched surgery: he inhales painkillers through his cool-looking gas mask constantly so he can function.  His intelligence is completely intact as well, managing to outmaneuver both the police and Batman for a long time.  Both Bane’s fighting style and methods are as brutal as you’d think.  He doesn’t just want to destroy Gotham, he wants to do so in the cruelest possible way.  Just like the comic version, Bane is a handful for anyone to take on.

Bane seems really fond of this pose for some reason

When it comes to Bane’s origin though, it is rather hit-and-miss.  He was born in a prison like his comic counterpart, growing up to be an extremely intelligent yet brutal extremist as a result.  But he appears to be of Irish/English descent, not Spanish like he should be.  I only say this because it leads into my biggest problem with Bane: his voice.  The Lizard sounds elegant compared to him and his hilarious muffled voice that I could hardly take seriously at all.  Sure the voice is loud and booming like it should be, but that doesn’t matter when you can hardly understand a thing he says.  I think he would’ve sounded a lot better with a Spanish accent as opposed to a mask. . . cent.

As mentioned before, Catwoman is very different from just about every character in the Nolan film series.  While most major characters are altered in both personality and appearance to fit the gritty realism of the Nolan universe, Selina Kyle/Catwoman is not.  She’s pretty much exactly like her comic book counterpart: sexy, impulsive and an individualist.  Selina has plenty of wit, putting in her snarky two cents even in the most stressful situations, and is not above using feminine charms to her advantage.  While she is a very likeable character, I felt that her more “comicy” personality was at odds with the gritty realistic flavor of the rest of the film, especially during the climax.  Though she did have great chemistry with the ever-gritty Batman: a requirement to play an effective Selina Kyle.

Safes are always useless in movies. Just like the police.

Commissioner Gordon spent the 8 years between The Dark Knight and this film working nonstop to clean up the streets of Gotham, and largely succeeded thanks to the Dent Act denying parole to violent criminals.  However, he never got over the events at the end of The Dark Knight, and the fact that they built up Harvey Dent as a savior after he committed horrible acts.  His insane dedication to his work also caused his wife and child to leave.  It should come as no surprise that he’s perhaps too eager to jump into action, especially considering his age.

John Blake, a relatively fresh police officer, was orphaned at a young age, like Bruce Wayne.  The feelings of anger and the emotional “mask” he uses to hide said anger are very similar to what Bruce went through.  This helps Blake to correctly deduce that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and he directly appeals to Wayne to make his return.  He is a bit hotheaded, which puts him at odds with most of his superiors, but that same trait also makes him a favorite of Gordon’s.

Alfred, who has stood by Bruce Wayne forever, is not happy to see Bruce don the Batsuit again after 8 years.  Many of his concerns are legitimate, but Bruce refuses to back down, ultimately causing Alfred to take extreme measures to stop him.  He serves as a constant reminder of Bruce’s “loss” of a life after Batman, due to Rachel Dawes’ death in The Dark Knight.  We get a deeper look into Alfred’s pain as he recounts how he spent his time during Bruce’s travels in Batman Begins, and how he wanted him to find a new life outside of Gotham, instead of returning to where he lost everything.

Visuals

Unsurprisingly, the visual style of The Dark Knight Rises is very similar to the previous Nolan Batman films.  Most of the fight scenes don’t last long, but feature plenty of action as Batman beats in thugs’ faces or Catwoman pulls off acrobatic kicks and all the sexy moves you’d expect from a chick in a skintight outfit.  When Bane is involved, the pace of the fighting tends to slow down a bit, just enough to really show off his brutal punches and slams that are meant to BREAK his opponent with every hit.

Bane proves once again that the head region is the most effective area to break

The Nolan films have always boasted some impressive overhead shots and exciting action sequences (with explosions in all the right places), but this movie in particular has a ton of them.  When Bane announces his presence to Gotham with an endless chain of explosions, you know that there’s no escape from his carefully planted web of destruction.  There’s no CGI here either: those explosions are real and actually look like the fruits of calculated labor by Bane’s group.  The overhead (and occasionally underhead) shots have a shocking amount of depth: I’m almost sad this movie wasn’t in 3D.  I also want all football games to be shot like the football sequence in this movie.  If I had to complain about something. . . I wish they still used Chicago for the Gotham City stand-in rather than Pittsburgh.

Football would be much better with explosions, admit it

Music

Like the visuals, the music of The Dark Knight Rises is quite similar to the previous films.  Hans Zimmer returns to create plenty of adreneline-pumping tracks for action scenes and booming, epic chords for dramatic moments.  Some of the tracks, though, feel like they were taken directly from the last two films.  Notably, Catwoman receives a theme/motif of her own that plays whenever she’s in action.  It consists of light string chords played at medium or fast paces depending on the situation.  It’s easy to visualize Selina creeping around or getting the jump on thugs to said theme, which is exactly what a Catwoman theme should do.  There’s also several times where Arabic chanting is weaved into the soundtrack, though it mostly is used in the movie proper as prisoners in the foreign prison that once held Bane repeatedly chant during attempted escapes.  The words they chant, “deshi deshi basara basara”, translate to “rise rise, up up”, adding yet another layer to the “rise” symbolism.

Overall

The Dark Knight Rises provides a nice conclusion to the Nolan Batman series as Bruce Wayne faces his toughest challenge yet against very effective villains.  Personally though, this was my least favorite entry in the series, due mostly to the plot blatantly mixing and matching various comic book stories together and Catwoman’s portrayal occasionally being at-odds with the feel of the movie (and Bane’s hilarious voice too).  I would probably not recommend this movie too strongly to those who are familiar with Batman’s history and mythos, due to how much they rely on pulling plot elements from the comics and the changes they make to Bane.  For more casual fans of Batman though, The Dark Knight Rises is full of action and plenty of plot twists, just like The Dark Knight.  It’s a very exciting movie that most summer movie goers will love.  But I think The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers outclass it and win the year for Marvel myself.

The Amazing Spider-Man – No More Tobey

It’s already here, actually

I apologize for the two week wait, I had a few issues with work and the realization that, if I’m going to review a movie that I see in theaters, I have to do it the very next day or not at all.  Now you get to enjoy a review of a film that hasn’t even seen its first weekend: The Amazing Spider-Man.  Does it live up to the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire films?  We’ll see.

Story

Like the 2002 Spider-Man film, The Amazing Spider-Man is an origin story.  Peter Parker is an awkward teen that lives with his aunt and uncle, gets bitten by an enhanced super-spider, and gains his trademark powers (though they did miss the Spider Sense).  Uncle Ben is then shot and killed by a thief whom Peter could have stopped, leading him to become a vigilante.  The basic plot similarities between this film and the 2002 movie may bore some viewers, but there are more than enough differences for The Amazing Spider-Man to stand on its own.  One of Peter Parker’s biggest motivations in the movie is to find out what happened to his parents, who left him with Aunt May and Uncle Ben at a young age before departing for parts unknown.  His investigations lead him to Dr. Connors, a former college of his father’s, who reveals that the two of them were researching cross-species genetics as a way to cure illnesses and re-grow lost limbs.  Dr. Connors is still involved with cross-species genetics research under Oscorp, and is being pressured by his superior to find a cure for the unseen CEO of Oscorp, Norman Osborn.

Of course, cross-species genetics were responsible for creating the spider that gave Peter his powers, and also give birth to Spider-Man’s first nemesis and the main antagonist of the film: The Lizard.  Well, the main antagonist alongside Oscorp, which operates as your standard mysterious corporation that drives the plot along with its complete lack of business ethics.  Peter also has to deal with the police’s attempts to bring him in, which is made awkward considering the manhunt is led by Cpt. George Stacy, the father of his girlfriend Gwen.

The movie focuses mainly on Peter’s troubles and heroic exploits as Spider-Man and has very few subplots, thus allowing more time for the characters to shine (and shine they do).  The film leaves a lot of loose ends when it comes to the whereabouts of Peter’s parents and the future role of Oscorp, but ultimately leaves plenty of material for potential sequel films to cover, and creates some buzz for the next one with a post-credits scene.  Marvel movies in general have gotten really good at the whole hype-creating thing.

Characters

Andrew Garfield plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man, who I think pulls off the role much better than Tobey Maguire did.  Garfield actually looks and acts like an awkward outcast, as opposed to Maguire’s Hollywood nerd character.  Peter’s troubled past and high intelligence play major roles in the story too; both were ignored in the 2002 film.  He doesn’t become a wise cracking vigilante right away either – he actively hunts the criminal that killed Uncle Ben and pushes his aunt away in the process.  The parts where he does wise crack behind the mask are short, but quite amusing nonetheless.  I actually would’ve liked to see more of that. . . maybe in the sequel.  Peter’s development from a troubled and angry teen into a true hero really shows as he earns the respect of the people around him: he doesn’t just take Uncle Ben’s advice and develop fully right then and there.  The difference in personality that Peter displays behind the mask as opposed to his normal behavior is also displayed quite nicely.

Dr. Connors’ motivations are known right from the start: he wants to help sick and disabled people through his cross-species genetics research, including himself (he has one arm).  He feels that everyone should be able to benefit from his breakthroughs (which Peter helped him achieve).  These desires end up causing huge problems for Connors and Spider-Man, when his superiors at Oscorp push the normally ethical scientist to extreme measures.  Connors is ultimately a flawed character that both Peter and the viewers sympathize with, even as his actions become more and more extreme.

Gwen Stacy, not Mary Jane, was Peter Parker’s first love in the comics, and correctly appears in this movie.  Even though Peter is a shy outcast and Gwen is extroverted and (presumably) popular, they end up getting together thanks to the bond of science and the age-old “opposites attract” theory.  Emma Stone plays Gwen as a peppy and somewhat stubborn girl, who insists on staying with Peter and helping him out even after learning of his alter ego (while somehow avoiding damsel in distress status).  Though the vast differences between the two lead to some. . . interesting exchanges of dialogue.

And by interesting I mean hilariously awkward.

Uncle Ben and Aunt May are essentially Peter’s parents, and act as such; worrying about Peter’s increasingly angry behavior and embarrassing him in front of Gwen.  Uncle Ben (played wonderfully by Martin Sheen) in particular establishes himself as a witty yet hard-working blue collar man, who only wants Peter to be happy.  When Ben meets his tragic end, it’s quite jarring, even though most viewers know its coming.  Almost all of the major characters are affected by his death as well, even the SCHOOL BULLY that torments Peter.  Aunt May, who originally stood up for Peter when Ben scolded him, ended up scolding Peter herself when the former’s behavior turned cold.

Police Captain George Stacy leads the manhunt for Spider-Man, assuming the role of the authority figure that opposes the web-slinger’s vigilante activities.  He and the police pose a much bigger threat to Spider-Man than J. Jonah Jameson and his negative PR did in the first film: they are far more competent than most superhero movie cops.  He has a strong sense of justice, and thus is easily irritated when Peter defends Spider-Man’s actions over dinner with the Stacy family.

Flash Thompson, the jock that constantly bullies Peter at school, does more than simply fill the role of stereotypical school bully.  While he does beat on Peter and some others, he starts to show humility after being stood up to and embarrassed by a super-powered Parker.  He stops bullying Peter completely after Uncle Ben’s death, sympathizing with him, and eventually even befriending him.  His hero worship of Spider-Man is touched on as well.  This is probably the first time I’ve wanted a school bully type to actually recur in a series.

Visuals

The previous series of Spider-Man films (and many of the more recent Marvel comics films) have all boasted impressive visuals and fight scenes, and The Amazing Spider-Man is no different.  Overhead shots of the city, particularly those featuring Oscorp Tower, stand out among billions of similar shots in other films.  The stunts and fight scenes are pulled off with more realism than in the previous Spidey films.  Spider-Man actually looks like he’s swinging from building to building as opposed to gliding through the air with a rope, and the fight scenes involve no shaky camera tricks, only Spidey flipping off walls onto guys’ shoulders and tossing them down with his legs.

Maximum Spider!

The Lizard is brought to life with a combination of stunt doubles, CGI and motion capture, with the final product being genuinely intimidating and slightly creepy with the human-like scaly head attached to a 10-foot tall monster body.  He smashes things and tries to break Spidey’s arms as you’d expect, but he also talks: personally I’d rather he look more lizard-like as far as the head goes.  The Lizard’s going to look silly either way when he’s taunting Spider-Man with his booming voice.  This movie manages to make good use of 3D, focusing on Spider-Man’s web slinging and swinging and taking advantage of The Lizard’s huge size and large pieces of debris.  At the same time, they’re smart enough to keep it out of the way during character moments.  This movie was actually shot for 3D unlike many of its brethren, resulting in a much cleaner product.

The last thing you want to see outside your window

Music

There really isn’t a whole lot to say about the soundtrack of the movie: it recalls the music other Marvel films like The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers with its dramatic crescendos at “epic” moments and its quiet background chords during dialogue.  The music certainly is not a huge factor in the film, especially during extended character scenes where it’s absent altogether.  The 2002 film actually eclipses Amazing Spider-Man in this regard. . . the original had to win SOMETHING, right?

Overall

The Amazing Spider-Man looks and feels like your usual summer superhero movie, but is more realistic with its visuals and its characters.  Nothing feels bland in this film, despite the plot being very simplistic and Spider-Man’s origin treading the same ground as the 2002 version at times.  It is quite similar to The Avengers in that it actually feels like a comic book movie, with The Avengers focusing a bit more on the humor aspect of comic stories.  Spidey comics were always a bit more serious than others, along with the X-Men, so it makes sense for Peter Parker’s character development to be at the forefront.  This is by far the best Spider-Man movie yet – I would recommend it to any movie lover of any age.