The Gift

       At the urging of my brother, I decided to move up the film,’The Gift’, on my queue of movies to watch.  I’m so glad I did as this is one of those hidden gems that will go unnoticed by the public until it comes out on Blu-ray.  This is a B-movie genre film that rises above its’ station to deliver a well crafted and intelligently thought out thriller.  In this day and age of over the top action, briskly paced stories, and formulaic paint-by-numbers genre films, it’s nice to have a film that takes its’ time crafting a story where the viewer is taken in and doesn’t know where they will be transported.

Joel Edgerton is the writer and director, but also the lead antagonist, so my hats off to him for this personal project that he delivers with skill and vision.  The story centers around a married couple, Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) moving back to California and running into an old acquaintance, Gordo (Joel Edgerton) from Simon’s past. Gordo's social awkwardness to reconnect with Simon charms Robyn, but Simon is uncomfortable by this mysterious person from his childhood.  However, even Robyn becomes uneasy as random gifts start appearing on their doorsteps as well as Gordo himself, but Robyn’s sense of social protocol requires her to at least invite Gordo over for dinner.  The tension rises as Gordo’s interest intensifies, while never quite crossing any boundaries.  Sometimes you just know something is creepy without ever being able to put your finger on it.

For anyone who lived through the 1980’s, who would have thought that Jason Bateman would have become more well known than his sister, Justine (of Family Ties fame).   Not only has he become more famous, but he has demonstrated that he is a versatile and gifted actor who is able to do everything from comedy to dark thrillers (and anything in between).  If this were any other type of film, I would say that Jason had a shot at an Academy Award for his portrayal of this nuanced role.  I’m frustrated that I cannot write more about this film without giving away too much of the twists and turns, but I will say that this film takes you in directions you don’t expect.  And as I stated earlier, it is in no hurry to take you there.  As the story slowly and artfully unfolds, you begin to reassess your assumptions of who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist.  Do these terms really even apply?  Is the victim always the innocent and is the predator always in the wrong?  One thing I will reveal is that by the end of the film, I still don’t have the answer to those questions.

Joel Edgerton demonstrates the skill of a craftsman as he seeks to draw out the tension as long as possible as he slowly reveals his vision for what is actually going on.  The theme of a wife not really knowing the true nature of her husband is a well treaded plot device, but Edgerton is able to make it seem fresh as the horror of Robyn discovering what her husband is really capable of begins to dawn on her.  I would imagine it must be difficult for Edgerton to direct himself in this role as Gordo, but he captures the essence of someone who seems nice on the surface, but has an unidentifiable creepiness to him.  Still, as the story unfolds, even though the creepiness and the danger remain, we do begin to feel empathy if not sorrow for Gordo.  That takes skill from a story teller not to sacrifice core character traits in order to achieve a plot point.  Edgerton is able to take tension and make it build, while never letting it snap.  It’s excruciating, but that is part of the fun.

If you like thrillers in the vein of ‘Fatal Attraction’, then I highly recommend this film.  Not every film has to be a mega blockbuster to be worthy of being made and ‘The Gift’ illustrates that point.  I have to believe there is still a market for the art of story telling and character development.  From that sense, ‘The Gift’ is a gift for those who seek that out.  I recommend this as a date movie, but you might be taking a second look at the person you are with once you walk out of the theatre.

I give this film *** 1/2 stars

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4178092/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Fantastic Four

      I would like to start off by saying that, despite considering myself somewhat a purist when it comes to interpretations of superheroes in films, I do enjoy a good reboot of a character or franchise.  Characters that were created in the 1960’s must be brought up to date to remain relevant and a new take on a classic character is essential as one can’t keep telling the same story over and over and still be interesting.  Franchises like Bond, Superman, and Batman have all successfully rebooted their franchises and breathed new life into characters for a new generation.  That being said, Josh Trank is an impressive director and the cast that was assembled was solid and even provocative, so I approached the reboot of the disappointing 2005 Fantastic Four films with optimism.  My optimism was betrayed.  This film was a hot mess from top to bottom.  Its’ attempt at grounded realism failed and the result was a dark and ponderous film that had no concept of what makes superheroes magic.  Of course, one accepts change in characters and storyline with a reboot, but after it’s over, one should feel the essence of the character is captured.  When Daniel Craig uttered the phrase “My name is Bond; James Bond” at the end of ‘Casino Royale’ we totally accepted him as Bond despite the changes.  This was not the case with the Fantastic Four.  These were not the characters of the comic book nor even an effective re-imagining.

Josh Trank has already distanced himself from this film after opening day, tweeting that the studios took his film and messed it up.  Not sure that is completely true as the basic concept of the re-imaging was flawed, but I will continue.  The core casting was solid; Miles Teller and Michael B Jordan were both inspired casting choices as Reed Richards and Johnny Storm.  Jordan caused manufactured controversy as his character is blond haired and blue eyed in the comics and Jordan is African American.  This was not an issue while watching and he was actually one of the more faithful portrayals in the film.  As for everyone else, the casting director should be publicly humiliated.  Every great film needs a great super villain, and Tobey Kebbell as Dr Doom was embarrassingly pathetic.  Dr Doom is the genius blue-blooded monarch of the fictitious country of Latveria. He is Marvel’s greatest villain and is a man of enormous intellect, presence, and gravitas.  This film portrayed him as an unkempt, disenfranchised,underground hacker who just happened to be from Latveria.  He possessed no sense of regality or purpose other than being anti-authority and government (ironically, totally opposite of his iron fisted despot persona in the comics).  Kate Mara and Jamie Bell were uninspired choices for Sue Storm and The Thing.  The CGI was impressive for the Thing, but that is all I can say about it.  Thespian Reg E. Cathay as Dr. Franklin Richards must have thought he was in a Shakespeare production as he bellowed every line with over the top abandon.

So where does that leave us?  I had no problem with the altering of the original story by having the team gain their powers through inter-dimensional travel rather than a mere space trip.  I didn’t even have an issue with making them all teenagers instead of adults like in the comic book.  My issue is that not only did the gloom and pace suck all the life out of the story, but the magic fun that Marvel is able to capture in its’ films was completely absent.  Marvel has mastered the magic formula to create the excitement comic book geeks had as kids when reading their stories.  Movies in the hands of people who don’t understand this and that try to make what they think a comic book movie is fails miserably.  The most notable example is Joel Schumacher’s ‘Batman and Robin’ which should have ended a lot more careers than it did.  There is nothing fun or wondrous about the Fantastic Four and the character development and interplay was on par with a CW show rather than something worthy of the First Family of comics.

The story itself was silly and made all the worse as they cloaked it in a dark, tedious, and politically correct self-important atmosphere.  The team traveling to an alternate universe in secret (and while drunk mind you)to find resources to save our dying planet, strained credulity (is climate change in every Hollywood movie now?).  Supposedly the strange green glowing substance they found there gives them their powers, but Sue Storm wasn’t even with them, so I didn’t understand how she was affected to.  Victor Von Doom is left behind and when they return to the alternate dimension they find Doom an all powerful recluse who wants to remain there and rule…what? I’m not sure since he seemed to be the only inhabitant.  Equally confusing is why he appears to be crippled when he is mysteriously all-powerful and why, if he wants to stay in the alternate universe, he allows them to bring him back to Earth. Doom was a character of great power and cunning in the comics.  This Doom walked around like a character that belonged in the movie ‘Scanners’, randomly exploding peoples heads with undefined power and glowing green.  Whatever they call this character in this film, it was no way even a remote reimagining of Dr. Doom.  I don’t know what it was.  

In the third act, the battle to save Earth in the alternate dimension lacked any sense of wonder and, indeed, approached levels of hokey and camp that I haven’t seen for quite awhile in superhero films.  Whether or not Trank is responsible for this mess, it is obvious that the final product is a result of people who have no concept of superheroes.  The Fantastic Four was Marvel’s flagship at one time and someone should be able to make a great movie from it.  This is not it.  It will be interesting to see where it goes from here, because sequels had already been planned and cross-overs with the X-Men were in the works.   I cannot imagine Sony going forward after this dismal outing.  My hope is that they sell the movie rights back to Marvel, who I have no doubt would be able to make a movie worth seeing.

Sometimes movies are so bad they ruin your day.  This was one.

I give this film 1/2 star

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502712/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1