Dunkirk

I’ll start off by acknowledging a personal bias in that I believe Christopher Nolan can do no wrong as a director.  His ‘Dark Knight’ series set the standard for super-hero movies and films like ‘Memento’ and ‘Inception’ showed just how far he can push our abilities to comprehend the abstract.  Even box office disappointments like ‘Interstellar’ still showed his ability to tell well crafted stories and to pull incredible performances out of actors.  ‘Dunkirk’ is a welcome addition to his filmography and no less impressive.  It tells a story that most Americans know nothing about as it happened prior to our entry to the second World War.  Dunkirk is a city in Europe directly across the English Channel from England.  An estimated 400,000 allied forces from France, Belgium, and England are surrounded by the German army and desperately await to be evacuated from the beaches. The problem is the Allies did’t know how to do it and losing this many soldiers would surely change the tide of the War. The solution is to send a civilian fleet of private boats through U-boat infested waters to take troops back to English shores.

Nolan uses three interweaved stories to tell the tale, but interestingly enough, these overlapping stories take place over different periods of time.  ‘The Mole’ portion which follows an English platoon takes place over a week’s period, while ‘The Water’, involving the actual evacuation, takes place over a day.  The third and perhaps most dramatic story called ‘The Air’ is about a one hour air battle over the Channel where two English pilots attempt to protect the civilian armada from German dive bombers.  It’s a bit disorienting at first as, I stated, the events intermix even though they take place over different periods of time.  Chris Nolan’s skill is that disorientation quickly evolves into a poetry of storytelling.  Accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s music score, the images and events flow effortlessly together and slowly build to the crescendo of the troops leaving the beaches of Dunkirk.  I doubt few Directors have the skill to give us a montage about War that can seem both beautiful and riveting at the same time. 

Nolan favorite Tom Hardy is a highlight in this film as the British pilot and, much like in ‘Dark Knight Rises’, most of his performance is with his face covered.  It shows the extent of his talent as some of the film’s most powerful performances are from Hardy with only his eyes conveying the emotional content.  Much has been made of including boy band singer Harry Styles in this film, but Nolan compared it to his controversial choice of casting Heath Ledger as the Joker in ‘Dark Knight Rises’.  Nolan succeeds in his casting choice as is evidenced by how much Styles doesn’t stand out.  He gives a strong performance, but his celebrity isn’t distracting rather he is just another soldier in the platoon. Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance round out the well known actors giving us views of the events from entirely different vantage points.

I highly recommend this movie as a well crafted and powerfully poetic movie that gives the uninitiated a history lesson for good measure.  This isn’t your typical war movie as there is little blood (although some harrowing water scenes).  This is a film you can tell was important to Christopher Nolan to make, but it equally highlights his mastery of film making as anything else. ‘Dunkirk’ is like watching a symphony of images.  One feels from a soldier’s point of view what this historical event must have been like and I can think of no better tribute to the soldiers than to dramatize it in this way.  Another great creation from Christopher Nolan.

I give this film **** stars

Dunkirk Trailer

War for the Planet of the Apes

I often wonder why so many movie studios reboot or remake old classics.  Rarely do the updated versions of the film capture the magic of the original film. Usually, it leaves the generation that remembers the film frustrated and new movie goers indifferent to films that played a big part in pop culture in previous eras.  To be honest, I know why studios do it as they feel they have built in audiences who will spend their movie dollars if for no other reason than nostalgia.  That is why I have been so impressed with Director Matt Reeves trilogy of ‘The Planet of the Apes’ and in particular the finale ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’. It drew from a movie that was considered semi-campy even in the seventies and took the mythos completely serious and he has given us a thoughtful and updated parabole for modern times.  In addition, I am rarely impressed by special effects, but the CGI rendering of the apes in this film is so seamless that, in someways, they become more human than their live action counterparts.  Andy Serkis, the actor who plays the motion capture for the lead ape Caesar, also played Golumn in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.  Many felt (myself included) that he deserved an Oscar for his performance, but the Academy has yet to acknowledge motion capture performances. Once again, Serkis brings a level of gravitas and humanity to Caesar where I feel he has once again risen to a level of Oscar consideration. I don’t use the word “Epic” lightly, but as I watched this film, that word was constantly in my mind.

Most people are familiar with the twist ending of the original Charlton Heston film where it was revealed that the ape dominated planet he found himself on was actually Earth.  Matt Reeves explores the sequence of events that led to an ape dominated earth.  His first two films laid the foundation of the creation of the hyper intelligent Caesar where the byproduct of the process used to engineer him led to the creation of a Simian virus which wiped out most of humanity.  Reeve’s first two films explored the travails of two dominant species tying to co-exist.  What I really loved is that he skipped the easy road of morality with a victim/persecutor story line.  Instead he explored basic questions of survival.  Good and evil exist in both Ape and Man and conflict happens despite the best intentions of leaders to avoid it.  Anger and hatred can warp the most noble of beings and ultimately survival is what determines life.  

The opening of the ‘War of the Planet of the Apes’ find humans living in military tribes and the Apes carving out an existence in hidden forest refuges.  Humans still have the upper hand due to their technology, yet are fearful that extinction of their species is a possibility.  One Military group led by a man known only as ‘The Colonel’ (played by a surprisingly fearsome Woody Harrelson) has taken it upon themselves to wipe out all apes lest mankind perish.  His cult like sway over his military followers is reminiscent of Marlon Brando in ‘Apocalypse Now’.  In fact, there is an inside joke when one sees graffiti that says “Ape-pocalypse Now” painted on a sewer wall. The Colonel leads several missions into the forest to hunt the Apes that, despite the technological difference, lead to massive causalities on both sides.  Despite major losses, Caesar still dreams of peace and even spares his human captives, returning them with his message of desired peace.  It isn’t until the loss of his family at the hands of The Colonel that Caesar renounces his leadership of the Apes and sets out for personal revenge against him.  He knows his soul has been lost to everything he had hoped to achieve, but ultimately fate has left him no choice than to seek retribution.  With a small band at his side, he points the rest of the apes in the direction of safety while he goes in search of The Colonel.  

Along the way, Caesar’s small ragtag group of apes come across a human child who has lost her ability to speak and reasons at the most basic of levels.  They discover that the Simian virus which wiped out most of humanity has mutated and is turning many of the remaining humans mute and bestial.  They give the child the name ‘Nova’ after a car hood ornament she cherishes (a call back to the original Nova from the seventies).  Eventually the group finds The Colonel and Caesar is captured. The film borrows liberally from the film ‘Bridge Over the River Kwai’ as it becomes a prison movie.  The Colonel’s madness in the face of Caesar’s dignity gives this film a weight the original series never had. We completely understand what motivates everyone and we challenge ourselves to say we would do anything differently in each of their places given the circumstances. 

As I stated before, the seriousness and gravitas of this film given its’ campy origins is what sets this apart from the typical reboot.  This is an Oscar level Epic even though I doubt the Academy will reward it.  The power of the performances through the CGI would have given any one of these actors an Oscar level consideration had they not been apes.  Even though these films are doing well both critically and in the box office, I feel many won’t see this new trilogy based upon pre-conceptions of the original. Take a chance on this. You don’t have to see the first two in this trilogy to enjoy this film, but if you can, see all three.  It’s a rare example of where a reboot is vastly superior to its’ source material

 I give this film **** stars

War for the Planet of the Apes

Spider-Man: Homecoming

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ has generated a great deal of interest from super-hero nerds such as myself ever since Tom Holland’s fan pleasing debut in last year’s ‘Captain America: Civil War’.  A quick history: Back in the 90’s, Marvel was financial difficulties and sold the movie rights to their biggest titles like The Fantastic Four, X-Men, and of course the most famous Marvel creation, Spider-Man to other film companies as a way of generating some revenue.  Back then, no one had any idea what goldmine superhero movies would become.  As a result, when Marvel started their own movies, they weren’t allowed to use some of their biggest titles.  Movie rights to Spider-Man were owned by Sony and they had no interest in letting marvel have any piece of that.  After a string of several critically panned movies, Sony decided to let Marvel use Spider-Man on a shared revenue basis and fans went wild at the idea of Spider-Man being handled by the dream team at Marvel.  Now if only they would let Marvel handle the Fantastic Four as well.

Since there has already been two origin movies of Spider-Man in recent memory, Marvel decided to jump right in.  His introduction in ‘Captain America: Civil War” was everything that fans had hoped for and I have to say that Marvel delivered a highly respectable and enjoyable Spider-Man.  I’m not going to jump on the band wagon and say it was the best Marvel movie ever as some are claiming, but it truly did capture the essence of Spider-Man despite some modern reinventing of the character.  British actor Tom Holland was an inspired choice to play Spider-Man as not only does he captures Peter Parker’s nerdish and handsome demeanor, but he is also an actual teenager as opposed to Andrew Garfield’s 30 year old high schooler.  Marisa Tomei takes the elderly character of Aunt May and makes her more modern, younger, and attractive.  Peter’s circle of high school friends also represent a more modern diverse group of people.

Starting off with a clever video diary of the events that led Peter to the events of ‘Captain America: Civil War’, the movie also establishes a more buoyant and light tone, while at the same time of establishing the mentor relationship of Tony Stark through his sidekick Happy Hogan (an always delightful Jo Favreau).  Having impressed Tony Stark during the epic fight in Civil War, Tony gifts Peter a souped up Spider-Man suit that even includes an onboard A.I. computer named Alice (similar to Ironman’s Jarvis or Friday).  While cool, I thought this was a point where they strayed from Spiderman’s street level appeal.  Spiderman is more a working man’s hero, not a super high tech crime fighter.  I felt the film spent too much time in Peter becoming acclimated to his super suit.

Michael Keaton returns to the superhero world, but this time as the villain Adrian Toomis aka The Vulture.  While definitely not a nice guy, we have some sympathy for him as his driving force is the welfare of his family.  Starting the film out as the owner of a clean up crew working on salvaging the Avenger’s tower demolition after the alien invasion, we quickly feel his frustration and anger over losing his business sustaining contract to a government agency heavily involved with Tony Stark.  Keeping some of the alien technology he found, Toomis and his crew become a high-end exotic arms dealer and makes a comfortable underground living salvaging or stealing alien tech to sell to criminals.  He points out that selling munitions to the bad guys is not that different from how Stark made his fortune.  He even designed a ‘Vulture’ like suit from the alien technology to help in steal more alien tech.

Spider-Man and Vulture’s worlds collide when Peter stops the Vulture’s henchmen from robbing a bank. The inadvertent collateral damage caused by the fight brings The Vulture’s operations to the attention of the authorities.  Peter is eager to prove himself by stopping the Vulture, but Tony mentors that Peter is not ready for this level of villain and that there are “others” who handle this sort of thing.  Not being dissuaded, Peter sneaks out to go after the Vulture with almost catastrophic results.

Much like the comic book, the writers deftly balance Peter’s super hero life with the trials and tribulations of his high school existence.  Somehow both seem equally important as Peter tries to get the girl of his dreams while keeping his alter ego a secret.  The writer’s had a lot of fun from self-admiringly borrowing from John Hushes movies of the eighties as he navigates the popularity tiers of high school.  One particular scene spoofs ‘Ferris Bueller’s’ scramble through the back yards of suburbia.  

I enjoyed how the film started off with a frivolous feel, but through a series of twists and turns slowly gained a level of gravitas as Peter matured in his role as Spider-Man. This was a welcome addition of a long awaited character to the Marvel universe (I hope they do the same with the Netflix characters someday).  I think this movie was over hyped, but it was still a respectable and enjoyable ride.  Congratulations Marvel for keeping the magic alive despite the naysayers who feel that we’ve passed the over saturation point of superheroes. I look forward to future adventures.

I give this film *** stars 

Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailer