Movie Review: Fantastic Four.

I have never been a big fan of the Fantastic Four.
In my opinion, they're the product of an older era of the superhero concept, one that has moved on in leaps and bounds in the sixty-odd years since the original Marvel team first appeared. They've tried to give a fresh spin to the familiar characters of Mr Fantastic, Johnny and Sue Storm, and The Thing so many times you would think they'd be unrecognizable, but nothing ever really seems to change with these guys.

The same seems to be true every time they cross to a new media. Sure, they had a popular cartoon in the 90's, but no one liked it as much as the X-Men cartoon, and the last two Fantastic Four film adaptations were coughed up among other, more successful comic movies and were swiftly forgotten. Did we really need another reboot of the team that just keeps getting left behind?

For the first hour of the brand new, imaginatively titled 'Fantastic Four', you could have fooled me that we did. We follow the misadventures of a young Reed Richards, a genius scientific prodigy building his teleportation device in his father's garage with the help of his friend Ben, and it's good cinema all the way. We watch their friendship grow as they work on Reed's device in his high school science fair, and then be tested as Reed is recruited by the project head of a secret government test site to finish ironing out the kinks in their grand design.

All this is good stuff. The character work is strong, the acting is enjoyable. The characters aren't a far stretch from what we know and expect. The project lead's two children, the frosty and detail oriented Sue Storm, and her cocky street racing brother Johnny, join Reed on his development of the teleportation device that will save mankind from itself. Also working on the project is the foreign wild-card Victor Von Doom, an outspoken youth with just as much genius as Reed, but dangerous personality quirks. At least, this is what we're told about Victor, from the point of view of the government suit who takes the role of the film's villain through 90% of the runtime.

The Victor we actually see isn't all that bad at all. He's just a confident, unforgiving young man who considers the ruling cliche of America unacceptable. Which isn't villainous at all, considering the proof we see of the nefarious intentions of these same government characters.

Together, the soon to become Fantastic foursome and Victor perfect the project, and in a twist of drunken college intent, decide to send themselves through the teleporter before some astronaut can take all the glory. Instead of it being the four we expect who get to travel to the alternate world, however,  they leave Sue Storm behind and drag along Ben Grimm, which seemed not particularly sensible, but friendship IS magic after all.

The excursion doesn't go as planned, and while Sue watches helplessly from her monitors back on Earth, Victor plunges his hand into a pool of living energy and sets off an earthquake that threatens to kill them all. Reed, Johnny and Grimm are thrown back through the teleporter (each with fitting and appropriate twists and malfunctions that decide their powers) and back to Earth to face the results of their mistake.

We see a glimpse of them afterwards, the four just beginning to show signs of their powers, before we are treated to the screen that, in my opinion, completely ruined the movie. A fade to black with the words: 1 year later.

Instead of following the characters we've seen for the whole film, and watch them experience their new powers, with all the joy and horror that would come with it, the film just skips it all entirely to take us to a future where they have already all mastered their abilities. We don't get to see Johnny Storm realize he can fly and throw fireballs, we don't get to see Sue learn to control her invisibility or develop her force fields, we don't get a single scene with poor old Ben Grimm realizing what he has become as he looks down at himself. All the character development up to this point is essentially wasted, and what should have been the most dramatic, intense part of the movie, is skipped completely.

From here, the film takes a roller coaster spiral downwards into the finale. No time is wasted on characters anymore, it's just government conspiracy and half-hearted arguments between the characters we don't really know anymore.

The finale rushes in like a truck, and after a second attempt to send travelers to the alternate world, Victor is back on the scene and becomes the movie's instant villain, with little to no real reason or drive. He's back, he wants to destroy everything, and the Fantastic Four must stop him.

The problem here is that we haven't seen these characters grow together, we haven't seen moments of reprieve from the training, or scenes of friendship or the characters just being themselves. From what we gather from the choppy sequences post time skip, they've barely even seen each other in a year. This doesn't feel like a team at all, as much as four characters who're just conveniently together in time to fight the bad guy. Which they do, and in under five minutes have defeated and saved the world.

The whole thing is over so fast and so effortlessly that Doom feels entirely like an afterthought instead of the great villain he's meant to be. The final battle is almost a joke, it's over so quick, not to mention they actually have a moment where Reed stretches out one of his arms to box Doom in the face, complete with comedy elastic noise, and expect us still to be taking the fight seriously.

It all started out so good, and it's such a shame that after the first act, the film just became a trial in the expected. There's no dynamic between our heroes, which is incredibly noticeable in the awkward scenes between Reed and Ben towards the end of the film, and there's not even any effort to develop the heavily hinted at love triangle with Reed/Sue/Doom that should have been so important. With its short run time, it seems to be missing its entire second act altogether.

The worst part is, for a superhero team that above all else and all others is about family, friendship and being close with one another, the Fantastic Four feels like less of a team than any other superhero movie I've ever seen. By the finale they seem to have no real connection, no genuine friendships, and the scene where they are meant to be taking friendly shots at each other just feels like they are being intentionally cruel to one another.

If the film could have continued with the fun and cleverness that it started with, there would be something here. What we have here instead, is a film that will be doing a very fine Invisible Woman impression at the box office.

Movie Review: Dude Bro Party Massacre 3.

I saw a film last week. I saw it in a quiet little theater after hours during San Diego Comic-con. It had the aura of going to some banned piece of cinema, no posters on the walls, just a few eager filmmakers and a lot of t shirts with exploding heads on them.
I was going to see Dude Bro Party Massacre 3, and I was not disappointed.

What unfolded on the screen before me was the most brilliant homage to the slasher horror genre of the 1980's you'll find out there today. It's inexcusably violent, unapologetically crude, and a huge amount of fun.

We're introduced to the blood soaked world of Dude Bro Party Massacre through a mile-a-minute recap of the previous (Non-existent) films in the series. Where we learn the terrible origins of serial killer Motherface, and how she has terrorized the beer swilling souls of the local fraternity, Delta Bi Theta, for years with grisly murders and truly terrible one liners. All presented stylishly in glorious 80's quality film, complete with fake commercials and tracking errors.

Now, at the dawn of Dude Bro Party Massacre 3, the identical twin brother of a previous victim of Motherface's rampage must infiltrate the frat house to find his brother's killer, and finally end the terror of Motherface. What follows is the most enjoyably silly take on the slasher genre you could hope for, complete with shirt ripping, dramatic monologues, nude tai-chi, and some wickedly funny dialogue. 

The true fun here is in the personalities. The filmmakers themselves fill out the roster of drunken louts that make up the frat house, and they're a lovable lot to watch on screen. Among the most memorable are Turbeaux, a high-energy freak played with a Jack Black-like zeal who beats pledges and is terrified of puppies, and Nedry, the wheelchair bound nerd who can't catch a break.

As the frat party head off to the lakeside house to inevitably get murdered, we also have a sub plot of a pair of police officers investigating the case, in their own special way. Officer Sminkle is a barely capable but kind hearted moron just about kept in line by the exasperated but eager-to-prove-herself officer Buttiker. These two are a great double act, give us just enough of a break from the frat storyline when needed, and Officer Sminkle just has some of the film's funniest lines. Appearing as the Police Chief is Patton Oswalt, and the smattering of celebrity is used perfectly, with just a perfectly fitting role and none of the ass kissing usually aimed at celebrities in smaller budget productions.

In short, Dude Bro Party Massacre 3 is exactly what you could want from it. It'll be your new guilty pleasure, your new party movie. A gory, offensive, foot stompingly funny time full of murders and unfortunate pledges and well-timed celebrity cameos. A mix of Kids in the Hall style comedy and Troma class gross out violence, with a surprising amount of heart. Most importantly, it feels like the filmmakers had fun making it, and that fun shows through in every scene. Just sit back and enjoy it, and join in the eternal speculation, what really goes on in the beef box? Will the world ever know?

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Taking one look at the theatrical poster for Mad Max: Fury Road, gives you all the suggestion you need that this won’t be what you expect.

The titular character is masked, facing off screen, his eyes fixed on something entirely different, and partially eclipsed by a shaven headed, badass woman in war paint. She’s close to us, her eyes fixed just beside us, right here with the problem at hand. There is a lot of meaning in that arrangement, as you'll soon see.

The post-apocalyptic genre has seen an awful lot of come and go over the decades, with sizzling hits and staggering failures throughout, all because it’s a polarizing genre. Not everyone gets or enjoys it, and some just can’t stand the bleakness of the concept. Sure, it’s bleak, morbid even, seeing the future of a destroyed world and the barren folk who still live there. For those with a taste for adventures taking place after the world as we know it, you pretty much can’t beat Mad Max: Fury Road. 

More so than any other film in recent years, Mad Max: Fury Road lives up to its title. Usually the words after the colon in a film title seem to be chosen entire at random, like they just chucked a bunch of words like ‘Redemption’ and ‘Revelations’ into a bingo machine and just had at it.

In Mad Max, you better believe there’s a road. And damn is it fucking furious. Right from the ass-kicking opening, our titular hero being captured by crazed white painted desert marauders, you can’t be ready for the chaos that will ensue, as before you know it, you’re thrust along on a 2 hour non-stop, high speed car chase through the wastelands of the world that once was. 

Max has been captured by the foot soldiers of Immortan Joe, the god-like leader of his own personality cult filling an entire city. Immortan Joe holds the thousands under him in rapturous worship, controlling all the water and all the power in the known region. Organizing cargo runs that control the supply of bullets and gas with sister cities across the wastelands, Joe is master of all he surveys, most of all leading the white painted Warboys who serve his wishes with an obsessed zealotism.

Setting his latest tanker full of supplies off on a run across the wastes, Joe basks in the idolatry from his audience, unaware that what he holds most dear is being smuggled out from under his nose by his most trusted of soldiers, the one armed sharp shooter Furiosa.

When Furiosa turns off the planned course in her tanker, taking the precious cargo contained within, the enraged Joe gathers a force unlike the world has ever seen to reclaim his property. The poor-fortuned Max, currently being used as a living blood bag to a sickened warboy, is dragged along, and strapped to the helm of one of a thousand revving cars, trucks and crazed automobile monstrosities that blast out to give chase after Furiosa. From that point on, all you can do is hold on for the ride.

There are great characters at play through the action, and they’re a huge part of what makes the film so enjoyable. Furiosa, the driving (badum-tish) force behind the heroes, is as strong a character as you’ll see on screen today. A brutal woman with a shattered past, a killer shot, and a Mean-Machine style mechanical arm, it’s tough to take your eyes off her. 

The villains of the piece are works of art in themselves. Immortan Joe himself is the echo of a military general crossed with a spiritual leader, bearing a booming voice and a horrific breathing apparatus rigged to his face. He’s a great villain, not just for his silver tongue and commanding screen presence, but because he leads the forces of the wastelands at every turn personally, he’s a constant threat at the heels of the heroes, not a distant enemy, and it makes him a far more enjoyable villain.

Another fascinating personality at play amidst the chase is Nux, one of Immortan Joe’s warboys. Young, feisty, and desperate to please his beloved Joe by any means, Nux drives a flaming classic car armed with explosives and a death wish. Nux is a wonderful alternate viewpoint to see the events of the film through. So different from the cold, determined logic of Furiosa, Nux is impulsive, obsessive and blinded by worship. The travels of Nux through the story is one of the films highlights.

Lost amidst the races and flames and fire blasting guitar players suspended from trucks? Max himself is there too. It’s easy to forget the unfortunate man strapped to the front of Nux’s car. 

Max is an interesting spin on the classic action hero. He’s not as good a driver as Nux, he’s not as skilled a shot as Furiosa. He has no personal vendetta against Joe, he doesn’t know where he’s going, and he’s just along for the ride. He barely grunts a few lines of dialogue through the entire film. Thrust through the storyline set into motion by Furiosa, and contested between her goal and her enemies, Max is a lost soul who we can watch the crazed proceedings through, who never overshadows the rest of the cast. The titular hero is not the most interesting character, so in a remarkably wise writing choice, isn't hamfisted into being main focus. 

The closest thing I can compare Mad Max: Fury Road to, is a great anime film. The old ones, the ultra-violent, apocalyptic worlds populated by the most crazed, disfigured villains you’ve ever seen. Watching Mad Max put me back in the place of unique excitement I first found watching Violence Jack or MD Geist as a kid, that crazy, wild fun that you almost don’t believe you’re seeing for a moment. From start to finish, it’s larger than life, it’s noisy and wild, and It. Does. Not. Stop.

Movie Review: Furious 7

I haven't seen a Fast and the Furious movie since the first one.
It was in a tiny cinema in Truro, Cornwall with my two best friends, and if I recall, we were the only people in the entire audience.
I remember it being a semi-straight action story about an undercover cop busting a badass street racing crew by becoming a badass street racer himself. I remember seeing posters for the sequels roll by year after year, and assuming every one was basically the same.
I was not prepared for the wholly different monster that the Fast and Furious series has become in the last decade.

From the first scene, I realized it had clearly been a while since I'd seen a real action movie.
The villainous Deckard Shaw is introduced, musing about the concept of revenge from a hospital window where his brother lies broken from some previous encounter with Vin Diesel and his assembled crew. Now Vin Diesel's character does have a name, but when your real name is Vin Diesel, why bother? Upon leaving his reverie, we're treated to a slow motion walk-though as Shaw leaves the hospital, that he's apparently torn apart single-handedly, using nothing but cockney wit and hand held mines that produce explosions larger than C4. He slips into his fabulous Maserati, as the hospital collapses in the background, and declares his intent to tear apart the lives of our heroes.

From this point onward, I can honestly say the series lives up to its name. Vin Diesel and his crew, who are almost entirely new to me as a returning viewer, are an incredibly likable bunch of characters.
It's an easygoing beginning establishing the relative status-quo the characters have been living in since the last movie, with the old hero Brian starting a happy family, and Vin himself trying to rebuild his relationship with the ever sulking Letty, who at some point in the series appears to have lost her memory.
We see vignettes of every day life for these guys, with Brian playing with his son, or Vin taking his wife to a race competition in the desert to prove to her that her memory loss hasn't disable her driving skills. We're taught the cinematography style awfully quick in this scene, where you're either looking at intense close ups of bouncing bikini-clad behinds on soaking dancing girls, the shining curves of a supercar worth more than your house, or Vin Diesel giving a slow frown just off camera.
It all looks incredible, the camera work is amazing, and it's a close to mechanophilliac pornography as you could ever find in a mainstream cinema.

The film does not waste its time with exposition, however. As soon as we know what's up, just enough to get by, Shaw thunders into the setup, blowing up Vin's house (essentially making it look like any other in East LA) and broadcasting his dark warnings known to the crew.
This is the flow that the Expendables wanted to have so badly.
Within minutes, we're back in a tight revenge story, and then the story takes another left turn when a sharp suited G-Man played by Kurt Russel shows up to introduce a new subplot.
Soon enough, Vin and his whole crew are assembled to not only rescue a world class black-hat hacker from an extremist mercenary group, they have to steal state of the art cyber technology back, and use it to find and defeat the malevolent British Bastard who's blowing up their houses.
If you put the action side by side with the Expendables, by the time the crew are flying out the back of a plane over enemy territory in their supercars, we'd still be seeing Stallone and Rourke groan dialogue at each other like two half melted action men.

We're introduced to the most intense federal employee ever when Dwayne Johnson appears, playing the particular flavor of agent who doesn't play by the rules, wears a tiny muscle shirt to cover his massive bulging biceps, and wears a .50 caliber magnum on his hip, probably for dealing with all the stampeding rhinos in Los Angeles. Dwayne hams it up full force in this role, flexing, peacocking and dropping one liners that come straight out of an 80's Van Damme movie. It's like a look back at the old Rock again, and it's brilliant.

With the crew out on their cyber terrorism adventure, the film begins to follow a rhythm. Cobble together a plan, look damn fine doing it, bullets start flying, and then Shaw shows up out of the blue with a new gun or a better car and another huge fight starts. It's silly, the set-up and the plain insanity of the action are so huge that it just makes you angry and excited at the same time. We're introduced to more villains in the form of Shaw's new friends, Minibosses who come in Asian kung-fu fighting and African Mercenary flavors.
The notorious hacker the team rescue is quickly recruited, and when she turns out to be a gorgeous English girl, she becomes motivator for some of the films funniest dialogue as Ludacris and Tyreese Gibson squabble to impress her. The play between these two is actually great, and I was surprised at how good Ludacris was in the whole role.

 The action moves to a global scale, chasing bad guys and the illusive technical macguffin to the most stylized version of Abu Dhabi you've seen since Sex and the City 2 (I can't be the only person to see both these films). You've got your insane high speed battle scene, with the Italian Job style formation of supercars chasing a military primed bus with miniguns in the sides, and you've got your tuxedos and evening gown rumble in the heights of a penthouse atop one of the Etihad Towers. In fact, why only one of them when you can drive your bulletproof car between them?

After a wild ride of foreign affairs, hacking, and Michelle Rodriguez fighting Ronda Rousey in evening gowns (surely the second best thing we could watch the two of them do), everything comes back together in LA for the finale, where Vin and his crew plan to set a trap for Shaw and his men with some fascinatingly nonsensical technological requirements, involving a lot of tearing ass around surface streets in their cars. It's huge, it's crazy. They juggle so many characters and events in this sequence it's a recipe for a cinematic nightmare. With four different vehicles carrying seven different characters, some crossing between vehicles, evading an attack chopper and a super drone armed with rockets, a final climactic showdown between Vin and Shaw, on foot chases all held to a technobabble time limit, and still having time to have Dwayne Johnson bust out of hospital in a stolen ambulance wielding a minigun... you'd think you'd be watching a complete clusterfuck, but somehow, it all works flawlessly. There's no confusion, you know where everyone is, and you know whats going down in every scene. That shows an effort in screenwriting, direction, and editing that came together flawlessly.

It's very hard not to like Furious 7 in almost every way. It's a return to action in a powerful, energetic way. No one will be winning any awards, but the acting is tight, and it fits the feel. If I had to change anything, it would be to make the villains as fun and enjoyable as the heroes. As they are, they're stock. British special forces, African warlord, Asian-Non-Specific-Martial-Arts. I'd also have loved to see Michelle Rodriguez enjoy her character as the rest of the cast get to enjoy theirs. The subplot of her memory loss makes her maudlin and subdued in almost every scene, and I would have liked to have seen as much energy and wisecracking from her as the rest of the crew. She's a powerful female presence and there's a gap left with her being so quiet.

The film closes down on an inevitably poignant note. It's sad that a film so full of fun and playfulness had it's face changed by the tragic loss of its long time star, Paul Walker. The final scenes are a goodbye from the film's stars both in character and out. One last ride on an empty California highway forms the end of the film that Paul sadly never lived to see.

You don't have to have seen the last 6 to have a massive time seeing Furious 7. There's a reason this series has proven to be Universal's most profitable of all time. It's loud, it's exciting, it's heartfelt and the whole thing is a return to a time when action movies really needed nothing more than just that.

Movie Review: The Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are a team that’s close to my heart. They’re my crew, my guys. A bunch of misfits awkwardly thrust together, their missions usually staggered and suicidal, yet somehow the bond of friendship between these guys is stronger than anything you find in the Avengers. The Avengers was a great film, why? Because it leapt in head first from the very start, full steam ahead, with action and fun and a story that could get going from the first scene and never let up. This was possible because every character within it had been established in a film all their own, the slow parts already taken care of, as it were. What do you do when you start a new film, and have to echo the same breakneck pace of story, with five all new heroes and a handful of new villains, without the time to fill in the backstory?

Guardians gives us hints at our heroes’ backstories, but this is no origin tale. Who they were perhaps isn’t too important, it’s who they are from now on that counts.

We open on our hero, Star-Lord. The sad story of the loss of his mother haunting his past, Peter Quill was raised to the stars by the happening by of the mercenary Yondu, and has spent his entire adult life among the world beyond. Our introduction to our new leading man sees him searching the mysterious ruin of an alien city, his treads light, observations keen, like a trench-clad Indiana Jones. That is of course, until he pulls out his beloved 1980’s era Walkman. Headphones on, Star-Lord dances and skips his way through the ruins with a swagger to rival Jagger. He’s got a sass smarmier than Tony Stark, and with it he saunters into the ruin to reclaim the film’s whole MacGuffin, the orb.

It’s a bit tired that the whole film, and indeed pretty much all our heroes and indeed our villains revolve around the orb. But then that is of course, pretty damn comic book: someone’s always trying to steal an Infinity Gem or a Cosmic cube, and wield the terrible power it grants. Simple as this premise is, story driven this film is indeed not. It takes a while to get started, and a few of the earlier scenes involving the protagonists are a little shaky. Our first introductions to Ronan, Gamora and Nebula happen all in one scene, which is a little much to swallow, especially to those members of the audience not familiar already with these characters.

A little better paced with their introduction are the films class act duo, Rocket and Groot. Both these characters are charming, funny, and well implemented. Rocket is crass and sharp from the first moment, as he almost narrates his own introduction scene. His buddy Groot being weird from the first moment, drinking from a water fountain. They’re bounty hunters, it’s an easy enough setup, and we don’t really need to know much more. The narrative here takes place on the idyllic future world of Xandar, the home to the Nova corps. The Nova corps are an intergalactic police force, and boast some tremendous character actors amongst their number, with Glenn Close, John C Reilly and Peter Serafinowicz all making appearances. It’s here on Xandar that our heroes are dragged together in a simple cohesion of events, Star-Lord trying to sell his stolen orb, Gamora on a mission from Ronan to steal it from him, and Rocket and Groot eager to catch the bounty on Star-Lord. It happens fast, they seem to be buddies awfully quickly, but it does the job. In short order four of our five heroes are thrust together, interacting. Hints at Rocket’s and Gamora’s past are suggested throughout these scenes, giving a little extra flesh to what we know about them, but we’re not dragged into any heavy exposition to slow down the narrative. It keeps up the pace, and lets us go with it.

 

 

Gamora, a green painted Zoe Saldana, is not terrible, but not the eye-catching ass-kicking female lead she really needs to be. Usual female character tropes are avoided for the most part; she doesn’t need help from the boys, suffers no romantic delusions, and no matter how hard he tries, Star-Lord just can’t get in her pants. Her outfits are modest, there’s no skin scenes, and the writers treat her like an actual woman, believe it or not. We’re introduced to Gamora and her sister Nebula as assistants to Ronan. I’m concerned that their relationship with Thanos, Ronan, and indeed each other isn’t quite clear enough to those who don’t already know it however, as it’s a fair bit rushed over.

 

Our heroes are thusly thrust together in a filthy intergalactic prison, and it’s here where they begin to really develop. Rocket’s technical genius shining, reminding the audience that this little furry guy is smarter than Tony Stark, Star Lord tries his hardest to romance Gamora, and is swiftly rebuffed, and just when you’ve forgotten about the fifth member of the team, he makes his appearance.

 

Drax is a surprising standout member of the cast. Comic fans may balk that his backstory, demeanor, and indeed overall character have quite changed from the source, but I’d say it’s a solid and enjoyable set of changes. Drax is a muscle bound, tattooed warrior, hardheaded and stoic, with his mind set on revenge against Ronan for killing his family. At first his character seems oddly played, but a few scenes in, it’s clear how much fun Dave Bautista is having playing Drax. The idea is that Drax takes everything absolutely literally, and it’s used to great comedy potential. Dave does a great job, and I was surprised to find just how much I enjoyed his performance.

 

Once the five Guardians are together, our story can continue. The separation between the act structures is a little tenuous, moving more or less at the same pace the whole film through. It’s a speedy pace, and keeps up the action throughout, but certainly leaves the whole experience feeling a little choppy here and there. After a daring escape from the prison that holds them, the orb in tow, the Guardians follow their information on the object’s original buyer to a location on the far edges of the galaxy, the mining colony of Knowhere, located in the decapitated head of a celestial creature the size of a planet.

Amongst the gritty mining colony of Knowhere, the archetypal sci-hi hive of scum and villainy, that we finally get to catch up with The Collector. Sadly, Benicio Del Toro’s wonderfully eccentric character only appears for a scant few minutes, which is mainly exposition as to the origins of the mysterious and powerful Infinity stone within the orb, and just why everyone wants to get their hands on it so much. I know there really wasn’t much more to do with him, and his character may have worn thin soon, but it would have been good to see a little more of such an interesting personality.

 

 

It’s here on Knowhere that we get glimpses into the inner workings of our heroes’ heads. We find Rocket and Drax bonding over betting on bloodsport, while Groot watches on in horror. Star-Lord tries in vein to tell Gamora just how much he loves music and dancing, failing to impress to stony eyed assassin, and when the team ends up in a drunken bar room brawl over an insult, you get the feeling this is the sort of back on forth camaraderie and animosity that real friends go through, the real personality of this team coming together.

Drax puts his foot in it, of course, when he stumbles drunkenly out of the bar and signals Ronan in an angry rage, challenging the accuser to come and get him, leading to an all-out Star Wars style space battle with mechs, lasers and explosions in space. All that good stuff. When the dust settles, a hero lies in jeopardy and the stone in the hands of evil, the only one the Guardians have left to turn to is the brutal mercenary forces of Star-Lord’s adoptive father, Yondu.

Yondu couldn’t be more different than he was in the comics, really. Gone is the contemplative native-American allegory in favor of a hard bitten biker type, played by the Walking Dead’s Merle, Micheal Rooker. With a glowing metal Mohawk that flares with power at the use of his sonic controlled arrow, Yondu rescues the Guardians and together they head out to rescue Xandar from the encroaching forces of Ronan, and take back the orb that caused all the trouble. Everything comes back to Xandar for the showdown, as Ronan descends from the skies to wreak havoc on the peaceful world below, the power of the Infinity stone enough to rend the whole planet asunder. While the combined forces of the Nova Corps gather to repel the invasion force, The Guardians form a splinter group to get into Ronan’s ship, and put an end to the big man himself.

The villain of the piece, Ronan the Accuser, is less of a character and more of a force. He reminds me somewhat of Nero in Star Trek. Both powerful men with armies below them, driven onward by a single cause. Be it revenge in Nero’s case, or simply utter destruction in Ronan’s. I personally was very disappointed with Ronan’s character in this film. When our heroes are so fleshed out, and so funny and enjoyable to watch, it’s a shame the villain isn’t nearly as much so. The character as written in the comics is remarkably complex, trying to do what is best for his kind, whilst skirting law and generally being a stone cold fascist, but an inherently moral man. Lee Pace’s Ronan, on the other hand, is simply a terrorist, bent on destruction. Seemingly not even against someone who personally wronged him, but simply the opposing side of a political treaty he disagrees with. It’s easy to see him as the villain, what with wanting to destroy planets and such, but when our heroes are so enjoyable, it’s a shame the villain isn’t equally so.

The arch villain on the other hands, the Mad Titan Thanos, is finally given his formal introduction to the Marvel cinematic universe here, and whilst he only gets a few short scenes, it’s a solid job of getting the audience familiar with a character who will be very important later. Played by a stern voiced Josh Brolin, Thanos controls the fates of hero and villain alike from behind the scenes, and is simply a looming threat in this story, waiting to take center stage in a later film. His scene will thrill fans of the comics, and does a good job of making you want a little more of the mad titan on your screen.

The film’s climax, compared to the rest of the film, might be considered overlong, it arrives a little before you might expect, and stays longer than you might desire, but regardless of its pacing issues, it’s a spectacle. Guardians incredible special effects are at some of their best here, between the glittering streets of Xandar and the stone cold tomb like interiors of Ronan’s ship, there is amazing stage design going on everywhere. So many characters are involved, it’s a huge ballet of team effort of a final battle, and here is probably what I liked most about it: It is a real team effort. Everyone has a part to play, a friend to support. This is not Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy. This is not Hulk defeating Loki and Iron Man stopping the bomb whilst somewhere the rest of the Avengers are standing around whistling. The film’s final crescendo on Xandar, as Ronan prepares to ignite the stone and lay waste to his hated enemy, with only the Guardians standing against him, as a united team, was a perfect example of this. I was thrilled to see the team united against him, as one.

What did I learn from Guardians of the Galaxy? I learned that five heroes can be written well, and given their own chance to shine. I learned that Bradley Cooper is a pretty damn good voice actor. He brings our snappy remarks and laughs and tears in a voice genuinely not his own, and all quite convincingly. I learned how to pronounce d’ast. I learnt that there is still a solid appreciation for creature shop out there, with everything but Rocket and Groot themselves being real people in incredible makeup effects as opposed to CGI characters. In the face of some of the most impressive special effects I’ve ever seen, the costuming and real makeup is still scene stealingly outstanding, particularly the hodgepodge of alien races that make up Yondu’s crew.

Most importantly, I learned that you can make a film, and make it about a team. Not the leader of a team with backup, but about the whole team. Star-Lord may be our lead, but nothing would happen without the constant interaction of the other Guardians. The villain is defeated by all of them, together. It’s a lot of work to squeeze in the characters they do, and the film certainly suffers for its high speed being crushed between plot development and characterization at times, but the people we meet are great fun, we’re introduced to a villain bigger than the whole story just waiting in the sidelines for a wider world to conquer, and The Guardians of the Galaxy are an enjoyable enough bunch of misfits to be welcomed back onto the screen.

All I can hope for is more Cosmo next time.

 

 

Movie review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

In this world gone mad, with Superhero movies bursting out of every studio with the force of freight trains every few weeks, it takes throwing your weight around to be noticed. A big villain, a big name, a major plotline from comic-book history, all these are things it takes to get the crowds coming back.
The latest installment of the titular web-slingers movie franchise is certainly no different, and packs no less than three classic Spidey villains into one film, with the promise of a whole bunch more soon to come. They had their work cut out for them making this one, that much is clear from the get go.

Our story cold opens with some major history that will rub canon fans the wrong way, as the mysterious past of Peter Parker's science savvy parents is revealed amid a James Bond style crashing airplane battle over a tenuous internet connection. It may feel more like a tech-thriller than Spider-Man, but it beats opening on some tired old Uncle Ben stuff eh? The action really gets going full-force in scene two, as our hero swings into action against stock Russian terrorist, Aleksei Systevich. This entire encounter really is the old cartoon brought to life. Aleksei (played by a completely over-the-top Paul Giamatti) is as snarling and ridiculous as you can get playing a Russian killer, and Spider-Man is at his wise-crackling best from the first line. Caught stealing an armoured car full of plutonium isotopes, Aleksei is beaten and bested by Spider-Man in minutes, leaving us with a reminder of just how dexterous and strong this particular version of the hero really is.
Arriving late to his own graduation ceremony, Peter drops in to reintroduce us to his love interest, the ill-fated Gwen Stacy. The relationship between the two is blossoming, yet haunted by the specter of Gwen's father, killed in battle against a Welshman last movie. The foreboding stares of her father's ghost forces Peter to wedge a gap between the two, ending their relationship. It isn't wildly fun getting into the relationship between these two again. It's teen romance, we all know what it's like already, awful and terrible and full of headphones and pillow punching. What is far more fun is watching the developing villains go about their pre-villainous lives.
Manic, self-confidence deficient electrical engineer Max Dillon was rescued by Spider-Man in a happenstance encounter, and now talks to the hero in his miserable apartment when no one else is around. Max is both self obsessed and horribly afraid of social embarrassment, with obvious and severe abandonment issues, stumbling over his words trying to interact with anyone as he goes to his bottom of the ladder job at questionably evil megacorporation Oscorp. You know the character, you've seen him before. He may be played by a weird haired Jamie Foxx here, but he was played by a weird haired Jim Carrey before he became the Riddler in Batman Forever, and a weird haired Guy Pearce before he became Aldritch Killian in Iron Man 3. The stepped on and overlooked scientist, the unseen genius. Oh, one day, if only he had the chance. It doesn't take long for Max to stumble into a room filled with fizzing electrical wires and tanks full of electrical eels (no really) and go get himself done turned into his very own Dr Manhattan.

Now the fledgling Electro is an interesting character. The transformation doesn't force a personality change at first, leaving the awkward, needy character in a wildly powerful new body. With no knowledge of how to control himself, or indeed why everyone is looking at him as he comes to times square, his body inadvertently seeking the energy sources found there. His complex fixation with Spider-Man comes to fruition when he is forced to encounter his hero face to face.
When the world is focused on him, just for that one perfect moment, and everyone pays attention to him, he seems almost content. Then his hero arrives and tears all the attention away from him immediately. Worse, Spider-Man forgets Max's name. Electro comes alive.
Now Electro is by far the strongest villain of the film, and once he makes the transition from tired stereotype to full fledged bad guy, becomes one of the more exciting villains to appear in a recent film. His body moves with fluid electricity, swarming and moving over his translucent flesh, and his voice reverberates with a bassy distortion that is just wonderful. Even more distinctive, is the swelling music that follows the character through the film; A deep, rolling dubstep that not only sets the dread of his incredible power perfectly, but even moves and jumps in tone with the character on screen, making each of his scenes feel beautifully kinetic and bringing so much more to the atmosphere. The rest of the music in the film pales in comparison.
Spider-Mans confrontations with Electro are by far the film's most visually impressive sequences, the villains powers evolving through the course of the film from simple energy manipulation, to moving as a living current of electricity spiraling through the air in waves of blue and purple surges. It's gorgeous to watch, I just wish the changes in his personality were explored a little more as the film went on. He desires to take control of what is rightfully his by design, the city power grid, but once this is accomplished, we never really find out what goes through his mind. What would the sheltered, fearful little scientist become when endowed with such power? (and how did the transformation fix the gap in his teeth?) I would have enjoyed seeing Electro fleshed out more in the third act.
The third act devotes its time mainly to another, however. Young Harry Osborn makes his entrance early on in the film, a seemingly innocent yet dark young man returning to see the last moments of his dying father. Norman is bed ridden, twisted and dying from the same disease that courses through Harry's veins, and with a cryptic warning, passes his companies malevolent research onto his son. Thus beginning a subplot of intrigue within the Oscorp company, of plot and deceit from those that Harry is forced to trust upon taking his father's throne. Now Harry is a well done character here. The young Osborn is usually treated as ancillary to his father, but here the elder is done away with swiftly, establishing the deep disconnection the two share and complete lack of family trust, as well as give us a glimpse into this dark young man who once called Peter Parker friend. The two share a very real feeling moment where, after encountering one another after almost a decade of absence, they insult one another and laugh. Their friendship feels believable, and it's a moving development when Harry's illness requires him to obtain the blood of the newly famous Spider-Man. Connected to Spider-Man through is photography (sadly absent is J. Jonah Jameson in this one) Peter is forced to refuse Harry's pleas.  Harry is a dying young man, he's desperate; and to be betrayed by his only real friend in this world of hateful businessmen fighting him for control of his birthright, might be all it takes to knock him over the edge from desperation into insanity. Here returns the earlier established backstory of the Parker parents, and their dark relationship to Norman Osborn and his research. In a noir little mystery sequence Peter must follow the trail set by his father to a hidden lab beneath the city, to find a long abandoned lab his father left behind and unveil his secret research. Although filled with the only real link Peter has with his parents, this didn't seem to pay off all that much in the rest of the film, and actually seemed to further more to Harry's medical plotline than it did Peter's family strife.

The action and interplay between these two major villains is interesting, with Electro gaining control of his new powers and growing stronger, and Harry losing control of his company and growing weaker. Electro becomes the weapon which Harry uses to stab his way back into his empire. It's a shame these two characters only really have a couple scenes together, as it would have been interesting to see how they would interact later on in the films events.
As Spider-Man comes to a shattering showdown with Electro, containing a moment where Electro creates a replica of his leering face in the sparking ruins of a New York skyscraper that truly impressed me as a new super-villain classic, Harry is descending to his destiny in the vaults below Oscorp, where he is injected with the imperfect spider serum in last ditch effort to save his life.
Harry goes from 0 to Green Goblin in a matter of seconds, which may have been a bit fast in my opinion, the whole film going into the final waves of act 3 in very short order.
The two climactic battles with our villains coming one after the other was a little bit of an odd choice of pace, with Electro having been built up longer and simply more impressively than the Goblin, and he is done away with a little easily with Spider-Man's first solution to the problem. Gwen Stacy being courageous and running around in the midst of the explosive battle was also ridiculous at times to watch. She's talking to Spider-Man like he's just her average old boyfriend whilst he is literally being attacked by the highly explosive supervillain. Yes, we understand you're a strong, intellectual woman who can look after herself and solve problems, but get your head down in the line of fire bitch!
Speaking of Gwen, those in the audience who're fans of the story will know she's not seeing the end of this one. As Spider-Man battles the newly powered Harry, who does look brilliant in a very grotesque new take on the Green Goblin, Gwen's life hangs in a precarious balance. We're waiting for it to happen, and in a way that takes away from most of the threat in the rest of the fight.

Now Emma Stone isn't a bad actress, googly eyes and all, it's just that the character of Gwen Stacy just isn't great. She's too perfect, too intellectual, too successful. Her relationship with Peter is so picturesque in its ineffable romance that she really did have to die. The character of Peter Parker, and indeed any superhero, is most exciting when it is strained, when it is challenged and under assault. Remember Spider-Man 2? With poor Peter Parker losing everything in his life bit by bit, life raining crap on him day after day? He's at the brink of giving up everything before Doc Ock even turned up. It was compelling stuff, and the death of Gwen Stacy here, which was done well in a mix of both the classic comic book event and the creation of Venom; is a step on the trials this new Spider-Man has to face to become the hero he needs to be.
The film doesn't really wind down, it just gets going again, almost as if it's about to introduce another act. We are treated to a shameless introduction to the next story in the franchise, with the beaten and imprisoned Harry Osborn directing a mysterious benefactor to ready the experiments for a new group of supervillains. Just a few men, would it be a stretch to guess about six? How sinister.
The first of this crew is handed to us for the final scene, as Aleksei returns from his stint in prison, powered up in his tank-like Rhino mech and ready to claim his revenge on Spider-Man.
Rhino could have been scary and intimidating, but the way he's played here is just too comic-book to be so. He's fun, he's wacky, and the final clash leads us into the idea of Spider-Man routinely battling this sort of villain as his everyday occurrence. Some may say it's baiting for a sequel, but this kind of movie doesn't need to bait. It chooses to go out on a high note, a playful one, one that reminds us Spider-Man does this every day, and there will only be more of these guys coming. This film also subtly introduces us to the characters of Felicia Hardy and even Mr. Smythe; for those who remember the creator of the Spider Slayer robots in the animated series.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a good film, it's fun, doesn't take itself too seriously most of the time, and when it does the melodrama doesn't overstay its welcome. Visually there are scenes that will stun you in here, and the movements and actions of the titular hero have never looked better. With great villains and solid performance by the protagonist, I'd say the franchise has been done a favor by this installment.