Vantage Point

I skipped seeing this back in February when it was in theaters, due mostly to negative reviews from people who had seen it. But since it just came out on DVD, I decided to check it out for myself.

Vantage Point
Director: Pete Travis
Starring: Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker


I didn't think the movie was nearly as bad as people made it out to be. The concept was a variation on the old "interlocking stories" trend that's become prominent over the past few years: an event occurs, and we see it unfold from eight different perspectives of people who were involved. The event (a presidential assassination) is revealed with more clarity with each perspective, leading us eventually to find out how the entire thing was set up and who was directly involved. That's a pretty sweet concept if you ask me. I can't recall seeing something like that before, and I'm a proponent of originality on screen (I'm also a proponent of comic book movies, but get off me: I can enjoy both at the same time). I'll take this opportunity to refresh your memory with this trailer, one of the most chaotic trailers in recent memory.



Director Pete Travis makes his American debut similar to an episode of "24" with the camera work and subject matter. But make no mistake about it - this is not a recent season of "24" where nothing happens and there are generally boring things going on. Vantage Point features one of the best car chases of the past five years. If you'd like to ruin it for yourself, or you have no intention of ever watching the film but would like to see the car chase, then check it out below. It actually started before this clip picks up; this is just the last half of it. BUT BE WARNED! There are major plot details about the movie revealed by watching this clip, so just know that ahead of time and make your decision.



As far as overall quality of the movie goes, Vantage Point was enjoyable but not something of great artistic merit. I was entertained the whole time, but it's not the most in-depth political piece you'll ever see. In the opening scene, a reporter goes off on a little tirade on the air, launching into political content that shouldn't be featured in a news report. Sigourney Weaver (the news director) tells the reporter to "save the punditry for people who get paid for it." It almost seems like director Pete Travis took that advice to heart. He didn't make Vantage Point an overly political movie, which was surprising because that's what I thought it would turn into. Wisely, I think, he concentrated more on the POV gimmick and keeping the film cruising along at a good pace rather than taking the opportunity to deal low blows to President Bush or any other political figures. The only real political commentary I found was at the very end when they falsely announced on the news that the assassination plot was all done by one man (that's not really giving anything away, since you could infer that from the trailer). But even that commentary was almost more directed at today's partisan (and some claim, corrupt) news media than the people in the White House.

"Are you not entertained?!"

The acting was passable due to a script that didn't give the characters a whole lot of range. Forest Whitaker's "dad on vacation" and Dennis Quaid's "secret service agent looking for redemption" can only go so far when the other characters aren't complex enough to hold their own storylines. I respect them, though - they did what they could. And who needs a good script when you've got a gimmick to rely on? Just look at the upcoming Journey to the Center of the Earth. Give Vantage Point a chance if you're in the mood for a nicely-paced mystery thriller. Until next time...

Hancock

Hancock was a mystery to me. Before I went in, I really couldn't tell if the movie would be good or not due to some iffy trailers. But, in keeping with the recent trend of not showing too much in the previews (like Wall*E and Wanted), Hancock took a left turn by featuring scenes that weren't even hinted at in the initial trailer. Man, I love it when that happens.

Hancock
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron


Directed by Peter Berg (The Kingdom), produced by Michael Mann (Collateral) and Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend), and with an all-star cast, this movie has some serious talent attached to it. According to Wikipedia, the script was written way back in 1996 and has been bouncing from director to director ever since. Going through a couple of rewrites before finally hitting the big screen, Hancock gives the audience a unique take on the superhero genre. In today's competitive marketplace where films based on comic books are being greenlit before the comic even gets released, it's nice to see a legitimately original concept make it to the screen and still incorporate that "summer" feel to it. [It's always good to feature superheros when you're going for that "summer" feeling.]


When it comes down to it, I thought Hancock was enjoyable. Every aspect of it certainly wasn't original (we've already seen a hero who drinks too much in The Punisher), but the one twist they threw was totally unexpected and I didn't see it coming at all. I wasn't too impressed with the acting from an otherwise-proven cast, but that was because none of their characters were particularly likeable. Will Smith's Hancock was a patronizing alcoholic jerk (don't call him that other name!) for the first half of the movie, and the character almost seemed too dumbed down for Smith to embody. I know, it may be laughable to say that about someone who made his career as The Fresh Prince, but Will Smith has grown into one of the most bankable actors working today. He has a great business sense and he knows how to throw himself into a role (see: I Am Legend). I just think that Will Smith (the actual guy) is a lot smarter than Hancock (the character), and it was hard for me to connect them because the perceived intellectual difference was so distant between the two. Jason Bateman was kind of whiny and not overly funny, and Charlize Theron (beautiful as she is) just gave weird looks to everyone for the first 45 minutes.

SPOILERS NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS

The funny thing is, you might have forgotten that Charlize was in the movie if the marketing people had their way. Her name was noticeably absent from most of the ads and her presence in the trailer was almost nonexistent. That's a strange tactic from an advertising standpoint when you've got an Oscar-winning actress in your cast. But like I said above, I think it served the whole film for the better. I was genuinely surprised when Mary threw Hancock through her front wall. I mean, I'm sure we all knew that they had met before based on their CONSTANT glances at each other for the whole first act, but I didn't even consider that she had powers as well. Nice touch. And while that whole shtick got a little My Super Ex-Girlfriend-ish, it still had its moments. The history of the heroes, for one thing, really set this film apart in my mind. The concept of the two of them being the last remaining heroes on Earth left as an "insurance plan from the gods" is awesome. They've been stomping around the world since who knows when, and they don't age. This also allowed for some cutesy dialogue at the end about Attila the Hun and other historical figures.

The problem (of course, there's always gotta be a problem) with Hancock for me was that it was a bad mix of reality and fiction. We're supposed to believe that these two people have been around for thousands of years, living across the world in different times, but yet we've never heard of them before? They weren't reported on in history books? Captured by the early days of photographs? Chiseled onto a cave wall? Nothin'? There were times when it was supposed to be completely believable that this bum superhero was living in LA saving people and causing general disarray while doing it. But then there were times like the fight scene at the end that mirrored Transformers in the scope of its destruction. Hundreds of people must have died because of all that fighting. There was rubble EVERYWHERE, and that storm probably didn't help matters any. But these were little problems that can be easily overlooked based on the subject matter we're dealing with.

END OF SPOILERS


Hancock was decent as far as superhero movies go, and it's always fun to watch Will Smith on the big screen. We saw a sneak peek yesterday, so I'm not sure about it's theatrical performance yet, but I'm sure it'll make a lot of money and bring back "Big Willie Weekend" in full force. Hopefully this will give the studio execs a little elbow room and allow them to put out this kind of new material mixed in with the established titles in the future. In a summer of sequels and big blockbusters, I think Hancock will do just fine. Until next time...

Wanted

If you've seen the trailers, then you know what you're getting yourself into with Wanted. The thing that I liked the most about it, though, is that while the trailers showed the marketable "curve the bullet" scene a hundred times, they didn't really ruin anything else for us. Unlike Get Smart, Wanted thrives off of what we didn't see in the previews and gives us one hell of a ride from start to finish.

Wanted
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman


Like WALL*E, I was admittedly not excited about seeing Wanted in theaters. I was sure we had seen the best parts in the trailers and I was cynical that the storyline would try too hard to replicate The Matrix. "Meh," I thought, "it's just another movie based on a comic book that I've never read - how good can it be?" But this movie blew into theaters with kicking ass and chewing bubble gum on the agenda, and it was all out of gum.


The story wasn't anything mind-blowing; we've seen this type of thing before. Wesley Gibson, the archetypal loser stuck in a dead-end job, gets his life turned upside down by an incredibly sexy assassin who brings him word of his estranged father's death. After getting over the initial shock that his dad was a member of The Fraternity, a league of assassins created a thousand years ago, Wesley embraces his training in order to kill the man who killed his father. I don't want to go any further into the plot or the stunts or anything because it'll just ruin it for you. [Don't you hate that? When you hear one certain thing about a movie (or see a scene in a trailer) and then you're waiting the whole time for that scene to come so you can just get on with enjoying the movie? I do. That's why I don't read reviews before I see movies anymore. ANYWAY...]


What differentiates this film from others like it is Timur Bekmambetov's vision. The Russian director, responsible for the most lucrative films in that country's history (Night Watch and Day Watch), brings his signature style to America in his Hollywood debut. My first thought after walking out of the theater was "Wanted is this year's Shoot 'Em Up." Like that film, this one doesn't hold back at all on the language, sex, or violence and embraces those things as integral parts of the production.


Angelina Jolie fittingly plays a character named Fox, who embodies the lifestyle that Wesley (McAvoy) can't even fathom: sex, bullets, and speed. She actually did a better job than I thought she would, and whew - she hasn't looked that good in a long time. Morgan Freeman (who hasn't been bad in a movie since...ever) reigns as the enigmatic leader of The Fraternity, and plays the part effortlessly. The dude is so solid. He's a great addition to any film, automatically upping the quality level and (I'm sure) influencing his co-workers to step up their game.


Wanted is what you would get if you crushed Swordfish, The Matrix, and Shoot 'Em Up together into one action blowout. It's stylish, sleek, quick-moving, adequately acted, and visually fantastic. Fans of the comic book series by Mark Millar have been vocal about the film's differences to the comic book, perhaps suggesting the film would suffer because of it. But a recent interview with Millar sheds light on the creator's opinion of the final cut of the film: "F***ing hell. I loved it. I could not love it more. It's weird passing your wee baby over to someone else, but this is like putting someone up for adoption and seeing him come back as Einstein." That's a pretty glowing review from the guy who created the work in the first place.

Yeah, my eyes are closed. I'm THAT good.

I think this is one of those movies like 300 that pretty much every guy over the age of 4 will love. It's not big on commentary, context, or subtlety, but the "Ass-Kicking Quotient" is through the roof. It doesn't take a film student to realize what's going on in this one: unadulterated summer action throttling us in our seats and then questioning the audience with one of the best closing lines I've heard in 10 years - "What the f*** have you done lately?" Until next time...

WALL*E

Let me start by saying that I didn't think I would like WALL*E at all. I thought the trailer showed too much "cutesy" stuff and not enough solid storyline. I still don't like the trailer, but I was wrong about the movie - it was actually one of the better films of the year so far.

WALL*E
Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Ben Burtt


WALL*E, the small garbage-compacting robot, is serving his purpose trying to clean up the Earth. Humans have long since evacuated the planet due to unlivable conditions: heaps of garbage caused by an overindulgence in consumerism and materialistic culture. So the humans took off on the Axiom, a ridiculously huge spaceship, and are cruisin' through space living the lazy life while the robots clean up the planet. Little do they know that WALL*E is actually the last one left doing his job; but it's not like they're in any hurry to get back to the planet. They float around on hover Lazyboys eating meals in milkshake form, talking to each other on transparent computer screens even though they're only six feet away. They send probes to Earth periodically to search for plant life (if they find any, it means its time to come home), so WALL*E meets EVE (a probe) and falls in love.

As Boze said after we left the theater, this film could be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. The aforementioned plot synopsis might be enough for you if you were a child, but those of us looking for a little more depth to our entertainment are definitely rewarded with what we're given. The movie is virtually a silent film for most of it, with only a few words "spoken" (more like "beeped") by the robots until they reach the humans. That means that Pixar had to rely on visual storytelling rather than dialogue to achieve the connection between WALL*E and the audience. They did a phenomenal job. Everything about the movie flowed perfectly, and the look of the film was outstanding. I can't imagine how many man-hours it takes to put something like this together.


Aside from the visual storytelling, the film had a couple of underlying themes that I thought fit seamlessly into this simple story of a robot in love. First off, as I mentioned before, the world is covered in garbage and humans were forced to vacate the Earth. Duh - this is an exaggerated warning about what could happen to us if we don't take care of this planet. There was also a nice parallel to the current political system that came up in one scene - the gist of it was that the rules of the ship were set 700 years ago, but they wouldn't allow the captain of the ship to fix a problem that he had a simple solution to. This comments on the party system that people have been complaining about for years - there are other solutions, but the Constitution doesn't specifically say that we can make changes.


WALL*E was worth your time. It'll put a smile on your face. It has all the patented "Disney moments" that we've come to expect from family-oriented films like this, but it also gives us an interesting look at a possible future if the state of the world doesn't change. The characters are likeable and the optimistic sense of wonder the movie exudes is a welcome change from decent sequels and comic book movies (in case you're getting sick of those). The Incredibles and Finding Nemo were pretty good, and WALL*E is right up there with the best Pixar films since Toy Story.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Pixar always puts those animated short films in front of the main movie, and this one was my favorite that they've done so far. It's called Presto, and it's about a magician and his rabbit. I looked for it online, but I guess they're keeping a pretty keen eye out and swatting down unapproved video uploads of it. Oh well - you'll see it in the theater if you check out the movie. If you don't, I'm sure it'll be on the DVD release in November. Until next time...