Tag: Jamie Bell

  • ‘Snowpiercer’ melts the screen with its brilliance

    ‘Snowpiercer’ melts the screen with its brilliance

    Chris Evans in 'Snowpiercer'
    Chris Evans in ‘Snowpiercer’

    Snowpiercer is boldly brutal, but brilliant filmmaking from writer/director Bong Joon-ho.  Unlike many current films taking place on a dystopian Earth, the cause of the death of most of mankind is made clear at the outset.  The progression of global warming caused a desperate attempt in 2014 to cool the planet by seeding a chemical into the atmosphere.  The result was a cataclysmic Ice Age and almost everyone has died.

    However, there is a group of survivors aboard the train of “Wilford” (Ed Harris).  He’s a billionaire who made his money in trains and decided to construct his dream train.  Known as the Snowpiercer, it circles the globe annually, hitting the same spots on the same day of the year.

    The population aboard the train is divided into the “haves” who live in the front and the “have-nots” who live in the tail.  17 years after the survivors boarded the train, the latest attempt at a rebellion by the tail’s inhabitants is about to begin.  “Curtis” (Chris Evans) leads the rebels in attacking the guards as food was being delivered and they make it to the prison section as planned.  There they free “Namgoong” (Song Kang-ho).  He is a critical part of the planned rebellion as he built the doors that divide the train’s sections.  With his assistance the rebels plan to get to the front of the engine and seize control, enabling them to have a portion of the luxury that the front’s plutocrats have been enjoying for nearly two decades.  The rebels bribe Namgoong and his daughter “Yona” into helping them by promising to supply them with ‘Kronol’ a highly addictive drug that is also explosive.  The soldiers of the train’s front are not going to give up without a fight.

    Tilda Swinton in 'Snowpiercer'
    Tilda Swinton in ‘Snowpiercer’

    This is a combination of science-fiction, fantasy and intense action.  The result enthralls, capturing the audience’s attention as the reduced rebel force closes in on their objective.  There is gore galore and yet it isn’t gratuitous but drives forward the compelling storyline.

    The characters are fascinating.  Tilda Swinton is Wilford’s factotum/Ms Fix-it and is obsequiously obnoxious in a delightful performance.  Ed Harris delivers Wilford as similar and yet different from his amazing work in The Truman Show, where his ‘Christof’ created a world while marching solely to the beat of his own drummer.  Chris Evans is solid as the tortured hero.

    The visual presentation is stellar, icy landscapes that whizz by from one perspective and yet are held in the occasional gorgeous longshot.  The action sequences stun with their violence and clever use of light and dark.  Better still, this isn’t just a sci-fi/fantasy/action flick.  While this isn’t Occupy Wall Street propaganda, the message of the societal problem of income inequity is there all the same.  Not overbearing, but a definite reminder of the dangers that such sharp divisions entail.

  • ‘King Kong’

    ‘King Kong’

    Jack Black in ‘King Kong (2005)’

    Ever since I was a kid, Kong was my favorite monster movie. I grew up with the 1976 remake, where instead of ascending the Empire State Building the gentle giant climbed the Twin Towers. I soon saw the original 1933 film and was both amazed and awed by the story. The 1976 remake differed in many respects from that original black and white by Merian C. Cooper, but Peter Jackson’s retelling of King Kong is not only loyal to the first film, it actually manages to bring it to life in a way I never could have imagined.

    There aren’t too many films today that I would recommend seeing in the theater, but King Kong is one of them. The experience of witnessing the amazing effects on the big screen was like being a kid again, completely absorbed in a fantastical world of magic and wonder. The characters are all bigger than life, not just because they stand twenty feet tall on the silver screen, but because they are heroic and bombastic in an over-the-top adventure.

    I was initially concerned about this remake of King Kong. I’ve railed against Hollywood’s obsession with retreading old ground instead of producing original material. And this time they were tackling something that made an impression on me as a child, one of those rare experiences when a movie opens your mind to new possibilities and allows you to see the world just a little differently than you did before. Sure, Jackson was at the helm, which was comforting since I’ve loved so many of his works, including The Frighteners and, of course, the Lord of the Rings trilogy (well, the first two, anyway). But that didn’t remove that nervous knot in the pit of my gut.

    That was until I got the opportunity to see the film earlier this week. In only a few moments, that knot was untied and I was on the ride of a lifetime.

    King Kong is a singular experience of non-stop adventure. The visuals are gloriously beautiful, with moments of shear excitement interrupted only briefly by quiet interludes. Jackson has not only made a stunningly wonderful remake of a classic, he’s made a classic. I can’t help but think that Cooper himself would have marveled at how Jackson presented his tale.

    Naomit Watts and Adrien Brody in ‘King Kong (2005)’

    The story, for those of you unfamiliar with Kong, follows an overzealous and self-obsessed filmmaker, Carl Denham (Jack Black), who secretly journey’s to a mythical island in hopes of capturing unique visuals for a film. Along with a small crew, he casts the beautiful Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) as his star, and tricks the film’s writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrian Brody), into accompanying them. Following a cryptic map, they discover Skull Island, and soon find it is populated by strange and brutal native people who offer Darrow up for sacrifice to the island’s most feared inhabitant King Kong.

    When Darrow is taken away by the 25-foot gorilla, Driscoll, Denham, and the crew of their boat journey through the island in hopes of rescuing her. But danger lies around every tree in this bizarre and macabre corner of the world, where dinosaurs roam free and insects grow to the size of cars.

    If King Kong has a flaw, it is perhaps that the first 20 to 25 minutes are a bit slow. The characters take a little longer than necessary to get to Skull Island. But this careful pacing helps prepare you for the next two hours, which never stops moving as the story goes from one breathtaking action sequence to another. I could get into detail of what happens, but I really wouldn’t want to take away the experience for the audience of seeing it first hand. They are, quite simply, jaw dropping in their splendor and eye popping in their detail. And the sequence with the insects is by far the most fun I’ve had in a theater in more than 20 years. Even the music, crafted in just two months by James Newton Howard after Howard Shore left the project, is incredible.

    Peter Jackson has created a wonderfully unique experience with King Kong, capturing the same sense of adventure and fun of the original. I can only guess, but I imagine the feelings this film may invoke are not too dissimilar from what audiences in 1933 must have felt when they first watched that great ape grace the screen.

    That’s not to say the film is perfect. There are moments that come off as painfully cheesy. In fact, there were several times when the audience laughed when things were supposed to be dramatic. But that’s all in keeping with the tone of the original film, where moments that may have been subtle today were made more dramatic. And, while my wife strongly disagreed with me, I ultimately felt that Jack Black was perhaps miscast in this role. Aside from my feeling that the part of Denham was more fitting for an older actor, it was nearly impossible for me to ever take him seriously. Perhaps had Black done some more straight roles prior to Kong I wouldn’t have had this problem. The same thing happened with me and Jim Carrey, who I couldn’t take seriously in his many dramatic roles until Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But I recognize that others may not have this same issue, and I don’t exactly fault Black for it.

    Regardless of these minor flaws, King Kong is amazingly fun. None of its problems come close to the incredible things it gets right. The special effects are stunning, the characters all are rich with detail and depth, and the story keeps you on the edge of your seat regardless of the fact that you will most likely know exactly how it is going to end.