Back Seat Producers

The masked crimefighter of Central City known as The Spirit becomes embroiled in a plot by his archnemesis, The Octopus, to unlock mythological secrets that will garner for him the power to rule the world- all the while, also pursuing a mysterious woman from his past, the criminal Sand Saref.

The Spirit written and directed by Frank Miller and based on the comic strip series by legendary comics creator Will Eisner is a mixed bag. Miller is somewhat faithful to what Eisner has done, but decidedly, like Darwyn Cooke’s version of The Spirit for DC Comics, this isn’t an impression of Eisner’s work, it’s Frank Miller’s vision of the character, and what Miller has decided to do is go really big and over-the-top with The Spirit, not necessarily unlike what has been done in the past in movies with characters like Flash Gordon or Warren Beatty’s version of Dick Tracy. He’s embracing the sheer “comic book-iness” of it all rather than try to make it at all “real.”

The stuff that he does well, at least in my estimation, is the earnestness of the title hero, with The Spirit willing to show the extremes in his face between utter grimness and just wide-eyed silliness (stuff that Eisner did as well), and The Spirit himself is well portrayed by actor Gabriel Macht who really does a great job here and holds his own quite well. Scenes with him on screen are for the most part pretty cool. Another thing that he does well is embracing the sheer sexual quality of the many females in The Spirit’s life, and here those women are represented by such characters as the abovementioned Sand Saref, Silken Floss, Plaster of Paris and in a much more innocent way by Ellen Dolan (played by respectively Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Paz Vega and Sarah Paulson and they’re all terrific here, and just look fantastic).

Where the movie is hurt is in some pacing issues, scenes with The Octopus, Silken Floss and their toadies (all played by Louis Lombardi and it looks like he’s having a lot of fun with this), tend to go on to long and decide to show the characters in other lights that just fall flat. And personally, I think this was hurt also by the choice of using Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus. Now in the comics, The Octopus’ face is never shown, and here, because it is Jackson, then Jackson does his “thing” as part of it and doesn’t really exude as much menace as he could. I think a better choice might’ve been to have done what was done in a movie like V For Vendetta where Hugo Weaving was cast as V and didn’t show his face through the entire movie. Weaving was still able to carry the day and preserve the mystery aspect of the character, and I think The Spirit would’ve benefitted from the same choice.

Other than that though, I had a pretty good time with the movie- it’s loaded with some great visuals (and the end credits show a lot of art from Miller’s storyboards for scenes) and has a great atmosphere about it, that is as long as your able to take the over-the-top manner in which it’s all presented, and Gabriel Macht as a leading man, is a talent to watch. This is a movie, much like Speed Racer that will no doubt be derided endlessly now (by most) but down the road could get a lot more appreciation.

The world is taken aback with the discovery an alien who has come to the planet. This alien named Klaatu has come with the idea of saving the Earth, not the people on it, but the planet from the people on it, with the rationale that the Earth is one of the few planets that can support a variety of lifeforms, and that it will be destroyed in it’s own time by it’s dominant lifeform. Klaatu lands in Central Park in New York City and is immediately intercepted by all manners of scientists, military and police, but one scientist stands apart from everyone else, Dr. Helen Benson an astrophysicist, who believes in Klaatu and wants to have the chance to show him that humanity can change. But looming in the background, is Klaatu’s gigantic protector, ready to strike…

And with that, you have the basic premise of The Day The Earth Stood Still, the re-make of the 1951 movie of the same name originally directed by Robert Wise. This new version is directed by Scott Derrickson who very much impressed me previously with The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Now, I’m not one of these guys who’s going to cry foul about remaking a classic like the original, in fact I’ll go so far as to say that considering the changes in technology, both in filmmaking and in our culture, this could be served well be a remake. And there are aspects to this film that are very well done with that, for instance, the fear that would go with this event is way more palpable here than it was in the original, as is all of the measures that are being taken to look into this. Where it veers horribly from the original though is in it’s final solution, basically looking to appeal more to the heart than intellectually, and though the original may be more simplistic in some ways, one thing that should be admired about it is that it was a more cerebral film for the time.

How does it veer? Mostly with the changes brought about with the Helen Benson character, who has been decided to be the heart of the film. At the start, we’re shown that she has a strained relationship with her son, who’s father was killed in the war. And then when she’s brought on board with a team of scientific experts, the focus of the film shifts solely to her- with the camera going for as many Jennifer Connelly close-ups as it can get, and the other players looking to her more with all of the answers. Later, as she’s on the run with Klaatu and her son, the relationship with the son comes to a head and then Klaatu sees that the potential for change is there in humanity…

… oh, please…

This change with the Helen Benson character smacks more of movie marketing and trying to get the female audience to care about the characters more than anything else, and as such, there really is no cerebral message to the film. A better solution, would’ve been to have had more of multi-cultural mix of the scientific experts be the ones to help Klaatu along the way rather than confined down to one person, and by what it does, it presents as it’s solution in the end as the all-tto familiar and none-to-true of “love conquers all.” It’s not at all believable in the end… and it’s a shame, because the pieces are here to be true to the original solution of the first film.

That main piece being one sole scene, done as a nod to the original, and featuring John Cleese in the role of the scientist Professor Barnhardt. It’s a great scene, with a great deal of weight as performed by Cleese, but in the end, it’s more of a throwaway here as opposed to what it should’ve been, just as it was in the original, the impetus to solving the problem.

Instead, we’ve forced on us this one character and her son, who’s relationship is forced (and also helps to serve some of the political commentary to the film- making me also wonder what this movie would be like if it had been made say two years from now instead), it’s never really believable- Jaden Smith plays the son (he’s the real life son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith) and he’s just annoying as hell in the film. And on top of that being forced and unbelievable, so is Connelly as an astrophysicist, especially considering how important a player she’s deemed to be by the authority figures early on.

So wither Keanu Reeves as Klaatu? Well, again, I’m not going to fall in the traditional internet “hate” of Reeves, I actually like him my own self and I think he does a great job here… now with that said, he still wouldn’t have been my first choice in casting Klaatu. Recently, I watched the original movie again and along with that, a featurette on the making of the film. Now in the original, there were two actors being discussed to play Klaatu, Claude Rains and Spencer Tracy, both pretty big stars at the time. Rains fell through, and so the choice was going to be Tracy, who really wanted to do the movie. Then, studio head Darryl Zanuck got struck by the notion that when Klaatu takes off his space helmet, the audience was going to see Spencer Tracy and as such, not really have any mystery about it- then Zanuck was off to England and while there, that’s where he saw Michael Rennie and was struck with the idea that this guy should be Klaatu, and so he was… Now it was Rennie’s first movie part, and while I wouldn’t have gone with a total unknown as Klaatu, I would’ve gone with someone who was less a household name, as Keanu Reeves is, and my personal choice would’ve been Ralph Fiennes in the part. Still though, I don’t have any problems with Keanu Reeves here.

No, my biggest problem is with the casting of Jennifer Connelly and Jaden Smith and the importance that they’re given in the remake. Oh sure, the Helen Benson character and her son in the original are also quite important to that film, but not in the same way and not to the sacrifice of the cerebral quality to the original.

There’s still stuff here though that I think is pretty cool, that would’ve been even cooler had the focus not changed from head to heart. Changing that, changes the ideas behind the film considerably. And with a movie like The Day The Earth Stood Still and the high regard that people have for the original, this hurts it tremendously and as such, this remake is more a blown opportunity than the chance to make something that could’ve stood right on a par with the original.

Frank Castle, the vigilante known as The Punisher, continues his war on crime in New York City. As he’s busting up his usual Mafioso, while they’re engaging in a deal with the Russians to bring over bio-toxic material to sell to terrorist organizations, two things happen- Castle inadvertently kills an undercover FBI agent and he causes the head of this mafia cell, Billy the Beaut to become horribly disfigured. Billy renames himself Jigsaw and vows to take down the Punisher, all the while while Frank tries to make amends with the family of the agent that he’s killed… and of course, hijinks ensue.

Punisher: War Zone is now the third movie involving the titular character and also the third take on the character, and so far, the one that has the most fun with it yet. Director Lexi Alexander has decided with this version to really embrace some of the over-the-top aspects involved with The Punisher, and has delivered an ultra-violent R-rated version that pretty much lets you know this is the way it’s going to be right in the first few minutes of the film. What she’s got here is a very fast-paced and fun piece that’s certainly faithful to some aspects of the character. Marvel’s had so many different versions of what The Punisher is over the years, and what’s shown here is probably the most familiar to longtime fans (though I have to admit, I haven’t kept up as much as others, but there were certainly things that I recognized).

It’s a good-looking movie for sure, and the action is really nicely done, and the way I see it, it looks like all involved were having a pretty good time.

Ray Stevenson takes over the role of Frank Castle, and he certainly looks the part and he pretty much delivers the goods though this doesn’t really ask that much from him- he’s the driving force of the film though, symbolically more than anything else. More fun is had with all of the supporting cast in the film, primarily with Dominic West playing Jigsaw, who’s clearly having a ball on-screen. Doug Hutchinson plays his insane brother Loony Bin Jim, and he’s a cool little physical counter here, being a relatively small man, but obviously very deadly. The inspired casting choice award goes to Wayne Knight, playing Castle’s long-time tech associate, Microchip, Knight’s just perfect for the part, and actually provides more of the human insight to The Punisher. The cast is rounded out with good supporting turns from Colin Salmon, Dash Mihok and Julie Benz, amongst others, and like I said, all looking like they’re having a pretty good time here.

My expectations were relatively low going into this, as I really enjoyed the last Punisher film with Thomas Jane in the lead, so I wasn’t quite expecting a whole lot here. So I was pleasantly surprised to have had as a good a time with the movie as I did. It’s on the minor side compared to some of the other big comic book movies of the year, but there’s still a good time here, and if you can take the high level of violence that this has (and it’s pretty high), there’s s good time to be had. Very much recommended…

Yet again, transporter Frank Martin finds himself in another dangerous situation, this time holding the daughter of a Ukrainian Prime Minister in tow, while an “evil corporation” is negotiating with him (the Prime Minister) to store their environmental waste, against his wishes, of course. The only catch, Frank and the girl, Valentina both have explosive devices attached to their wrists triggered to go off if they go further than 75 feet away from Frank’s car.

Now I really like the first two Transporter movies from director Louis Letterier and producer/writer Luc Besson, they’re just some good mindless fun, and for the most part, so is Transporter 3 this time with director Olivier Megaton (that’s his name) helming the action. And the action here is pretty darn good for the most part, but this film does have it’s draggy moments.

And most of those moments involve Frank’s “package,” the girl, Valentina, who is strictly his opposite number, a party girl who wants Frank to satisfy her in what she believes are her final moments alive. She’s pretty much the typical Luc Besson “heroin chic” type of girl, and this might not be so bad if the actress involved had any charisma or actual beauty to her, but mostly she comes off as an annoying skank, except for the final scene in the film.

Jason Statham reprises his role as Frank Martin and as always, Statham is solid as a rock. I make no apologies, I’m a huge fan of the guy and he’s had a pretty good year, not only being in this and Death Race, but also in what is one of the very best movies of 2008, The Bank Job. He’s always fun to watch and pretty much, if he’s in it, I’ll probably see it. François Berléand is back as Frank’s friend, Inspector Tarconi, and he’s solid as well. New to the series this time is Jeroen Krabbe (who I haven’t seen in anything in quite awhile, it used to be every time I was turning around he was in something- most notable in The Fugitive) as the Ukrainian Prime Minister, and the always reliable Robert Knepper as Johnson, the man pulling the strings on Frank, our villain of the piece. Most know Knepper as Tea-Bag each week on Prison Break and he’s just a great character guy and I hope he ends up in more movies. But as I said above, the biggest problem here is the actress who plays Valentina, Natalya Rudakova, who just has zero charisma, stilted English that sounds more like reading lines than anything else, and in my own opinion, just not that attractive at all. Some scenes in particular, especially when she’s trying to distract Frank from doing his job, you just want him to knock her out so we can get back to the action.

It’s not bad in the end, but it’s probably the weakest of the Transporter movies thus far, but hopefully it’ll still do well enough so that Luc Besson and company will still keep making them. If you like these movies, I expect that you’ll probably like this as well, though your mileage may vary with the Valentina character.