Get Out (2017) ****/5: This film is effective as a social critique of racial relations in the US. I was not scared though.

 

(photo courtesy of Imdb.com)

Get Out has probably made a lot of black people feel uncomfortable when surrounded by a sea of white people. It has visualized our worst fears about racism or racial exploitation and the lengths that white people will go to maintain their hegemony as the dominant racial group in America. This is despite some of these whites trying to appear progressive and liberal when it comes to accepting the material progress of some blacks in society. In the culture of the US black culture is very much mainstream right now with a half black president, in the form of Obama, just demitting office. Get Out is making a certain statement that black people should be wary of how much they allow themselves to be caught up with the fact that they are now accepted in a lot of states by white America. If you allow yourself to get caught up as a black man you will become absorbed by the whites because they are still the dominant racial group in the country. With black culture now mainstream the liberal whites are just jumping on the bandwagon and in typical white fashion exploit the natural talents of black people. This is the case being made in the film. So watch out or Get Out.

This film is about the black man Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) going to meet the parents of Rose (Allison Williams), his white girlfriend, somewhere in the American heartland or the white American heartland. The weekend getaway turns sour for Chris because of some very disturbing discoveries and he realizes that his only option is to get out or be put out.

Positives

I was more impressed by the social critique than the horror element. I’m not a big horror film fan because I’m rarely scared and this film is no different. The social critique however is very important. This film is clearly one for the integrationists who call for closer cooperation with the dominant white racial group in America. Closer integration with the dominant white racial group comes at a cost. Obviously this film blows it up from an emotional point of view but when you seek to integrate as a black man or woman you definitely become increasingly isolated in their company. Fitting in becomes even more difficult and in a lot of cases black people merely adapt and begin to act like their white counterparts. They begin to lose their identity and find it even more difficult to interact with their fellow blacks. A lot of them literally believe that by acting white they will be taken more seriously and they become an important instrument in the domination of their own brethren as they are culturally absorbed by the dominant white racial group. Obviously I can’t spoil the mystery elements of the plot but a lot of the horror in Get Out is based on how disgusting black integration with white culture can be. Obviously in this case it is not entirely Chris’s fault but the important message is that you must stay black and preserve your essence or it will be taken or absorbed by the dominant white racial group. An audience member said it perfectly ‘Him nuh black’ or ‘He’s not black’, referring to Chris. The audience member picked up immediately on what the film was trying to say. It’s when Chris starts to act ‘black’ that a lot of the audience members began to cheer. In Jamaica most of the audience members are black or mulatto/ brown people, a mixture of black and white. This is why Chris’s best friend, Rod (LilRel), a TSA agent, is such an important figure in this film because he stays to true to his blackness and this is why he picks up immediately that something is wrong. Credit must go to the character Chris though because he can’t have lost all his blackness if he’s still friends with Rod. So in this film you either Get  Out or be put out. The film reminded me of a quote by Marx when he said that the rule of the dominant class becomes more solid and dangerous the more they can absorb the best and brightest from the dominated classes.

There is also an important psychological element in this film that made the story a bit grounded and made the Chris character more sympathetic. He’s the most developed character in the whole film as a result. This does make the film more than just straight horror. Chris has buried a secret deep in his brain and when it’s unlocked and revealed it brings to the fore all the trauma he experienced on that tragic day. It’s also important how it’s used against him.

I also enjoyed the mystery elements. I was not scared  but the elements in the plot justified its horror film status. The one horror film Get Out reminded me of is Rosemary’s Baby. I found a lot of parallels.

Negatives

Since Get Out is effective as a social critique it can also be challenged on these grounds. I’m not going to get into that debate now but suffice to say one could say that the idea of how integrated blacks get with whites can be exaggerated and Jordan Peele could have balanced it by referring to the role some blacks play to get themselves caught by trying to act white in the first place. Chris does not represent the extreme of some of the oreo cookies out there. Initially I thought Peele was going that route in the film but when the mystery is revealed I realized that it wasn’t the fault of those black individuals why they acted in a particular way.  Also when you look at the fanatical white secret society Peele could have examined the extent that these societies are spread throughout the US. It would show that the struggle goes on despite minor victories. This would mean that there was the big picture. The big picture would have made a sequel possible especially when it comes to getting to the root of these fanatical secret societies. You do get a sense that some characters will never get out but that should also apply to the big picture.

 I also thought that Rose could have been more effective as a character. Even before the big mysteries are revealed she doesn’t seem very engaged or involved from the beginning and that sort of gives her away. She does act naïve initially but when we see the real  Rose she’s not very effective. 

when the mysteries are revealed it becomes a racial slugfest lol. This is why i wanted to see some genuine oreo cookies in the mix.

I wasn’t scared and I don’t blame this film in particular because I’m not usually scared by horror films. The attempt to make things appear horrific and scary in Get Out seemed formulaic to me. You literally expect to see some horrific things or to be manipulated so that you’ll feel scared.

Overall the film was very effective as a social critique. 

Why I like watching the closing credits at the end of a film?

(photo courtesy of Dailymotion)

I just want to briefly explain why the long list of credits at the end of a film always fascinated me. Marvel studios has gotten people to stick around and watch the end credits roll simply because they are waiting for the post-credits scenes. In a lot of cases while they wait for the post-credits scene some people normally talk while the credits roll on. I credit marvel for getting some of the average movie goers to appreciate watching the long list of credits even if they aren’t interested in the various names and positions that helped to make the film possible. I loved watching the long list of credits at the end of the film since I was a very young boy of 8 or 9. One reason is that I simply fell in love with movies after cable was first installed in my community during the mid 90s. HBO was my favourite channel and with lax parental supervision I watched all kinds of films. I became so in love with movies that by the end I would just watch the end credits roll as I digested the film experience. There was a time where I thought every film I watched was a great film; that’s what happens when you’re in love; you embrace everything with desire. This doesn’t matter even when on closer inspection a lot of films weren’t worth the time. One reason I am able to predict a lot of films is because I watched so much. Eventually the all embracing love became more selective and my love was directed at the better films or the ones that had much more quality. These better films made me appreciate the end credits sequence even more. The better films had such an impact on me emotionally that I would normally just watch the end credits sequence trying to process all that I just watched and then build anticipation for my next viewing. The film’s score and music also became important to me, and still is, in allowing me to continue to appreciate the film on an emotional level as it lingered in my head while watching the end credit sequence. I forgot to mention that my appreciation for the better films started in my teen years.

As I got older and left the teen years behind I came to admire the personnel that was being identified in the end credits and would start to marvel at the significant amount of people involved in the production. Creating a film is truly a massive undertaking. In the superficial world most people only focus on the stars because that’s who they see when they watch the films. Some people even have a vague idea of the Director and the Screen writers. Some films get people to appreciate the process by making a film within a film.  In the superficial world however the stars matter the most come awards time. To their credit the stars do carry a gigantic technical apparatus. They are the subjective element that makes all the technical output matter. Without the stars the technical aspects of the film are dead. The stars channel the creative energies of the numerous people behind the scenes so that they can create something distinctive. So I’m not taking anything away from the stars. In the end credit sequence they are truly the first names that the audience sees particularly in the open credit sequence along with the director, producers, screenwriters, cinematographers and editors. These are generally considered the more prestigious occupations in the film industry. The end credit sequence however did give me the opportunity to appreciate the other more technical operators like the stunt men (apart from Jackie Chan films lol). Obviously they are not grand on their own or there wouldn’t be so many and a lot of them are just assistants but the best ones in their field should be known throughout the film industry. This vast number of technical operators makes the creation of a film such a massive undertaking that at times I just have to say out loud ‘look how much people involved’. The vast number of technical operators also reveal how much things have changed. If you watch some of the older films you’ll realize how short the end of credit sequences are and obviously the major additions to the end credit sequence reveals how much the visual component has been enhanced. Visual and 3D effects, Cinematography, Music,  Sound effects, Sound mixing, various designers, art direction, camera men, etc demonstrate that the visual element of film has been considerably enhanced from the days where toys or small models of some structures were a part of production design. The increase in the end credit sequence also reveals that that the average level of investment in a particular film has raised considerably unless it’s primarily a character drama where most of the emphasis is on the actors and their acting ability. The scale of the blockbuster has raised the standard level of investment and the increased visual effects play an important part. So now I have moved from appreciating the amount of people involved in a film production to the amount of investment it takes to just to get a film made unless it’s primarily a character drama of course. When it’s a bad film it must be painful to sit through the end credit sequence because so much work went into producing a product that won’t be embraced by the market and so the investment won’t pay off.

End credit sequences therefore can make us appreciate the film even more from an emotional point of view as well as an appreciation for the numerous people involved in the production and the high level of investment. It all comes to the consumer in the form of a ticket price at the cinema or the price for a DVD or Blu ray. It is these end credit sequences that make it difficult for me to buy pirated material. You’re really playing with people’s livelihood when you do support the illegal activity but it’s such a costly affair to watch a movie at the cinema or buy the original Dvd or Blu ray that some people give in. Kudos to those that make watching the good films a great experience.

La La land (2016) ****½ /5: Suffers from the same limitations as most musicals but this is one of the best musicals ever made. It's right up there with the greats it pays homage to.

La La Land is one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen. For me it’s right up there with Singin’ in the Rain and West Side Story. Visually La La Land is way more advanced than any of the musicals it pays homage to. I’m not really a fan of musicals. I usually tolerate them. The Sound of Music, for instance, is tolerated because of the usual annual viewing. When I was younger everyone was talking about Chicago except me and a few like minded people. I normally find musicals excessively dramatic with their musical and dance numbers. The exceptions for me are Singin’ in the Rain, West Side Story and now  La La Land because there is some genuine dramatic heft in these films, something that resonates with me beyond the music and the razzle dazzle. For the first couple of minutes while watching La La Land I thought this would be another empty bourgeois spectacle but by the end I obviously changed my mind. I’m not here to debate whether this film should have won the Oscar for best picture because I have not watched the more contemporary Moonlight as yet. Like I said I have been a bit late with films released in the latter part of 2016 and I’m not getting paid lol. It’s another foolish dream of mine to write about films and to be taken seriously just like the protagonists in La La Land decide to follow their dreams before waking up. Whether or not the musical genre is dying La La Land will go down as one of the greats. Any musical after this will have to be really good. Musicals are a very elite category now which means one is released every 5 years or so. 

La La Land is a musical about two dreamers trying to make it in sunny California; LA to be exact. One, Mia (Emma Stone), is an aspiring actress and the other Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is an aspiring jazz musician in the old fashioned way who wants to open his own jazz club. Their dreams bring them together but it also tears them apart: The bittersweet price of following your dreams.

Positives

There are many positives about this film especially as I have now called it one of the all time great musicals. The question is: Does that make it a great film? Only time will tell. This film is right up there with the best of its genre. It clearly pays homage to the genre as a whole. I’m not that familiar with the names of the choreographers and musical composers so don’t expect a history lesson from me. If you ever watched a classic musical before though you will understand while watching this film that it’s paying homage to some bygone era. There is a clear historical current particularly with the opening musical number. When I saw that opening musical number I said to myself ‘Not again please. Not in the mood for this.’ Let’s just say I thought I was going to slog through this one as I did with other musicals. There is something else to the film though particularly its contemporary vibe. The Artist was so disappointing for me because it didn’t have a contemporary edge. For me it’s one of the great travesties that The Artist is listed as a best film winner at the Academy Awards. La La Land does pay homage to the musical genre but because of its contemporary vibe it does transcend it in some way. Yeah, the protagonists are actually living in the era of smart phones and so how does the film adapt. Damien Chazelle knows what he’s doing here. He also did some serious research. Yes he just won the Academy award for Best Director and yes it’s fully deserved. He used the historical basis of the musical genre and he transcended it and made something his own. The film actually has something to say about California and how to carve out your own niche in the midst of rapid modernization.

The primary theme that got me is not the one about pursuing your dreams but how important it is to lay a foundation so that you can pursue your dreams. For the majority of the film what we see is a foundation being laid as Sebastian and Mia come together and then drift apart. In the initial stage, or the year they found love and lost it, both characters romantically pursue their dreams. This  is when we hear most of the musical selections for this film and the accompanying choreography. In the romantic pursuit you can see that something is being built, that a foundation is being laid. Their coming together is an obvious part of that foundation. In order to seriously pursue your dreams a solid foundation has to be laid one way or the other.  I also saw a bit of Annie Hall in this film. Apart from the musical numbers and the accompanying choreography we witness some fantastic visual sequences as a result. Things are happening as they try to figure it out. There are the obvious speed bumps along the way but things are still happening and so once the foundation is laid then there is take off. The bittersweet moment comes towards the end though because we witness the price of following their dreams and actually being successful at it. ‘Feels like Old Times’. I have only been moved by two other musical films Singin’ in the Rain and West Side Story. Those films were released decades ago and now there’s La La Land. Does this mean La La Land is a great film? In the context of musicals it does. Others might not see it that way. I have to be emotionally moved by a film to consider it worthy. It should tug at my heart strings a little or resonate with me on a serious level i.e. get me thinking. The bittersweet scene towards the end is probably Chazelle making peace with a genre he loves but is now accepting that times have changed and we have to change with it. If other filmmakers want to bring back the good old days then La La Land has shown them how to do it. Don’t follow The Artist.

I liked some of the musical selections in this film. They do reflect Mia and Sebastian’s story. I particularly like the one where they were referring to the waste of a lovely night. Something like that. I wasn’t keeping track. Mia’s final song was pretty good as well. Overly dramatic but pretty good. 'City of Stars' is pretty good as well.Some of the musical numbers without the lyrics were more up to date

This film really captured the look and feel of sunny California, particularly the Hollywood aspect of it.

Negatives

The primary negative for me is that all the limitations of the musical genre are here as well. The superficiality of the choreography and the music to say something meaningful means that there is no need for dialogue in certain areas. This leads to a lot of exaggerated elements and a sappy attempt to recreate the good old days. It’s a pity that some of the choreography wasn’t more up to date. Tap dancing? Really? In one scene Mia literally swaps her heels for tap dancing shoes. Oh dear! This is where the nostalgic vibe held the film back. As with most musicals there are some empty areas when there isn’t some razzle dazzle. It’s as if they say enough so they can get to the next musical selection. A lot of musicals are guilty of that. The opening number was a bore for me as well as the 2^nd one. I get that the opening number was to introduce us to La La Land. It’s a musical after all. I only really got into some of the musical elements when Mia and Sebastian got together; that’s when there was some magic.

 Initially I thought where is the struggle here? The pressure and pain? It just seemed like some petty bourgeois folks trying to identify with some struggle but not necessarily engaged with it. This is another reason why the musical genre died a slow painful death. All the singing and dancing can be very distracting at times. Distract from the real issues. If someone is down hearted they sing a song or dance. At times it comes across as too upbeat and annoying, too artistic, denying the cold, hard reality. La La Land is guilty of that in the initial stages. Fortunately, the best musicals also have a really good story to tell and that saved  La La Land from ignominy or the shame of basking in its own superficiality. If you’re a contemporary observer who is not a fan of musicals you will only get into this film if you can trudge through the opening 20 minutes or so. 

Still well done to Damien Chazelle. I’m not saying that this film can bring back the genre but it deserves its place among the stars.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) ****/5: There are obvious deficiencies but the film makes up for it with non-stop action

John Wick: Chapter 2 is a very good action film and a worthy sequel to the original film released in 2014. Chapter 2 is pretty accurate here because the story in this current release merely expands on that of the original. John’s return in the first film had some consequences. There is a very important historical lesson: if you can’t resolve what’s in the past then forever will it haunt you. John Wick learns that the hard way not that we, the audience, mind since the action is so great. The world of John Wick has indeed expanded and now Chapter 3 should be a real treat because we should be getting an international perspective of the world of killers.

The film is basically about John (Keanu Reeves) being drawn back into the world of killers or assassins because of a blood oath he took with a former accomplice Santino (Riccardo Scamarcio).  His comeback opens the floodgates and then he becomes the target with a price on his head.

Positives

The main positive is obviously the action but the story is also pretty good. Even though it’s all about John Wick we get more detail about the international scope of the world of assassins and some insight into the major players that call the shots. You know of the major players when a bounty is placed on John Wick. Only the major players, who are primarily mob bosses, can afford to place such high bounties on someone’s head.  The first film was clearly very personal and very small scale but now the scale has expanded considerably and there is an interesting variety of killers/assassins. For instance we get to meet Cassian (Common) and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) who give the film an added dimension and not just because they’re black. There are some parallels between the 2 especially now that John has given them both a choice. I just hope the filmmakers can keep a lid on it for Chapter 3 which should be explosive. This definitely feels like a Chapter 2 because the story merely continues from the first film and the past has come back to bite John in a not so good way. This always happens when you don’t properly resolve issues in the past.

The structure of the world is very important in this film. Even though this world is one inhabited by killers there are rules to the game. They are not savages. The important thing to note in this film is that John Wick comes up against a roadblock because of these rules. It’s the rules that say he must honour the blood oath. He also ends up breaking a very important rule which will make his life on the run in chapter 3 more interesting because he will be ever more isolated. John has paid the true price of freedom. It will be interesting to see how he resolves these issues in chapter 3.

The film does have a lot of tension especially when the floodgates are opened.

Keanu Reeves has truly made this character his own and there are moments when he is does show humanity, particularly with the dog.

John Wick should have his own videogame.

I am having a feeling that we should be hearing more about the impossible task in chapter 3.

Negatives

The primary negative of this film is that the film is dominated primarily by the action. This series lives and dies by the action. When you have phrases like ‘You can either start a war or give me a gun’ you get the gist of the story. Apart from the action itself it’s all about John setting up or getting prepared for action. In a world of killers John is simply the best and you have to accept it although there are challengers like Cassian. Without the action or links to it the film is probably a bit empty and makes up for it with various eccentricities. Yes there is never a dull moment but some moments that we consider exciting are merely empty and just pass the time. You can use the time to check your messages on whatsapp. Without any links to the action the film is pretty weak.   It’s also a world of characters and how they interact with each other like a superhero film and so the context is still a bit threadbare. The interaction between John and the Bowery King makes up for some of the deficiencies here. From an international perspective it should be interesting if there is a famous killer from Russia who will challenge John sooner or later.  Maybe in chapter 3 they can say a little bit more about the world of killers and the mob bosses in control of the crime world locally, in America, and internationally. They made some references to the Camorra so maybe they will play an important role in the 3^rd film. This would truly make John’s world bigger. It’s good when you can be surrounded by all these killers who make the action interesting, because they do the killing, but the Camorra are one of the big dogs that control a significant part of the underworld. So by dealing with them you’ll really have something interesting to say about the underworld and if it can really be dismantled completely. Can John truly escape an organization as embedded as this one? It won’t be about just killing one man. So hopefully in chapter 3 we can hear more about the underworld apart from John dueling with killers. I mean hopefully the film will be more than just the action.

Keanu Reeves has the character John Wick down when it comes to style but he needs to be more effective in terms of delivery. He needs to make the character more gritty even when he’s not killing everyone or when he gets upset.

Logan (2017) ****/5: Very good portrayal of the Logan character but the film is clearly manipulative for various reasons and came too late for the series as a whole.

(image courtesy of superherohype.com)

It really is a pity that we had to wait this long to get such a good movie about Wolverine/Logan since his solo debut a couple years back. This film shows how great the entire series could have been but instead we’re just left with one solid entry in the series.  This is a really good superhero film because it’s a very good character study of the lead character. Some of the external elements surrounding Logan remind us of the comic book elements and they do take a bit away from the film but this film does have a certain finality to it. The final scene does hit home; this is the end of an era.  If you forget X-Men: Apocalypse this might be the end of the X-Men era that began in 2000. The film does point to a new generation of X-Men who might be taking over and Logan is simply passing on the baton. In some ways he can be likened to Moses who never got to see the promised the land after leading his people to freedom. In fact the Wolverine/Logan character has carried the franchise since the beginning. This is why the end does hit home.  The R-rating does help because we get a sense of the down trodden, gritty atmosphere and the character can finally let go of his pg-13 burden. If Deadpool was bloody it did have a lot of comic relief but Logan is the flipside with its very serious, brooding atmosphere + all the blood and severed limbs to show for it.

The film is about a dissolute Logan character that is barely getting by in the distant future , the year 2029. A large portion of mutants have all gone and there are only a very  few remaining such as Logan (High Jackman), the ever optimistic Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Caliban (Stephen Merchant). It’s almost a post-apocalyptic X-Men world. All is not lost however because Logan is brought into contact with a mysterious girl, Laura (Dafne Keen), whose story reveals all sorts of secrets and has grave implications that will test the resolve of his character.

Positives

I have to be honest; I was never really a big fan of the X-men or the Wolverine series. I merely tolerated them. I understood the issues especially the one about mutants being outcasts but it never really sunk in. I guess I was really turned off by the third X-Men film. I was such a big fan of the animated series in the 90s that I thought the films were a letdown to some degree. I hated the first Wolverine film and I scoffed at the 2^nd film. I was also never convinced about Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine/Logan. This is the first film related to the X-Men franchise that really laid my doubts to rest. I was fully on board for this one. Hugh Jackman was really convincing this time. He showed why he really deserved the part of Logan. Maybe the R-rating helped to show what he’s really about by unleashing all his ferocity. A ferocity that has built up for decades but only shows up when he gets drunk and wasted or when he snarls at people like Caliban, telling them to leave him alone. All that changes when the girl is onboard and Logan reluctantly takes her under his wing. Logan must call on whatever strength he has left to challenge the sinister forces in the film. This film really got me involved in the world of the X-Men but like I said a film like this came too late for me when the series as a whole is taken into account. If the tone was set earlier then this could have been a major series instead of just a good solo effort within a series.

The film does have finality. I didn’t get the sense that there was some way that they could bring back Hugh Jackman  for another round and this is why the film is effective.  In this film the finality was so striking that I have to give some credit to the long running X-Men franchise and the Wolverine spin offs. Not all of the films in the series were good but the franchise still endured and it’s clear with this film that a new dawn maybe upon us sometime in the future. The younger generation will live on to continue the fight. This film really brought home why mutants are considered outcasts from humanity. I really felt it for the mutants. I’m really looking forward to the new generation of mutants. It never hit me on a gut level before and it is clear that there are still some major battles to be fought. The finality of the film was such that while I was watching the film I started to compare Logan to Moses leading his people to the promised land but unable to set foot there for various reasons. When you watch it or if you’ve watched it already you’ll get what I’m saying.

The supporting cast was superb, especially Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier and Dafne Keen as Laura, as they try to shed some light into the darkness of Logan’s soul.

The action was brutal. At first I thought the slicing was just for convenience to make the film seem very brutal but it really does suit the character and his claws. This R-rating really gave Logan some license to go berserk. The movie has such good emotional moments that when the violence does come it feels justified. It’s not gore for gore sakes.

There are some good emotional moments and this all goes back to the finality of this film. This brings out the best in Jackman as an actor in the film’s key dramatic moments. Yeah you can feel his pain.

The film does work as a character study of Logan. I really got a sense of what makes this character tick on the inside. No I don’t mean his adamantium skeleton. Well all that used to interest some people was Logan’s adamantium skeleton, his healing ability and his macho style. Now there’s more going on to make it clear that this character does tick and it’s not just because of Jean Grey. It’s probably the best character study I have seen of a superhero in quite a while.

Negatives

The primary negative for me is that the film does seem to be too little too late for the Wolverine series. Why did they get it right only at the end of the line? I was not wholly convinced by the need for such a dramatic send off this time around. This makes the film seem very manipulative at times as if it’s reaching for something; reaching to be heartfelt. This series could easily have gone on for a while longer. So because Jackman played Logan for a long time we won’t be able to see another actor in the role just because this is Jackman’s farewell? The finality of the film suggests that this might be the end of Wolverine/Logan as we know it on film simply because Jackman won’t reprise his role. I wasn’t wholly convinced by it while watching the film.  The R-rating comes conveniently towards the end as well as  all of this drama. This doesn’t mean that it’s not a good standalone film but for the series it rings hollow. If this was a regular adventure and not a send off would the film be as affecting, even with the R-rating? Some people are even talking about this film being nominated for a best film Oscar. Hold on for a moment. The only serious nomination this film is likely to get is for Jackman’s performance.

The comic book elements are still there and although this is a good character study of Logan the villains are not as convincing. Without the character of Logan to anchor the film in a dramatic cesspool it would have lost a lot of its edge when considering the wider picture. Yes there is some tension in the film when considering the chase but the villains are not very effective. This is why I can’t rate this film as highly as The Dark Knight like so many people are trying to do.  Batman faced some great opposition in the form of the joker who pushed not only him but the city to a breaking point. The conflict was truly representative of something. The villains are almost faceless in Logan apart from the character Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) and there is some doctor rice (Richard E. Grant). It’s all a bit muddled what their intentions are and when their intentions are revealed it wasn’t a major revelation. Then the mysterious villain appears towards the end and he’s not that impressive. Spoiler alert!!! it all goes back to Logan fighting himself. This film is so Logan centric that he fights himself. Well it’s not really him but just like him in a lot of ways. Why all the mystery? It does add a bit to the suspense but it just goes to show that this film would be nothing without Logan. There is no real opposition here and it brings about good opposition when it comes to fighting but not in terms of pushing Logan. The girl is much more effective here when it comes to pushing him than any villain. The villain seemed to be there for mere comic book convenience or spectacle. Better that they just let the villains be representative of the system and Logan’s relationship with the girl would have been the primary focus. I would rather see what’s going on inside Logan’s head than see him fight a cloned version of himself. If that’s what they’re going for with the character study. I was really hoping for it to be a Sabretooth kind of villain.

The film strengths are also its weaknesses. It’s good that they have a character study on Logan but they focus too much on trying to portray his downfall and not giving the other situation or the bigger picture the chance to be developed properly. The young girl and her story are also important but we really focus a lot on Logan’s bitter and crestfallen character. Just imagine if he was a more upbeat and lively character. We wouldn’t be so distracted. But this is the end as they say. His bitterness is more like a certain weariness of the franchise in general. Hence why it only comes out in the end. There are no more real battles to be fought and so a broken Logan is more representative of the end of it all and not in a good way. No more gas in the creative tank and so when it’s all stripped bare then there’s not much else left to be said. All that remains is the bitterness and the depression. It’s reflective of a more destructive template than a genuine creative one.  The introduction of the Laura was so crucial here. For me it’s the film’s one saving grace and yes I know that was the intention but what does that say about the character of Logan.

Arrival (2016) ****/5: A good film but it never really challenged the traditional presentation of aliens and so there are a lot of hackneyed elements.

There’s no denying that I’m late with this review. I have been out of action for awhile so I am playing catch up. Of course I wouldn’t have any excuse if I was paid to write film reviews. So I have a lot of catching up to do for 2016. I’m starting with Arrival which is a good sci-fi film. I actually was thinking about watching it last year after seeing the trailer but I thought that it wouldn’t be worth the effort ($$$) to watch  yet another film about an alien landing and how much mysterious,  advanced and enlightened they are. After watching this film it’s clear that is the case. I mean that the predictable elements are all in place:  Very advanced and enlightened aliens come to earth but in this case it’s not for war. They want to help humankind which is another way of saying that they are still more advanced and enlightened than us. It seems that Interstellar has set a trend which I’ll identify later. Regardless of these predictable elements the film does set a standard when it comes to the communication process between us and aliens in the fictional world. I am really glad that a film has been released detailing in painstaking level of detail how difficult it would be for earthlings to communicate with advanced aliens of this type if they’re out there. This film has a set a standard. It’s also one of the few sci-fi films where a linguist is the star.

This film is about the arrival of 12 alien ships at different sites across the globe and the difficulty of communication them which can lead to serious misunderstanding which in this case is war. The film also explores the aliens’ culture of expression through their interaction with the linguist, Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and scientist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who are recruited by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to make sense of the aliens’ language in order to determine what their purpose is on earth. This leads to all sorts of mysterious happenings that become apparent through the wearying effects of the exercise on Louise who is dealing with her own troubles. Louise holds the key to unlocking the mystery of the aliens in order to prevent an outbreak of war between the aliens and humans.

Positives

The primary positive for me is the detailed process of communication between the aliens and the humans represented by Louise. I remember watching Man of Steel and saying to myself how do they understand the language of humans so easily. Are they that advanced? What does kryptonian sound like? I get that it’s a comic book film but this film has hopefully set a standard where even later comic book films will have to take the issue of communication seriously. Other sci-fi films develop some gibberish that the aliens speak. This is evident with Star Wars and some others but in most cases the dominant language is still English. In Interstellar the advanced beings that were guiding the humans were omnipresent but only communicated by reaching out to humans through a higher dimension and by making the quest to find a new planetary home much easier. These other beings could move easily through different dimensions etc. They were much more advanced than us lesser mortals who require spaceships. The aliens in this film are not as advanced as the ones in Interstellar but they are capable of some mind bending of their own. The inscrutable nature of their language only makes them appear even more advanced than us because of their effects on Louise when it’s discovered that time can be altered and there can be new beginnings based on interactions across the time dimension. Time can be manipulated based on the person’s consciousness. The mystery is obviously about how this impacts Louise who is the chosen one to stave off global war. There is a certain mystery regarding her own life which is literally supposed to be a cerebral experience because a lot of things are changed through her own consciousness which has been advanced to a near godlike level. She can manipulate time by being present in different time zones through her consciousness. An extraordinary gift that comes when she fully understands the aliens and their intent. Even though their true purpose is a bit contrived as usual, I doubt any film can make aliens appear as genuinely advanced species without making them as inscrutable as possible or difficult to understand. If they do come plainly then they won’t seem so advanced.

I liked how the language of aliens are presented. I just never understood how easy it was for them to understand what the earthlings were saying. Maybe because they can get inside our heads. Again they are just so advanced.

The acting is pretty good. It wasn’t spectacular. Much was made of Amy Adam’s performance but it was fairly straightforward. There is some genuine tension towards the end however and it made the film more interesting being rooted in real world events.

I also liked that the issue was primarily a global issue. As a global issue a good point was made in the film that there is no one dominant force that governs the entire planet which makes the disunity among the various countries of the globe quite obvious. I still wasn’t clear why the answer lay with an American although China does have an important role to play in the affair through its military leader. So while it’s still American centric the presentation of the global dimension was effective.

I can see why it won an award for sound effects. I liked the cinematography because you do get caught up in this fictional episode and how the aliens are presented. It’s pretty clear that they are the typically strange looking, mysterious creatures that we humans can’t fathom but while watching the film the presentation did not ring false and kudos must go to the visual team

Negatives

The primary negative for me were the very predictable elements. The film tried to be very mysterious but this never removed some of the hackneyed elements with films such as this: the mystery of the alien, their advanced and enlightened nature and their grand purpose. This film will never be as great as a film as straightforward as E.T. despite its grand agenda. I’m hoping that there’s a sequel that will clear up a lot of issues especially as humans will be doing these aliens a grand favour in the distant future. Maybe by then we will be very advanced. The sequel would be interesting if it is indeed set 3000 years into the future because by then we would have a much greater understanding of this particular alien species. It’s pretty clear that the more the mystery of the aliens is unlocked the more banal will be the presentation. This film never really fundamentally altered the general traditional presentation of aliens. It does go into more detail but being too mysterious can be your undoing because when the explanation comes, as it did in Interstellar, it is pretty ineffective and reveals its fictional limitations.

I see where they made the personal story of Louise seem just as important as the global struggle in order to understand the particular nature of the gift resented by the aliens but it never grabbed me on a gut level. The shifting of her consciousness through time does hold some mystery but it was not as emotionally captivating. The mystery takes away a lot from the actual personal story because there is a lot of convenient elements towards the end because you’re not sure if the film begins at the end or the end. This is somewhat clever and should make for repeated viewings but it takes away from the early moments. The mystery could have gone beyond Louise’s personal tragedy and be more engaged with the future. The moments where the film is engaged with the future is more interesting because of the suspense in the final moments. The clues in the past were also effective but the idea that she altered time through her consciousness defeated the purpose for me. Her story should have remained as is but she would have felt much better with the knowledge of the various revelations that came with time shifting through the past.  I guess it was a gift from the advanced aliens. If that’s the only way they can be understood then we should really wait for another 3000 years.

I wasn’t clear about why Louise is the chosen one and again the film never broke down the American centric barrier. Maybe it’s because she decided to get up close and personal.

All in all it’s a good film but I don’t think it did enough to radically change how aliens are presented in film.