Showing posts with label Angelina Jolie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Angelina Jolie. Show all posts

Saturday, 6 November 2021

Eternals - Review

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Fresh from sweeping Awards season earlier this year with Nomadland, Chloe Zhao looks to stamp her visionary style on the MCU with Eternals.

Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, an unexpected tragedy forces the Eternals, ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years, out of the shadows to reunite against mankind's most ancient enemy, the Deviants.

Zhao's film undoubtably marks a departure from the previous entries in the MCU.

First of all, it is the first Marvel film to feature a sex scene. Albeit a brief, tender and very PG-13 one. It also has a same sex couple. Yes, no just someone talking about being gay but showing the couple together, interacting and even sharing a kiss on screen.

Its scope is much grander in scale, spanning centuries. Rather than driven by action, it explores the results of inaction. Here are a group of beings who have the power of Gods. Yet they do not use that power to rule, Rather they use their gifts to give humanity a little nudge here and there.

Under orders from the Celestials not to interfere, this leads to the central conflict between the characters. Some believe they need to do more (Druig argues he could use his mind control to end wars instantly), others feel they have done too much. In a scene taken wildly out of context on Twitter prior to the film's release, Phastos is seen mourning the devastation at Hiroshima, blaming himself for the tragedy. It should be made clear here as it is in the film, just not on social media, that he did not make or detonate the bomb. He merely has provided assistance to the human race in terms of technological advancement.

The "titular" group consists of ten characters. The ranks are filled with a cast more diverse than a 1980s United States of Benetton advert. From A-Listers like Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek to rising stars like Korean actor Don Lee.

The nominal leads are played by heroes, and former lovers, Sersei (Gemma Chan) and Icarus (Richard Madden). Tasked with "getting the old gang back together for one final job".

Given the sheer quantity of characters to introduce, and then reintroduce, Eternals is a rather apt name for its 157 minute runtime. Despite the bloated length, the time spent on uniting everyone results in a rushed finale. All the individual actors are good in their roles yet not everyone gets their moment in the sun. Of the cast, Chan brings heart and soul as Sersei but the highlight is Kumail Nanjaini as superhero-turned-Bollywood star Kingo.

As one would from Zhao and cinematographer Ben Davis, the film looks fantastic. In fact, jarringly so. Until one realises that the initial reticene to the visual style is because it not reliant on over-production and CG enhancement. Instead using real locations and natural light where possible.

However once the film enters the third act and its contractual CGI-heavy battle, the two aesthetic styles fail to gel cohesively and the result is disappointingly generic and the effects ropier than usual.

The struggle to successfully incorporate Zhao's storytelling and visual style into the rigid and unflexible Marvel Studios mold is a sad but entirely expected state of affairs.

The issue with the Marvel Cinematic Universe now, twenty five films in, is that despite having limitless characters and storylines to draw on, narratively speaking they have backed themselves into a corner. Audiences have loved seeing their favourite characters team up to crack wise and crack skulls as the universe has expanded. However it has now reached the stage that the MCU finds itself at the pointy end of its own double edged sword.

The Eternals, by their very nature, admit to having been on Earth for 7000 years. So introducing them now, post Endgame, brings up the question from audience surrogate Dane Whitman (Kit Harington), "Why didn't you fight Thanos?". The wishy washy excuse of "We were instructed to only intervene when Deviants were involved" feels akin to The Doctor in Doctor Who rambling on about "fixed points in time".

When the Emergence begins, it is described a world-ending, extinction level event. One that bears a striking resemblance to Ego's plot in GOTG Vol. 2 by the way. It feels like the type of situation that would merit the attention of any superheroes or Avengers available at the time. Yet no sign of anyone. No Doctor Strange, no Spider-Man, no Hulk or Captain Marvel, etc.

It evokes memories of The Simpsons episode where Homer is added to the Itchy and Scratchy show as the voice of Poochie. When looking to increase his character's screen time, Homer pitches to the executives that "Every time Poochie is off screen, the other characters should be asking 'Where's Poochie?'".

Ambitious but flawed, Eternals is ultimately low to mid-tier Marvel. However that sounds harsher than it should because mid-tier Marvel movies are still a lot better than most Hollywood blockbusters... especially comic book movies. The problem is Feige et all, still haven't found that magic formula for allowing unique, distinctive directors to make their mark on the Universe.

3 stars

Eternals is in cinemas now



Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Tomb Raider - review


You know that thing were you get stuck on a particular part of a video game and you have to play it over and over to the point that you feel bored at its repetitiveness?
That was the experience of watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Tomb Raider on the big screen.
The film begins with Indiana Jones Lara Croft showing off their reckless side by ignoring orders and authority and engaging in a high-speed chase that ends up with them getting in trouble.
Meanwhile their father has gone missing while searching for the Holy Grail secret island tomb of Himiko. After finding the father's diary secret room containing all their research, they go off in search of their dad, who may have been kidnapped by Nazis an evil organisation who want the Grail Himiko's corpse for their own nefarious ends.
Upon finding the island, Indy Lara is reunited with their father who is relieved to see them and also grateful that they have not brought the diary research with them. There follows the moment where the father expresses disbelief that they have in fact brought the materials right into the hands of the Nazis evil organisation who have now located the whereabouts of the Grail tomb which they will subsequently raid with the help of Indy Lara by threatening the life of his her father.
In order to claim the Grail Himiko, Indiana Jones Lara Croft must face three challenges including the Leap from the Lion's Head cross the Chasm of Lost Souls and The Breath of God that only the penitent man will pass pray to the Face of Himiko.
Alicia Vikander does her best as Indiana Jones Lara Croft. She is certainly more relatable and believable than Angelina Jolie as the British adventurer. Her reactions to the horrors she witnesses on the island feel real and help to build her into the character that audiences are familiar with in the games.
Sadly however she is unable to escape the Oscar curse that has struck the likes of Charlize Theron (Aeon Flux) and Halle Berry (Catwoman) and what should be a fun, exciting experience but is actually as much fun as watching someone else play a video game.

2 stars

Thursday, 29 May 2014

Maleficent - review

"Don't believe the fairy tale" cries the poster for Maleficent and it is a case of something Wicked this way comes as Disney attempts to repackage one of their most iconic villains as a sympathetic anti-hero.

But where Wicked succeeded in weaving an alternate view of a character into the backdrop of a pre-existing story, there are many moments in Maleficent that openly contradict the events in Disney's version of Sleeping Beauty.

Angelina Jolie is very good in the role but I wish she had been able to really cut loose of the shackles of the overly-CGI's Alice In Wonderland landscape and embrace the dark side and relish the chance to be bad.

Instead she becomes a surrogate "fairy godmother" character to Aurora as she watches over her following the curse and begins to regret her decision, which is written off as her having her heart broken by a man.

As well as continuing the run of alternate fairy tales such as Oz The Great & Powerful and Snow White And The Hunstman, it also reinforces the new direction that Disney is going in.

Despite the motivation of Maleficent being the actions of a man, there has been a noticeable shift in the past year to changing the age-old perception that a girl's idea of love and relationships come from Disney films.

In the past, girls have been raised on the idea that they need a handsome prince to save them and love them epitomised by the song Someday my Prince will come", which is ironic considering Sleeping Beauty's curse is activated by a tiny prick, and this film continues the groundwork laid by Frozen where "true love's kiss" comes from a sister or maternal figure and not the prince... not difficult in this particular film when the love interest is unfortunately called Prince Philip!

Terrible Scottish accents, an over-use of narration, a CGI battle that felt like it was out of The Phantom Menace and bland performances from the supporting cast meant that if it wasn't for Jolie this is one fairy tale that would have sent me into an eternal sleep.

2 stars