After watching Kick-Ass, I left the theatre thinking "That was like Watchmen, but a heck of a lot better." There are a lot of parallels. Both are adapted from comic book source material. The same concept is at the core of both movies: What would a superhero look like in real life? Both are incredibly violent.
I'm not gonna debate whether Watchmen (the comic book) is better than Kick-Ass (the comic book). As much as I love Mark Millar, I'm not prepared to say he beat Alan Moore's magnum opus. Kick-Ass the Movie is a hell of a lot better than Watchmen the Movie. Any criticisms I direct towards either title is directed at the movie version, not the comic book version (even if it might still apply).
In both films, the answer to that central concept is simple: A real-life superhero would look like (and be) an insane person. Pretty much all of the central characters are just crazy, the main character decides to continue being a superhero even after getting knifed and then hit by a car in his first attempt to stop crime. And he's arguably the sanest costumed character in the film. It's probably why he's the protagonist. His associates, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy, are psychopaths, plain and simple. They revel in violence. Especially Hit-Girl. There was a lot of concern about Chloe Moretz's performance as Hit-Girl, because she curses (she says the c-word once. *GASP*) and is a mass-murderer (although, there was less concern over that part). The concern was about using a child actress in that way. I'd argue that the film's own internal discussion over child misuse in roles is far more effective than any of the people who shouted that it was Natalie Portman in Leon the (Professional) all over again (and to be fair, that was a great movie and Portman was fantastic). Moretz turns in one of the better performances of the film.
Like Hit-Girl and Big Daddy, the film also revels in violence. However, since this is Matthew Vaughn directing it instead of Zack Snyder, though it is graphic and an 11-year-old girl gets whooped by Mark Strong (to be fair, that's pretty real-to-life), the violence isn't the only part of this movie that is any good. The first half or so is a tightly told narrative that gets its message across effectively without losing itself in being wowed by the world it had created, unlike Watchmen where it lost itself immediately after the opening credits. That said, by the time the stage is set for the climax, the movie has thrown off all pretensions of staying within the realm of possibility and just goes nuts with the violence. Up until that point, it was fairly consistent in stating that people who deal in violence receive violence back. That might still hold true, actually, as nearly every character (and certainly every major character) who deals in violence is either beaten up or dead by the end of the film.
I don't usually like to assign a value to reviews, because I hope that I've given as fair an assessment as possible and my opinion on how I enjoyed a film has come through, but I sense some ambiguity here. So I'll say that this would get an A-/B+ grade from me. It's not perfect, but it's a damned good film. One of the best superhero movies made is a fair assessment.
Also, just a heads-up to the really heavy duty movie buffs. Besides Mark Strong, look for two other actors from Guy Ritchie's stable to appear in this film: Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher (Fat Tom and Soap from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels). Also, Clark Duke (from Sex Drive, Hot-Tub Time Machine, and "Clark and Michael" is in it).
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
An Education (2009)
I would find it hard to imagine that one hasn't seen An Education before. Which is not to say that I think you've seen the movie itself, but simply that you've seen its like many, many times over. Its lineage is that of the after-school special, this one being a particular warning to young women about staying in school and not falling for the bad, older, boy.
I would also find it hard to imagine that you've ever seen an after-school special that could hold a candle to An Education in any way shape or form. It is a testament to the acting and the casting that it keeps you captivated the whole way through.
At its center are newcomer Carey Mulligan and indie-star Peter Sarsgaard as, respectively, the young woman about to fall and the older man encouraging her to do so. Mulligan is pitch-perfect playing Jenny, who far more mature and intelligent than her peers still manages to fall for Sarsgaard's David with his charm and grown-up intelligence. Despite this being perhaps her first leading role, Mulligan holds her own in every scene with Sarsgaard. Mulligan's Jenny never seems to fade from her confident self-assurance that she is in the right (until David's eventual betrayal) and that everything is going to be okay, even as it becomes quite clear that she is deceiving herself. It is simple dramatic irony: we, the viewers, know well before she does that all must not be right, but we are powerless to prevent Jenny from rushing headlong to the terrible ending of it all.
In many ways, perhaps, we don't want to stop her. The film keeps you going. You want to find out what is wrong with David. Sarsgaard, who only ever seems to play creeps, is in his element, exuding a charm that is just slightly off. Even after he reveals himself as a crook, he still seems incredibly honest, yet we know he must be holding some darker secret. It is a victory for the writing (predictable, in that it is penned by Nick Hornby) that the final twist turns out to be so mundane, yet so satisfying, that just as the movie treads familiar ground, so does Jenny. It is a victory for Sarsgaard that we know something must be wrong, but like Jenny, we are at a loss to figure out where. Even after I'd determined his character, I still could not fathom the nature of his betrayal until after the narrative revealed it to me.
Besides the captivating interplay between Mulligan and Sarsgaard, the film is rounded out by a series of excellent casting choices. Alfred Molina as Jenny's father is an excellent strict demanding parental figure, manipulated by David at every turn. Even when he gives a extended "money-doesn't-grow-on-trees" tirade, nothing about him screams cliche. Neither does Emma Thompson's as the proper English headmistress. Here, unfortunately, is where Mulligan's acting breaks down. Despite Thompson getting all of two scenes, she immediately owns them, even though she gets the minority of the lines in the first scene. Still, it does nothing to diminish the rest of Mulligan's performance.
Finishing up the cast are Dominic Cooper (whom I've always thought of as just an unlikable English pretty boy, thanks to his roles in Starter for 10 and The Duchess, but here he makes it work for him, and frankly he comes off more likable than Sarsgaard by the end of it) as David's accomplice, Danny, and Rosamund Pike (whom you'll remember as the sword fighting girlfriend of the main bad guy in the last Bond flick to star Pierce Brosnan) as Danny's vapid girlfriend.
In many ways, An Education is about the comfort one can find contained within a familiar story masterfully executed. Its plot and its characters are well-worn, but well told. Put it on your queue, post-haste.
I would also find it hard to imagine that you've ever seen an after-school special that could hold a candle to An Education in any way shape or form. It is a testament to the acting and the casting that it keeps you captivated the whole way through.
At its center are newcomer Carey Mulligan and indie-star Peter Sarsgaard as, respectively, the young woman about to fall and the older man encouraging her to do so. Mulligan is pitch-perfect playing Jenny, who far more mature and intelligent than her peers still manages to fall for Sarsgaard's David with his charm and grown-up intelligence. Despite this being perhaps her first leading role, Mulligan holds her own in every scene with Sarsgaard. Mulligan's Jenny never seems to fade from her confident self-assurance that she is in the right (until David's eventual betrayal) and that everything is going to be okay, even as it becomes quite clear that she is deceiving herself. It is simple dramatic irony: we, the viewers, know well before she does that all must not be right, but we are powerless to prevent Jenny from rushing headlong to the terrible ending of it all.
In many ways, perhaps, we don't want to stop her. The film keeps you going. You want to find out what is wrong with David. Sarsgaard, who only ever seems to play creeps, is in his element, exuding a charm that is just slightly off. Even after he reveals himself as a crook, he still seems incredibly honest, yet we know he must be holding some darker secret. It is a victory for the writing (predictable, in that it is penned by Nick Hornby) that the final twist turns out to be so mundane, yet so satisfying, that just as the movie treads familiar ground, so does Jenny. It is a victory for Sarsgaard that we know something must be wrong, but like Jenny, we are at a loss to figure out where. Even after I'd determined his character, I still could not fathom the nature of his betrayal until after the narrative revealed it to me.
Besides the captivating interplay between Mulligan and Sarsgaard, the film is rounded out by a series of excellent casting choices. Alfred Molina as Jenny's father is an excellent strict demanding parental figure, manipulated by David at every turn. Even when he gives a extended "money-doesn't-grow-on-trees" tirade, nothing about him screams cliche. Neither does Emma Thompson's as the proper English headmistress. Here, unfortunately, is where Mulligan's acting breaks down. Despite Thompson getting all of two scenes, she immediately owns them, even though she gets the minority of the lines in the first scene. Still, it does nothing to diminish the rest of Mulligan's performance.
Finishing up the cast are Dominic Cooper (whom I've always thought of as just an unlikable English pretty boy, thanks to his roles in Starter for 10 and The Duchess, but here he makes it work for him, and frankly he comes off more likable than Sarsgaard by the end of it) as David's accomplice, Danny, and Rosamund Pike (whom you'll remember as the sword fighting girlfriend of the main bad guy in the last Bond flick to star Pierce Brosnan) as Danny's vapid girlfriend.
In many ways, An Education is about the comfort one can find contained within a familiar story masterfully executed. Its plot and its characters are well-worn, but well told. Put it on your queue, post-haste.
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