The Avengers (2012)

I’m having sort of a personal backlash against Scarlett Johansson. I concede that she’s a fine actress, but everyone seems to be convinced that she’s the best actress in the world. I can see that she’s an attractive woman, but everyone seems to think that she’s the world’s most beautiful woman. So I tend to think of this obviously very accomplished person as being overrated. Maybe it’s not fair, but that’s how I see it. The first time I watched The Avengers, during her opening scene, I posted online “What, weren’t there any Russian actresses available?” I got some grief for that. I still think it’s a valid question.
Sometimes I kind of look at this movie in the same way. It’s big, it’s well-written, it’s an excellent good time, but I got a little tired last summer of hearing everyone say it was the movie of the year, the best superhero movie ever, whatever. So I started focusing maybe too much on the movie’s problems, and it does have a few. I gave it eight stars after I left the theater, but dropped it back down to seven in the face of all that acclaim But now it’s streaming on Netflix, and I’ve watched it twice in the past week, and…I just don’t care very much about its problems. I mentioned in an earlier entry that Watchmen makes this look shallow, and I meant it, and I was right. But you know what? Shallow doesn’t necessarily mean bad. Sometimes I kinda like shallow. In fact, I think I would have liked the movie better if it had reveled in its shallowness a bit more. I was unaffected by the Black Widow’s anxiety over Hawkeye’s brainwashing, for example, and I don’t know why everyone was so gutted when Agent Coulson was killed. Do we care about him now? Did we in the other movies? I don’t remember caring. Sure, he had a nice moment with Gwyneth Paltrow and went all fanboyish over Cap, but I got the impression that his death was supposed to be a Bambi’s mother moment, and it totally wasn’t. All that stuff could have been left out and I’d be happier.
Also, just briefly (since I’m hardly the first person to mention it), can we retire the bad-guy-gets-caught-on-purpose trope for a few years now? Jesus. So, sure, there are things to complain about. I could go on a lot longer, but I don’t want to. These recent re-watches have reminded me of what a ridiculous pile of fun this movie is.
Robert Downey Jr. gets a lot of credit for his portrayal of Tony Stark, and he deserves it, though his sarcasm got to me a little in this one. That’s probably because most of it was directed at Cap, who doesn’t deserve it. I think of Cap as being Stark’s hero, the one person he isn’t cynical about, in the early comics, and then the two of them being best friends in the later comics. Their friendship is one of the weightiest in the Marvel universe; I would have liked for them to get along better in this. I’ve really come to like Chris Evans a lot (which would have surprised the hell out of me five years ago), and of course Captain America was always a particular favorite of mine. I wish there had been more of him, but I get that screen time was at a bit of a premium with this project. Chris Hemsworth is…well, he’s ridiculously good looking, isn’t he? I mean, he’s not my type, but I have to admit that the gods seem to have put a little extra effort into sculpting him. Johansson I can take or leave, as I mentioned, and of course Samuel L. Jackson is perfect as Nick Fury; Marvel rewrote the character to be more like him, so he’s basically playing a one-eyed version of himself. Oh, and of course I adore Harry Dean Stanton, no matter what he's doing.
Tom Hiddleston is everything you could possibly want as Loki. He played him well in the Thor movie and is even better here. I was pretty sad, actually, when I heard Loki was going to be the villain in this movie. My favorite Avengers villains were always the Mandarin and Ultron. I knew Ultron would need some setting up (Hank Pym hasn’t even been introduced yet) and that the Mandarin would be a bit tricky, but I still had my fingers crossed. But after watching Hiddleston, I’m perfectly satisfied.
Mark Ruffalo totally steals the movie; all the best moments feature him. In fact, there’s one in particular that is my favorite scene ever in a superhero movie, but I’ll save that for the end. For now, I’ll just mention that “Target acquired…target engaged…target angry! Target angry!” had me laughing like an idiot. Banner and the Hulk combine to make the best character in the film, and Ruffalo gives the best performance as well.
I don’t really have a problem with Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. It’s just that I don’t like the way he’s drawn in this movie that much. Hawkeye was a more interesting character in the comics, and he’s great in the animated Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes TV show. Maybe Joss Whedon decided that he would be too much like Downey’s Stark if they made him more flippant, but he’s definitely the weak link, and again, I don’t blame Renner for that, I blame Whedon.
Still, all in all, this movie really is an amazing achievement for everyone involved, especially Whedon. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the credit rests entirely with his script; everyone does a good job, but they really had a lot to work with. He was set a basically impossible task and totally came through. To be honest, I kind of wish that the current Marvel franchise had ended here; all the movies that come after this one are bound to seem pretty insignificant, aren’t they? I just (seriously, like two minutes ago) watched a trailer for the new Thor movie, and it left me pretty cold, except for the shot of Hiddleston at the end. I haven’t seen Iron Man 3 yet, and nothing I’ve heard about it makes me want to hurry, not even the presence of The Mandarin, or the casting of Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, both of whom I’m a little obsessed with at the moment. This is a perfect climax to a series that prior to this had been less than amazing. Who needs more, and necessarily inferior, movies?
But then, I thought Whedon couldn’t possibly succeed with this one, and he totally did. Now I think he can’t possibly succeed with the next one, and I’m probably wrong about that, too. And if I have to put up with a few more second-rate films to get Avengers II, well, I guess that’s okay. And as for this one, I’m giving it back that eighth star. But I’m still pretty iffy on Scarlett Johansson.

BEST THING ABOUT THE FILM: When the Hulk grabs Loki by the feet and starts slamming him on the ground like a man trying to shake scorpions out of his sleeping bag. I know, everybody loves that scene, but come on…there has literally never been a better moment in any superhero movie, ever.

WORST THING ABOUT THE FILM: Once the movie gets going it’s great, but let’s be honest here: nothing interesting happens ‘til Black Widow goes after Banner. The intro is long and painfully boring.

PUNCH THE AIR MOMENT: See "Best Thing" above. "Huh...puny god."

SCORE: 8/10

LISTS: #13 on my Favorites of the Teens (so far)

Dredd (2012)

I like a good action movie now and then. In general I prefer the bare-knuckle brawling type of action film (give me a good Jet Li movie and I’m perfectly happy) to the shooting-and-blowing-stuff-up type of action film, but there’s room in my heart for both. All I ask is a bit of style, a charismatic villain (and hero, as well, if it can be managed), and a script that doesn’t assume I’m all oatmeal north of the eyebrows.
Well, Dredd’s got all that. Style in particular just drips off of this thing. The great Anthony Dod Mantle did the cinematography, and he and the art department deserve a tremendous amount of credit. The film looks great, and the landscapes (entirely CG) and sets (mostly CG) are interesting at worst, and in places absolutely breathtaking. The violence is balletic in this, as well. The use of slow-motion, which can be overdone and grating this days, is not only done better than in, say, a Guy Ritchie film, but also makes more narrative sense because of the drug that’s at the center of the story. I really regret that I couldn’t afford to see this in theaters, in 3-D, when it first came out. I know that a lot of people think of 3-D as a gimmick, and it's unpopular in certain circles. In some cases I get that; 3-D where things jump out of the screen at you is pretty gimmicky, but there's a better use of 3-D that immerses you in the experience instead, and that can really improve a film. I get the impression that Dredd's 3-D was that latter kind, and I bet it would have earned the film an extra star.
Charismatic villains? Wood Harris is very good as the dealer, Kay, whose arrest sets the whole plot in motion. Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t a deep character (the movie wouldn’t support that) and exists mostly to give Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) someone to play against, but he’s still interesting. And Lena Headey as Ma-Ma, the leader of the gang that runs the tower block where the film is set, is extremely good. She isn’t terribly well-written (more on that in a moment), but she takes what she’s given and runs with it. She resists the temptation to play Ma as an over-the-top caricature, which is refreshing. She’s just remorseless, fearless, brilliant, and evil. Plus, she gets a really beautiful death at the end of the film. Headey as an actress is always at her best when she’s frightening, and in this movie she’s exactly that.
Outside of Kay and Ma the bad guys are more of a mixed bag (though it might be too much to ask for second-string villains to be interesting). The crooked judges who come after Dredd don’t really have much to recommend them, but for one last obstacle on the way to Ma, they’re serviceable. Also, Ma’s second in command, Caleb (Warrick Grier), seems like he might have been interesting if he’d had more screen time. As it is, he just shoots a few guys and then gets thrown off a balcony. Bit of a waste, that. And I liked Brendan Gleeson’s son Domhnall (not a misprint) as Ma’s tech guy, who is a slave rather than a flunkie or co-conspirator. The character is really utterly pathetic. He actually squeals when Dredd grabs him. It’s the first I’ve seen of the kid, but he might have an interesting career ahead of him.
Heroes? Well, Dredd isn’t supposed to have a lot of personality, is he? Karl Urban is one of my guys, I love him in everything, and he does some damned fine chin-acting in this. There were moments where I got the impression that he was trying to make his mouth look like Sylvester Stallone’s, but I could be wrong about that. He does a good job, but Thirlby, as the psychic trainee Anderson, is more interesting. Her interactions with Kay are the best non-action scenes in the film, and she has the only emotional moments that make any sense. As with Gleeson, this is the first time I've seen her, but I'll keep an eye out for her in future.
The script? Well, the story itself is strong enough, and there’s some good dialog in this, but unfortunately the writers seem to have spent so much time giving Kay, Dredd, and Anderson good lines that there just weren’t any left over for Ma. She speaks mostly in clichés, I’m afraid. At one point they actually make her say “You’re a real piece of work, Dredd,” which just made me cringe. She rises above it, but if I could change one thing about this movie, it would be a re-write of her lines. Outside of that, though, there aren't any really embarrassing moments. I admit to a problem with the last scene, though: once they've emerged alive from Peach Trees, Anderson assumes she's failed the assessment. She hands her badge to Dredd and walks away. But...she's psychic, right? She should know that he's going to pass her. Oh, well...doesn't hurt the film any.
So, yeah, a good solid action film. I can definitely see myself buying it. Also, if I ever meet anyone who has a 3-D television set, I’m totally going over there to see this. I really think this must have looked amazing in theaters. I’m not sure why it didn’t do better business; I’d like to blame Stallone. But I’m hoping that it’ll do well enough on home video to justify a sequel with this same crew. Next time I’ll be there opening day, if I have to sell blood plasma to do it.

BEST THING ABOUT THE FILM: Headey's introduction, where she's in the bath, on the drug, watvhing the water drip from her arms like tiny crystals. It's gorgeous, even without the 3D. This movie's all about style, and this scene has a ton of it.

WORST THING ABOUT THE FILM: “You’re a real piece of work, Dredd.” Seriously? Yes, seriously. Good heavens.

PUNCH THE AIR MOMENT: “Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law.” That line scared the hell out of the cat, because of course when I heard it I jumped up and cheered.

SCORE: 7/10

LISTS: #18 on my Favorites of the Teens (so far)

Kill List (2011)

I really don’t know how to rate this one. I almost feel like I just watched two different films, and I absolutely adored one of them. It starts as a bit of a domestic drama, really. I don’t like that sort of thing, and at the beginning I was thinking, “Gawd, can we just get past this bit?” but actually, over the course of the film, those little interpersonal moments become the best bits. Kill List builds extremely slowly, because the relationships are really the most important thing, not the violence. Ben Wheatley, the director, wants to make sure you’re on board with Jay, Gal, and Shel, and so he spends a lot of time on their characterizations. It totally works.
The film is beautifully shot, and it really should have won some awards for editing, as well. This is as interestingly-edited a film as I’ve seen in years. I love the way it cuts from these huge arguments between Jay and Shel to them cuddling in an armchair or whatever. When they dance, they wrap themselves up in each other completely; it isn’t so much dancing as just sort of embracing and swaying. Their relationship is very real, very much two people struggling to deal with life and sometimes turning on each other, but ultimately there’s always love, always forgiveness, no matter how ugly things get. At the beginning it just seems like it’s a typical bad movie marriage, with a nagging harpy of a wife and an emotionally damaged drunk as the husband. As you get to know them, though, you see that it’s really a very strong marriage; it’s just also very troubled, just like real marriages are. You connect with them in a way that you basically never connect with characters in a horror film.
The friendship between Jay and Gal is the best and most believable I’ve seen in forever, as well. Even though they bicker a lot, and even fight occasionally, you kind of have the feeling that they can always depend on each other. Like, even if Jay’s marriage collapsed, even if he lost everything else that mattered to him, he would still have Gal and he'd be okay. There's a bit where Shel and Gal are talking, and they're worried about Jay. Gal takes Shel's face in his hands, kisses her lightly, just to comfort her, and then they embrace. In most movies you'd be worried that the husband would walk in and see this, and get the wrong idea. But you know that can't happen here; even if Jay did walk in at that moment, he would know that Shel and Gal weren't fooling around on him. He knows that he can trust these people, and so do we.
Michael Smiley turns in a really very strong performance as Gal. Much is made over the course of the film of the trouble Jay has controlling his anger, but Gal’s constant wisecracks, even when he’s angry or the situation doesn’t call for joking, are much more…unstable, I guess you could say, or perhaps destabilizing would be better. Gal has a way of making it feel like our grip on the reality of the film’s universe is always very tenuous.
So at the point in the third act where Jay and Gal are lying in wait for the third target on the titular Kill List, this is a solid eight-star film, maybe even a nine. The foundation was laid so carefully and everything was built so precisely and logically onto it, and then…everything sort of falls apart. I mean, everything after that point is still as technically well-done as what came before (I’m not the first reviewer to point out how spectacular the night-time cinematography is, for example), but I just couldn’t help feeling a little let down by that whole sequence in the woods and the tunnels. And once Jay gets back home, and he and Shel are setting up their defenses against the cult, you think it’s gonna stabilize but it just gets worse. I get the ending, and I see how it ties into the rest of the film, but I couldn’t help thinking, “You’ve created this masterful work of art, you’ve taken all this time and all this care, just to get here? This ending doesn’t deserve the story you’ve been telling.”
I guess I’m kind of done with death-cult movies. The idea was kind of an overused plot device even in the seventies and eighties, and it seems to me that all the juice has been wrung out of it at this point. Maybe that’s just personal preference, but I can’t tell you how disappointed I was to see all those people walking through the woods with torches.
So, like I say, up until the last half-hour or so, it’s at least an eight, but after that it drops to at best a five for me. So how do I rate it? Do I take the average of the two scores, or a weighted average based on amount of eight-star vs. five-star time? Do I just give it a five, since the ending is what’s in your mind after the film is over? I just don’t know. I think I’ll have to see it again to judge for sure. For right now, I think it’s going to just have to remain unrated. Maybe the ending will reconcile better the second time around. I hope so. I’ll report back either way.