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Beaufort (2007)
Disappointing adaptation of an amazing novel
I wanted to love this movie, because I was blown away by the book. Obviously, I came away disappointed. Beaufort isn't a bad movie by any means--it's well-acted, has some excellent cinematography, and builds a great deal of tension in many of its tightly executed scenes. However, the film's two hours do not seem to have been enough to fully develop its myriad of characters, which was the novel's greatest strength. The relationships between characters are unclear; when characters are killed, their fellows in the film mourn them, but the audience has not had enough time to grow attached in the same way.
Part of the problem may be that the film lacks the unique narration of the main character, Erez, that helped to make the novel so engaging. Perhaps another is that the film tries to follow the novel too closely-- it may be heresy to suggest, but perhaps an adaptation that strayed more from the source material might have succeeded more in establishing character and an emotional resonance with the audience.
Beaufort is still an interesting film--few other war movies achieve this level of claustrophobia and paranoia, and, as I mentioned, the acting is solid (at least, as far as I can tell without being able to speak Hebrew). Unfortunately, it pales in comparison to the source material.
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)
A surprisingly awful movie
I was excited for this film. Really was. The production team had great credentials, it'd been overwhelmingly well-reviewed and, of course, it got the Oscar nomination. Which was why I was hugely surprised and disappointed by just how terrible it was.
First, there's the issue of politics. The film hugely oversimplified the very complex political dynamics at work in the Baader-Meinhof years. Neither the positions of Meinhof and other RAF ideologues nor the German government are given proper examinations, in stark contrast to the nuance of Eichinger's Der Untergang. The one scene that touches on the complexity the film needed is where Bruno Ganz's character discusses the motivations of terrorists--and this scene was completely out of place, inserted seemingly to make it obvious why the film was still relevant today. If the rest of the film had been done well, the topics covered would have been played out on screen, obviating the need for heavy-handed lecturing.
Perhaps this is a problem of the medium--we don't have time for an in- depth political discussion in what is basically supposed to be a thriller, and screen time is better spent on character development. Unfortunately, the film fails completely in that department as well. Part of the problem is the filmmakers' desire to cover the entire breadth of the Baader-Meinhof era. Character relationships change between scenes, and their motivations are generally unexplored. Meinhof's transformation from middle-class leftist intellectual to urban guerrilla is completely unconsidered--it just happens. And the changing relationships between the group's leaders are barely touched. The dramatic shifts that occur while they're in prison and standing trial are hardly investigated at all, and those character dynamics seemed like they were the dramatic heart of the story.
Storytelling is likewise negatively effected by the film's scope. I'm a modern German historian, and while the RAF isn't my focus, I'm pretty familiar with the basics, and I was having trouble following the story because of the film's choppy editing. It seemed like a collection of scenes rather than a coherent story. And speaking of editing, the (thankfully few) action scenes are edited in such haphazard fashion that it's difficult to tell what is happening (especially Baader's escape from police custody).
As my review indicates, most of The Baader-Meinhof Complex's problems were basic film-making ones. Yes, the politics were oversimplified, but that happens in movies, and the film did a good enough job with them that politics wouldn't have sunk it alone. Where it really fails is in its characters. If you want to know more about the RAF, you're much better off picking up a book--the recently released collection of Meinhof's writings is a good place to start, as is the book on which this film is ostensibly based.
Here's hoping that this film's success will inspire a more thoughtful, better made consideration of this hugely important epoch in German history.
The Spirit (2008)
Mostly just boring
The worst thing about this movie is that it bores you to tears. You wouldn't think it would--at the very least, it has interesting art direction that should keep your eyes entertained, and plenty of TNA for admirers of the female form, along with terrible writing that should provoke chuckles at the movie's expense, but ultimately, except for a 5- 10 minute segment, I was bored to tears. Halfway through, I actually started doing my grad school homework, in which I had no interest. This was, I should say, a Friday night.
It's not that the movie is lacking in interesting concepts. I'm particularly fond of the idea of two immortals fighting it out (see Highlander for this done well, despite the cheesiness). But the action is flat and uninteresting; it feels rehearsed. Even the visual flair of the movie is too subdued in most parts to make much of a visual impact-- it certainly doesn't do anything for the action. And the dialogue, though terrible, lacks the outright awfulness that makes you laugh, so that it completely fails to entertain, both intentionally and unintentionally.
There is, as I mentioned, one part of the movie that's crazy and, dare I say, artsy enough to entertain, and it's the infamous Nazi scene. I was surprised that I thought this was the best part of the movie by far. Odd.
I guess they just shouldn't let Frank Miller make movies anymore. Comics, either, nowadays. The time of his genius has long passed. It's obvious there was enough here to make something entertaining--not brilliant, but fun--but it's completely squandered and bored me into doing my homework, which is about the worst thing I can ever say about a movie.
Wanted (2008)
God, what a horrid piece of crap
This movie is, frankly, terrible, and this is from a guy who enjoys Uwe Boll if he's drunk enough. The bullet-bending thing is about the only original bit of action; most of the action scenes rip off better action movies (with The Matrix and Equilibrium being the most notable, but it hardly stops there), and instead of enjoying them for the cheese they are, I just want to watch the better movies they're ripping off.
The characters, though, are the worst part, the protagonist in particular. Wesley is the most unsympathetic character I believe I've ever seen in a film, bar none. I had more pathos for Hitler in Der Untergang than I did for this guy. For 99.9% of the movie he is an absolute sociopath, lashing out violently at a world he thinks has wronged him when, in fact, his own behavior was the problem to begin with. Also, Angelina Jolie gives her usual sterling performance--I swear, they could've replaced her with a rock and you couldn't tell the difference. Except maybe the rock wouldn't look like a meth addict.
There are three good things about this movie. One, the Russian guy from Night Watch is in it, and that's pretty cool, even if he doesn't have much of a role. Two, Morgan Freeman says the f-word. Twice. It's kind of like hearing your kindly old grandfather curse for the first time in your life, both horrifying and hilarious. Yes, I have to scrape that low in the barrel. And third, this movie eventually ends, leaving you to weep for the two hours of your life you will never, ever have back.
God help us all if they make a sequel.
The Golden Compass (2007)
Wretched
As an atheist fan of science fiction and fantasy who has not read the books but would really like to, let me say that I found this film to be abysmal. My girlfriend (a religious person who loved the books) and I watched the first half-hour before we started skipping through scenes to see the fighting bears and the witches. Simply wretched.
The basic ideas are fascinating. They are, however, laid out in broad strokes, based around a wholly unlikeable main character (at least in the first half-hour, anyway) and some of the most hamstrung, lazy, poorly written dialogue I've ever had the displeasure to hear. Complex ideas like freedom of choice and the question of the necessity or legitimacy of authority are boiled down into idiotic and awkward monologues. I realize the film is directed at children, but nearly any child with half an education could come up with something more complex.
Good actors like Daniel Craig are wasted on the stupid script; I can't stand Nicole Kidman, but of the big names, she does the best job with what she's got. Ian McKellan, usually phenomenal, is phoning it in. Sam Elliott was, in the brief instances that I watched a scene long enough to see him in it, simply amazing, delivering a performance that was surprisingly great in drivel like this. The talented Eva Green was apparently also in the movie, though all she seems to do is make faces, so the role could've been played by anyone.
The special effects are good enough. The emphasis on CGI means that most of it looks like a very well-done video game, but this is the plague of all CGI, and nothing special to The Golden Compass. What there is looks as good as one might expect--the Norse polar bears are particularly impressive.
So there you have it: The acting is stilted and awkward, the writing loose, inconsistent and oversimplified, the basic premise incredibly deep and promising. It's a film that could've been great, but just doesn't deliver.
Legion (1998)
Dirty Dozen + Aliens + a good helping of suck = Legion
This movie is decent only because it so faithfully rips off a couple of very good movies. Basically, you have a group of American commandos, made up from death row inmates, who are going on a suicide mission under the leadership of a tough-as-nails officer. Sound familiar? That's because it is. The resemblance to 'The Dirty Dozen' is shamefully apparent--it even has many of the same characters, albeit some have undergone a sex change. There's a religious fanatic who continuously quotes scripture. There's the one guy who was condemned for something that really isn't wrong at all, making it okay for him to survive to the end. And of course, since the rest of the group are murders, rapists, and deserters, you know they have to pay their debt to society as the monster picks 'em off one by one.
But back to the story. Once this commando team is formed, they head to an enemy (we never find out who the US is fighting) planet, there to secure a fueling station that is apparently vital to the war effort. Once they get there, they find no enemies about, and a bunch of dead Americans piled up in a room of some kind. No sign of what brutally slaughtered them. Here is where the film begins channeling 'Aliens'--some scenes (and lines) are literally ripped from that movie, which is to 'Legion' as Albert Einstein is to a three-year-old child. All the tension comes from betting who will die next (my brother and I made quite a game of this, and I made a pretty penny, I don't mind telling you). The commandos die one by one until the climactic battle between man and beast.
The cast is decent, headed by Terry Farrell, the former DS9 hottie, and some dude I've never heard of. They do a good job of delivering lines from a script that ought to have been taken out and shot alongside its writer.
Still, 'Legion' is fun if you're a fan of B-movies. The monster is... uh, interesting-looking, though it only appears for about two minutes in the movie. The end has a "surprise" twist, but most people will figure it out within the first half-hour. I'd suggest this movie to fans of Terry Farrell--actually, I'd suggest 'Back to School,' but who's asking?:)--or to people who would like to see 'The Dirty Dozen' and 'Aliens' but just don't have enough time in the day.
If you do have enough time to watch both, do so, and pass this one by.