Reviews

Ahhh. I have to let this simmer for a little while but I simply loved this film. Refn made a movie that was high on style and beautifully shot, the way the colors and lighting complemented each other, it's not something I usually notice when watching a movie but there were some seriously nice photography in this film. I loved the score- it was musical and pretty unique and for me it helped take the film to another level- it coddles the viewer and makes you feel secure before the story turns around and b**slaps you right in the face. The way the film transitioned from quiet love story and self reflection to extremely violent crime heist movie, and back again, was seamless and pretty shocking. I was so not expecting any Tarantino-esque violence and then all of a sudden I'm asking myself "Did I just witness Ryan Gosling 'out-curb-stomp' Ed Norton?". Speaking of, Gosling continues to establish himself as an excellent actor and held your attention without saying much. Loved the cameo from Christina Hendricks, too. But what a great effort overall and has shot right into one of my favorite movies of the year.

I was really looking forward to this but missed the chance to see it in theaters, got it on rental last night and wow my first question is "Was this supposed to be a spoof?". It contained just about every bad disaster/alien movie cliché that they could have fit and the script was terrible with some really cheesy dialogue throughout, I was rolling my eyes for half the movie. None of the characters were likable as the script gave us no reason to invest in them so I did not care if they lived or died. There was so much more they could have done with this but the plot was so narrowly focused on one group in one city, even though they made a point to show that the invasion was totally global. So if they succeed in LA, then what? They've already shown the devastation in Paris, Shanghai etc. All that aside I usually can appreciate movies like this for some cool FX and battle scenes but I thought the filmmakers generally failed here as well as there was nothing new, or exciting. Also and I hate to be one of those "realism" people but if the aliens can wipe out the entire FOB full of soldiers then why can't they kill 6 isolated soldiers when they had multiple opportunities? Bad aim all of a sudden? My friend and I both said to each other that the whole film felt like an advertisement for the US Marine Corps. Very lame and disappointing.

D "Maybe I can help... I'm a veterinarian." Seriously?!

This film was... difficult. I think they had good intentions but it just didn't really work for me. It was very choppy. The plot jumped around too much between present and past which I don't think was all that necessary. The investigation was hard to follow, a lot of times I couldn't really hear/understand what they were saying or what was going on. Hence the whiteboard of all the names.. which didn't do much to help the viewer make sense of it. Plus one of the people helping her to investigate looked eerily like the actor who played Daniel Pearl, so I sometimes confused the two.. especially with the way the plot jumped between time.

But obviously this film is really just a showcase for the lead actress, which is the reason I watched it in the first place. I thought Angelina Jolie did a good job as Mariane Pearl. It was toned down and understated and not too dramatic as you might expect based on the circumstances. But that may be more a testament to the personality of Mariane Pearl. I was expecting her accent to be annoying but she made it work, and she was believable as this woman. The reason her performance in this film got so much attention is clearly, definitely from the scene where she finds out that Danny has been killed. That was a long, raw, guttural scream which looked very organic. Without that scene it would have just been kind of an average to good performance, as opposed to very good. I don't know who her competition was that year, but she probably was snubbed out of an Oscar nomination as some suspect she was. People who still say she is not very talented are wrong- from what I've seen she is extremely versatile and I think people just have trouble getting past her celebrity.

B-

So I finally got around to seeing this and well, it looks like I'm going to have to disagree with the majority on this one.

First there are several things I did like about it. The cinematography is absolutely stunning. The various shots of nature around different parts of the country are beautiful. I think Sean Penn's direction was great- he really captured the essence of the wanderer's lifestyle and even makes the viewer a little envious of some of those people. I thought the supporting cast was fantastic, and I found myself caring about those characters much more than I did the main character. Especially Hal Holbrook and Katherine Creener. I think she is a very underrated and talented actress. Even Kristen Stewart was OK in her small part.

That said, I thought the movie was extremely pretentious and smug. If people thought The Blind Side was a white-guilt film, then this is a societal-guilt film. It's one thing if a movie lets the story convey the message for you, but Into the Wild jams that message down your throat. After a while it's like, okay, I get it. Society is rigid and restricting, free your spirit, etc. Well sorry Alexander Supertramp, but not everyone can just ditch their responsibilities to loaf around the country and get in touch with nature.

Which brings me to the main character, Chris, who I thought was completely selfish and melodramatic. His "tragic" back story really wasn't all that tragic. So his Dad screwed around and his parents didn't get along. Welcome to life. That kid's parents gave him everything he ever needed and asked for and yet he acts like he's some damaged, abused child. And then he leaves, never contacts them again, and goes and gets himself killed. I don't have any sympathy for that and I stopped caring for the character pretty shortly into the film. The 2 and a half hour run time was a bit long for me, and like I said, after a while I got tired of Chris complaining about society. I did like that in the final minutes the character does seem to feel a little remorse with the "happiness is not true unless it is shared" bit though.

Emile Hirsch for his part did a good job. I wasn't crazy about his performance like others seem to be, but it's a very challenging role and he deserves credit. I don't remember who else was nominated that year, but he probably deserved at least a nomination.

Anyway while there were many positive things that I enjoyed about the movie, I just can't get past the pretentiousness of it all. It is a good message but this just felt like 2.5 hours worth of teen angst to me.

C+ (for the acting, direction, and photography)