Sneak Attack
I don’t think I’m in the majority opinion here, but I was not a fan of Super 8. I know that film has a lot of supporters, but I personally thought that film was riffed with very weak storytelling and, outside of Elle Fanning, acting that was serviceable at best. But among the many injustices that film offered, the most egregious I thought was the exclusion of any minority characters in roles of significance. This isn’t to say people of color should be shoehorned into films, but every once in a while it’s nice to see a different face up on the screen. All those problems are avoided with this film: an alien invasion film with kids that I really enjoyed.
You know how these types of films operate: a group of alienated kids encounter a true alien menace that starts to wreck havoc on their community. In this case, it’s kinda interesting to see the setting take place in a poor ghetto in South London, and the group of kids a crop of social misfits, most of them black. At the lead is Moses (John Boyega), the hoodlum with a heart of gold who charges the revolt against the invaders that resemble big gorillas lacking eyes but equipped with rows of glow-in-the-dark chompers.
I’ve seen plenty alien invasion films starring a group of kids, already one from this year. And this is the film that I wish Super 8 had been. Not necessarily in tone, because both are strikingly different, but more so in how the plight of these characters and story actually revolves around something substantial. Writer-director Joe Cornish (an Edgar Wright collaborator) nicely sets up tension and believable suspense, making sure the audience understands the dangers going on and the prize at the end. The beginning does feel a bit rushed, and the film’s localized setting does feel a bit like economical filmmaking, but on the whole he brings a stylish flare that gets bonus points for having complex characters whose faces don’t blend into a sea of unrecognizable stars.
Even though you may not seek this film out for the acting, I actually give it nice props. Boyega doesn’t really blow anyone away as the lead, but he provides grounded believability in this character and a nice soul at the center of the film. The rest of the supporting players serve their roles as one note bit players, but whenever one needs to have a snappy comedic line or provide some hollow sense of toughness masking insecurity, you buy it. Even though the film isn’t being shown for it’s acting, you won’t be offended by it.
The movie may have some issues in the beginning, and the script does follow some pretty predictable conventions within the genre and general storytelling, but that doesn’t stop it from being a hell of a ride at the show. It’s exciting and genuine, providing the pulpy entertainment as well as clinging onto believable characters that offer a different type of setting that isn’t seen in mainstream American films. If you’ve been put off the summer action films as much as I have, try this one; it’s a medicine film in the most ironic sense.
B+
Desert Flower
It’s inescapable. Time and time again, I’m confronted with the same scenario for a particular film. The scenario that provides one exceptional performance in a film that otherwise is lacking in many other areas. Whether or not I say “yay” or “nay” on the film as a whole depends on if the other aspects of the film, and if those elements pass mustard, then the film is worth the investment. I’ve seen enough movies to know that the notion that one good performance can save the rest of the film is a false notion. Fortunately, there are enough surrounding elements to this film that make it a worthy, if flawed, film to seek out.
Inspired by true events, whatever that may mean to you, the story centers on the relationship between Uday Hussein, son of Sadaam, and Latif Yahia, the Iraqi soldier Uday kidnapped and made him his double for public appearances. Both roles are played by Dominic Cooper. It becomes pretty obvious that Uday’s a psychopath who still manages to lead an extravagant life, and it doesn’t take long for the evil from Uday to bleed into the good soul of Latif that’s on the verge of corruption.
The good performance in question here is from Cooper. At the core of the film, he absolutely excels in creating two separate entities on screen. Between the two, Uday is the more showy role, but it’s also the one that’s capable of more dramatic potential. Uday is never shown as anything less than a monster, but Cooper give the glimpses of a man who is more complicated than what might be first shown. It’s a stellar character to watch. Latif has the “straight man” role, and his complexities pale a bit in comparison, but it’s still an interesting performance nonetheless. The rest of the supporting players do their own as spectators to the Dominc Cooper show, holding their own without stealing the spotlight.
Director Lee Tamahori is probably the most implausibly successful filmmaker working today, never really making anything that good and earning a reputation as like the poor man’s Joel Schumacher. There’s plenty of stylish flares that I feel he presents here that distracts from the real central characters and pushes it towards De Palms’s Scarface territory (a film I really don’t like), but most of the time Tamahori actually manages to keep the story he’s presented on track and keeps it moving forward and quite engaging. At the same time, Michael Thomas’s screenplay is probably what is most lacking in the film, with the main problem being that it makes Uday such a fascinating person that Latif is more pedestrian, indulging in predictable story and character arches. Had this film focused a more straightforward pic on Uday, everything would have been stronger.
The film has some serious story problems that keeps it from being the better film it could be, that’s for sure. At the same time, many elements of the film manage to keep the audience engaged throughout, and add to it a commanding performance from Dominic Cooper, and you’ve got a pretty interesting film on your hands. It’s not all perfect, and I’ve heard others almost universally dismiss the film. I guess I’m breaking with the heard here, because I think it’s worth seeing.
B
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