Ann Hui’s Night And Fog A Disappointment

Star Trek (2009) – I was really looking forward to the Star Trek reboot given the raving reviews stateside and I must say I wasn’t disappointed. J.J. Abrams imbues this 2009 version with great energy less all the cheesy dialogue that made the previous movies quite cringe-inducing at times. Without any A-list stars in the leading roles works in the film’s favor and in fact the relatively unknown cast delivers solid performance – we can see how they grow into the characters. The movie never really slows down as crisis after crisis hits the crew of the Enterprise and I must say the space fleet battles are the best yet in any of the Star Trek series. My pick for the best blockbuster for the summer so far! Highly recommended.

Terminator Salvation – many film buffs probably squirmed at the idea that McG was going to direct this 4th installment of the Terminator franchise but the casting of Christian Bale in the leading role as John Connor gave some hope. Terminator Salvation isn’t as hopelessly boring as Terminator 3, but fails to generate the excitement of T2 or the original. We’ve seen robots bashing each other around in the Transformers two summers ago, there aren’t any new jaw dropping special effects … and the plot fails to deliver any surprises either. The film remains a passable popcorn movie but won’t be crowned top dog among this summer’s blockbusters.

Duplicity – Hollywood has run out of ideas (and new stars) for successful romantic comedies so they created a new genre – the romantic thriller. Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as ex-CIA and ex MI6 operatives who have fallen in love, and given up their secret service jobs in order to make a quick buck in the world of corporate espionage. Alternating between romance and thriller, Duplicity should provide enough serpentine plot twists and romantic interludes to keep both guys and chicks happy. Recommended.

Night And Fog 天水圍的夜與霧 – I found Night And Fog a disappointment as part 2 of acclaimed Hong Kong director Ann Hui’s probe into life in the working class Tin Shui Wai 天水圍. Her earlier film followed the mundane life of a blue collar mother working to support her son – that movie never succumbed to melodrama and delivered a slice of life about making a living in one of Hong Kong more troubled neighborhoods with honesty and a lot of heart.

Night And Fog, however, although based on a real life tragedy, quickly falls into genre movie territory with Hui adding an overt layer of social commentary on top of the proceedings. The film focuses on an unemployed construction worker played by Simon Yam – his distrust of his significantly younger Szechuan wife ultimately leads to the tragic slaughtering of his wife and two children. Although Yam has really blossomed into a subtle actor in many of Johnnie To’s movies, here he is reverting back to the “madman pervert” role he played so often in exploitation movies back in the 1990s.

Zack Synder’s Watchmen lives up to expectations

The eagerly awaited Watchmen finally hit the screens in Hong Kong on 12 March in 2 versions – an edited cut for normal screening and a category III cut for IMAX at MegaBox. I actually did not realize that 2 different cuts were being shown as the publicity material never highlighted this and ended up seeing the shorter version at Pacific Place on Saturday morning.

Watchmen is adapted from a graphic novel largely considered to be seminal and one of the best graphic novels ever written. Created by the highly regarded UK writer Alan Moore, the graphic novel is bleak, plot-driven, and plays down standard action based heroics. Moore became disillusioned with Hollywood adaptations of his works after the disappointments of the atrocious League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V For Vendetta and disowned this project. Zack Synder’s film, however, remains close the spirit of the graphic novel and is the best cinematic version of Moore’s work to date.

Set in 1985, the film starts with imminent nuclear war between the US and USSR. Watchmen features an alternate history where Nixon won the Vietnam War with the help of superheroes and even changed the legislation to allow for his running for the presidency after his second term. After winning the Vietnam War, masked heroes are forced to retire. With the doomsday clock countdown looming in the background, former masked heroes are being assassinated and a plot to change the course of human history takes place.

As can be expected from a blockbuster movie these days, the special effects are excellent and the largely un-famous cast all seem perfectly cast for their respective roles. The use of these lesser known actors works well and we focus on the characters’ development – a crucial aspect of all of Moore’s works. An A-list star might have easily ruined the project. There really aren’t too many action set-pieces but the fist fights are brutal and violent. The soundtrack works less well in my opinion: the use for overly familiar music comes across like clichés. A few of the songs are heavily associated with other iconic films – their use here seem like afterthoughts and diminishes the impact in my eyes. I can understand the use of 80s pop music in the film, but blasting Jimi Hendrix’s version of All Along The Watchtower, a classic 60s rocker in the climatic scene, felt out of place.

I mentioned earlier that I saw an edited version of the film – the one I saw had approximately 4 minutes shaved off. It was extremely evident that the major scene that was cut was the steamy sex scene between the Night Owl and the Silk Spectre. The full frontal shots of Dr Manhattan were not cut and while his genitals were clearly visible I would say they weren’t prominently displayed. Still, I was extremely annoyed by the fact that I did not see the full cut for the movie. What’s worse is that the cuts were done haphazardly, and it was impossible to NOT notice the jumps visually and in the soundtrack. Shame of the Hong Kong distributors!

Overall, I would say that Synder’s Watchmen is an excellent addition to the recent crop of comic book adaptations. I personally prefer his previous movie, the rowdy adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300. Many people consider Watchmen un-filmable and the project did go through alot of legal wrangling; the finished product, fortunately, is a respectable film, which while not be as polished and mainstream as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, deserves to be seen.

Recommended!

The Incredible Hulk fails to smash box office records

Marvel’s 2008 re-launch of their Hulk franchise was supposed to be more “mainstream” than Ang Lee’s previous take. By mainstream, Marvel was probably thinking of improving box office receipts. Ironic, then, that the film’s US opening weekend box office actually fared worse than Lee’s Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk basically follows the same updated storyline – scientist Bruce Banner is bombarded with gamma rays and turns into the Hulk when he becomes angry or when his pulse rate spikes.

Plot: It is immediately evident that Marvel wanted this new film to contain as little exposition as possible as one action scene follows another. The script and directing pays tribute to the 1970s TV series with Banner as a loner on the run. The visuals of Banner changing into the Hulk – the dark shot of Banner’s face with his eyes glowing green – is a direct reference to Bill Bixby.

Action: The studios hired Louis Leterrier (Jet Li’s Danny The Dog, The Transporter) to helm this project hoping it would turn out to be an action extravaganza – but I found the action unexciting with a been-there-seen-that feel. The opening chase thru the slums of Brazil is far inferior to the one in Casino Royale. The special effects are serviceable but not exceptional. On the positive side, the film is closer to the comic than Ang Lee’s version, and features crowd pleasers like Hulk’s thunder-clap and the big green monster shouting “Hulk smash!”.

Cast: I was surprised when Marvel cast Ed Norton in the role of Bruce Banner. The end result, however, is disappointing. I actually like Eric Bana more as Banner and also preferred Jennifer Connelly to Liv Tyler. The rest of the cast was unexceptional – no standouts.

Interesting note – Brazilian jujitsu master Rickson Gracie makes a brief appearance as Bruce Banner’s instructor, teaching him breathing exercises. The roller credits, however, bill him as an aikido instructor!

Fan pleasers: Marvel’s recent productions have all included minor scenes foreshadowing the imminent Avengers movie. In The Incredible Hulk, we get specific mentions of the super soldier formula / serum that was used on Captain America and a brief scene with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Nice for fans, I suppose.

In short, The Incredible Hulk is a brainless and unexceptional action blockbuster. Not a hit but not a total miss either (miles better than Daredevil!)

2008 Summer Blockbusters : Round 1

Speed Racer – From the directors of the Matrix Trilogy comes this eye candy adaptation of a classic 1960s Japanese cartoon about racing cars (which I watched as a kid). Targeted at young kids, the film is ridiculously colourful, offers non-stop action, and rather juvenile comic relief. For some reason, I found the film enjoyable for the laughs more than the action or special effects! My 9-year-old nephew enjoyed it, especially the low-brow comedy. Also, the movie IS better than the trailer, which is a rarity these days. Recommended, but viewers who dislike music video style hyper editing ought to stay away.

Iron Man – Marvel comics’ first full fledged film as production house, Iron Man delivers in spades and can perhaps be justly called the best comic adaptation to date. Robert Downey Jr. is impeccable as the arrogant Tony Stark (great casting!)and keeps the film fired up even when the titular armor is not on screen. The film features a solid script and decent action – none of the effects here are cutting edge, but they are well thought out and because viewers care about the characters, the fights generated excitement. Highly recommended.

Forbidden Kingdom – Most viewers in Hong Kong and China looked upon this bastardized tale with contempt but I had to see it to find out just how awful the movie would be. What the Hollywood studios have done is basically slap together various elements of Chinese folklore and incorporate it into a coming-of-age tale for an American teenager. Although the movie stars Jet Li and Jacky Chan with fight choreography by Yuen Woo Ping, the action and fights are stale by Hong Kong standards (though they might still dazzle the viewer with no experience of the classic kung fu films). And what is it with the eye shadow on the villains? This is totally reminiscent of bad kung fu TV dramas of the 1980s! Not recommended.

Winner of Round 1 is IRON MAN

Optimus Prime kicks ass!!

Hollywood has transformed (pun unintended!) yet another 80s kiddy franchise into a box office monster. Transformers owe their origins to a Japanese line of toys that was acquired by Hasbro; it was then subsequently animated into a popular TV cartoon series in 1984 and drawn into comics by several publishers including Marvel Comics. Dreamworks became intrigued by the possibilities of creating a live action version with the maestro of over-the-top mayhem Michael Bay helming the project.

In the early days of production, when pictures of a re-vamped Optimus Prime leaked out onto the web, hard core fans were enraged. Many film buffs were also sceptical of whether Michael Bay could make a decent film out of the rather ludicrous back story created for kids in the 1980s. All these doubts were more or less swept away when the film finally hit the streets in early July. Transformers, the movie, did extremely well and topped the box office charts in numerous countries.

I finally saw the movie yesterday. I must admit that the film exceeded my expectations: the plot was not totally horrendous; comic relief moments weren’t corny; and the special effects were of course awesome. Although the film’s running time of over 140 minutes means that Bay could probably have trimmed it down, Transformers nevertheless did not feel boring and there weren’t really many filler scenes at all. As the robots are the stars of the film, Transformers does not feature an A-list cast and probably the only one who is receiving decent exposure is Megan Fox, the other major eye candy apart from the computer effects. The stand outs among the robots are Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Blackout, Frenzy and Megatron. I did find the battles between the Autobots and Decepticons truly dazzling and this proves that with ever improving computer visuals, animation action can now be realistically recreated as live action.

The major complaint I have regards the transformation process of the robots from their various camouflage identities. Growing up on Japanese animation, I expected a logical twist and turn of the car parts when the Camaro transforms into Bumblebee. The movie, however, gives us a “disintegration” of the Camaro, lots of camera shaking and loud sound effects, and cuts back to a robot that has finished transforming!! I can’t see how the car becomes a robot, how the doors become the arms or how the hood becomes the torso. Definitely unsatisfactory.

Overall, an enjoyable robot movie that lives up to the blockbuster label. Recommended.

Here’s a video clip of the commercial for the original Japanese toy on which Optimus Prime is based.

Zodiac : David Fincher’s best work yet

Fantastic Four : Rise Of The Silver Surfer – pure pop corn fun with no pretence of any high brow themes (or moralizing), this Fantastic Four film is probably the shortest blockbuster of the summer, clocking in at only 92 minutes. This is a plus in my books, as it means we cut straight to the actions scenes, with a little bit of comedy serving as diversion in between the set pieces. The best sequence was the introduction of the Silver Surfer and the subsequent chase with the Human Touch; unfortunately, the trailer exposed this scene months ago. All in all the film was fun: the Silver Surfer was cool and I can accept the compromise of Galactus being a cosmic cloud rather than Jack Kirby’s purple armoured giant (which wouldn’t work at all on the silver screen). Special effects were decent but not groundbreaking.

Zodiac – I have waited for David Fincher’s latest critically acclaimed film for months and I would say this is one of the best non-action movies I have seen so far in 2007. Based on the real life unsolved case, the film traces how both the press and the police failed to pin the Zodiac killings to anyone. The murders took place in San Francisco from the late 1960s to the 1970s and the serial killer has fascinated the public – in fact, the original Dirty Harry movie imagined a scenario where the maverick cop managed to identify and kill the Zodaic killer. In real life, the case was much more complex and David Fincher gives us an engrossing look at how a reporter, an inspector and a cartoonist dedicate their lives to uncovering the man behind these murders. Of the trio of stars (Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr.), I thought Ruffalo was the most convincing one, though all three were outstanding. This is definitely Fincher’s most mature and controlled film to date. The film also features an excellent soundtrack. Highly recommended.

Eye In The Sky 跟蹤 – well received when it was shown abroad at various film festivals, I missed the Johnnie To produced, Yau Nai Hoi directed police thriller at this year’s HKIFF, but managed to catch it last week. Eye In The Sky follows the mould of most of Johnnie To’s thrilling police procedurals – I found the plot engaging, and the acting strong and generally subtle (in the case of Simon Yam and Tony Leung Ka Fai). Former Miss Hong Kong Kate Tsui makes her big screen debut and acquits herself with an OK performance. The production was partially financed by Cable TV – this means prominent product placements for many Wharf Holdings companies, from Cable TV to New T&T. Overall, not quite as good as To’s Election movies or Exiled but still above average.