Ender's Game: Well played

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b><i>Ender's Game</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/summit/endersgame/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b> </b><br /><b>Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for violence and dramatic intensity</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 11.1.13</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Celebrated sci-fi author Orson Scott Card was 26 when his first work, a novella titled “Ender’s Game,” was published in the August 1977 issue of <i>Analog</i>. In 1985, with much more ambitious plans for that tale’s young protagonist — and with the security of a rapidly blossoming literary career — Card expanded his debut effort into a novel that won both the Hugo and Nebula awards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9g9X5vhu3pI7JFJlSqdfpLJitdw86oIUB6xgbXYAcLOsjzxjN2LMde4wPgcfeonEV-wkcy2Pc0RyPHWMSAymfryyYf_nUfl0nUHRf7SOOEKLYh89508YkfpGappOJAr6h9VMA-1o30Ho/s1600/Enders+Game+blog.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9g9X5vhu3pI7JFJlSqdfpLJitdw86oIUB6xgbXYAcLOsjzxjN2LMde4wPgcfeonEV-wkcy2Pc0RyPHWMSAymfryyYf_nUfl0nUHRf7SOOEKLYh89508YkfpGappOJAr6h9VMA-1o30Ho/s400/Enders+Game+blog.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">While Petra (Hailee Steinfeld) watches warily, the thuggish Bonzo (Moises Arias) angrily<br />warns Ender (Asa Butterfield) to stay out of his way. But Ender isn't one to remain on<br />the sidelines, which Petra senses immediately; things are destined to get quite ugly<br />between these two boys.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, the so-called “Ender series” encompasses — are you sitting down? — a dozen novels, a dozen short stories and roughly four dozen comic books (some adapting existing novels, some with entirely new material).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously, fans can’t get enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More significantly, for our purposes, those same fans — and the general public — will thoroughly enjoy director/scripter Gavin Hood’s big-screen adaptation of the novel that started it all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The South African-born filmmaker is an impressively shrewd choice for this material, having burst onto the scene with 2005’s <i>Tsotsi</i>, which traces a week in the life of a young Johannesburg street thug who wrestles with his conscience after finding a baby in the back seat of a car he steals. The grim drama won that year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and Hood — a USC film school grad — went on to an eclectic career as a director, writer and actor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ender’s Game</i> also focuses strongly on the warring conscience of a boy, while contemplating several big-ticket philosophical issues that include state-sanctioned child abuse, planetary resource depletion and the novel’s most controversial theme: the notion of meeting a bully’s brutality with a savage response designed to prevent ALL subsequent attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The setting is a futuristic Earth, decades after our planet just barely repelled an invasion by an insectoid alien race dubbed the “Formics.” Expecting that these swarming monstrosities have returned to their home world in order to mount an even larger assault fleet, Earth’s united military force has pinned its hopes on a multi-national “Battle School” designed to train our best and brightest military tacticians:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carefully selected children.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Young minds are much more agile and adaptable; we know this in our own real world. It therefore stands to reason that young minds weaned on a diet of strategy-laced computer games might be nurtured into becoming the next Patton, Napoleon or Hannibal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Needless to say, this rather disturbing notion — and the possibility that modern nations might be acting on it — is a helluva lot more timely today, than it was back in 1977. Among his many other talents, Card deserves credit for scary prescience.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We meet young Andrew “Ender” Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) during his early days at Battle School, where he has demonstrated a flair for besting older classmates in computer tablet battles. This does not make Ender popular with some of his more thuggish peers, although it does bring him to the attention of Col. Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and Maj. Gwen Anderson (Viola Davis), always on the lookout for promising students.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, this focus makes Ender even more of a target, leading to a confrontation with one of the school bullies. Ender attempts to talk his way out of the beatdown; when that fails, he surprises everybody by lashing out viciously enough to hospitalize his older, taller tormentor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Naturally, that makes Ender even <i>more</i> interesting to Graff.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the aftermath, recognizing what he has done, troubles Ender deeply. Allowed a brief visit home, believing he has been washed out of the program, Ender takes solace from his older sister, Valentine (Abigail Breslin), who knows full well what he’s going through, having once been a Battle School student herself. (Valentine’s saga is covered elsewhere in Card’s canon.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In great contrast, Ender’s sociopathic older brother Peter (Jimmy Pinchak) delights in this apparent failure; indeed, Peter comes close to killing Ender ... which reveals precisely how the younger boy has learned to deal with bullies. Peter, as well, once was a Battle School student; he was expelled because of his uncontrolled violent rages.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ender’s visible, guilt-ridden remorse has been the final test; it demonstrates the boy’s ability to empathize with an opponent, thus better understanding him. Graff swoops him back into the program, where Ender joins other children in a spaceflight to a huge orbiting military station designed primarily around its huge, zero-gravity “battle room.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The children are divided into squadrons, with opposing teams meeting in the obstacle-laden battle room for a futuristic blend of paintball and quidditch. The hand-held “weapons” are paralyzers that temporarily freeze an opponent’s limb or torso; points are given for various anatomical hits, but a team wins immediately if able to maneuver one player through the enemy’s “goal.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ender quickly excels at this game, displaying a facility for unorthodox strategies that cleverly — but ruthlessly — sacrifice other squad members in order to achieve that ultimate victory. This earns him the growing respect of new friends Bean (Aramis Knight) and Alai (Suraj Partha), while isolating him further from jealous tyrants such as Bonzo (Moises Arias), leader of the Salamander squad.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ender’s effort to stand up to the cruel Bonzo has an upside: the growing respect of Petra (Hailee Steinfeld), also a member of the Salamanders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The battle room games continue, while — behind the scenes, unknown to the students — Graff nervously eyes a deep-space monitor that counts down the anticipated return of the Formic invaders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Butterfield is perfect in the title role, his sallow complexion, sunken eyes and haunted gaze every inch the angst-ridden lad that Card created on the page. The young actor made a startlingly mature debut in 2008’s <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2008/11/boy-in-striped-pajamas-grim-bedtime.html">The Boy in the Striped Pajamas</a></i>, and more recently touched our hearts as the title character in 2011’s <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2011/11/hugo-true-sense-of-wonder.html">Hugo</a></i>. Butterfield is a richly expressive performer, and here he displays just the right blend of stubborn, defiant superiority and aching despair.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ford delivers an equally intriguing performance, on the one hand making Graff a gruff, seasoned proponent of the “tough love” school: the sort of cheerfully grumpy bearing we’ve come to expect from the veteran actor. But Graff also has another side that isn’t nearly as attractive, and Ford is equally persuasive when this hardened commander reveals his increasingly desperate allegiance to the belief that the end justifies <i>any</i> means ... even those that irreparably damage his prize pupils.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Too much is at stake to behave otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Davis is the yin to Graff’s yang; Anderson is a much more compassionate psychologist who worries deeply about what is being done to these impressionable young minds. She’s also greatly concerned about the degree to which Ender’s downtime activity — a solo, puzzle-laden computer challenge — has been “invaded” by images of his sister and Formic opponents. Davis’ increasingly defiant objections to Graff’s methods, however, become a bit too shrill: not the best showcase for an actress better known for the graceful subtlety of her performances.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steinfeld, still coasting on her Oscar-nominated work in the 2010 remake of <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2010/12/true-grit-larger-than-life.html">True Grit</a></i>, is plucky and sympathetic as Petra, Ender’s staunchest ally. That said, her performance shows little depth; she doesn’t dig deep into her role, the way Butterfield so thoroughly inhabits Ender.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fairness, Hood’s script more correctly deserves the blame for this. In the filmmaker’s desire to focus on the bond between Ender and Valentine — thus granting Breslin a better showcase for <i>her</i> acting chops — he short-shrifts Petra, Bean and Alai, all of whom play a much larger, and more emotionally crucial, role in Card’s novel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s not necessarily a bad artistic choice on Hood’s part; he obviously struggled to compress the massive tapestry of Card’s novel into a 114-minute film. But those who vividly remember the book's handling of Petra, Bean and Alai are apt to be somewhat disappointed here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A heavily tattooed Ben Kingsley is striking as the half-Maori instructor who takes over when Ender graduates to Command School, and Nonso Anozie makes a strong impression in his brief role as a boot camp-style sergeant. Arias, as well, ensures that we’ll not soon forget the petulantly vicious Bonzo: quite a switch from the goofy free spirit this young actor played earlier this year, in <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-kings-of-summer-this-film-rules.html">The Kings of Summer</a></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Characters and performances aside, however, every fan of this novel will want to know how well the battle room skirmishes have been visualized. The news is good: Visual effects supervisor and his company, Digital Domain, have done a slick job. The zero-gravity environment is cleverly, persuasively constructed, and several of Ender’s best campaigns — most notably his squad’s odds-against battle with <i>two</i>opposing teams — leap faithfully off the page.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, some quieter scenes — such as Harrison Ford’s zero-g “swim” within a spaceship cabin — suffer slightly when compared to the far superior (and very recent) work in <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2013/10/gravity-grim-survival-drama.html">Gravity</a></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hood builds his film to an exciting, breathtaking finale, although an epilogue of sorts — also faithful to Card’s novel — gets too philosophically preachy for my taste, and even works against what we’ve seen to this point. Card could better establish the groundwork for this unexpected twist; Hood's film, of necessity short-changing such back-story, sends viewers out on a note that is intended to be upbeat, but instead feels dour and anticlimactic (while clearly setting up a potential sequel).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still, the ride is crisp, energetic and well played up to that point. <i>Ender’s Game</i> also raises intriguing questions, as is intended; this is thoughtful sci-fi, designed to encourage debate while entertaining. It succeeds on both counts.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>

2013 Abigail Breslin Asa Butterfield Ben Kingsley Four Star Films Hailee Steinfeld Harrison Ford Moises Arias Sci-Fi Viola Davis Ender's Game: Well played

Ender's Game   (2013) •  View trailer   Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for violence and dramatic intensity By  Derrick Bang  •  Originally p...

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Gravity: Grim survival drama

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b><i>Gravity</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/gravity/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b> </b><br /><b>Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for dramatic intensity, disturbing images and fleeting profanity</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 10.4.13</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Jan. 11, 2007, the Chinese military destroyed one of its orbiting satellites with a ground-based missile. Although China insisted that this was the best way to “retire” the aging satellite, visions of a surface-to-space missile race naturally alarmed more than a few nations around the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6gezC-8hONmhdraSbiZ7vHrDEXJf_RYZoTMxhiQTqAqL1j4XvhTFK2_RYg0JzgueaWBhVU_AsW_AVHeR5hHQ0FhsxHrbwbswD31APmyvNiLYcgGRs6usEdWWmlkH_KY3VvsE6qIjmTc/s1600/Gravity+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6gezC-8hONmhdraSbiZ7vHrDEXJf_RYZoTMxhiQTqAqL1j4XvhTFK2_RYg0JzgueaWBhVU_AsW_AVHeR5hHQ0FhsxHrbwbswD31APmyvNiLYcgGRs6usEdWWmlkH_KY3VvsE6qIjmTc/s400/Gravity+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When things go wrong in space, they go very wrong, as Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra<br />Bullock) quickly discovers. Situations that would be bad enough on the ground, with<br />gravity operating in one's favor, quickly turn catastrophic in an environment where a<br />small space suit puncture likely would mean instantaneous death.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saber-rattling aside, the much more serious issue was the orbiting “debris cloud” of up to 300,000 bits of satellite that resulted, which still could pose serious danger to other satellites or spacecraft en route to the moon and beyond. (NASA, worried about this since 1978, has dubbed the frightening possibility of cascading collisions the Kessler Syndrome.) For this very reason, the U.S. and the Soviet Union halted such anti-satellite experiments in the 1980s.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly, filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón smelled an opportunity. The result, which he directed and co-wrote with his son, Jonás, is <i>Gravity</i>: one of the very few feasible space-based dramas ever released via conventional channels. (I say this to distinguish Cuarón’s film from numerous sci-fi and fantasy entries, or jes’-plain-silly action epics such as <i>Armageddon</i> and <i>Space Cowboys</i>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Gravity</i> is both a suspenseful nail-biter and an impressive visual achievement: a studio production that comes close to the on-screen authenticity of an IMAX space documentary. The special effects are stunning, from the gorgeously depicted EVA mission that opens the story, to the weightless activity that takes place within a space station. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Sandra Bullock “swims” her way from one end of the station to another, passing all sorts of floating debris along the way — not to mention little globules of liquid, or zero-G electrical sparks — everything looks absolutely real. We can’t help a “how the heck did they <i>do</i> that?” sense of wonder, despite our frequent ho-hum reaction to what CGI effects have wrought these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and visual effects supervisor Tim Webber — and the latter’s company, Framestore — have done stunning work. Indeed, their efforts are almost <i>too</i> good; at times it’s hard to focus on the story, since we’re so frequently dazzled by the on-screen visuals.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But only at times. Cuarón has orchestrated a taut survival drama that masterfully exploits claustrophobic terrors, not to mention related fears of drowning, suffocating or simply being hurled, alone, into the depths of space, able to do nothing but count down the seconds before the oxygen runs out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The time could be now, or perhaps just a bit into the future, under slightly different circumstances that have allowed our space program to remain robust. A routine shuttle mission commanded by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) includes a civilian passenger: medical engineer Ryan Stone (Bullock), clearly anxious about her surroundings, despite six months of training and preparation back on Earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story begins with the Shuttle Explorer docked alongside the Hubble Telescope, as Stone struggles to install a new scanning system. She’s tense, and not only because of the expanse of space; the scanning unit isn’t cooperating. Kowalski, meanwhile, is punctuating his final voyage into space by scooting around in a test-model jet pack that allows movement unencumbered by the usual tethers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kowalski, alert to the rising tension, lightens the mood by joking with Mission Control — we recognize Ed Harris’ off-camera voice (nice touch, that) — and sharing oft-heard personal anecdotes that can’t help raising a smile on Stone’s nervous face.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, suddenly, a crisis: On the other side of the planet, an obsolete satellite has just been destroyed by a ground-based missile strike. The resulting debris field, on the same orbital path, arrives much faster than expected; the consequences are catastrophic. To make matters worse, the debris destroys numerous communications satellites along the way, and all contact with Mission Control is lost.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stone and Kowalski are the sole survivors, and Explorer has been rendered useless. Stone is running critically low on oxygen, and Kowalski’s prototype jet pack has limited fuel. Their only hope: a bit of a “hike” to the nearby International Space Station, just visible to their naked eyes, and the Russian Soyuz capsule that Kowalski knows should be docked alongside.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right about now, most viewers will be biting lips and digging fingernails painfully into palms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such reactions, of course, depend on the degree to which we invest ourselves in this scenario. Cuarón and co-editor Mark Sanger do a masterful job with this, as well. The characters are introduced and sketched just well enough to elicit our concern — the script doing so with “reasonable” conversation, as opposed to dumb dialogue solely for our benefit — and then things happen rapidly enough that we willingly hang on for the ride.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The character contrast is well played and quite credible; Clooney and Bullock deserves plenty of credit, particularly since they do most of their “acting” via vocal inflection and the limited facial expressions that are partially obscured by space suit helmets.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clooney’s calm voice and easy manner bespeak the seasoned professional that Kowalski obviously is; he’s a well-trained professional who (no doubt) has long anticipated such a crisis, while clearly hoping never to face one. Clooney’s tone is light but instructive, gentle but persistent. Kowalski knows full well that his sole remaining companion is just this side of total panic, which is bad for all sorts of reasons ... starting with the fact that a frightened person breathes more heavily, and wastes more oxygen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anticipating this film, I must confess to having had doubts about seeing Bullock as a space scientist; that seemed just as daft as casting Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, in 1999’s James Bond epic, <i>The World Is Not Enough</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I needn’t have worried; Bullock imbues her character with just the right blend of professional competence and landlubber anxiety. Her terror is reasonable; Kowalski may be comfortable in space, and regard it as his majestic back yard, but Stone has no such sang froid. We can readily believe that she signed on for this mission via a mixture of excitement and pride, for having been selected in the first place. After all, who <i>wouldn't</i> want to experience space first-hand?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So most of us imagine, of course, with the unspoken caveat: As long as nothing goes wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bullock gives us a character we both respect and fear for; Cuarón’s skill lies in constructing a credible — if horrifying — scenario, and then making Stone the ultimate surrogate for our own resourcefulness. What would <i>we</i> do?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cuarón has dealt with grim speculative fiction before, specifically with 2006’s apocalyptic and quite unsettling <i>Children of Men</i>. Despite a premise that was extremely unlikely (we hope), Cuarón nonetheless drew quite persuasive performances from his cast. He does the same here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lubezki’s gorgeous cinematography is further enhanced by this film’s 3-D effects, which are real enough to induce vertigo or even nausea, particularly when (for example) Stone tumbles out of control, spinning upside-down and sideways, after the initial impact. This film probably should come with air-sickness bags.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Composer Steve Price’s electronic-based score is deeply disturbing, operating on a subconscious level that greatly enhances this story’s fright factor. The sudden crescendos are enough to make you jump out of your skin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My one major complaint concerns the script’s tendency toward crisis overkill. The eventual plot hiccups represent a single bad-luck day taken to truly ludicrous extremes ... which, in turn, makes this depiction of human endurance a credibility-stretching improbability. Those familiar with the space program and EVAs also likely will balk at the <i>speed</i> with which Kowalski and Stone confront each new problem; every action in a bulky space suit, operating in zero gravity, should take an ... agonizingly ... long ... time. Cuarón pretty much ignores that little detail, no doubt claiming dramatic license (and a need to move things along).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In contrast — and to be fair — the scenario is quite a bit more accurate when it comes to the ghastly consequences of Newton’s laws of motion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All this said, at a modest 90 minutes, you’re unlikely to be bothered by such issues. <i>Gravity</i> — clever title, by the way — is a thoroughly absorbing drama that’ll make you think twice about booking a ticket on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.</span></span><!--EndFragment-->

2013 Amy Warren drama Ed Harris Four Star Films George Clooney Paul Sharma Sandra Bullock Sci-Fi Gravity: Grim survival drama

Gravity   (2013) •  View trailer   Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for dramatic intensity, disturbing images and fleeting profanity By  Derrick B...

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Riddick: Back to basics

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Riddick</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/riddick/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Three stars. Rating: R, for strong violence, profanity, sexual candor and occasional nudity</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> </b></span></b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Richard B. Riddick is the Timex watch of action antiheroes: No matter how bone-crunching the licking, he keeps on ticking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdSmAONAe6tFLfUT2Jg-gBybnFZtF1yMWV0zCFERSV6zTXFY7P4eFoJvzkbqxJF6h9zu5GR9PCSKIqjM8pcq2uXik1wNmqBwl4Tf_5k1i8gQVJLkOBOs9r-35PP0oXi5AGQTZYwEPCbc/s1600/Riddick+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdSmAONAe6tFLfUT2Jg-gBybnFZtF1yMWV0zCFERSV6zTXFY7P4eFoJvzkbqxJF6h9zu5GR9PCSKIqjM8pcq2uXik1wNmqBwl4Tf_5k1i8gQVJLkOBOs9r-35PP0oXi5AGQTZYwEPCbc/s400/Riddick+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Armed with no more than a large bone club, Riddick (Vin Diesel) attempts to survive<br />his encounter with a particularly large "mud demon." This creature is between him and<br />access to a safer part of this wayward planet, so Riddick is determined to win this<br />little skirmish. Rest assured, though: This won't be the last he sees of mud demons.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’ve got to admire a guy who can survive a fall of several hundred feet (perhaps even more) while getting buried beneath a massive rock avalanche ... with no more than some cuts, bruises and a leg fracture that he sets himself, by jamming metal pins into the surrounding muscle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Granted, this character’s otherwise cartoonish invulnerability is made almost palatable by Vin Diesel’s growling, glowering performance; one can imagine Riddick is fueled by ’tude alone. Bottle the stuff, and he’d made a fortune selling it to up-and-coming action hero wannabes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Diesel follows in the well-stomped footsteps of earlier strong, monosyllabic types played by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger; like them, Diesel has made a virtue of his limited acting range. He’s a dour teddy bear on steroids: an apparent bad guy — introduced, back in 2000’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pitch Black</i>, as a “notorious convict” — who nonetheless respects honor, reluctantly protects the weak and disenfranchised, and turns into a coldly efficient predator only when dealing with Those Who Deserve It.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even when chained and (apparently) helpless, Riddick can issue threats with a layer of menace that Diesel sells quite persuasively.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like I said, you gotta admire the guy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Riddick has become an intriguing franchise for Diesel and writer/director David Twohy. Following <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pitch Black</i> — which Twohy scripted from a story by Jim and Ken Wheat — they re-teamed for 2004’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chronicles of Riddick</i> and, that same year, an animated short called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Fury</i> (Diesel voicing his character, Twohy supplying the story). But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicles</i>was an overblown box-office bomb, its complicated narrative adding far too much extraneous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stuff</i> to the first film’s plain-vanilla, survive-the-threat template.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No surprise, then, that Twohy has gone back to basics with this new film, which sports the appropriately simple title of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Riddick</i>. Wisely dumping the second film’s Egyptian-esque, Necromonger intrigue that felt swiped from 1994’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stargate</i>, Twohy gives us the same basic, one-against-impossible-odds story that made <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pitch Black</i> such a nifty little B-thriller.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indeed, at times the echoes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pitch Black</i> are so loud, that this “new” film almost could be considered a remake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once again stuck on a godforsaken little planet in the middle of celestial nowhere, Riddick calls on his impressive survival skills to endure. How he winds up on this sun-scorched world is detailed in a needlessly obtuse and frankly stupid flashback: some clumsy exposition that Twohy attempts to improve with Diesel’s off-camera narration (a device employed only during these early scenes).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twohy’s subsequent story divides neatly into three distinct chapters, the first an all but dialogueless depiction of Riddick’s efforts to master his barren surroundings. This act is compelling in a Robinson Crusoe-esque manner, with Riddick slowly gauging the relative degree of danger presented by the planet’s primary predators: a nasty little winged carrion feeder, easily kept at bay; a jackal-like canine, definitely hazardous in hunting packs; and a truly wicked, razor-tailed “mud demon” confined to pools in darkened caves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The latter has a nasty two-pronged attack, with both poisonous fangs and its slashing tail.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twohy put some thought into this barren world’s ecology, and he deserves credit for the effort.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having built himself back up to fighting strength — a process that takes months, based on the canine companion that he trains from puppyhood (another nice touch) — Riddick ventures further afield and finds an unstaffed mercenary resource station. He activates the interior emergency beacon, allowing it to scan him, knowing full well that bounty-hungry mercenaries will arrive quickly, eager to catch him for the reward.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Riddick’s plan works: Cue Act II, and the arrival of a ship filled with lethal killers led by a machete-wielding sadist named Santana (Jordi Mollà). His gang is followed, in short order, by a second craft captained by Boss Johns (Matt Nable) and his kick-ass second-in-command, a Nordic sniper named Dahl (Katee Sackhoff).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Followers of Riddick’s earlier escapades will recognize the name Johns, and indeed Boss turns out to be the father of William Johns, the weasel bounty hunter played by Cole Hauser, who met a well-deserved end back in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pitch Black</i>. Boss Johns now has serious issues with Riddick, but Santana isn’t about to let anybody else horn in on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">his</i>action.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The two rival merc groups therefore establish an uneasy alliance, with Boss Johns and his group politely waiting for the moment when Santana <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">asks</i> for help ... a moment that Johns knows will arrive, because Riddick is far more resourceful than Santana appreciates.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This middle portion is Twohy’s strongest act, with the seemingly omniscient Riddick — helped by his four-legged “pet” — playing on group paranoia and tweaking the mercs at every turn. By far the most suspenseful scene involves Santana and a booby-trapped storage locker that Riddick might have tampered with: a deliciously harrowing interlude that Twohy and editor Tracy Adams milk for maximum tension.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loyalties and alliances shift again with the arrival of Act III, when all hell breaks loose. Thanks to a massive, region-wide rainstorm that churns the arid desert sand into puddles and rivulets, the fearsome mud demons are granted wide-ranging mobility the moment night falls: a serious problem for everybody except Riddick, thanks to his spooky, night-vision-enhanced eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, just that quickly, we’re re-playing the final act from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pitch Black</i>. Not necessarily a bad thing, but — if this film revives the franchise — I hope Twohy comes up with something more original next time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mollà is appropriately vicious as Santana, the sort of cheerful sadist who probably tossed kittens into a microwave when he was a kid. We get his measure early on, when he kills a female captive for sport (Keri Lynn Hilson, in an eyeblink role); right then, as Riddick watches this act through Diesel’s hardened gaze, we know that Santana isn’t destined to die of old age.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nable overacts atrociously as Boss Johns, emoting toward the back balcony with a saliva-sputtering fury that works against his introduction as an ultra-cool mercenary. Former WWE world champion and mixed martial-arts grappler Dave Bautista is much more persuasively powerful as Diaz, the guy who keeps Santana’s crew in line.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nolan Gerard Funk has a weird supporting role as Luna, the youngest member of Santana’s crew, whose Bible-spouting piety is a plot affectation that feels and sounds like it wandered in from some other film. We sympathize with Luna because of his youth, and suspect that he’s probably a decent fellow at heart, but that makes his presence even stranger; I cannot imagine somebody like Santana putting up with this young man’s behavior, even if he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i>regarded as a “lucky charm.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of which brings us to Sackhoff, who as Dahl — a name chosen specifically for its sound-alike term of ridicule — gets to be even more of a bad-ass than she was as Starbuck, during five seasons of television’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Battlestar Galactica </i>... which means she busts heads, cusses like a sailor and bares her chest (the latter quite pointlessly, I’m obliged to mention). Sackhoff obviously has a great time with the role, particularly each time Dahl makes an example of Santana, and the actress is buff enough to make her smackdowns reasonably credible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this is Diesel’s show, and he holds our attention quite effectively, bringing these proceedings more dramatic heft than they deserve. There’s no denying Diesel’s presence, and his aura of latent menace; on top of that, it’s a hoot to watch him outfox and out-think all these tough-talking thugs (the balance of whom don’t get enough screen time to be distinguished from each another).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Graeme Revell delivers a serviceable score: all mood, without any noticeably defining themes. Cinematographer David Eggby conveys this planet’s grim surroundings, at times granting us a sense of the shimmering heat, and he also has fun depicting what Riddick “sees” through his unusual eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At 119 minutes, though, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Riddick</i> wears out its welcome; Twohy takes much too long to build to the climax, which then lingers past the point of diminishing returns. I’m also dismayed by his reliance on the gory deaths that fans have made <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de rigueur</i> in this post-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saw</i> era; has it really become necessary to sink to such slaughterhouse excess?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that, ultimately, is the major problem with this newest chronicle of Riddick: Despite all of Diesel’s droll sneaking around and predatory skill, nothing in this film delivers the emotional wallop we got at the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pitch Black</i>. Twohy may know how to direct Riddick’s action-packed adventures, but we need a stronger writer at the keyboard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One who can give our stoic antihero some fully fleshed adversaries, rather than the two-dimensional cartoons populating this flick.</span></span><!--EndFragment-->

2013 action Bokeem Woodbine Dave Bautista Jordi Mollà Katee Sackhoff Matt Nable Nolan Gerard Funk Sci-Fi Sequel Series Vin Diesel Riddick: Back to basics

Riddick   (2013) •  View trailer   Three stars. Rating: R, for strong violence, profanity, sexual candor and occasional nudity By  Derrick B...

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Elysium: District 10?

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Elysium</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/elysium/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>3.5 stars. Rating: R, for profanity, gore and strong bloody violence</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a></b></span></b></span></span></span><br /><br /> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Based on the evidence thus far, filmmaker Neill Blomkamp has only one story to tell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Elysium</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> feels much like his previous film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2009/08/district-9-enthusiastic-10.html">District 9</a></i>, writ larger: another saga of oppressed “aliens” seeking a way to rebel against their cruel and privileged overlords. The setting and opposing teams have changed slightly, and Blomkamp clearly has a bigger budget this time at bat, but the key plot points are essentially the same; even the hardware and weaponry look familiar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cn8Ok9CVI7HtLVOOe37VNtYP6oUKS-u6M5XChLzu0jhsHbsMU6YKb6RvOuwISWmRHu4Mz58v3XiXFQK3mhoGNI2ghh7wI8-XuHcFQMW96HFaAl7OtZwOOus6Haf2lC1jGHAay5u1UqM/s1600/Elysium+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cn8Ok9CVI7HtLVOOe37VNtYP6oUKS-u6M5XChLzu0jhsHbsMU6YKb6RvOuwISWmRHu4Mz58v3XiXFQK3mhoGNI2ghh7wI8-XuHcFQMW96HFaAl7OtZwOOus6Haf2lC1jGHAay5u1UqM/s400/Elysium+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">His impulsive plans having failed yet again, Max (Matt Damon) finds himself trapped on<br />a medical table, while the coldly arrogant Delacourt (Jodie Foster) orders some<br />purloined computer data stripped from his brain ... not at all bothered by the fact that<br />this process will kill him.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That said, political oppression has been a big-screen sci-fi staple going all the way back to 1927’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Metropolis</i>, and it often produces great drama. So we can forgive Blomkamp the familiarity ... this time. (He would be wise, however, to move in a different direction henceforth.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The South African-born filmmaker has a solid eye and ear for social strife — no surprise, given his homeland — which contributed, in great part, to the narrative power of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">District 9</i>. Now embraced by the seductive lure of Hollywood, Blomkamp has turned his disapproving eye on the United States, and its dysfunctional immigration policy; the results aren’t likely to be embraced by red staters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The year is 2154, and the entire Earth has become an environmental wasteland, ruined by industrial excess, land mismanagement, resource depletion and various other unchecked global horrors we currently practice, with no eye toward future consequences. Every country, in turn, has become part of a planetwide ghetto, the 99 percent left to scrabble and squabble among themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But not entirely. Movement and behavior are monitored by android peacekeepers that employ computer-chip tracking to maintain a veritable police state bereft of basic human decency. And humor: Just as it isn’t smart, in our here and now, to crack wise when stopped by a traffic cop, it is sheer folly to act smug with one of these gun-toting “law officers.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">George Orwell’s influence weighs heavily, and his vision has come to pass: Big Brother really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> watching, and doing so from a massive orbiting space station dubbed Elysium, where the very wealthy have fled in order to enjoy a life of pleasure and privilege among lush gardens and sparkling architecture. Automated med-bays can repair, reconstruct or eradicate anything, from broken bones to cancer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blomkamp knows his science-fiction, Elysium being a verdant cross between the domed forests of 1972’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Silent Running</i>, and the technological wonders of Larry Niven’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ringworld</i>novels.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Travel takes place between Elysium and the surface, but only under carefully monitored conditions, and only involving the elite. One such individual is John Carlyle (William Fichtner), who supervises a massive industrial plant in the Spanish-speaking wasteland of greater Los Angeles. His employees include Max (Matt Damon), an orphan who grew up tough, flirted with car theft and other minor crimes, and now is trying to stay out of prison.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desperate civilians, many of them ill and injured, routinely attempt to reach Elysium’s life-restoring embrace in shuttles stolen by Spider (Wagner Moura), a revolutionary-cum-human trafficker who knows Max from back in the day. It’s a perilous trip, particularly since Elysium’s Secretary of Defense — Jodie Foster, as Delacourt — deals with such incursions by blasting the shuttles out of the sky.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any allusion to desperate Mexican migrants attempting to crash American borders is, of course, completely intentional.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Max has two staunch friends, although both relationships are compromised. Julio (Diego Luna) is a buddy from Max’s larcenous past, the life he’s trying to leave behind. Frey (Alice Braga) is the girl who left Max behind; although inseparable as children, she grew up to become a nurse — a respected occupation, even in these harsh surroundings — and Max simply wasn’t part of that career path.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One horrific industrial accident later, everything changes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now having nothing to lose, Max must — simply <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">must</i> — get to Elysium. He allows Spider’s men to bolt him into a strengthening exo-skeleton, complete with a computer port wired directly into his brain: necessary in order to clone an Earthbound Elysium official’s all-important ID and tracking data. Indignant fury prompts Max to choose Carlyle as his target, little knowing that the industrial magnate and Delacourt have their own sinister plans for Elysium’s future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Max gets far, far more than he bargained for, and suddenly is fleeing for his life: not only from every peacekeeping android in the city, but also from Kruger (Sharlto Copley), the psychopathic mercenary Delacourt has hired clandestinely, to do her Earthbound dirty work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Copley will be remembered as the hapless protagonist of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">District 9</i>: the low-level office wonk suddenly beset by dangers he scarcely comprehended. That’s the role Damon plays here, his Max trying to survive from one moment to the next, and having absolutely no idea how to improve his chances, or deal with revelations beyond his understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s a solid heroic archetype, and Damon plays it well, making Max an essentially noble blue-collar type turned reluctant warrior. He’s certainly no superhero, even when outfitted with the exo-skeleton; he remains vulnerable, and we feel every trauma inflicted upon his increasingly scarred body.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Foster’s Delacourt is a chill piece of work: refined and elegant in the public eye — goodness, she even speaks <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">French</i> — and coldly ruthless behind the scenes. She’s every bit as evil as the feral Kruger; the only difference is that she can “pass” for gracious, when necessary, whereas he’s a berserker monster. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To my knowledge, Foster hasn’t played any outright villains until now; she does so here with considerable panache, every inch a conniving, soulless Lucrezia Borgia. She’s well-matched by Copley, whose Kruger is the stuff of nightmares: a sarcastic maniac who taunts his victims to their deaths, his heavy Afrikaner accent somehow making him even scarier.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fichtner is equally lethal, but in the calm, unruffled manner of a Gestapo general blandly sending another trainload of Jews into the ovens; human life simply has no value in Carlyle’s eyes. Luna, alternatively, deftly makes Julio the best of all possible loyal comrades.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Braga is every inch the woman worth fighting for, particularly when Frey is revealed to have a young daughter (Emma Tremblay) who is dying of leukemia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the other end of the acting spectrum, Moura badly overplays the excitable Spider, making him more of a cartoon than a plausible character. Granted, Copley’s Kruger is a similar exaggeration, but we accept that in a heinous villain. It’s harder to get a bead on Spider, whose emotions swing as wildly as his motives ... and, let’s just say, he’s got impressive hacking skills.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blomkamp and his editors — Julian Clarke and Lee Smith — move the story along at an impressive clip; this is a fast-paced 109 minutes, which helps build tension and excitement. But those who remember <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">District 9</i> definitely will experience <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">déjà vu</i>: in the broader sense, in terms of how the first act progresses to the second, and then the third; and also with respect to details such as Max’s exo-skeleton and the body-shattering weapons.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, as with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">District 9</i>, the action here is very, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i> gory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Production designer Philip Ivey does superlative work in contrasting Elysium’s pampered “haves” with the have-nots left on Earth. Establishing shots in Mexico’s poorest communities echo the Johannesburg slums of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">District 9</i>, whereas Vancouver’s lush suburbs double for Elysium. Special-effects coordinator Cameron Waldbauer does wonders with Elysium’s massive, wheel-shaped interior: a realized architectural miracle on par with the imaginative vistas within <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2010/07/inception-bad-dream.html">Inception</a></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would like to know, however, how Elysium retains its essential atmosphere, since visiting ships simply “slip inside” the wheel, with no need for airlocks or similar details.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ultimately, Blomkamp’s scripted reach badly exceeds his grasp; he builds to a fairy-tale climax that’s simply absurd, raising far too many fresh questions that can’t possibly be answered. In that respect, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">District 9</i> was tighter, better plotted and more satisfying, its resolution completely reasonable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So while <i>Elysium</i> certainly doesn’t represent a sophomore slump, I hope Blomkamp has gotten this particular socio-political harangue out of his system, and can move on to something fresher next time.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><!--EndFragment-->

2013 action Alice Braga Diego Luna Emma Tremblay Jodie Foster Matt Damon Neill Blomkamp Sci-Fi Sharlto Copley Wagner Moura William Fichtner Elysium: District 10?

Elysium   (2013) •  View trailer   3.5 stars. Rating: R, for profanity, gore and strong bloody violence By  Derrick Bang Based o...

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Pacific Rim: Monster Mash

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Pacific Rim</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/pacificrim/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for intense sci-fi violence and brief profanity</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 7.12.13</b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guillermo del Toro must have loved Godzilla movies as a kid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His newest action fantasy, <i>Pacific Rim</i>, is a valentine to the dozen or so romp ’em, stomp ’em features that starred “the big G” during del Toro’s formative years. (Quite a few more have been made since then.) This tip of the hat clearly is deliberate, since the director and fellow scripter Travis Beacham refer to their ginormous critters as <i>kaiju</i>, the Japanese term — literally “strange beast,” but more commonly “giant monster” — coined, back in the day, to describe Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and their ilk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylp-R5OFQNaWthRY5u15kaJLngJC5zBAuP08AWfvu-r-n0EEa7QGUujrChBF5I1exGSWz9C-GPAjpyuGsqWaIJN4b2yBabY9veq87FYwymIoVyMcyL60hgrq4pcGG_VBkkHgEVyzLSFk/s1600/Pacific+Rim+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylp-R5OFQNaWthRY5u15kaJLngJC5zBAuP08AWfvu-r-n0EEa7QGUujrChBF5I1exGSWz9C-GPAjpyuGsqWaIJN4b2yBabY9veq87FYwymIoVyMcyL60hgrq4pcGG_VBkkHgEVyzLSFk/s400/Pacific+Rim+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Strapped into the high-tech body suits that make them "one" with the giant robot<br />warriors into which they've been placed, Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako (Rinko<br />Kikuchi) prepare for a battle they already know is unwinnable, against a monstrous<br />beast with adaptive "enhancements" that have made it far stronger than their<br />mechanical avatar.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throw in plenty of 21st century whiz-bang special effects, and the result is a high-tech thrill ride that blends <i>big</i> monsters, equally massive robot-like avatars, and the stubborn pluck of a puny human race unwilling to go quietly into that good night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During a summer laden with end-of-the-world scenarios — zombie apocalypse and Kryptonian apocalypse, not to mention the biblical Book of Revelations — this one takes the prize for cheeky absurdity. At the same time, del Toro and Beacham pay careful attention to the human element, giving us would-be saviors who are inspiring for their fortitude, and endearing for their flaws.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not to mention, it’s always nice when a screenplay takes the optimistic view, and shows world powers uniting in an effort to save the planet. Such all-for-one selflessness goes all the way back to H.G. Wells’ <i>War of the Worlds</i>, and the reminder is refreshing in this divisively cynical age.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Audacious fantasy has been del Toro’s stock-in-trade ever since 1997’s under-appreciated and genuinely creepy <i>Mimic</i>. He also was the perfect choice to adapt graphic novelist Mike Mignola’s lunatic <i>Hellboy</i> series, and — as an executive producer — del Toro has chaperoned riveting projects such as 2007’s wonderfully atmospheric <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2008/01/orphanage-creepy-childs-play.html">The Orphanage</a></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And let us not forget his masterpiece: 2006’s <i>Pan’s Labyrinth</i>, the Oscar-winning horror film that brought adult sensibilities to a genre too frequently willing to settle for much less, and which demonstrated that human monsters can be much, much worse than anything cooked up by our vivid imaginations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pacific Rim</i> doesn’t wade through such high-falutin' waters, though; this is simply del Toro’s first stab at a crowd-pleasing, mega-budget summer blockbuster, and he has done a commendable job.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film, set in the not-too-distant future, opens with an extended flashback: An unseen narrator recalls the unexpected arrival of the first <i>kaiju</i>, an enormous — and quite savage — amphibious creature bent on death and destruction. It rises from the ocean depths and wreaks considerable havoc before being brought down by conventional military hardware.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently passing this off as an isolated incident — perhaps a lone, Bradbury-esque behemoth, driven by curiosity to the surface world — mankind is similarly unprepared months later, when the next one arrives. And then another. And another, at noticeably shorter intervals. Scientists realize that they’re coming from some sort of dimensional portal deep in the Pacific Ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faced with the obvious need to Do Something, the world’s nations pool their resources and develop the largest, most versatile and aggressively lethal weapon ever devised. This is the Jaeger Program, which constructs 25-story-tall mechanical “robots” that are operated by two pilots whose minds are linked both to each other, and to the machine’s limbs and assault gadgets.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think Wii technology, taken to the obvious extreme.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a time, the ploy is successful; thanks also to a computer-sensor “early warning system” that registers portal activity, the <i>kaiju</i> become an irritating but dispatchable menace. Jaeger pilots, like Apollo astronauts, turn into the world’s new heroes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Years pass ... and, then, the unthinkable. The <i>kaiju</i> adapt; a Jaeger robot falls. The pendulum shifts, and Earth’s first line of defense loses its edge.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Yes, this is all back-story!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story proper opens as the Jaeger Program is scrapped, much to the dismay of its guiding light, Pan Pacific Defense Corp Commander Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba). World leaders shift their strategy to the construction of tall, thick sea walls apparently intended to prevent the <i>kaiju</i> from making landfall. (This seems an idiotic notion on all sorts of levels, not the least of which is the havoc increased numbers of the monsters would wreak on ocean life.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Predictably, this new defense proves less than successful. Worse yet, scientists have determined that the <i>kaiju</i> are popping up at exponential rates, leading to the ghastly realization that, soon, two of them will appear at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All hope now rests with the remnants of Pentecost’s Jaeger program, and its four surviving robots: Gypsy Danger, from the USA; China’s Crimson Typhoon; Russia’s Cherno Alpha; and Australia’s Striker Eureka. Although everybody already knows that Jaeger tech has proven unsuccessful, mankind isn’t about to go down without a fight. (Damn straight!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Del Toro never works with big-name stars, preferring the greater verisimilitude of fresh faces blended with seasoned character actors. Our all-American good guy, Raleigh Becket, is played by Charlie Hunnam, best known these days for his ongoing role on TV’s <i>Sons of Anarchy</i>. Hunnam is properly clean-cut, and Becket is a flawed tragic hero: an emotionally crippled, one-time Jaeger pilot who never recovered from the years-ago battle that marked the beginning of the end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still, as Pentecost insists — in the grand tradition of such underdog sagas — “You’re the best we’ve got.” Elba probably is one of very few actors who could make that hoary line sound credible; his Pentecost is the epitome of crisply starched, unswerving loyalty to tactical precision. We’ve not seen a military commander rendered so persuasively since George C. Scott’s George S. Patton.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Australian Jaeger is manned by the father-and-son team of Herc and Chuck Hansen (Max Martini and Robert Kazinsky). Martini, a longtime acting veteran, exudes the sort of hail-fellow-well-met Aussie charm that we’ve come to expect; Herc also grants Becket the respect he deserves. That isn’t the case with Chuck, played by Kazinsky — a relative newcomer — as an arrogant snot whose only saving grace is ownership of an adorably sloppy bulldog.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pentecost has a ward, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), the now-grown survivor of a horrific <i>kaiju</i> attack that terrified her as a child. Although she has trained just as hard as anybody else, and wants desperately to co-pilot a Jaeger, Pentecost holds her back; acknowledging her Japanese devotion to honor and respect, she complies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Becket won’t have it. Recognizing that he and Mako share the all-essential mind-meld compatibility necessary for superior Jaeger control, he naturally rebels. (Cue the inter-personal tension.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On top of which, Mako is seriously cute.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kikuchi brings unexpected emotional gravity to these proceedings; as also is the case with Hunnam’s Becket, we learn much about her personal tragedy. Mostly, though, Kikuchi makes Mako <i>interesting</i>, and she effortlessly wins our hearts and minds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A shout-out also goes to Mana Ashida, who plays Mako’s younger self. This little girl brings frightening intensity to a flashback sequence that explains her thirst for revenge.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We never get to know the Russian or Chinese pilots, which is a shame. For openers, they <i>look</i> intriguing ... and, more to the point, del Toro muffs this opportunity to make his film as inclusively international as the storyline.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Comic relief is supplied by Charlie Day and Burn Gorman, as Geiszler and Gottlieb, a pair of whack-job scientists with <i>way</i>-outside-the-box views on how best to tackle the <i>kaiju</i>“problem.” They’re the original odd couple: Day’s Geiszler is sloppy and dangerously impulsive, while Gorman’s Gottlieb is fussy, prissy and just as misguidedly wary. They’re obviously conceived, by del Toro and Beacham, as an entertaining alternative to the boring, white-garbed scientist-types who customarily offer dull-as-dishwater “explanations” in such films.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But we know right away that salvation must lie with these nutball researchers, despite their tendency to try Pentecost’s patience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, Ron Perlman — a familiar face in del Toro’s films — pops up as Hannibal Chau, a Hong Kong-based black marketeer who has made a fortune selling <i>kaiju</i> parts on the black market. Perlman chews up the scenery in style; he’s the only actor, thus far, able to give the late James Coburn’s devious ear-to-ear grin a run for its money.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Production designers Andrew Neskoromny and Carol Spier have a field day with the opulent sets, from the Loccent Command Center, home of the holographic computers that monitor the <i>kaiju</i> battles, to Chau’s opulent “<i>kaiju</i> reclamation center.” Visual effects supervisors John Knoll and James E. Price do equally well with the city-leveling battle scenes; we’ve come a long way from the days when Godzilla would stomp cardboard cities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Much of the film’s persuasive, pulse-pounding power comes from cinematographer Guillermo Navarro’s ability to convey the essential sense of size and scale. Unfortunately, the 3D effects were applied after the fact; although the results are better than most cases of “fake 3D,” the finished film nonetheless suffers from the overly “dark” look that is typical of retroactive enhancement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pacific Rim</i> won’t win any awards for originality, but that’s not an issue; del Toro and Beacham intend their film as a genre homage, much the way George Lucas riffed classic westerns in <i>Star Wars</i>, and Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich updated H.G. Wells in 1996’s <i>Independence Day</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This high-tech monster mash is ripping good fun, as is the case with <i>White House Down</i>. And there’s nothing wrong with that, when it comes to popcorn action flicks.</span></span><!--EndFragment-->

2013 action Burn Gorman Charlie Day Charlie Hunnam fantasy Guillermo del Toro Idris Elba Max Martini Rinko Kikuchi Robert Kazinsky Ron Perlman Sci-Fi Pacific Rim: Monster Mash

Pacific Rim   (2013) •  View trailer   3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for intense sci-fi violence and brief profanity By  Derrick Bang  •  Origin...

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