Midroad Movie Review reviews The World’s End, Elysium, and The Wolverine
It’s been a pretty great summer for film, and although the landscape of cinema may be changing nothing beats seeing a new movie nestled into a theater seat with fellow film fans doing the same. Not every movie can be gold, but not every movie is as terrible as you’re told, and reading reviews for an anticipated film is always a mixed bag. It’s a good way to confirm a suspicion, squash a fear, and most likely ruin a surprise if you’re not careful.
That said, I’ve finally been able to set aside some time and review a few new movies. Read reviews for The World’s End, Elysium, and The Wolverine after the jump.
The World’s End wraps up the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy nicely
It’s safe to say Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost are the current kings of paying homage, infusing humor around action, and keeping a strong heart beating as they make their mark in genre filmmaking. Shaun of the Dead redefined the zombie movie, Hot Fuzz solidified the trio as action enthusiasts and alter ego masters, and The World’s End, the final film in their loosely connected Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, is the icing on the cake. The movie manages to elevate itself above the previous two installments by adding a few more familiar faces to the mix and by cleverly commenting on relevant problems facing the industry, society, humanity, and more.
Following a forever-young Gary King (Pegg) on a quest to reunite his high school chums and complete the pub crawl that defined his glory days, the film quickly establishes its five musketeers and powers forward confidently. Dialogue is as quick and effortless as we’ve come to expect, and we’re introduced to Andy (Frost), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Peter (Eddie Marsan), and Steven (Paddy Considine) before arriving at the first pub for a pint and a water. Everything feels very organic as we join the reunion of once-close friends returning to their hometown on a whim.
Things are not as remembered in the cozy town of Newton Haven, and our pint-pounding friends are soon playing a deadly drinking game with the townspeople. Are they aliens? Robots? Republicans? By the sixth or seventh pint it really doesn’t matter, and beating the blue out of anyone standing in the way of reaching The World’s End, the final pub on the 12-stop crawl, is the only option our protagonists have as they struggle forward.
The jokes are subtle yet strong, the stakes high yet hilarious, and each piece of the puzzle seems expertly put into place. Wright pulls in players from his past to fill bit parts, and seeing Brian (Mark Heap) of Tyres (Michael Smiley) from Spaced, and catching a glimpse of the garden zombie girl from Shaun of the Dead, feels like a reward for fans who’ve been around since the beginning. For newcomers to the Wright, Pegg, and Frost trifecta, The World’s End is easily one of the funniest and more emotionally relevant films to have hit theaters this year. Underneath the laughs is a layer of real humanity regarding growing up, moving on, making a difference, being your own person, and understanding flaws aren’t necessarily failures. The film touches on all of that while being a laugh-out-loud comedy and a top-notch actioner in between with strong ties to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day the Earth Stood Still. You’d be doing yourself a disservice to not give it a watch while it’s still in theaters.
*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD*
My only problem with The World’s End, and I wouldn’t really call it a problem but more of a knee-jerk reaction to strange times, is it’s seemingly casual glorification of the notion that humanity is so devil-may-care that it would rather drink away the drama than consider something greater. Every argument or conflict seemed to be met with a “Fuck it!” response and a few laughs to bring it home. Those are literally some of the last two words we hear from the robots/aliens/Bill Nighy, and it seems like the underlying theme of the film. Granted, this might be completely on purpose, and it may be Wright’s meta way of saying the world will literally fall apart one day if this is the attitude we all have. In a strange way, after a little examination, the The World’s End feels a lot like a more polished, more poignant, more subtle take on the topics Mike Judge’s film Idiocracy touched on, and if that’s the case my initial problem may be praise in its own way.
Continue to the review for Elysium
Elysium sheds subtlety for spectacle
Director Neill Blomkamp showed so much promise with his first film District 9, and expectations were extremely high for his follow up project Elysium. Unfortunately, the film’s bumped up budget proved detrimental in that the world building, effects, and aesthetic atmosphere took the place of subtlety and story. The movie is gorgeous in it’s dirtiness, but beauty, as they say, isn’t only determined by what’s on the surface.
The story is simple enough, but it’s the kind of simple that hits far too many overplayed notes in an attempt to add unnecessary layers. Matt Damon’s Max, along with the rest of Earth’s population, suffers from the established sickness of being poor and inferior. The privileged on Elysium, living on their floating space station akin to something seen in the Halo universe, use their affluence to avoid both literal and metaphorical sickness, and in doing so have created a familiar economic rift. Long story short, Max is the man who’s going to cross that rift, and in doing so change the state of things for the betterment of those back home.
*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD*
In an effort to shoe-horn in emotional resonance Elysium sees not only its protagonist avoidably stricken with radiation poisoning but also a childhood friend re-introduced, two sick children, a backstabbing politician, an underground rebellion, and all kinds of apparent jabs at the current economic divide. Everything mentioned above feels forced, and these heartstring-pullers and hollow layers never quite connect on the level intended. Instead, Elysium opts to express itself through violence and an uneven yet unblinking trudge forward.
Once Max has his magical exo-skeleton screwed on he’s pretty much unstoppable, and all previous wounds or illnesses are thrown out the window to make way for his beat downs. Anything resembling motivation beyond “Max smash!” is an afterthought, and as the plot unravels toward the inevitable final battle all subtlety is replaced with going through the motions. Granted, Blomkamp’s sci-fi eye for spectacle is able to exaggerate those motions and give us a fireworks show that’s aesthetically pleasing at the very least.
As for side characters, Sharlto Copley’s assassin-for-hire, Kruger, steals the show any time he’s on screen. It’s great to see him let loose and have some fun being the bad guy. It’s also with Copley’s Kruger that we get most of our great sci-fi moments like remote-controlled flying mines and an arm-mounted energy shield. Jodie Foster’s overbearing politician Delecourt isn’t as bad as everyone’s saying, and those who can’t get over her accent are nitpicking and being ridiculous. She’s there to counterbalance the malice of Kruger with her political wiles, and she does just fine in the role. William Fichtner shows up for a brief few scenes, but he’s boiled down to a Johnny Mnemonic-style plot device and then forgotten, which is a real shame.
When all is said and done, it’s fair to say Elysium should have been a better film. The similarities to District 9 are too apparent to be avoided, and in comparing the two films it’s hard to not see the finer weave of action, emotion, and relevant commentary Blomkamp’s first attempt was able to establish over this follow up.
Continue to the review for The Wolverine
The Wolverine has some glaring flaws that keep it from being great
While The Wolverine is a big improvement on 2009’s X-Men Origins catastrophe, the film falls short of being great by buckling under Hollywood repetitions, being shackled by rating restrictions, and not explaining one big…well, we’ll get to that later. That said, Hugh Jackman is back behind the claws of his most iconic character, and it feels good to see Wolverine in a decent movie again. Although a few glaring flaws open several wounds that threaten to kill the film, it manages to crawl just past good before running out of energy.
Being modeled after the popular comic run that sees Logan/Wolverine in Japan, the movie benefits from the lush setting and fresh adaptation. To sum up the story without spoiling anything, while being held captive in Nagasaki Logan saves a lone Japanese soldier from the blast of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb. Years later the brooding mutant is summoned back to Japan by the man he saved and enticed with the possibility of being rid of his regeneration and living out a normal life.
This is the point where the film starts to slowly derail. At first, The Wolverine wants to be a ponderous character piece that focuses on Logan’s internal struggles more than his superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, in doing so he’s made vulnerable, and from the get go we see him struggle forward fighting against either a wound or flashback demon. Wolverine has always been a force of nature, a man with no real ties to the world around him, a lonely ronin superman in search of his next fight, and by internalizing the chaos it seems the man’s feral side has been drained considerably. Aside from a few impressive action scenes, Logan is the weakest we’ve seen him (physically and mentally) on screen, and that can be both good and bad depending on what you’re looking for.
The loss of ferality is probably due in part to the film’s PG-13 rating. People wanting a claws-out, hard R Wolverine will have to settle for off-screen kills and a fairly blood-free experience. The image above is one of the few moments we actually see blood on claws, and most hacking and slashing is done just out of frame. It all feels very sterile in a way. Clean, safe, summer blockbuster kind of sterile.
Speaking of summer blockbuster sterile, the film suffers from not trusting itself to believe the audience would enjoy a consistent tone throughout. For those who completely agree with the choice to internalize Wolverine’s struggles, and who enjoy seeing the more personal take on the character, you’ll be disappointed by the studio’s decision to end with a climactic-yet-predictable confrontation. The way in which it unfolds has been done countless times, and almost every time a comic book hero is on the big screen, and it’s a real shame this was the route the movie went.
Overall, The Wolverine is the best standalone film for the character we’ve had yet, and easily fits somewhere between the first and second X-Men movies in terms of quality. There’s a little something here for everyone, and popping it in on DVD when it arrives will most likely satisfy. Hugh Jackman has voiced his desire to see Wolverine do battle with Iron Man, so here’s hoping he’ll get the chance.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The one big pitfall of The Wolverine, and something I haven’t been able to shake since seeing the film, is the fact that Wolverine’s adamantium can be damaged. This was the killing blow for the X-Men Origins movie, and it’s hard to not see the Silver Samurai showdown as somewhat similar. So, Wolverine and Silver Samurai are made of adamantium, and it’s made apparent that Silver Samurai can’t be damaged by either Wolverine’s claws or his own sword (also made of adamantium), but somehow once the sword glows red it’s able to cut through like butter. What’s this all about? I thought adamantium couldn’t be manipulated or damaged once it’s been cooled. Apparently over-heated adamantium cutting through other adamantium is understood in the comic books, but it’s never explained on screen, and the gimmick feels underdeveloped. Once again, it felt a lot like the adamantium bullet that angered so many people from X-Men Origins. Also, the magical move to make this sword turn red/become super-heated is to use two hands? Really? That’s lazy writing in my opinion, and Wolverine deserved a bit more from a film trying to rebuild him.