Fight of the year

"Fight Club"
Overall Rating: ***½


So far this year, I've reviewed three films where the hero abandons his cubicle, and with it, conventional culture. "Office Space" was a straightforward comedy about what happens when someone in an office suddenly stops caring. In the touching drama "American Beauty," a middle-aged, white collar worker wakes up to the fact that he's lost the joy of living he used to have. "Fight Club" is the same basic premise--though it takes an action film approach, with an emphasis on lost machismo and banality of luxury. Curiously, like the other two, this distinctive approach mostly works.

When the film opens, the narrator (Edward Norton) is being held with a gun to his head. To explain this, he takes us in flashback to his old job, investigating car crashes for an auto maker; at that time, he was living in a haze. When a doctor--annoyed at his insomnia complaint--sarcastically suggests he see real suffering at testicular cancer support group, the narrator goes; the narrator soon becomes addicted to support groups--going to every one he can find. This helps him, until he realizes that Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) is doing the same thing, and the threatening presence of another fake undermines the support he derives. Things are really turned upside down when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). Tyler sells soap. Tyler also has a plan for the world--a violent plan. The first part is the formation of a secret society: Fight Club.

What's not to like about "Fight Club"? For one thing, it glorifies violence--the nihilistic terrorist in the film is definitely portrayed as a hero--albeit an insane and dubious hero. While many people may fantasize about destroying all the kitsch in the world, "Fight Club" comes perilously close to suggesting that people should actually do it.

This suggestion, however, is somewhat mitigated by the sheer weirdness of "Fight Club"--but that leads to another problem. Like "The Sixth Sense," "Fight Club" comes to depend on a single gimmick--only the particularly strange gimmick here doesn't completely work. For instance, it seems to make it impossible for Tyler to have met the narrator the way he did. Another character's identity is confusing, exacerbated by frequent use of fake names. The final scene, where a major character is killed, is also very confusing.

Despite the flaws with the central gimmick, there are also some points that support it well. The film has plenty of nice touches, if you pay attention. One of the film's themes, that society is emasculating men, is reinforced by the central character turning to victims of testicular cancer--men who have lost their testicles, and in some cases developed breasts--for support. Tyler, who believes that commercialization is destroying humanity, lives in what is essentially a ruin--an old house in a part of the city that's been industrialized. The film also has a viscous wit, exhibited, for instance, when some members of Fight Club lure hundreds of pigeons to the roof of a Mercedes-Benz dealership--with predictable results. Laughs aside, the film presents a dark vision of modern America and presents it well--if you're familiar with director David Fincher's earlier effort, "Seven," you'll know how dark and how well. Throw in a plot that remains unpredictable, and you have an interesting film that holds your attention.

Partially, this is bolstered by the performances of the two stars. Norton and Pitt both are very effective in capturing their characters' world views, and their conflict. The film is further enriched by the narrator's internal conflict--should he conform or rebel?

Another plus is the staple of any modern action film: good special effects. The numerous fight scenes are very well choreographed. Several imagined sequences, most notably a mid-air plane collision, are not only imaginative but well done.

"Fight Club" is a film for adults only. There is a great deal of strong language and sexual content, including nudity. The big concern, obviously, is the violence: it's pervasive, it's bloody, and it's anti-social in every sense of the word. "Fight Club" is possibly the most violent film this year.

"Fight Club" is also definitely the strangest film this year. That aside, it's worth a look, because "Fight Club" is one of the more interesting films this year.


Title: "Fight Club"
Release date:October 15, 1999
MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: ***½
Aprox. run time: 139 min.
Director: David Fincher
Writers: Jim Uhls (screenplay), Chuck Palahniuk (novel)
Stars: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf (plays Bob)

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/reviewsbyjohn/Fight.htm
Added to blog site: 7/27/09

Beautiful film

"American Beauty"
Overall Rating: ****


I have mixed feelings about "artsy" films. The good ones are as complex and fascinating as any great art. The bad ones tend to be pointlessly weird. Fortunately, while "American Beauty" may be pretentious, it's more than strong enough to back up that pretentiousness.

The Burnham family lives what Thoreau would aptly call "lives of quiet desperation." Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), whose opening monologue indicates that he'll die during the course of the film, is a staff writer for a trade journal; after 14 years with the company, a newly hired efficiency expert tells him to write out his job description so the company can decide if he's an essential employee--with definite implications that he isn't. His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), a real estate broker, is going through her own professional frustrations--specifically, stiff competition from another broker in a period where she seems unable to sell a house. The only time either of them communicate with each other or their daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), is when they argue. Then, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) and his parents move into the house next door, and everyone's lives are turned upside-down.

The cast, without exception, delivers excellent performances. With a good cast, I like to try to single out the best one or two actors, but this is no easy task. Spacey, Bening, Birch, and Bentley all make their characters sympathetic. The tragic aspect of the movie is accentuated by the fact that their characters are understandable and even, despite their mutual antagonism, likable.

The story is woven like a tapestry, filled with elegant touches. For instance, the homosexual couple living next door to the Burnhams not only reinforce the recurring theme of non-conformity, but also give another character the chance to reveal his prejudice against homosexuality--a revelation that turns out to be important later in the film. There's the ironic fact that, though Lester and Jane hate each other, they are also connected in that Ricky turns both their lives around. Jane's participation in cheerleading is equally ironic for the gloomy non-conformist. Subtle symbolism works its way into the film: Lester, shortly after he quits his job, purchases a remote control car--appropriate, since he's both trying to recapture a happier youth, and trying to take control of a life out of control; it's perfect that the toy car also runs over Carolyn when she comes home, since Lester's mid-life crisis is also running over her emotionally. Another interesting point is that Ricky's father, a strict, nearly inhuman, disciplinarian, is never addressed by his first name--it's not even in the closing credits. Frequent comic lines--comedy that's often ironic and acidic--simultaneously break the tension and reinforce the frustration (Lester's early line "It's okay. I wouldn't remember me either." is an example), While you know it's going to happen, Lester's death is shocking when it happens. Lester's quest to find himself becomes a classical tragic flaw--a good trait taken too far.

The big problem with the movie is the way the ending is handled. The action stops at the point of Lester's death--leaving a number of plot-points hanging. The filmmakers did it because Lester is the narrator. However, it wasn't necessary to cut the film off at that point, since the audience sees several events elsewhere that Lester doesn't. I found it extremely frustrating because I cared about the film's characters, and didn't get to see what happens to them; while you can make a guess as to what happens, I'd prefer to have seen it.

An R rating is appropriate for "American Beauty." Though it has much less violence than most major Hollywood releases, the violence depicted is very graphic and more shocking than most films that show more. There are also a number of on-screen sex scenes with nudity, several scenes involving drug use, and much strong language.

"American Beauty" is one of the most interesting films of the year--made interesting through strong writing and good acting. It is haunting like a great tragedy, and much more complex than most films. As the promotional posters say, "look closer."

Title: "American Beauty"
Release date: 9/17/99 (limited) / 10/1/99 (nationwide)
MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: ****
Aprox. run time: 121 min.
Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Alan Ball
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/AmBeauty.htm
Added to blog site: 7/26/09

Ford makes lemon

"Random Hearts"
Overall Rating: *


What's to like about a romantic drama that's as romantic and dramatic as a funeral? In this case, practically nothing.

Dutch Van Den Broeck (Harrison Ford) is an internal affairs officer with the Washington D.C. police, and Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a congresswoman from New Hampshire. Neither one of them knows that his/her spouse is having an affair with the other's spouse, until the unfaithful parties are killed in a plane crash in route to a romantic rendezvous. In the aftermath, Dutch's attempts to piece together what happened bring him and Kay together.

This movie has one novelty: Harrison Ford delivers a bad performance. I know he can play the desperate, grief-stricken husband seeking the truth--he did that in "The Fugitive" and "Frantic." I know he can handle romantic parts--I enjoyed "Six Days, Seven Nights" largely because of the chemistry between him and Anne Heche. Unfortunately, in "Random Hearts," he comes across more like a psychotic stalker than anything else. Much of the blame goes to the writers, for Dutch is in no way a charming character, and Dutch's explanation for his behavior is too little, too late to make up for the character's insanely obsessive nature throughout the movie. Both factors significantly undermine Ford's performance. Nonetheless, Ford is singularly unappealing here.

This is not to say that the other actors do any better. Mostly, as happened with Ford, they are hindered by their characters' odious natures. Kristin Scott Thomas, for instance, makes Chandler come across as the self-centered, out-of-touch, standing-for-nothing, career politician that everybody hates. You know something is wrong when a character's husband cheats on her then dies, and you still want her to lose the election. Mostly, the supporting cast members blend into each other. Perhaps the one exception is Bonnie Hunt, who plays one of Chandler's sycophants who also had a fling with Chandler's husband; Hunt stands out by making her character suitably sleazy and affected.

Aside from disagreeable characters, we have an illogical plot badly presented. "Random Hearts" is excruciatingly slow paced; though less than two and a quarter hours, the combined length of "Gone with the Wind," "Lawrence of Arabia," and "Malcolm X" would seem shorter. If not the cause of the slow pace, the oppressive emotional tone certainly exacerbates the problem: the central characters are grief stricken, the entire plot revolves around their losses, and there's never a light moment. Key plot elements often make no sense--the most notable being when Kay suddenly stops hating Dutch and starts loving him. Another example is how Kay, who is so concerned about appearances, goes to Dutch's cabin in the woods without a second thought. A third example is when Dutch goes out of his way to beat up a suspect because the suspect left a threatening message on his answering machine (never mind that the tape would be useful as evidence and Dutch's response almost blows the case for no reason). The incident with the suspect is part of one of the two subplots--the other being the disillusionment of Kay's daughter Jessica regarding her father. Both subplots come out of nowhere, go nowhere, and interrupt the flow of the thin, main plot for no real benefit. The frequent transitions to the subplots and between Dutch and Kay's lives gives the film an incredibly incoherent feeling. The combined effect of the sudden jumps, slow pace, and moody feel makes every scene painfully awkward. The final coup de grace: the film lacks any meaningful conclusion--not that I cared at this point, but I stayed for the credits, and I still don't know whether Dutch and Kay get together.

If you're thinking of taking the kids to this movie (perhaps as punishment for some severe offense, such as totaling the car while drunk), you can rest assured that, while there is copious strong language and pervasive innuendo, the violence, sexual content, and nudity are all more muted than you'd expect in an R-rated movie. I'm at a loss for how the movie wound up with that severe rating, but then I'm at a loss as to how it got made and released.

"Random Hearts" tries desperately to be depressing; unless you turn your brain off, you'll be bored instead. My advice: fly away from this disaster.


Title: "Random Hearts"
Release date: October 8, 1999

MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: *

Aprox. run time: 132 min.
Director: Sydney Pollack
Writers: Darryl Ponicsan, Kurt Luedtke, Warren Adler (novel)
Stars: Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/Random.htm
Added to blog site: 8/4/09

Dethroning "Three Kings"

"Three Kings"
Overall Rating: **½


There haven't been many films about the Gulf War. "Courage Under Fire," a great film about the first woman to win the Medal of Honor, was the first I saw. Unfortunately, Hollywood's short streak is broken with "Three Kings."

In the days just after the cease-fire ending the Gulf War, two "typical" American soldiers, Troy Barlow and Conrad Vig (Mark Wahlberg and Spike Jonze respectively) find a map concealed on an Iraqi prisoner of war. With their commanding officer, Chief Elgin (Ice Cube), and a special forces officer, Major Archie Gates (George Clooney), they determine that it's a map to a bunker containing plunder from Kuwait, just across the Iraqi border. They decide to try to steal the loot from the Iraqis. Once they get across the border, they are faced with a dilemma: make off with $23,000,000 in gold, or help the local resistance, who have been abandoned in their cause to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

"Three Kings" is a movie that does more to undermine itself than any other film this year. The script is a good example. There are some good jokes--such as trying to use night-vision goggles in the daytime, or sending a reporter on a wild-goose chase--concentrated in the first half. There is some good dramatic content with a strong anti-war theme--centering around both the American betrayal of the Iraqi rebels in particular and the destructiveness of war in general--concentrated in the second half. The problem is the two halves don't mesh. While more effective anti-war comedies, such as "Dr. Strangelove" or "Good Morning, Vietnam," make jokes out of the absurdity of war, in "Three Kings," most of the jokes are general shenanigans of the troops. After a madcap start, the sudden emphasis on a deadly serious theme wallops you over the head. Throw in some gratuitous explosions, and an ending that just doesn't work, and a film with potential becomes a writing disaster.

Then there are the technical aspects. Yes, they blow up stuff very well. Milk trucks, luxury cars, military vehicles--they all go boom nicely. That's standard in any modern war or action film (well, maybe not the choice of vehicle). The editing, however, is a strong minus. There are some scenes that look pale and washed-out; in a better film, I'd think it was a deliberate effort to make the war look drab, but here, I'm not convinced it had any point. There are many battle sequences that are either sped-up or slowed down; this deliberate attempt at dramatic effect gives the film an interesting "broken VCR" feel. Some of the lines are in Arabic, but many of the subtitles flash by too quickly to read. There are also a couple of scenes where there were flashes of yellow on the screen; I'm not certain whether my local multiplex got a bad print, or whether the problem is with the movie itself; whether it's an artistic gaffe, or simply an industrial quality control problem, however, it screams carelessness.

Among the actors, Ice Cube is very good--he makes a very imposing soldier, and he conveys his character's spiritual side; the problem is I don't understand why, when his character apparently has deep religious convictions, he'd willingly participate in a theft. The bright spot is Mark Wahlberg--he captures his character's reckless side very well, and manages the character transformation equally well. If there's any character you sympathize with, it's Wahlberg's Troy.

Putting aside whether adults would even want to bother with it, "Three Kings" is not a film for children. There is copious violence, including several graphic murders with children as victims and as witnesses, and two extremely graphic torture sequences. There is also an on screen sex scene--though not much is revealed--and some on screen nudity (the strip search where they find the map). The vocabulary of coarse language is extensive, and including many racist terms for Arabs.

This year has brought numerous films about heists. With varying degrees of success, and each with its own wrinkle, we've had "Blue Streak," "Payback," and "Entrapment." The wrinkle in "Three Kings" is that the heist is done by American soldiers in Iraq right after the Gulf War. It could have been interesting, but sadly, the film had other wrinkles to iron out.

Title: "Three Kings"
Release date: October 1, 1999

MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: **½

Aprox. run time: 115 min.
Director: David O. Russell
Writers: David O. Russell (screenplay), John Ridley (story)
Stars: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/3Kings.htm
Added to blog site: 8/5/09