The Day the Earth Stood Still

I would venture a guess that any film-watching person would regard Keanu Reeves’ acting skills as wooden at best, blank and emotionless at worst. For those people (of which I sometimes count myself a member) ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ is a testament to the casting choice of director Scott Derrickson – he managed to gift Keanu with the role he was born to play, and as such the movie is that much better for its blank lead. However, the movie as a whole suffers from some weak writing and some incredibly clichéd characters.

Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connolly) is called alongside other scientists to survey a mysterious object entering the earth’s orbit. The object settles in Central Park, and a figure enters from within – under interrogation, Klaatu (Reeves) reveals that he is an alien emissary, sent by a group of powerful extra-terrestrial civilisations to warn the human race that our treatment of the planet has warranted action, potentially hostile and apocalyptic.

Reeves, often thought of as having the emotional range of a piece of 2 by 4, finds what could be described as a niche role to match his strange, other-worldly visage. As an alien without emotion, he conveys a sense of unease and distrust through his vacant expressions, and as such this is probably one of his best performances – the fact that he barely seems to blink throughout the film is incredibly unsettling. Jennifer Connolly does what she needs to, attempting but failing to balance the multiplicity of trying to be a strong heroine, sympathetic mother and put-upon widow as well as an ally to an alien. What detracts from her performance is her disadvantage in being in too few scenes without weeping to show off her weirdly huge eyes – we get it, she’s sad, but why drum it home? After a very short amount of time she infuriated me, and I actually wished that she was not the main focus of the movie alongside Reeves.

Kathy Bates plays a Defence Secretary who is decidedly ambiguous – she cannot seem to decide whether to go with her hunches or follow orders, and as such the actress has a pretty nothing role to play. An actress who is best at playing disturbing, angry characters is somewhat nullified here, in a stock politician role, and the only thing that makes it a little different is that she’s a woman – this is the kind of role someone like Ed Harris would play. Will Smith’s son, Jaden, is actually pretty damn convincing as the precocious step-kid of Connolly’s character, a damaged child who cannot process death but is faced with it throughout the film’s length. John Hamm and Kyle Chandler play sympathetic and antagonistic sides of the government’s response to Klaatu’s arrival, and each do what they need to – their performances don’t give them much more of an option, and this is a shame, as they’re ciphers, nothing more than extreme examples of each side of the debate. John Cleese appears for about four minutes as a wise and important scientist – really, really weird for any of us brought up on ‘Fawlty Towers’ and ‘Monty Python’, as Cleese is not known for his serious roles. The problem with the supporting cast is that they are not as interesting nor as bizarrely compelling to watch as Reeves is – this is perhaps deliberate, with him being an alien and all, but at the same time you’d think that the characters would be more fleshed out as to be able to compare with Klaatu – unfortunately this is not the case!

Scott Derrickson, through his direction, stakes a claim to be the breakout director of 2008 here; he manages to take a major-budget sci-fi action film with a brain and make it work, a hard task – but Derrickson seems to have ably coped with it, presenting a film that manages to balance both insane action with thoughtful ideas. His concept that alien civilisations want us to stop harming the earth (or face the consequences) is eerily apt for the current position of global warming, and the film does not often find itself drifting into cheesy or strained scenes – but the writing is poor, particularly in regard to the characters, who are crudely sketched caricatures of atypical judgements and opinions. Visually, the movie succeeds beyond expectations. The special effects on show are stupendously good – from the orb that swirls with energy that signals the alien arrival, through to the sentinel sent to guard it (and latterly this object’s amazing defence mechanism), the film is a sumptuous sight to behold if nothing else.

The film is great – its message is firm, its effects work strong and convincing, and many of the main roles well-cast. However, the characters are pushed to one side, put out of balance by Reeves and Connolly, and whilst Reeves is the centre of the film here, Connolly is not strong enough to grip as much as him, as well as the other characters. To poorly quote the movie itself: With Reeves offscreen, the film suffers. With Reeves onscreen, the film survives.

8/10

300

Vibrant, blood-spurting anarchy all the way, “300” takes film-making to a highly-stylized and brutal plateau.

The king of Sparta, Leonidas (Butler) decides to defend his (and in his mind, Greece’s) freedom against the oncoming armies of Persia, and taking 300 of his best warriors, he ventures toward certain death with only carnage on his mind.

Gerard Butler should really be able to pick and choose leading roles with this performance; his Leonidas is cocky, laconic (ironic considering the origins of the word in the region of Greece in which he lived) and uncompromising in his decisions and actions against the invaders. Lena Headey (Sarah Connor Chronicles) plays Gorgo, Leonida’s queen, and in taking the one speaking role for women in the film, Headey needs and manages to convey a strong-willed woman who takes what she wants in a time when women were suitably exploited. The British actress manages to present herself as someone not to be messed with: a dominant woman in a time of dominant men!
David Wenham (LOTR’s Faramir) is the film’s narrator and Spartan warrior, and he adds gravitas and humour to the proceedings. Rodrigo Santoro plays the Persian ruler Xerxes, and has to put up with the unlucky situation of being covered in jewellery as well as having his voice ridiculously dubbed, but the actor manages to convey evil sufficiently well here. Dominic West plays the councillor Theron, whose own aims are strangely in line with those of the Persian invaders, and the actor plays the pantomime villain role quite convincingly.

Zack Snyder, with only “Dawn of the Dead” to his name, fashioned himself a place within the higher echelons of today’s directors with his work on “300”. Stylishly and convincingly conveying the real and the cartoony, the film is evidence as to how Snyder has managed to get the “Watchmen” gig from his success here, and the director’s hold on both action and drama exceeds many at this point in time. His adequate balance of violence with stunning visuals holds him above many of his contemporaries, and I’m excited to see him tackle “Watchmen”.

Taking the laconic idiom at its origins, the film presents real-life quotes spoken by Leonidas and incorporates them in. These famous sayings, alongside the expository and inspirational dialogue on display, combine well to give the film a sense of both history and humour. In the vein of films such as “Troy”, "300"’s soundtrack is a mixture of wailing and orchestral magic, but Tyler Bates incorporates the bad-assery of the electric guitar into the soundtrack to give it that extra weight, and the already uncompromising masculinity of the movie is emboldened by the (in places) almost heavy metal backing!

The film is, for want of a better word, visually stunning. With green-screen technology, and a film based upon a highly-stylized graphic novel, Snyder gives the events of the movie a golden, tarnished sheen, CGI visuals and actors alike bathed in glorious, burnt colours. With this alongside the fantastic fight scenes, the film has changed the way that action (and indeed, vistas and landscapes) can be visualised on film.

The film is brash, totally ridiculous at points and squeamish at others. But visually, tonally and in a narrative sense, it’s excellent; imperious and bone-crunching.
9/10

Doomsday

Neil Marshall follows up “The Descent” with a schizophrenic action film not sure what it should be, yet still a rip-roaring, mad experience nonetheless.

Britain, 2034, and a virus known as Reaper has decimated Scotland, which is segregated once more by Hadrian’s Wall. Major Eden Sinclair (Mitra), a tough-as-nails commando, is told that she has been picked to venture into the quarantined zone for a cure, as the virus begins to wreak havoc in central London. Taking a team with her, she goes in search of Kane (McDowell), a doctor who may have found a cure.

Rhona Mitra is one attractive lady, but her acting isn’t good enough throughout to be totally without question. The supporting cast is filled with British stars, and any film with Bob Hoskins is gonna have some promise! She plays Eden, the bad-ass leader of the group sent into Scotland to retrieve a cure. Part Mad Max, part Snake Plissken, she kicks ass and quips with a stiff British accent – making it a totally bizarre performance. The problem here is that her attractiveness will allow most men to just ignore her acting, because she’s a strong, dominating female lead, and the head of the army unit – a true film heroine you would not want to mess with.

This film probably has one of the most eclectic supporting male casts ever; Bob Hoskins to Adrian Lester, Malcolm McDowell to Alexander Siddig – there’s some underrated and excellent British actors here. And being as it’s a film set in London or Scotland, it’s befitting and refreshing to see that they’re indeed all British. Hoskins is Mitra’s commander, one of those ‘world-weary’ cops, but it’s Bob Hoskins – he makes the guy that much more grouchy. Malcolm McDowell exudes a Kurtz-like role as Kane, a doctor lost in Scotland and gone rogue – though I cannot watch him without thinking of Linderman in “Heroes”. Siddig plays the slippery Prime Minister, and David O’Hara is corruption personified as Canaris, the real power behind the PM. Adrian Lester plays the army support to Mitra’s Sinclair, and he continues to show that he can act in pretty much anything (from the BBC’s “Hustle” to “The Day After Tomorrow”). Final mention has to go to Craig Conway’s Sol, the crazy leader of the survivors in Scotland – you will not forget his incredibly bizarre performance here.

Myanna Buring plays Cally, a survivor who assists the army team going in, and as the second woman in a film with such an independent character as Eden Sinclair, her ‘damsel in distress’ performance seems a little diminished really. Lee-Ann Liebenberg plays Viper, the crazily tatooed girlfriend of Sol, and with what little time she has (and no speaking part) she conveys a summation of the many co-stars and extras here – they’re supposed to be rabid, disassociated people, and acting as bizarrely as this seems to fit that perfectly.

Marshall steers away from all-out horror to create an actioner that is miles better than other films in its league; the homages especially set it aside. It’s pretty apparent here that Marshall has been given free reign to indulge his vision, and he creates a taut and bombastic thriller that, if made by Michael Bay, would probably be far more popular and well-known. As it is, Marshall can present tension, drama and gore concurrently, and it’s interesting to think what he could do with a big job on a Hollywood pic. In paying homage to such cult classics as “Escape from New York”, Marshall inputs little character quirks such as Sinclair’s propensity for cigarettes, and whilst some of these are carried off well, other lines of dialogue are pretty terrible (most of what Sol says in fact, particularly if you can understand him). The soundtrack, by Tyler Bates (300) is epic, totally reflective of the vistas and set-pieces that are presented on-screen throughout. The use of songs such as “Two Tribes” amongst others also sets the film across from contemporaries, as the atmosphere changes with the addition of such famous pieces, and they somehow fit perfectly with what’s being shown!

From the visions of an abandoned Glasgow to the reinforced, imperious Hadrian’s Wall boundary, Marshall employs impressive CG and landscapes, using the wildernesses of Scotland and South Africa to convey the wild nature of the segregated country. The gore effects are squeamishly good, particularly in regard to the virus sufferers, and the stunts are Bay-like in their execution; when a Bentley goes flying through a bus, or an armoured vehicle ploughs through a wall and explodes, you see the same propensity for realistic destruction that you’ve seen in “Bad Boys” or “Transformers”.

For a British-made, Scotland-based action movie, this film is surprisingly and seriously hard-core, and well worth seeing by any action junkie.

8/10