Three movies I’ve watched last week.
A View To A Kill
Starring: Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones and Christopher Walken
Writers: Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson (Based on characters created by Ian Fleming)
Director: John Glen
Distributor: MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
It’s 1985, Horror is still big thanks to A Nightmare on Elm Street, MTV is still popular, Transformers has entered its second season, Back to the Future became a surprise hit, ThunderCats has hit the airwaves and artists such as Madonna, Phil Collins, Huey Lewis and the News, Starship and a-ha had number one hits. As did Duran Duran’s last song from a certain film. This is said film; the 14th James Bond film A View To A Kill.
This was a success when it first came out and I’m guessing it was mostly thanks to that song. Is it wrong to say I find it a bit overrated? The song, not the movie. Ah well, let’s get a few things over with. I was actually at least looking forward to this because of Christopher Walken and Grace Jones and they delivered in this film. What’s the story?
Well upon investigating a possible scam involving horse racing, MI6 agent James Bond (played by Roger Moore) uncovers a plan intended to be initiated by Max Zorin (played Christopher Walken) to enable himself to have a monopoly on microchips by destroying all of Silicon Valley. However, not only does he have to deal with his number one henchwoman May Day (played by Grace Jones), he also teams up with the granndaughter of an oil tycoon whose business was destroyed by Zorin himself.
Minus the last two sentences, does the premise sound familiar to you? If yes, that’s because it’s basically Goldfinger remade for the 80’s. It’s not the Goldfinger of the 80’s; I repeat, it’s basically Goldfinger remade for the 80’s.
That’s pretty much the entire drawback for this movie, it’s basically a rehash of a previous film; it’s the number one rule of what not to do for a sequel. It’s just a lazy excuse. Hell, you could argue May Day is basically Oddjob without any gimmicks and has a gender and race reversal (and super strength apparently). Plus, Roger Moore looked old for this and I mean old, he was fifty-seven at the time he made this and really, it shows. In fact, I think he had more stunt doubles than any other Bond film like in the snowboarding sequence. Speaking of, the film had some really odd choices. The pre-opening titles sequence had a bizarre choice of music where at one point, Beach Boys’ California Girls was playing especially after an music score it just seemed so out of place and really, there was no reason for the song to be in the movie as if someone from MTV accdeintally got into the wrong and assumed the film negatives or dailies for the film were for a music set to air and added in the song before he realized what he was looking at.
And then there’s the editing, it seemed to be copying Peter R. Hunt’s style when he used to be an editor for the franchise until he left after making On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It worked then but since this was made in 1985, that editing style doesn’t fly anymore. Heck, at one point Bond and a partner of his were fighting in an underground factory and as he was fighting a big, burly henchman and it doesn’t show him knocking the guy into the conveyer belt. I know Bond knocked him there but it doesn’t show it as if the filmmakers knew Moore was basically too old for extreme stunts.
Not to mention there were one or two scenes that lasted a bit too long before it cuts back to the main characters. And really, this film was designed to be young and fresh for the MTV audience of the 80’s and yeah I guess it worked but it should be updated if the producers wanted it to be fresh which I think they did for The Living Daylights.
Roger Moore while going through the motions is still an entertaning Bond. Not much to write home about really except his age. Tanya Roberts while easy on the eyes is a useless and bland Bond girl, minus driving a truck and trying to help out at least, she’s not exactly impressive. She just ended up being a damsel in distress. Christopher Walken and Grace Jones were really great villains though, they’re like the Yzma and Kronk of live action films, it’s an odd team up that somehow works. Hell, I’d argue the villains had similar fates to their animated counterparts though they’re more adult and really Zorin’s defeat is more dignified than being turned into a cat, same with May Day’s fate. Every other actor did fine especially Patrick Macnee and well, I’ll admit; it’s kind of sad to see it’s Lois Maxwell’s last film in the franchise but…like Moore, she was getting old really.
Despite the problems being a total distraction, it’s an entertaining movie, I can’t really lie about that. The action sequences are still pretty cool, the music score’s not bad and Duran Duran’s song is still a good song, it just sounds too 80’s for me (the title sequence is another story though, why a Walther PPK shooting lasers? And don’t get me started on reusing Moore’s footage of him from the title sequences of The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only), but there is plenty to like especially Walken and Jones being a total hoot to watch.
It’s basically a lackluster film that accelerates to an okay status. Overall, if you want something entertaining, this is your film but if you’re looking for a decent Bond flick, you’re not going to look for it here.
I give it a 6/10.
Friday the 13th (2009)
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti, Aaron Yoo, Travis Van Winkle and Derek Mears
Writers: Daimon Shannon & Mark Swift (Based on a story by Daimon Shannon & Mark Swift and Mark Wheaton, Based on the character created by Victor Miller)
Director: Marcus Nispel
Distributors: New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures.
Jason Voorhees, one of the undisputed icons of modern Horror alongside the likes of Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger and Jigsaw. This character still has a slew of merchandise to this day from Halloween costumes to lunch boxes (yes that last part is true), parodies and references in various sitcoms and cartoon shows and with a grand total of twelve sequels; the Friday the 13th franchise has been a success since 1980 loved by the general public and Horror fans, loathed and hated by film critics and media watchdog groups, though its last luck of success came about in 1985 with Part Five: A New Beginning. By 1986 to 1989 though, things took a down turn with each new film grossing less and less by each of its last predecessor ending with Jason Takes Manhattan, one of the lowest grossing films in the franchise. At the time in 1989, it was the lowest grossing Friday the 13th film in the franchise.
Not helped by the fact that Paramount Pictures were embarrassed to own the franchise, they sold the character and the franchise to New Line Cinema but without the Friday the 13th title moniker. In 1993, New Line released Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday with the promise of it being the last film. That turned out to be lie except for the ending which was supposed to lead to Freddy vs. Jason which consequently lead to development hell. To keep the franchise going, they made Jason X, the infamous installment where the premise is simply summed up as Jason in space. Yes, it did not end well with the fans. Finally in 2003, New Line released Freddy vs. Jason grossing 82 million dollars, the first succcess for a Friday the 13th film in years. But with that, where else could the franchise go?
A reboot. They’re big in Hollywood nowadays so it was only a matter of time before Jason was next in line to recieve the reboot or reimagining treatment. So who else to produce the film than Michael Bay and his production company Platinum Dunes, they did have a huge success with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Whatever the case, let’s get moving…what’s the story?
Well after Jason (played this time by Derek Mears) kills a few teenagers after vowing to kill every teenager who sets foot on Crystal Lake, Clay Miller (played by Jared Padalecki) is looking for his missing sister after he camp out with her friends but along the way, there are a new group of teenagers who owns a cabin that’s close to Camp Crystal Lake of all places where Voorhees once again sets his sights on the young teenagers and is out to kill them.
Really, you can’t get anymore simpler with that premise. Now let me say this, this is not a masterpiece but it’s not anything horrible. If anything, this standard slasher movie stuff but updated for 2009 which was the year that lead to 2010 and really, where else was the franchise supposed to go especially since technically, these films have an audience and make money? Like it or not, this film was necessary in the grand scheme of things.
So any problems with the film? Well, okay there are I guess but they’re forgivable. The writing is cliche, well what franchise have I been watching for the past two decades? It’s produced by Michael Bay? Nope, not my style. Quite frankly, Bay bashing is getting tiring since they’re literally the same complaints. A few actions from the characters are stupid? Well, they are teenagers and well, Michael Moore did say “It still sucks being a teenager” so I can’t really hold that against the film. However, some of the characters are pretty smart.
Jared’s character Clay at least advised the rest of the teen bait to stay indoors after witnissing Jason dumping a body despite the protests of the mandatory asshole character. And Ryan Hansen’s character despite actually going out there to find his friend, at least he had the good sense to run after meeting a tall, menacing guy who could kill you and at least stabbed him to give him more time to run. Yeah, he dies but he still gets credit from me for actually having common sense.
Now the performances are pretty good with Jared Padalecki being the best out of the cast. He seemed so sincre in what he was doing. The rest of the actors like Danielle Panabaker range from decent to just good. Alright, so some of the victims feel bland but the actors were definitely trying though Travis Van Winkle’s character I’m glad got the boot in the climax considering he’s the mandatory asshole character and those type of characters are always satisfying to see get killed. Derek Mears made a pretty good Jason. Aside from his physical performance, I liked the design, he looked imposing and threatning and he was actually pretty smart and crafty with bear traps and trying to bait his victims with a weed patch since well, teenagers are horny and stoned idiots in these movies. So the guy was actually thinking out of the box and just so you know, Jason used a bow and arrow at one point for added coolness.
The death scenes in this one are okay, pretty simple but lacking in creativity for most of them. Yes, there is a sleeping bag death just so you know.
The cinematography while yeah, it looked like for a music video but it’s appropiately dark and gritty given the tone of the film same with the production design. Marcus Nispel, I admire that he wanted to make a decent Horror-Slasher flick.
The music score itself, pretty good really.
Overall, it’s a decent take. If you’re a big Horror fan, a huge fan of this franchise and you happen to be a gore fiend, see this one. But if you’re looking for more sophisticated Horror or you’re a fan who never wanted to see it remade in the first place, this won’t change your mind.
I give it a 7/10.
From Russia With Love
Starring: Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Robert Shaw, Pedro Armendáriz, and Lotte Lenya.
Writers: Richard Maibaum (Adaptation by Johanna Harwood, based on the novel by Ian Fleming)
Director: Terrence Young
Distributor: United Artists.
So Dr. No became an unexpected huge success at the box office. A sequel seemed inevitable and what better Ian Fleming story to adapt than From Russia With Love, John F. Kennedy’s favorite book? Yes, that was in fact the reason this movie was made and well, in a nutshell it was worth it since critics praised it and audiences obviously loved it enough for the film to make more money. They got Sean Connery back, SPECTRE is introduced and producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman hired back Terrence Young to direct.
This time the organization known as Spectre has taken notice of the death of Doctor No from the last movie and wants him dead by luring the MI6 agent himself into an assaination ploy by tricking a Russian agent to retrieve a device that was stolen by Spectre themselves.
It’s a simple but straight forward thriller and as someone who has seen fifteen Bond movies so far, this one felt incredibly different as it’s more like a straight thriller from the 60’s than the Bond films we know today and that really ehlps this particular installment. Really, there’s just so many things to gush about, it’s just that good.
The acting is very much one of the film’s strengths. Sean Connery is still awesome as James Bond, he can be serious but can be humorous at the same time when making quips. I’d argue some of his best Bond moments come from this film because he has alot charisma and charm in this movie as much as Dr. No and Goldfinger even You Only Live Twice and he has a very good range of emotions like annoyance or a sudden realization. Daniela Bianchi is a pretty good Bond girl, already another favorite of mine. Her character is basically as much as pawn in this as Bond so her character was well written and Daniela’s performance sold the character for who she is so the relationship feels guiniene. Robert Shaw made a great villain. In some ways he kind of reminds me of Michael Myers just eyeing on his target, stalking him, waiting for the right time to strike and when he does meet Bond, he actually converses with the guy trying to fool him. And I’d also argue his conversation with Bond is more harsher than what Doctor No said to him. In this one, he calls Bond an old man.
The rest of the actors were very good in their roles and I was impressed with how the character of Blofeld was threatning and he didn’t do anything outside of his office. Okay, he kills a henchman but still.
The action sequences are very good with the fight between Connery and Shaw being the highlight.
The editing is at its best in this film, Peter Hunt was obviously on his a-game tightning the film at a very good pace. The scenery is obviously excellent and beautiful with its various locations and like I said, it’s very well paced. Really, this is the best of a film for everyone involved especially as I think this is the strongest of Terrence Young’s work. The music score by John Barry, it’s pretty good especially the title song by Lionel Bart. The screenplay itself, impressive work. I think the film is very much one of the text book examples of how to pull off a sequel. The stakes are pretty high with an oragnization having a grudge Bond and all for killing one of their members and how to forward the story. And it’s a properly structured story.
Overall, this is really not just a great Bond film but it’s a great film in general. A film I highly recommend to all even if you’re not exactly a James Bond fan. Actually, if you like North By Northwest, I think you might like this particular film.
I give it a 10/10.
