FC Barcelona Sport

I learned awhile ago that a good panel at Comic-Con does not always mean a good movie; so when I sat through the panel I tried not to get my hopes up, because when Helen Mirren & Bruce Willis make their first Comic-Con a panel will be fun no matter what. I am stoked to say that RED is by far one of the funnest action comedies I’ve ever seen, driven in part by a superb cast – most of which you would never have thought you’d see in an action comedy.

For me Helen Mirren stole this movie. Perhaps, it’s because at Comic-Con she actually said she was having fun using bullets instead of words, but her hardened ex-MI 6 assassin was the standout. Frankly, if Mirren did a few more of these, I might be afraid to run into her in a dark alley.

I know there are a number of people out there that will be turned off when I say that the best part of this movie is that it’s fun, but that isn’t a slam to it’s craftsmanship. This film is filled with Oscar caliber (and a few Oscar winning) performers who made an action movie and are having fun doing it. From Karl Urban to Bruce Willis this film bristles with charisma, action and talent. I spent the majority of this film laughing – and that’s a good thing.




Director: Robert Schwentke

Marvin Boggs: I remember the Secret Service being tougher.
Victoria: Me too.

Batman Begins does not get old.

While I loved The Dark Knight I have to say that I will probably watch Batman Begins much more. Nothing against The Dark Knight, it’s just that Nolan’s first installment fits my own thematic outlook much more. While it is never a bright and cheery movie the tone and characters in Batman Begins are much more hopeful and optimistic than the follow-up film.

In the light of Natasha Richardson’s recent death I found myself paying much more attention to the performance of Liam Neeson. When I first heard Neeson was playing the films villain I wasn’t sure what to think about it. Nolan managed to trick us all into thinking it was in fact Ken Watanabe playing Ra’s Al Ghul instead of Neeson so when it was revealed that he was in fact the immortal Al Ghul was Neeson it was quite a surprise. He was a perfect Ra’s Al Ghul.

Nolan has proven time and again that he can make great movies. Like Bryan Singer before him, he took a comic book movie and made it a movie that transcended what other people would have seen as limitations.

Alfred Pennyworth: It's a problem with the graphite, sir. The next 10,000 will be up to specifications.
Bruce Wayne: At least they gave us a discount.
Alfred Pennyworth: Quite. In the, uh, meantime, Sir, may I suggest you try to avoid landing on your head?

I told you I was going to, and I bet you all didn’t believe me. I saw The Dark Knight twice in less than 24 hours. That wasn’t originally my intention, but my friends kid begged me to take her and I thought it sounded like fun. On second viewing The Dark Knight is even better than the first time; I could sit back, pay closer attention and notice the details.

One of the things I didn’t have time to spend enough time noticing on the first viewing was the use of daylight in the film. Unlike Batman Begins, this film has a large chunk of activity taking place in the daylight. This underscores the fact that Batman and his activities are infecting more than the dark side of society; he’s begun to infect all of Gotham’s people not just the criminals. The citizens of Gotham are gaining strength, and the criminals are being forced into the daylight and out of the shadows they hid in. Sure everyone knew they were there, but they ignored them until Batman showed that they could be fought against. However, it is this change that makes the most dangerous of them all come out – the Joker.

What I also noticed was something that had the film school academic geek in me absolutely floored. What I assume some of you know, is that symbolically the left side represents evil, and the right represents good; when Tow Face is created it is the left side of Harvey Dent’s face that is permanently scarred and in the process of getting that scar (the actions that led up to it) begin the act that brings to darkness out of Harvey Dent and start the chain reaction that turns him into Two Face. Once the scars are caused it’s quite obvious; more subtle however, is how Dent is lit in all the scenes prior to his turn as Two Face. During every shot I noticed, no matter how subtle Dent is always lit with the major light source illuminating the left side of his face so that the right “good” side of his face is always in somewhat of a shadow, no matter how slight. Thus creating the foreshadowing that Dent will lose his good side and be taken over by the dark natures he has strove to suppress.

This is a summer movie that subtly defies all the rules of summer movies; it is dark, brooding and in essence the good guy doesn’t win. As Christopher Nolan is the masterful filmmaker behind Memento, The Prestige and Insomnia I know that the more I watch The Dark Knight the more layers I will be able to strip away and grasp the deeper meaning behind this film, just like Batman Begins.

The Joker: Where do we begin? A year ago, these cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you. I mean, what happened?
Gamble: So what are you proposing?
The Joker: It's simple: Kill the Batman.

When the hype about The Dark Knight began I was skeptical. I knew after Batman Begins that everyone in the production was capable of making astoundingly good films, but I thought people were probably over-hyping Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker a bit as it was not a posthumous role, and that there was little chance that you could surpass a perfect film like Batman Begins.

I was wrong.

The Dark Knight deserves every bit of praise it has received and more. This is not a comic book movie, this is a crime epic that tells a tale of a hero who has to make impossible choices in the name of doing what is right and defeating villains that are so evil they cannot completely be defeated no matter what he does. It is the most real crime film in that sense since Godfather and it pits a clown and a bat against each other.

We pick up with Batman approximately a year after he has begun to reform Gotham. The right things are starting to fall in place: the police are slightly less corrupt, Gordon has been promoted and is working with the Batman, Harvey Dent has been voted the new DA and is cleaning up the city, the mob is running scared, etc. Batman is creating inroads to change that are now taking root on the social level – the people of Gotham are trying to change their city.

The problem is that as Gordon predicted at the end of the first film escalation has occurred. Batman has begun to clean the streets, but created a criminal so devious that no one can predict his actions – the Joker. He has hits the scene hard and is at first regarded as a crazy know-nothing by the entire criminal world and Batman but soon has the entire city running even more petrified than before; he’s trying to create chaos and sees no one he should side with even amongst the criminals. He just wants to see the anarchy he creates play out. Singlehandedly he has made Batman question his position as Gotham’s protector, and made the underworld terrified of not just Batman, but him as well.

This is an artfully layered story crafted by people that obviously know that the Joker is the embodiment of everything that Batman strives to quell. The Joker wants to create chaos for the sake of chaos and Batman wants to create order for the sake of peace. They are polar opposites and will forever remain in struggle as Batman will not kill the Joker as that would change what he stands for, and the Joker will not kill Batman because he’d lose the best thrill of his life.

The Dark Knight is the best film about that struggle between being the needed hero and the wanted ideal that has ever been made. Bruce Wayne struck out to be an incorruptible ideal, only to find that striving to be incorruptible, to have rules, has made him vulnerable to the people he is trying to fight against.

I am the first to admit that when Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker I doubted Christopher Nolan’s skills at casting. I could see so many other actors working better as the Joker than Heath – and I was wrong. When you watch The Dark Knight Heath disappears and the only person present is Joker and he is everything that ever terrified you about the Joker. He has no rules, he is brilliant and scheming, he would do anything, and his greatest joy is watching the anarchy he creates. The Joker is such a perfect character that I want to see him in another Batman film, but I don’t know how you can recast a perfect performance. While watching Heath, no one even thinks of comparing him to Jack Nicholson – there is simply no comparison.

Just as phenomenal is Aaron Eckhart as Gotham’s new, tough DA Harvey Dent. Eckhart steps perfectly into the shoes of the man who dances around the line he upholds until he tragically takes the path of Icarus and flies too close to the sun…and plummets into the darkness he was fighting against by becoming Two Face. No one can blame him for his turn –he has lost everything, but by letting his pain take over he further destroys everything he stood for as Harvey Dent. It’s not an easy role, to go from being lauded as the white knight of Gotham to the criminal that decides the fate of his victims on the flip of a coin, but Eckhart makes it natural and just dark enough that we know that Dent is not coming back.

However, Christian Bale cannot be ignored in this film. His performance as Batman/Bruce Wayne is still why the movie remains so believable. He is able to take the character from brash playboy to lurking superhero in only a few minutes of screen time. The audience can see Bruce Wayne’s conscious lay heavier on him with every act that the Joker perpetrates.

The only detractor to this film for me is that it was shot in Chicago and you can tell. Gone is my beautiful yet-unlike-the-real-world Gotham and inserted is Chicago. I don’t know why they made this artistic choice and it is forgivable as most of Gotham is destroyed in Batman Begins but I miss it.

To wrap up my review I have only one thing to say. If I were on the Oscar committee Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr., Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger would all be nominated for various Oscars – yes, for “comic book” films.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan
Bruce Wayne/Batman: Christian Bale
Rachel: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Joker: Heath Ledger
Harvey Dent/Two Face: Aaron Eckhart
Jim Gordon: Gary Oldman
Alfred: Michael Caine
Lucious Fox: Morgan Freeman

Bruce Wayne: People are dying. What would you have me do?
Alfred Pennyworth: Endure. You can be the outcast. You can make the choice that no one else will face - the right choice. Gotham needs you.

Let me start by saying that I know nothing about the comic book Wanted is based on. I couldn’t tell if it was a faithful adaptation, or a incredibly loose one.

That being said I enjoyed Wanted when I was in the theatre; the action is fun, James MCavoy is entertaining and I didn’t hate Angelina Jolie. However, the more I think about the film the more I dislike it.

What completely pulls me out of the film the more I think about it is the very premise. A few thousand years ago a group of weavers formed a society of assassins called “The Fraternity”. This is literal shuttle and loom weavers, not the name of some cool, covert group that calls themselves “weavers”. I was a bit confused, and later found out that this is not in the comic book at all.

On top of this it is explained that the assassins are not assassins for hire, but get their orders from “the loom of fate” – a giant weaving loom and when threads are examined it gives a code that translates into names and this orders a hit. I’m sorry, does this mean if I were to examine my carpet I’d find a hidden code that could spell doom for the fate of the world? I don’t get it, I think it’s dumb and again, I found out that this is not in the comic book.

Wanted is the typical tale of an average Joe who wants to be more and finds out that he is, it’s buried in his lineage. What follows is an entertaining if typical tale of intrigue, double crosses and mindless action. It’s not that it’s not enjoyable – it’s just a little thin.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Writers: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas& Chris Morgan
Wesley Gibson: James McAvoy
Sloan: Morgan Freeman
Fox: Angelina Jolie
Pekwarsky: Terence Stamp
Cross: Thomas Kretschmann
Gunsmith: Common
The Repairman: Marc Warren
The Exterminator: Konstantin Khabensky
The Butcher: Dato Bakhtadze
Janice: Lorna Scott