The Importance of Knowing What You're Doing
Spoilers
My lack of correspondence over the last week may have given the impression that my cinematic exploits were at an end or, at least, on a hiatus. Whether this is good or bad news to you, this is not the case. The return to school and the rather shocking return to 'normal-life-activities' have rather swamped my creative energies. Apparently a year and a half of sitting around watching TV and playing Assassin's Creed does not form the basis of a constructive weekly routine when that isn't an option any more!
I have been going to the cinema though, a weekly tonic for the soul and chance to lose myself in the black pit of imagination. No matter the quality of the film (he says, hoping no one intones the dreaded title White Chicks), a trip to the cinema is a relaxing, enjoyable, and day brightening event. Over the last few weeks, three of these movies tried to create a specific mood or pastiche a cinematic genre. As you will read, the results were decidedly mixed...
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
4/5
Anyone who knows me, reads my blogs, or checks out my twitter follows, may have an inkling that I am rather partial to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In some lights it is a glorious experiment in cinematic continuity that should be praised for its reinvention of the superhero genre, its rich tapestries of plot, and the success with which it has accomplished these things. In other lights, its big old pile of fun that brings a smile to my face without fail (if we pretend The Incredible Hulk didn't happen).
For most of this year, Marvel has presented us with exciting TV fare, beginning with the inventive love letter to the sitcom which was WandaVision, through the well paced and thoughtful Falcon and Winter Soldier, via the continuity shattering Loki, to the brilliantly absurd What If...? With its TV side providing such entertainment, the prospects of the new Phase 4 films was not overly inspiring. Black Widow was rather average, clearly yearning for the depth that a TV series allows, and then there was the prospect of Shang-Chi, a film based on a racial stereotype of a character who, from my previous comic reading experiences, wasn't particularly interesting or important. To add tedium to low expectations, the much repeated trailer seemed to show the whole plot. All in all, I expected a forgettable evening out.
As is often the case, I was wrong. Very wrong. So, so, so wrong. This turned out to be one of the best Marvel products of the year, one of my favourite films this year, and possibly the fifth best movie in the entire MCU oeuvre. The film clearly knows what it is trying to achieve and goes at it with vigour. As with the best of Marvel's stand alone films (as opposed to team ups, such as The Avengers), Shang-Chi is not a superhero movie. It is a martial arts fantasy. The various fight sequences are wonderfully choreographed by Andy Cheng and the late Brad Allen. They oscillate in references, referencing at times the frenetic energy of a Jackie Chan fight or the mystical sequences indebted to House of Flying Daggers. Alongside this, the movie pays homage to the traditions of the Asian community, specifically China, working with a Asian-American production team to bring a similar effect to that community in the same way Black Panther did for African-Americans.
Possibly the most surprising aspect was the humour. We have come to expect laughs from the best of Marvel, but the trailer really gave nothing away on this front, except that it starred Awkwafina. Yet the jokes were there in force whilst never distracting from the family drama at the heart of the film. The surprise return of Sir Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, complete with a Ringo-inspired voice and a small magical creature called Morris, really showed that Marvel is not afraid to laugh at itself in moving forward. The Planet of the Apes monologue reached a level of hilarious nonsense that left us with tears in our eyes.
A strong cast, led well by Simu Liu, kept the picture moving and our attention drawn. It was interesting to note how clear the fantasy and fight sequences were, considering the mess Disney's Jungle Cruise had been in that respect. The mid-credits scene also provided plenty of speculative material showing that Phase 4 is taking us in exciting directions. If the next few MCU films are even close to this, then we're in for a wild ride!
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, 2021
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Writer: Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, & Andrew Lanham
Composer: Joel P. West
Starring: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, & Ben Kingsley
Currently showing in major cinemas across the U.K.
Copshop
3/5
A couple of years ago, on a slow cinema release week, we opted to go the legendary (and now, seemingly, deceased) Electric Cinema in Birmingham to see a film called Free Fire. It was meant to be short, made by a interesting director, and looked like it'd at least be fun. It was a wise choice, as that 70s inspired last-man-standing shootout was some form of insane brilliance. Easily one of the best films of that year.
This last week we found ourselves in a vaguely similar predicament. Nothing much was on. All we wanted was to find something fun and easy going. As we pawed over the listings, we came across Copshop. We had seen several trailers for it, all of which suggested a bottle-movie with a shootout. Similar to Free Fire in set-up, this had the potential to replicate that joyous experience. Sadly, it very much didn't.
Copshop opens with a credits inspired by the gritty police dramas of the late 70s and early 80s. It gracefully slides into a road side chat between two cops at a burger van talking about guns in the Nevada desert, before moving to a punch up at a casino. And then... Well, it seems to forget that whole aesthetic entirely. They move to a modern police station in the middle of nowhere, with modern cinematography, a boringly pleasant series of clean images, and a script of light, jovial dialogue. For a film setting itself so strongly in that pastiche genre, it gives up the ghost very quickly, only returning for the end credits.
The plot itself turns into a disappointment. The press release and trailer both promise a shoot out in a remote police station between a cop, a hitman, and his target. In fact, for a good portion of the action, the three of them are locked in a room together with the cop, excellently portrayed by Alexis Louder, bleeding out slowly, and the other two in separate cells. In fact, it takes an hour to reach the action sequences, the first of which, where all of the other officers are killed, took place very casually over a speedy two minutes.
Gerrard Butler, starring as the hitman, is vastly underused, only let out in the last ten minutes. His one main action shot is fun - a shame more wasn't written in. Frank Grillo's conman, marked for death by the mafia, spends 90% of the film being somewhat sympathetic before having a complete character transplant in the final sequence, allowing you to revel in his character's death. Aside from Louder, the only other character that works is the deranged rival hitman, portrayed with much hilarity by Toby Huss.
The film hits enough beats as times that it is a workable distraction. It tries too hard with backstory whilst forgetting its core action objectives, but still packs enough punches for most cinema goers to lose themselves for a couple of hours. If only it had stuck to its title screen promise.
Copshop, 2021
Director: Joe Carnahan
Writer: Kurt McLeod & Joe Carnahan
Composer: Clinton Shorter
Starring: Alexis Louder, Gerrard Butler, Frank Grillo, & Tony Huss
Currently showing in major cinemas across the U.K.
Reminiscence
2/5
The problem with the cinematic year so far is that there have been far too many good movies. Not many brilliant ones, mind you, but far too many good ones. The Covid backlog has left the cinematic calendar rather overfilled with blockbusters, leaving little space for the dross and filler films. Part of the joy of the going to cinema week-in, week-out, is catching something pretty bad. Its almost more satisfying to spend the subsequent week tearing a film to bits than rambling on in joyous ecstasy.
Fortunately, Reminiscence came to the rescue. Here is a film that seemed to completely miss the point a which it was aiming at. As I sat through this cliché ridden film noir scripted, sunnily directed movie, I was convinced that the writer had been dumped early on in the process, duly ignored, and was probably rolling around in their early grave of embarrassment. There was no way the director of this glossy, Miami-set, sun-baked crime drama, understood the not-so-subtle nuances of its attempt to recreate the magic of Double Indemnity. As the credits rolled, my face screwed up in sheer bewilderment. The director was the writer. Had I missed something?
No, I don't think I had. It seems more likely that writer/director Lisa Joy wasn't sure how to achieve her ends. The script was definitely soaked in film noir stylism. You had the gruff and flawed detective, played by Hugh Jackman, being seduced to pay off a drug debt by nightclub singer femme fatale Rebecca Fergusson. Thandiwe Newton portrayed Jackman's employee, effectively his secretary, who was secretly in love with him. There was betrayal, false leads, gangsters, a mobster with creepy fish, and a series of Jackman led narrations. Sigh.
Yet, for some unbeknownst reason, Joy opted to set the film in a Miami which had been flooded due to climate change. The heat increase meant that the citizens had reversed night and day. So this painfully film noir detective thriller was bathed in Miami Vice light. The watery setting ultimately proved to have no purpose to the plot, begging the question what was the point? Aside from setting up a ridiculous sunken ballroom fight, the scenario seemed nothing more than a gimmick to sell the film on.
At the heart of the nonsense going on, was poor Hugh Jackman. I like Hugh. He sings nicely, always puts in a solid performance, and really deserves some better parts. I hope that one day he sees sense and fires his agent. Somehow, his moody and desperate demeanour, gilded with a slight wit that brought back hints of Fred MacMurray, kept the picture together. Newton, too, did sterling work in a pretty unrewarding part. I'm not so convinced by Fergusson, especially at times where she sings - in both this and the lamentable The Greatest Showman her vocals seem to be accompanied by a forced awkwardness, like she only ever had a singer's posture described to her by a blind man.
Aside from sadly never wanting to hear Rodgers and Hart's delicious 'Where or When' ever again, I was glad to have seen Reminiscence though. My palate has been suitable cleansed and the cinematic experience has proved it can have downs as well as endless ups once more.
Reminiscence, 2021
Director: Lisa Joy
Writer: Lisa Joy
Composer: Ramin Djawadi
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Fergusson, Thandiwe Newton, Cliff Curtis, Marina de Tavira, & Daniel Wu
Currently showing in some cinemas around the U.K.
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