Killing Season

Have you ever played the game where you thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if Actor X and Actor Y did a movie together?’  It is fun to make fantasy movie pairings and then attempt to create what sort of plot would best envelop the characters.  I don’t know if anyone ever dreamt of the day there would be a film with Robert De Niro and John Travolta in it, but if there is such a person out there they would have been tickled excited the day they heard about the movie Killing Season, which came out this year and can now be found on Netflix.

For those who may not have heard about this film, it came out in limited release back in July and existed in twelve theatres for only one week before being released on video in August.  The film portrays Travolta as a former Serbian soldier who heads to American to seek revenge on De Niro who was a former American soldier.  De Niro’s character, Benjamin, lives a solitary life in the woods and sometimes has a Georgia accent and sometimes does not.  Travolta’s character, Emil, tracks down Benjamin, befriends him, and then hunts him for sport in the battle of two bewildering accents, as Travolta’s Serbian accent reminds me of the over-the-top accents I used to attempt with my friends when I was in grade eight.  Why would he not just hunt him for sport before befriending him, you may ask.  That’s a great question.

To my surprise, I was into the film for the first while, enjoying the pace of it and the attention to the characters, outside of their accents, that is.  However, I also had the feeling that the movie kept showing items in a way that was foreshadowing their use further down the road and I gradually began to become separated from the feel of the movie as it became more and more evident that the directing was being more and more overt about what was to come.  A character’s foot crashing through floorboards would tell me that rotten wood would then be used as a weapon moments later… spoiler alert: I was correct.  The fact that nothing would come as a surprise and that items could not be shown for a significance other than informing the viewer of what was to come took anticipation and suspense from the movie with a rapid pace.

It is a true film of cat and mouse, between two men who were former opposing soldiers, and established momentum shifts that were as consistent as a pendulum on a clock.  It quickly became obvious that one person would gain the upper hand, not dispatch the other, and then have the roles reversed, not once or twice, but time and time again.  The monotony and routine of the continual shifting of roles became tiresome and frustrating.  You would honestly think that these former professional soldiers would begin to learn that when they were in control it would be in their best interest to end it all instead of facing the inevitable fact that the other person would soon have their chance (which they would also piss away).

While the movie was about revenge, it was also about two old soldiers trying to come to terms with the horrors of war and their current identities that had been shaped by it, all of which elevated it past the typical cat and mouse tale.  What this movie was sitting on is a beautiful concept that got hidden behind predictable moments, farcical accents, and bland scenes.  Bookending the film was a decent beginning and conclusion which gave glimpses of the potential that the film carried with it, and I am hoping that in a few years another director blows the dust off of this one and gives it another shot, because there is a gem in here just waiting to be mined by the right person.

Rating – 1.5 out of 4 stars

Hannah's Pick: Awakenings

It is once again Wednesday, which once again means the movie for today is a pick from my sister in-law, Hannah.  As the majority of my day has been revolving around boxes, boxes, and garbage bags in preparation for an upcoming move, taking a few moments away to watch and review a film was much appreciated.  The movie for today is the 1990 best picture nominated Awakenings, starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.  For the longest while I was absolutely sure that I had seen it, but after the first few minutes I realized that it was all fresh and new to me.

The movie, which is based on a true story, follows Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Williams), a neurologist who seems most content when researching or working with worms than he is with the prospect of working one on one with clients.  We first meet him as he is applying for a job at a hospital for what he believed would be a research position until he discovers it would be dealing with patients who have chronic issues.  He soon starts work in ‘the garden,’ which it is called because essentially all they are able to do for the patients is feed and water them.

For being a personality that exudes non-stop movement and unending energy, Robin Williams presents himself as small, unsure, and removed socially.  His stature is drawn inwards, as his shoulder are slumped down and his arms stick to his body as he almost seems afraid to expand outwards to other people, a character who lacks confidence and lives with hesitation and uncertainty.  We even catch a glimpse of him at home in front of his piano, playing it with a timid rigidity.  It is this element that Williams brings to the character of Dr. Sayer that drives the first half of the movie as he works on ‘waking’ catatonic patients back into the world they have been separated from, as he himself chooses to separate himself from it.

The story is of Dr. Sayer working with certain patients that are all catatonic and share the illness Encephalitis lethargica, a sickness which puts people into a sleep-like state.  While working with them, he discovers clues about the illness and eventually attempts treating it similar to how Parkinson’s Disease was treated.  He first attempts this possible cure on Leonard Lowe (De Niro), who eventually wakes up from the sleep state and starts to try and live his life once again.

The progression of the movie seems clean, tidy, and by the numbers for the most part, and a lot of the main plot points feel like they could be easily predicted as the film moves along.  Some of the elements of the movie feel contrived and there are moments that are obvious attempts to pull on the heart strings.  While in other movies these sorts of maneuvers fall apart, the blatant scenes of emotional impact find their mark through the unwinding of this touching story that is capped off by great acting. 

It is the terrifically nuanced acting by De Niro and Williams that is able to take the moments that would possibly seem ham-fisted and overly sentimental and deliver them the power they are intended to have.  All of the predictability of the story can easily be forgotten as the powerful scenes are magnified by the delivery of the two leads, whose faces bare the emotions with incredible transparency.  This is not to say that only De Niro and Williams were the acting standouts, as most of the cast felt a great fit for their roles

When viewing this film, it is easy to gain a sense of the emotions involved with the people who dealt with this in real life, as well as gaining different perspectives.  While the script is strong with some very poetic moments, it all comes back to the performances of the actors who deliver this story with precision and clarity.  At times it is easy to forget that Robin Williams can have a calm demeanour, and it is also easy to look at some of De Niro’s choices for roles in the past ten years and forget how he got the acclaim that he has.  Awakenings is the perfect movie to view to remember that both actors are legends because they possess an otherworldly talent, and their roles in it are ones that can remain in your heart long after viewing.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

Hannah's Pick: Limitless

Once again, it is Wednesday which means that the movie to be reviewed is coming from from the vault (or plastic shopping bag) of movies lent to me by my sister in-law, Hannah.  So far I have not run into a movie of hers that I am not able to recommend, and that streak gets put on the line against Limitless, a mystery/thriller with some sci-fi elements thrown into the mix.  It was the very first hit for the still new studio Relativity, who has had a history that is more miss than hit.  Limitless came out in 2011, and stars Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, Silver Linings Playbook), Abbie Cornish (Sucker Punch... ugh), and Robert De Niro (I am sure no context is needed here).

I was a bit hesitant to watch this movie based on the current output of Relativity.  They have had two monumental flops in 2013 in Paranoia, and Movie 43.  Almost every other movie they have released has failed to meet expectations, except for Safe Haven which came out on Valentine's Day.  I did, however, have some good faith in both De Niro and Bradley Cooper, who is rocketing up my list of favorite actors.

The premise of the movie is that Eddie (Cooper) is an unambitious writer who has a book contract (I am not sure how lack of ambition lands such deals, but we will accept that) and whose girlfriend, Lindy (Cornish from Sucker Punch... ugh), gets fed up with his lifestyle and leaves him.  Eddie one day bumps into a former brother in-law who offers him a drug that will allow Eddie to use his full mental potential.  With reluctance Eddie takes the small, clear pill, and finds that he is more focused than ever, and able to use his mind in 'limitless' ways.  With this drug on his side, he begins a plan that would set him up financially for the rest of his life by working for financial tycoon Carl Van Loon (De Niro).  In his pursuit for an exit strategy he finds that he must get in bed with some unsavory characters who can offer financial backing.  The glorious aspects of the pill are all of a sudden in question as its side effects puts his health and life in jeopardy.

This film follows a typical style of someone riding the high and feeling invincible, the crash back down to reality, and then the scramble to regain what was lost.  These formats exist over all sorts of genres from a rum-runner movie in Lawless to the high flying Top Gun.  Even Iron Man 3 took this style as well.  Before I go on talking about this format and making it sound like I did not like the movie, I really did.  I feel like, though it stayed within a well known formula, it pulled it off well with a very interesting concept and a superb performance from Bradley Cooper.  Cooper's character undergoes quite a transformation while he is on the job, and he is able to nail the nuances between a low-confidence person who walks on the streets staring at their feet, to a man who is able to control a crowd and manipulate every situation he is in with an almost arrogant confidence.

While watching this film, I was reminded a little about The Fifth Estate, the poor-performing move about WikiLeaks which used some art-house style effects to symbolize the information sharing on site.  These effects were a major detractor to the film, as it never felt cohesive or needed to the story that it was telling.  Similar effects were used in this film, and they served their purpose perfectly.  We could get an idea as to how the inside of Eddie's mind started opperating as it gathered information from all corners of the brain, and processed data in a way he had never known.  Sometimes attempts to do such things can seem hockey, but director Neil Burger uses them well and at the appropriate times so they feel organic to the story being told.

Burger also uses colours well to communicate the mental state of Eddie.  There are a lot of drab colours for the first part of the movie, and it is only when Eddie pops the pill that the true brilliance of the would around him is visually seen.  When a key concept of the plot is a person who is riding a high, it is nice to have the visuals reflect that and to flow with his up and down states.  While it is nothing complex, it is effective and helped communicate what was happening.  I have said it before, and I say it again, I love it when people do things to inform the audience without resorting to expository dialogue.  We are smart people, so treat us that way.

In the end, there were some predictable moments, but who cares?  This movie never set out to break all of the rules and take new ground, but to tell an interesting story, and that is exactly what it does.  It reveals the information at a good pace, and the basic plot was simple and not convoluted.  The very end scene revealed some information that I felt wrapped things up a little too well, but it was scripted well and was backed by great delivery from both Cooper and De Niro which put a smile on my face and left me not caring about my skepticism.  I had fun, and what more could be asked of the movie?

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars