Reign of Fire – Dragons of the future

Title: Reign of Fire

US Release: 7/12/2002

Directed by Rob Bowman

Written by Matt Greenberg, Gregg Chabot, and Kevin Peterka

Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures

Cast:

Christian Bale – Quinn

Matthew McConaughey – Denton Van Zan

Izabella Scorupco – Alex

Gerard Butler – Creedy

David Kennedy - Eddie

Alexander Siddig – AJ

Ned Dennehy - Barlow

The Skinny:

                A young Quinn ventures down into a London underground subway tunnel, under construction, to visit his mother who is foreman of the work crew assigned to the site.  Relaying bad news that he did not win an academic scholarship; his mother is quickly called away to an issue elsewhere in the tunnel.  Quinn happens upon a disgruntled employee who dares him to venture into an opening he just discovered while drilling.  Quinn enters into the opening and is awestruck by the strange rock faces he finds.  Suddenly liquid starts dropping from the cave ceiling, turning into fire once it hits the floor.  Scarred, Quinn slowly looks up to see something strange moving in the dark, which spits liquid all over his face.  He flees to his mother, and in a panic she takes him to a medical station to clean out his eyes, while the other workers rush to investigate the opening, only for it to burst into flames.

                The fire spreads rapidly through the unfinished tunnel.  Quinn is rushed to the elevator by his mother and begins the slow ascent to the surface.  Quinn keeps repeating he saw “something” in the tunnel.  The construction elevator is slow, and soon the carriage is beset by a large dragon.  It gets close enough to the carriage to look Quinn right in the eye.  As it takes flight, it crushes the carriage, sparing Quinn but killing his mother.

                A short montage shows the dragons growing in number across the world.  Even nuclear weapons cannot kill them, and scorches the earth making it uninhabitable for even humans.  Soon all organized governments fall, and people gather and hide where they can.  Quinn, now grown up (Bale), is leader of a small colony in Northumberland, and believes humanity can outlast the dragons if they stay hidden, depriving the dragons of food so they will die of starvation.

                This mentality does not sit well with many of the colonists.  One dissenter, Eddie (Kennedy) who has lost some of his own children along the way, wants to take the children he has left and harvest a small grove near the colony.   Quinn forbids this, as leaving during the day time would draw attention to it, and risk the dragons torching it for food.  Quinn’s second in command and best friend, Creedy (Butler), backs him up, though quips later that his tight-fisted attitude does more harm than good.  Eddie leaves anyways, taking his remaining children during the night to harvest from the grove. 

                At sunrise the colony’s only sentry, Barlow (Dennehy), is alerted to the threat of a nearby dragon when his pet hawk starts to panic.  The colony goes into a state of emergency, and all the children of the colony are sent to the basement for protection.  Quinn is informed that Eddie and his children have gone to the grove.  Quinn takes a small rescue party to the grove and rescues Eddie and his children just as a dragon arrives and sets the entire grove ablaze.  Unfortunately, Eddie loses another child.  Distraught, Quinn starts to doubt if he can keep the colony residents alive, while Creedy tries to encourage him to hang on. 

The colony’s communication’s operator, AJ (Siddig) picks up radio chatter.  He raises another alarm, and the adults of colony arm themselves and take positions along the perimeter walls, though it’s revealed they barely enough ammo for their weapons.  A convoy of army vehicles lead by a tank arrive at the front gate, but stop short of barreling through it.  Denton Van Zan (McConaughey) exits the tank and requests to speak with “who’s in charge”.  Quinn, trying to maintain a defensive image, meets Van Zan just outside the front gate.  Van Zan requests shelter for his militia, but also to take from the colony whatever supplies they need, and increase his ranks with any capable residents from the colony.  Quinn, seeing Van Zan is crazy, denies his request.  Van Zan threatens to overtake the colony anyways, but manages to persuade Quinn to help him with an idea to take down the dragons and even producing a dragon tooth, proving his militia can indeed kill them. 

                Quinn hesitantly agrees, and Van Zan along with his militia, almost immediately get a chance to prove they can kill dragons when one flies near the colony.  Alex (Scorupco), who pilots the only helicopter available for the militia, scouts the area, and uses skydivers to divert the dragon into position to bring it down.  The militia is successful in slaying the dragon, but loses 3 of its own in the process.

                The colony breaks out in celebration, witnessing the first slaying of a dragon.  Van Zan however backed by his militia, berate the colonists for ignoring that 3 men died taking down one dragon, and such odds would not mean success.

                Alex and Van Zan discuss with Quinn the use of the armory of the colony and even drafting colonists into his militia.  Quinn dismissing the idea with extreme prejudice.  Van Zan informs Quinn he was able to trace the origins of the dragons back to London, and that all the dragons they have killed were all female.  He believes there is only one male that fertilizes all the dragon eggs, and if eliminated, would begin the annihilation of the dragons.  Quinn realizes he saw the male dragon in the underground tunnel as a boy, but is unwilling to face his past or allow anymore people under his care to leave and face almost certain death.

                Van Zan ignores Quinn’s authority and starts his own draft.  Quinn, in front of the entire colony, tackles Van Zan leading to a scrum.  Van Zan turns his punches aside and quickly gains the upper hand before his own men pull them apart.  Quinn, afraid that if the militia leave will give the dragons a trail back to the colony, but his warnings go unheard and the militia leave with colonists added to their ranks.

                Van Zan’s militia gets stuck en route to London, and taken out by the male dragon.  Van Zan survives along with Alex and Eddie, and realizes Quinn was right.  He rushes back to the colony in the helicopter, but is too late.  The male dragon has set the colony ablaze.  Quinn and Creedy manage to get all the children to the basement and trigger the sprinkler system to keep the fire from spreading to them.  Creedy goes back to round up any survivors he can but is killed when the fire spreads. 

                Quinn, now without a choice, takes control of the situation.  He orders Alex to fly him and Van Zan to London, and back to the very tunnel the male dragon crawled out of.  Taking what weapons and ammo they have left; they head to London in a desperate attempt to bring down the male dragon.

On the Surface:

                This film fits into the “miscellaneous” category of sci-fi as it is set in the future, but not in space, and incorporates the fantasy elements of dragons, but gives a pretty realistic explanation for their existence and what modern steps would need to be taken to eliminate them.  Making extensive use of CGI, partial set compositing, and lots of practical pyrotechnic effects, the film has a gritty and grim feeling, aiming for a realistic feel and not a medieval, heroic “Knight of the Valiant slays dragon to restore honor and peace to the land”.  Many hardcore sci-fi fans dismissed this film because of the dragons alone, and the post-apocalyptic tone was dismissed because the destruction was caused by fantasy creatures not by man made weapons alone.  Still, a lot of fans have called this film the “Logan’s run” of modern science-fiction, because its unique enough to stand out, but does not follow many sci-fi tropes and relies more on human emotions to drive the story.  It could be regarded as a popcorn flick, but even casual sci-fi fans who enjoyed this movie still enjoy it with a bucket of Orville Redenbacher’s to nack on.

Production wise:

                The film was shot in Ireland, but an outbreak of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease throughout Europe brought on quarantines that restricted filming and lead the producers to drop many sequences from the shooting script.  Creating the look of the dragons proved difficult, has many close-up shots just looked rubbery when rendered.  Using techniques pioneered in Disney’s 2000 feature “Dinosaur”, the dragons were painstakingly modeled, textured, animated, and rendered into a realistic result that gave them the necessary appearance of scales and a wingspan that looked to be 300 feet wide when the wings were fully extended.

                Rob Bowman, a veteran of sci-fi, directing many episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, X-files and directed the X-files feature film “Fight the Future”, has stated he wanted to create a realistic sci-fi film.  Unhappy with the alien scenes in the X-files film, he wanted to give more screen time to the dragons so the audience would see their size and be able to grasp how destructive and almost invincible they were supposed to be.  This proved difficult as no props were used for the dragons inflight, so trying to convey to the camera operators the proper framing was a daily challenge.  The method of dragons making fire was derived from certain species of snakes that spit venom combined with certain species of beetle that have similar qualities.  The result was two glands in the dragon’s mouth that secret separate chemicals that when mixed on exhalation, create a reaction that produces flame.

                Matthew McConaughey, known to use method acting on occasion, was said to have gotten so into his character, that he had nightmares for a while after production wrapped.

                The dragons seen in the film, per fantasy classification, are not really dragons, as dragons have 4 legs and a set of wings.  The dragons in the film are technically Wyvern’s, since they have one pair of hind legs, and their two front appendages can be used as legs while on the ground, but serve more as wings when in flight.

Why I like the film:

                Dragons haven’t been used very much in film history in general.  Given that the characterization of dragons can be customized in a variety of different ways and creating a compelling vision of the character will always be challenging, it’s sad to see them relegated to cheap b-movies or monster of the week movies shown on Sy-fy channel.  When I saw the trailer for this film, I thought “finally, someone has risen to the challenge of making a dragon film and incorporating it into a modern setting.” 

                The angle of dragons creating a post-apocalyptic world was original and fitting.  Since dragons are the de-facto villains for pretty much all medieval fairytales, making them into an unstoppable force just seemed like a natural progression for a modern film.  Fairytales boil down common problems and scenarios into basic elements so they can be explained very simply.  But seeing the dragons of this film, gives a simple explanation for why problems can seem so impossible to overcome.

                This is shown in Quinn’s character having to face the death of his mother by a creature he didn’t even know existed and would soon learn, like the rest of the world, how powerful it was.  This was the first time I would see Christian Bale on film.  Thankfully it was in the theater, as the big screen made it easier to appreciate his performance.  Using his native Welsh accent gave his character credibility, as Denton Van Zan slaying the dragon would seem awkward.  Matthew McConaughey’s performance as Van Zan was touted as derivative and stereotypically “American”.  I took it as an American who didn’t want to live in fear of the dragons anymore.  He didn’t come to England to “subdue” it through killing dragons, he came to end the dragons, and was so single minded in his goal he didn’t want to be distracted by anything else.  Because killing all the dragons would benefit all of the human race.  His demise at the end of the film was perfect for his character.          

                A big fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I enjoyed seeing Alexander Siddig in a big budget film showcasing more of his acting range.  I still laugh at his “wanker” insult to Barlow.

                The modern military elements were what I was looking forward to the most in the film.  I have always been fascinated with bringing together separate, almost polar opposite elements into a well rounded and effective final product (IE: the music of Nightwish, Eluveitie, and Five Iron Frenzy are prime examples), and I have seen a lot of great films, tv episodes, music, etc. that have blended odd combinations together well, but get dismissed immediately because a lot of people don’t know how to classify it or what it really is(since it’s a combination of 2 or more genres but doesn’t sound or look like any of them).  This film deserved more credit than it got, and for the amount of effort, let alone budget, that went into it, the finished film was beyond “a weird Sci-fi movie” label it’s been condemned to.

The film is rated PG-13 for “intense action scenes”.  Stream or rent where available for when you want to enjoy a unique Sci-fi movie, with A-list actors who show their mastery of the craft and top-notch special effects, all while enjoying a bucket of popcorn.

The Shadow – of Alec Baldwin’s prime.

Title: The Shadow

US Release: 7/1/1994

Directed by Russell Mulcahy

Written by David Koepp

Distributed by Universal Pictures

Cast:

Alec Baldwin – Lamont Cranston/The Shadow

John Lone - Shiwan Khan

Penelope Ann Miller - Margo Lane

Ian McKellen - Dr. Reinhardt Lane

Tim Curry - Farley Claymore

Jonathan Winters - Inspector Wainwright Barth

Peter Boyle - "Moe" Shrevnitz, the cabbie.

The Skinny:

                The first (and only to date) film adaptation of the classic hero from the radio days of the 1940’s.  Lamont Cranston (Baldwin) is a deserter of the American army after the end of Word War I.  Becoming a kingpin of the opium fields in China, he’s known for his decadent living, and taking pleasure in eliminating his competition, mostly through brutal and sadistic methods.  He’s kidnapped from his lair late one night and taken to a palace high in the mountains, which he does not see at first until “allowed” to by the guards.  Inside he meets the Tulku, a supposedly mythical teacher who has mastered the power of the mind, but appears only to be a young boy.  Attempting to fight his way out, he grabs a nearby dagger, only to discover the dagger is alive, and bites his hand.  The Tulku commands the dagger, named “Phurba”, to stop before it kills Lamont.  With no other choice, Lamont agrees to learn from the Tulku.  For the next seven years, he learns to master his own mental powers, and discovers he can hide inside the “darkness” that exists all men, and even use it against those who do evil to others, becoming a “Shadow”.

                Returning to New York, he dispatches a small mob hit squad about to murder a helpless professor, and, in a demonstration of his abilities as The Shadow, convinces the leader to turn himself into the police for his crimes.   Taking the professor back home in the cab of Moe Shrevnitz (Boyle), The Shadow makes him into one of his agents, payment for saving his life.  Moe informs the professor that he too is an agent of The Shadow, so are many others all throughout the city.

                Reverting to his original identity of Lamont Cranston, he meets his uncle, Inspector Wainwright Barth (Winters), at a local night club.  Barth is informed of another Shadow sighting but is “dissuaded” from investigating by Lamont.  Changing the subject, he notices pretty woman entering the club.  Barth tells him not to get involved with her since she’s Margo Lane (Miller) daughter of physicist Dr. Reinhardt Lane (McKellen), and is known to be “odd”.  Lamont ignores the warning and introduces himself.  Immediately smitten, she accepts his invitation for Chinese food.  While enjoying Peking duck at a local Chinese restaurant, Lamont becomes aware of Margo’s mental abilities (that Margo herself is unaware of) when she can “hear” his thoughts about her dress.  Parting for the night, Margo is depressed she may never see him again, with Lamont planning to do just that as she could interfere with his business as the Shadow.

                At Dr. Lane’s lab, his conniving and annoying colleague, Farley Claymore (Curry), is trying to convince him to collaborate on a project that they could eventually sell for millions.  Dr. Lane, a brilliant physicist working on a device for the War Department, is somewhat absent minded, even forgetting which color is which, and turns aside his suggestions out of ignorance.  Claymore leaves defeated but tries his luck in asking Margo out on a date, to which she rebuffs with extreme prejudice, as this is not the first time it seems.

                At the New York Museum of Natural History, a crate arrives with no return address listed on the invoice.  Inside is a Tibetan sarcophagus, made out of pure silver.  The inscription reveals that at one time, it held the remains of Genghis Khan.  A security guard (Ethan Phillips in an early bit part) is left alone with the sarcophagus as the night manager tries to research its point of origin.  The sarcophagus opens seemingly by itself, to reveal Shiwan Khan(Lone) inside, the last living descendant of Genghis Khan.   Hibernating within the sarcophagus for centuries, Shiwan has now absorbed all of Genghis Khan’s mental energy, and seeks to finish conquering the world.  He demonstrates his power by forcing the security guard to kill himself, and a cab driver, who delivers him to a seemingly random location, by convincing him to drive his cab into a tanker truck.

                Lamont is alerted to Shiwan’s arrival through a dream, and receives a message from a police officer, also an agent of his, on the scene of the security guard’s apparent suicide.  Retiring to his hidden lair, “the sanctum”, to decode the message, he’s surprised when he’s greeted by Shiwan himself.  Addressing him as “Yin-Ko the butcher” Lamont’s moniker from his opium days, he tries to persuade him into joining his crusade for world domination.  Not interested, Shiwan vanishes, leaving behind a coin made of “bronzium”, a metal substance believed to be just a myth.

                Shiwan soon hypnotizes Dr. Lane into joining his quest.  Margo is suspicious when her father suddenly stops seeing her, and stays in his lab for days, even speaking Mandarin Chinese over the phone, a language he never knew before.  Sensing something is amiss, Lamont investigates as The Shadow.  Nearly foiling a robbery by men dressed as Mongol warriors, he pursues Dr. Lane and his captors, only for them to seemingly disappear into an empty lot. 

                Margo is tricked into going to her father’s lab, only to be hypnotized herself into killing The Shadow.  Finding his mansion estate, she mistakenly shoots a mirror reflection of Lamont.  Lamont is able to free her from hypnosis, soon revealing himself as The Shadow. 

                Lamont, having the Bronzium coin tested by the professor he saved earlier, discovers that, given the right circumstances and within the right apparatus, the metal could cause a massive explosion, an “atomic explosion”.  Discovering, from Margo, that Dr. Lane’s invention could generate the necessary reaction to disrupt bronzium, and that Claymore’s invention is the apparatus needed to provide the right circumstance to allow such a reaction.

                Evading Shiwan’s mental prodding to join him, and trying to keep Margo and her father out of danger, The Shadow must find Shiwan’s hidden lair somewhere in the city and stop his plan to decimate New York City using Dr. Lane’s device and continue his plans for world conquest.

On the Surface:

                The film was a big budget summer release, intended to capitalize on the trend that was doing well for big budget films for many years.  The Shadow was a recognizable figure, enduring in pop culture since the 1940’s, so interest was noticeable when Universal Pictures announced its release.  The film plays out almost like a radio serial, the different acts like the separate parts of a mini-series broadcast over the radio back in the day.  Released before the regular use of CGI, the film uses practical and optical effects, which did not age well.  Still, when given the latitude, the film is an example of a 1990’s big budget production, and deserves more credit that it received at its release, which has sadly tarnished its reputation since.

Production Wise:

                Producer Martin Bregman had acquired the rights to The Shadow in 1982, and would eventually enlist screenwriter David Koepp (known for writing “Jurassic Park”, its sequel “The Lost World”, “Carlito’s Way” along with many others, and himself of a fan of the character) to craft the story.  Australian action director Russell Mulcahy, known for “The Highlander”, was brought on to give the film the fast pacing needed for action piece.  Composer Jerry Goldsmith composed the dark and retro 30’s-esque music for the film, giving it a big but dark presence.

                Typical of big budget films, The Shadow was filmed over many sets and took up most of Universal’s famed backlot.  Period specific storefronts and streets were built, and 30’s era cars were rented from collectors, along with 30’s era clothing used from Universal’s massive wardrobe archive to dress the main cast and extras to give the film the near mid-20^th century aesthetic.

                The film, however, did suffer from bad luck.  On January 17^th 1994, the Northridge earthquake rocked the Universal backlot during production, destroying an elaborate hall of mirrors set intended for the film’s climax.  Already behind scheduled and over budget, the ending fight scene was rewritten and shot in a very different way.   

Why I like the film:

                I’ll admit, I like this film more for the nostalgia than for the film itself.  Alec Baldwin was on his way to becoming a global movie star at the time, and production quality of the film calls back to when films were still almost entirely practical yet contemporary for the mid-90’s.  Tim Curry plays the role of the weasel very well, and Ian McKellen, becoming more known to American audiences at the time, fits perfectly in his small but important role in the film.  John Lone, though typecast as the Asian villain in my opinion, did give his all for this performance, throwing himself into the role and delivering a performance fitting for the substance of the film.   Baldwin in a fedora, black trench coat with cape, and dual wielding 1911 colts (heavily modified “Silver Heat” pistols based on LAR’s Grizzly handguns, specifically made for the film, still common in movies) is still an image that gets me to stop and think “Who is this guy?  I’d like to see him in action.”  That image deserves icon status.

                After re-discovering this film awhile ago, the ending did seem a bit underwhelming, and when I found out, via IMDB, that the Northridge Earthquake had disrupted the film’s production, I could see why this film failed to deliver when released.  Since the hall of mirrors set was destroyed, the director and editors had to work with what they had to make the film flow as much as possible.       

                This film pays homage to its source material from the 1940’s radio broadcasts with dialogue true to its decade, and characters that finally got to be seen instead of just heard.   It still works on that level, and given its bad luck during production, it’s still a good product, worth watching more than once, even regularly.

                                

The film is rated PG-13 for “fantasy violence” I guess the oversized 1911 colts were overkill for the sensors in the 90’s.  Stream or rent where available when you would like to see Alec Baldwin when he was still just an actor.

The Phantom – the purple one.

Title: The Phantom

US release: 6/7/1996

Directed by Simon Wincer

Written by Jeffrey Boam

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Cast:

Billy Zane – The Phantom/Kit Walker

Treat Williams – Xander Drax

Kristy Swanson – Diana Palmer

James Remar – Quill

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa – The Great Kabai Sengh

Katherine Zeta-Jones – Sala

Patrick McGoohan – The Ghost of Kit’s father.

Bill Smitrovich – Dave Palmer

The Skinny:

                A young boy is traveling by sea when his ship is attacked by the notorious pirates of the Sengh Brotherhood.  The boy’s father, even though he puts up a valiant defense, is cut down by the pirate leader, which he witnesses to his horror.  The boy jumps overboard and finds himself washed up on the shores of Bengalla, and is discovered by the native tribe of the jungle.  The tribe takes him to their camp and ritualistically makes him “The Phantom” and charges him to fight greed, piracy and cruelty in all their forms, and gift him with a magical skull ring.

                Centuries later, in the era of the 1930’s, Quill (Remar) leads a small group of smugglers, hired by the power-hungry businessman Xander Drax (Williams), through the Bengalla Jungle.  He manages to traverse the jungle terrain with the help of a small native boy they kidnapped to act as their guide, even using him to drive the truck all by himself across a decaying rope bridge.  Once they cross a certain point, the boy becomes scarred and will go no further.  He speaks of the jungle being guarded by a “ghost who walks”.  Quill dismisses the boy, even when it’s revealed he has a skull imprint on his jaw matching the Phantoms ring.  The group goes on without the boy and raid a small cave they find.  Quill is only interested in one artifact, a skull made out of silver.   The group hears drums start to beat in the distance and flee back to the truck, only to meet the Phantom himself. 

The group flees, but The Phantom chases them down until Quill is left.  He manages to fight off The Phantom and ditch the truck as it careens back across the rope bridge and gets stuck.  The Phantom discovers the kidnapped boy in the back, frees him from his ropes and makes a daring escape as the bridge turns over from the weight of the truck and eventually breaks loose of its supports and falls down into the canyon.

The Phantom, revealed to be Kit Walker (Zane) recovers in his hideout, a cave with an entrance under a rock face that resembles a skull.  Researching his archives, he’s tended to by his native servant Guran.  He discovers the silver skull Quill stole is part of a set of the 3.  The other two skulls being made of jade and gold.  If all 3 are put together, they are said to create a powerful force, with no known defense against them.  As Guran retires to another room, Kit is met by the ghost of his dead father (McGoohan) who implores him to retrieve them at any cost.  The situation is made graver when Kit reveals he saw a tattoo on Quill’s arm matching the emblem of the Sengh Brotherhood.

The scene shifts to New York, where Diana Palmer (Swanson) returns from a trip to the Yukon.  She arrives just as her uncle Dave (Smitrovich), a rich newspaper mogul, is throwing a charity party.   Its revealed that uncle Dave has been investigating Drax for his known associations with the mob.  Dave has discovered that Drax has been looking into to foreign artifacts, and even finds an artist rendering of the tattoo of the Sengh Brotherhood.  Intending to go to the Benghalla jungle to investigate, he’s afraid to leave as it would give Drax the opportunity seize control of his newspaper.  Diana offers to go in his place.  Drax finds out about uncle Dave’s plan, when it is revealed he not only owns the New York Mob, but the Police commissioner as well.

Diana’s plane is forced to land by pirates, all of whom are women, flying bi-planes.  Their leader, Sala (Zeta-Jones), takes Diana back to the Benghalla jungle to Quill.  The Phantom hears of the kidnapping from the captain of the jungle patrol, who acts as his contact while he feigns ignorance, and sneaks aboard the boat where Diana is being held captive.  He frees her and they make their escape back into the jungle, evading pursuit by the pirates. 

The Phantom takes Diana back to the Skull cave where she meets with Guran and the Captain of the Jungle patrol.  Having swiped the drawing of the Sengh tattoo before being kidnapped, she shows it to The Phantom.  His reaction revealing how serious the situation is, she tells him of Drax and his research into the skulls back in New York.  He sends her away abruptly, to her surprise.

Back in New York, Quill delivers the silver skull to Drax.  Drax is pleased but more upset that Diana is still alive.  Sala, having tried to seduce The Phantom during his rescue attempt only to be rebuffed, believes he’s in love with Diana.  Drax doesn’t believe in The Phantom, until Quill shows him a gun belt identical to the one Kit wears when in persona.  Quill admits he killed The Phantom by stabbing him in the back, even showing the cut in the back of the belt where he stabbed him.  Drax, impressed with Quill’s villainy, still dismisses The Phantom as a threat believing him to be still in the Beghalla jungle. 

Kit, unknown to Drax arrives in New York to track down the jade skull, getting information about it while reminiscing with uncle Dave.  Diana interrupts their reunion, and is surprised to see Kit, since he left suddenly years ago, ending their long college romance.

Heading to a local museum to obtain the Jade skull, Kit and Diana are intercepted by Drax and his hired muscle, including Quill.  With the silver and jade skulls now within close proximity, they cause a massive disturbance within the museum, and burn a hole in nearby wall map to mark the location of the 3^rd skull.

Back at Drax’s executive office, he tries to interrogate Kit by having Quill punch him in the stomach with brass knuckles.  Kit notices the gun belt Quill is wearing, and soon comes to realize he murdered his father.  En route to the roof to get Kit to talk, he breaks free of his captors and flees into a nearby utility room.  Quill and company pursue but are met by The Phantom. 

Drax, along with Sala, Quill and Diana as a hostage, head to the uncharted island revealed on the map, with The Phantom in close pursuit.  Not only must he save Diana (whom he still loves) he must ultimately stop Drax from obtaining the 3^rd skull, and unleashing their rumored power, becoming invincible.

On the Surface:

                An adventure movie based on a comic book character, this film feels corny while watching it, that is if adventure movies are not to your liking.  A buff guy in a purple suit feels corny enough, but double fisting AMT Hardballers (anachronistic, as that handgun was not manufactured until the 1970’s) seemed over the top.   Add some classic adventure elements, like the rope bridge sequence, and the film feels like a 3-part miniseries of a Saturday morning cartoon, just given a bigger budget and released in theaters.  Still, since adventure movies are a rare breed to begin with, this film will be welcomed by action junkies and fans who have wanted more action movies since Indiana Jones set the bar.  During the mid-1990’s, comic book and super-hero movies (The Phantom doesn’t have super-powers) were considered a waste of time by production houses, and with the Batman films starting to turn into an updated version of the camp TV series (with anatomically correct foam rubber suits), this film seemed to be released at the worst time and into a very unforgiving viewership. 

                In more recent years, this film has garnered a cult following, from adventure movie junkies to the niche market that has followed The Phantom character, even collecting the original 1930’s comic strips from draw by creator Lee Falk.

Production wise:

                This film was in development for many years, even the great Sergio Leone was interested in developing the character for the big screen.  Eventually, the late great screenwriter Jeffrey Boam (who had contributed to the Adventure film genre when he wrote the successful Indiana Jones and the last crusade), penned a script, and Australian director Simon Wincer, were pegged to helm the project.  Billy Zane, coming off an acclaimed performance as the psychopathic villain in “Dead Calm” had actually been introduced to The Phantom comic strip while on set for that film, and lobbied hard for the role.  He did win the role, beating out Bruce Campbell, and would go on to train hard for the next year to gain the cut physique required for his character. 

                Studio filming was done in Wincer’s home country of Australia, with remaining sequences shot on location in Thailand and some California locations. 

Why I like the film:

                I had read some Phantom strips in collected volumes I would check out from the local library, so seeing the trailer for The Phantom piqued my interest.  The folks let my brother and I see it by ourselves at the mall theater (the only mall in our town) and we both loved it.  I’m surprised that no movies since have used a rope bridge sequence, or even tried to reboot the film per the current trend.

                I think Billy Zane could’ve grown into an action star had the film not received such bad reviews.  His presence on the screen, even in the purple costume left now doubt that he was the hero, taking away all distracting thoughts about his movements on screen and allowing all the audience’s focus to be on the action as it played out.  The romance between Kristy Swanson and Zane was trimmed down to allow for faster pacing, customary for an action film, still it served as a necessary subplot and left the door open for a sequel, which sadly never came.

                Though always type cast as the Asian villain, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa still played his role as pirate king beautifully.  I loved the scene where he insults Drax and company.   Treat Williams played the role of villain posing as a businessman well, so well its hard for me to see him in any other role without comparing it to this one.  James Remar was solid as Quill, and the angle of him being a back stabber who killed Kits father gave him that little extra degree of bad guy-ness to make his death at the end of the film justified and anticipated. Remar, already known for playing villains and villainous henchmen, would pretty much make a career out of playing that type of character, but knew how to make each role unique, instead of one villain fits all.

                This was the first time I had seen Catherine Zeta-Jones on film, and for awhile was hard for me to see her as anything else but the villainess in her later films.   

                As I said before, the basic adventure element of the rope bridge sequence may have been over expected by the audience, but I think it was done right.  The bridge was wide enough for vehicles to pass over, and the bridge turning upside down was original for the sequence as a whole.  The bi-plane sequence where The Phantom and Diana drop down onto his horse before the plane crashes was reminiscent of what would most likely be drawn in one of the original 1930’s strips.  It felt very fitting, and I don’t think it was meant to blow the audience away, just be familiar in a “ah, there’s good ol’ stuff” kind of way. 

                This film may have been based on a comic book character, but I see it as an adventure movie.  Straight adventure films haven’t been done a lot in Hollywood over the years, and sadly seem to have been overused in the B-movie industry, leading to a bad image.  So, to see classic adventure elements (rope bridge sequences, Bi-plane stunts, etc.) is very rare in big budget film history.  So even though not a straight adventure film, I still love this movie, and it’s very hard for me not rant against people who write it off as “just corny”.

The film was rated PG, I guess to appeal more to the under 10 years old crowd, and for a lot of shootout sequences.  No language, and only a short scene showing women in their 1930’s era under-garments.  Even for the 1990’s, that was pretty tame.  Stream or rent where available when you’re in the mood for an adventure film, or when you need a taste of an old school adventure story with a more modern touch.

Equilibrium - If the future did become 1984

  

Title: Equilibrium

US Release: 12/6/2002

Directed and written by Kurt Wimmer

Distributed by Miramax Films

Cast:

Christian Bale – John Preston

Emily Watson – Mary O’Brien

Taye Diggs – Brandt

William Fichtner – Jurgen

Sean Pertwee – Father

Angus Macfadyen - Dupont

Sean Bean – Partridge

The Skinny:

                An opening montage shows that in a distant future, earth has been become nearly uninhabitable after World War III.  The world powers unite to in hopes to guarantee mankind’s survival as another World war would certainly mean the end of Humanity, period.  Somehow, a united world authority decides that in order to prevent any conflict from happening, human emotion must first be regulated.  Thus, all citizens must submit to regular doses of the drug “Libria”, which numbs human emotions almost to zero.  Of course, many reject this solution and flee to the scorched earth areas away from the few remaining large cities, dubbed “The Nether”.   To ensure these citizens submit or perish, a special division of law enforcement, known as the “Tetra-Grammaton” is founded.  Trained in a new art of self-defense and attack, known as “Gun-Kata”, the clerics of the Grammaton are formidable and very efficient in hunting down and eliminating these “Sense-offenders” before they can upset the new utopia.

                Enter Cleric John Preston (Bale) who, after eliminating a cell of sense-offenders with relative ease, is able to locate hidden cache of art work, declared contraband as it can stir emotions, and orders it burned on the spot.  His partner, Partridge (Bean), wonders if the clerics will ever be successful, as there is no guarantee that all sense-offenders could ever be found and eliminated.  Preston believes it just to be a matter of time, but is slightly unsettled by Partridges attitude.

                Back at their headquarters, Preston is debriefed by Dupont (Macfadyen), press secretary of sorts for Father (Pertwee) the leader of the new society who is only seen on large screens all over the capital city of “Libria”.   Due for a promotion, Dupoint asks about Preston’s ability to sense emotions of those around him, without actually feeling emotion himself.  A prime example is Preston’s wife, who is revealed to have been convicted of sense-offense years before and executed.  Preston, however, did not know that she had stopped taking Libria and was surprised when officers raided their home and took her away.  Dupoint warns that such an action could end his career, and that such a lapse should never happen again.  On his way out, Preston is unnerved by the conversation, which leads him to suspect his partner, Partridge, may be an offender himself.

                He suspicions are confirmed when he finds Partridge in the Nether, reading a copy of “Canterbury Tales”, which he swiped from the cache that was burned earlier.  Accepting his fate, he states his reasons to Preston, but Preston counters with Librian propaganda.  Partridge moves to draw his gun, but Preston shoots him.

                Partridge’s replacement, Brandt (Diggs), is eager to move up the ranks, and see’s partnering with Preston as a career making assignment.  Preston, though still on Librium, has dreams about his wife and Partridges last words.  About to take his morning dose, he accidentally knocks the vial off the bathroom counter, shattering it on the floor.  Going to the local dispensary, an “Equilibrium”, to get a replacement dose, he discovers its been closed because of a bombing attempt.  Brandt finds him there and takes him to a raid on a sense-offender’s home within the city limits.  Preston begins to feel emotions almost immediately, seemingly becoming attracted to the offender Mary O’Brien (Watson) and even stopping Brandt from killing her when she tries to grab the gun of a nearby officer to shoot her way out. 

                Very soon, Preston becomes overwhelmed with emotions, awakening in a cold sweat from a nightmare of witnessing his wife’s execution.   Seeing the sunrise over Libria through morning rain, Preston panics and nearly takes a dose of Libria, but hesitates.   Now curious about these emotions, Preston hides unused vials behind his bathroom mirror, or casually drops them on the sidewalk to be crushed underfoot of commuting citizens.  He delves into his emotions, becoming remorseful when he sees Brandt gun down an old man during a raid on the Nether, and later stopping the killing of a young puppy.  He comes across a hidden room of contraband, and begins to explore.  He’s intrigued by a snow globe, and finds himself crying when he hears an old phonograph play the opening to the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig Von Beethoven.   

Preston, becoming more engrossed in his emotions, spends more time “interrogating” Mary, and investigating Partridge’s illegal activities, all the while covering his tracks with his Gun-Kata skills, which are second nature to him.  Preston eventually meets Jurgen (Fichtner), leader of a resistance hiding beneath Libria.    Jurgen knew Partridge and even knows of Preston’s ability to feel his own emotions.  He implores Preston to help them by killing father, sparking a revolution.

Brandt however, is suspicious, tailing Preston whenever he’s in city limits.  Preston must keep his emotions in check to keep from drawing attention, while trying to find a way to kill father, all before Mary can be executed for her sense-offense.

                 

On the Surface:

                This film, naturally, has the totalitarian look one would get from reading George Orwell’s “1984”.  A dystopian setting, showing a possible outcome for the human race in general if fascist, communist or socialistic regimes were ever to rise to power, not just for a single country, but for the world as a whole.  The symbol for Libria is similar to a swastika.

This is also very anti-establishment film, posing the hypothetical of how far regulation can go, even all the way to human emotion itself.  Requiring all human emotion be regulated through a specific drug, marriage as only a means of creating more children for the survival of the great society, and the cult of personality created by the Father figure are a few example

Lastly, it casts a negative vibe on religion.  “Tetra-Grammaton” being a phrase orthodox Jews would use to refer to the four-letter sequence using the Hebrew alphabet that makes up the name of God.  Clerics, representing Catholic priests, dressed in long black coats with short upright collars similar to priests’ normal attire. 

But the one defining attribute of the film which allows it to endure still, is the Gun-Kata sequences.  Many fans skip all other scenes of this movie and just watch the Gun-Kata sequences and the few other martial arts sequences.  Christian Bale, still in the beginning of his career, did most of the stunts and Gun-Kata sequences himself, and Director/Screenwriter Kurt Wimmer was impressed with his athleticism, even stating that filming the action sequences could be filmed in much shorter timeframes because of his ability to pick up the choreography quickly.

The film might have reached a better audience if it had not been released so soon after the smash hit “The Matrix”.  Much of the intended audience, Sci-fi and action junkies, were still caught up in the breakthroughs of The Matrix and its upcoming sequel “The Matrix Reloaded” that Equilibrium seemed to get lost in its shadow. 

Production Wise:

                Kurt Wimmer, who also wrote the film, developed the martial art of Gun-Kata, seeing the hand-gun as an extension of the human hand, similar to any other hand held weapon.  He would spend his free time in his backyard refining the technique, and demonstrated it himself to producers when pitching the film.  He’s seen (his face obscured) in the opening sequence showcasing the technique.  The lead choreographer however modified the technique to be more rigid as he felt a rigid style fit the tone of the film better.  Wimmer’s more fluid style would be used in his next film “Ultraviolet”.

                Much of the filming was done in Germany and Rome, using locations built during World War II.  The architecture, seen in a lot of vintage news reels from the time period, helped give the film setting the totalitarian look needed for the story.   

Why I like the film:

                I was bored one day and had noticed this film in my roommate’s dvd library.  Seeing Bale’s performance in “Reign of Fire” I thought it would be a nice experience.  I was blown away by the Gun-Kata sequences and for awhile would say this was my favorite film.  Over the years though, I did start to see the flaws in the film.  The anti-socialist message I understand, but the anti-religion angle now seems out of place and feels like it comes from a place of misunderstanding.  The drama and dialog between the action sequences seems to slow down too much and causes the film to feel like it dragging the viewer down somewhere.

                The one reason I still watch this film, as said before, is the Gun-Kata sequences.  It wouldn’t surprise me if this film was the inspiration for a lot of “Gun-fu” type films that are in the works nowadays (IE: the John Wick films), being an unknown film to the general public, but a secret weapon of sorts to film-makers looking for the next exciting step in action films.  I too skip past most of the film and just watch the action sequences. 

Christian Bale gives a performance of the grade that made him the movie star he is today.  Angus McFadyen’s performance was very different from his performance in “Braveheart” making his role as the villain much more surprising.  This was the first time I saw Taye Diggs on screen, and his billboard model looks definitely gave him the “love to hate” vibe every villain needs in action movies.  Sean Bean’s performance was sadly short.  Forever known as Alec Trevelyan, 006 of “Goldeneye”, I was disappointed to see him killed off so quickly in the film.  His remorseful and somber portrayal of Partridge was great, and I would’ve like to see more of it in this film.

               

Rated R for the gun violence and a few scenes of broken bones and dismemberment.   Stream or rent where available for the times you want a different action flick with enough time in between action sequences to go to bathroom, or refill your beverage.

Final Fantasy - first and final film apparently

Title: Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within

US Release: 7/11/2001

Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi

Written by Al Reinert & Jeff Vintar

Distributed by Columbia Pictures

Cast:

Ming-Na Wenn – Dr. Aki Ross

Alec Baldwin - Cpt. Grey Edwards

Donald Sutherland – Dr. Sid

General Hein – James Woods

Neil – Steve Buscemi

Ryan – Ving Rhames

Jane – Peri Gilpin

The Skinny:

                Set in the distant future of 2065, the earth has long been under assault by “phantoms”, alien creatures that crashed years ago on earth and were at first invisible.  They possess the ability to “steal” ones’ soul if they ever came into physical contact with a human being.  Humanity has deserted most of their major cities and live inside “Barrier Cities”, metro areas surrounded by energy grids that protect them from the phantoms.  Along with the barrier technology, weapons and optics have also been developed to see or expose the phantoms by the unique energy signatures they emit.

                The film opens with a recurring dream Dr. Aki Ross (Wen) is experiencing, showing a barren planet.  As the film progress and Ross keeps revisiting the dream, more elements of the dream are introduced, providing her clues to the phantoms, their home planet, and how they came to earth.  She records these dreams with technology commonplace to her time. 

                She lands her ship in the remains of New York City.  She cautiously makes her way through the city searching for a plant that gives off a very rare energy signature.  She is soon beset by the phantoms, illuminated by energy flares, visible as vibrantly colored and almost translucent creatures, but very ugly.  Almost immediately, she is rescued by the Deep Eyes squad.  Unwilling to leave the city without the plant, the Deep Eyes are forced to protect her from the phantoms as she searches and eventually extracts the plant.  Extracted via aircraft, the team barely makes it out as the phantoms are closing in.  Once aboard the aircraft, the deep eyes remove their helmets.  Ryan (Rhames) is personable, asking if she’s ok.  Jane (Gilpin) however, is frustrated and Neil (Buscemi) just seems to be along for the ride.  The captain berates Dr. Ross for her recklessness, putting herself and his team in danger for seemingly selfish reasons.  Dr. Ross’ rebuttal is she never asked for their help, to which the captain removes his helmet showing himself to be her ex-boyfriend, Capt. Grey Edwards (Baldwin). 

                Returning to the nearest barrier city, Dr. Ross saves Edwards life when bio-scans reveal he’s infected with “phantom particles” when a phantom touched him for a split second.  He quick thinking and actions with a medical laser eliminate the phantom particles just in time.  Dr. Sid (Sutherland) soon arrives and takes Aki back to his lab.

                He warns Aki to destroy her research on their project, as he, and consequently her too, has enemies that would use such information against them to shut down their project, and, presumably, level much heavier charges against them personally.

                At a council meeting soon after, Gen. Hein (Woods) is campaigning hard for the “Zeus Cannon”, powerful laser cannon in orbit around the earth, which he believes is the answer to exterminating the phantoms by destroying their crash site, code named “The Phantom Crater”.  Dr. Sid objects, showing evidence that direct action against the phantoms only yield temporary results, as the phantom crater appears to produce more phantoms each time its attacked.  Explaining the science behind effectively eliminating the phantoms (which is the basis for all the weapons, optics, and barrier technology they all depend on now), Dr. Sid shows that two opposing energy signatures can cancel each other out.  Believing there is a natural energy signature within the earth itself that can cancel out phantom energy, thus freeing their planet, Dr. Sid requests the council delay firing the Zeus cannon until he can construct an energy wave strong enough to eliminate all the phantoms on the earth.  Gen. Hein, already out of patience, demands proof.  Aki, in a bold move, stands up.  She reveals that their research has eliminated phantom particles, collected from organisms that produce the rare energy signatures, and furthermore have successfully contained phantom particles within a living person.  She reveals she is carrying phantom particles contained within an energy field inside herself.

                The council agrees to postpone firing the Zeus Cannon so Dr. Sid and Aki can complete their research.  Gen. Hein, convinced the Zeus Cannon is the only solution, and suspicious of Aki since she is infected with phantom particles, assigns some of his own men to the Deep Eyes with separate orders to eliminate Aki and anyone else who gets in their way.  The team manages to retrieve another sample, but the phantoms appear to be drawn to Aki, and she passes out when they get too close.

                In frenzy, the team flees the area with the sample, but en route back to New York, Gen. Hein’s men attempt to take over the team.  In a skirmish, Aki is shot, the Deep eyes eliminate the rebelling soldiers, and one even loses his soul as the aircraft passes through a phantom. 

                Dr. Sid works fast to process the sample and re-enforce the energy shield holding the phantom particles within Aki’s body.  Needing more time, Edwards is recruited to keep Aki alive by sharing her dream.  Here he witnesses what she’s been seeing.  The dream progresses far enough to show that the phantoms were their own race, but in a long drawn out civil war, destroyed their own planet, and a large chunk of rock was sent hurling through space toward earth.  Aki now believes that the meteor was just an improvised vessel, and the phantoms trapped inside were already dead, hence their ability to move through physical matter and take the souls of any living organism.

                Almost immediately, the team is arrested by Gen. Hein’s forces.   Aki’s recorded dreams are found soon after, leading Gen. Hein to believe she’s been under the influence of the phantoms for some time.  He convinces his second in command to assist him in sabotaging the barrier to force the council to fire the Zeus cannon under the pretense that the barriers won’t work forever.  This turns out to be a tragic mistake, as he underestimates the phantoms, and they quickly overtake the city.  Aki, along with Dr. Sid and the Deep eyes squad manage to escape confinement and make their way out of the city.  They find Aki’s ship, but only Dr. Sid, Edwards, and Aki make it out of the city as the pursuing phantoms eliminate the rest of the team.

                Gen.  Hein, who also escaped, is driven insane by his mistake, and lies to the council that the barrier was going to fail anyways.  The council approves his use of the Zeus Cannon.  Aki and Edwards reconcile, and discuss with Dr. Sid on how to complete the energy wave.  Dr. Sid believes the last piece is within the phantom crater.  Edwards opposes the plan, but Aki and Dr. Sid convince him to participate.  They arrive at the crater with a new plan to extract the last energy sample and combine with the energy field already within Aki, just as Gen. Hein prepares the Zeus Cannon to open fire on the crater.

                                 

On the Surface:

                A CGI film intended for mature audiences, this film was supposed to be another choice in the genre of CGI films that was gaining momentum in Hollywood and expanding their fanbase, but so far were all children’s films with very light hearted and “kiddie” humor.  The film is very intricate, the landscapes are very detailed.  The only thing more detailed is the human characters.  Their movements, captured via motion capture, a common practice in video game production that carried over to the film, were almost lifelike.  The clothing moved just as well.  The phantoms were mysterious and ominous at the same time, their visual style set them apart on the screen, and their design portrayed a hideous reality, which was brought to a scary level when we see them close up taking the souls of humans during the New York City attack sequence.

                Sadly, the one detail that was underdeveloped, and by far the most difficult to master artificially in general (as admonished by decades of professional animators) were the facial expressions.  This film was the first CGI film to concentrate on realism, so its understandable that this element was mostly absent from the film because of all the subtle nuances and appearances of each face that gives each its individuality.  The voice acting was solid, you could hear the emotion and conviction in the delivery, but the lack of facial expressions (save for a few key scenes) was a turn off for the audience.  The visuals, though stunning, seemed handicapped because the audience couldn’t identify with wooden expressions.  Some fans did give the film grace, but not enough to recoup the film’s budget.  Aki’s hair, which was praised for its life like appearance, fell by the wayside as viewers walked out of this film disappointed.  Unfortunately, this gave did the film a very dark feeling, but so dark it seemed lifeless.   It seems this film was a failed experiment, and Square pictures folded shortly after.

                 

Production Wise:

                This film was supposed to be the first in a long line of films based on the “Final Fantasy” video game series.  Square Enix, the video game developer that owned the rights to the franchise, created their own production house, Square Pictures, and not only bought high tech servers, computers, and the accessories necessary for CGI animation, but bought many of them with the aim of rendering fast so as to avoid system crashes and lost work.  Many CGI animators from the United States and Japan were hired to work on this film.

                Each element of the film, even down to the finer details, had its own team solely dedicated to perfecting that element for the finished film.  This is exemplified in Aki’s hair.  Each strand was animated individually, rendered separately, then grouped with more strands of hair, and rendered again to test its appearance.  The opening shot where we see a close up on Aki’s eye shows the details of her iris and the pores in her skin, each had its own texture team to key frame the scene for realism. 

                Elliot Goldenthal, known for his dark music scoring, gave the film its ominously dark tone to help with the visuals.   This is before he started branching out more into synthesizers, which he would eventually use for all his musical compositions in some way to varying degrees.

Why I like the film:

                It honestly didn’t surprise me that the characters would have mostly wooden expressions when I saw this film in theaters.  I was more engrossed by the textures, the immersive landscapes, and the visuals of the phantoms.  So, when watching this film again at home, I came to accept this flaw in the film and focused more on what I liked seeing on the screen.

Like most fans when seeing an animated movie, I tried to guess the actors voicing the characters.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear Peri Gilpin’s voice for the Jane character, being a long-time fan of “Frasier”.  It was almost like getting to see a grittier version of Roz Doyle.  Ving Rhames, James Woods, and Alec Baldwin fit their characters so well that I didn’t think about what they looked like in real-life, I totally bought their voices as being natural to their characters.  Steve Buscemi played the comic relief in Neil, which I would’ve liked to see (and hear) more of on screen to round out the experience in the film. 

                I was disappointed when more films like this did not get released in the coming years, some were even cancelled because this film failed at the box office.  I don’t mind CGI films aimed at children’s audiences (though I would prefer politics be left out of those films entirely), I feel that CGI is a great medium that needs to expand past kids’ films and start exploring new territory in visual filmmaking.  Some territory that would only be enhanced by top notch CGI, and some stories that can only be well told with CGI.  Sadly, it appears I’ll be waiting forever for such films.

(Picture)

The film is rated PG-13.  Since there are very grim themes and visuals in the movie, it’s an appropriate rating.  Stream or rent where available if you want to see CGI, but not the happy-happy song and dance numbers that are churned out in the theaters these days.  Even if you’re not looking for a dark and maybe scary film to watch, this film would serve well to show the avenues CGI could explore if given the chance.