Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

How the West was, once. Like another sprawling epic about the nation’s expansion, this movie covers a lot of ground, figuratively and literally, but in this case it does so a bit more reflectively than the gung-ho epics of yesteryear. The story’s disparate threads are indeed so disparate that the viewer must wonder if all these people are ever going to come together, and it is only the promise of at least one more movie that offers hope that it will all eventually tie together. Indeed, it can be difficult to keep everyone straight while watching this flick, as there are so many characters scattered across the landscape—with few of them ever formally introduced—that the viewer must be forgiven for losing track. So clarity of story is not necessarily a strong suit here. Nevertheless, the tales that are being told do mostly make for compelling viewing, especially in the most harrowing scenes (quite a few characters die throughout, starting early on). Added to the stories that hold the interest is a visual feast; this film looks amazing all over. Put it all together and you wind up with a film that’s somewhat flawed, but also very much worth seeing. And one suspects the second chapter, unburdened of the need to perform any backstory, should really start to pull these stories together into a cohesive narrative. Building a cinema epic, much like building a nation, takes a lot of time and effort. 

Avatar: The Way of Water

I can’t help thinking that this story could have been told with a bit more economy. And I don’t just mean as regards the lavish amount of money that was obviously spent to put all those CGI visuals on the screen. One suspects that the plot, as presented, could have been shown in the standard two hours instead of the three-plus clicks you get here without any real degradation of the telling. This is not to say that this flick indulges in a heavy dose of padding—perhaps to make it more epic and thus justify its price tag—but a few less and/or shorter sequences of ostensibly awe-inspiring vision of the fantastical might have chopped the running time down a bit. It’s a real commitment to watch this film. At least those visuals are indeed state of the art; Cameron doesn’t kid around when he’s in world-building mode. Other aspects of the production do raise questions. On the performances of the cast, it’s hard to make a judgment, due to most of the thespians being almost wholly digitized. Are these CGI characters striking powerful emotional notes, or just making hysterical ham sandwiches of their scenes? Hard to say given the distance, so to speak, between the viewer and the unreal actors. “Avatar” is not just a plot device in the film but a fundamental aspect of the whole production. (And, despite this site’s standards, a "hiss" can only express so much.) Also, it’s hard not to downgrade the movie for utilizing the trope of bringing dead people back to life; it opens the whole thing to the charge of simply being a recycled product. And after all, shouldn’t a work of hard science fiction—and this film otherwise qualifies—refrain from a device so unscientific, even if it’s dolled up with cloning and other sciencey hand-waving? Finally, this is meant to be the middle movie of a trilogy, and that always brings its own storytelling issues. Still, even with its questionable aspects and a long running time, it must be noted that this film never drags; your interest rarely wanes throughout the length of this journey. This work rests right on the cusp of that fine line between a fully fledged positive review and so-so label. A MEOW seems right to me, but your mileage may vary considerably, wherever you’re coming from.

Wrath of the Titans

There may be a class-action case in the title here: technically, there's only one titan present in this tale, Kronos. That's one of the minor quibbles with this flick. That in and of itself is a surprise, as this work exceeds the standards of its predecessor. There's the usual dose of professional CGI work in the monsters and battle scenes, but there's also some real plot at work in this story, including good symmetry in the interactions of multiple father-son storylines. There is, dare I say it, some pathos included with the blow-shit-up sensibility typical of these swords-and-sorcery flicks. The eye-candy factor is lessened here, though Rosamund Pike gamely tries to hold up her end of the bargain. Still, this was one sequel that turned out surprisingly good, from what seemed like unpromising potential, so it definitely deserves some props for that. Like the Greeks, I have a word for it: goodenough.

Clash of the Titans (2010)

Cavorting like the Greeks of old...well, maybe not in that way. This reboot of the old Harry Hamlin classic is designed to be substantially more macho than that sort of Ancient Greek, as befits an action flick in a world of 300 and Lord of the Rings and endless superhero stories (of which the old myths are predecessors, if not outright source material). This outing does a decent job; it never loses the viewer's interest, presents a decent amount of spectacle for your dollar (particularly if you watch it on TV), and features enough eye candy (hearty applause for Gemma Arterton) to make the outing pleasant for at least half the audience. Weirdly, the weakest point of this movie may be the lead hero himself; as Perseus (as in other roles), Sam Worthington had a certain blankness to his demeanor that renders his actions not entirely exciting or inspiring, even when everything in the story has all CGI hell breaking out everywhere. But given the level this film aspires to--which is not exactly an Olympian height, ironically--I suppose that's not really that big a deal. Plus, it's a bit of a hoot to see several big-name actors playing roles that are probably the campiest vehicles they've stooped to in a long time. You can do worse than this one--certainly, others have--and as long as you have a little time to kill (at an hour and a half, brevity is one of the film's strengths) and a desire for something loud, actiony, and relatively mindless, you're not likely to be disappointed here.

Hacksaw Ridge

This is an extraordinary story. Hence the PURR. If it were not an extraordinary story--by which I mean, literally, the story; not the script nor the movie made therefrom--then by any standard this film would be run-of-the-mill and not worthy of such high marks. What's the problem? Probably director Mel Gibson, whose moviemaking acumen seems to have failed him here. So much of this presentation is so self-consciously standard for a war movie. For instance, the saccharine, almost silly narrative of Desmond Doss' courtship of his eventual wife; the stock and trade, almost cut-out characterizations of the Army officers who are so not accepting of Doss' unusual "terms of service," and their eventual reversal; and the hyper-dramatic moment when the young man's father--who up till then has been portrayed as simply a drunk, damaged, and violet veteran--saves his son from a court-martial through an intervention scene complete with portentous yet wooden lines of dialogue. All of these are story elements that have had their parallels in dozens of WWII dramas. Even the battle scenes--which everyone supposedly does brilliantly these days--feature just a few too overly cinematic shots of soldiers getting blown backwards in almost balletic arcs through the air. So there's a lot going against this film. Why, then, the positive review? Because Doss' story is amazing, astounding, and apparently 100% true. And it retains a power that no amount of cinematic cliches can lessen. It's a story that deserves to be told, and thanks to Andrew Garfield's tenacious commitment to the role, the core of that story is well represented here. It's worth it for that alone.

Terminator: Salvation

The machine in question, with this movie franchise, may as well be a copier--an old copier with a lot of worn parts and an overused imager. What do you get out of that sort of machine? A copy, yes, but a faded facsimile, one that resembles your original piece, but is tough to read, loses parts of its original whole, and often isn't good enough to get the job done. So it is with the Terminator films: there's some good stuff here, and you never get a bad performance from Christian Bale. But we've seen this premise, these themes, those iconic symbols (and even specific lines of dialogue) too many times before. Their impact has faded.