The Equalizer

The Equalizer – Dir. Antoine Fuqua (2014)

It's been well over a decade since director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington first collaborated on Training Day, a movie that earned the latter an Academy Award for Best Actor. While Washington has been churning out a combination of action and drama, Fuqua's output hasn't been quite as fruitful. He's helmed a couple of arguably decent action flicks (Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen) and some forgettable fare (King Arthur, Brooklyn's Finest). Now, the pair has teamed up for the second time for a film that is most definitely not Training Day.

The Equalizer is based on the 80's television series about Robert McCall (originally played by Edward Woodward), a former CIA agent, who became a freelance troubleshooter for anyone in need. Think of him as a one man A-Team. Washington easily steps into the role with McCall's background much more mysterious this time around. What we do know is that he's retired from his former life and now living in a Spartan, one bedroom Boston apartment. He's the manager at a Home Mart (a Home Depot-esque megastore) and offers kindly advice to those around him. He spends many sleepless nights drinking tea and reading all those novels people tell you to read at a 24hr diner straight out of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." There, McCall befriends a young girl named Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is forced to work as a prostitute for particularly nasty Russian gangsters.

McCall quickly dispatches with the villains after Alina is nearly beaten into a coma. Too late does he find out that they weren't lowly pimps, but integral cogs in the east coast arm of the Russian Mafia. The powerful head of the organization, Mr. Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich), sends in his chief enforcer Teddy (Marton Csokas) to clean up the mess. Meanwhile, McCall keeps himself busy dealing with a stick-up man and two dirty cops.

The Equalizer isn't about shattering genre conventions, but wallowing in them in the best possible manner. This is the type of movie where cargo ships and oil tankers explode as Denzel calmly walks away without ever looking back. He dispatches bad guys quickly and efficiently with the fighting style we've seen plenty of times in the Taken and Bourne films. In a nice touch, McCall generally uses whatever is handy to kill his enemies. This is especially spotlighted during the climax inside the Home Mart, which plays out like an R-rated version of Home Alone.

While the action is fun, there's no flair to it. Fuqua's direction is surprisingly pedestrian. Even the sequences where McCall goes into Equalizer-vision, slowing things down and assessing the situation, were done far better by Guy Ritchie in Sherlock Holmes. Only occasionally do the visuals pop, such as when Fuqua references Rear Window in a scene where Teddy claims another victim. The screenplay by Richard Wenk (The Mechanic, The Expendables 2) doesn't grasp the concept of subtext. The novels McCall reads, like The Old Man and the Sea and Don Quixote, serve as obvious commentary for the various acts of The Equalizer.

At 59, Denzel doesn't look his age at all. Along with Liam Neeson, he's got the presence and instant credibility to serve as an action hero. Here, Denzel dials it down and underplays the role to enhance the character's cool demeanor and ordered lifestyle. It's a stark contrast to Marton Csokas playing it as an old school, menacing Bond villain with tattoos of devils across his torso. Melissa Leo and Bill Pullman are a welcome sight as they pop in quickly as McCall's former CIA handlers. There's definitely a Taxi Driver element to the friendship between McCall and Alina, but Chloe Moretz disappears for a majority of the movie when it decides death and destruction are more interesting.

The Equalizer is a perfectly acceptable compliment to similar action movies such as Man on Fire, Taken, and Jack Reacher. The basic elements are enjoyable enough to forget that Fuqua and Denzel do little to transcend clichés.

Rating: *** (*****)

Oblivion

Oblivion - Dir. Joseph Kosinski (2013)

The year is 2077 and Earth has been ravaged by a war with an alien race known as the Scavengers. The invaders struck the first blow by destroying the moon and devastating the planet's climate. The humans deployed nuclear weapons to defeat the Scavs, but at the cost of rendering Earth nearly inhospitable. The remnants of humanity are migrating to the Saturn moon of Titan. This is all explained with painstaking detail in the opening narration of Oblivion.

Tom Cruise stars as the live-action version of Wall-E, Jack Harper, not to be confused with Jack Reacher. Harper and his partner/lover Vika (Andrea Riseborough) have stayed behind to be the "mop-up crew." They are tasked with repairing robotic drones that hunt down Scav stragglers and protect massive machines converting Earth's seawater into energy for the new colony. Both Harper and Vika have had their memories wiped as a security measure lest they be captured by the Scavs. Yet, Harper is plagued by dreams of a life before with a teeming New York City and a beautiful woman (Olga Kurylenko). Unlike his dutiful partner, Harper waxes nostalgic about old Earth and ventures off his usual patrol route. He's found a tranquil getaway within a hidden valley where he shoots hoops and listens to vinyl records.

During another routine repair, Harper finds a crashed ship that is decades old and carrying several human passengers in stasis. One of them happens to be Julia, the woman from his dreams. When the drones open fire on them, Harper embarks on a quest to discover the truth about the war and his own identity.

Oblivion is the second feature film from Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Tron: Legacy. Kosinski has proven to be capable of creating stylish sci-fi worlds though he has a weaker handling on story. Oblivion transplants many of those same new age ideas with a stronger screenplay by Kosinski, William Monahan, Karl Gajdusek, and Michael Arndt. However, it is no less derivative. The story is full of Twilight Zone-style twists while paying homage to a laundry list of classic sci-fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, The Omega Man, along with recent releases like Moon. Harper and Vika operate in the ruined remains of the Big Apple with the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the ground ala Planet of the Apes. Morgan Freeman appears in an outfit he apparently borrowed from Laurence Fishburne's Matrix wardrobe. And much like Morpheus, Freeman seeks to open Harper's eyes to the truth. Even the superb score by French electronic band M83 is reminiscent of Daft Punk's soundtrack for Tron: Legacy.

The movie progresses at a casual pace after a bloated opening overloaded with exposition. This allows the viewer to feast in the sumptuous visuals crafted by Kosinski, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and their special effects team. Oblivion was filmed in Iceland and they've captured the natural beauty of the pristine landscapes. Though it isn't a rip-roaring action flick, Oblivion does feature a few well-executed set pieces, one of which sees Cruise flying his sleek airship through a canyon with drones hot on his tail.

It's no coincidence that Cruise once again takes on the role of a skilled pilot. His Jack Harper isn't too different from the characters he's portrayed in Top Gun, Minority Report, or Mission: Impossible. He's the loyal trooper who eventually bucks authority when it conflicts with his beliefs. Cruise is strong, but doesn't make much of an impression. Morgan Freeman would have to have a really bad day to turn in a weak performance while Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Zoe Bell are underutilized as his followers. Acting accolades should definitely go to Andrea Riseborough who portrays Vika with a heartbreaking vulnerability along with a stern iciness. She's the best thing in an otherwise lackluster picture, just as she was in Madonna's half-baked W.E. Melissa Leo has some fun as Sally, Harper and Vika's command officer, who only appears as a face on a screen. There's something obviously sinister about Sally's sunny, down-home disposition.

Oblivion is certainly worth catching on the big screen (or at least on Blu-ray) for the eye candy and the aural feast of M83's score. However, the story is far too familiar to be wholly satisfying.

Rating: ** (*****)

Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen - Dir. Antoine Fuqua (2013)

In 1997, a small town in the Pacific Northwest and the city of Los Angeles were threatened by the sudden eruption of volcanoes in Dante's Peak and Volcano. A year later, the Earth is nearly destroyed by two cataclysmic asteroids in Deep Impact and Armageddon. In 2013, the White House is in jeopardy not once, but twice. Roland Emmerich will direct Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx in White House Down, which will be released in June by Sony. Meanwhile, Millennium Films and FilmDistrict have beaten them to the punch with Olympus Has Fallen.

One snowy night, President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) is on his way to a Christmas fundraiser when an accident causes his limo to swerve off a bridge. Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) saves the President's life, but is unable to save the First Lady (Ashley Judd). Over a year later, Banning is still haunted by his failure and exiled to a desk job at the Treasury Department. He races back into action when the nation's capital is attacked during a meeting between President Asher and the South Korean Prime Minister. In the film's most gripping and prolonged set piece, a cargo plane outfitted with Gatling guns literally causes monumental destruction. Not since Earth vs. the Flying Saucers has the Washington Monument suffered such damage. Garbage trucks doubling as armored vehicles roll up Pennsylvania Avenue while a blitzkrieg of armed assailants (disguised as tourists) breach the White House lawn killing dozens of security personnel and police responders. The ringleader is Kang (Rick Yune), a wanted terrorist who has infiltrated the South Korean government. He takes the President, V.P. (Phil Austin), Secretary of Defense (Melissa Leo), and other key members of staff hostage inside an underground bunker. Of course, there's only one man who can save them…Mike Banning.

If the plot sounds familiar, it's because Olympus Has Fallen is yet another graduate from the school of Die Hard with the White House standing in for Nakatomi Plaza. The similarities are so prominent and frequent that screenwriters Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt (in their first credit) could be charged with outright plagiarism. Gerard Butler leaps off an exploding rooftop while a helicopter crashes behind him. He also taunts the villain over radio with tired one-liners ("Let's play a game of fuck off. You go first."). There's a scene where Banning bumps into one of the bad guys who pretends to be a frightened good guy. Banning's warnings against a foolhardy attempt at breaching the terrorists' defenses fall on deaf ears. Not to mention In the Line of Fire already did the Secret Service agent in search of redemption to greater effect.

Realizing the inherently silly nature of their film, the producers have loaded their supporting cast with actors who can effortlessly convey dramatic gravitas. The obligatory command center scenes feature Angela Bassett as the head of Secret Service and Morgan Freeman as the Speaker of the House now the acting president. Robert Forster portrays a hard-assed general who fills the role of Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson. Dylan McDermott makes a scenery chewing appearance as a turncoat agent though Rick Yune fails to lend anything memorable as the lead villain. Radha Mitchell gets a rather thankless role as Banning's worried wife. Aaron Eckhart is perfectly cast as the defiant authority figure and it's nice to see Gerard Butler in an action flick after doing so many terrible romantic comedies.

Antoine Fuqua is a solid action director, but aside from the opening salvo on D.C., there are not a lot of spectacular sequences. The majority of the film takes place inside a darkened White House, one that's so dark that you can hardly see any of the fights or shootouts. The darkness may have been to just hide the poor choreography or subpar CGI.

Olympus shamelessly exploits post-9/11 anxiety and xenophobia. Some viewers will be turned off at watching an airplane crash into a landmark as debris crushes people below it. The movie tries to have its cake and eat it too with terrorists that are clearly North Korean while straining to portray them as having no allegiance. These themes are only re-enforced by an overblown "America, Fuck Yeah," attitude, including one character defiantly reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as they are dragged and beaten.

Olympus Has Fallen plays as mindless, red meat entertainment in spite of its queasy politics and thoroughly derivative script right down to a climatic countdown in massive, bold numbers. Although it's a blatant knockoff, Olympus is actually more enjoyable than the latest Die Hard sequel.

Rating: ** (*****)

Red State

Red State - Dir. Kevin Smith (2011)

"God doesn't love you…unless you fear him."

Kevin Smith is one of those rare filmmakers who has become a brand name. He has accumulated a devout following who will buy anything that has his name on it. Smith became a poster boy for do-it-yourself cinema with his debut film, Clerks, which spawned a series of R-rated comedies such as Mallrats and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back that found more success on home video than in theaters. His most mature work was undoubtedly Chasing Amy, an unconventional love story that touched upon sex and gender politics.

Red State marks a return to his indie roots following a dismal attempt as a director-for-hire with Cop Out. Smith raised the $4 million budget himself and self-distributed Red State through a series of select screenings paired with Q&A sessions as well as making it available through iTunes, Video on Demand, Netflix, and recently DVD and Blu-Ray. Be forewarned, Red State is not a comedy. Smith steps out of his comfort zone with a film that drifts into the genres of horror and thriller.

Red State begins a lot like a typical Kevin Smith flick with three horny, high school boys graphically discussing sex. Thanks to the internet, Travis (Michael Angarano), Jarod (Kyle Gallner), and Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun) have reached out to an older woman who wants to have a gangbang with them. That woman turns out to be Sarah Cooper (Melissa Leo), the daughter of Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), leader of a fanatical religious group known as the Five Points Church. The Church has become infamous within their small Midwest community for protesting at funerals and their unwavering hatred of homosexuals. They have lured the teens to their compound and plan to murder them on their altar.

After one of his deputies is killed, the local sheriff (Stephen Root) calls for assistance from the government. Special Agent Keenan (John Goodman) is sent in with an ATF strike force to negotiate the surrender of the Five Pointers. He is shocked when his superiors order a full raid and permission to use deadly force having labeled the zealots as domestic terrorists.

Red State is a drastic departure for Kevin Smith. Not just in terms of subject matter, but in regards to his directorial style. By his own admission, Smith is not a visual filmmaker, preferring to tell his stories through dialogue rather than complex camera movements or ornate shot compositions. Red State is nothing like the visually static films of Smith's past. It has a gritty and dirty look to it with a color palette that runs towards the brown and the gray. As the situation descends into a violent Waco-esque shootout, Smith and cinematographer Dave Klein employ a frantic camera style, but avoid the nauseating shaky cam that has plagued action sequences in this post-Jason Bourne era.

Kevin Smith's way with words is on full display here as Red State is dotted with several clever exchanges including one (in regards to the Coopers' massive cross) between Agent Keenan and his right-hand man played by Kevin Pollak.

"How much do you think a cross like that costs?"
"In dollars or common sense?"

Smith toys with the audience by shifting perspectives from the boys to the religious nuts to the ATF agents. And none of them are particularly sympathetic. The only character that elicits any empathy is Sarah's daughter, Cheyenne (Kerry Bishé), who desperately tries to reason with the ATF and her own family to safeguard the lives of the young children in the compound.

The lack of a strong protagonist isn't a problem though. The problem comes from a litany of characters that are thinly sketched. It's also topped with a rushed plot that never delves any deeper and relies too much on convenience. At first, Keenan reluctantly follows orders to storm the church with guns blazing while his tactical commander adamantly opposes. Later, their roles are switched on a dime with the commander gunning down unarmed people without remorse.

Red State is a sharp stab to the eye of the religious right and an unchecked, authoritarian government. This is a picture marked by strong performances from Melissa Leo, John Goodman and character actors like Kevin Pollak and Stephen Root. However, the film is commanded by a mesmerizing and chilling turn by Michael Parks. Yet, that alone isn't enough to make Red State anything more than a bold, but flawed, experiment.

Rating: ** (*****)

The Fighter

The Fighter - Dir. David O. Russell (2010)

The story of the underdog boxer on the road to the championship has been told countless times dating all the way back to 1931's The Champ, starring Wallace Beery. The Fighter certainly has a lot in common with the iconic Rocky.

Both films feature blue-collar heroes, the former has Rocky Balboa from Philadelphia, the latter focuses on "Irish" Micky Ward from Lowell, MA. Rocky forged through adversity with the love of pet shop clerk, Adrian, while Ward had the feisty Charlene, played by the equally feisty Amy Adams. One of the roadblocks set in Rocky's path was his alcoholic brother-in-law, Paulie. Ward has to deal with a domineering mother and his half-brother, Dickie Eklund, whose crack addiction derailed his own boxing career. Eklund's descent into drugs became the centerpiece for an HBO documentary about crack. That very same documentary forms a framing device for The Fighter.

The picture opens with Eklund (Christian Bale) talking to the camera. He has deluded himself and others into believing the movie is about his comeback to the world of boxing. Eklund's career highlight was a bout against Sugar Ray Leonard in which Eklund knocked down (not out, just down) the world renowned pugilist. Nowadays, he works as the trainer for his younger brother Ward (Mark Wahlberg) along with their mother, Alice (Melissa Leo), who serves as Ward's manager. Alice is also the mother of seven shrill daughters (one of whom is played by Conan O'Brien's sister) by way of two different men. It is clear to anyone that Ward is being held back by familial ties. Alice hardly has the business acumen she claims she has to successfully guide her son's career. Meanwhile, Dickie frequently misses training sessions while getting high at a local crack house.

Ward's fortunes change when he meets Charlene, who is in the same On the Waterfront 'I coulda been a contender' territory. She is a former high jumper and college dropout working a go-nowhere job as a bartender. Charlene gives Ward the strength to distance himself from his troubled family and give his career a shot in the arm.

The Fighter isn't solely about boxing. No, the sport serves as a backdrop for the story of two men who must find the confidence to take control of their own lives. While Walhberg's dramatic chops can be a bit dodgy at times, he is effective here in portraying Ward as a working class schlub on the verge of success. This shouldn't be surprising as it’s a role Walhberg has played before in Invincible and even Rock Star and Boogie Nights. However, his co-star, Christian Bale, is receiving the lion's share of attention for his performance as Dickie Eklund. Bale certainly has the showier role, which required him to look emaciated and don false rotted teeth to play the drug addled Dickie. Bale is noticeably gaunt, but it is nowhere near his frighteningly, shriveled appearance in The Machinist. He's certainly dynamic whenever he appears on screen, full of bravado and nervous energy. Not to be overlooked are Melissa Leo and Amy Adams who provide a welcome female touch to an otherwise male-dominated film. Leo touches upon numerous emotions as the white trash matriarch of the Ward/Eklund brood while Adams is scrappy enough to stand toe-to-toe with their haggle of harpy sisters.

The cast also includes Jack McGee as Alice's henpecked husband, George, and Ward's real-life trainer, Mickey O'Keefe as himself.

The Fighter also serves as something of a comeback for director David O. Russell. The film was originally slated to be directed by Darren Aronofsky and would have served as a fitting complimentary piece to The Wrestler. Aronofsky eventually dropped out and Russell (who first worked with Walhberg on Three Kings) stepped in. Russell's last film to hit theaters was 2004's I Heart Huckabee's, which flopped at the box office and received mixed reviews. His next project, Nailed, became infamous as a troubled production that will likely never see the light of day. As the man behind the camera, Russell proves he still has the chops to helm a compelling film. Russell captures the dramatic moments of The Fighter while adding a comedic touch to all the right moments, including the sly use of "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake as Ward's entrance music. The boxing sequences are also dynamic with a unique montage set to The Heavy's "How Do You Like Me Now?" The montage comprises of Raging Bull-style close-ups of slow motion fists smashing into sweaty drenched faces. The major fights were painstakingly recreated using the original bouts as the basis. Russell gathered the actual technical teams from the HBO fight night matches and shot with the same cameras giving the scenes a pixilated video quality.

Sports movies and romantic comedies generally stick most rigidly to formula than any other genre. Sometimes it's not about telling new stories, but telling stories well. By those standards, The Fighter gets an easy recommendation.

Rating: *** (*****)

Conviction

Conviction - Dir. Tony Goldwyn (2010)

Literary adaptations and true-life stories are par for the course come awards season. Conviction falls into the latter category.

Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell star as siblings, Betty Anne and Kenny Waters, who live in Ayers, Massachusetts. As kids they grew up with a neglectful mother, spent much of their childhood stealing candy from the grocery store and breaking into people's houses. They were eventually split apart and put into foster care, but remained devoted to each other. Even when Kenny becomes a husband and father, he doesn't straighten up. While partying with his family, Kenny picks a fight with a guy, to everyone's consternation, and then puts them back at ease with an impromptu strip show.

The story really begins in 1981 when a neighbor woman is brutally murdered. As the local troublemaker, Kenny is picked up by the cops, questioned, and released. Two years later, he is arrested for the killing. Kenny maintains his innocence. It seems his only crime was being a smartass to the police and, in particular, the investigating officer, Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo). Kenny's wife (Clea DuVall) and ex-girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) give damning testimony and he is sentenced to life in prison.

Betty Anne spends the next decade earning a GED, Bachelor's, and a degree in law in order to defend her brother. Throughout that time, she attempts to maintain a delicate balance being a mother, wife, student, and crusader while working as a bartender at night. Her unwavering determination costs her a marriage as well as custody of her sons. However, Betty Anne's hard work pays off due to advances in DNA evidence during the early-90's. She also receives help along the way from Minnie Driver as a law school friend and Peter Gallagher as a high-powered New York attorney.

Hilary Swank really excels at portraying these types of blue-collar characters having already won two Oscars for Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby. It's not the most memorable performance of the year, but it's the exact type of inspirational role that the Academy loves. Sam Rockwell is probably my favorite actor working today and he is great in Conviction. Rockwell arms Kenny Waters with a disarming charm that makes you overlook his shortcomings. But, that inner spirit is withered away from years of false imprisonment. Melissa Leo is solid as the cop who railroads Kenny while Juliette Lewis tends to overact as a walking white trash nightmare. The acting is what really lifts the film above the trappings of a made-for-TV movie of the week.

Director Tony Goldwin and screenwriter Pamela Gray (who previously worked together on the romantic drama A Walk on the Moon) take an incredible real life story and tell it in a conventional manner. The plot sticks to a basic screenwriting formula with setbacks that seem to come at predetermined intervals. For most moviegoers, this will be a negligible critique.

Conviction ends with a final denouement that gives us an update of what happened to the main characters. The real Betty Anne Waters continues to work with the Innocence Project to clear the wrongly convicted. Not mentioned is the tragic fate of Kenny Waters who died from an accidental fall only six months after being released from prison.

Rating: **

Everybody's Fine

Everybody's Fine - Dir. Kirk Jones (2009)


Daniel Day-Lewis took on the Marcello Mastroianni role in Nine, a musical based on Fellini’s 8 ½, which I recently reviewed. Here, it is Robert DeNiro’s turn to take on Mastroianni’s part in Everybody’s Fine, a remake of a 1990 Italian film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso). DeNiro plays Frank Goode, a retired laborer, who manufactured the coating that wrapped around the telephone wires strung across the state of New York. Goode suffers from health problems due to exposure to the toxic ingredients, but he has no regrets. He did it all to provide his children with the best life possible. Frank, a widower, eagerly anticipates the arrival of his kids, who he hasn’t seen since the funeral, for Thanksgiving dinner. However, the children cancel at the last minute.

Frank figures if they won’t come to him, he’ll come to them. Against his doctor’s advice, Frank travels by train and bus to visit his offspring spread across the country. His first stop is to New York City where his son David, an artist, isn’t at home in his apartment close to an art gallery where his work is displayed. Frank heads to Chicago to see his eldest daughter Amy (Kate Beckinsale), an ad executive living in a modern home with her husband and son. In Denver, Frank visits Robert (Sam Rockwell), a supposed symphony conductor who turns out to only be a percussionist. In Las Vegas, Frank sees Rosie (Drew Barrymore), a dancer living in an affluent apartment looking over the strip.

With each subsequent visit, Frank senses that the Goode clan is keeping secrets from him, especially about David’s whereabouts. Mom was the one they could open up to while dad was always the stern taskmaster. Even into adulthood, they are still the little kids afraid of disappointing their father.

It’s refreshing to see DeNiro in a role where he’s not an intense mobster or a hard-nosed cop. DeNiro is allowed to simply be DeNiro here. The same goes for Drew Barrymore who is her usual bright, perky self. Sam Rockwell provides one of the film’s best performances and Kate Beckinsale does just fine. However, I never once bought them as a family because they didn’t look like they were related one bit. They looked like a bunch of movie stars we’re supposed to believe are related. This isn’t the only inauthentic element of Everybody’s Fine. I don’t mean the badly Photoshopped poster. The story is just so trite and schmaltzy while Kirk Jones directs it like a Lifetime movie of the week. The worst offense comes in the climax when Frank (after suffering a heart attack) has a dream where he has a backyard BBQ with David, Robert, Amy, and Rosie as kids. All his revealed then the clouds turn gray and rain pours down in melodramatic fashion.

Everybody’s Fine is a shallow film masquerading as one with deeper meaning.

Rating: **

Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill - Dir. Jon Avnet (2008)


Two of the most celebrated actors ever, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, both starred in The Godfather, Part II, but they wouldn’t appear together on-screen until Heat. Even then, they spent most of the film apart as adversaries. In Righteous Kill, DeNiro and Pacino share the majority of screen time together as New York City police detectives Turk and Rooster. The veteran partners investigate a series of vigilante murders targeting criminals who have escaped justice.

You’d think putting DeNiro and Pacino together on screen would easily equal electricity. It doesn’t, at least, not here. Both actors are given bland roles that could have easily gone to any other performer. They essentially sleepwalk through the film with as minimal amount of charisma as will do. Righteous Kill features a talented supporting cast to back them up, all of whom are wasted in one-dimensional roles. Carla Gugino appears as Turk’s girlfriend, a fellow officer into rough sex, a character reeking of tackiness and misogyny. Melissa Leo, so incredible in Frozen River, appears briefly in a throwaway role as a grieving mother.

The script was unoriginal and ridiculously predictable. The film opens with a video taped confession from DeNiro’s character admitting to the murders. These confessions are played throughout the film and hammered into our heads so many times; it becomes blatantly obvious he didn’t do it. The weak plot comes as a shock considering it was written by Russell Gewirtz who penned Inside Man, one of my favorite films from 2006. I suppose being directed by the man behind 88 Minutes canceled that out.

2008 was the year of the crappy cop movie thanks to stinkers like this, Street Kings and Pride and Glory. You’d be better served turning on any random episode of The Shield.

Rating: * 1/2

Frozen River

Frozen River - Dir. Courtney Hunt (2008)


It wasn’t that long ago that Hollywood was concerning itself with the Bush administration and the war on terror. Nearly all of those films were critical and financial failures. With the economy going down the toilets, it’s not much of a surprise that the movie industry has turned its eye towards the disenfranchised. Critics have gladly coined the phrase, ‘new American realism,’ as the label de jour in regards to the new movement defined by films such as Shotgun Stories and Snow Angels. 2008 saw a deluge of pictures with similar themes with the best of which being Chop Shop, The Visitor, Wendy and Lucy, and Frozen River.

First-time filmmaker Courtney Hunt expanded Frozen River from a short film she made and scored in a big way, winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Hunt’s leading lady, Melissa Leo, was also equally lauded for her performance, receiving nominations at the Oscars and SAGs and a win at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Leo plays Ray Eddy, a struggling mom living in rural upstate New York near the Canadian border. She works a menial part-time job at a dollar store, has two sons and feeds them popcorn and Tang because that’s all she can afford. Her wants are simple, a new double-wide trailer with better insulation. However, Ray’s husband has absconded with the down payment and disappeared, likely to gamble away his wife’s hard-earned savings. Searching more for her husband’s car rather than the man himself, Ray runs into Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), a Native American living on the Mohawk reservation. She’s something of an outcast to both the whites and her own people. Like Ray, Lila has had a rough go of it, partly due to circumstances and partly due to her own foolish choices. Her husband is dead and her mother-in-law has custody of her son. She’s near-sighted and too stubborn to get glasses. She can’t hold down a job either because of that same stubbornness. Lila ropes Ray into smuggling illegal immigrants out of Canada across the frozen St. Lawrence River which has iced over into a makeshift road. It’s clear to anyone that these immigrants only have sweatshops and brothels in their future, but neither Ray nor Lila seem to know or care. But, they’re willing to do anything for their kids.

Leo definitely earned the accolades she was showered with. Her portrayal of Ray Eddy is a female equivalent to Mickey Rourke’s Randy the Ram and I mean that in the nicest way possible. The craggily lines eroded across her face belying her world-weary desperation. While Leo got the lion’s share of attention, Misty Upham’s performance shouldn’t be ignored as she turns us around on a character that should have been entirely unsympathetic. The rest of the cast is filled with unknowns though some might recognize character actor Mark Boone Junior from Memento and Batman Begins.

For the first two acts, Frozen River is an intimate character study due to the documentary style shooting of Hunt that places us right into the lives of people who’ve fallen through the cracks. The film transforms into a taut thriller in the third act as Ray and Lila go for the last, big score. Frozen River is one of those rare films that lacks the artifices present in other productions and makes you forget you’re watching a movie.

Rating: *** 1/2