I, Frankenstein

I, Frankenstein - Dir. Stuart Beattie (2014)

Frankenstein's Monster has gone through numerous permutations in the centuries since he made his first appearance in Mary Shelley's seminal work of gothic fiction, first published in 1818. It's doubtful that Shelley ever imagined her most famous creation as a matinee idol action hero. That's just how the creature has been re-imagined in I, Frankenstein, a movie that sprung from the mind of actor/writer Kevin Grevioux, who conceived the idea as a film and graphic novel. The physically imposing thespian also helped develop the Underworld franchise and the two could easily exist in the same universe. In fact, an earlier draft of the screenplay contained references to the Underworld series.

I, Frankenstein picks up right where the novel ended. In a fit of rage, the Monster (Aaron Eckhart) has murdered Dr. Victor Frankenstein's fiancée. Seeking vengeance, the Doctor attempts to hunt down his creation, only to succumb to the elements. The creature buries his "father" in the Frankenstein family cemetery when he is attacked by a group of demons. He is rescued by gargoyle warriors who take him to Leonore (Miranda Otto), queen of the Gargoyle Order. Leonore renames the Monster as Adam and explains the gargoyles were created by the Archangel Michael to defend the Earth from the minions of Hell. Although her lieutenant Gideon (Jai Courtney) wants to destroy Adam, Leonore asks him to join their cause, an offer Adam promptly rejects.

For nearly 200 years, Adam is hunted by the demons until he finally decides to turn the tables. As it turns out, Prince Naberius (Bill Nighy), one of the original fallen angels alongside Lucifer, has been searching for the secret to reanimating the dead. The rules of I, Frankenstein state that demons cannot be killed, but merely "descended," sent back to Hell in a ball of flame. Their only ticket to return is by possessing a body without a soul and only Adam has no soul. Hence, Naberius has been collecting corpses for centuries to prepare for the eventual return of his brimstone brethren. To assist in this endeavor, Naberius, under the guise of businessman Charles Wessex, has hired brilliant electro-physicist Dr. Terra Wade (Yvonne Strahovski) to assist in discovering a method to revive the dead.

I, Frankenstein is every bit as ludicrous as it sounds. Not only do demons morph their faces and burst into flame ala vampires on Buffy, their angelic counterparts "ascend." In other words, they rise to the heavens in a beam of blue light. Yet, this war has remained secret throughout the history of mankind. You'd think someone would have photographed all those fireballs and beams of light from the sky on their iPhone. Not that it matters, except for a lone police officer, ordinary humans appear to be nearly nonexistent in this world. And don't ask how Naberius's corpse collection hasn't rotted away by now. Were they sealed in Mylar?

Aaron Eckhart has amassed a varied filmography from indie flicks like In the Company of Men and Thank You For Smoking to blockbusters such as The Dark Knight and Battle: Los Angeles. He certainly has the good looks and strong chin to be an action hero, but that's not what you're looking for in Frankenstein's Monster. Eckhart doesn't come close to resembling a being stitched together from different body parts. At least, Billy Nighy appears to be having fun chewing the scenery in the manner of a modern day Peter Cushing.

Director Stuart Beattie handles the action scenes competently enough, but your brain will have long checked out after being exposed to so much inane dialogue and nonsensical plot points. Or maybe it’s the tiresome post-Matrix aesthetics that will bore you. Either way I, Frankenstein is a decayed corpse beyond the reanimating abilities of Victor Frankenstein, Herbert West, and Ra's al Ghul.

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: ** (*****)

Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Hole - Dir. John Cameron Mitchell (2010)

”God had to take her. He needed another angel.”
“Why didn’t he just make one…another angel. I mean, he’s God after all.”

Rabbit Hole deals with the unimaginable pain that comes from the death of one’s child. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire and its original Broadway production starred John Slattery and Cynthia Nixon. Nicole Kidman (who also served as producer) and Aaron Eckhart take over the roles of Becca and Howie, a married couple still reeling from the loss of their 4-year old son, Danny. The boy ran into the street to chase the family dog when he was struck by a car.

Howie and Becca slip into empty routine to put on a mask of normalcy, but each one is on a completely different wavelength when it comes to handling their sorrow. Becca donates all of her child’s clothes to charity and wishes to sell the house. Any little reminder is too much to bear. Howie clings to those same reminders and obsesses over one in particular, a short video recorded on his cell phone. He dutifully attends group therapy sessions, but finds no solace while Becca in these touchy-feely pity parties. Unable to communicate with his wife, Howie grows closer to Gaby (Sandra Oh), a member of the group whose own marriage seems to mirror the problems of the protagonists. Meanwhile, Becca enters into an oddly comforting confrontation with Jason (Miles Teller), the teenage driver who accidentally killed Danny. Jason draws upon his part in the tragedy (along with his experiences with an absentee father) to create a comic book involving wormholes and parallel universes.

Rabbit Hole was directed for the screen by an unlikely choice in John Cameron Mitchell, known more for flamboyant pictures like Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the art-porn Shortbus. Mitchell gives the film a somber tone without devolving into soap opera melodrama. Yet, Mitchell cannot hide the stage-y nature of the piece. Rabbit Hole sometimes feels less like a film and more like an actors’ showcase. As such, the performances are strong and make up for the lack of a cinematic feel.

Nicole Kidman (looking less plastic than usual) gives one of her best performances in years as a grieving mother filled with sorrow and misplaced anger. She snaps at her own husband, her pregnant and irresponsible sister (Tammy Blanchard), and another mother at the supermarket. She also offers one of the film’s highlights, a darkly comic moment responding to a mournful parents’ comfort in God. Dianne Wiest co-stars as Becca’s mother, Nat, who is still trying to come to grips with the death of her own son from a drug overdose years ago. It’s a performance largely forgotten during awards season, one that doesn’t dip into buckets of tears or histrionics. Yet, Wiest is there to convey the sense that sorrow never goes away and that “bearable” is likely the best anyone can do.

Rabbit Hole isn’t an entirely successful film. It is dry drama, but can be poignant and powerful at times.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Battle: Los Angeles

Battle: Los Angeles - Dir. Jonathan Liebesman (2011)

Battle: Los Angeles takes the sci-fi spectacle of alien invasion movies like Independence Day and War of the Worlds and combines it with the gritty realism of combat films like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down.

Battle: LA opens promisingly enough as the invasion is in full force and Earth's armies are in disarray. Cities have fallen and casualties are numerous. Then, the rug gets pulled out from under the audience. Yes, this is one of those movies that starts in the middle of the story, and then takes you back to the beginning in order to slowly introduce the main characters. Not the best example, but Predators knew how to do it right. Don't bother with a lengthy prologue; just drop the characters (and the audience) right into the thick of things. Flesh the characters (however thin) out through their actions while moving the story forward, rather than stopping it dead for extended dialogue scenes. But, I digress.

Aaron Eckhart is SSgt. Michael Nantz, who is putting in for retirement following a disastrous tour in the Middle East when he lost all the Marines under his command. That retirement is nixed when meteorites begin raining down on Earth. Nantz is assigned to a platoon out of Camp Pendleton and headed up by Lt. Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez), a fresh face straight out of officer school. The Marines initially believe they are to assist with emergency efforts. They are horrified when news footage shows alien forces laying waste to the beaches of Santa Monica.

The platoon are dropped into L.A. and tasked with rescuing any civilians taking shelter inside a nearby police precinct house. Their group takes heavy losses during an alien ambush and barely makes it to the police station. Along the way, they join up with a ragtag group of survivors from other military branches, including Air Force Tech Sgt. Elena Santos (Michelle Rodriguez). Inside the building, they find only two orphaned children, Joe Rincon (Michael Pena) and his son Hector (Bryce Cass), and a veterinarian (Bridget Moynahan).

I'd describe the Marines in greater detail, but I honestly couldn't remember anything specific about most of them. The platoon is a diverse mix of soldiers from many backgrounds, including a Nigerian medic and another Marine (played by pop singer Ne-Yo) nicknamed Specs because of his thick black-rimmed glasses. There's a fellow from Jersey, a confident sharpshooter, a rookie who has yet to see combat, and Michelle Rodriguez in the Michelle Rodriguez role. I'm surprised they didn't trot out the guy who dies five minutes after showing everyone a picture of his girl back home. One soldier suffers from post-traumatic stress, but aside from an early scene in his psychiatrist's office, it never comes up again probably because it was redundant of Nantz's subplot.

Making the characters further indistinguishable is the fact they are dressed in full combat gear along with the heavy use of handheld cameras. Luckily, the battle scenes aren't as nauseating as some of Paul Greengrass's work. I've gotten use to seeing shaky camera work for action sequences, but not for ordinary dialogue scenes. When Nantz speaks to his CO, the camera bobs and weaves to dizzying effect.

Unable to generate any genuine emotion, the filmmakers go for cheap tactics such as throwing children off bridges and cutting to close-ups of their crying faces whenever possible. The clichéd characters speak in a continuous stream of clichés along the lines of, "Don't die on me now, man," "Give this to my wife…," "Nobody gets left behind," "America, f**k yeah!" In the end, Eckhart delivers a stirring speech to rally the men and it's a credit to the actor he was able to lift it above the inherent pandering jingoism. With his good looks and cleft chin, Eckhart is suitably cast as the all-American G.I. Joe.

Battle: Los Angeles is on par with watching someone play Call of Duty for two hours with the volume on full blast. If you're the forgiving sort who is only in it for cool special effects and lots of explosions, Battle: Los Angeles will offer you the thrills of a summer blockbuster three months early.

Rating: ** (*****)

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight - Dir. Christopher Nolan (2008)


"How 'bout a magic trick?"

Am I allowed to call The Dark Knight, the Citizen Kane of comic book movies? Well, I don’t care because I am calling it that.

It's hard to even categorize the film as just a straight superhero movie. The tone and atmosphere is more in line with crime epics like Heat, The Departed, or The Untouchables. The opening bank robbery feels like a sequence taken directly from a Michael Mann movie. And with a runtime of over 2 and a half hours, The Dark Knight is the Bat-epic we've been waiting for. Christopher Nolan wastes no time in getting things started. We hit the ground running and Dark Knight grabs a firm hold of our short hairs and never lets up its grip.

While this may be a Batman movie, the true stealer of the show is The Joker. The greatest supervillain of all time is played to perfection by the late-Heath Ledger. To compare him to Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange or Hannibal Lecter would be a gross understatement of the character. To compare him to Jack Nicholson would also be a disservice. Jack Nicholson's Joker was fun and instantly quotable. Yet, he was always just Jack Nicholson in white make-up doing Jack Nicholson shtick. Heath disappears into the role and not just because of costuming or make-up. His mannerisms and inflections ARE those of the Joker. Believe me, I was calling Oscar buzz long before anybody else. As soon as I heard that first Joker line in the original teaser last year, I knew Heath was going to do something special. I hope he gets some recognition during awards season and not just in a morbid posthumous way. If Johnny Depp can get an Oscar nomination for his fey Keith Richards act, Heath can get one for his Clown Prince of Crime.

Kudos as well to the writing team for crafting one of the most unique antagonists in cinematic history. Comic fans will see the influence from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke and Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum. We don't get a repeat of Batman Begins. This is not The Joker Begins. There is no protracted origin sequence. No flashbacks, no exposition, no explanation of 'Why?' in regards to the Joker. He just IS. The Joker is not someone we can ever hope to understand. He's no mere mobster in search of money and power. He's no megalomaniac bent on world conquest. This Joker is a simple man who only wants to call the world on all its bullshit. He may not meticulously organize his evil plans, but he does come up with some incredibly twisted and innovative schemes. It is so fascinating to watch a villain who is several steps ahead of the heroes and has them completely outmatched.

Weaved into the tapestry is the rise and fall of Harvey Dent, the golden boy savior of Gotham City. Anybody with some familiarity with the Bat-Universe knows Dent's ultimate fate. At first, he is everything Batman cannot be only to become everything that Batman shouldn't be. Whereas the Joker is Batman's complete opposite in terms of order vs. chaos. Dent becomes Batman's opposite in the other extreme, corrupting his ideals about justice and meting out punishment with the flip of a coin. Both suffer tremendous tragedy, but Batman is driven by his tragedy while Dent succumbs to it. Eckhart gives a fine performance and his shared scenes with the Joker are some of the best in the film.

The best thing that Nolan has brought to his reinvigorated Bat-Franchise is the A-list cast. Many of them have returned for the sequel. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are their usual dependable selves, bringing gravitas and a touch of humor to their scenes. Gary Oldman is that rare breed of actor that is a total chameleon. Like Heath, Oldman melts right into the role of Jim Gordon. Batman may be the title character and Joker may get all the attention, but Oldman’s Gordon is the heart of the film. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a definite upgrade from Katie Holmes. Of course, how can you ignore Christian Bale. He's the best Batman ever, even if his character doesn't get a chance to grow much in the sequel. Bale also does a great job with his foppish Bruce Wayne routine. The growling Bat-voice was overdone though, but that's the fault of post-production.

This being a blockbuster summer flick, I can't forget about the action sequences. The Hong Kong sequence is gorgeous and the finale is pure awesomeness. The car chase through the streets is another excellent set piece. The Bat-Pod is cool and used just right without ever coming off as a blatant excuse for a toy. My only beef would be some of the fight scenes as I'm not a fan of Nolan's quick cut editing. If a fight breaks out, I want to be able to see the fight and not just a series of close-ups of people's fists and feet.

Nolan and company have topped themselves creating that rare sequel that blows the original right out of the water. This is the best comic book adaptation ever and my pick for best film of 2008.

Rating: **** 1/2