The World's End

The World's End - Dir. Edgar Wright (2013)

Shaun of the Dead is widely considered to be one of the best zombie movies of the modern era. Yet, it also works as a great romantic comedy that just happens to have zombies in it. Hot Fuzz wasn't just a clever send-up of overblown action movies; it could also be enjoyed as a straight up action flick with car chases and stylish gunplay. Now, writer/director Edgar Wright teams with actors Simon Pegg (who co-wrote the screenplay) and Nick Frost once more to cap off his Cornetto Trilogywith The World's End. Once again, Wright isn't content to play around in one genre. The World's End is a wonderful mixture of drama, comedy, sci-fi, and 70's paranoia cinema along the lines of The Wicker Man or Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Andy Knightley (Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman), and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) were the best of friends while growing up in the small town of Newton Haven. The glue that held the clique together was Gary King (Pegg), a real force of nature whose thirst for life was infectious. Time passed and everyone grew apart. They all left Newton Haven to become working professionals with the exception of Gary King, who hasn't changed at all in the past two decades. Unsatisfied with adulthood, Gary longs to relive the glory of his youth and the time he almost completed the "Golden Mile," an epic pub crawl through a dozen bars. In spite of bad blood between Gary and Andy, the gang gets back together to finish the Golden Mile, but find out the hard way that sometimes you can't go home again.

The World's End deftly explores various themes of disillusionment and middle-age malaise. While the characters appear to be successful, they aren't entirely happy. The meek Peter is the most obvious answer. He's clearly buckling under the pressure of working for his father-in-law and still harboring the effects of childhood bullying. Steven still pines for his unrequited love, Sam (Rosamund Pike), Oliver's younger sister who had a one-time fling with Gary in a men's room. Gary has had tremendous difficulty battling his addictions, which he masks underneath layers of braggadocio. There's also an aura of melancholy throughout the movie stemming from how much Newton Haven has changed since the protagonists moved away. The small town charm has vanished and been replaced by corporatized homogeny, a phenomenon sharply referred to as "Starbucking." That sense of nostalgia is wonderfully conveyed through a grainy prologue shot in 16mm of the gang in their high school days and a soundtrack of 90's Britpop (Primal Scream, The Stone Roses, etc.). Alone, these plot threads would have been more than enough to craft a satisfying dramedy. However, Wright throws in an additional twist that kicks The World's End onto a whole other level.

Nobody in Newtown Haven seems to remember the great Gary King. Has he really changed that much? No, you see, it's because the entire town has been taken over by robot duplicates from outer space. This allows Wright to stage several bar brawls infused with the type of choreography generally reserved for Hong Kong action films. Highlighted by fluid camera movements, the fights are innovative without forgetting that these are ordinary blokes engaging in fisticuffs. This is such a slick and gorgeously shot film, you'd never believe it was made with a budget of only $20 million.

The performances are strong all around, but Pegg and Frost are easily the highlights of The World's End. In previous outings, Pegg has played the straight man to Frost's overgrown man-child. Here, the dynamic has been flipped to fantastic results with Pegg injecting a surprising amount of pathos to the character. He probably won't get a lot of recognition during awards season, which would be a shame. As Gary, Pegg manages to walk a thin line between being a lovable scoundrel and a delusional jerk. If The World's End has any weak spots, one would be that Rosamund Pike, the only significant female in the picture, deserved more screen time along with Pierce Brosnan, who makes only a brief cameo.

Edgar Wright is one of the most exciting and original directors working in movies today. The energy and passion that he brings to his films is undeniable. The World's End is another cinematic triumph and one of the best pictures of 2013.

Rating: *** ½ (*****)

The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Legacy - Dir. Tony Gilroy (2012)

Continuing a franchise without its lead actor isn't always a wise choice, most of the time the decision yields nothing more than a forgettable piece of direct-to-video cinema. But, Universal is treating its Bourne series like gold since the original trilogy raked in close to a billion dollars in box office revenue. The studio kicked in a big budget and signed up an A-list cast to compensate for the loss of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass.

Despite its troubled production, The Bourne Identity was a hit and updated the spy genre into a gritty, real world setting. The film's success certainly played a role in rebooting the Bond franchise since Die Another Day (which also came out in 2002) was derided for its overuse of CGI and silly contrivances like invisible cars. Neither Damon nor Greengrass were that keen on returning for a fourth picture so the directorial reins were given to Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote the script with his brother, Dan. Rather than rebooting the series or ignoring the events of the previous films, The Bourne Legacy is a side-quel that takes place simultaneous to The Bourne Ultimatum.

In case you missed it, Jason Bourne is running roughshod in Manhattan and threatening to expose Treadstone, a CIA black ops program involving illegal activities and assassinations. Retired Col. Eric Byer (Edward Norton) is the shadowy government official in charge of all the various cloak and dagger operations, including Treadstone's sister program, Operation Outcome. In order to protect themselves, Byer orders the elimination of Outcome's assets and anyone else who may have damaging knowledge. This leads us to one of their best and brightest, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), who narrowly escapes a UAV while training in the Alaskan wilderness. Unlike the psychological manipulation of Treadstone, Outcome utilizes genetic engineering to gift its foot soldiers with enhanced abilities, both physical and mental. Think of a modern day Captain America with the side effect of requiring regular doses of pills (chems) to keep the enhancements permanent.

After losing his supply of chems, Cross seeks the aid of Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), who has also escaped an attempt on her life. One of her co-workers (Zeljko Ivanek) is given the Manchurian Candidate treatment and coldly guns down his colleagues with Dr. Shearing the only survivor. The globetrotting adventure cuts between the boardrooms and control centers of the CIA to the streets of Manila as Cross and Dr. Shearing search for the drugs our hero desperately needs.

Tony Gilroy has done a seamless job weaving The Bourne Legacy into the mythos that was previously created. Gilroy's directorial style is a meshing of Limon's and Greengrass's. Thankfully, Gilroy's shaky cam isn't as nauseating. The workplace shooting is one of the most effective sequences in the film. It would be chilling enough without the context of current events. The other action scenes are pulled off in gripping manner. The opener will recall The Grey as Cross evades a hungry wolf and a missile strike. Another tense set piece sees Cross rescuing Dr. Shearing in her remote home from a CIA kill squad. The most exciting and frenetic action is reserved for the third act as the protagonists run along the rooftops and crowded streets of the Philippines.

Gilroy falters in the actual story. Those who haven't seen the earlier Bourne films will be lost as much of the first act almost recaps the major plot points of Ultimatum in an effort to establish the timeline for Legacy. We get brief cameos from familiar faces like Scott Glenn, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Albert Finney, and Corey Johnson while introducing new characters such as Norton's Col. Byer and Stacy Keach as the latest in a long line of gravelly voiced authoritarians. There is also a lot of exposition and techno-babble about the intricacies of Outcome. The script is at its weakest when attempting to sketch out the lead characters.

Jeremy Renner is more than capable of succeeding Matt Damon. He brings the same quiet intensity to the role of Aaron Cross as he did to his conflicted bomb diffuser in The Hurt Locker. Unfortunately, his motivations aren't as interesting as Jason Bourne's. Bourne was all about discovering his true identity and finding redemption when he learns he wasn't that nice of a guy, sort of a serious take on the Total Recall concept. Bourne is also concerned with bringing his puppet masters to justice. Here, Cross knows exactly who he is and is primarily occupied with self-preservation. He is motivated by finding more meds. In a take on Flowers for Algernon, we learn that Cross dreads what will happen should he lose his mental faculties. Before joining Outcome, his IQ was so low that his army recruiter had to fudge the numbers to meet minimum requirements. This is an intriguing twist that is never fully developed. The same can be said for Dr. Shearing. Rachel Weisz gives a strong performance, but the character is merely the damsel in distress. She's there to be rescued by the hero, then tagalong for the ride until they fall in love. The most fascinating element about Shearing is her participation in the grey area of human experimentation. She seems willfully ignorant about the sinister implications of her work. Again, this is glanced over. The relationship between Cross and Shearing actually isn't as interesting as the brief relationship between Cross and an unnamed Outcome agent played by Oscar Issac. The agent runs a safe house on the training grounds where Cross finds respite. Isaac is reticent about opening up to the talkative Cross and both men are constantly sizing up the other in subtle fashion.

The Bourne Legacy eventually fizzles to an anticlimactic conclusion that obviously leaves room for a Cross-led sequel while leaving the door open for Damon's return. Legacy just doesn't do enough to expand the mythology of the Bourne franchise and the results are an entirely conventional action pic.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Blitz

Blitz - Dir. Elliott Lester (2011)

Jason Statham kicked off his acting career by appearing in comedic crime films for Guy Ritchie. Since then, he has grown into a recognizable action star looking to fill in the holes left by the aging heroes of the past like Arnold and Stallone. Statham has the steely gaze and charisma to make most of the B-grade scripts he picks watchable. Blitz isn't one of them.

Statham plays an uncouth, violent, and politically incorrect London police officer by the name of Detective Sgt. Tom Brant. In the opening sequence, Brant beats the crap out of a trio of muggers with a hurling stick. He gets chewed out by his superior officer for the incident as well as for other uses of excessive force. Their attentions are quickly turned to a serial killer calling himself Blitz (Aiden Gillen), who is targeting cops in sudden and brutal fashion. Brant is paired up with Inspector Porter Nash (Paddy Considione), who is looked down upon by other officers due to his homosexuality. Nash is the well-mannered and well-dressed opposite of Brant. They're the British, crime-solving Odd Couple.

Blitz plods along with a dull predictability and without an iota of suspense or surprise. In fact, the film comes off as a glorified prime time pilot with the resolution tying up loose ends in a trite manner. Pointless subplots are used to pad out the running time such as one involving a uniformed officer (Zawe Ashton) trying to kick a drug habit she picked up while undercover and a romantically interested detective (Luke Evans).

In the end, Blitz is nothing more than a forgettable knockoff of Dirty Harry.

Rating: * (*****)

Submarine

Submarine - Dir. Richard Ayoade (2011)

As long as there have been teenagers, there have been stories about mopey, love struck adolescents. Submarine follows suit with a young protagonist who seemed to have been raised on a steady diet of J.D. Salinger and French New Wave cinema.

Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is an iconoclastic boy growing up in Wales or more specifically, the suburbs of Swansea, birthplace of Dylan Thomas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. He's the type of kid who brings a briefcase to school with him. Oliver also wears a suit and tie as part of the dress uniform, but you get the feeling he'd probably still wear them if it weren't required. Oliver thinks of himself as a well-heeled and erudite individual. He listens to Serge Gainsbourg and enjoys the films of Jean-Pierre Melville, after all. Most importantly, Oliver believes he is much beloved by his peers. In the opening scene of Submarine, he stares off into the horizon and imagines what would happen to the school if he committed suicide. All the teachers and students would surely mourn his loss. The reality of the situation is that Oliver isn't particularly popular nor is he at the bottom of the food chain. Just like so many high schoolers before and after him, Oliver is simply filling a seat.

Oliver has become smitten with an equally unique classmate named Jordana Bevan (Yasmine Paige), who possesses a pageboy hairdo, a slight case of eczema, and a penchant for burning things. Oliver goes against his principals to bully an overweight girl in order to grab Jordana's attention. Though he feels remorse, the ploy works. However, the supposedly mature Oliver learns that love carries a heavy emotional weight that he is not equipped to handle. At the same time, he must try to save his parents' marriage. Oliver's father, Lloyd (Noah Taylor) is sleepwalking through life due to a crushing bout of depression. This has caused his wife, Jill (Sally Hawkins), to drift towards her ex-boyfriend, Graham Purvis (Paddie Considione), a ridiculous new age guru with a spiky mullet.

Based on a 2008 novel by Joe Dunthorne, Submarine marks the feature directorial debut of Richard Ayoade, a jack of all trades who fans of British comedy might recognize from series like The IT Crowd and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. He also helmed the "Critical Film Studies" episode of NBC's Community, which featured a fusion of Pulp Fiction and Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre. With the sure hand of a seasoned director, Ayoade has created a visually striking picture that might have come out of a time capsule. Submarine has a vintage look and a timeless feel to an era where kids passed around notes in class rather than texting on their smartphones. Ayoade also borrows liberally from the Wes Anderson playbook with his straight-on compositions, dry sense of humor, and blocky chapter titles.

Craig Roberts' most notable role to date was a brief appearance in Jane Eyre as the title character's abusive cousin. Here, Roberts shines in his first starring role in a performance that draws upon Jean-Pierre Leaud's Antoine Doinel, Jason Schwartzman's Max Fischer, and Bud Cort's Harold from Harold and Maude. Roberts' wide eyes and cherubic visage certainly bare a strong resemblance to the latter character. Neither Roberts nor Ayoade shy away from the highs and lows of teenage love. Kids can be cruel and selfish at times and Oliver Tate is no different. He tries to remake Jordana in his image by making her read Nietzsche and watch Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. Oliver eventually learns the hard way that he lacks the emotional maturity he naively thought he had. Kids can also be big balls of contradictions. As Oliver maintains an image of wisdom beyond his years, he clings to childish ways when it comes to reconciling his parents crumbling marriage.

Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor give understated, yet remarkably rich performances as Oliver's parents. The one character that sticks out like a sore thumb is Paddy Considine's psychic ninja, Graham Purvis. He's a cartoon character who would be fit in more at a Kajagoogoo reunion concert. His silliness could be written off as exaggeration by Oliver, whose narration can be heard throughout the film.

Submarine tends to be the overly precious and needlessly quirky cinema that arthouse hipsters eat up with a spoon. If you cannot stand the genre, then Submarine is one to avoid. However, if you are able to get past the showy flourishes, you might find a touching coming-of-age story highlighted by beautiful imagery and a dry sense of humor.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)