It's been exceptionally difficult to keep up on everything there is to keep up on, both as a consumer and as someone who likes to prattle on about the things he consumes. So Kent's Week in Film is this: each week (or so) I have a spotlight movie which I write a longer thinky piece about, and then whatever else I watched that week I do a quick little summary of my thoughts. Capice? It's a busy week (with a few stragglers from last week), so let's get it happenin'...
Kent Week In Film #7:
Creed III (2023), d. Michael B. Jordan - in theatre
Rocky V (1990), d. John G. Avildsen - Crave
Luther: The Fallen Son (2023), d. - Netflix
Mackenna's Gold (1969), d. J. Lee Thompson - Silver Screen Classics
Royal Warriors (1986), d. David Chung - Criterion Channel
Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022), d. George Miller - AmazonPrime
Sunshine (2007), d. Danny Boyle - Disney+
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Creed III presents a story that wrestles with the concept of whether violence is ever the answer and seems to come out on the side of, "yeah, sometimes it is". It could have been terribly hokey in how it got to that answer, but for Adonis "Donnie" Creed (Michael B. Jordan, Fant4stic), it's about speaking to his old friend, now rival, Damian (Jonathan Majors, Devotion) in the language he understands.
A secondary, but probably better handled aspect of the film, is the failure to communicate. Whether it's regret for not staying in contact with someone, or for not conveying one's emotions, or talking about one's past, there's a lot going unsaid, and there's a damaging impact to it. Communication is key here, doubly emphasized by the appreciably ample amount of ASL used in the film. Even with multiple modes of communication, it doesn't always mean Donnie is saying what needs to be said to the people in his life.
Bianca (Tessa Thompson, Westworld) losing her hearing in the first film, the worries about their child being born deaf in the second, and Amara being a not-inconsequential part of Donnie's life in this third...these are things this series didn't have to do. It's representation that doesn't have anything to do with boxing, but this series has been committed to it, and doing so without exploitation. It's just the world these people live in and I have huge respect for that.
The draw of course is seeing two of the world's most attractive men punch each other in their beautiful, beautiful faces, and it certainly delivers on that. Jordan's first directorial effort is suitably strong, with a lot of attention paid to the fight choreography. Having just binged the first four Rocky movies for the first time, and also been quite a fan of this spin-off franchise, I'd dare say this is the best fighting of the series (though nothing tops Coogler's one shot in the first Creed). Jordan has cited anime as his inspiration for the fight sequences and he certainly captured the dynamic and dramatic visual style of the genre in live-action form.
With more than just a performance on the line Jordan's commitment here is total, putting everything into it. Majors, for his part, is fantastic, given what he's asked to do: sympathetic with a percolating seed of menace that perhaps erupts too abruptly, but Jordan as director and Majors as performer always make sure we know where Damian's mindset is at that time. He's really not hiding anything, which points to Major's incredible ability to speak text and convey subtext.
There's only a brief mention of Rocky Balboa, but not as Donnie's mentor or coach, rather it's in the context of giving an underdog, re: Damian, a shot, a callback. This film lets Adonis Creed be the star of his series without the shadow of Rocky or even Apollo loom over him. Donnie has proven himself, but also needs to learn that he truly earned what he has, it wasn't just handed to him.
I also appreciate the series using elements common to the Rocky series and equally subverting them. Donnie retiring, only to come back for a bout he has to take on is a standard. But Donnie is also the better, more devoted father and family man than Rocky, for whom fighting seemed to always come first. Donnie's relationship with Bianca is a highlight in this series, where the Rocky/Adrian relationship peaked halfway through the first film, and went steadily downhill into afterthought territory thereafter. Bianca is never gnashing her teeth or watching disapprovingly, or even exceptionally worried...she trusts her man to do his job, as he supports her equally in hers.
It's not an exceptionally deep film, but it is thoughtful and considerate, it's quite entertaining, it looks great (chalk me up as an appreciator of Jordan's third act stylistic flourishes) and it's cohesive with the series. Hard not to like, and I do. A lot.
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The film begins with Rocky having retired from boxing (yet again), with the threat of irreparable damage should he continue to fight (yet again). Oh, and he's broke, again. The first act of this movie is complete feels-like-we've-been-here-before vibes (and we have, in Rocky II). So instead of fighting ol' Rock embraces his family, spending time with Adrian and Robert and hanging out at the gym, where he reminisces about ol' Mick in faked "cut scenes" from prior movies introducing a new and integral-to-this-movie hand-me-down good luck charm.
Rocky agrees to manage/train a new dumb kid from Oklahoma (get this, his name is Tommy Gunn) who soon supplants Robert (and Adrian, and Paulie) as his number one guy, especially since Rocky lives vicariously through him and his fights. But there's an unscrupulous fight promoter of Don King's ilk (but let's be clear for legal reasons, not Don King) who is keen to get Rocky to fight again and thus steals Rocky's overeager golden boy, which wounds Rocky greatly. So Rocky starts spending time with his family again, until Tommy for some reason challenges Rocky to a street fight which is some weak-ass-shit for the climax of a boxing movie. And wouldn't bare-knuckle, no-rules brawling be even more dangerous for Rocky's medical condition?
Anyway, this one's a pretty weak entry to the series. It's got all the drama, tension and flair of a made-for-TV movie of the era, and feels like the budget to match. It doesn't look great. It's got a pretty enjoyable generic 90's rap soundtrack, though.
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The new Luther movie, The Fallen Son, does as the rest of the series fondly does, which is present a series of murders that are viscerally and conceptually disturbing. The makers of this show really want you to squirm thinking about how sick these murders are. These are also never "whodunnits" either, the murderers tend to be major characters in each "season" too, the show creators really want you to know how gross or perverted or disturbed these individuals are, and it's always effective in creating a sense of urgency for Luther to solve the case. Of course, some aspects of John's shady past always gets in the way of his crime solving, as is the case here, where the shrew, conniving, long-game murderer (played by Andy Serkis) airs Luther's dirty laundry in public to the point of having him thrown off the case, arrested and sent to jail.
The film then requires Luther to get out of jail, elude the police and figure out the murder's plot, and it works well, to a point. As a film, it doesn't do enough to introduce you to Luther, it basically expects you know who this guy is. It doesn't let you come in cold very well. Besides that, the film is a pretty engaging thriller, with some shocks and unexpected twists. It's a marginally bigger budget Luther production, with some traveling expenses, so it winds up in the third act in Norway, but for what is less a horrifying setpiece, but rather a kind of silly one (I find "dark web" plots have kind of been spoiled by Letterkenny). Overall, agreeably enjoyable and with an end sequence that may just allow Idris Elba to be a secret agent (though not James Bond) afterall. Sure, more please.
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Sometimes I just leave the TV on in the background and stuff pops up that catches my attention for a while. More often than not it's a documentary, but every now and again it's an old film that confuses or surprises me in some way. Mckenna's Gold was the latter. I did not see the beginning 20 minutes or so of the film, but I quickly caught onto the gist of it. Gregory Peck has has a lead on some gold, and Omar Sharif is a bandit who holds a European beauty hostage to force him into taking him to it. The bandit also has a pair of Apache mercenary guides along with him (played by white people of course, including Catwoman Julie Newmar).
It's always difficult to for me to enjoy these types of movies with white people playing Native American, or where tribes are very coarsely presented as basically an environmental adversary. There's no sensitivity to the portrayals here, and perhaps its my own ignorance of history that makes me distrust anything Hollywood of this era wants to present with respect to Indigenous culture. Here Newmar plays a "crazy" Apache who tries to sexually molest Gregory Peck at every turn and murder any romantic rivals. There's an extended underwater nude scene that caught my attention, less because it was titillating (it wasn't), but more for its confusing, abrupt edits (and also the shock of nudity in a western of this era...also note that Peck is FULLY clothed in the water in these scenes).
I don't think anyone ever expects a western to be a special effects extravaganza, but that's kind of what it becomes unexpectedly in its third act. It looks pretty cool, like a pre-Irwin Allen disaster film, with lots of camera trickery and miniatures. I liked it all quite a bit, but I'm a sucker for ambitious, competent practical effects. Omar Sharif is the scene stealer here. Telly Savalas is a great bad guy as always. Peck's performance is pretty reserved and non-committal, and paired with a sleepy Camilla Sparv, they make for an uninteresting on-screen couple. Can't recommend it because of the racist crap, but a fascinating Sunday afternoon watch.
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Royal Warriors gets all of 40 seconds in before Michelle Yeoh starts kicking ass and then seemingly doesn't stop the ass kicking for a half hour. The first fight sequence is incidental (but great), the second is the inciting factor for the whole film, which is like a reverese revenege-a-matic, where it's the bad guys out to get revenge on the good guys for killing their friends (and it's great). This film is wild. The fight choreography is top notch, creative and glorious to watch. The early fight on the plane leads to a sequence I've only ever seen one other place (Alien Resurrection).
The first act ends with an absolutely shocking moment I was not prepared for.
The second act gets going with an absolutely insane set piece in the most gloriously 80's neon-and-glass filled two-story bar that you just know is going to get smashed all to shit, and boy is it satisfying when it does...completely. I was seriously impressed that they seemed to get every last bit of glass shattered.
The second act ends with another gobsmack of a moment that, again, I just wasn't prepared for. The third act gets quite silly, but in a deliriously enjoyable '80's way.
The characters in this movie have personality, but that's about it. There's not much going on with them beneath the surface. and our ostensible hero, Yeoh, is probably the least developed of the main cast. But this is next-level '80's action that I cannot believe isn't talked about next to the greats of the era. It's so well done, so bonkers, I want to watch it again and again.
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Swinton plays a woman who has devoted her life to stories, such that she leads a rather solitary existence, one which leaves her content, but perhaps not fulfilled. A chance acquisition in Instanbul finds a Djinn (Elba) in a bottle who proceeds to offer her three wishes, and the ground rules of what he can and cannot accomplish. But, Swinton being a scholarly woman, is more than aware of the warnings fables about Djinn and genies present. She will not callously wish, but the Djinn proceeds, through telling his own stories of his three prior mistresses, why she must, lest what might tragically become of him should she not.
The first story is highly fantastical, and each subsequent becomes more grounded in something recognizable. The stories are bizarre but captivating, and for Swinton, rapturous. They are foremost full of love, betrayal, and heartbreak, and, in the end, always hope. Elba's Djinn is not an impish or mischievous sort, and he seems to earnestly be angling for Swinton's trust, effectively conveying how in her debt he is.
This is a vibrant (gads, the colours!), luscious, ornate production that may just be too unusual for the masses, but in a world where Everything Everywhere All At Once is both a commercial smash hit and Oscar best picture, it shouldn't be that far off. I loved it, though. I found it sweet and delightful, the visual acuity so very, very satisfying, like a rich decadent dessert.
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In revisiting it 15+ years later, I feel the Alex Garland of it all. I loved the slow, atmospheric, heady sci-fi of Devs and, in many ways this feels like a precursor to it. I feel like the tone (and tones, both visual and audio) of Sunshine were adopted by Garland's work on Devs. I have to wonder how much time Garland spent with the production of Sunshine, and how much of the crew he's carried over from his various works with Boyle.
I've become rather enamored with "slow sci-fi" in recent years, in a way I certainly wasn't in 2007. From the first few seconds of this rewatch I was in. It's a gorgeous movie with a stacked cast of (suitably) not-yet-stars (most would come to shine brighter in the future): Cilian Murphy, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Mark Strong, Benedict Wong, Hiroyuki Sanada and Cliff Curtis. But it very slowly loses me as it goes along, though never completely lets me go.
If anything, I think I want this movie to be even slower than it is. It starts to enter peril fatigue midway through it's third act, and the final 5-8 minutes seem, frankly, unnecessary. I think it's meant to be a hopeful movie, but after two acts of relentless bleakness and bad news, it's really hard for that maudlin final scene on Earth to feel as uplifting and triumphant as I think it was meant to.
I love Underworld a massive amount, and their score is really great, but the song that kicks off the credits is not one of their best, and it's tonally ill-suited for closing out the production. And the clipshow running over the credits is a bizarre choice.
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