ReWatch Snippets: Why Did I Watch That Again?

In a desire to embrace the mental state which leads me from NOT watching a movie proper, but after flicking through the "channels" for a bit, end up rewatching a movie I have seen before, and not always enjoyed that much. So, why? What drew me back? Let's see if I can put a bit of it to words.

The Mummy, 2017, Alex Kurtzman (The Man Who Fell to Earth)

I guess the original post was eaten by the Great Hiatus of 2018, but also not surprising as I recall not caring that much for it. But I am fascinated by yet another failed attempt by Universal Studios to generate some buzz around a classic monster movie series, this time calling it Dark Universe. It never happened, and is likely being rebooted yet again. Despite the weight of Tom Cruise, this movie was a box office bomb. But I liked the backdrop this one was trying to create, in that Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe, The Gladiator) runs an organization that explores and contains primal Evil. They are exploring rumours of an entombed Egyptian princess, when Tom Cruise's Nick Morton (terrible name) unleashes The (Sexy) Mummy Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella, Atomic Blonde). Morton is not the hero, more the unwitting amoral pawn being dragged along by the plot. Eventually he makes a Good decision and allows himself to be possessed by Set in order to... well, Save the Girl, and what else, we are not quite sure, as we will never see the sequel. Its still a big "meh" from me, but it does have some exciting scenes and fun monsters.

The Last Witch Hunter, 2015, Breck Eisner (The Crazies)

Wow, this was that long ago? I think this movie is as close to a proper D&D movie that Vin Diesel will ever get to make.  I have watched it a handful of times since its release, but this was the first time I noticed how toss away the Elijah Wood character. He basically fills an expositional role for most of the moving, allowing Diesel's Kaulder to explain the witchy hunting world to him, and us. The betrayal at the end contributes little to the plot, and not even a very good "gotcha". I do wish the movie had done better, as it set itself up as the launching point for either a movie series, or a TV series, but now that The Witcher has filled that slot, I doubt we will see either. 

The Equalizer, 2014, Antoine Fuqua (Emancipation)

Amazon posted this as the "bonus edition" but I am pretty sure that titling refers to a DVD copy, and not anything special you can watch on Prime. Having recently enjoyed Chloe Grace Moretz in The Periphery it sparked another rewatch. Her part may be bit in this movie, but its integral to the motivations behind Robert McCall's resurrection. For me, beyond the well choreographed action sequences, its the little bits that I like in this movie. McCall's aligning of the book when he sits at the table, signifying not so much as OCD as an obsessiveness with having things Just Right. And the bit where he says he used to be a Pip, as in Gladys Knight and the... He might be a morose, almost non-emotional ex-assassin, but he's got humour. Marton Csokas' elite Russian enforcer grated on me the first time, but after a couple of rewatches, I rather relish his mirror to McCall.

Underwater, 2020, William Eubank (The Signal)

I didn't care for this movie in the first watch. So, why watch again? Because predictable, easy to watch and decently actionable is what these moods lend themselves to. But this time around, and 4K's proper blacks helping immensely, I did enjoy it a lot. I think its the pacing I enjoy the most, the nihilistic "everyone's gonna fucking die" approach (the movie opens with '350+ employees' and kills 99% immediately) mirrored against individuals fighting tooth & nail to survive, because what else are they going to do? Still love Cthulhu's guest appearance and his babies / parasites are definitively creepy, especially when they decide to swallow the deep sea suits whole -- do they actually expect to digest all that metal?

Deep Rising, 1998, Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) 

Weird how Underwater retreading age-old soggy ground bothered me first time round, and yet this movie's riffing off Aliens meets The Poseidon Adventure doesn't bother me in the least. It's a campy creature feature full of cliché 90s adventure characters, a wee bit of diversity placement and drips with machismo. The monsters don't make a whole lot of sense, and that doesn't matter at all. Again, like Underwater, its an escape flick that kills off pretty much everyone, including some of the likeable characters.

Plot? Mega-technical cruise ship packed with the world's richest people encounters something nasty - boom, smash, scream. Not long after, adventurer & skipper for hire John Finnegan (Treat Williams, Mulholland Falls) ferries a gang of mercs into unknown waters, but we know its the cruise ship. Onboard they all start getting eaten by ... tentacles? Its vague but I think they are supposed to be deep sea worms but they display as tentacles with teeth. The movie is full of the faces of the day: Wes Studi, Cliff Curtis, Famke Jensen, Kevin O'Connor and Djimon Hounsou in one of his ten thousand bit roles. Eventually  & inevitably only a few escape, fleeing from the exploding ship on jet skis, while not looking back.

Legion, 2010, Scott Stewart (Priest)

This movie still charms me in ways only an old TTRPG player can be charmed. It always struck me as the opening game to an "angels come to Earth" campaign for In Nomine. It focuses on the rule of cool as the mid-2000s loved to do.

Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany, WandaVision) falls to Earth, landing in an alley and squaring off against possessed cops in a move lifted from The Terminator. Meanwhile in that classic roadside diner just east of LA, in the Mojave, Charlie (Adrianne Palicki, John Wick) is having a baby all by herself, well helped by the intrusive affection of Jeep (Lucas Black, Fast & Furious 9), and yes that's his name. Things kick off when a rude old lady begins crawling on the ceiling, and then Michael shows up in his stolen cop car full of guns. Seems a new war in Heaven has begun, with Michael taking the side of humans. Charlie's baby is going to be humanity's saviour, but only if it lives. So all the legions of Heaven are sent to take out those defending the diner.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but its still a lot of fun. I have always liked this sub-sub-sub-genre which is specifically roadside diners besieged by evil things. Barricade yourself inside, do a half-assed covering of the windows, run low on ammunition (they shouldn't have, but Michael left it all in the trunk of the police car), and always always someone makes a bad decision and gets themself killed while endangering the others. 

Ghost in the Shell, 2017, Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman)

I am slowly losing my ties to unabashed nostalgic loves of the past. Things of old are slowly being left to their era, and not continually looked upon with fond recollection of perfections I yearn for. Oh, I will always love Firefly but I can also see many of the flaws in Buffy and even get bored by it. I have no desire to go back and see the Ghost in the Shell anime movies nor the highly enjoyable spin-off series, Stand Alone Complex. I haven't even given effort to watch the two reboots/resurrections of the last decade. The only nod I will give it these days will be the tachikoma tattoo I will add to my left arm sleeve, whenever I get around to starting it.

That said, this movie is well enough done to fill that "generic scifi actioner" craving I regularly get. This craving built the Shelf upon which stands I, Robot and Elysium and Oblivion. And yes, I see the irony in saying "leaving nostalgia behind" while also having a collection of older things I rewatch regularly, and in a post only about rewatches. But what I am saying is that these rewatches are not so much based on a great fondness for the exact items on it, but more for the notes and beats and visuals they hold. 

And thus I rewatch this, not for the waning nostalgia of its origins, but for that familiar structure. And it holds. The world and the visuals contained within is really well setup and perhaps stands alone (ahem) from its source material. Sure, cyberpunk as a genre is the template upon which it is built, but despite Sanders limited background (he really hasn't done a whole lot), the gave him enough money to make a really good looking movie which I enjoyed. This time round, I am less forgiving on some of the divergences. It annoys me that they chose to have characters call her Major, likes its a name not a title. Very few people call her by her real name. As a choice in the end, where she is neither her fake persona nor her original identity, its appropriate, but its inserted before it makes sense.