Dark Horse

Title: Dark Horse
Director: Todd Solondz
Released: 2011

Staring: Jordan Gelber, Christopher Walken, Justin Bartha, Mia Farrow, Selma Blair, Donna Murphy

Plot: Set around Abe (Gelber) a thirty-something still lives at home, while working at his father’s (Walken) property development company, wasting away his day doing as little work as possible while constantly scouring the internet  for action figures to add to his ever expanding collection, while being pandered to by his loving mother (Farrow) and living in the shadow of his successful doctor brother (Bartha). However when he meets the heavily medicated Miranda (Selma Blair) an unusual relationship starts to blossom between them.


Review: To be a Todd Solondz fan is nothing short of a challenging experience, for he is one of a rare breed of directors who truly seems to be more focused on making films for himself, much like Robert Crumb only seems to make art for his own amusement, rather than any kind of target audience. Despite this Solenz still has managed to attract a cult like following with the warped black humour of his debut “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and its follow up “Happiness”, before challenging even those fans with “Palindromes”. Still despite claiming that his previous film “Life During Wartime” would be his last Solendz is now back with this latest and strangely less warped offering.

Missing any of his usual obsessions, but still maintaining a dusting of his usual dark humour aswell  his ongoing focus on the middle class New Jersey Jewish community, it could almost be seen that the enfant terrible of independent cinema might be mellowing with age, while at the same time still creating another curious films even if it’s missing any of his trademark use of knee jerk topics. However this is not to say that he has completely moved away from his dark roots as Abe is still just as challenging to like, especially he wallows in his own self-importance while generally being angry at the world with no real reason, especially when he seems to have someone to do even the most minimal of tasks, as frequently seen by co-worker and closet cougar Marie (Murphy) covering for him.

Gelber thankfully doesn’t overplay Abe as some kind of loveable loser in an attempt to win the audience back, especially as Solendz continually piles on further quirks, when we shown him huffily trying to return a scratched action figure, quickly leaping to threatening to sue the store when refused by the store clerk. With such continuous examples of self-centred behaviour it only makes it more the surprising that Abe could have a relationship with anyone, yet with Miranda he truly seems to believe that they have a future together so strongly that he actually proposes on their first date.

Blair as Miranda is sadly overshadowed by Abe, especially when her heavily medicated presence leaves her in a seemingly permanently comatose state, making you certainly question her real interest in Abe, especially when she never seemingly as a result of her medication ever really show any kind of emotion towards him. However this is far from any kind of traditional romance, once again thanks to Solondz who also chooses this moment to turn the film into a strange hallucinary trip as reality and illusion blur into one, with no clear indication for the most part what is actually real and what is in Abe’s mind, even more so when it comes to Abe’s relationship with Miranda, with the film certainly leaving more than a few questions in its wake. This style of filming again see’s Solondz trying to do something different than we have seen before and while perhaps he might not have the same surreal grip on his storytelling as David Lynch does with his equally mind-bending films, it still remains a watchable if slightly bewildering effort, while adding to the recent burst of films focusing on the live at home man child with mumblecore efforts like “Cyrus” and “Jeff Who Lives At Home”.

While this might be Gelber’s film he still recives strong support from his more establish co-stars in particular Walken who is seen here on a more laid back and softly spoken form, while punctuating his scenes with such long stares that he could no doubt beat owls in a staring contest.  Meanwhie Farrow comes out of her semi-retirement to give a non the less impressive turn as Abe’s doting mother who seemingly see’s him for his quirks and still loves him unconditionally, bringing back one of the key pieces of advice my own father gave me when he told me “Your mother is the best friend you will ever have” and for Abe this would be especially true.

For newcomers this might seem like the perfect introduction to Solendz work, but I would advise instead to brave one of his darker works like the aforementioned “Welcome To The Dollhouse” to see his true work, rather than this more experimental piece, which will challenge even the more die hard of his fan base, especially when it barely resembles any of his previous work, even more so when over the course of it’s short run time it seemingly never gets out of the gate story wise which even the most forgiving movie goer will struggle to get on board with, with Solendz’s characterisation no doubt testing what remains of their patience and as such I would recommend that you approach with caution.

Domino

Title: Domino

Director: Tony Scott
Released: 2005
Staring: Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez, Riz Abbasi, Delroy Lindo, Mo’Nique, Dabney Coleman, Lucy Liu, Macy Gray, Jacqueline Bisset, Christopher Walken, Mena Suvari, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering, Tom Waits, Jerry Springer

Plot: The fictional biography of Domino Harvey (Knightley), the model turned bounty hunter.

Review: Opening with the title card “This based on a true story….Sort of” it essentially sets the tone for the events which follow as Director Tony Scott brings his usual brand of subtlety (that being one of a house brick to the face) with his this original to say the least Biopic, the idea for which coming after Scott’s business manager sent him an article from “The Mail On Sunday” titled “My Gun For Hire: Why A Movie Star’s Rebel Daughter Turned Into A Bounty Hunter” about Domino Harvey which inspired him to immediately track her down and propose the idea of making a film about her life.

Even though interviews were conducted with Domino and her fellow bounty hunters Ed Marinez (Rourke) and Choco (Ramirez), Scott would reject the first two drafts of the screenplay based on these interviews, due to their conventional nature before finally asking “Donnie Darko” director and scribe Richard Kelly to write the screenplay after he read Kelly’s script for the much underappreciated “Southland Tales” which seemingly would also be the basis for this films screenplay aswell it would seem, especially considering that both films have such a keen interest in pop culture as well as a love of mind twisting plotting which is something this film also has in spades once it gets into the meat of its actual story.

Seeing how Domino Harvey is supposed to be a badass, especially from her confessions of graduating to fighting boys and one that the film would have you believe and a mythos which is essentially diluted by the real life Choco who appears on the special features of the DVD (looking absolutely nothing like the rugged Ramirez’s reimagining of his character) essentially confessing that most of the hunts they carried out involved Domino flirting with the bail jumper usually in a bar and convincing them to follow her outside were he would arrest them. Still you have thought that Scott would have cast a suitably badass female to play her, which sadly does not happen here as we instead get the laughably horrible tough girl act of Knightley who is hideous at the best of times, but here she reaches a new low and kind of laughable level of toughness usually peddled by Noel Clarke in the likes of “Kidulthood” as she smokes, curses and scowls her way through the film. The problem is not so much with the look as she makes a suitable clotheshorse for Domino’s many looks which sways between grunge and punk, with Knightley even rocking a mullet at one point with a suitably white trash look. The problem however comes when she opens her mouth and attempts to snarl out any kind of tough girl dialogue which makes it hard not to snigger, even more so when she makes zero effort to use any kind of accent other than her usual posh tones, which work perfectly fine in Knightley’s usual territory of costume drama and while Domino might have come from upper class roots even she didn’t speak this prim and proper as further highlighted in the interview footage also included on the disc.

So with Scott having kind of screwed up with the casting of his lead, he atleast makes up with it in his supporting cast, who essentially carry the film for Knightly from Rourke’s world weary Ed, who in many ways provides Domino with her missing father figure, while in many ways playing the same for Ramirez’s rough and ready Latin badass Choco. Meanwhile Lucy Liu is on her usual great form as the criminal psychologist, whose interview essentially structures the film as we follow Domino from her early life and the events which lead to her bounty hunting career in the lead up to the fictional armoured truck heist which she finds herself currently being investigated for involvement in. Still despite this heist being thrown into the mix, 95 percent of this film could essentially be seen as being fictional so anyone looking for some kind of serious biopic of her life, might be best not bothering with film, but did you really expect Scott to really make a serious picture to begin with?

Throughout the course of the film, these supporting characters becoming increasingly colourful as we meet Domino’s boss Claremont Williams III (Lindo) and his gaggle of feisty ladies who supply him with information via their positions at the DMV, while being lead by Caremont’s mistress (and world’s youngest Grandmother) Lateesha (Mo’Nique). Of course the Taj Mahal of these characters is Walken’s appearance as TV Executive Mark Heiss who signs the group up for his latest reality TV show project and probably best described in his assistant Kimmie’s speedy brief

“I should let you know that Mr Heiss will only be available to meet for about five minutes, so we should hurry up and cut to the point. Um, and speak in short sentences because he has the attention span of a ferret on crystal meth.”

Unquestionably this is Walken at his unchained best, as he blusters his way through his scenes, with Walken’s usual dialogue projection really only adding to his character here.

While the plot might descend into a slightly confusing mess, but Richard Kelly’s work has always been known for its head scratching quality as memorably seen with his debut “Donnie Darko, but here where he doesn’t have full control over its presentation it does result in the main heist plotline suffering from a twist to far. Meanwhile Scott pummels the viewer with pop culture shots and flashy visuals, while the continuously quick edits make it seem like Scott gave a kid hyperactivity and ADHD a soda and the keys to the editing suite which has at times the tendency to instil a feeling of nausea when viewing, especially in the rare moments he slows the film to crawl. Still when the film works it works well with some truly brutal moments of action, which has always been were Scott has excelled with the finale shootout at the stratosphere in Las Vegas making for a high pressure showdown between the FBI and the Mob, while random asides such as Lateesha pitching a new ethnic classification chart on Jerry Springer keep a surreal edge to things while making it highly reminiscent of “Natural Born Killers”.

True this film is far from perfect, but when Knightly isn’t speaking the film does have its share of truly memorable moments, with a heavy vein of black humour keeping things from getting too serious and for myself at least making it the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

King of New York

Title: King of New York

Director: Abel Ferrara
Released: 1990
Staring: Christopher Walken, Laurence Fisburne, David Caruso, Victor Argo, Janet Julian, Wesley Snipes, Steve Buscemi, Paul Calderón, Giancarlo Esposito Theresa Randle, John Turturro, Frank Adonis

Plot: Drug Lord Frank White (Walken) upon being released from prison sets about eliminating his competition, with the goal of financing a new South Bronx hospital. However Frank’s past comes back to haunt him when a group of overzealous cops lead by detective Roy Bishop (Argo), frustrated by the lack of evidence to nail Frank for the current street killings decide to take matters into their own hands.

Review: I would like to think that we have at least one director whose work is not so much of a grimy in nature, but essentially embraces the grime and dirt it is being forged from, which for some may bring to mind the Minister of Bad Taste John Waters, The splatter of Herschell Gordon Lewis or the downright randomness of Frank Henenlotter. Directors who with a frequently balls to the wall attitude towards censorship and thier craft often as a result making them too random or strange for mass consumption and as such destined to remain  the filthy secret of our DVD collection and our go to director when we feel like taking a walk on the seedy underbelly of seemingly decent society. For myself though Abel Ferrara will always be that director, for ever since viewing “Bad Lieutenant” on a late night TV screening way back as an impressionable youth, something about his work has always resonated with myself, perticularly in how he shoots New York as his vision is possibly as far away from the traditional New York fantasy as you can get and more in tune with the one which Scorsese showed us with “Taxi Driver” and it’s this vision of New York which Ferrara returns to here with his ultraviolent twist seemingly on  “Robin Hood”.

Taking on one of more rarer leading roles Walken here gives one of his more iconic, but sadly little seen performances despite the fact that the film is listed as one of the “1001 Movies To See Before You Die”, while it’s portrayal of power in the drugs trade makes it only the more surprising that it’s not in numerous rappers DVD collections unlike the vastly overblown and drawn out “Scarface”. Walken’s portrayal of White though is a fascinating one to say the least, for having left prison he shuns the usual going straight route we have seen so many times before and instead seemingly has realised that he is set to live out his days in the drug trade and that he instead might as well focus on getting back to buisness and concentrating more on were his profits are going instead with his original idea of running for mayor soon being switched in favour of financing his neighbour hospital. It is during an almost confessional confrontation with detective Bishop though that we truly come to truly understand Frank’s world view as he states

“I spent half my life in prison. I never got away with anything, and I never killed anybody that didn't deserve it.”

While going on to further elaborate on the sins of his criminal counterparts, blaming them for running the city into the ground while they grew rich off their trade, something he is clear to separate himself with, while brutally eliminating anyone who stands in the way of his new plan. Now while Frank’s intentions might be considered in some askiew way honourable he is still far from being a saint, as seen even more so with his shark like prescence happy to share a joke or even bust a few dance moves, only to turn deadly when crossed as especially seen by how he handles being snubbed by a mafia boss who he doesn’t shoot once but repeatedly even after he is clearly dead, even performing a drive by at a funeral, after his gang is attacked by Bishops's rogue cops.

Joining Walken whose commanding performance essentially owns the film, Ferrara has still assembled an impressive cast, though considering the star status of many of the cast, a lot of his casting choices have been later rewarded as the careers of the cast took off, for example Lawrence Fishburne is still so early (yet non the less noteworthy here) in career he is still listed as Larry while David Caruso and Wesley Snipes would only get their big breaks after this film’s release with Caruso going on to star in “NYPD Blue” while Snipes who was living in his car during filming would go on to make “New Jack City”. Still despite their lack of star power they more than hold thier own here with Caruso being on perticularly frenzied form and far cry from his more sedate tones he has become more recognisable for as Horatio on CSI Miami".

Ferrara curiously doesn’t give us much of an insight into Franks’s past and his rise to power, or even why he works with a predominantly black gang and has such a strong embracement of black culture as especially seen by his love of Hip hop music which frequently soundtracks any one of the various parties he throws with his crew. Still with Ferrara preferring instead to keep the focus strongly in the present the film rattles along at a quick pace, no doubt thanks to the half hour which was cut from the film’s original two hour cut while he blurs the lines between right and wrong instead preferring to work in the same shades of grey which Rob Zombie equally favoured for “The Devil’s Rejects” as neither criminal nor cop is seen as been on the side of right or wrong, which ultimately only adds the films raw and gritty edge, which makes it far from the easiest of films to watch and unsurprisingly during the films premier caused most of the audience including Ferrara’s wife to walk out, which is never a good sign when your own wife walks out of your movie. Meanwhile the Q&A session was opened with the question

"This film is an abomination. Why aren't you giving the proceeds to some drug rehab program?"

A suitable question especially considering how glamorised the drug trade is portrayed as, especially if you happen to be a member of Frank’s crew, while the film would be further dogged by scandal when both Laurence Fishburne and Nicolas St. John were booed off the stage at the second screening. Still while the film might have become one of the lesser seen films on Walken’s resume it still marks one of the strongest periods of work for Ferrara, who would follow it up with the legendry “Bad Lieutenant” and the sadly overlooked remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” titled simply “Body Snatchers” and for Walken it is easily one of his best and only makes it more of a shame that he has not been given more leading roles over the course of his career….Long live the king!

Welcome to Christopher Walken Month...Ohh and We Are Five!

I can hardly believe that it has now been five years since I set off on this blogging adventure with the original idea of just looking at bad movies, which shifted focus around the point of the first “Final GirlFilm Club” I joined, which caused me to unwittingly changed the focus of the blog to cult, foreign and obscure cinema and generally everything in-between, as the blog became more of a love letter to the cinema I love than just a study of bad movies.

So after five years of watching and reviewing at times some truly horrible cinema, am I tired of these movies? Honestly I can’t say that I am, especially considering the watchpile of DVD's taking over one corner of my lounge and while I still might question my own writing skills, it still has truly been a blast to write about these movies, which frequently lurk under the radar of the general movie going pubic. In doing so I always hope that I’m opening up some kind of channel debate (of possible anonymous abuse) to help introduce more people to these film aswell as for the established fan base to discuss them further and frequently give me new insights into films I never knew of, which has just proven to be one of the many surprising rewards which have come with writing this blog, like the friendships I have sparked up with other members of the cult & horror cinema blogging community, who have not only taken me as one of their own and frequently supported the blog over the course of the last five years, to them all like anyone who has stopped by or left me a comment, I thank you all.

So to celebrate another year here on the blog I wanted to do a themed month, were I would get to explore one of the roots of my cinema obsession and in particular and actor who has held my fascination since the first time I saw him and hence why I have chosen to make January “Christopher Walken Month”

Ever since I first saw Walken in “A View To A Kill” one of the more underated Bond movies, which for the longest time growing up was my all-time favourite despite many Bond film regarding it as one of the worst, but I was hooked and something I have to really say was down to the sheer screen presence of Walken as the megalomaniacal technology mogul Max Zorin intent on destroying Silicon Valley. Since this early first exposure to his work I generally will give any movie a watch if it features him in its cast I will give it a watch and considering his body of work stretches to over 100 movie and TV shows there is plenty to choose from, while Walken rarely refusing any role he is offered due to viewing each role as a learning experience, it is nothing short of being a mixed bag to say the least.
So over the course of this month I hope to delve into this back catalogue and examine the sheer variety and depth his career has shown, while as always open the door for any reviews, essays or other Walken related materials you wish to submit in the spirit in the month.

So thank you once more for all the support and hope you can join me for what is certainly set to be an interesting month of film watching to say the least....dance us off Christopher!!

Evil Dead 2: Dead Before Dawn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Evil Dead 2: Dead Before Dawn

Director: Sam Raimi
Released: 1987
Staring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Danny Hicks, Kassie Wesley, Ted Raimi, Denise Bixler, Richard Domeier, John Peaks, Lou Hancock

Plot: Ash Williams (Campbell) and his girlfriend Linda (Bixler) take a romantic vacation to an isolated cabin in the woods. It is there that Ash finds and plays a tape of an archaeology professor (Peaks), reciting passages from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis or the Book of the Dead, which he has discovered during an archaeological dig. The recorded incantation proceeds to unleash an evil force from the woods pitting them in a battle to make to dawn.

 

Review: Considering the sheer amount of carnage unleashed on the screen in the first film, it is hard to think how Raimi could even set about trying to top it, especially when it got one of the dubious honour of being banned as part of the video nasty scandal. Raimi himself was also not keen to give his debut film a sequel, especially as he saw his next film “Crimewave” as a hit and it was only after it flopped due to a combination of poor distribution and critical mauling that he decided to take up the publicist Irvin Shaprio’s offer to make a sequel. However struggling to find the required funds to make the film, help would come via Stephen King who’d written a glowing review of the first film which had also been used heavily during promotion for the film and who was at the time working with legendry Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis on “Maximum Overdrive”. After reciving a call from King, De Laurentiis agreed to fund the film especially being further persuaded by the high grosses of the original film in his native Italy.

The original plot had been to have Ash thrown back in time via a time portal to the medieval ages, an idea which was soon scrapped after Raimi only managed to secure 3.6 of the desired 4 Million he needed to make the picture, leading to him to essentially remaking the first film while as we now know the original plotline would go on to become that of the third film “Army of Darkness”. This decision to remake his first film is essentially a smart move, especially considering the original film was at this point branded a video nasty and as such still banned, while also meaning that Raimi could correct the parts of the film which didn’t work aswell as they perhaps should have. At the same time this claim of the film being a remake has been disputed as being more down to the fact that rights to show scenes from the original could not be obtained to allow the film to recap and hence leading Raimi to recreate these scenes instead. It would be these kinds of rights issues which also mean that George Romero gets nothing from his debut “Night of the Living Dead” which at last check had become a public domain movie as a result of these issues with the rights to the film.

The real heart of the film (if not the series on the whole) though is Bruce Campbell, who once agin returns as the long suffering Ash to battle his way through another night of terror, while he also becomes over the course of the wisecracking deadite slayer we have come to see him as essentially always being and this reworking of his character would truly be one of the good things to come from the sequel, as he straps a chainsaw to his stump and saws the end off his shotgun to complete his trademark look. Campbell of course embodies this role, while essentially being tortured by Raimi (who needs enemies when you’ve got friends huh!) who ensures that that Ash is on the receiving end of more brutal knocks than any other character in the film. With perhaps only Raimi’s brother Ted, who appears as the professor’s possessed wife, challenging Campbell for filming hardship as his suit constantly filled with his sweat which constantly had to be drained from the suit, further reinforcing the idea as to who needs enemies when your friends with Sam Raimi.

While this might be essentially a remake, the tone is very different to the first film whose focus was on unrelenting terror as here the focus here being on giving the film more of a humorous edge rather than making it a straight horror film as the first had been, with the majority of these comedy touches coming from Scott Spiegel who Raimi brought in to help write the script, with the duo drawing influence from various slapstick films including Raimi favourite “The Three Stooges” and the influence can be seen clearly on the screen, as characters suffer pratfalls while we are also treated to Ash’s disembodied hand flipping him the bird, all things which could easily have taken away from the film, but instead provide the much needed respite from the horror which Raimi unleashes on the screen here, especially as he somehow manages to outdo the first film, especially as he takes it to new dizzying heights of gore and splatter, especially when geysers of blood pour from the walls and floor.

Which the focus may be more on giving this film a more comedic edge than the first film, this is not to say that Raimi still doesn’t wheel out a new box of demonic delights, as he creations are now bigger and more grotesque than before thanks to the increased budget and while he largely aims to bring new shocks to the screen, he seemingly can’t resist bringing back his more notorious creation “The Angry Molesting Tree” even though it is on less controversial terms than before, while even giving this particular and originally faceless horror an actual face during the final epic showdown, which sadly doesn’t feature the same delirious mix of pie filler and stop motion animation meltdown that the original did. Still on the plus side Raimi is not such a tease with the chainsaw antics, one of my bugbears of the original were we are setup for some chainsaw action only to never actually see it, something well and truly made up for here.  

One of the more interesting aspects of the film is really in how it plays out with the first half featuring Ash essentially being battered and tormented by the evil forces at work, which it would seem is the setup for the rest of the film, only for Raimi to around the halfway point throws in a fresh group of characters as the professors daughter Annie (Berry), her research partner Ed (Domeier) and locals Jake (Hicks) and Bobby Joe (Wesley) into the madness and while we have been introduced to them via the spattering of moments the film takes its attention away from Ash, they still feel like fresh and new characters and essentially more meat for he grinder the cabin quickly is becoming at this point. It is also interesting how well this sudden introduction of new characters works, especially considering the minimal amount of character development they have received at this point.

While Raimi might have been reluctant to make it, this film is the true calling card of his talent as he proved that you can amuse and terrify an audience at the same time, as like George Miller with “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” he successfully builds on what he established with the original while in many cases improving on his formula, in the process achieving that rarest of things a sequel that is actually better than the original. When it comes to turning splatter into an art form here Raimi excels in bloody spades!

Elwood's Essentials #5: Battle Royale

Seeing how  “The Hunger Games” is still currently one of the most talked about releases of this year, even more so with the forthcoming sequel which will pointlessly split the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy in two what better time could there be to revisit the film which it essentially ripped off, despite Suzanne Collins frequently going on record to state that she “had never heard of that book until [her] book was turned in,” and unsurprisingly in return the fans of this film have continued to savage her book as a ripoff, while early promotional material for the book marketed it as “Battle Royale for Kids” only further questioning such shaky claims. So this week I essentially choose to add fuel to the fire and look at the original movie, which is undoubtedly one of my all time favorites. I should also warn that the videos do contain some scenes of violence which might be shocking for some readers and are used purely in the context of illustrating points raised, so if easily shocked do not view.

Set at the dawn of the millennium, Japan as a nation has collapsed and with unemployment on the rise and the youth boycotting the school system, the government makes the radical decision of passing the Millennium Education Reform Act, AKA the “BR Act”, Each year a class is chosen by lottery to take part and having been placed on a deserted island, the class are given three days to battle amongst themselves until only one student remains, with the survivor being used as an example of the lengths the government are willing to go, to maintain order in the nation.

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Released as what could be marked as the start of the new Asian invasion were the interest in Asian cinema literally exploded at the start of 2000, with films like “The Ring”, “Audition” and of course this film winning huge acclaim from not only established fans of Asian cinema, but many non fans of foreign cinema aswell, with these films paving the way for the slew of titles with followed in their wake, as they proved that there was more to Asian cinema than Kung fu and art house samurai movies.

Based on the Bestselling pulp novel by Koushun Takami, the film directed by Kinji Fukasaku manages to take a novel which would have made a perfectly good exploitation movie and turns it into what could almost be considered high art with exploitation undertones, let alone the fact he managed to find a way to mould the multi-stranded plotlines of the novel into a filmable script. At the heart of the film though we have Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) who has been finding his life growing increasingly difficult since the suicide of his father, a situation which only gets worse when his class find themselves unwittingly elected to participate in this year’s Battle Royale with each member of the class finding themselves fitted with an explosive collar and assigned a bag containing supplies and a randomly selected weapon (to help remove any natural advantages). Seeing the chaos erupting around him he takes it upon himself to try and save his friend and secret crush Noriko Nakagawa (Aki Maeda) while forming an uneasy alliance with transfer student and BR Veteran Shogo Kawada (Taro Yamamoto), who also hides his own secretive past.

What is most interesting about the film is how it manages to focus on so many characters at the same time, finding a way to explore their individual goals while even more skilfully managing to make them all unique and individual which is certainly no easy task especially when you consider that there are 42 students to account for. True some of these are mere cannon fodder or choose to leave the game early, opting for suicide over the choice to killing their classmates, but within these students are those with their own engaging agenda’s and while most of the class are busy just trying to survive or team up with others for safety, we have characters such the psychotic exchange student Kazuzo Kiriyama (Chiaki Kuriyama) and the beautiful and deadly Mitsuko Souma (Kou Shibaski) who happily kill friend and foe alike with Mitsuko especially using it as a chance for revenge against her former gang members and tormentors.

Meanwhile others pursue more legitimate goals, with Shinji Mimura (Takashi Tsukamoto) and his friends plotting to hack into the game’s military mainframe, while we also get a surprising love triangle on the battlefield between Hiroki Sugimura (Sosuke Takaoka), his best friend Takako Chigusa (Chiaki Kuriyama who is probably best known as “Kill Bill’s” Chain Whip / Meteor Hammer welding Gogo) and his love interest Kayako Kotohiki (Takayo Mimura) all adding surprising levels of depth to the film, which contains a lot more heart and emotion than you would usually expect from a film of it’s type, with director Fukasaku frequently managing to surprise the viewer with moments of real emotional intensity.

Although the film has characters who could be considered the villains, the real main bad guy here is Kitano, the former teacher turned government agent, played by the always amazing “Beat” Takashi Kitano who is once again on great form, as he provides a running commentary of the dead and acts as an unquestionable supporter of the government’s actions, no doubt due to his own fractured home life, which is highlighted through a phone call with his estranged daughter, who would later appears in a more pivotal role in the sequel “Battle Royale: Requiem”. Needless to say Kitano’s laid back and mysterious motives make him another fascinating character, especially when he chooses to involve himself in the game, while showing an especial fondness for Noriko.

Though incredibly violent, Fukasaku still manages to capture several moments of genuine humour from the day glow coloured training video complete with bubbly presenter, to the students which receive the more useless weapons from Pan lids to paper fans, which really puts them in a worse position considering that their fellow students could be armed with any one of the nasty weapons available from scythe’s and stun guns to shotguns and machine guns.

Needless to say with so much hardware available things do frequently get violent, with hosepipe arterial sprays, exploding heads and even a poisoning making up just some of the smorgus board of violence which Fukasaku has crafted, while at the same time carefully editing and reworking some of the more graphic sections of the book, so that while frequently shocking it is never prolonged so that the film descends into farce.

The soundtrack is comprised of popular classics and original music performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and composed by Masamichi Amano, who previously has composed music for anime classic’s “Urotsukidoji” and “Giant Robo”, aswell as more recently “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games”. Here though he turns Verdi’s Requiem into the official “Battle Royale” theme which never fails to get me amped up for this film whenever I sit down to watch it, while also effectively using Bach’s Air from orchestral Suite No.3 In D Major and Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz, which will no doubt have a whole new set of imagery attached to it after seeing this movie, in much the same way that Oliver Stone did for Barber’s Adagio for Strings or what Quentin Tarantino has done to a number of pop obscurities.

A classic in every sense from the skilful direction, choice casting and superb soundtrack, it’s a brutal non stop ride, that only further highlights why film goers shouldn’t be narrowing their cinematic world view to just the English spoken productions, while no doubt opening a doorway for many into the exciting world of Asian cinema.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Director: Renny Harlin
Released: 1990
Staring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler, Art Evans, William Atherton, Franco Nero, Dennis Franz, Fred Thompson, John Amos, Reginald VelJohnson, Tom Bower, Shelia McCarthy, Robert Costanzo, Robert Patrick

Plot: Set two years after the events of the first film, it is Christmas Eve and John McClane (Willis) is waiting to pick up his wife Holly (Bedelia) from the airport when terrorists lead by Colonel Stuart (Sadler) take over the air traffic control system as part of their goal to rescue drug lord and dictator General Ramon Esperanza (Nero) currently being extradited to the United States. Now McClane finds himself in a race against time to stop Colonel Stuart before the planes circling overhead including his wife’s plane run out of fuel.

 

Review: It was never going to be easy to follow up a classic like the original “Die Hard” but you have to commend Renny Harlin for trying in what would be the first in a chain of action movies he would go on to direct from here, as he picks up the directorial reins from John McTiernan while working from a screenplay based on the novel “58 Minutes” by Walter Wager, adapting the story to incorporate key characters from the first film into the story. Still the fact that it is adapted from a story by a completely different author than the original doesn’t change anything, especially as it seems that little has changed for McClane since the last time we saw him, having now returned to a sense of normality since the events of the first film, he is still the same foul mouthed LA, wise cracking cop he was before and it is really more down to bad luck that he once again finds himself caught up in another plot, especially when all he wants to do is pick his wife up from the airport rather than play the hero again. Still despite possibly being a credible source for reporting a terrorist plot going down, McClane still faces an almost impossible task of trying to convince any of the airport authorities, especially Airport police captain Lorenzo, who is played on top abusive form by “NYPD Blue” lead Dennis Franz and whose control over the airport resources essentially leaves McClane a lone hero once more.

While it is essentially more of the same Harlin still makes the most of this new setting, by mainly ensuring that he shoots up as much of it as possible, while throwing in a couple of exploding airplanes for good measure, but then what is the point in using the airport setting if you’re not going to make planes explode? Harlin while at this point in career still inexperienced as an action director still shows a lot of confidence here, crafting some original set pieces such as a shoot out on the baggage carousels aswell as an equally thrilling snowmobile chase, while keeping the plot as tight as possible as he slowly unveils the Colonels plan, which is none the less ballsy if not more so than the one used by Hans Gruber and his team in the first film. Still this is one of the many joys this film provides, especially when the Colonel has seemingly got every possible move planned out in advance, meaning that the films plot plays out like a well thought out thriller than an action movie, as Harlin proves that you can have clever plotting without sacrificing balls to the wall action.

It is nice to see that Harlin here also chooses to go with a more traditional badass villain than trying to pull off another cerebral villain like Hans, something essentially highlighted by the first time we see the Colonel who is practicing martial arts in the nude (Not sure if this make him more badass or not), something which bizarrely only gets used in the final showdown after this first introduction, while the rest of the time he is happy to just shoot people rather than pull off any more cool looking moves. Still this is not to say that he is some kind of knuckle dragger, as he like Hans processes a keen strategic mind only he’s more than happy to get things done himself rather than relying on his minions to do his dirty work and Sadler really embodies this character so that his constantly cool demeanour is easily believable thanks to Sadler’s performance, though sadly he only gets minimal screentime with McClane and none of the radio taunting that we got with Hans and something that was noticeably corrected with the next film. Equally noticeable is the fact that the second main badguy General Ramon is treated as though he is a key player, only to then be given little to actually do, other than shadow the Colonel and generally seem menacing. Infact his early reunion with the Colonel only seems to be so that Harlin can cram in what is almost a replay of McClane’s suicide jump from “Die Hard” as he has him using an ejector seat to escape an exploding plane in what is both a great and slightly gratuitous action sequence.

The action sequences on the whole are all about taking what worked in the first time and applying it to a larger canvas, so an exploding APC becomes an exploding plane while the claustrophobic vents and corridors of the plaza are now replaced with the vast expanse of the airport in which anything can happen anywhere within. As a result Harlin is clearly keen to make the most of the bigger scale he has to work with yet thankfully doesn’t lose focus on what worked in the first film and hence McClane still cracks one liners to help relieve the pressure he finds himself under, while we also get several returning characters such as Al (Veljohnson) who sadly given more of a cameo appearance here, especially after the key part he played in the first film it would have been nice to see more of the same here, but instead McClane gains a new sidekick in the form of Marvin the Janitor (Bower) who serves as McClane’s main info source thanks to him unlimited supply of airport blueprints. Even more bizarre is the reappearance of sleazy reporter Dick Thornburg (Atherton) who while not an unlikable appearance, it is still one which leaves you wondering why? Did anyone really like his character so much that they wanted to see more in the sequel?

Despite outgrossing the original upon its release, for some reason this film has never had the same cult appeal as the original, which is something of a shame considering that it gives you more of the same only on a bigger scale. Still it is hard to say that the lack of a memorable bad guy doesn’t affect the film, especially after the memorable bad guys of the first film right down to the lowliest grunt in their ranks, but this is a minor complaint especially when this film is just as much fun as the original and well worth a revisit or a double feature with the original.