At the Movies With John Keogh
Hancock
DIRECTED BY: Peter Berg
STARRING: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron
CERT: 12A
Big screen superheroes are becoming more human. In recent years, movie makers have been allowed to get behind the mask like never before, to see what kind of dark and complex soul lives under the skin-tight suit - or in the case of The Incredible Hulk, the quiet, unassuming fellow inside the monster in the ripped jeans.
But while Batman has his demons and Iron Man has his quirks and Wolverine has his anger issues, you know you‘re still pretty much in safe hands there. And when Peter Parker turned bad in Spider-Man 3, the worst he did was some flirting and a silly dance. Certainly he wasn‘t an immediate danger to unsuspecting passers-by.
Unlike Hancock (Smith), a superhero with all the powers of Superman, but none of the public adulation. Because Hancock is a foul-mouthed alcoholic who hates people, and whose efforts to save the day tend to cause even more mayhem, usually because he flies into action while drunk or ferociously hungover.
Which is exactly the kind of badass superhero the world has been waiting for, though the man himself is clearly not enjoying being a walking, flying disaster, a very expensive public enemy.
Things t e a turn for the better when he saves the life of PR executive Ray Embrey (Bateman), whose car is about to greet a train. By way of thanks, and because he’s just a nice guy, Ray offers to help clean up Hancock’s act, convivning him that being a successful superhero is all about public image.
But Ray’s wife Mary (Theron) does not take well to having Hancock intrude on the happy family, for reasons which become clear when the film takes an idiotic twist in the second half and descends into a tedious, mind-boggling celebration of sheer stupidity.
It would be kind to say that this is a shame, because there’s really no excuse for taking such a fine idea and a promising opening half, and turning it into a dog’s dinner. By all accounts this was movie-making by committee, from a frequently re-written script, but the buck stops with Peter Berg, a fine director who should have been shouting stop more times than cut.
But it’s almost worth going along for the first half, which is genuinely good fun, even though the action scenes are not as impressive as they might have been, and though some Will Smith fans will find him a tad less charming and endearing than usual.
The Mist
DIRECTED BY: Frank Darabont
STARRING: Thomas Jane, Andre Braugher, Marcia Gay Harden
CERT: 16
Almost every new movie based on a Stephen King story strikes fear into the heart - mostly of Stephen King fans, who have not been served well by Hollywood over the years.
But we know we’re OK with director Frank Darabont, who made such fine work of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. And sure enough, he does more than justice to King’s old novella - which he‘s been trying to bring to the screen for a very long time now.
Thomas Jane heads an impressive cast as David Drayton, a successful artist whose home is damaged by a huge storm. With the power out and a heavy mist rolling in off the lake, he heads to town with his son Billy (Nathan Gamble) to stock up on supplies.
The two end up trapped in the local supermarket, when the mist completely envelops the store and it becomes clear that there is something out there in the fog, picking off humans for dinner.
Inside, the survivors split into factions - one looking for reasonable answers and a way out, the other led by local religious fanatic Ms Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), who convinces them that the mist and its unearthly creatures are a punishment from God.
Darabont’s main focus is on this human conflict, and his film is all the better for it - though he doesn’t shy away from the monsters and creepy crawlies of King’s imagination.
The cast does a fine job, too, and the more mature horror fan will be very pleased with old fashioned tone of the movie. But it is the ending that will stay in the memory, a brave move by the director, and the source of most of the Hollywood studio grief that held up this labour of love.
But it was well worth sticking with.
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Friday 18 May 2012
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