"Haywire"
Richard's Review: 3 stars
"Haywire," a new action film from "Ocean's 11" director Steven Soderbergh, isn't so much a movie as it is a showcase for the lithe athleticism of its star Gina Carano. Imagine an MMA match with a storyline and you get the idea.
Carano, the former champion mixed martial arts fighter, plays Mallory Kane, a mercenary who specializes in the dirty jobs that governments like to freelance out. Her idea of relaxation is "a glass of wine and gun maintenance." Following a successful hostage rescue in Barcelona, her handler Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) dispatches her to Dublin. There Mallory teams with an MI5 operative (Michael Fassbender) only to discover she has been double-crossed. Angry, she Muay Thai's herself back to the United States searching for clues and revenge.
Does the story mater? Nope. It's the usual medium to complicated undercover spy tale, the kind that wraps up all the loose ends with a bit of exposition and some well chosen flashbacks at the end. But you don't go to see "Haywire" for the story.
The movie is at its best when Carano is on the move, running, jumping and kicking the snot out of her opponents. Soderbergh tosses in an action scene every 10 minutes or so, but the violence here feels different. Sure, necks get broken and people get shot in the face. But unlike most action flicks Soderbergh doesn't amp up the sound to go along with the punches, kicks and gunshots. Many films exaggerate the combat noises to add excitement -- "Haywire" doesn't. It trusts the fight choreography and because the violence isn't particularly cartoony it doesn't need to be juiced up.
The fights feel authentic, with no CGI and few stunt people. It's a testament to Carano's obvious fighting skills and Soderbergh's wise decision to underplay the violence.
"Haywire" feels like a "Grrl Power" version of a mid-80s Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. Of course, it is elevated by the presence of actors like Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton. But at its heart it's a scrappy action movie that would play best in drive-ins and grindhouses.
"Coriolanus"
Richard's Review: 3 stars
Anyone who tries to argue that Shakespeare is no longer relevant only has to see "Coriolanus," the new film by Ralph Fiennes based on the Bard's 1608 play, to be proven wrong. The story of a banished Roman hero who vows revenge on his city has echoes of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Tea Party and the 99 Percent. That it also has a towering performance by Vanessa Redgrave is simply the icing on the top of a very old cake.
Set in present day Rome, the film centers on the title character (Fiennes), a great warrior who despises the people he is sworn to protect. When his run for elected office is undone by his extreme opinions, scheming politicians and an end run by his mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave), Coriolanus is banished from Rome. Seeking revenge, he hatches a plan with his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) to destroy Rome. A dramatic appeal from Volumnia changes his mind, but alienates his new ally.
Fiennes, in his directorial debut, takes a little known play and makes it relevant for our times. In light of the world's recent social unrest –the London riots, Occupy this and that, and the troubles in Syria -- Fiennes has reached deep into the past to place modern events in context. The 400-year-old dialogue reveals the primal nature of man and how it hasn't changed.
The fight for power, the thirst for revenge, the bond between a mother and son, and the disenfranchisement of the people are topics that are as fresh today as they were in Shakespeare's time.
Timeliness aside, the film works as a dramatic piece. Fiennes uses handheld cameras to add a sense of immediacy, as though we're watching a live newscast. The wobbly cam makes one feel seasick by the time the first double-cross has happened, but it does add visual energy. Add to that battle scenes shot by "The Hurt Locker" cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and you have a movie filled with lines like "Death, that dark spirit, in 's nervy arm doth lie; Which, being advanced, declines, and then men die," and yet feels absolutely modern.
As for the acting, Fiennes is refined yet feral. Gerard Butler surprises with his range and Brian Cox as the backstabbing politico Menenius, a two-faced senator playing both sides against the middle, is powerful. But it is Vanessa Redgrave who controls the screen.
After decades of performing Shakespeare on film and the stage, Redgrave hits all the right notes, creating a character who would be recognizable to a 17th century audience. Her final showdown with her son on a barren road is a tour-de-force and worth the price of admission alone.
"Coriolanus" isn't the masterful work that Ian McKellan's "Richard III" was, but it is a passionate, interesting film that feels ripped from the headlines.
"Red Tails"
Richard's Review: 2 1/2 stars
"Red Tails" feels like a 1940's war movie. It has soldiers who utter lines like, "Take that Mr. Hitler!" as they blow up ammunition ships. It also has amazing aerial photography. The only difference is the colour of the soldiers' skin. A study of the classic war films shows no indication of the contribution of African-American soldiers. By telling the heroic story of the Tuskegee airmen "Red Tails" hopes to right that wrong.
Based on true events (though dramatized for this film), the movie focuses on a group of African-American WWII pilots -- the top guns of the 332nd Fighter Group knows as the Tuskegee Airmen. To fight the racial discrimination of the U.S. military, they prove their mettle by taking on dangerous assignments in active combat.
You can't accuse "Red Tails" of being subtle. It plays like a Saturday morning matinee with a social conscious. It's unabashedly patriotic, unapologetically melodramatic and an unashamed throwback to the propaganda movies of yesteryear. The mix of those elements works for the first hour. By the time one of the pilots whoops, "Let's give those newspapers something to write about!" the once-charming tone of the movie starts to wear thin.
George Lucas produced this film -- although "Treme's" Anthony Hemingway directed -- and it is a Lucas movie with all the good and bad that implies. It's corny, over-the-top, wildly uneven and episodic. But when the film takes flight, literally, it soars.
The aerial scenes (aided by Lucas' computer tweaking) are breathtaking. I do wish, however, there was less dialogue during the dogfights. I think fighter pilots in attack mode have better things to concentrate on than making wisecracks or talking about girls.
"Red Tails" mostly suffers from a poorly told story. Just as it seems to be working up to an important point or climatic moment it shies away, focusing on a superfluous love story or melodrama ("My head, it hurts… I must have passed out").
The actors do what they can with what they're given. Nate Parker as Martin "Easy" Julian and David Oyelowo as Joe "Lightning" Little are the standouts, but the stars here are the planes and the historical context -- not the actors.
