Multi-Reviewmania: The Dark Tower / Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets / Detroit:
Every so often (it's been since 2013... hopefully I have enough thorough reviews to allow for this rare exception) I get
so caught up with life, including seeing movies, that I don't have time to break out thorough reviews for all of them. So, it's
the return of a combo review of some recent films, shorter than average... may some truly remarkable things break the article streak,
ahead, perhaps after some rest time... for now very casual.
- The Dark Tower: Context, I'm a fan... A dream to see come to life of Stephen King's transmedia magnum opus. That also carries with it expectations, and paticuliar
letdowns yet joys. In mainly a bad way, attempts to cram sequences and details from across 8 novels into a mostly too brisk
1h 40min while also being mostly an "attempt" at the first book with an extra scooping of the second... This can be messy
and may mess up things for sequels that are unlikely to happen. However, it's cool seeing these things brought to life more or less.
Idris Elba is pretty good as Roland Deschain the legendary gunslinger of alternate place Mid-World... but his badass demeanor
and combat skills fade as he is more of a bodyguard and sidekick to Jake Chambers, a haunted boy played by Tom Taylor to decent
regard but gets most of the focus in an obvious "young adult franchise appeal" move. Their relationship, and some fish out of
water moments that otherwise are the only charm in too much mundane reality, grows and is a highlight. The Man in Black, Matthew
McConaughey, is an accurately vile villian..... charming and devil-ish in demeanor and fearsome in power. It's a shame
so many other elements range from just decent to weak or worse. The "low men" minions are creepy but generic whether
disguised as humans or as beasts on the battlefield. Jake's family plot is muddled, cheesy, and hollow. The citizens of
Mid-World are just as forgetabble aside from slightly noteworthy minor parts like Arra (Claudia Kim), Pimli (Fran Kranz), or
Sayre (Jackie Earle Haley...too little). Mid-World is kind of gorgeous as is The Dark Tower itself, as is the other fascinating odd magic and technology, kudos to the
scenery and effects...but is barely dwelt upon. The action is decent and visceral...but amounts to just a couple sequences in what is
mainly alot of walking and weird lore that goes mainly mysterious.... a bit of a letdown to fans and dense for newcomers though an attempt is made.
Alright soundtrack. Decent stakes, but should have been more. That describes the film...an interesting if slightly cookie cutter
magical sci-fi adventure that could have been so much more if more of an attempt was put into crafting and accuracy. 7.4 out
of 10
- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: Directed by Luc Besson of the Fifth Element and others, the French legend...
of course there was alot of hype in this as his return to true science fiction. However, while it has French style imagination and visual
spectacle in pretty good amounts it also has just as much or even more extraneous French cheesy whimsy. One imagines that if
this is just a taste of the classic comic series, there's many ideas to explore...and for sure it attempts to give a look at an
interesting universe. This is brought down by a film that is...mixed in its aspects to say the least. Commendable, unique
creativity in its plethora of places( a virtual reality dimension market planet! a planet of magical ocean pearls right out of a
Final Fantasy video game cutscene! The titular utopia of biomes and species!) and neat alien species, creatures, technology,
and spaceships etc. This leads to some wonderfully colorful and artistic views of beings, landscapes, and costumes. However,
at times this CGI overload (perhaps not since Cameron's Avatar has this much been seen) can appear low resolution or cheesy..
with some muddled people at closer inspection and hazy music. It's a fascinating world, but its plot is filled with useless
side diversions and hardly likeable characters. Leads Valerian (Dane Dehaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevigne) are... mediocrely
decent at best... no doubt with the cheesy script to blame if not also their questioonable talent as seen in other blockbuster work of late.
The likes of Clive Owen, Rutger Hauer, and Herbie Hancock mumble their way through exposition and mundane military chatter. When
the only memorable enthusiastic performances are (arguably diversionary) aliens by the likes of John Goodman and Rihanna, one knows there's a problem with
the kind of heart that lacks within this universe. Sam Spruell is a extremely minor gem as a noble General. Action and
excitement pops up but Besson uses too much whimsy with sometimes too much epic and flashbacks to give a dissonance of tones between
silly and dark. The ambition can be felt, and it has value, but it also has more than a couple weaker areas. 6.85 out of 10
- Detroit: The best movie on this list to be sur..to no surprise. Katheryn Bigelow is a name that always indicates quality.
This, shockingly very true, historical narrative is as dark and gripping as any of her best. Words like dark, dire, and
stressfull are understatements in this tale of race and police struggles. There is an interesting mixture of actual news and historical
footage with dramaticized filmed Bigelow footage (this latter part being the majority). This aids to make it feel real, especially
so given Ms.Bigelow's knack for great camerawork and pulse pounding action / tortue. It starts as a tapestery of moments
in different lives, but ends up becoming a story about the Algiers Motel Incident within the 1967 riots. Some performances
stick out as extra stellar ... John Boyega's committed and stoic security guard Melvin Dismukes, the happiest of youth and
deepest of sorrow in musicians of The Dramatics Morris(Joseph-David Jones) and Larry Cleveland Reed(Algee Smith), and veteran
Greene(Anthony Mackie who gives a familiar to his work in Bay and the MCU but memorable turn). The context is unfortunate, but
racist abusive cop villian Phillip Krauss(Will Poulter)(just like but most of all out of like minded
peers) is a chilling antagonistic performance. Some of the characterization may be extreme, but it adds
to the violent, dark almost horror / thriller tone of the piece. This is real events at the end
of the day though, which makes this drama not a fiction of terror but one people went through on all
sides... with deep lessons to be learned for today's age. Emotional, bloody, violent, tense (aided
by a dark pulsing score)... Bigelow transports the audience back into a long (perhaps a bit
too much..and with some narrow focus that may have been aided by a bit more context) intense
tale of what happened. 8.7 out of 10
