Contour At The Movies

Overall Impression — Gone are the quips, the easy going air of superiority.  It’s an action movie, first and foremost and a well-structured one with an interesting stakes character.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? — James Bond

What’s he trying to accomplish? — Defeat the plans of the evil Dominic Greene (professional), keep Camille safe as she seeks revenge (personal), and avenge the death of his girlfriend Vesper Lynd (private).

Who’s trying to stop him? — Dominic Greene.

What happens if he fails? — Camille dies, and the South American peasants are left without water.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan — Bond is all alone after the death of Vesper Lynd in CASINO ROYALE.  Even though he’s called off by M, he continues to seek vengeance and is the outcast of MI-6.

Wanderer — Bond travels to various exotic locations (apparently, the most in any Bond film) following the trail and leads which will bring him to those who betrayed and killed Vesper.

Warrior — Bond meets Camille, saves her and realizes that they have a shared destiny.  He now knows who is behind Vesper’s death (Greene) and is actively pursuing him and the cartel who are threatening

Martyr — Bond is willing to give up his own life to help Camille get the revenge that he himself was unable to get.

AND, IN THE END…

I’m not sure who pulled the trigger (so to speak) on the idea of making Bond the “blunt object” that M accused him of being in the previous Bond movie (CASINO ROYALE) but blunt he is.  I saw a review that likened Daniel Craig to a crash test dummy.  He certainly doesn’t get much chance to emote, and his Bond doesn’t arouse much empathy for a man who just lost the one girl who could love him for who he is.  That being said, the film follows the rules of structure and thanks to hyperkinetic action is never uninteresting to watch.  Tellingly though, neither the story nor Bond’s journey lingers in memory.  Ultimately this is a film that leaves us shaken, but not stirred.

Overall Impression — I don’t know what they were smoking, but I want some.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS 

Who’s the main character? — Jack Sparrow, but only by default.   At various times Will drives the story, Elizabeth drives the story, Barbossa drives the story, there’s probably some sub-plot I missed where the third pirate from the left was driving the story.  It comes down to Jack as the main character because of my oft-stated principle that the climactic battle of any (good) story is always the good guy versus the bad guy over the stakes.  At the end of PIRATES 3 Jack was fighting Davy Jones over Will (kinda) so there you have it. 

What’s he trying to accomplish? –  Damned if I know.  Something about wanting to be a pirate indefinitely. 

Who’s trying to stop him? – The main villain is Lord Beckett. 

What happens if he fails? – Damned it I know.  I guess he dies, or doesn’t get to be a pirate anymore.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan — Jack is alone in Davy Jones locker and needs rescuing.  That being said, he’s not really alone because there are all these alternate Jacks with him.  And if this makes no sense to you then take a number, me hearty! 

Wanderer – Jack is rescued from Davy Jones locker by Will, Elizabeth and company.  They then have to figure out how to get back to the world of the living and make it to Shipwreck Island for a gathering of the pirate brethren.

Warrior –  Damned if I know.  The pirates decide to fight?  Jack decides to do something.  Sure, I watched this while suffering from a nasty head cold, but I couldn’t have been that foggy…could I? 

Martyr –  Jack gives up his goal of living forever at sea by enabling Will to stab Davy Jones’s heart.  

AND, IN THE END

This movie was too clever by half.  After an amazing debut in PIRATES 1, the franchise started substituting incongruous imagination for compelling story, bringing us PIRATES 2 and now PIRATES 3.  This not an uncommon problem with the Hollywood blockbuster sequel;  the need to outdo the original.  Sadly, this outdoing often makes the story come undone.  Ah, but that’s the real curse of the Black Pearl, isn’t it?

Overall Impression — Odd, inconsistent tone that veers between cartoon comedy and serious violence.  Cool effects, though.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s the main character? — Sam Witwicky.

What’s he trying to accomplish? —  Save the world by enabling the good robots to defeat the bad robots.

Who’s trying to stop him? — Megatron, as well as certain governmental factions (though they come around to his side towards the end.)

What happens if he fails? — The world falls to the evil Decepticons.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Sam is a geek loser at school.  Uncool, doesn’t have a car, doesn’t have a girl.

Wanderer – Tries to figure out what’s going on with his new car and all these other vehicles which suddenly are able to transform into giant robots.  He eventually realizes that the glasses he’s gotten from his famous explorer grandfather are a key to this puzzle.

Warrior —  He goes head to head with the authorities while the good Autobots get more engaged with the bad Decepticons.

Martyr —  Sam is willing to risk himself to save Optimus Prime from Megatron.

 AND, IN THE END…

I SO wanted to love this movie and ended up only liking it.  The sad thing is that I didn’t feel particularly good about myself when that happened.  It appealed to that part of me that likes loud noises, big film scores, cool effects…all the surface gloss and glitter.  But there’s that other part of me that wants a more involving story with real emotions, and this film didn’t have it.

Compare this to either of Michael Bay’s ARMAGEDDON or THE ROCK.  Both superior action movies because we cared about the people in them as well as their relationships.