Captain Phillips is no Swashbuckler

Back when I was growing up, I had a very specific image of what a pirate was (or should be) - that image was patterned after a movie entitled "Captain Blood." It was one a slew of old 30's and 40's movies that used to be the mainstay of programming back before the onslaught of mega-cable. The star and hero of that movie was Errol Flynn - he was the hero and and he was a real pirate.

This is a real pirate...

Last night we went to see Captain Phillips - the real-life saga of a Somali pirate raid upon the Maersk Alabama in 2009. In this movie, the hero was the captain of the undefended ship under attack, played by Tom Hanks. The pirate lead (played by Barkhad Abdi) is an emaciated former fisherman (so the story tells us) driven to piracy by his demanding warlord bosses. Don't get us wrong, Barkhad does a remarkably good job providing depth to his character (as much as he can given the circumstances and relatively weak script which is written primarily from Captain Phillip's point of view).

Today's pirates sans rum (they chew some sort of plant instead)

Overall though the show, despite its ability to demonstrate building tension all the way through til the end seemed to fall flat. One serious issue we had was the docudrama style employed throughout the movie. A docu-drama takes real actors and makes it look as though they are real people doing often boring things as some type of historical event unfolds. In other words, it's like the reality TV version of cinema. This type of format is especially disappointing when you have talent like Hanks - an actor desperate to give a performance and being thwarting by the film's format at every turn. Just imagine if you will Castaway being redone in a more documentary fashion and you'll see how that could really change the film going experience.

You would think the pirates might invest in some Miami Vice style cigar boats

Even with the film style employed, the movie's pace would have gone much smoother if much of the footage connected with the US Navy had been cut out. Sure the Navy was there and put an end to the situation, but the story that mattered was centered around Hanks and his pirate captain nemesis and taking away from that took a lot of steam out of the production. If some of those scenes had been cut it's possible that Captain Phillips could have rivaled Gravity in the all out action thrill ride category sure to be present in next year's Oscars. (in Gravity they wisely cut off NASA's microphones and focused on the two main characters).

We've had goofy pirates (Johnny Depp), starving pirates (from this movie) - when do we get to see real pirates again? Maybe with the upcoming mini-series Black Sails?

copyright 2013, Raving Reviews

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Navigating the Cloud Atlas

Yesterday evening was dark, rainy and generally miserable out as the Eastern third of the United States was being pummeled by Hurricane Sandy - it seemed like an excellent time to go to the movies - so we did. We had been hearing quite a lot about Cloud Atlas; the feedback so far seemed to be sharply divided pro and con so we had to see it for ourselves (and yes there were multiple of us - we're not referring to one person in the third person). We didn't know what to expect and we understood why shortly after the movie began. We will also try to do our best not give away spoilers for this review.

An extended preview of Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is an altogether different sort of movie. The only thing that comes close is an old flick from the 1970's based upon a Ray Bradbury short story, "The Illustrated Man." There was also a Robin Williams movie from the early 1990's called "Being Human." The idea behind all of these stories is that there may sometimes exist connections between people across lives and across the sea of time. The difference between those earlier versions of the core premise and Cloud Atlas is one of scale and execution. Cloud Atlas tells six stories concurrently, with many parts of the those six stories interwoven with the others. The main cast of this ambitious film were required to play as many as six different (albeit potentially related) characters. And the stories were interesting in how different they were from one another - we move from suspense, to melancholy, to comedy, to terror and to inspiration in turn. There does seem to be an underlying theme that binds most of these stories but we won't give it away - it is one of the pleasures of watching this tour de force.

So much of cinema these days is ordinary, formulaic and downright moronic - and we here do our best to ridicule bad cinema when ridicule is deserved. By the same token, we must also pay homage when we're in the presence of genius. Granted there are parts of the movie that overreach a bit and perhaps the makeup artists and Tom Hanks got a little carried away at times but overall this was a gripping 2 and a half hours of cinema. As the movie progressed we kept wondering when the intricate web of tales might collapse upon its own weight - we waited until the end and it never did. Some have argued in their critiques that the six individual stories were too shallow to stand on their own. We don't think the tales were shallow, but that's partly because they don't really stand on their own - in many cases one tale is a bookend to another and unless you can see it that way you might miss the whole point of the movie.

Hugh Grant as Cannibal Chieftain - he plays not one but 5 bad guys - you go Hugh!

We have to say that the most striking part of the film is that which deals with the character Sonmi-451 - it's pure science fiction and very reminiscent of the Matrix trilogy - not surprising considering that the same folks (the Wachowskis) who made the matrix created this film. It's striking both visually and because of the philosophical and political issues it chooses to tackle and it is a love story as well. There is something haunting and profound about it that we can't quite put our finger on. 

Somni-451 is a Fabricant who dreams of freedom - we think the 451 may be an homage to Ray Bradbury

There are going to be people who don't like this movie for its politics or its views on spirituality and the human condition or simply because they find it too long or complex to follow. For the rest of us though, this represents much of why we love movies in the first place. Cloud Atlas is about storytelling and that couldn't be clearer if you pay close attention to the first scene and the last of the movie. And it's not just about telling six compelling stories, it's how those stories are told - within a wider context of stories and cultural currents. This movie witnesses breakout performances by Hanks, Halle Barry, Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving and Hugh Grant. It featured an absolutely stunning performance by Jim Broadbent and a remarkable debut by Doona Bae who plays Somni-451. The cinematography throughout the film was first rate and contributed a lot to the overall impact. The movie even featured some very decent comedic performances but we won't give those away.

Cloud Atlas receives our best film of the year award (if we had one). It is highly doubtful anything else will come close, although we do have hopes for Life of Pi. If you enjoy cinema and not simply going to movies to watch things you expect like the Expendables - then you have to see this movie. Love, hate it - it doesn't matter - you should experience it. If you like stories, you'll like Cloud Atlas.

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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