zaterdag 20 juli 2013

Today's Mini-Reviews: Man of Steel goes on a Night Train to Lisbon



Night Train to Lisbon: ****/*****, or 7/10

Adaptation of the original novel of the same name by Pascal Mercier, chronicling the life and times of a young Portuguese doctor named Amadeu de Prado during the years of the oppressive Salazar regime. His political and philosophical trials are recounted through his journals as read long after his death by a Swiss professor played by Jeremy Irons. A timid and dull man, Irons one day saves the life of a woman attempting to commit suicide, who walks out on his life as sudden as she entered it, leaving him the diary and a train ticket to the Portuguese capital. Impulsively leaving his life behind, the professor takes his chances and travels to Lisbon in order to explore this life so different from his own. The vast dissimilarities in life style and character of the boring old professor compared to the adventurous, politically engaged young doctor are rather overstated to carry the point across that freedom and personal convictions are wasted if one does not make ample use of them during one's life, as Irons does not but Amadeu did: though it led him to an early death, he did live a wild and challenging life as the professor soon realizes when he seeks out those that knew him personally. Now all in their old age, his remaining family and friends enlighten the old man as to who Amadeu really was and what he accomplished. Many a great character actor is encountered as the movie progresses through the various view points of Amadeu's inner circle, including Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Lee, Bruno Ganz and Tom Courtenay. Interestingly enough (and potentially insulting towards the people of Portugal), none of them are Portuguese and nor is Jack Huston who plays the young Amadeu. However, their contribution as highly capable actors to informing us about the harsh and dangerous life of political dissidents under the brutal rule of Salazar and his secret police makes for a compelling glimpse of past Portuguese history, which isn't a subject of movies as often as it deserves to be. The movie also serves as a not so subtle tourist brochure to present day Lisbon, with its beautiful sunlit cityscapes and its treasure trove of historical architecture, ancient churches and appetizing dinner establishments. And unlike in Amadeu's time, there's no sinister right wing agents out to arrest you for disagreeing with the current political powers-that-be. No wonder Irons' character eventually opts to stay to escape his own dreary, disillusioned life in Switzerland, which is only shown as grey and rainy during the course of the film.




Man of Steel: ****/*****, or 7/10.

Under the producing talents of Christopher Nolan, Superman undergoes the same treatment to make him grittier – or more 'with the times' – as his fellow DC veteran Batman underwent for Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Director Zack Snyder has shown to be rather talented in adapting the works of more ingenious men into big blockbuster movies, e.g. 300 and Watchmen. As a result, Man of Steel proves a slick, dark and modern look at the iconic comic book character, the most 'super' of all superheroes. Nevertheless, the movie still leaves something to be desired, as illustrated by the fact the film works best during its quiet moments of comtemplation as to how a near omnipotent alien life form walking amongst us humans would live and act. Raised by human foster parents after his biological ones got blown to smithereens along with his home planet of Krypton, Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill beefed up considerably) has carefully learned not to show off his awesome powers, as they would make him an outcast, a mutant destined to be hated and feared by the society he means to protect (if some of these thematic ingredients sound familiar, it's because Hollywood has jumped on this bandwagon before in other superhero franchises). Moving from one false identity to another in search of inner peace, Clark soon finds the exact opposite when firstly a sexually attractive female raporter named Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and secondly some of his fellow Kryptonian survivors pay him a visit, the former in seach of the truth about this mystery man, the latter desperately after a weird skull shaped MacGuffin that would give Krypton a second chance, but only at the expense of humanity. Clark soon has no choice but to reveal himself to everybody and fight for his surrogate fellow species against his own kind led by the ruthless General Zod (Michael Shannon having a ball playing a rather bad man who can't stop shouting), who has a personal score to settle with the last remaining member of the -El family. What started as a thoughtful and intriguingly calm, impressionistic superhero movie exploring the nature of superhuman powers in an all too human world (similar to the likes of smaller budget films รก la Chronicle) soon erupts into a huge, undoubtedly super-expensive visual effects extravaganza as a big battle between Earth's armed forces against the vastly superior extraterrestrial legion commences, with Clark caught in the middle, forced to finally accept his otherness from both parties and donning the traditional red and blue garb we all know (sort of, as there's no underpants in Nolan's world). This time his father Jor-El (Russell Crowe) was kind enough to save the knitting patterns for the suit in his son's spaceship computer banks, probably anticipating a hugely muscled guy in a super tight suit would be just what Earth required to convince its inhabitants of the practicality of a 'Super-man'. Unfortunately the film is released mostly in 3D, while the movie is shot largely through handheld means, rendering the majority of the battle sequences' 3D effects a failure, if not excruciating on the eyes. And sadly those battle scenes make up nearly all of the film's final hour. Overall, Man of Steel is a crystal clear attempt to rejuvenate the Superman franchise applying the Dark Knight's formula, driven by its uncanny ability to bring in the biggest bucks, crafted in an all too similar style that leaves the titular character devoid of his usual comic book feel and charm (not to mention sense of humour), maybe for the better too considering the alternate approach attempted in Superman Returns didn't work out so well. This tactic doesn't prove to be as appropriate for Supes as it was for the Caped Crusader, but works well enough, though definitely more so in the bold first half of the film that relies more on the subtle exploration of a lonely Superman's place in the contemporary world than it does on the overabundance of loud digital action that follows it. One thing is for sure: with this particularly dark brand of superheroes, the upcoming Justice League movie is gonna be pitch-black.

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