Fury (8/10): David Ayer's furious portrayal of the Second World War

“Ideals are peaceful. History is violent.”

When it comes to approaching war films, every director seems to have a certain agenda in the way they are going to portray it. David Ayer’s approach is summed up in that simple quote, delivering a war film that portrays the cruelty and rawness of war in a rather visual way. Ayer has had more misses than hits as a director, but if there is something he knows how to direct it is action set pieces. He may not be the greatest story teller and most of his characters aren’t developed at all, but when it comes to action scenes he directs them with great detail. Fury is at its best when it centers on the action and stays away from the dialogue and character buildup.  Very few war films have centered on soldiers fighting from inside a tank perhaps due to the physical constraints so in a way Fury is unique (unless you have seen the foreign film Lebanon which takes place entirely inside a tank). David Ayer isn’t the first director who has experimented with this, but he does deliver a solid and entertaining film with gruesome action scenes. Saving Private Ryan has changed the way films portray war, and Fury is one of those war films that has been influenced by it. I can’t recall another war film that depicts the cruelty of war in such an authentic and raw manner as Fury does. Fury is my second favorite film from David Ayer, but I still think End of Watch is his best. However, it’s a huge improvement over his previous film, Sabotage.

The characters in Fury are clichéd, we’ve seen them before in many other war films, but the action scenes are unique and engaging. Even Brad Pitt’s Wardaddy feels like a similar character from Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds without that heavy southern accent. The rest of the crew that Fury focuses on also play the usual stereotypes from numerous war films of the past. Logan Lerman plays the new boy who doesn’t seem to belong to this violent world, but who we will see transformed by the effects of war. Shia LaBeouf is the Christian soldier who will throw out a pair of Bible verses in between fights. Michael Peña is the wise cracking latino and Jon Bernthal the bully who is the hardest to sympathize with. These are the five crew members inside the Sherman tank that the film centers on. Despite not being unique characters and often quite dislikable, the actors give strong performances. Brad Pitt is great as the Sergeant, although at times his star power does get in the way. I still enjoyed his performance very much. Shia LaBeouf was a surprise as well, he delivered a credible performance. The easiest character to engage with was Logan Lerman’s, who delivered a surprisingly strong performance as well. The entire cast was solid despite playing clichéd characters. There is a sequence in the middle of the film that feels out of place and hurt the overall pacing of the film, but the final 30 minutes will have you at the edge of your seat again. It is intense. 

My Review: Lawless (9/10)

¨It is not the violence that sets men apart, alright, it is the distance that he is prepared to go.¨

Lawless is a terrific action drama set in the depression era in a small Virginia town. The cinematography in this film is beautiful; I just love movies set in this period when they have a good story like this one. Lawless is based on the novel written by Matt Bondurant, ¨The Wettest County in the World,¨ the grandson of one of the characters in this film, and it claims to be based on a true story. The screenplay was adapted by Nick Cave, and the film directed by John Hillcoat (The Road). I was instantly won over by Lawless as soon as I saw the talented cast that was involved. Shia LaBeouf may have the lead role, but he is outshined by Tom Hardy who is the heart and soul of this movie. The rest of the cast was also excellent with Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Dane DeHaan (the young Leonardo Di Caprio look alike from Chronicle), Gary Oldman, and Guy Pearce who plays the villain to perfection here. Gary Oldman is always great, but my only complaint here is that he gets as much screen time in the movie as he does in the trailer. He could´ve been used much more here, although I understand that there were a lot of different things going on. There was one terrific and brutal scene thirty minutes into the movie that really caught my attention and picked up the story from that point forward. It was the turning point for me. Hardy was the rock of this film and he absolutely nailed his role convincing the audience of the legends surrounding his character. I had some trouble with his grumpy voice at times understanding what he was saying, but his performance was spectacular nonetheless. In a way he reminded me of Ryan Gosling in Drive.

The story takes place during the prohibition era in Franklin County, Virginia where the three Bondurant brothers, Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke), and Jack (Shia LaBeouf) run a bootlegging business with the compliance of the local authorities. Jack´s close friend, Cricket (Dane DeHaan), a young teenager who couldn’t hurt a fly is responsible for the moonshine production for which he`s very talented. At the same time, city girl Maggie (Jessica Chastain) shows up in the small town looking for a job at the local bar that Forrest runs. Trouble arises when a new Special Deputy arrives in town from Chicago. His name is Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), and he wants a bigger share in the Bondurant´s profits. Rakes is eccentric and crooked, but he isn’t intimidated by these brothers. The rest of the town believes in the legend that Forrest is immortal after having survived several life threatening experiences (even Forrest himself believes this). Forrest is perhaps the only one in the town that stands up against Rakes and defies him. The younger brother, Jack, initially is the most timid one, but after falling for the local preacher´s daughter, Bertha (Mia Wasikowska) and scoring an important business deal with a famous mobster named Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman) he begins to transform himself into quite a respectable lad. The problem is that Rakes is keeping a close watch on their business and waiting for the perfect opportunity to intervene.

Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy`s characters are probably the best developed in the story. Shia goes through the greatest transformation, while Hardy remains the same always projecting this in control and cool persona. He truly believes he`s immortal like the rest of the town. Jason Clarke is probably the least developed character along with Gary Oldman who really has very little screen time (a real shame). Guy Pearce is very cynical and twisted minded. He made for a perfect villain. Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska both projected beauty and innocence in their roles. The cast was really great in this. I also loved the music and score that accompanied the film. The drama and action played out really well with a couple of violent and bloody scenes. There were several sub plots going on as well with the love interest between Jack and Bertha, and Forrest and Maggie. The legend behind these three men is probably what makes the film stand out story wise and puts Forrest on top of my favorite characters list for 2012. Lawless is a film you won´t want to miss.

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My Review: Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon (4/10)

¨You may lose faith in us, but never in yourselves¨

Somehow after the third Transformers film I have managed to lose my faith in the highly successful blockbuster director Michael Bay and screenwriter Ehren Kruger who have turned one of my favorite cartoons into a terrible franchise. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the first Transformers and thought it was awesome to see those characters brought to the big screen, but the sequels just haven’t managed to live up to expectations and my faith in the series is long lost. As Optimus Prime states, at least I haven’t managed to lose my faith in myself. The special effects are extraordinary and we get plenty of action, but there is no character development whatsoever. The movie is exceedingly long (over two and a half hours) and not even with all that extra time do we get to see some character development. The final showdown is also extremely long, but I guess action fans won`t be disappointed because they get a lot of excellent fights and cool visuals. As for me, I would have liked a better story with more character development. I could have also used a bit more comedy; the jokes just get old after three films and I would`ve really enjoyed something fresh and original in the series instead of relying on John Turturro all over again for the funniest moments. There are some new additions to the franchise, some interesting actors, but none of them are enough to save the franchise. Transformers is one of those movies that is extremely loud and makes a lot of noise, but really never ends up saying anything at all.

Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is back again to save the world for a third time from the Decepticons, although this time he has a new girlfriend, Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). He meets her at the White House after receiving a medal of honor from president Obama. Sam is out of college, but is having trouble finding a job, although he is living with Carly who is doing well at her new job working as an assistant for a rich man named Dylan (Patrick Dempsey). On the meantime, the Autobots are helping humans maintain peace between them while the Decepticons remain silent. Lennox (Josh Duhamel), who works with the Autobots, receives a call from Ukraine saying that they have found some form of alien life at a former radiation plant. The Decepticons seem to be searching for something and the answers can be found in the past: they have to do with man`s first arrival at the moon. A few select men at NASA have been hiding some key information about what really was hidden at the dark side of the moon: a Cybertronian spacecraft containing some dark secrets. Both Decepticons and Autobots begin a race to uncover this secret that could threaten life on Earth. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and the rest of the Autobots are back along with some new ones, while Megatron leads the Decepticon`s new army.  There are some plot twists so I do not want to give too much of it away, but the main focus of the film is almost entirely on the action and the almost hour long destruction of Chicago.

In this third film we discover that Optimus Prime isn’t the last remaining Prime after all since Sentinel Prime has been unconscious in the dark side of the moon during all these years. When Optimus Prime finds him he revives him with the Matrix; but Sentinel isn’t the only new character in this film, we also have Frances McDormand as Chief Mearing in charge of the NEST operation, the funny Ken Jeong as Jerry Wang, Sam`s co-worker who might know what NASA was hiding doing the trip to the moon, there is also John Malkovich as Sam`s new boss, and then there is Alan Tudyk as the Dutch who is Simmons`s personal assistant. Even though we have all these new characters (remember I also mentioned Carly who replaced Megan Fox, and her boss Dylan) the film still seems more of the same and lacks freshness and originality. None of these characters were able to bring something new to the franchise because the script was mediocre and the film relied solely on the spectacular visuals and action scenes. Much of what Michael Bay puts on film is eye-candy, that is the reason he brought Rosie Huntington-Whiteley to replace Fox as she isn’t much of an actress, but she is just as hot as Fox. I just wished Bay spent the same amount of time he does on the action scenes with the screenplay. The 3D visuals work really well in this film, especially with the action scenes and the destruction of Chicago, but the movie just felt way too long in my opinion. I`m also tired of the open ended finales which suggest there might be another sequel on the way, and wish they just brought closure to the Transformers franchise

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My Review: Wall Street Money Never Sleeps (6/10)

¨So, does Blue Horseshoe still love Anacott Steel? ¨

This quote was from Charlie Sheen`s cameo in Oliver Stone`s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which only served as a reminder of how good the original film was and how distant the sequel is from it. The film began with a lot of promise and I thought there was little anyone could do to mess it up considering Michael Douglas was back with one of his best roles as Gordon Gekko. The problem is that with time and life in prison Gekko has changed and he isn`t that powerful person he once was. The major problem I had with this movie was the ending which I thought was way too soft and it seemed as if Stone sold out to the typical Hollywood ending, which was nothing like the finale in the first part. However this isn`t a bad movie, it just isn`t as good as Wall Street because Gekko isn`t as bad a villain as he was in 1987. If you`ve seen this and haven`t seen the first film then make sure you do because I guarantee you will enjoy Douglas`s Oscar winning role as Gordon in that movie more than in this one. Oliver Stone is known for always bringing the best out of his cast and this movie is no exception. I really enjoyed the supporting cast, especially Frank Langella, Josh Broslin, and Eli Wallach who were really great in every scene they were in. Shia LaBeouf is no Charlie Sheen, but he wasn`t bad in this film either, and one can say Carey Mulligan is a much better actress than what Daryl Hannah was in Wall Street. I know they are different characters, but they are similar players in similar roles. The screenplay was written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, but it wasn`t as powerful as Weiser`s original screenplay.

The movie begins in 2001 with Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) being released from a long jail sentence. No one is there to pick him up and it is obvious that things have changed for him over the years. The movie then jumps forward to 2008 and introduces us to Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf), a young man who works at a banking institution named Keller Zabel Investments and who is trying to raise money for a fusion research project. His boss is Lewis Zabel (Frank Langella) and he is like a father figure for him because he has taught him everything he knows about being a broker. Zabel gives Jacob a bonus for his work, but at the same time he seems depressed because the company has been losing money due to the financial crisis that has hit everyone. Jacob decides to buy a nice ring with the money given to him and propose to his beautiful girlfriend Winnie (Carey Mulligan) who actually happens to be Gordon`s daughter who has broken all ties with her father after his arrest that led to her brother`s death from drug overdose. Gekko wrote a book during his time in jail and now he finds himself promoting it throughout different colleges. Jacob goes to one of these lectures and tells Gordon that he is planning on marrying his daughter. They begin to hang out secretly and Gekko explains to Jacob what may have caused Zabel to have recently committed suicide. He says that Bretton James (Josh Broslin), a successful broker, began rumors to hurt Zabel`s company and benefit from its demise. Jacob swears he will get his revenge, but the question is whether his relationship with Gordon will affect his relationship with Winnie, and whether or not he can actually trust him.

Gordon Gekko was a true villain in the 80`s although many people actually bought into his philosophy once the movie was released. Now a couple of decades later he is more of in a grey area. The true villain is Bretton James, and I thought that was one of the things that hurt the film, because Gekko made a terrific villain and there was no need to soften him in this film. One of the best scenes in this movie is the lecture that he gives at Jacob`s alma matter about the foreseeable financial crises. It was reminiscent of the speech he gave in the first film about money and greed. That was the highlight of the film, while on the downside you have the washed down Hollywood ending. The film had the potential to be a lot better than it actually was if it focused more on the economic aspect and less on the melodrama and relationships between Gordon and his daughter and Jacob with Winnie. This isn`t a bad movie, but I still recommend the first one over this any day. One thing is certain, Michael Douglas won`t win another Oscar for this version of Gekko.

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