Review #1,420: 'Incredibles 2' (2018)

The superhero genre has changed massively in the 14 years since Pixar and Brad Bird's spectacular The Incredibles. We now live in a world where a talking raccoon and sentient tree can make their way into the general audience's hearts and an African king can rake in over $1 billion at the box-office. The genre arguably reached its peak in terms of ambition, scope and pure spectacle earlier this year with Avengers: Infinity War, so a sequel to Bird's excellent and heartfelt 2004 romp was becoming increasingly unlikely - and unnecessary - as the years rolled by. Whether the creatives had a change of heart or Disney simply insisted, Incredibles 2 has finally arrived to try and prove that it's still relevant in a time when it feels like we get another superhero movie every month. With a heavy dose of visual pizzazz and a ton of heart, Incredibles 2 certainly hits the mark while naturally paling in comparison to its relatively flawless predecessor.

Completely ignoring the 14 years that have gone by in real time, this sequel picks up immediately after the climax of the first film, with the suited-up Parr family - Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile) - facing off with the newest villain in town, The Underminer (John Ratzenberger). Their scuffle with the burrowing thief causes collateral damage throughout the city, and in response the government shuts down the Superhero Relocation Program, leaving the Parrs homeless and without financial support. They are offered a glimmer of hope when CEO and superhero fan Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) reveals his desire to put the crime-fighters back in the public eye and remind the world of their importance. Helped by his tech genius sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener), Winston favours the clinical elegance of Elastigirl's powers over Mr. Incredible's destructive brute strength, so while she is out battling a mysterious new criminal called Screenslaver, he is tasked with tending to the kids.

Splitting up the central characters is a popular approach for many sequels, and here it seems like a natural way to further explore the themes of family bonds and individuality of the first film. Elastigirl savours her chance to shine, demonstrating a range of formidable powers which allow for some spectacular and beautifully-rendered action sequences. Most of the biggest laughs come from Mr. Incredible's struggle to handle his new responsibilities, as his face becomes increasingly haggard and grey with stubble. Dash needs help with his maths homework and Violet has boy troubles, but his biggest obstacle is ensuring Jack-Jack doesn't cause accidental mass destruction with his combination of laser vision, dimension-hopping and morphing into a literal flaming devil. Jack-Jack is usually the kind of animated character that has adults rolling their eyes, but his combination of wide-eyed innocence and clumsy displays of limitless power is utterly charming, in particular his encounter with a hungry (and soon to be sorry) raccoon. Incredibles 2 doesn't offer anything new to the genre or anything in the way of surprise, but it does its thing with style and care, allowing every character - including the returning Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone - their moment in the spotlight. 14 years after thrilling one generation, this sequel is sure to bring the next one on board.


Directed by: Brad Bird
Voices: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Eli Fucile, Catherine Keener, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L. Jackson
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,414: 'The Incredibles' (2004)

Earlier this year, when Disney finally completed their takeover of 21st Century Fox, Marvel fans rejoiced at the idea of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four finally being brought into the fold and into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the silly, family-friendly Fantastic Four we got back in 2005 and its only-slightly-better sequel in 2006, Josh Trank's much-anticipated 2015 reboot failed spectacularly, causing Fox to shelve the tainted franchise indefinitely. Since Kevin Feige and the MCU can seemingly do no wrong, we will finally be getting an interpretation worthy of Marvel's first family. What most fans didn't realise however, is that we already had a great Fantastic Four movie, only it wasn't made by Marvel and didn't feature the likes of Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch. No, I'm not referring to Roger Corman's 1994 disaster, but the one made by Pixar Studios called The Incredibles, which is still to this day one of the greatest superhero movies of all time.

The world has been blessed with the arrival of superheroes: super-powered beings who dress up in masks and tights, battling crime in their spare time to the adoration of a grateful public. But with the rise of superheroes comes the rise of supervillains, all with equally outlandish costumes, nicknames and powers. Public opinion suddenly shifts when famous hero Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) saves a man from suicide, and the lawsuits start to hit the caped crusaders. In response, the government starts the Superhero Relocation Program, designed to hide the supers in society and keep their crime-fighting antics at bay. Years later, Mr. Incredible is living a dull suburban existence with his wife Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) and their three children Violent (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Spencer Fox), and baby Jack-Jack. His work at an insurance company brings him no joy, so he helps the vulnerable to find loopholes in the company's policies to ensure they pay out, and spends some nights with old buddy Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) listening to a police radio. But life seems to have meaning once again when he is contacted by a mysterious woman named Mirage (Elizabeth Pena), who offers the overweight lug a top-secret mission on a secret island base.

Pixar is famous not only for the quality of their movies, but for how their products can be loved by anybody in any age group. Children will enjoy the bright colours and spectacular action, adults will appreciate the sly wit, and just about everybody will fall for the heart. Yet despite its somewhat glossy appearance, The Incredibles is Pixar at its most mature. While the film does gift its characters super-strength, super-speed and invisibility, The Incredibles is really about dysfunction and the trappings of family life and a 9 to 5 job. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl have reached crisis point, with the latter left to dealt with children only just discovering their powers while the former is off daydreaming about the glory days. It's what drives the drama, and is ultimately what makes you hold your breath when they are in danger or want to punch the air when they suit up to face their foe. Such an honest depiction of marital life doesn't make for depressing viewing however, with writer/director Brad Bird mixing in some fine slapstick humour and the mic-dropping costume designer Edna Mode (voiced by Bird himself). 14 years after its release, it still remains one of Pixar's finest, and Bird finds the perfect balance of comedy, drama and action as he did with his other animated classic, The Iron Giant.


Directed by: Brad Bird
Voices: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox, Jason Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Peña
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,007: 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (2016)

With the phenomenal success of Marvel's 8-year (and still going strong) moulding of their cinematic universe, the fashionable goal for studios now seems to be to create a vast world for their ensemble of characters to co-exist and occasionally cross paths. Marvel's output now includes some of the highest-grossest films of all time, so it was never going to take other studios too long to realise the potential in their comic-book property. Fox's X-Men franchise expanded itself this year with Deadpool, and the box-office success of Man of Steel in 2013 now have publishing behemoth DC flexing their muscles.

Subtlety isn't something Zack Snyder, director of 300 (2006), Watchmen (2009) and Sucker Punch (2011), is known for. Like Joss Whedon at Marvel before his departure, Snyder has been employed as head honcho for DC's expanded universe. Rather than taking the time to build the world from the ground up and teasing fans with what's to come, Snyder throws everything (including the kitchen sink in one scene) at Man of Steel's follow-up, which introduces a seriously pissed-off Batman into the mix, as well as a hoard of famous and not-so-famous fellow superheroes who are all due their own stand-alone movies in the future. To summarise, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is a colossal mess.

Picking up during the climax of Man of Steel that saw Superman (Henry Cavill) cause mega-destruction and the deaths of thousands of people during his fisticuffs with General Zod (Michael Shannon), Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) arrives at Metropolis to witness the carnage first hand. This older, more damaged Batman holes up in his mansion and discusses Superman's alien threat with his trusted butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons). An unsupervised being of almost unlimited power, Wayne sees Superman as a threat to humanity and hopes to turn the public against him using his influence at the Daily Planet newspaper.

Meanwhile, billionaire eccentric Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) takes a special interest in Superman, and convinces Senator Finch (Holly Hunter) to allow him access to Zod's fallen spacecraft as well as the General's body. Wayne learns of Luthor's activities and attends one of his gatherings in the hope of stealing encrypted files, and learns that a mysterious woman by the name of Diane Prince (Gal Gadot) is also seeking the same thing. Knowing that Superman and Batman will always stand in his way, Luthor imports Kryptonite from the Indian Ocean and begins to set in motion a great battle between the two, from which surely only one will walk away.

The plot seems to only concern itself with the bigger picture, with its eyes firmly on the Justice League movie due next year, Without any sense of immediate threat and with such an emotional detachment from its characters, it's extremely difficult to care about much that happens during Batman v Superman. It's all too much, too soon. On top of the muddled plot, Snyder throws in glimpses of future members of the superhero team - The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) - that act like mini-trailers jammed into the middle of the movie without much thought, and a seemingly random, yet beautifully captured, dream sequence that foreshadows the big bad Darkseid.

Most of the characters motivations are left unexplained too. While Superman's actions with Zod left catastrophic damage, the public are pretty clear that they view him as a hero fighting an alien threat, even concocting a monument in his honour. So why is Batman so utterly pissed at him, especially when Superman doesn't even harm him during their first encounter when he could have snapped him like a twig? Luthor, played by an Eisenberg who seems to believe he is on the set of Adam West's 1960's TV show, is hell-bent of neutralising Superman's threat. Does he have daddy issues? A fear of God? Luthor rants like a teenager hyped-up from sugar and video-games and hints at these and many others, but no real explanation is given. And just what was he hoping to achieve by unleashing the part cave-troll, part what you couldn't flush down the toilet this morning, at the end?

The movie's main positive is Affleck. The groans echoed throughout social media when his casting was announced, but he nails both Bruce Wayne and Batman. He is the Darkest Knight there has ever been, with a brute physicality that could flick Christian Bale's incarnation across the screen. Snyder has the skill to bring a comic book panel to life better than anybody, and Batman v Superman is frequently astonishing to look at. Gadot also excels during her small amount of screen-time, and is the only one appearing to be having any fun. Of the smack-down itself, it's an exciting and brutal affair, brought to a close by one of the most ridiculous moments of mutual enlightenment in cinema, ever. Like Man of Steel, Batman v Superman has defied mixed (and some utterly unforgiving) reviews and stormed the box-office, so I think it's safe to say that the DC train will plough on.


Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Holly Hunter, Scoot McNairy
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #561: 'The Piano' (1993)

Ada (Holly Hunter) arrives at a rainy New Zealand coast to meet her new husband - the gently-spoken frontiersman Stewart (Sam Neill) - along with her precious grand piano and her illegitimate daughter Flora (Anna Paquin). Ada has been a mute since she was 6 years old, and as she explains in her narration, no-one knows why. Stewart's friend Baines (Harvey Keitel) takes an interest in the piano and offers Stewart land in exchange for it, as well as lessons from Ada, to which Stewart agrees. Offering the chance to earn her piano back, Baines wants one visit per black key on the piano from Ada, who he is seemingly infatuated with.

Australian director Jane Campion's erotically-charged gothic love story was a huge success back in 1993, winning the Best Actress Academy Award for Holly Hunter and Best Supporting Actress for Paquin, who became the second youngest recipient ever. Hunter's shadowy Ada is the backbone of The Piano, and while it may appear that it is her piano that fuels her passion, it is very much her own mind and experiences that dictate her actions. She is quite a fascinating character - not merely the put-upon mute who longs for love and her piano - she is actually rather subtly manipulative and sexually powerful, weighing up the two love interests in her life, and playing a dangerous power game with her increasingly jealous husband.

The contrast between the two men in Ada's life couldn't be any obvious - Stewart playing dutiful, business-minded and quite inept in courtship, while Baines is hulking, living out in the forest, his face spotted with native Maori tattoos - but it is quite clear as to where Campion's preferences life. Ada's scenes with Baines, in which he listens to her play, become the centrepiece for some highly erotic moments, playing out more like animal foreplay than anything human. Ada seems not to bat an eyelid when Baines lies on the floor by her feet, fingering a hole in her stocking, or simply walks around the room completely naked. While these unconventional actions are there to channel Ada's sexual repression/release and Baines' animalistic nature, these scenes often appear forced, filled with lazy or nonsensical metaphors passed of as spiritual film-making.

As with many Australian period films, The Piano looks stunning. The exotic location is not filmed through a sun-tinted lens, and nor does it capture any of the colourful wildlife (something you would expect if Terence Malick had directed it), but is grey, wet and muddy. Like Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Gallipoli (1981), it has that lived-in feel, with Hunter's beautiful, ghostly face evoking a 19th-century photograph, where everyone looks grim and pale, and Campion's occasionally snapshot approach captures the mundane, everyday actions of the period. The performances are a revelation, with Hunter and Paquin deserving their accolades, and Keitel proving a formidable presence (I'll not mention the accent). The Piano is personal film-making, but too often the film seems to be striving for that mystical atmosphere rather than actually capturing it, occasionally getting lost amongst Campion's obvious adoration for her protagonist.


Directed by: Jane Campion
Starring: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin
Country: Australia/New Zealand/France

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie