Back in 2003, before Marvel created their 'Cinematic Universe' and started to explore their more obscure, lesser-known characters, superhero movies were starting to hit their stride. Origin stories such as Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000) and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002), while certainly far from perfect, demonstrated just how fun these movies could be without sacrificing plot or character development for the sake of a set-piece. Ang Lee's Hulk took this idea a tad too far, delving into the psyche of its not-particularly-interesting protagonist and forgetting that this is a movie about a giant green rage-monster who smashes things to pieces.
Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) works with his former girlfriend Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) at the Berkeley Biology Institute, experimenting on cell repair using gamma radiation. Due to a mysterious, traumatic event when he was a child, Banner is haunted by the vague memories he has of his parents, now believed to be dead. Naturally, one of his experiments goes awry and he is exposed to a dangerous level of radiation, which allows him to turn into a big green monster whenever he gets angry. His father David (Nick Nolte) turns up alive to complete the experimentation he was prevented from completing by Betty's father Thaddeus (Sam Elliott), who imprisoned him for 30 years. Learning of David's return and Bruce's new power, Thaddeus will not stop at nothing to take them both down.
I remember quite liking Hulk when I first saw it back in the cinema, but watching it again 13 years later, I found it a convoluted, and quite frankly boring, mess. There are a couple of things to admire, such as Lee's attempt to translate the comic to screen with the use of multiple split-screen, but this device is employed too often, and in situations that don't really call for it. Nolte is also enjoyable to watch, as he is let loose to the point where it seems like he has wandered onto the set after a particularly heavy binge. However, the film spends far too much time with a mopey Bruce as he struggles with the memories of the past. When the action finally comes, the special effects just aren't up to scratch, even by 2003's standards, and the climax is a confusing muddle of giant clouds obscured even further by the fact that the picture is too dark to make out what is happening. Hopefully, if Marvel ever make a standalone movie with Mark Ruffalo, they will finally get the character right (fingers crossed for Planet Hulk!).
Information is extremely easy to come by these days. Seemingly any fathomable topic can be typed into a search engine, and a world of information is unlocked. The biopic genre, that so often relied on myths and hearsay about its chosen topic, faced the reality that their 'artistic licence' would be stepped on, and audiences wanted something much more closer to fact. So, recent biopics, such as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) and Lincoln (2012), brought the myth back down to Earth, showing us the human beneath the magazine serials and profiles. Director Ruben Fleischer has chosen to ignore this change in attitudes, and opted for a heavily stylised, operatically over-the-top portrayal of the downfall of Los Angeles kingpin Mickey Cohen with Gangster Squad, one of the biggest let-downs in recent memory.
Mickey Cohen's (Sean Penn) choke-hold on Los Angeles is growing increasingly tighter, with the police force, judges, and politicians all backing him up. Seeing no legal method of capturing Cohen and his criminal empire, Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) calls in no-nonsense police sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) to infiltrate and destroy Cohen's businesses. O'Mara quickly rounds up his tight crew, who he dubs the 'gangster squad', while O'Mara's friend and fellow police sergeant Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) woos Cohen's girlfriend Grace Faraday (Emma Stone). Using wire-tapping and some simple brutality, the squad start to break down Cohen's money-making schemes, until Cohen's starts to hit back in force, waging war in the city he wants complete control of.
While obviously heavily elaborating on 'fact', Gangster Squad's story is undeniably luring. Set amongst possibly the most corrupt and out-of-control era in America's history and against a backdrop Hollywood razzle-dazzle, it's amazing just how dull the film is. I would estimate about 95% of the film is complete bull-shit, which I could live with, but it's the way it goes about it's bull-shit that makes the film such, well, bull-shit. This is a film that tries to capture the 50's noir cool of the era, with sharp suits and cool hats, but there's only so many Gosling poses or look-how-cool-this-car-is moments that I can take. If it spent a little less try trying to be cool, and more time getting to the grit of the story then it may have worked a little better. But this doesn't capture the style of the era like L.A. Confidential (1997) did, it's all forced, hat-tilted-to one side, cigarette-hanging-loosely-out-the-mouth, forced cool.
For such a stellar cast, only Sean Penn manages to tune in a performance. As ridiculous as his prosthetics are and as outlandish as his performance is, he seems to be the only one really trying. Don't expect any depth, Penn's Cohen is a simple thug who will kill you if you fail him, and you would find more complex villains in early James Bond movies. Brolin and Gosling, two of the most interesting actors to emerge in the last ten or so years, barely register, failing to breathe any kind of life into their archetypal roles. But it is Emma Stone that suffers the most, serving no purpose other than to be the helpless damsel-in-distress and to give Gosling a reason to take his shirt off. In fact, you could label every one of the Gangster Squad as a familiar archetype you would think we'd moved away from. Brolin is The No-Nonsense Leader, Gosling is The Handsome One, Harris (Anthony Mackie) is The Black One, Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi) is The Nerdy One, Kennard (Robert Patrick) is The Veteran, and Ramirez (Michael Pena) is The Rookie.
I mean come on, this is 2013, can't we expect a little bit more from our mainstream films? It's just one cliché after another, including a little boy friendly with Wooters who gets killed by one of Cohen's men, convincing Wooters to join the squad. It even features a scene where a character throws his badge into the sea. At the point where Cohen opens fire on the squad and shouts 'here comes Santa Clause!', I gave up all hope. Apart from the cinematography, and Penn's energetic performance, I would have nothing good at all to say about this film. Maybe Fleischer should stick to comedy, as his previous movie Zombieland (2009), I actually really enjoyed. But if you want a more powerful, honest and dramatic depiction of Mickey Cohen, check out the first five minutes of L.A. Confidential instead.
Former U.S. Marine Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy) returns to the home of his estranged father Paddy (Nick Nolte), to find him sober and a Christian. Tommy left home with his now late mother after suffering years of abuse from the alcoholic Paddy, and now Tommy wants to fight in the upcoming mix-martial arts tournament called Sparta, and enlists his father to train him. Meanwhile, Tommy's brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is a physics teacher who faces losing his family home to the bank. He also fights mixed martial arts, and when the school board finds out he has been fighting in some small back-alley tournaments, the school suspend him without pay. Brendan must convince his wife to let him fight in Sparta, and must face meeting his brother who hasn't talked to him in years, and his father, who he despises.
Warrior is another successful entry into the recent revisionist sports dramas such as The Wrestler (2008) and The Fighter (2010), that take David-and-Goliath themes and spin them with an almost docu-drama approach, while sticking to the traditions (some could say clichés) of the genre. Here, director Gavin O'Connor (who made the pretty crappy Pride and Glory (2008)) uses a hand-held camera and a muted blue colour palette to also explore family themes such as unconditional love, forgiveness and redemption. Familiar themes, I agree, but thanks to some confident directing and stellar acting from the three leads, Warrior is one of those rare sports films where you truly grow to root for the characters and get caught up in their plight. It also contains some great fight scenes that are surprisingly brutal given its 12A certificate.
Naturally, if either of the brothers want to win, they must face the prospect of fighting each other (and if you've seen the trailer, you'll know if that happens or not). Whereas the likes of Rocky (1976) had one clear hero to cheer on, here there's two, and I found myself caring equally about both. As Tommy, Hardy gives a performance of ferocious intensity. He becomes an unwitting national hero when one of his earlier fights goes viral on Youtube, and finds he has the backing of the Marine Corps. Tommy is angry, and this is reflecting in his fighting style. He storms into the ring, smashes his opponents with a few punches, and storms back out. It's no surprise Christopher Nolan wanted him to play Bane in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises. Brendan is calmer, and his trainer adopts a patient and tactical fighting style to suit Brendan's age. He even enters the ring to the sound of Beethoven. The two performances are equally good, but they are both overshadowed by Nolte, a man so consumed with regret and sadness that is drives him back to drink in one especially powerful scene. Nolte is great here, and I'm sure he'll be up for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar come March.
For those wanting action, there's plenty of it. When the Sparta tournament comes around, there's barely a moment spent outside the ring. They come thick and fast, and are impressively captured by O'Connor's camera. This may be the film's biggest problem, as the emotional core of the film's relies on the conflict between the three leads, especially between Tommy and Paddy. There is some sort of closure in one very good scene, but it is never shown again after that so the story fizzles out while we are consumed by the fighting. But what fighting it is, and when the action is this good, it's hard to be too concerned by the slight neglect of it's main theme. It under-performance at the box office, but I'm sure it will pick up the dedicated fan base that it deserves in the years to come.
Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) works with his former girlfriend Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) at the Berkeley Biology Institute, experimenting on cell repair using gamma radiation. Due to a mysterious, traumatic event when he was a child, Banner is haunted by the vague memories he has of his parents, now believed to be dead. Naturally, one of his experiments goes awry and he is exposed to a dangerous level of radiation, which allows him to turn into a big green monster whenever he gets angry. His father David (Nick Nolte) turns up alive to complete the experimentation he was prevented from completing by Betty's father Thaddeus (Sam Elliott), who imprisoned him for 30 years. Learning of David's return and Bruce's new power, Thaddeus will not stop at nothing to take them both down.
