The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Censorship, if not dead, is clearly half buried after this film gaining wide release. It’s such a pleasure experiencing how people clinging to a mundane life, receive one kick in the face after another throughout the span of this movie.

There are rapes, graphic murders, a dog walking around killing and eating people, dishonoring of the american flag, and a lot, lot more. And this isn’t stylized «movie violence» but full-blown reality blowing out our eyes. I mean, it was intense, and they didn’t shy away from any taboo, at least not many. I just love that.

The sense of relative normality at the start of the film is turned totally on its head.

It had to be made by a Frenchmen or two (the director/writer Alexandre Aja and writer Grégory Levasseur) visiting the United States…

There has been released a number of brutal and real to life films like Hostel, Saw and others lately, but this is truly the icing of the cake at this point. And it surpasses the previous version of The Hills Have Eyes by far.

This is Aaron Stanford’s film, really. The transformation he goes through, throughout the story is just phenomenal, and if I believed an Academy Award was worth shit, I would say he should have received one. At first he’s just the run of the mill tamed civilized male, but that eventually changes dramatically. After a while he’s covered in blood and guts and brain matter. Absolutely amazing. This is a beyond great movie, but for a person as anti censorship as I, it’s an absolute gem.

Aaron (Pyro from the X-Men, or rather X2, totally unrecognizable) plays Doug, a young, indifferent husband, and son in law of a peaceful family lured into the wilderness by a tribe of «brutal savages» (no, it isn’t what you think, not quite). To survive each and every one of them has to go deep into themselves, and find whatever courage, desperation and «murder impulse» they possess. It’s great.

I have to admit I sat there in my chair, more than a bit surprised, jumping up and down in joy, as yet another person was added to the body count (and the way it happened). Don’t get me wrong (as they say, excusing themselves), Films don’t have to be violent for me to enjoy them, and I don’t really like Splatter movies much. They tend to be quite phony, not really that brutal at all, but this one is real.

And I «have to admit» that it a lot of moments in the course of the story appealed to my always good sense of gallows humor, such as when good ol’ Aaron buried the pole with the american flag in the skull of one of the savages…

It reminded the audience of all the unpleasant truths in the world, everything they don’t want to think about, everything they hide right there, under the surface of their lies, pretence and self-loathing. Everything was present in their faces as they were leaving the theater. This isn’t «gratuitous violence» (whatever that is), but reality head on, controversial art at its best.

So very, very gratifying.

Doug, burying the hatchet in one of his enemies...

So, what’s next? An imaginative artist like myself can easily imagine this film being even more brutal. There is a lot of unplowed territory and unused possibilities here.

I’m so looking forward to hear about squeamish reviewers, supporters of censorship, outstanding citizens and so called highly moral people choking on their morning coffee in the years to come.

The Best Films of 2005 (finally)

I’ve picked the four best films of the previous year, all heavily underestimated among reviewers and audience alike. They all have quality, depth and excitement, what is sadly missing from most other current films.


A Sound of Thunder


«So, who gave that to you?»
«I did.»

By far the best movie of 2005. It has taken so many hits, from just about everybody, and from every angle, all totally undeserved. It shows yet again that very few great and deep stories become «hits». Not among a mass audience and not among reviewers.

It got to the point that I and many with me, didn’t really have much expectation left, but stubborn as we are, we went and saw it anyway… and we loved it, totally amazed by both the film itself, and the stupidity of both reviewers and moviegoers in general.

Peter Hyams, the maker of Capricorn One and 2010 is finally back.


In 2055 time travel has been invented, and it’s all in the hands of a greedy industrial entrepreneur, a project guarded by a corrupt government official, all presented very believable and true to life. One of the greatest inventions known to mankind, and a man uses it to make money, lots of money. The corruption of mankind is there, in the film, right from the start, told in an albeit poetic way, but tangible. We follow the increasingly worse corruption of nature, of its delicate balance throughout the story, until it becomes unavoidable.

A brief digression: Idiots have claimed that this film disgraces the original Ray Bradbury short story. That is like saying that the moon-landing vessel disgraces the first frail flying machine. Bradbury's story is okay, but it's not exactly a very complex scenario. This is so much more, so far beyond it that it can't really be said to be the same story anymore, and make no mistake about it: that is a very, very good thing.

How much should humanity change nature? How much is too much? This is one of those rare films that succeed in being political, philosophical and interesting beyond belief without being preachy. And it deals with themes way too rare in today’s films.

A Sound of Thunder is the end of the world.


Serenity


Joss Whedon has grown up as a filmmaker. Or at least that’s what a professional reviewer would have said, if he or she, at least to a point, agreed with me. I prefer to say that he has taken his ability as a Storyteller to a new level. He has learned to write dialogue, for one thing. And Serenity (and the Firefly TV-series) is also «lacking» the silliness often dominating and ruining Buffy - The Vampire Slayer, and especially Angel.

Serenity is a totally different story. The entire «feel» is different. It’s also different from any other story you may have enjoyed. Joss has always been quite the creative guy, and now he has finally learned to utilize it in full.


It’s River’s story, really, like it was from the beginning. Young River, the Prodigy River tortured and brainwashed by tyrants to serve their purpose, escaping from their «care» by the help of her brother. River is a girl that through pain and loss learned to touch the Universe.

Malcolm is a veteran of a lost war, and has been lost since. He has been numb for so very long, and slowly, painfully he has pulled himself up from the mire of his defeat.

This is not a film for everybody. It’s too good, too original for that. But for those that keep seeking gems in the garbage heap, the pop culture the modern culture has become, it is invaluable beyond words, because beyond those words you glimpse something truly precious.


The Island


First I would like to give you fair warning: The Island is directed by Michael Bay. Yes, the Michael Bay. You will find a lot of bad, of truly horrible films under his name. Which proves yet again that the world never runs out of surprises. Because this is his film from start to finish. This is his masterpiece, his jewel in the rusty crown. He makes sure of that, sidestepping commercial opportunities repeatedly, to the point of making it quite indigestible to the general audience, quite unfashionable in the current global climate of mediocrity.

Scarlett Johansson and Evan McGregor, and also other actors are doing an excellent job here as well.


This is about identity, about freedom, about standing up for oneself, about the modern human society totally out of whack with itself, about horrors hidden behind locked doors and thick walls.

People do their chores behind these walls, longing to break out, dreaming of being sent to «The Island», a world promised them in a lottery, a reward for their service and continuing obedience. But the dream is revealed to be a nightmare of torture and death, and a few dreamers of the thousands inside rebel against their predestined path.

This is a radical film, both in form and content. Very few of the usual action trappings are present, and they are rarely pervasive. The actors are actually…actors, and the characters are neither heroes nor brave. It’s inborn curiosity and desperation born of the situation that is making the story move forward. It’s about the inevitable ghastly horrors of genetic manipulation (GM), about technology gone wrong, but also about what is lurking beneath the smooth surface of a seemingly well-ordered society. It starts very formal, very contraceptive, but ends very messy and dirty. Order turns to Chaos, and the world moves on.


The Descent


The Descent is savage and raw. The Wild is present, resting within all of us. It just lacks the proper primer to break out.

A group of women, somewhat shaken by life’s cruel coincidences, heads for the wilderness in an attempt to rekindle old friendships and sense of camaraderie. Things are not right among them, and they are desperate, perhaps too desperate to heal the wounds.

This isn’t the typical run of the mill heading for the wilderness story. That becomes clear quite early. Things are not right, and they are not getting better. There is a cynicism present not there in most similar stories. The threat described in the film, even though it seems to be external, isn’t, really. It comes from within, within the group and each individual character.

Excellent!

They descend into a system of unknown caves, but the descent is really into their own depths. They go there, taking with them all the baggage, the rivalry, envy and contempt dominating their previous existence. They can’t let go of the past, and thus they are lost.

To survive they must go deeper within themselves than they ever thought was possible, and still it isn’t enough.

Go there with them, and you, like them, will never be the same.


Batman Begins



Batman Begins also belongs here. Even if the tension and intensity fall a bit when he puts on the mask (as expected) it’s still a great film. This is the first, true Batman film. The director Christopher Nolan and writer David S. Goyer understand and respect the source material, a simple task, really, seemingly way too trying for most filmmakers. Christian Bale makes a tremendous effort. He is Bruce Wayne, and also his dark mirror image, hardly even glimpsed in daylight. Yes, this is Batman the way he always should have been made and always should be made.


«You fear what's inside you.
You fear your own power.
You fear your anger,
the drive to do great and terrible things.»

Ras Al Ghul