Best Picture 2017: The Argument For Colossal!

The Good: Cool idea, Awesome performances, Intriguing characters, Great plot development, Good direction
The Bad: Nothing.
The Basics: Colossal is a clever and complicated film that showcases the incredible talents of Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis and Nacho Vigalondo and sets the bar for the Best Picture Oscar amazingly high.


Anne Hathaway can get me to watch pretty much anything. The nature of being a fan of someone's work is that when the person one is a fan of creates something new, fans flock to it regardless. Recently, I was trying to describe why I was a fan of Anne Hathaway's works and I completely blanked. Ironically, with the new indie film Colossal, it is hard not to make a review that degenerates into a list of compliments about Anne Hathaway's acting skills.

From watching Anne Hathaway realistically playing drunk and shocked to the vastly underrated way Hathaway portrays lugging something heavy (seriously, how hard is it for actors to play things like lifting a cup that is supposed to be filled with a liquid look like it has mass to it?!), Colossal is enough to sell anyone on how impressive Anne Hathaway is as an actress. Hathaway plays Gloria in Colossal and the film illustrates well her talents and how neglected Jason Sudeikis's talents have been in his comedic endeavors. Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis are absolutely amazing in Colossal and their on-screen chemistry helps to completely sell the incredible and weird plot of the film.

Gloria has been out all night - again - partying when she returns home to her boyfriend's New York apartment. Tim, fed up with Gloria and having the same fight over and over with her, packs up Gloria's stuff and sends her packing. In shock and with nowhere else to turn, Gloria returns to Maine Head, where she grew up. Moving into her parents' abandoned house, Gloria tries to lie low for a while. The next day, though, Gloria is lugging her air mattress back to her parents' house when Oscar drives by and picks her up. The two went to elementary school together and when Oscar shows off his bar to Gloria, the two begin to rekindle their old friendship.

But after Gloria gets drunk and starts stumbling home, she cuts through a park and barely makes it home before losing consciousness. When Gloria wakes up, she learns that a giant monster has attacked Seoul. She is even more alarmed when the monster mysteriously appears in Seoul again and the footage shows the monster displaying the same nervous tick Gloria possesses. It does not take long before Gloria realizes that somehow being in the park at the right time causes her to become the monster in Seoul. When Oscar accompanies the guilt-ridden Gloria to the park, a giant robot appears with the monster in Seoul and soon Oscar and Gloria are in a drunken conflict that leads each of them to a series of disturbing realizations about themselves and their relationship with one another.

Colossal is a clever idea for a film that develops well from one thing to another to still another and the result is a complicated movie that does not allow easy classification. In fact, Colossal takes so long to get truly heavy that by the time it does, viewers might be more baffled by how the film got an "R" rating than by the surreal plot.

Unlike many films, Colossal continues to transform itself and keep the viewer guessing. Colossal begins as a drama about an alcoholic going through a relationship crisis. Anne Hathaway has portrayed exactly that type of character before, adeptly and unsettlingly, in Rachel Getting Married (reviewed here!). Hathaway makes Gloria realistic and incredible in Colossal as Gloria is overcome with guilt upon recognizing that the monster in Seoul has killed many people. But the revelation that Gloria is the monster in Seoul and the park acts as something of a conduit to allow that transformation and transposition comes ridiculously early in Colossal.

And then Colossal smartly continues to develop. It is in the last third of the film that Jason Sudeikis dominates and shows off heretofore unknown depths of talent. Sudeikis's Oscar is unpeeled in the course of Colossal; the character does not transform, he is revealed. Sudeikis make the development appear entirely organic and unsettling as Oscar goes from savior to tormentor and the credit goes to his performance for that. Sudeikis plays wide-eyed and earnest so well that it is easy to see how Gloria is drawn in and when Oscar brings out a giant firework, Sudeikis moves his performance in miniscule increments to the point where he becomes nauseatingly villainous.

For sure, Anne Hathaway performs the hell out of big moments like the level of anguish she portrays opposite nothing more than Jason Sudeikis stomping his feet around her or the sublime sass in the way she acts opposite only a cell phone to have Gloria stand up to Tim. But Sudeikis not only manages to match Hathaway's well-established range, he shows off depths - especially of anger - that he has not portrayed before on screen. If anyone has said immediately after seeing Sudeikis play Mitt Romney that someday that same actor would play one of the most subtly scary and abusive characters to grace the big screen, that idea would probably have gotten a bigger laugh than Sudeikis as Romney sneaking glasses of milk! But Sudeikis does exactly that as Oscar and his ability to make it appear effortless is the definition of great acting.

The supporting cast of Colossal is good, but it is Hathaway and Sudeikis who dominate the film. Colossal is the first film I've seen Dan Stevens in and in his brief stint as Tim, he illustrates he is more than just a pretty face in acting today. Tim Blake Nelson gives another diverse performance as Garth, managing to play a small time hick in a way that would confound anyone who has seen him hold his own on screen opposite the likes of George Clooney and Edward Norton. There is not a bad performance in Colossal.

Colossal is a film that is bound to become a cult classic, if for no other reason than it was released in art theaters with so little confidence for its commercial viability that one has to believe that for years people will stumble upon the film and wonder how the hell it was not a major mainstream release. Sure, Nacho Vigalondo's script and his execution of that script are smart, but the film makes organic transitions out of the seemingly extraordinary events. And the climax is not the usual art house downer that would limit the audience.

How the hell is it that a film with such amazing performances, headlined by Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis did not get picked up by a major distributor?!

Colossal is a complicated film that does all it seeks to incredibly well. In fact, as I sat down to review the film, I kept straining to come up with things I didn't like about the movie. Oscar seemingly randomly calls out his friend Garth for using his bar's bathroom to do cocaine in . . . but there is nothing random about it; it helps to characterize just how much of an asshole Oscar is underneath his good-natured facade. Gloria is not a doormat, though she is troubled; she does not fall into the stupid dialectic of "choose Oscar or Tim" and she has a strong moral core that makes her appalled at accidentally killing people in Seoul. That moral core is maintained when Gloria has to make a choice about how to resolve the threat represented by Oscar and Colossal does not come up with a cheap resolution to that.

Instead, Colossal manages to do everything right for the story it seeks to tell. Nacho Vigalondo, Jason Sudeikis, and Anne Hathaway created a perfect film. That is no small accomplishment and while I would argue that the merit of creating a perfect film is accomplishment enough, as I conclude my considerations of Colossal I am, perhaps, most thrilled by the fact that I know without a doubt my mind will never again blank on exactly why I am a fan of Anne Hathaway's works.

For other works with strong, complicated female characters who do not have to tell the audience that, please check out my reviews of:
"Duet" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Aliens
Jessica Jones - Season 1

10/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Nitpick Free Fantastic 4

The Good: Decent effects, Good set-up, Most of the performances
The Bad: Plot/character progression
The Basics: Fantastic 4 gets a reboot that has been taking flack . . . which is largely undeserved until the film's latter portion.


When it comes to super hero films, the market has been pretty well saturated the last few years. With the monumental success of The Avengers (reviewed here!), it is understandable for studios to want to try to replicate the financial success of movies like that. But from a fan perspective, it is hard not to feel burned out. The plots have become formulaic, the characters have very minimal differences and in team scenarios, they tend to fall into "types" pretty fast. So, when a studio works to reinvigorate one of the fallen franchises, it is unsurprising that there would be some blowback.

In the case of Fantastic 4, the production and hype has been an uphill battle. Fantastic 4 is struggling to reboot the franchise that was killed by Fantastic Four (reviewed here!) and Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (reviewed here!). Fox invested quite a bit of money in one of the most lucrative (at the time) comic book franchises with its attempt at Fantastic Four. That it was not the box office knockout Fox wanted was hard to swallow and given that they had invested money in the rights, it made a lot of sense (from a business perspective) to make Fantastic 4. So much has been said about Fantastic 4 and how it stacks up against the comic books and people's perceptions that I decided to make a bitch-free review of Fantastic 4. As someone who was not a reader of Fantastic Four, I felt that gave me the ability to write a pretty pure review of the film and I managed to avoid all spoilers and previews of the film.

Going in with low expectations, what instantly impressed me about Fantastic 4 was that there was a sense of philosophy to it. While others have devoted a lot of time kvetching about how Johnny and Sue Storm are adopted brother and sister in Fantastic 4, it is hard to take such whining seriously when the writers spend so much time on Dr. Franklin Storm (their adopted father) in the first part of the film. The writers covered their bases in establishing the Storm pater's commitment to science and the way he has recruited for his projects at the Baxter Foundation. Dr. Storm openly acknowledges that his generation made some big mistakes that have left the world ruined (say what you will about the Millennials, they weren't the ones who created the hole in the ozone layer or the immense wealth disparity that resulted from the destruction of the middle class!) and that it will take applied young minds working together to solve those problems. Thematically, there is a lot in common between Fantastic 4 and Iron Man (reviewed here!) and the result is not terrible.

Opening in Oyster Bay, New York 2007, Reed Richards does a report in elementary school explaining how he wants to create a usable teleporter. He properly meets Ben Grimm when he tries to steal a power converter from Grimm's family junkyard. Years later, Richards attempts the same experiment with his (and Grimm's) more refined teleporter. While it does not go very well, it is enough to get the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm of the Baxter Foundation. Storm recruits Reed to the Baxter Foundation to work on their teleportation project. There, Reed Richards is told by Sue Storm that Richards actually punched a hole into another dimension with his teleportation project and the Baxter Foundation is building up to a mission to that other dimension. With the help of Dr. Victor Von Doom (who started the project independent of Richards years before) and Johnny Storm (who is a mechanical genius), the Baxter Foundation successfully creates the interdimensional teleporter and sends a test monkey there and back again.

When the government gets involved in the project and wants to turn the teleporter over to NASA for a proper manned mission, Reed Richards gets drunk with Von Doom and suggests that they go before NASA can take over. Contacting Grimm, Richards, Johnny Storm and Victor Von Doom hijack the teleporter and go over into the alternate dimension. Disaster strikes in the other dimension when the team discovers a crater with an energy (or fluid, it's not entirely clear) that reacts to the presence of the human invaders. Victor Von Doom is lost there, but Sue manages to rescue the other three. Unfortunately, the team that returns is mutated and taken to Area 57 for examination by the military. Reed Richards is stretched, Johnny Storm is trapped in a state of being engulfed in flames, Grimm has turned into a giant rock-covered creature and Sue (who was splattered with matter from the other dimension) keeps flashing in and out of the visual spectrum. After a year of training, Grimm and the Storms have managed to use their powers to aid the military, while Richards has gone on the run. The military wants to figure out how to cure the four and weaponize their powers to benefit the military, while Reed just wants to help people, most notably his friends. When Richards is returned to the Baxter Foundation, they recover Von Doom - who is still alive - and his transformation convinces Richards that the alternate dimension must not be accessed by the military.

Right off the bat, what is easily the most impressive aspect of Fantastic 4 is the acting of Miles Teller. Teller plays Reed Richards and before this project, I had mostly seen Teller in roles where he played a redneck, like Footloose (reviewed here!). It's a pretty huge leap to go from a role like that to being one of the smartest characters in the Marvel Universe. While Teller is not given the diction needed to truly sell it (that's a writing problem, not an acting one!), he credibly plays the scientific and precise Reed Richards. In fact, his posture and bearing and the way he projects a sense of confidence, is entirely different in the role of Richards than anything he has been in before.

The rest of the performances in Fantastic 4 are largely the subject of good casting. Kate Mara picks up the mantle of Sue Storm and her experience on House Of Cards (season one is reviewed here!) makes her casting ideal. Mara has the ability to emote well opposite blank screens (on House Of Cards, it was smartphones, here is it monitors and bluescreens) and that ability to control her face and eyes. That helps her characterize Sue as a cerebral character whose real ability is pattern recognition.

Similarly, Reg E. Cathey's role as Dr. Franklin Storm allows Fantastic 4 to have a level of instant credibility. Cathey finds the right balance between emotionally realized and paternal and intellectually curious. The rest of the cast is adequate, but not exceptional. Tim Blake Nelson does not have the screen presence as the suit who starts using the Baxter project for the military to be completely credible. Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan and Toby Kebbell are not Andy Serkis and director Josh Trank is not using them the way Peter Jackson used Serkis and special effects. While Trank does an excellent job of not overwhelming Miles Teller with special effects (for the most part), Bell, Jordan and Kebbell are eventually overwritten entirely by the CG needed to embody their characters.

Ultimately, the problems that arise in Fantastic 4 come almost exclusively from conformity to the established material (which is ironic given that most people's issues are with how the film diverges from it). In making Fantastic 4, the writers and director are trapped with their perception that Sue, Johnny, Ben and Reed have to end up as the heroes, opposite Von Doom as the villain. As a result, they create an unfortunately typical super hero film that unites the four against Von Doom to save the Earth.

But, the problem is that that dialectic does not at all fit the story being told. Fantastic 4 has a very natural progression up until the moment Victor Von Doom is "rescued" from the alternate dimension (where he has been living contendedly enough over the year since the accident). At that point, Von Doom begins a ridiculous attack on Earth that is utterly uncharacteristic. The writers are stuck trying to make Von Doom conform an the result is as inorganic as the Romulan villains in Star Trek: Nemesis (reviewed here!) and Star Trek (reviewed here!). In Star Trek: Nemesis, Shinzon is tortured for years by Romulans and allies himself with the Remans . . . so it is entirely inorganic for the character to have a beef against the Federation (the writers concocted a ridiculous reason to have him go after Picard) as opposed to attack Romulus. Similarly, in Star Trek, Nero is tortured by Klingons for decades and had the desire only to save his homeworld, so the fact that he doesn't lay waste to the Klingon Empire and save Romulus, as opposed to going off on a half-assed mission of revenge against Spock plays as just stupid (the writers of the Star Trek franchise have, apparently, forgotten how to make a compelling film where the heroes come to the aid of another group of people who are not human). To bring the point around, the writers of Fantastic 4 get trapped with a similar problem based on how they began the movie.

Fantastic 4 has a completely sensible ending based on where and how the story begins. It is that after Reed Richards is betrayed by Sue and Ben and returned to the Baxter Foundation, Richards either destroys the interdimensional device (which cuts Von Doom out entirely) or he is compelled to help rebuild the machine, the military sends its team over and recovers Von Doom and Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom work together to return Von Doom to the alternate dimension and then destroy the device. Instead, Victor Von Doom in Fantastic 4 begins a half-assed attack on Earth from his adopted planet in the alternate dimension. This makes no real sense as Von Doom just wants to be left alone and get away from the Earth that humans have ruined. Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom actually have the same goal and with about thirty seconds worth of conversation could have worked together to achieve that goal.

The problem, of course, is that would fundamentally redefine the Fantastic Four. It's the three on two and it's a harder story to resolve than the two geniuses working together to stop the military and protect an alien planet. The three writers on Fantastic 4 seriously could not figure out a way to make that work?! But, in truth, that's the only real problem with Fantastic 4. It's going along doing its own thing surprisingly well when all of a sudden, it takes a nonsense turn toward the conventional to be like virtually every other super hero film and that's when the film just falls apart.

While it never becomes truly as terrible as the prior two outings, though the need to fit in the line "It's clobberin' time!" comes close, Fantastic 4 is mostly just guilty of not living up to its potential. It is set up as a complicated and surprisingly smart and aware story that degenerates into the obvious conceits of the genre instead of telling its own, unique, story.

For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
Dragon Blade
Jenny's Wedding
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Ant-Man
Lila & Eve
Minions
No Way Jose
Terminator Genisys
Inside Out
Jurassic World

5.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Ponderous And Slow, Lincoln Was Certainly Not The Best Picture Of 2012!

The Good: Amazing cast, Decent concept
The Bad: Weird characters, Very slow, Dull direction
The Basics: Vastly overrated, Lincoln is little more than a political process story with one of the weirdest characters in recent memory.


When it comes to Oscar Pandering Season, there are several films that have counted on a “shock and awe” approach to getting nominated. I was actually quite thrilled that last year, Argo (reviewed here!) won the Best Picture. I was happy because, for the first time in quite some time, the winner was not a December release that was counting on the fervor of award season to get nominated. It was a smart, well-developed film with all the aspects that make for a great film worthy of the Best Picture honor. There were a number of films last year that I did not manage to see prior to the award ceremony and the one I wanted to see most was Lincoln .

I’m over that now. Having sat through Lincoln, I was surprised by how very little I enjoyed it. Lincoln is a great example of a film with an amazing cast with a story and characters that does little to allow them to actually rise to the heights of their talents. But more importantly, Lincoln does what something like The West Wing (reviewed here!) was often too smart to avoid doing; it shows the full intricacies of a process story. Behind the scenes of politics is often disappointing, but (as Lincoln proves adequately) it is even more often boring. Not so much about Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln is about the harrowing process of getting the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution (abolition of slavery) passed. It’s a lot of wheeling and dealing and it is not at all exciting or even particularly engaging.

Two months after Abraham Lincoln’s re-election to the Presidency of the United States of America, the American Civil War is stretching into its fourth bloody year. After visiting the Front, Lincoln returns to Washington, determined to get the House Of Representatives to pass his Amendment to the Constitution that would Constitutionally abolish slavery and create equal rights under the law. Lincoln explains to his cabinet that the Amendment is necessary to both ending the Civil War and avoiding the legal quagmires that the Emancipation Proclamation created.

As Lincoln meets with his visiting son, the President’s lackeys Bilbo and Latham, try to sway the few Democrats they need to pass the Amendment through patronage and bribes. With envoys of the Confederacy approaching to talk peace, Lincoln and the chief advocate for equality in the House, Thaddeus Stevens, work desperately to pass the Amendment . . . regardless of the consequences.

The story is far less a character study, which is what makes Lincoln so pedantic. Instead, it is a blend of Abraham Lincoln characterized as a meandering weirdo, unable to keep real focus or make a point concisely, and long stretches of political process. The personal aspects of Lincoln are most frequently part of subplots illustrating Lincoln’s relationships with his son Robert – who stands up for himself to enlist – and Mary Todd (who spends time acting appropriately unbalanced). Neither of those subplots are particularly compelling.

More than the writing, I blame this on the direction. Given how the movie poster for Lincoln is a tight shot of Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, close and craggy-faced, it is astonishing how little Spielberg actually goes in for the close shot. Yelling, in a quiet conversation with Elizabeth Keckley, and seldom else does Spielberg go in for the close shot to actually allow Day-Lewis’s performance occupy the screen. As a result, the viewer is left disconnected from Abraham Lincoln and Daniel Day-Lewis’s odd portrayal of him.

As a result, it is Tommy Lee Jones as Stevens who actually steals Lincoln (as much as such a theft is possible). Stevens is principled and smart and he represents a focused strategist in the fight to pass the Amendment. Tommy Lee Jones plays Stevens as passionate and aged beyond his years, making for a compelling performance. And Steven Spielberg actually puts the camera close on him to make him more than just a setpiece in a large room.

Lincoln is a lot of talking and I can enjoy a good movie that is filled with people talking. But Lincoln is seldom interesting characters saying any compelling, intrinsically human, truth. Instead, far more often, it is a bunch of old white men bitching about the process to pass a vote. For this particular story, there need not be such a quality cast; the impressive cast here cannot rise to the occasion to make it engaging.

For other historical dramas, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Gandhi
All The President’s Men
Frost/Nixon

4/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Come Early Morning, I'll Still Be Sleeping

The Good: Acting, Moments of character
The Bad: Pacing is far too slow, Tone, Dull plot, Characters are hard to empathize with
The Basics: Sadly, this film's pace and lack of genuine plot so rob it of entertainment value that I fell asleep twice while watching this, despite the performances.


If you've never heard of Come Early Morning, join the team! This independent film, released in 2006, did not receive a lot of mainstream attention and after watching it, I think the reason it might have not received much critical attention either is that the audience may still be asleep. Released on DVD with no apparent extras (at least not on the Widescreen side of the disc), this indy film drew me in by the fact that it was written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams. Adams impressed me with her performance in Chasing Amy (reviewed here!) and I thought picking up this DVD would be a nice way to support her career.

Lucy Fowler is a self-loathing boozer who spends her Friday nights getting drunk, engaging in casual sex and trying to sneak out of whatever bed she ends up in the morning after. That's her choice, based on years and years of baggage and parental modeling. One day, following a bar fight where she erupts at a woman who slept with her father, Lucy meets Cal Percell, a pretty decent guy who wants to treat Lucy well and runs into her typical roadblocks. Encouraged by her friend Kim, Lucy returns to Cal after their first date to try to develop a relationship with him, though she finds the prospect frightening and weird.

I, sadly, found the film more boring than anything else. Paced so slowly that a snail moves faster, Come Early Morning is excruciating to watch less for the establishment and development of the characters and more for the utter lack of plot. This film, written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams has a similar "therapeutic musing" quality to it as Running With Scissors without the crazy characters. The result is that the film lacks a genuine sense of character development and catharsis and instead belabors the miserable life of the protagonist far beyond the viewer's ability to care and interest in her story.

Yes, in the end the big problem with Come Early Morning is that the viewer is unable to empathize with Lucy. She is caught in her own mental traps and inhibitions, broken by the example of her mother and father and surrounded by people who treat one another poorly. The tagline on the DVD said something about how "you can't love another until you learn to love yourself" and here the movie has some serious problems living up to the hype.

Lucy begins the movie fairly comfortable in her rut and it's unclear why she breaks out of it at all for Cal. Cal treats her the same way as the men we presume were jerks to her in her past; he gives her attention, takes her home at the end of the night and they have sex. Just because he wakes up in the morning as she's leaving and drives her home, she seems to turn her world around for him. It doesn't jive. But more than that, Come Early Morning never truly sells us on the idea that Lucy doesn't like herself at the beginning. In some of the earliest scenes in the movie, she is reaching out to her estranged father and visiting her mother in a nursing home.

But even taking this amount of time to analyze the film is a stretch for me; I didn't care. How do I know how little I cared about Lucy and her character journey? I fell asleep while watching Come Early Morning. Twice. In the day time. That's how boring the film was, how uninspired the character journey of Lucy Fowler was. And, remember, I was looking forward to this film.

What saves this from absolutely dismal territory is the acting. Ashley Judd gives a decent performance - certainly better than the last movie I saw her in, which was Twisted - that is depressing and always in character. Gone is her trademark smile and the enthusiastic light in her eyes. No, on this outing she is dead-eyed and dull, which is a stretch of her talents that she pulls off quite well.

The film is backed with equally good actors who are actually acting. Laura Prepon (known as the assertive Donna from That 70's Show) is mousy and shy, Stacy Keach is paternal and kind as Owen (a far cry from his loud, angry role on Titus). Jeffrey Donovan is adequate as the "aw, shucks," down-home good ole' boy Cal.

But none of them sell me on watching this film again and it's tiresome and dull to watch. I wish it were not, but outside one or two lines, the actors showing up and performing well within their roles is all that Come Early Morning truly has going for it.

For other works with Ashley Judd, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Tooth Fairy
Twisted
Frida
Someone Like You . . .
“The Game” - Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Darmok” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

3/10

For other film reviews, check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Posers Kill Shakespeare's Finest: O

The Good: I'll say moments of realistic dialog
The Bad: Horrible acting, Butchering of Shakespeare, Mistold story, Lack of character, Soundtrack
The Basics: Bland acting, lack of genuine characters and a butchering of a great work make O not worth your time or effort.


There are a million different arguments for what Shakespeare's very best work is, but I consistently argue for The Tragedy Of Othello as the bard's finest work. Most scholars will say Hamlet, but I think it requires too much reliance on the supernatural. Same with The Tragedy Of MacBeth. Othello uses far more intelligence by relying on basic human drives and the twisting of Othello's jealousy by Iago.

O is a remake of The Tragedy Of Othello set in contemporary times in a Southern private boarding high school. Odin is a star basketball player, Hugo is the neglected team player who is fed up with living in Odin's shadow. Sensing the bond between Odin and his girlfriend Desi, Hugo arranges for a wedge to be put between them. Addicted to steroids, Hugo insinuates Odin's best friend Michael between Desi and Odin and whispers lies to Odin about their relationship. Odin falls hard, going from star basketball player to drug user, sexual abuser and homicidal maniac.

What makes The Tragedy Of Othello work so well is that Iago is Othello's best friend and the two have a trust that is remarkable. O suffers first because Hugo's power over Odin doesn't read as realistic, especially in the somewhat pointless last half hour where Hugo manages to get Odin doing drugs. It doesn't make much sense when that comes up. Desi seems weak and uncertain, more than she does in Shakespeare's version.

Even outside an outright comparison between O and Shakespeare's classic, this film fails by a complete lack of character. This film is attempting to make a meaningful story but it misses the mark. Far. The most obvious flaw in the film is in the speech of the characters. They attend a preppy private school, yet most of them speak as if they come from the ghetto. And none of them have backgrounds that suggest such a need to speak that way.

But this is a film that tries to be accessible to the teen-idiot pop culture by using a heavy rap soundtrack and teen-beautiful actors and actresses in a setting that is not appropriate. The rap themes are completely out of place at the highly regulated school and it serves only to make a soundtrack that is marketable to teens.

Julia Stiles is pretty much the ultimate poser here, as a twenty year old (when she played the role) trying to be the ultimate 18 year old girl. But she seems like a person much older playing someone much younger and it's distracting. She's easy eye candy. Beyond that . . .

The only strong acting comes from the unbilled Martin Sheen who plays the over the top basketball coach.

PBS recently aired a remake of Othello set in modern England and it's a far better retelling of this wonderful tale than this immature attempt to sell today's teen stars in a movie that fails on every level.

For other works with Julia Stiles or Martin Sheen, please check out my reviews of:
The Bourne Identity
The West Wing
The Departed

3/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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