Archives for Scarlett Johansson

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Summer Movie Series

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Rated PG-13

avengers-team

Marvel Studios

The tyranny of Ultron, from its inception to its final battle with a reorganized Avengers team, seems to last only a few days. Hardly an age, but the title is the least of this film’s problems.

Everything seems right on paper: Booming, action-packed scenes, moments of character development, humor (always in supply in Marvel films—take note, DC!), dire global stakes, shifting alliances. But something about the whole affair seems disjointed. Maybe it’s because you can only expect so much return on this superhero investment. Most of the heroes have already had two or three movies to themselves, plus their grouping for the first Avenger’s film (2012). Maybe it’s finally too much of a good thing.

In the BloghouseBecause the first film surprised with its steady stream of humor, this time we expect to be entertained by jokes, setting up more of a challenge to be funny. Each hero gets his/her moment, but nothing that really expands these characters. We watched Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) struggle morally in the last two Iron Man films with the weapons and technology he created. We’ve seen Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson, Her, Lucy) confront her shadowy past as recently as Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is given a surprising backstory that I didn’t entirely believe. The film doesn’t seem to know what to do with Thor (Chris Helmsworth), and for the first time Captain America’s earnestness and pining for the good old days seems a bit annoying. I couldn’t bring myself to invest in the Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch subplot; the super-twins (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) are basically more characters poured into the mix.

There were moments to enjoy, no doubt. A highway chase/fight scene woke me up, and the team lounging after a party has a warm touch that evokes the best of the original film. James Spader lends a great voice to Ultron, the nemesis borne of Stark’s well-meaning-but-misguided attempts to protect the planet, but the character itself seems a little too self-important (Yes, I get that Ultron takes on characteristics of its maker Tony Stark; it’s still too much!) and surprisingly not the best strategist. Wouldn’t a higher level of artificial intelligence spend more time on its mission and less time jumping into futile fights with superheroes? How many battles do we need of super-people and robots who can’t really hurt each other destroying architecture for miles around? And speaking of battles, was it just me or did the cinematography and CGI seem choppy, Michael Bay-ish?

A budding romance between Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Black Widow seemed awkward, forced by the screenwriters. Black Widow had more chemistry with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in Winter Soldier. The film is cluttered with characters—Nick Fury, Maria Hill, War Machine, Dr. Selvig, Dr. Cho—although I know it was meant to be cluttered with characters. The first film seemed easily digestible, funny, exciting. This time I’m struggling to care for the crisis, surprised at the forced jokes, more surprised that the big action set-pieces underwhelmed. I will give the film credit for the awesomely executed floating city, and Vision (Paul Bettany) is a sight to behold.

Marvel’s been incredible successful at bringing these heroes to the big screen, individually and as a team effort, but I’m wondering—despite the influx of new heroes (Falcon, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man)—if we’ve told all the stories (Civil War and Black Panther notwithstanding) that are interesting to tell. If you love superhero movies, come what may, See it; otherwise, Skip it.

 

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Summer Movie Series

Lucy (2014)

Rated R

lucy18-1

Canal+

Director Luc Besson (The Professional, La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element) has been off his game for some time now. Lucy is a step back to form, but he doesn’t quite get there. The film wants to have more depth than its screenplay allows. In addition to being an action film, a fight film, a philosophical and literal take on the evolution of man, quantum ideas of consciousness, the film wants to explore the end of human existence and what may lie beyond it. Right. But mostly it’s an action film.

In the BloghouseLucy (Scarlett Johansson, Her) is an American studying in Taiwan who hooks up with Mr. Wrong, who inadvertently pulls her into a synthetic drug ring. Forced to be a mule for an improbable narcotic that will either kill you deader than dead, or jumpstart your brain function beyond its known capabilities, Lucy—through a ruptured implant—gets the latter.

At first we know the drill: we’ve seen Johansson as the Black Widow in three Marvel movies now. She can dispatch roomfuls of armed men using martial arts and various weaponry. But once the drug improves her brain function exponentially, who needs weapons when you can control matter … then read minds … then sense emotion in its purest form … then visualize human souls … then affect space and time itself?

Morgan Freeman’s on hand as a renowned scientist whose theories on the mysteries and depths of the human mind are validated by Lucy’s existence. She seeks him out after reading his life’s work in mere minutes. Meanwhile, the leader of the drug ring Min-sik Choi (Oldboy, 2003) wants his product back—by any means necessary. There’s something to be said about a man who continues to pursuit a woman who has stopped bullets midflight and can reverse time itself. He’s pretty cocksure.

All of this can be fun, and if you’ve come to this for the action and fight scenes alone, you’ll get your fill. But in trying to be more than an action film, while not really taking its philosophical components full weight, the movie feels disjointed.

It’s Besson’s incredible La Femme Nikita crossed with 2011’s Limitless (which itself bites off more than it can chew) but isn’t as good as either of those films.

This film might have erred by casting Johansson, who certainly has acting chops and action-film bonafides. Unfortunately, because she brings the expectations of a hide-kicking, name-taking superhero, we’re denied what should have been a jolt from seeing a vulnerable stranger in a strange land transformed into an awesome instrument of destruction and resurrection.

If Besson is trying to speak something to the nature of evolution and violence in society, it gets lost in the clutter.

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Summer Movie Series

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Rated PG-13

captain-winter-soldier

Marvel Studio

For me Captain America stands in contrast to the other superfolks in the Marvel film universe. For sure, Marvel’s cash cow franchise has enough to brag about. I enjoyed much of the Iron Man series and the impressive culminating effort, The Avengers (2012). The franchise has its clunkers too: Hulk (2003) and the Thor films, for my money. The Captain America movies have neither the brilliant, hedonistic, wink-wink hubris of the Iron Man series, nor the over-the-top demigod, Viking-esque, parallel universe hodge-podge structure of the Thor films. This is probably why Captain America stands out from the pack.

In the BloghouseStarting with 2011’s first film, I liked the throwback setting (World War II), the simple plot (defeat the Nazis), the quick origin-story setup and the delicate love story. Before things got intertwined with all the other superhero motives and movies, there’s earnest Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) trying to set the world right, one patriotic punch, one patriotic speech at a time.

It’s a testament to Evans’ performance and the writers that we continue to admire Steve Rogers/Captain America’s earnestness instead of mocking it.

In Winter Soldier, I liked the instant chemistry between Cap and fellow veteran Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) aka The Falcon. I also like the chaste chemistry between Cap and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). Even when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and all the Hydra-S.H.E.I.L.D.-Avenger’s stuff starts weighing down the plot, the film finds nice touches of do-or-die matter-of-factness that lightens things up again.

The Winter Soldier himself is intriguing and coolly brutal, sprung from the Bucky Barnes character from the first film (is that a spoiler?), but I think more investment of that character in Part One would have really paid off in the pathos they attempt to wring out of this film. I didn’t remember enough of Bucky to make his sad, brain-scrambled existence very impactful this go-round.

Here’s hoping that as Marvel gears up its next round of superhero films—independent and team efforts—it keeps Cap simple and refreshing.

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Her (2013)

Rated R

her

Annapurna Pictures

Her takes place in a not-distant future where much of the populace of a major city travels around talking to its unseen smart-devices. Replace this image with one in any major city today: people walking around texting or otherwise engaged with their smartphones. It’s not a big leap from our world to this future world.

brown-blogartIn this future, a soon-to-be-divorced Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) traverses a beautiful metropolitan landscape—by train, on foot—with an obvious sadness. He seems like a nice enough fellow. He is employed as a writer of “handwritten” letters for all occasions. Think Hallmark with a more personalize touch. His skill at his job suggests a hidden depth of understanding of love and loneliness. Theodore has a small circle of loyal friends, including a former college hook-up (Amy Adams, Man of Steel), who is in her own failing relationship.

The stage is set for a love story, but keep in mind Her is directed by Spike Jonze. If you’re familiar with his work—the mad genius responsible for Being John Malkovich (1999), Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Adaptation (2002)—you know you’re in for some genre-twisting, head-scratching material that often functions on multiple levels of insight and comedy.

In no time, Theodore falls for Samantha. She gets his humor, is moved by his writing, is supportive of his wounded love life. Now, if you’ve seen the movie trailer or heard anything about the film, you know that Samantha is in fact Theodore’s newly purchased operating system. This upgraded form of artificial intelligence is like Siri squared. Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Lucy) tells Theodore she’s capable of learning from her interaction with him and can gain experiences beyond her programming. Indeed. She quickly impresses by getting him up and out of his apartment, prioritizing his emails, suggesting a birthday gift for his niece and such. She laughs at his jokes, but then begins to make up her own. Next, she’s encouraging him to go out on a date, and apologizing for overstepping with personal opinions.

At first Theo regards her with the amazement we regard a fantastic new piece of technology, but then a funny thing happens. Besides being an uber-organizer, gaming buddy, message taker and good listener, she begins to intrigue Theodore with her questions (What was his marriage like?), with her opinions (The human body isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.), with her pointed efforts to absorb experiences. She even develops a naughty side and is not above swearing or getting angry.

Indeed, it’s Samantha’s quest to know things, to question things, to be touched by a piece of music, or even hurt by a callus remark, that moves a lonely Theodore to see Samantha as something more than an operating system. One amazing scene shows her leading him along a busy boardwalk (she watching and directing him through the camera lens of his smart-device) sharing his experience of being alive, playful, surrounded by people.

It’s incredible how many male-female dating/mating/fighting scenarios Jonze is able to come up with—despite the fact the “female” in this coupling is in a 5-inch device in Theo’s pocket. There’s jealousy on both sides and intriguing efforts by Samantha to find ways to become emotionally (then sexually) closer to Theodore.

There are shocking components to this story, not the least of which is that most friends and coworkers hardly bat an eye when Theodore begins calling Samantha his girlfriend. You see, thousands of others have also taken to bonding with their operating systems. Of course society’s gripped by this latest, greatest technology.

Even as the film grows disturbing, it grows familiar in its look at how invested we are in our smart-devices. Ask yourself how hard it would be to go without your smartphone or laptop or tablet for a day … a week? How much harder if the OS sings along with you while you strum a guitar, quickly sketches a naughty picture based on your off-color joke, charms your friends and family, or likes to watch you sleep at night?

There’s been one romance film after another that presents great obstacles for our lovers to face—time and space, age and gender, racial and death. But this movie’s ambition strikes out at the very idea that matters of love and connectedness begin and end with physical bodies. Her posits that love at its purest might be found in the now, however fleeting or abstract it may be.

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