Maleficent

Though the idea is more or less lifted from Wicked, I very much liked the idea of Maleficent. Just as ‘Wicked’ looks again at The Wizard of Oz and says ‘Hold on – this woman just saw her sister crushed to death by a stranger from another world, the same world as the outsider who is currently in a rather questionable ruling position...maybe we should look again at why she goes after Dorothy’, this film looks at that evil fairy from Disney’s version of Sleeping Beauty and asks ‘Why does the king reject her at the Christening? Why has she become evil?’

While indeed, it shares much with Wicked, it is where it departs dramatically from that conceptualisation of an evil being from a fairy tale that Maleficent both triumphs and, later, trips up. Where Wicked – at least in book form – concentrates on a political situation, Maleficent explores the relationship between this evil being and the child she has cursed in the years before she falls asleep. It may be less ambitious, but it works superbly, and addresses subtly what the blessing that Aurora will be loved by all means to Maleficent herself. It allows for a sympathetic portrayal and works quite brilliantly. What spoils the film for me, and holds it back from being the kind of classic I’d like to see played at Christmastime year on year is that where Wicked manages to weave around the original Oz story right up until the end, Maleficent can only work as a sympathetic reimagining by utterly departing from the source and giving an ending quite unlike what happens in the original. This, to me, is a major failing, made even worse by the fact that the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ doesn’t even sleep long enough to get in a full night’s kip, meaning she deserves neither legend nor moniker.

It is a real shame, because other than this decision, I loved the film almost unreservedly. The opening portrayal of Maleficent’s childhood and relationship with King Stephan is obvious but works and is beautifully-realised right up to its bittersweet climax. I’d have liked a bit more detail about the events leading up to the Christening scene – what happened to all those other candidates to be king? Did they not seek to depose Stephan when it became clear that he hadn’t actually performed the deed with which he won the throne? – but I could accept the omissions for the sake of brevity.

The middle section of the film is where its heart is. It is a stroke of genius that the three good fairies are inept (and genuinely funny comic relief), which necessitates Maleficent herself stepping in to act as the child Aurora’s guardian from the shadows. Humanising Maleficent not only with this relationship but with her manservant and foil Diaval the crow (who presumably becomes ‘Diablo’ at some point), played with just the right balance of respect and irreverence by Sam Riley, from Brighton Rock. Big draw Angelina Jolie was a fantastic choice, not just for how well she suits enhanced cheekbones – she has the regal, frosty atmosphere around her quite naturally, which means that when she crumbles and looks vulnerable it seems so very genuine. It’s not always easy to get the audience on her side, but here it works, not least because the story revolves around getting the audience on the side of a traditional, well-established villain.

Elle Fanning is also an excellent choice for Aurora, as pretty as she was in Super 8 while now a young adult, the role that could be so flat and cardboard is fleshed out and made likeable by the most subtle delivery of lines and small gestures. Again, the three fairies who could have been annoying in their frivolity are genuinely funny and likeable, and even bland Prince Philip is made likeable by irreverent treatment and adolescent awkwardness. It’s perhaps unfortunate that one of the key twists is almost exactly the one in Frozen, but that’s coincidental and much less central here than it was there.

Visually, the film is a beaut. Some of the fantastical creatures in the opening may date fast, but overall the film ought to stand the test of time for a while, and there are some stunning shots – like winged Maleficent silhouetted on a sunset sky. The music, including Lana Del Ray cover, is suitably haunting throughout and the costuming/makeup ought to win some awards. In all technical regards, I was impressed, and the film held my attention absolutely throughout.

All of which makes me sadder that I was let down at the end. It all felt like a cop-out, like a cheat, to eventually fall back on ‘the story you heard was wrong – not only in the details but in the entire climactic narrative arc’.

Even with this drawback, though, the film is a very strong one and well worth the time to check out. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past

I loved the new X-Men film, bringing together the casts of the smash-hit film series with the prequel cast of First Class, as hinted in the post-credits scene of The Wolverine. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was my all-time favourite superhero film, certainly surpassing The Avengers, the Iron Man series and all the previous X-Men films.

Though taking inspiration from the classic, very short Days of Future Past series, this is very much a follow-up to First Class, which is why it works. Yes, it’s a slight shame that Kitty Pride is not the one to go back to seek help, instead being the source of the power to send a person’s consciousness back in time – also quite cleverly used as a contingency plan in the dismal future to escape the Nimrod-style Sentinels – if not because I’m a Shadowcat fan, then because it would be nice to have a female-centric superhero flick. But Wolverine is the big box office draw and plot-wise it makes sense: he was both physically the same in the past and able to heal through ill effects of a consciousness transfer, a condition that ensures the plot isn’t very quickly concluded by Professor X going back instead.

It’s the fact that this is a near-future X-Men going back to the 70s rather than a further-off future X-Man coming back to the present that I feel works very nicely, though, and allows for an excellent sequel. After the schism at the end of First Class, Magneto and Xavier have gone their separate ways – Magneto to a militant defence of mutants, culminating in an involvement in the JFK assassination that has seen him incarcerated under the Pentagon itself, and Xavier into depression, alcoholism and addiction to a drug that allows him to walk despite spinal damage, but suppresses his powers. A lot of the big players of the first film are gone, including Emma Frost – so portentously freed at the end of First Class – but can largely be seen as casualties of Magneto causing a stir ... and shady experiments. Into this reality comes the Wolverine of a future that, of course, has Bishop in it, one of extremely powerful adaptive sentinels wiping out mutantkind. Sending Wolverine back is a last-ditch effort to stay alive in a devastated world, where the sentinels are not only killing mutants, but any human they determine likely to produce mutant descendants – no matter how many generations down the line.

Wolverine’s task is not easy. First, he has to rescue the Professor from his depression, with only Hank to help. Then he has to bust Magneto out of his very tricky cell, which is done with the help of a wonderfully cocky Quicksilver – whose parentage is dealt with in just the right way – in scenes that show how a Flash film could work brilliantly, and make me curious about the character also appearing in the Avengers films, which is a very odd crossover point given the rights issues. Then, in a pleasant echo of the original story, they have to stop Mystique from performing an assassination – not of a senator, but of Sentinel creator Boliver Trask (it’s become odd hearing Peter Dinklage using an American accent), which makes him a martyr and leads to the dystopian future. But this Mystique is of course the Raven of First Class, and has become hardened to the world since we last saw her. That the film pivots on her humanity is one of its triumphs.

Though there’s a lot of annoying paradoxes with this kind of time travel, one of its advantages is that it allows for the worst-case scenario to be fully played-out. The far-future storyline is essentially one long action scene in which the likes of Storm, Colossus and Sunspot are overcome in brutal ways, which is oddly affecting. There’s also the brilliant use of Blink, very Portal in presentation, and the awesomeness that is Bishop – though he dies the same way Bishop always, always dies. I have to say, I would have had a real bit of pleasure if instead of just keeling over, Xavier had put up a fight, preferably joining with Magneto to bring out Onslaught (now there’s a good place for a possible Fantastic Four crossover to go, given the Franklin element), but these allowed a second layer of ‘big climax’ to the film.

Though the main storyline had its own, remarkably independent of Wolverine, who is actually not of much use here. Magneto shows the full extent of his power, and it’s immensely satisfying to watch, even if ole Erik is a fool not to simply play the hero and make the world love rather than fear him – which would have been very easy to set up. Far more so than the Hellfire Club and the hammy posturing of Kevin Bacon, this feels like a mature film with serious dilemmas and enemies, for the first time with the X-Men.

The ending is also intriguing, essentially resetting what happened in the original films while preserving their cast and a basic continuity – with lots of feel-good cameos to back it all up. There are intriguing changes possibly meant for more Wolverine films, not least Stryker’s true identity now, and the possibility of seeing Jean and Scott again.

But best of all was who showed up post-credits. The best villain, without a doubt. The films better do him justice!

Godzilla

This is actually probably a good time for a Godzilla film – more so than the forgettable 1998 attempt at Americanisation, which I remember primarily for its soundtrack. We are at a time when it’s fashionable to revere the source material rather than reinvent it – largely thanks to rabid fans of book series – and the kaiju film is in with American audiences, though really there’s just Pacific Rim to base that on.

And this version has gone down well. Respectful to the ideas of the original, keenly aware of the original’s connection with ideas about The Bomb and incorporating the new nuclear anxiety of Fukushima, and featuring top-of-the-range special effects, it does a whole lot right. Gojira himself in all his glory is magnificent – ridiculously huge and ridiculously powerful and far beyond what military power can stand against, the decision to pit Godzilla not against man but against other kaiju was a wise one. It’s unarguable that the climactic battle scenes are what the film is all about, and it’s all a lot of absurd fun with buildings falling over and bridges being torn apart and no less than three immense monsters brawling. Perfect popcorn entertainment.

If, that is, the rest of the film has deftly built up to it. And if there has been a plot with characters we really care about, this could be a very strong action film indeed. Sadly, this is where Godzilla falls short – and indeed, the attempt is what really shoots everything else in the foot. If a bombastic action film is hard to stay awake through, something is very wrong.

But sadly, that was decidedly the case here. I didn’t mind the way the film teased and teased Godzilla himself – it was quite a good idea to have him largely just spines under the water until finally he is revealed with that signature roar. But for that to work, you need something else that’s interesting to take its place.

What Godzilla tried to interest us in was some of the flattest, least likeable human characters I’ve ever seen. They make the cast of World War Z seem as endearing as that of Friends. First we follow Hal from Malcolm in the Middle, now a very serious actor thanks to Breaking Bad, mangling Japanese as a nuclear plant worker with a young son, who faces terrible tragedy as his co-worker wife is lost in a disaster resulting from an unexplained seismic event. Years later, he is convinced that the seismic event was more than, y’know, Japan being Japan, and keeps getting caught going into the quarantine zone and meeting with conspiracy theorists. His estranged son, now in the army, has to come to bail him out. The two return to the quarantine zone at just the right time to witness the newest monster release the same seismic signals – to vindicate his being a crackpot – and a strange giant insect ten times scarier than Mothra emerges to wreak havoc. Hal doesn’t make it, but his son, John Lennon from Nowhere Boy (who I probably met at Jackie Palmer, come to think of it) trying way, way too hard to be Joseph Gordon-Levitt and having none of the boyish charm, takes up the baton to put a stop to the destructive monsters. Which of course, is the job for another mysterious force, Godzilla, who awakens and fights to ‘restore balance’ when similarly enormous monsters make an appearance.

The film is full of coincidence. Hal and John Lennon happen to be at the scene just when the monster awakens – and though this has a little to do with seismic activity, it’s not as though the seismic activity led to an awakening the last time. Lennon then manages to be in the same place as the monster by coincidence over and over and over again. The premise of the three monsters triangulating and Godzilla knowing where they’re going to clash, rather than, y’know, a hunter moving behind one of the beasts it’s hunting, is ridiculous. The film’s use of character shields is far too much, and Godzilla’s weird playing possum at the end just doesn’t get signposted adequately and seems tacked-on for a bit of fake emotion.

But the bigger problem is simply the unlikeable nature of these characters. The sub-Spielberg absent father line never works, Ken Watanabe just looks faintly embarrassed, the mother and young son characters are basically non-existence and nobody gains the audience’s sympathy in any way.

This was a near-miss, admittedly, and I am curious to know what Japanese audiences make of it and its Western leads. The monster part was done right. It’s just time to treat the human part as just as important.