2012. Dir: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Olivia Munn, Cody Horn and Matthew McConaughey. ●●●●○
I've been terribly lazy over recent weeks. That's not quite true, after a long period of unemployment I managed to find work, whilst at the some time performing in a fringe show so I haven't really had the time to write up reviews. That's a shame as I've seen two films that definitely deserve talking about. First up is Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike a film that should be utterly disposable and vicariously pleasurable, and yet behind the façade of male stripping excess there's a curious and vital film about Western attitudes to money and the relentless pursuit of it.
Channing Tatum stars as a thinly veiled version of himself - as the press notes were proud to exhort Tatum spent 8 months as a stripper before hitting it big in acting - the eponymous Mike, the star attraction at Matthew McConaughey's revue show. Not only is Tatum a dedicated performer, out in the town prior to his gigs drumming up interest with the hen parties and birthday girls, but he also has a interesting work ethic, taking day jobs as a roofer and making custom furniture (his major ambition). Whilst roofing he bumps into a confused kid, Alex Pettyfer, desperate for cash but without Tatum's obvious ambition. Mike see's something in his demeanour and takes him along to the club and before you know it "The Kid" is making his stage debut, awkward, ungainly and with all the presence of a brick he still manages to produce the screaming from the excited crowd that forces McConaughey's Dallas to let him into the troupe.
From here the plot could only go one of two ways, "Star is Born" or "All About Eve" and without giving too much away whichever story it is Tatum's future in the stripping business does not look good. Luckily he does have The Kid's sister, bland blonde Cody Horn as the friend/love interest that might just become his saviour.
Tatum does a great job as himself, the more films I see him in the more I enjoy his lunky presence, and here he is able to mix the confidence in his ability and sexuality with a hint of fragility when dealing Horn. There's one stand out scene later in the film where Tatum is trying to explain how he feels, seemingly improvised he stutters and meanders through the dialogue and all at once the audience want to reahc out to him in a far less sexual way than previous reactions.
McConaughey steals every scene he's in, Machiavellian and mischievous his Texan drawl seductively addresses the throngs of women, as he warns the punters of the house rules, you can almost feel him dare us to break them. His silver tongued compere is a modern update of Joel Grey's Cabaret performance, complete with his own streak of ruthless intent. Pettyfer is fine in an underwritten role, his arc merely existing to push forward Tatum's. Unfortunately the cast is let down by Horn who gives one of the least expressive performances of the year.
Whilst the show scenes are surprisingly unexplicit - perhaps partly down to the nature of male revues with their aim to titillate rather than turn-on the audience - there is a pleasing structure and narrative to the dances. Tatum for instance is centre stage, his obvious ability on the podium is exploited both by Soderbergh's camera and Dallas's staging, but as you move further back through the pack of strippers, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez, Joe Manganiello and Kevin Nash there's a clear depredation of choreography and talent. Whilst Tatum bodypop in the foregound it's hilarious to watch pro-wrestler Nash as the bulky Tarzan barely able to move his arms in time to camp classic "It's Raining Men".
Aside from the dance numbers it's the attitudes to money that stick in the mind, Tatum works hard and considers every choice he's making and how that will affect his future business plans, Pettyfer is more about today, blowing his earnings on a drug-happy party lifestyle and McConaughey is slyly working the margins, ensuring he always ends up on top. There's a pre-occupation with cash that drives these guys to do what they do, which gives them the feeling their masters of their own destinies rather than exploited slabs of meat that will one day find the income has dried up. There's a fascinating beach scene which sums up the dancers ambitions, nicely reflected in the third act where Tatum must finally choose his destiny.
Soderbergh brings a unique sensibility to this movie, once again proving he can balance an exploitative genre with a art-house feel and whilst this doesn't quite hit the devastating highs of his previous sex industry expose, The Girlfriend Experience, it makes a fine counterpoint and I very highly recommend the picture.
Friday, 3 August 2012
Magic Mike
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Haywire
2011. Dir: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: Gina Carano, Ewan MacGregor, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum and Michael Douglas. ●●●○○
Imagine you're an international famous movie director, let's take Steven Soderbergh for example, and you're bored one afternoon, channel hoping distractedly waiting for Matt Damon to come over with some beer and you come across a female Mixed Martial Arts contest live on channel 179 and there on the screen is Gina Carano, a fighter perhaps best known for her stint on American Gladiators (she was crush). What would you then think? Well Steve thought that girl punching the hell out of the other girls has real skills, why not put her in a film and so Haywire was conceived.
To be fair this is not the first case of verite casting Soderbergh has indulged in, previously he launched the mainstream career of porn star Sasha Grey in the naturalistic and fascinating Girlfriend Experience, although I can't remember the casting story being quite as random. An Awareness of Carano's skills meant that Soderbergh could commission a script from The Limey scribe Lem Dobbs that simply propelled the character from fight to chase to fight showing off her considerable talents.
And be advised that is exactly what Haywire does.
Carano beats up Channing Tatum in a diner, courtesy of a little help from Michael Angarano (who has barely changed since "Will & Grace"), whom she then tells - thankfully using flashbacks - of the plot so far. You see it started in Barcelona where shady Government guy Michael Douglas and even shadier Spaniard Antonio Banderas hired Ewan McGregor and his freelance military taskforce (including Carano and Tatum) to rescue a kidnapped Chinese journalist which led to a massive chase through the streets for Carano just to knock out an unnamed goon. Then she's sent to Dublin to pretend to be the wife of MI6 agent Michael Fassbender who introduces her to more bearded Euro baddies then promptly tries to kill her then she runs and climbs through Dublin, outfoxing the Garda before ending up at the diner and getting into a snowbound car chase with Angarano and some local cops. Then there's the best bit of deer acting you'll see in 2011.
And breathe.
More people then get shot, there's a fight at Bill Paxton's house, a meeting in an abandoned aerodrome, another fight and Antonio Banderas gets a shave. Then the final credits roll.
Feel free to breathe again.
There is some connective plot involving everyone double crossing each other, and not everything in Barcelona or Dublin was quite what it seemed, but ultimately that doesn't matter ("It's always about money." as McGregor states in the trailer). Nor does it matter that Carano gives a performance that's dead behind the eyes, after all acting isn't really why she was hired and most of the heavy work is given to her co-stars, including a very impressive supporting turn by Paxton as her father, his thoughts projected plainly as he watches his daughter at work with a mix of fatherly pride and understandable shock.
How then does it work as a vehicle to showcase Carano fighting skills? The answer is surprisingly well. The melee in the diner, most of which is in the trailer, is perhaps forgettable but the chase in Barcelona, with Carano gaining on her quarry over 3-4 minutes shows her determination, commitment and fitness. You actually believe in these scenes that she could do this and take the guy out - I expect that's because she could. There's no wire work no stunts, the fights seem exceptionally real and Carano can clearly take care of herself, putting the usual action heroines (Anjelina, Milla) to shame.
The action scenes are also surprisingly interesting, the hotel set face off with Michael Fassbender (no spoiler it's in the trailer) is frantic and brutal, with the usual cliche's of broken glass shelves and smashing through doors incorporated well into the choreography. The final fight at a beach (I won't divulge who it's with) is also exceptionally well shot and edited together with each punch or kick bringing in a new shot at a more fascinating angle, providing the viewer with a 360 degree idea of the surroundings of the tense battle. We even get a chance to see her vulnerability, whilst climbing buildings through Dublin, Carano falls about 5 foot and it clearly hurts, winding her character and forcing her to rethink her strategy, being small rather than fast.
It's a great section of action scenes that really remind us of how punch-ups should work in cinema, there's always a understanding of the effort and geography of the battle, something which many of the more seasoned action director need to sit back and remind themselves of.
That said the utter lack of sensible plot or characterisation makes it very difficult to fully recommend this movie. Probably not worth the trip to the cinema, but if you ever tune in on a Friday night you will be drawn into the action and have to watch it until the end.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
The Eagle
2011. Dir: Kevin MacDonald. Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong and Tahar Rahim. ●●○○○
As I begin to write this I'm listening to an interview with The Eagle director Kevin MacDonald on BBC Radio 4. He has talked about the themes of honour and fear of unknown cultures and consequent mistrust, he speaks about the necessary homoeroticism in Roman era film-making and the parallels between the Empire and modern geopolitical realities. All of which sounds fascinating however casting my mind back to the movie I saw just a few days ago I can't remember any of that which indicates how much I feel this production missed it's mark.
Channing Tatum (not bad - but I still believe his future is in comedy) is Marcus Aquila, the newly appointed Centurion of a Roman outpost in Briton, and the son of the commander Falvius Aquilla who twenty years earlier had disappeared with the Ninth Legion (as well as the titular golden eagle standard) in the wilds of Scotland embarassing the Emperor Hadrian and leading directly to the building of the wall in Northern Briton. After a brutal and heroic opening battle against a marauding druid Tatum is invalided out with honours and left in the care of his uncle Donald Sutherland where he saves the life of slave Esca (Jamie Bell). Before long the odd couple of Tatum and Bell are off on a quest to recapture the Eagle from the Seal People, partly led by Tahar Rahim as the Seal Prince.
Based on Rosemary Sutcliffe's 1954 childrens novel "The Eagle of the Ninth" (it's inexplicable lost part of it's title) you can see how the boy's own battle scenes - including a fantastic "Form a Testudo" moment - and the cross cultural friendship that develops between the leads would appeal to a 12 year old, unfortunatley that's not enough to fill an entire movie. The endless wandering through the wilds of Scotland (whilst forming a lovely visitors guide to the Highlands as filmed by Anthony Dod Mantle) seems to drag unnecessarily with the politics behind Tatum's decision to head north glossed over to make it almost like a dare.
Partly this is down to the inadequate performances from the leads. Tatum is cast well, looking like a fish out of water throughout the piece, but adds nothing to the character. Bell on the other hand is hopeless, from the moment the Eagle is first mentioned he maintains a stoically irritated expression which conveys no emotion or connection to his surroundings - when his loyalty is tested we don't doubt the sincerity of his early dedication to Tatum given he's barely registered any events since then.
The only quality performance is given by Tahar Rahim, speaking entirely in the geallic language made up for the British natives, showing a dignity and determination that seems to be missing in the central couple. Although given he's the de facto leader of the mythically gifted Seal People (who run faster than horses and give no quarter in battle) it's hard not to respect his presence.
The major issue though is the writing. Jeremy Brock's screenplay spends so much time talking about the prejudices of the characters and the difference between loyalty to a person against loyalty to an ideal that I became desensitised to those themes. Ultimately film is a visual medium and this movie seemed far too keen to tell us what it was about and not brave enough to show it. Even the casting parallels to the modern world (all the Romans are played by Americans, all the Briton's by Brits except for Rahim with French-Arabic ethnicity) aren't used to say anything within the movie.
Although the final insult was saved for the last scene, almost an epilogue, showing Tatum and Bell delivering the Eagle to the local Trivimulate. Cheesy and paving the way for a sequel it seemed tagged on and completely out of keeping with the tone and content of the previous two hours.
All in all this is probably worth catching if you are a pre-pubescent interested in the History of Rome, but not if you're looking for a film for grown-ups.
