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Fighting…

I’m always in the movie for a good brawler movie. Not just a marital arts movie, but a brawler. Not as polished, just raw and in your face. So when Fighting came out, I certainly took notice of it. Not enough notice to go see it in the theater, but enough to remember it when it came out to video.

So like any brawler file, Fighting is not that complex. Channing Tatum is an ex high school wrestler living in poverty big apple style. While attempting to sell bootleg goods, he gets into a rather unimpressive tussle with Terrence Howard’s crew, who has a striking similarity to Fagin and his band of pickpockets. Howard sees the potential that is Channing Tatum and becomes his manager setting him up in back alley fights across New York. All of this builds up to the not so exciting climatic conclusion where Tatum has to fight the top street brawler, who by the way just happens to be part of Tatum’s mysterious past. Riveting! (If only that statement was actually true.)

Oliver Twist comparisons aside, which there are a number, but this film does not warrant such a deep deconstruction, this movie was incredibly dull and lack luster. Tatum barely says more than four words at a time and Howard with his soft voice never sells the fight coach/hustler/leader of young me. In fact, I don’t even know what Howard was supposed to be. He has a small apartment in nice looking brown stone, but the interior is crappy, he doesn’t have a real job, and hangs out with young men all day long. He wears the same suit the entire movie, so I’m assuming he to in living in poverty but trying to hide it.

But who gives a shit? This movie is called Fighting and is about fighting. So how is the fighting? It’s pretty lack luster. Tatum is never that impressive, nor is the fight choreography. It looks like they were trying to go for realism instead of excitement, which is a shame, because I was really in the mood for some stylized brawling. But oh well, I’ll have to go elsewhere. And I suggest you do the same.

*

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard…

The Goods is the latest comedy of the summer. It serves its purpose to make you laugh, but fails in being memorable. The movie’s bread and butter is the outrageous, however when not outrageous the Goods ain’t so good. It’s more acceptably decent than good. In fact the only scene I really remember is the cameo by Will Ferrell, probably not the best thing especially when it’s just a cameo and not from the main cast.

While walking out of the theater my colleague mentioned that he kept thinking Vince Vaughn when looking at Jeremy Piven. It’s not so much that Piven was bad, but Vaughn would have been so much better. Piven just never owns the role; his performance is pretty much a carbon copy of Ari Gold with a five o’clock shadow and a little bit more hick. Is he forever destined to be known as Ari Gold? He can act, I’ve seen him in many other roles, but currently, in my mind, he is defined as Ari Gold. Not that Vaughn is much of a character actor, considering ever single role of his is the same. And based off his documentary of his comedy tour I’m 95% sure he just shows up on set and plays himself in every film.

So wait for the inevitable unrated blu-ray, which will most likely have even more outrageous moments, other wise cable it.

**

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra…

G.I. Joe has a fond place in my heart. Growing up I loved the toys and loved the cartoon. G.I Joe, Transformers, and M.A.S.K were the three cartoon staples of my childhood. So it was with jaded and skeptic anticipation as I waited for the release of G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra.

So what is this movie about? Well, outside of the statement “Cobra is trying to conquer the world” this movie makes no sense. It’s not as bad as Transformers, you can see that there was a least an attempt to think about a plot. But there was just as much as an attempt to say “fuck it, let’s just see shit blow up!” At several times during the film I found myself say “wait, why the fuck do they need to do that” or “wait, since when does ice sink…” All of which was followed up by “shut the fuck up brain!”

So it alls boils down to the action scenes, which get bigger as the film goes on, but sadly the most interesting action sequence is in the beginning. Which is a shame since the character development is almost non existent. Oh sure Duke and the Baroness have a back story, and Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow trained together, but nobody else is addressed and those that are obvious and dull.

So yes the movie was fun, but it could have been more thrilling. They of course left it open for a sequel, which I would be opposed to. Hopefully they will do better next time.

**

The Hurt Locker…

I can not think of movie in recent memory that simultaneously glamorizes and repulses the viewer about its subject matter more than The Hurt Locker. But The Hurt Locker does just that with it's portrayal of US Army Bomb Technician Staff Sergeant William James. At first glance it's all the glitz and glam, James is introduced with the bravado and confidence that one would expect. A rebel at heart he does his job in a take no prisoners fashion. But very quickly you see how this is the worst job in the world in some of the most tense scenes to be portrayed on screen this year.

There are perhaps a half dozen devices that get disarmed throughout the course of the film, each of them more fucked up than the one before it. And while each bomb itself is pucker your butt hole insane, very early on the filmmakers show that most of the time it's not the bomb itself that is most dangerous but the spectators watching. Any number of them could be involved in the bomb plot, perhaps with a remote trigger, just waiting for US Army personnel to get within the kill range. The only thing protecting is your crew scouting each of them determining whether they are threat or not, with just seconds to make a life altering decision. And that's when you truly realize how fucked their situation is and the tension mounts for the characters and the viewer. Top Gun made people want to be Navy Pilots. No one will want to be a bomb tech after watching the Hurt Locker.

The film could almost be considered a docudrama in that there isn’t a whole lot of plot going on. It’s more of a chronicling of the days and lives of a particular bomb unit, exploring who are these men and what are their motivations. Through this we see that James is a little unhinged, little reckless, and little devoid of human emotion; which is fitting considering every time he goes out to disarm a bomb he rolls the dice on whether he lives or dies. The film sets up the building blocks for some pretty interesting questions. Is he the perfect makeup to be a bomb tech, or did he evolve to become that to fit the job? How was he before the war? Will he ever adjust to civilian life afterwards? But they never truly get answered, leaving some to the viewer and the others to frustration.

Halfway through the film tries to setup a somewhat conventional plot line involving a bomber who uses a child’s body as the device and James becoming obsessed with finding him. It’s as this point that the film kind of meanders out for me. The plot line does not go anywhere gratifying and leaves us with less of the more compelling characterizations. Even so, James and his crew are extremely likable and you root for their success throughout.

Ultimately this is the best film on the Iraq war, and one of the best war films in the past decade, falling just short of perfect. One of the few must see films of the year.

***3/4