A futuristic sci-fi fantasy romance, A Princess of Mars
tells the story of John Carter, a Civil War veteran who inexplicably
finds himself held prisoner on the planet Mars by the Green Men of
Thark. Together with Dejah Thoris, the princess of another clan on Mars,
the unlikely pair must fight for their freedom and save the entire
planet from destruction as the life-sustaining Atmosphere Factory slowly
grinds to a halt.
Upon finishing my re-read of the first of Edgar Rice
Burrough’s Barsoom books, A PRINCESS OF MARS, I am met with the revelation that
the cliffhanger at the end of the book is kind of a doozy. Kind of a huge doozy in fact. Especially when you
consider that the original magazine serial of the book ran in 1912 (February to
June I think in 4 or 5 parts) and then had to wait for almost a year to
continue the story. The books themselves wouldn’t be published till later that
decade. I think it is Burrough’s skill at weaving a fascinating tale with a few
twists and turns I wasn’t expecting that make reading the books such a treat.
Definitely deserving of the moniker “classics”. Written 100
years ago, and yet still quite compelling today. The first time I read the
prologue I was a bit blown away the twist even that far into the story, and I
wasn’t disappointed by any part of the narrative.
One of the first things I noticed is that in a few instances
Burrough’s wisely eschews taking too much interest in the “action moments” in
favor of moving the story along and the telling of it as a whole. If John
Carter, who’s earthly powers on Mars make him superhuman, takes down a huge
15-foot Green Martian warrior with a punch that leaves them dead from the blow,
it is handled in a sentence or two. So a number of action fights are down to a
few sentences simply because John Carter’s skills are such that he really is a
superhero on Barsoom (Mars) and it wouldn’t take much to punch a guy into the
floor. In the later books in fact Burrough’s shows that it takes much more to
subdue Carter, and that while he’s not infallible, he is certainly a force with
which to be reckoned.
The other characters that surround John Carter, Dejah Thoris,
Tars Tarkas, Sola and even Kantos Kan are so well fleshed out over the course
of only 202 pages that I can’t help but to have fallen for each of their stories
separately. Whereas you might have assumed that Carter would be the star and
that since this is rather pulpy science fiction/fantasy the other characters
wouldn’t matter nearly as much, Burrough’s shows us that they do. In fact, as
is the case with Dejah Thoris (Red Martian princess and love interest), and
Tars Tarkas (Green Martian warrior Thark), the supporting characters come
across as just as compelling as Carter, if not moreso. I found myself as I
neared the end of the book finding Tars’ story to be one not only of a great
warrior, but also of an honorable person who finds himself becoming something new due
to our protagonist’s involvement in his affairs. That was very interesting to watch.
With nods to both fantasy and science fiction, A PRINCESS OF
MARS is a wonderfully realized tale of alien worlds and societies,
swashbuckling derring-do, captive princesses, great cities, airships, air
factories and even a few devoted pets and animals. I think I messaged Chris the
other morning on the way to work as I was finishing the re-read and I likened
it to “reading a warm cup of hot chocolate”, and that’s entirely true. These
are books that sit proudly on my shelf and whenever I feel so inclined I pick
them up. Yes, I know the story and yes I know the ending, but they are written
in such a way that I discover something else every time I read them and they
even serve to cheer me up when I am down.
Naturally as I finished I HAD to go on to the second book
THE GODS OF MARS, which I am currently enjoying a second time.
I should point out my re-reads came from purchasing the
books in brand new soft cover trade formats with lovely new cover art from Fall
River Books (an imprint of Sterling) by artist Kekai Kotaki. I also found out
after a little investigation that not only will Fall River be releasing the
rest of the Barsoom books in the format with new covers, but also the entirety
of the TARZAN series as well. I’ve already ordered a copy of the first TARZAN
book TARZAN OF THE APES, a series I’ve never actually read, so I look forward
to that.
At any rate, if you’ve not read these books, do yourself a
favour and pick up some true classics.
I credit two people with reviving my flagging interest in comic books in the late 1990s. The first was Stuart Immonen, whose beautiful pencil work on DC’s Superbooks was unlike anything I’d ever seen in my four colour funnies.
The other was Scottish author Grant Morrison, a seemingly semi-deranged and drug addled writer, whose unconventional style helped me to get over the hump when it came to looking at comic books as something more than just childish pursuits.
Of the two it’s really only Grant I read now, having failed to follow Stuart in his jump over to Marvel. But the man who has written WE3, THE INVISIBLES, THE FILTH, ANIMAL MAN and so many other seminal works of comic bookery has never failed to challenge my expectations of what the medium is capable of delivering.
SUPERGODS is one part historical overview of modern comic books, one part analysis and one part autobiography.
Starting with a detailed breakdown of ACTION COMICS #1 and an exploration of Superman, perhaps the most recognizable character in comic books, Morrison brings you through modern comics early history right to the present day, interjecting his own interactions with the medium and how they’ve come to influence his work.
Morrison’s insight into some of these characters is as unique as his writing. Incredibly cerebral, his analysis can sometimes border on the incomprehensible as he vanishes down literary rabbit holes in search of truth and understanding.
When he’s not examining comic book characters Morrison is delving into the varied cast of creators who’ve populated the field in recent years and the impact they’ve had on shaping the industry. It’s fascinating to get Morrison’s take on some of these individuals. While I had a passing knowledge of the contributions of most of them there was definitely one or two who I’d previously discounted.
And that’s what I love so much about this book, how it adds new layers and new interpretations to old material, including Morrison’s own work. Themes and ideas previously discussed over beer with friends are now explicitly outlined on these pages. Morrison’s interweave of personal experience and creative genius are laid bare for fans of the author and his work to sort through and analyze.
Suddenly I found myself seeing Morrison’s output in a new light. And, on more than one occasion I found myself putting SUPERGODS aside in order to dive into my longboxes and pick up something he’d done earlier and reread it with fresh eyes.
(Which was a really illuminating experience until I got caught reading THE INVISIBLES again. Rereading that epic is usually enough to cause my brain to retreat screaming in terror. I have a sneaking suspicion that THE INVISIBLES only really makes absolute sense if you read it while high.)
Finishing SUPERGODS gave me the sort of mini creative buzz that I only get when I find myself reading\watching something truly spectacular. The excitement and energy Morrison holds for comic books and creativity in general seemed to literally bleed through the page and infect me.
Whether you like Grant Morrison’s writing style or not, and believe me the man is certainly an acquired taste, I think you’d be hard pressed to deny that he’s made his mark on the landscape. He’s always pushing the boundaries of the medium and I’d rather he continue to do that and fail than partake in the by the numbers mediocrity that seems to infect the world of mainstream comics publishing.
Reading SUPERGODS I got the sense that as Morrison has aged his goals and aims for comic books has changed somewhat. Initially, as a young angry punk, it seems like he was all about tearing down and destroying the traditional and stuffy clichés of comic books. But now that he’s gotten a little older its not about tearing down, its about creating and building up.
Dickens, Dumas, Austen, Bronte, Kipling, Blake. These names
conjure images of stories from bygone era’s that are well known, and have been
printed, reprinted, annotated, reprinted again, and fawned over by generations
of readers and teachers. What do they all have in common? These are authors
that lived a very long time ago, and wrote stories that captivate even today,
but while they wrote stories of a mostly contemporary nature (Dicken’s and
Kipling arguably being the most “genre” of all those mentioned) there is one
man who wrote something…a little different.
Edgar Rice Burroughs. The man who invented a legend called
TARZAN, first came up with a little story about a displaced Civil War soldier
who, while prospecting for gold in the Arizona wilderness, is wounded by
Natives. Instead of dying, he leaves his corporeal body on earth and travels to
Mars (known as Barsoom to its inhabitants) where he has super strength and
superhero leaping abilities. Written in 1917, the trilogy A PRINCESS OF MARS,
THE GODS OF MARS, and THE WARLORD OF MARS, is not only great pulp fiction, but
also a seminal Planetary Romance.
Having only read them for the first time about 2 years ago,
I fell instantly in love with them. They have become a favourite of mine (that
I am currently re-reading) and continue to astound me for books that were
written almost 100 years ago.
I wanted to talk about the series today for one major
reason. Disney and Andrew Stanton (Academy Award winner, director of films
like FINDING NEMO and WALL*E) have shot a film version of the first book, which
is to be called JOHN CARTER. Let’s leave aside my own preliminary thoughts on
that for a moment and focus on the reaction of the fickle, fickle Internet.
Back in July, various news and rumour sites were given access to some behind
the scenes creature maquettes, rough footage and even the proper trailer (which
has been released to us lowly serfs as well now). They had unabashed access to
the director himself who answered their questions as best he could (without
spoiling things). The moaning that began after these reports and the subsequent
trailer dropping, the audience reading these articles or watching this footage
fall into 3 categories:
1. People who have never heard of John Carter or Burroughs
work before.
2. People who HAVE heard of his work before, enjoy it, know the books
and are objectively viewing the trailer.
3. People who are die-hard fans of his work, and are more
than a little disgruntled.
Let’s talk about People 1. These people are the kind that I
saw commenting on Movie Rumour sites that posted the trailer, or straight up
YouTube commentors. These people are too busy (read: silly) to look up anything about a movie
before they open their maws. They haven’t the foggiest clue that this is based
on a book series written nearly 100 years ago, nor that any subsequent movie
since then (AVATAR coming clearly to mind) about a human being displaced into
an alien society is a crib of Burroughs' idea. So you can imagine the amount of
people saying idiotic things like, he looks like He-Man, or wow this looks like
a rip-off of AVATAR, or what is this Conan? He-Man’s (invented in the 1980’s)
outfit is a clear copy of the classic John Carter outfit on Barsoom, and even
better it has a purpose within the story. The outfit Taylor Kitsch is wearing actually looks like a fair representation of the outfit in the book series. The AVATAR rip-off comment is my
favourite form of idiocy demonstrated by the uninformed, simply because AVATAR
cribbed not only from Burroughs work but also a number of other sources. The
Conan comment is ridiculous and just showcases the fact that some people on this
planet see sand and barbarian and can only think of Conan. Their brilliance
knows no bounds. I’m not asking for deep knowledge of the subject matter, but
if you are going to make off the cuff comments about a piece of media, you
should probably inform yourself enough to not make an ass of yourself by not
having a clue what you are disparaging.
People 2. Now these are the ones that I belong to. I love
the books, and yet I understand the daunting task of bringing them to the big
screen. I have seen enough movies based on books to know that “homage” is not
only proper, but required in some cases. When a movie follows a book’s source
material too closely, you get films like SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, or THE LINCOLN
LAWYER which may be technically achieved, but are ultimately a complete narrative mess.
Books and Movies are completely different animals and always should be. What’s
the major complaint about the first two HARRY POTTER films, aside from being
more child-like to its successor films? That they were a little too slavish to the
source material and the resultant films, while good, are by no means anywhere
near the quality of films 3-7. Films 3-7 took a lot of liberties with the
source material. While they didn’t change major plot points, they changed
certain character arcs or ideas, or even designs. They got rid of things that
messed with movie pacing (movie pacing and book pacing are completely
different) and added other sequences to ramp up the action and spectacle. A
film should based on a book should always be “homage” and should never follow
the source material slavishly. If you want the source material to make its way
onto the screen EXACTLY how it is in the books, then why not just READ THE
BOOKS.
This brings me to People 3. The die-hard fans that are
acting disgruntled. I have been to no less than 4 websites with column writers
who commented on the various behind the scenes things, and the trailer. Those
were the sites that prompted me to write this post. These “fans” claim that
there is no one who wants to see the films succeed and be awesome more than
they…while they piss on the preliminary footage for not being EXACTLY like the
books. One site mentioned that Barsoom looked too much like an earth desert,
that the added “realism” RUINS the backdrop of the books outlandishness. I’m
not sure what books they were reading, but in my copies the desert of the
Barsoomian landscape looks reddish but is still very much like ours on earth.
It’s not like Carter looks around when he first awakens there and thinks “My
god! Everything is red and the foliage is yellow, and this is so strange!” No.
He notices the yellow foliage, but other than that he just goes about his
investigation of the landscape. The yellow foliage which BTW makes an
appearance in the trailer. These “fans” complain about things like the
shortening of the name to just be JOHN CARTER (it was originally JOHN CARTER OF
MARS)…a complaint I can’t fathom at all, since the original source material is
titled A PRINCESS OF MARS anyways. Is it that they think JOHN CARTER doesn’t
put the right point across? That’s an odd thought, since I am a fan I know what
the movie is about, and non-fans will see the trailer and know it is about a
guy named John Carter who ends up on an alien planet. That’s probably the
silliest complaint I’ve read. Over at io9 the poster of the article about the
name change called it a bad idea and started to talk about he movie distancing
itself from a sci-fi sounding name. That’s LUDICROUS…why? Because the
trailer shows that it is in fact sci-fi 10 seconds in, so it would make zero
sense for that to have been the reason Disney changed the name. Beyond
that:
Newsflash to these so-called “fans” IT’S A MOVIE TITLE. It will NOT effect the final product WHATSOEVER.
These are the same moaners who are saying things like the
Helium hovercraft’s don’t look right, Dejah Thoris has red tattooing instead of
being actually red, it looks too much like Arizona and not Mars, or it’s
doesn’t look alien or outlandish enough ect. These nitpicking complaints drive
me right around the bend. The hovercraft are an homage (and everyone seems to
think they are covered, they aren’t, you can see the open deck of one in the
trailer if you pay attention). The backdrop looks like a desert because…hey
it’s a DESERT. What would you rather? You want them to digitally paint the backdrop
in every scene? Yes, because that would look realistic and not silly at all. I
think my favourite complaint from this sect of “fan” is the Dejah Thoris
complaint. But how much stock ought I put into a movie website where the
newsperson who posted the complaint about the body tattooing charmingly (and no
less ridiculously) called it a “full body tramp stamp”. There is so much wrong
with that statement, beginning with the definition of such a term not fitting
into a tattoo that covers the body, the derogatory nature of even using the
phrase, and ending with not understanding the idea of cultural body tattoos
(which we have here on earth as well). Or how about the fact that the
preliminary art shows the rest of the red martians (males and females) from Helium
having similar red tattoo art on their bodies. Again a person claiming to
report accurate notions and not having the first clue of what they are
speaking. As to the complaint about her skin colour, in the books her skin is
described as being having a copper/burnished hue…so let me say this loud and
clear…she’s NOT REALLY RED. In fact every illustrator or artist who has ever
drawn her has shows her as simply being a scantily clad, tanned hottie, in some
cases she’s even shown as pale for some reason. The amount of so-called “fans
of the books” that think that the red martians are actually RED astounds me. So
here we have Lynn Collins playing the role of Dejah, dressed in the proper
functional attire, tanned with a red tattooing on her body, and you know what?
I think she looks FANTASTIC! A realistic, slightly tribal or imperial look with
an outfit that - whilst not the non-functional, totally unrealistic metal
nipple covers and crotch covers we are used to seeing in the art of her in the
past - still looks quite sexy, whilst being functional and still getting across the point that Barsoomian’s
don’t look at clothing as anything other than a little functional. It’s a silly
complaint, and I’m convinced that SOME of these “fans” would only be pleased if
Dejah Thoris was mostly buck naked and wearing the Franz Frazetta get-up
(skimpy metal covers mentioned above) from her classic depiction. It would be
nice if they realized that outfit is certainly not going to show up in any film
that shows in a theatre that doesn’t have three x’s on a sign outside, but they
won’t.
I consider myself a fan of the series, but I am not so
blindly set in my ways that I can’t understand what might need changing for
pacing, realism, or even character arc modifications. In fact this solidifies
the name change for me as a happy accident. Since this is an homage to the
source material it is JOHN CARTER, and not A PRINCESS OF MARS, so it’s quite
fittingly named methinks.
Sidenote: By the way, a movie version of A PRINCESS OF MARS
exists. It’s a straight-to-DVD movie that stars Antonio Sabato Jr. and Traci
Lords. Yeah, you read that right, I think we should all be glad no one saw that abomination.
Basically my final thoughts are that the people who don’t
know that it’s based on old source material should probably educate themselves before
talking. Those that consider themselves “fans” but can’t seem to find anything
to get excited about who would rather, it would seem, piss and moan about what’s NOT being DONE
RIGHT in their eyes need to just relax. Continue to read the source material for the
story you love, whilst trying to understand the simple notion that movies ought to never copy books
exactly, as you will end up with something atrocious, incoherent and not enjoyable. The best you can hope is that a director loves the material enough to do it justice, while still behaving like a movie, not a book.
That leaves those of us - like me - who are actual fans who
like what they’ve seen so far, and enjoyed the trailer and the few peeks behind the curtain. Personally I loved the
trailer, the look and feel of the book series is there for me, the characters
look really right to me as do the sets and props. The use of the cover of Arcade Fire's My Body Is A Cage by Peter
Gabriel as the music is a stroke of genius as it perfectly lines up with the
beats in the trailer.
Beyond that, I’d like to clear one thing up. The Thark that
we see holding the gun at the end of the trailer is NOT Tars Tarkas (Willem
Dafoe, who’s voice we hear at the very end of the trailer) as a lot people have
thought it is. It is actually the female Thark character of Sola (which is why she’s
not as beefy or big as the male Tharks) who will be voiced by Samantha Morton.
I'd like to point out that I absolutely LOVE the character design of the Tharks, they look EXACTLY how I
imaged they would look.
I honestly don’t think I am as excited about anything else
coming out next year as I am for JOHN CARTER. I hope that it will be a fitting
homage to the books I love so much and I hope it succeeds enough that the two
sequels are also warranted to be made down the line. Beyond all this I know that Andrew
Stanton is VERY adept at telling a compelling story if his previous Pixar films
are any indication.
If you haven't seen the trailer yet, please have a gander at it below:
CLOSING TIME is the penultimate episode of the current
Series of DOCTOR WHO, and it not only sees the return of James Corden (as Craig
Owens from last year’s THE LODGER), but also the Cybermen (and their vicious
spy drones the Cybermats).
Before we get started on the review, a little plot. We are meant to assume that the Doctor is 200 years older since THE GOD COMPLEX ending. He's had all his adventures with River, Jim the Fish et al. We are
meant to assume that after last week’s episode, the Doctor
dropped off Amy and Rory so they can live their lives without fear of danger,
then he went off to have all those adventures on his own (that we saw in the
opening episode, Laurel & Hardy, Nazi’s, nude paintings ect.). This week
sees him returning after all that (but prior to going off to his death at Lake
Silencio) to visit old friend Craig Owens. Craig is now a new dad taking care of his son
Alfie by himself to give wife Sofie a weekend off. The Doctor had only popped
in to say hello, but of course notices things wrong in town. this all quickly leads them both to discover
Cybermen are kidnapping people from the shops in town which leads the Doctor to get a job in a shop to find out
why.
I enjoyed last year’s Pre-finale episode THE LODGER and
Gareth Roberts who wrote both episodes does a fairly decent job here as well. I
think the episode adventure itself is rather by-the-numbers though and the Cybermen here
are far less menacing (which has a kind of purpose). That's not what it about though, so I wasn't too concerned about that bit. What really DOES shine through though is the dialogue and the interpersonal relationships here. While giving a fantastic
set of notes about fatherhood and believing in one’s self, there are also a few
moments of the Doctor allowing himself to be entirely introspective and VIA
chatting with Alfie (he can speak baby) we get a lot of insight into his
psyche. I actually think that is the main reason this episode exists. I think
it’s kind of like an extended prologue to next week’s finale to Series 6. This is his last hurrah before he goes off to meet his inevitables in a
spacesuit. It seems as if Roberts was aware of this, as the episode is light-hearted
enough to not heavily weigh us down before what will probably be a rather bleak
finale.
Amy and Rory pop up very briefly midway through and the episode
is capped off with a moment with Dr. River Song (the precursor to the Professor
Song that will eventually meet David Tennant’s Doctor in the Library),
Madame Kovarian and the Silents.
All in all quite well done if you view it for what it is, less
a standalone episode as it is a prologue to the finale. It wins for the dialogue, the Doctor's monologue, the sweetness factor, the light-hearted nature and comedy throughout. This is also one of only a very few episodes this Series that have shown the Doctor he DOESN'T always screw up his companions or turn them into weapons. In fact Craig is a glowing beacon that shows the Doctor can do good things for people, VERY good things.
Oh and a NOTE about next weeks episode and Madame Kovarian. The metal eyepatch she wears, and the one I've seen everyone sporting in the next episode's promo pics...and this should have been BLINDINGLY obvious to me since she first showed up, but just wasn't....the eyepatch is to negate the effects of the Silent's powers. Duh! Haha!
Okay, I have always been somewhat of a proponent of
supporting the STAR WARS EXPANDED UNIVERSE in the literature vein. I’ve read a
solid number of the books. I’ve made mention in previous reviews some of the
major issues I had with the 9-Book LEGACY OF THE FORCE (LotF) series, and I’ve
even gone into my issues a bit with the slightly better follow-up 9-Book series
FATE OF THE JEDI (FotJ).
After trying to get into the 6th book in that
most recent series VORTEX I’ve had a few major realizations about these long
series. We all know they are padded with filler. That’s no secret. LotF was the
same, as was portions of the NEW JEDI ORDER (NJO) series that preceded it
(though not to the same degree). That brings me to my first point in this
somewhat rant-ish post.
I’ve actually come to EXPECT filler in my STAR wars books!
What a thing to realize. Seriously, I don’t think it is too much to ask to have
a SW series that isn’t 9 books long just to make money. Let’s face facts, LotF
and now FotJ could very well have been tightly written trilogies. Hell, even
NJO didn’t really NEED to be 19–books long. Why someone decided (I don’t know
who) at Del Ray that the STAR wars universe of books was going to be populated
by a spat of interesting stories that are quite seriously dwarfed by the amount of
pointless filler stuff I’ll never know.
NOTE: Spoilers for up to at least the LEGACY OF THE FORCE series below.
Second point. Someone needs to sit down at Del Ray and write
this sentence in big block letters on the blackboard with every author who
writes in the universe in attendance:
STOP WITH THE REPETITIVENESS.
As it was with the LotF books, so I am finding that at the 6th
book into the FotJ series, EVERY DAMNED book has the same essential plot throughout.
1.One (or two) Jedi(s) go mad VIA some plague that
makes them think every one else is a fake copy, even family.
2.Chief of State Daala continues to try to get her
hands on all the mad Jedi and imprison them, making boneheaded decisions along
the way, and using the media to make the Jedi look bad.
3.Han and Leia (and sometimes Lando) with young
Allana Solo in tow either stay at home and try to thwart Daala, or travel to
another planet to thwart Daala.
4.Allana (in one of the above two situations) gets
into some sort of Solo-like mischief with 3P0 and R2 in tow, only to need
saving.
5.Exiled Luke and Ben meet with, are wary of, ally
with, fight against a Lost Tribe of Sith, including blatant and poorly
disguised future Ben love interest/poor copy of Mara Jade character Vestara
Khai. (Seriously, I am just waiting for her to have a Blue Lightsaber at the end of the series)
6.A Force being (Abeloth) stuck in the Maw is
making all the above happen to probably conquer the galaxy.
Next book in the series? Rinse and Repeat
the above while adding a few tweaks to disguise that this is actually what is happening.
Making us think we should be buying the same hardcover book nine times.
As to story points, ignoring things that
stand out like sore thumbs from the previous series...Daala as Galactic Alliance (GA)Chief of State
choice when she is a bloody super villain and a war criminal…Boba Fett's inclusion had NO BEARING on the plot WHATSOEVER...Jacen’s fall to
the Dark was worse than anything in the entire EU thus far, was silly, overly
political and ultimately a pointless waste of a good chaarcter other than the jump start a reason for
things to happen in the FotJ series (and make another Skywalker/Solo turn to become a Sith)…FlowWalking (Jedi In-The-Mind-Time Travel), really, REALLY?...I could go
on.
Essentially this series is expounding
itself on the “why” of Jacen’s eventual turn and it happens as Luke and Ben
SLOWLY visit every planet Jacen had visited during a sojourn he took years back from which he
returned altered (leading Luke to believe it holds the answer to why he
went bad). One Jacen-visited planet/people per Book. Seriously, that is the
algorithm. Not joking. Adding in things like the Lost Tribe Of Sith, or A Nexu
pet for Allana (the cat thing from the arena on Geonosis during EPISODE II), or
Mandalorian commandos, the Nightsisters on Dathomir, or even a team-up between Jedi and Sith to defeat a
bigger threat is all totally falling on deaf ears to me now. If the plot hasn’t
REALLY moved forward in 6 books time…there is a problem and no amount of treats you include in the narrative are going to make me any less frustrated.
Abeloth. The theory is that this tentacled,
female, dark force presence (mentioned a number of times prior to this series)
that is stuck in the Maw (and is our Big Bad in FotJ) attempting to grab the galaxy by the crotch VIA the
Jedi is actually a Celestial. A race of ancient beings who existed before the
galaxy was colonized who created things like Centerpoint Station and Sinkhole
Station, and may even have created/used the Maw to contain Abeloth’s evil. Now to me,
if you WANT to make Abeloth interesting then here is a genius idea…EXPLORE her
past. Xenoarcheology about the Celestials would be pure WIN. Luke and Ben
should have switched gears after book 2 or 3 and started investigating the
Celestials. What an amazing plotline that would have been, with them slowly
discovering and unraveling a vast web of mysteries surrounding the creatures
that existed before time began, through ruins and archeological treasures. That sort of millennial archeology is what
makes the Space Opera’s by people like Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton and
James S.A. Corey so incredibly compelling! You could spend books on discovery
alone and it would never need to repeat itself or become stale.You don’t even NEED the
Galactic Alliance plotline. The Jedi’s are mad on Coruscant, so allow the Jedi
Council to contain them with Ysalamiri creatures (force negation) and be done with
it. Once caught they can’t harm anyone, and Luke is looking into the “why” of
it as it obviously has to do with Abeloth’s reach and therefore the Celestials imprisonment of her. No seriously, we all know that is where we are headed, and I'm convinced it's going to be explained away with a sentence or two in the last book when it could have been SO much more! Why the political plot-stream
at all in fact? Daala and her machinations, the GA and people of Coruscant and ESPECIALLY the non-starter, lame as hell News Media
characters, none of them need to exist at all aside from basic gov’t running. It’s
no secret that the majority of the political aspects of the entire series
are basically just BORING.
Also, LET JAINA DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN FAWN OVER JAGGED FEL! No honestly, She's supremely badass, has been fighting in wars since she was 14, so why as an adult is she relegated to the role of indecisive fiance/girlfriend of Fel and not much more. Let her DO something FFS. Her plotline is the most disappointing to me in this series.
I honestly don’t think that it’s that
difficult to come up with something that isn’t the same, repetitive stuff series in / series
out. In fact, while I am on the subject, why does EVERYTHING that happen now in
the SW EU have to be some Galaxy-threatening, society-ending, apocalyptic event
or problem? What’s wrong with self-contained standalone issues? Why does everything
have to be all or nothing these days? There is only so much that one book
series can take. If you think about it chronologically, the STAR WARS universe
has been under some kind of galaxy-threatening evil (not including Vader and
Empire) for…42 years in their timeline (almost continuously) and over 20 years
in ours. At what point do they get the peace they have sought since before the
Clone Wars? Just because there is no Galaxy-threatening menace doesn’t mean we
can’t have great little standalone (or even duology or trilogy) stories or
smaller menaces. When does Del Ray realize that they can’t keep shoving the
same book at us over and over and over again.
At a certain point this STAR WARS fan is
going to have to simply say “no more”. If I have to sit through one more boring,
repetitive book I think I might give up. I had high hopes for the FotJ series
feeling that anything could be better than LotF, but aside from a few
interesting things it’s been more of the same…just dressed up with some fancier
clothes with some more badass plot-points to make it seem like I’m not being
tricked. I’ll be finishing the FotJ series, but I won’t be buying it in
Hardcover anymore and in fact I might just buy them for my Kindle instead cause
no one should have to pay $35+ repeatedly for the same damned book.
/end rant
To end on a lighter, more happy note: The books written by Matt Stover, Michael Stackpole, James Luceno and of course Timothy Zahn are normally fantastic and those guys seem to produce some of the most successful enjoyable books in the entire EU
Writer Toby Whithouse, who is probably mainly known for his
show BEING HUMAN in the UK (and its well-adapted US Version on SyFy), has
written a few DOCTOR WHO episodes before. While I really enjoy his Series 2
contribution, SCHOOL REUNION, for bringing Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 back into
the DW universe, his Series 5 episode THE VAMPIRES OF VENICE was only so-so.
So, a fifty-fifty track record going into this past Saturday’s episode penned
by him called THE GOD COMPLEX.
The good news? It was a great, insular, standalone episode.
The bad news? There isn’t any, it was pretty fantastic
throughout.
The great news? It ends very poignantly, and while the rest
of the episode seemingly doesn’t touch on overall Series story-Arc, the ending
certainly does, more on that later.
The Doctor, and the Ponds arrive in what appears to be a
hotel circa-1980’s, but quickly realize that it is nothing of the sort and is
in fact some sort of alien construct designed to resemble a hotel. In the lobby
they quickly meet some other trapped folk. Humans Rita, Howie, and Joe, and the
alien Gibbis (from a world of weak-minded servants). They discover that the
lobby is covered in framed pictures of previous trapped people who evidentially
have succumbed to some sort of fate. The four others claim to have been there
for a long time and that each of them have a “room” in the hotel that calls to
them and makes them want to go in (each room being a manifestation of their
worst fear), but if they do some supernatural alien beastie (who looks like a
big, grizzly, badass minotaur) will eat them. So they keep running avoiding the
creature and their rooms. The place is a labyrinth (Minotaur!) and once they
leave the lobby even the TARDIS is lost. Once the Doctor tries to figure out
what’s really going on the fun really gets into gear.
At once scary, emotional and poignant this episode has
everything a great DW episode ought to have. A well-created, scary beast who
you don’t initially see very well, a well written plot including a number of
nicely fleshed out characters with fairly distinct personalities, and a mystery
for the Doctor to really sink his teeth into. Whithouse, already adept at a
dramatic narrative that includes humour, is on form here as each scene left me
feeling quite satisfied.
Like THE GIRL WHO WAITED last week the ending is a really
well-crafted sequence that completely fits into the narrative strand that was
the bread and butter of THE GOD COMPLEX as a whole, but also into the Series’
overall arc in such a clever way that I was definitely impressed.
I always talk about the main actors involved and how stellar
they normally are, but here it’s nice to see some bit players (AKA the other
folks in the “hotel”) get A LOT of screen time, giving Amy and Rory a bit of a
rest on the back burner mostly. That said, of course Matt Smith is once again
totally on his game. Every time I think that Smith has been madcap for too long
he changes it up to be frightened, or emotional.
I’d like to talk about one more thing, but I feel it would
spoil something in the episode so I won’t really go into it here. Sufficed to
say that Matt Smith solidifies something that David Tenannt’s Doctor used to
profess quite well, and this is the 3rd episode he’s done it in and
I find myself LOVING the connection to that aspect of the Doctor’s psyche.
So, a really solid episode all round. One of the better ones
this Series definitely. Now I
await next week’s CLOSING TIME which features the return of amazing James Corden,
reprising his role as Craig Owens from last Series’ THE LODGER, and it looks
like he works in a shop and has issues with Cybermen!
Right, I’ve been sitting on these reviews since TIFF ended and if I don’t get them off my plate soon they’ll be useless to everyone. So rather than write up THREE separate reviews I’ve decided to roll them all together into a single omni review.
Read it and enjoy at your own peril.
Review the first, JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME aka 'Why do I keep going to comedies that leave me doing the silent man choke up during the emotional climaxes?' I swear to god, since I became a Dad my emotional movie meter has been stuck on ‘blubber’. I used to yawn my way through touching and poignant scenes like they were a cure for insomnia, now I’m trying to keep it together through long distance phone ads and Tim Horton’s commercials.
Help me.
Anyway, Jason Segel is the titular Jeff. Ever since his Dad died 15 years ago Jeff’s family has drifted away from each other. Jeff lives in the basement of his mother’s house, getting high and not doing much of anything at all. His older brother Pat (Ed Helms) is a raging ass who doesn’t care for anyone else except himself and his new Porsche. Refereeing her two sons is Susan Sarandon, an unhappy and lonely woman who’s been able to fill the void in her life since her husband passed away.
Alone in the basement, Jeff is convinced that everything in life has a purpose and that unseen connections exist to tie everything together. He just needs to understand what that connection is. When a mysterious phone call ends up sparking Jeff’s imagination he sets out to prove that there’s more to life than what we see around us.
A low key, but touching comedy, I was pleasantly surprised by JEFF. Helms and Segel are veteran hands of the whole improv-edy genre and I was a little concerned that the two would hijack the film with extended riffing back and forth. Fortunately their focus was laser sharp and the two never get lost in the weeds for very long. Of all the interwoven plot threads at play here Susan Sarandon’s is the most down played but also the most compelling. Her calming presence provides an understated but essential heart and soul to the film.
My biggest complaint is one of a technical nature. The directors, Jay and Mark Duplass, obviously going for documentarian aesthetic, have an irritating habit of doing EXTREME CLOSE UPS on actors’ faces during conversations using hand held cameras. It’s distracting and not more than a little nauseating. There’s a time and a place for shaky cam work, like storming the beaches of Normandy during WWII, but it doesn’t work in this film.
JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME finds its laughs in the everyday foibles of human interaction and dysfunctional, but loving, families. A very solid outing.
Review the second, MONEYBALL.
“You just can’t help but get romantic about baseball”, says Billy Beane, Brad Pitt’s character in the upcoming Oscar bait MONEYBALL. And damned if he isn’t right.
MONEYBALL is the story of General Manager Billy Beane and his attempt to turn the impoverished Oakland Athletics into legitimate contenders against teams that have payrolls that tower his own. Beane’s solution is to embrace the field of sabermetrics, which emphasizes stats over traditional physical considerations, to close the gap between the financial disparities.
$BALL isn’t a baseball movie, it’s a movie about everything that takes place behind the scenes. The film is built upon conference calls and paneled boardrooms rather than pitchers’ duels and physical prowess. But even shorn of traditional baseball movie motives, damned if baseball’s romance doesn’t bleed through anyway.
With strong performances by perennial leading man Pitt and a surprisingly understated, but no less effective, turn by funny man Jonah Hill $BALL is a film that doesn’t take too many risks, but makes the most out of the opportunities it has. You don’t have to like baseball to like this movie, because passion and drive are universal qualities that will speak to any audience.
Review the third, THE DAY.
THE DAY is the low budget love child between MAD MAX and Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD. Only instead of fighting over the world’s remaining oil deposits the post apocalyptic survivors of THE DAY are just struggling to find something to eat. Of course some survivors are a little less squeamish than others, which means they don’t mind dining out on their fellow human beings.
THE DAY deals with a small group of survivors led by Shawn Ashmore and Dominic Monaghan, who stop in a seemingly abandoned farmhouse to rest and take shelter from the elements. However the farmhouse is really just an elaborately constructed trap to capture wayward travellers and hold them there so that they can be slaughtered and eaten by a local group of hunters.
When the cannibals, led by actor Michael Eklund, show up to collect their meal they find they’ve stumbled on more than they bargained for. What follows is a no holds barred, guns a’blazing fight for survival as Ashmore’s group holes up in the farmhouse to fend off the hunters.
For a movie playing about in such rich territory I found the THE DAY to be strangely bloodless, which is odd for a genre film like this. There was more gore and viscera in the TIFF darling DRIVE than the entirety of this film. I’m not calling for violence for the sake of violence, but in a world seemingly awash in bloodthirsty cannibals it seems odd that we’re never actually shown a scene where our protagonists are seriously considered as being candidates for a late night snack. Instead the audience is simply told that the baddies are cannibals, presumably to up the stakes, and the rest is left up to our imaginations, which sadly aren’t given much to go on. I would have liked to have seen some boldness on the part of the film to explore the darker reaches of the human psyche, pushed to the brink, rather than tread on the same old action flick clichés.
THE DAY traded largely on these clichés and stereotyped scenarios, trotting out familiar setups and characters and transposing them into the post-apocalypse scenario. What was fascinating about the movie were the risks not taken and the relatively safety of their approach.
Once our survivors are trapped in the farmhouse all character exploration completely stops. The most interesting characters are dipped in amber, their growth frozen in time and reduced to trotting out stock phrases.
The one standout of the film is actress Ashley Bell, who delivers a very credible performance as a tortured young woman living in this fresh hell, but not really alive. Bell’s character struggles to find the will to keep on fighting, despite all the horror she’s scene and death she’s been apart of. Of all the lead characters, hers is the most watchable and the most original.
50/50 is a the note perfect tale of Adam, portrayed with skill and subtlety by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, after learning that he has a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
Initially optimistic about his chances of beating the disease Adam remains cheerfully defiant in the face of the long odds, the titular 50/50 referring to Adam’s chances of survival. Led by his flakey artist girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) and his stoner best bud Kyle (Seth Rogen) Adam’s friends and family rally around him to help him through this difficult time.
But as Adam’s disease begins to take a noticeable physical toll his personal life begins to break down as well.
As the harsh reality begins to set in Rachel’s affection for Adam crumbles in the face of his physical needs and his emotional neediness. Finding comfort in the arms of another man her affair is only revealed after Kyle spies her out on the town with her new beau. Betrayed and alone, Adam’s mental state begins to mirror his physical one.
It’s only in his one on one sessions with rookie therapist Katie (Anna Kendrick) that Adam manages to find a measure of solace with what is happening to him.
This movie is easily the best thing I’ve seen at TIFF this year. Be careful about watching this film if someone close to you has cancer. With its low key approach and improv-edy elements, 50/50 will find a chink in the armour of even the most emotionally distant film audience.
Given that I’ve seen Levitt in challenging work at TIFF as far back as 2001 I think it’s unfair that I keep mentally classifying him as that ‘weedy kid from THIRD ROCK’. He’s long ago shown that he is more than capable of handling demanding roles of depth and complexity. Rather than using 50/50 to mark his debut as a serious dramatic actor the role merely cements a truth that’s been self evident for a long time now.
Seth Rogen deserves a nod here as well. Resurrecting his stereotypical improv stoner persona straight out of 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP Rogen plays a crucial role as the film’s light hearted cut up. Without Rogen to provide a necessary stress release outlet 50/50 could easily be caught up in its own subject matter and turn the movie into an unrelenting piece of bleak misery. Instead Rogen’s character allows the audience to release all their pent up emotion in a cathartic belly laugh or two without undermining the dramatic tension of the film.
50/50 is an honest and unflinching examination of what it’s like to have one’s life ripped apart by the unrelenting scourge of cancer. While there are a couple Hollywood clichés at play here, mostly in terms of supporting character stereotypes, that doesn’t mean the film is soft selling us on the horrible fallout that the disease brings. And even if it seems inevitable that the writers will stop just short of following the film’s terminal trajectory to its bitter end that doesn’t mean that the journey the audience takes to get there is diminished in any way.
50/50 will make you laugh and it will make you cry, but it will never, ever lie to you.
The problem with KILLER ELITE is that it’s actually two distinct films rolled into one. Rather than successfully fuse the two films into a genre bending mind-splosion of cinematic greatness ELITE chooses to simply flip back and forth between genres like a kid watching his Saturday morning ‘toons.
Long story short, it isn’t a very good movie.
Jason Statham is Danny Bryce, a (former) killer with a conscience who’s been pulled back into the game of international assassinery in order to rescue his old mentor Hunter, played by a woefully underutilized Robert DeNiro.
Working for a wealthy, but exiled, Middle Eastern oil sheik Bryce must kill three British SAS soldiers who’ve murdered the sheik’s sons.
A fairly straightforward revenge-style political thriller plot here with lots of room for room for potential. Only the filmmakers decide to muck it all up by imposing on Bryce a set of incredibly complicated criteria that must be applied to each victim.
First of all, as a reform(ing) killer Bryce has a thing about a not killing innocent victims. Now this would be great if innocent victims was code for babies and puppies and people who’ve never been in the SAS. But unfortunately Bryce chooses to apply this to any and everyone who isn’t the exact target he’s been hired to kill. This means that Bryce has to wade into a hornet’s nest of brutal psychopathic killers, all of whom are out to rend him limb from limb, but he can’t kill actually any of them, even when his life is being threatened.
A strange reaction for a lead in a film called KILLER ELITE.
All together now, hand, head, grimace.
Secondly, Bryce has to extract a videotaped confession from each soldier and each death has to look like an accident, to prevent suspicion from being cast back upon our scheming oil baron.
Apparently Bryce is such an effective killer of people that the only way to slow him down long enough to make the killing audience friendly is to place him square in the middle of a series of increasingly elaborate death traps. These excessive restrictions only serve to complicate the plot and don’t add a whit of tension to the film.
Anyway, the first half of the film is all about this espionage stuff. Mostly set in London, all very dirty and grimy, but none of it very exciting.
Then, all of a sudden, its like the producers took a look at their leading man, screamed “HolyshitballswehaveJasonStathaminourfilmwheresallthefighting!?”, and cranked the volume up on the film to 11.
After that KILLER ELITE becomes quite a different film all together, it turns into the Jason Statham action punchfest we all know and love. The only problem is the audience has been lost with the film’s listless build-up that we don’t really care anymore. By the time Statham gets around to leaping buildings and shoving broken chair legs through the faces of our tough as nails SAS soldiers its too far too late. We’re bemused by the films futile attempts to switch gears and all we can do is cast furtive glances at our phones, waiting for the credit sequence to roll. (Which is a bit frustrating considering the film has three separate and distinct end sequences.)
There’s precious little to recommend about this film. It never actually approaches out and out bad, but it is so unfocused and unable to make use of its considerable acting talents that it probably seems more underwhelming than it actually is.
I’m a couple of days late on my review of THE GIRL WHO
WAITED, because I hadn’t watched it on the weekend like normal, and yesterday I
was home sick (which turned out to actually be my first experience with yearly
allergies, Great) and wasn't near a computer to write up my review.
It gave me a chance to have a few minor discussions with
folk who watch DW, about the episode. Mainly that we were ranking it as a really
high Ep and that it was one of the best of Moffat’s tenure as showrunner, but with a few
stipulations attached to that. Let me 'splain.
So Tom MacRae wrote this one and I believe it’s his first
foray into the DW world. He’s crafted an episode that definitely sits amongst
the highest this Series (with THE DOCTOR’S WIFE), but also is one of the first
times the Moffat-run series has come close to stuff like BLINK, or MIDNIGHT
from the RTD-run era. Was it perfect? Nope. Was it worthy? Oh yes.
The Doctor and the Ponds arrive on (what the Doctor deems to
be a holiday planet with lots to do) Apalapucia to find themselves in a stark
white set of rooms initially unaware that there is a plague on the world. Amy gets
separated into a different time-stream-room. Follow me? So Rory and The Doctor
start to search, Amy in her faster time stream spends her time escaping from
robots that are attempting to administer a vaccination against the plague that
will kill her because of her human physiology. The Doctor could be killed by said plague (because he is a time lord) and so he stay TARDIS-bound and sends Rory out (with
TARDIS-connected glasses so he can view the proceedings) to find Amy. But what
happens in the hours it takes Rory to find her….with her in a faster
time-stream?
A great, tense episode, with incredible sound and visual
design aspects. The Handbots aren’t QUITE creepy enough, but they serve their
purpose, however the real story is Amy and Rory as the latter looks for the former.
At heart this is an emotional story about love and the boundaries it is willing
to cross. Like I said above the REASON this episode works is in what happens in
the last few minutes. I won’t spoil anything here, but the last probably 5
minutes are the best part of the narrative and it’s where MacRae shows us how
he really shines as a writer. For up until that point I was finding the episode
enjoyable, but nothing uber-special. What happens in those waning minutes moved
it from good episode to absolute greatness. All three characters, The Doctor
and both Ponds perform EXCEPTIONALLY well in those last scenes. I think Rory
especially gets to totally shine in this episode as a whole, this is all him
and Arthur Darvill should be exceptionally proud of what he accomplished here
and where he took Rory. I want to also note that Karen Gillan goes above and beyond
here as well and while it is certainly Rory’s Episode, Amy is the catalyst for
Rory and she achieves new heights as an actress in this one. The Doctor is in
it less than the others (is this s proper Doctor-Lite episode?), but I think
when he IS in it, Matt Smith delivers another amazing performance especially in
that aforementioned ending.
All in all a fun episode that goes from quite good to stellar
easily and will probably be remembered as one of the best this season had to
offer in the latter half. So well done to all involved, and here is hoping that
MacRae writes another episode down the line since it appears he really has the
chops to give us something different, exciting and memorable.
Though I am still on the fence about Chris’ complaint that
Amy and Rory seem less concerned about their baby (Melody) when it comes to
these standalone episodes. It’s hard to complain when I WANTED standalone
episodes, but after two I’m starting to doubt Amy and Rory’s investment in their
child. I mean I know who she turns out to be, and that the Doctor said she has
her own path to blaze…but why is there no mention at all? In fact, it might
have been prudent to add Melody as a variable in the decisions made in THE GIRL
WHO WAITED…just a thought.
COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE follows around a handful comic book devotees at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con. There’s the uber-fan who hopes to break into the biz, the dedicated military man with dreams of penciling for Marvel, the hardcore toy collector who’s only goal this year is to get the Con exclusive 18” Galactus figure, the young couple who found love at last years Con, a group of dedicated cosplayers and Chuck Rozanski, the owner of Mile High Comics, the largest comic retailer in the United States, who is having significant problems with his short term cash flow.
Interspersed between these personal stories are little vignettes from some of the biggest names in comic book and nerd culture, including Joss Whedon, Grant Morrison, Eli Roth, Guillermo del Toro, Kevin Smith and Stan Lee, providing history and context about the annual marketing extravaganza that SDCC has become.
Directed by Morgan Spurlock, of SUPER SIZE ME fame, COMIC CON is a fairly by the numbers documentary. Bucking the trend of recent high profile documentaries who use their celebrity directors as a de facto ring leader and showman, gleefully interacting with their subject matter, Spurlock has chosen to remain entirely absent from this film.
The end result is a documentary that seems strangely devoid of a distinctive personality and tone, which is odd considering the film’s rich subject matter. COMIC-CON just sort of happens and there’s very little about it that jumps up and grabs watchers by the throat. Clocking in at just under an hour and a half the film feels oddly truncated, unfinished and mostly superficial. We’re shown SDCC in all its glitz and glamour, treated to a little bit of history on how the show has changed from a comics focused love in to a multimedia spanning entertainment juggernaut. Despite that, I didn’t really feel like Spurlock captured the organized chaos of the event. He very much kept his camera trained on a few privileged individuals and then just left it there, eschewing some of the other rich offerings SDCC has to offer.
Rather than choosing to focus on his subjects only during the four days of SDCC I would have liked to see the documentary delve a little deeper into the lives of these fans. Who are they when they’re not losing themselves in the cheerful chaos of the Con, how do they balance their obvious nerd credentials with their everyday lives? Attending the Con should be the climax of the film, not simply the backdrop to a series of stories who deserve more thoughtful context and analysis then a perfunctory rundown of their particular nerd fetish.
Despite my less than glowing review of the film, COMIC-CON managed to leave its mark on me nonetheless. A dedicated fanboy myself I harbour my own dreams of someday making it into the rarefied world of comics publishing. As a result the struggles of the film’s two aspiring artists to break into comics struck a particular empathetic chord with me. While the doc itself might be stubbornly middle-of-the-road in terms of quality, it treats its subject matter with respect and never condescends to its audience by poking fun of the fans.
If I’m disappointed with this film it’s only because I’m passionate about the material and can see all the many avenues it chose to leave unexplored.
I couldn’t have picked a better film to start off my 2011 TIFF programming than DRIVE.
Like the 60’s Clint Eastwood Westerns of yore Ryan Gosling plays a nameless stunt driver, who supplements his income working as a mechanic at Shannon’s garage. But when he’s not doing that Gosling hires himself out as a getaway driver to L.A.’s criminal underground.
Gosling’s driver is a taciturn and calculating individual. Practically a mute, it seems as if the more pressure he’s under the more focused he becomes. But his highly fabricated world begins to fray when he starts to show an interest the single mother Irene, played with an almost childlike innocence by British actress Carey Mulligan, who lives just down the hallway.
After opening with a bang, showing Gosling driving two would be thieves away from the scene of a robbery entirely from the POV of inside the car, the film settles into a slow burn to allow Gosling and Mulligan sometime to build their onscreen chemistry. It seems as if the two lovers have barely begun their courtship when Irene gets the news that her husband (Oscar Isaac) is getting released from jail. When Isaac is beat up in order to extract some protection money he owes from his previous incarceration, Gosling offers to drive the getaway car for a pawn shop heist that will allow to Isaac pay off all his outstanding debts.
Unfortunately the pawn shop is holding onto a million dollars worth of a local gangster’s money and Isaac is killed mere steps from freedom. In the blink of an eye Gosling goes from in charge to out of control as he must figure out a way to protect Irene and give the mobsters back their money, preferably without losing his life in the process.
DRIVE is a gritty, intense crime drama, shot through with rich streaks of tragic love story.
Gosling’s lead character is an unlikely leading man. Too repressed and closed off to be truly likable, but sporting the prerequisite Hollywood heart of gold, he seems like a throwback to an earlier cinematic tough guy stereotype. Sporting a vintage racing jacket and surgically implanted toothpick he really could be Eastwood’s ‘Man With No Name’ stepping into the 21st century.
Gosling delivers his performance in a stripped down, minimalist style, managing to convey more tension and danger through the rasp of a tightened leather driving glove than any clanging movie soundtrack could ever hope to achieve.
At times Gosling’s overly pretty looks seems at odds with his moody character, but in the hands of director Nicolas Winding Refn you soon forget that this is the star of THE NOTEBOOK and CRAZY STUPID LOVE.
I was a little concerned that giving Refn an A-list actor might dilute is his normally uncompromising filmic sensibilities, but except for a few token scenes I was relieved to find that my concerns were misplaced. Refn continues to delight in gleefully pushing the boundaries of mainstream Hollywood filmmaking.
No character is ever safe. They hurt, they bleed, they die; frequently and often bloodily.
If Refn can’t physically maim his cast he resorts to torturing them psychologically. He rends friendships apart, betrays lovers and inserts the threat of betrayal into everything he puts onscreen.
And when Gosling’s perfectly constructed fantasy finally does fall apart, Refn makes sure that its shattered permanently, forever removing any chance of redeeming his leading man.
The film’s third act pushes DRIVE almost into a parody of a grindhouse revenge flick, with Gosling forced, in fits of gory ultra violence, to dispatch anyone who would threaten Irene.
Between Gosling and Refn DRIVE is elevated beyond a conventional crime drama into something quite different. It frequently switches film genres like some people switch underwear and the results are uniformly shocking. Supported by Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan and Albert Brooks (inhabiting a role as pragmatic gangster) DRIVE is a fascinating and compelling tale of the lengths one man will go to in order to the right thing.
I’ve read a significant number of STAR WARS EXPANDED
UNIVERSE (henceforth referred to as SW: EU) books in my life. Chunks of the NEW JEDI ORDER
series, the entire LEGACY OF THE FORCE series and now the FATE OF THE JEDI
series, with a few scattered standalone’s in there as well. What I have never
done though, is gone back to the early post-RETURN OF THE JEDI books, most
significantly, Timothy Zahn’s THRAWN trilogy beginning with HEIR TO THE EMPIRE.
In fact, I have never read Zahn in the SW universe at all. This is a sad thing,
seeing as how I just finished the recently released 20th Anniversary
Edition of HEIR TO THE EMPIRE, and it totally blew me away. I realize now why
so many people had given Zahn the crown to the SW: EU Book Universe, as he
crafted a story that was not only worthy of the movies, but also totally
gripping and character-driven. I had only meant to read the first bit as I was
reading another book at the time I picked it up at the store, but my eyes were so glued to the
pages that I didn’t stop reading till I was finished. So let’s review it shall
we?
The original copy of this book came out in 1991. STAR WARS
had been off the world stage for nearly 7 years, and though nostalgic people
like myself who have always loved STAR WARS still kept it alive in our hearts,
there hadn’t been any real new media in that universe in that long. I actually
remember the book coming out and I remember (having been only fourteen) having
to wait for it to come out in paperback so I could afford it on allowance. When
it finally came out in that format I bought it, but I had yet to become the reader I am today, so it
sat on my shelf looking pretty and I always wanted to read it but never got
around to it. Actually at some point I lost the paperback my hard-earned
allowance had gotten me, in one of the house-moves after my parents split. I
had moved on and it wasn’t until 1999 when the first NEW JEDI ORDER book VECTOR
PRIME came out that I decided to sink my teeth back into STAR WARS, partially
of course because THE PHANTOM MENACE was about to debut and STAR WARS fever (which
hadn’t been seen since 1984) was back with a vengeance.
So here I am entirely remiss, having glossed over Zahn’s
contributions until now, and when I saw the 20th Anniversary Edition
for HEIR I dropped my coin down and bought it.
One thing I should note: This version is completely
annotated (in the margins) mostly by Zahn himself, but also a few notes from others
who were involved in production. It’s like watching a DVD with the commentary
track on, and lead me to my ONLY issue with the book. This version might be
tougher to read for a person who has never read HEIR before, simply because the
annotations (whilst not overwhelming) kind of take you out of the narrative
sometimes (not always). So while I was totally fascinated by the commentary and
insight into the makings of the book, AT TIMES it took me out of the narrative
a bit. This would, of course, be much less jarring to a person who had already
read it, so it’s not a huge thing, and as much as it jarred me a bit it wasn’t
enough to displace me completely and with a bit of concentration I was able to
stay on track mostly.
The story is amazingly well-realized, and one of the very
first things that leaps out at you from the pages is the status of the galaxy
five years after Endor, the Emperor’s demise, and Vader’s (Anakin’s)
redemption. I remember feeling after the end of RETURN OF THE JEDI in 1984 how
the galaxy was saved, the Rebellion succeeded and now they could get to the
business of setting things right and peaceful, tied up in a nice little bow. What I never even thought about was
that with a war that was as widespread as the Civil War was that defeating the
Emperor and Vader would only be the beginning, and that the war itself (with
the significant remnants of the Empire still around) would realistically
continue for years to come. Some fifteen years in fact, after the victory at Endor before the Empire would be completely defeated.So here we have Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie et al., five years after Endor, attempting to manage the fledgling New Republic from the Imperial Center
(Coruscant – named by Zahn) with Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar and a council of
high ranking Rebellion echelon, whilst around them the sectors of the Empire are
doing everything in their power to revive their Empire after its head had been
cut off. Enter Grand Admiral Thrawn, a Chiss (blue skin, red eyes) commander
with a knowledge and command of battle surpassed by few, who takes his Star Destroyer, The
Chimera, in search of ways to advance the Imperial cause. In this case he’s
looking to expand his fleet of ships, as well as digging into a cache of experimental
weapons and technology left by Emperor Palpatine on the planet Wayland. There
he meets a Dark Jedi (the term Sith hadn’t been anything more than a Moniker
Vader had in the Original Trilogy) who had been set to watching the Cache and
seems a little less than stable. While Thrawn’s plans include building his
fleet and defeating the New Republic, he also sees a way to recruit this Dark
Jedi, named Joruus C’baoth, into service by promising to deliver to him both Luke and Leia (and
Leia’s as yet unborn twins) to freely turn them to the Dark side and his own nefarious purposes. C’Baoth agrees and
rather impatiently waits for the Skywalkers to come to him on another world.
What’s great about this story is that Zahn KNOWS these
characters, and writes them with aplomb making them interesting and adding a
few movie-isms in to make them even more recognizable. One feeling I got as I
read it is that this IS STAR WARS. I could easily see how this might have
followed JEDI as a film; it has great dialogue, action sequences, and even a
few mysteries. It also had some new characters, like smuggler Talon Kaarde, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Captain Pellaeon, and most especially Mara Jade. To me Mara Jade has
always been good (in the books I’ve read with her in them she is a good Jedi),
so getting to see her as a distraught, angry and sometimes vicious Emperor’s
Hand is an absolute treat. The first scene she shares with Luke is electrifying
and you can certainly see why she stayed as such a prominent character in later
novels. Thrawn is also impressive and is VERY well-crafted so much so that Zahn
mentions that he got letters from servicemen in the US Military who said that
they would follow him into battle. That’s high praise for the fictional character.
Thrawn is so smartly drawn that he always seems a step or two head of our
heroes, and that added a level of realism that I wasn’t expecting. Vader, in comparison, acted
on impulse and passionate anger a lot of the time, but Thrawn on the other hand is cold,
calculating and brutally efficient. The characterization across the board in fact, from
the classic fan favourites to the new characters, is top notch and exists on a level I
never thought was possible in the SW:EU. This guy just writes these characters
so well that it makes me equally upset with myself for not having read his
books till now.
As an opening chapter in a trilogy, this book is a fine
example of storytelling, and an even finer example of where the STAR WARS
universe went after that film in 1984. It has a number of great action
sequences and even ends with a great space battle featuring everyone’s favourite
Rogue Squadron leader Wedge Antilles.
As you can see by the picture, the hardcover 20th
Anniversary Edition is gorgeous brushed silver with the Imperial Cog logo
embossed on it, and I want to even note that the title on the inside page has been
adapted to the STAR WARS title representation which looks really sharp. The
annotations, as I’ve said above are wonderfully informative and ultimately
fascinating, including Zahn waxing on the various things that he talks about
having only JUST slid by the prequel’s latter information (which would come 8 years
later), thus only a few odd things REALLY would require any major
ret-conning.Most of the instances
are so well worded as sentences, or are said by certain characters that they
can get by without needing ret-conning, which I am sure was nice for Zahn. We
all know Lucas likes to tinker, so it’s nice to see that a bunch of Zahn’s
inventions (like Coruscant) made it into the prequels and that offhand ideas
like Rogue Squadron would become so huge in the SW: EU later on. There is also
included a new short story (CRISIS OF FAITH) which takes place within Mara Jade’s
past and fits somewhere into his latest books about her, ALLIEGANCE and CHOICES
OF ONE, that I didn’t read simply cause I haven’t read those other books yet,
but I will come back to it once I have done so.
If you are a STAR WARS fan at all and haven’t read these
books yet, they are not only considered canon by Lucasfilm, but are a rollicking good time and one that
shouldn’t be passed up. For those who HAVE read them, and already have the old paperback
copy, I would HIGHLY recommend picking up this new edition not only for the
gorgeous cover art, but for the incredibly interesting annotations inside. I am
REALLY hoping that next year they will do a 20th SE version of the second book DARK
FORCE RISING (and hopefully follow that a year later with one for THE LAST COMMAND)
with annotations, but I have to sheepishly admit I could not wait to find out what
happened, so I ran out and grabbed the old paperback copy of DARK FORCE RISING. I’m already 100 pages in and it’s already sizing up as good (if not better)
than HEIR.
So I guess to Timothy Zahn I want to say THANKS for writing
such a splendid novel, and sorry it took this STAR WARS fan so very long to get around
to it.
Go out and get this book now, as it is well worth your
money.
