Movie Impressions: Sicario

Given the subject matter of the movie, Sicario could have easily become a rather generic man-hunt story in a setting that is relatively well-tread in Hollywood. But instead what director Denis Villeneuve and writer Taylor Sheridan has shown us goes way beyond a traditional drug war story into the very dark recesses of human conviction in a world torn by illicit activities.

We follow FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) who eagerly becomes part of a special Delta Force team led by CIA officer Matt Graves (Josh Brolin) and his partner Alejandro Gillick (Benecio Del Toro) as a tactical liaison to aid the escalating war on drugs in the border area between the U.S and Mexico.

From the premise itself you can see what I was going on about earlier when I said that it really could have been a very generic movie. But it isn't. And that is exactly why I really can't really delve into the story without ruining the experience. Though as a hint I will give this: It's a very good example of the difference between the protagonist and the hero of a story. It has a very darkly poetic quality which is something I always admire in stories. And the way it wraps up things is oh so satisfying. 

Villeneuve paints a violently hostile atmosphere of Juarez, right at the peak of the Mexican Drug War. His direction is near flawless and he paces out everything brilliantly, Before you know it, the film turns from an action thriller into a gripping character drama almost seamlessly. Also the character stuff doesn't occupy or bog down the film in any way. In fact the action sequences here are so well done and they actually forward the drama and the tension in a way that is also visually exciting. I guess he just has a way with suspense that in the end satisfies you. Its perfectly balanced

This movie made me realise just how great Emily Blunt is as an acting force. There is a scene where she is sitting in one of the convoy cars and there is no dialogue for at least 5 mins or so. And she so effortlessly tells her reactions in the situation just through facial emotions. She superbly pulled off a very strong idealistic character and yet still was able to show her character broken down and vulnerable. Her character is very interesting from a story point of view because her perspective and her reactions mirror to that of the audience.When revelations dawn and you feel the shock, so does she. And in the end when she is left vulnerable, you almost empathise with her.

Benecio Del Toro gives a much more subtle performance, at times too subtle to barely notice, and there is good reason for it. And he is very good when he comes forward. Josh Brolin as Matt Graves is the annoying, wisecracking, yankee, levity-inducing character in every sense of the word.  I guess it really depends on the person watching and/or the specific situation in the film for his quipping to be irritating in a fun way or deeply distracting. I felt Brolin did a great a job in selling his character and how much of a douche he can be sometimes.

Saving the best for last, Roger Deakins is as much of a star as any of the actors on the screen. It is always enjoyable as a film fanatic to pick apart his creative shot designs. An overt example of this would be the climax filmed with night vision and infra-red. However, you know you are in a presence of a great cinematographer when even the airplane transition shot looks interesting. Even then I think what Deakins bought to this project in my opinion was his sense of naturalism (especially in the lighting) that completely immerses you in the story. It just takes the entire mood of the movie to the next level.

Sicario is a very tense and unhasty thriller and that's great. It's a really well made movie, though again given its subject matter, it does get pretty graphic and the rest is pretty dark. So its definitely not for everybody. Nonetheless, the fact that in the end it becomes an emotional story that resonates to people that might not take much interest in the overall setting. I guess what makes this movie work so well is that it is both good in concept and execution. It serves as a really good example of what a film could be when every single facet of it; direction, cinematography, sound design and performances, etc. all work in unison to serve the story like a grand orchestral piece. That is exactly what this movie is.

ps. I believe that this movie warrants for a spoiler discussion, which I will come to soon...

Movie Impressions: The Walk

When I came into the cinema hall and took my seat right at the front row, I noticed some things that don't happen very often. I got to see a movie, relaxed in a near empty theatre without side-talks. I saw the Tristar logo in a new movie after a long time. And for the first time in my life I actually wanted to induce vertigo in me voluntarily. I think this shows that this kind of movie, you don't get to see very often. 

The Walk is a film by acclaimed director Robert Zemeckis and it tells the true story of (and leading to) the high wire-walk of the New York Twin Towers in 1974 by Phillippe Petit, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  

This event was in great coverage at the time, so was the intent of Petit so naturally this one isn't the first film to cover it. In fact the documentary Man on Wire (2008) by James Marsh and starring Petit is often considered to be a definitive telling of the story. I haven't seen it nor did I know about this story altogether before The Walk though from the looks of things, it takes much inspiration from the documentary in its presentation. 

However, through Zemeckis' expertise in modern film-making techniques, he knows what the medium brings to make this version stand out. So he focuses on the more experiential side of things. The story itself is very light on the mind as Gordon-Levitt's Petit talks us through his journey atop the Statue of Liberty like a circus presenter announcing his performance. We see Petit grow from being a lowly street performer to a daring artist. It builds up the climax from the start and keeps us engaged throughout the duration via a heist element with most of the first act introducing our protagonist. his motivation to walk the Towers and the relationships he makes in between. There is a romance angle to this as well between Petit and his first accomplice, Annie. It was handled well and was kept re-strained enough to not disrupt the main narrative and its conclusion is also something you might not expect. 

But as I said Zemeckis focuses on the experiential side of things and instead of trying to make us sympathise with this person with the story, he immerses us in the situation itself and encourages the audience to evoke the same emotions he felt, thus placing us right inside Petit's psyche. That is where the 3D comes in. This movie is one of those rare live-action movies where 3D actually enhances the story and is not gimmicky. If you are afraid of heights then you will feel vertigo, I know this cause it happened to me, and for the first time in my life I actually liked the adrenaline rush. I guess it helps that the film from the very start was made with 3D in mind. Each shot of the last sequence is designed to make you feel exactly what Petit must have felt that moment. 

There is a story that in one of the test screenings, a person actually started to vomit. It's that good. 

The place where I really cringed per se was in fact at the climax itself when he is walking the wire and he constantly alternates between the north and south towers to avoid the police. It's just that the nature of the sequence in the way its shown is really drawn out, full of tension and suspense. He just goes back and forth so much that after time, all of that rush just starts to fade out since he is just going back and forth. I was watching with my dad and he was just saying to me (paraphrasing here), 'this is too much, this guy is too stupid'. Now that I look back on it, I think the director wanted us to feel exactly that since Petit actually did start to show-boat after a while in reality as well. Nonetheless, it was becoming really detrimental to the tension and the excess of it all just took me out. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the centre piece of the movie when it came to the actors without a shadow of doubt. He effortlessly makes us see him as the character of Phillippe Petit and not as Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Phillippe Petit, which is always a sign of a great actor. Gordon-Levitt did actually went method with this by training in wire-walking by Petit himself. And when it comes to the French accent, it is different than the Hollywood stereotype because as much as any language, French too has regional variations. For example Canadian French is different than Parisian French, what Gordon-Levitt was trying to achieve. I looked at footage of the real Petit and I believe he matched it quite well. Another special mention goes to Sir Ben Kingsley as Papa Rudy, Petit's mentor. He just brings both gravitas and levity to his role that added to the movie. 

The Walk is actually an apt title if you see closely. It is not a movie about the journey, neither is it about the person itself, it is a movie about the emotions that transpired in one of the most dangerous feats and the movie does a great job of making you feel those emotions. It is a film that tries to go beyond a narrative into something more abstract. It is about being in the moment. Zemeckis has crafted more of an experience than a story which makes it its own unique thing. And the best part is that it never makes a 9/11 statement. 

Movie Impressions: The Martian

I just love the 'in-universe' viral marketing campaigns that are employed in Ridley Scott's sci-fi films and that holds especially true for The Martian, the director's new venture. It thrusts us 20 years into mankind's future where humans have started manned missions to Mars, one of which housing botanist Mark Watney. But when he is left deserted on the barren planet with limited resources, he will have to use his ingenuity and botany powers to get himself back to Earth, ultimately becoming a tale of human perseverance in what felt like Man vs Wild: Mars edition. And I liked it.

Some praise must be given to Drew Goddard's screenplay given the fact that he just puts us on Mars in the very beginning and doesn't make a big deal about it. It lets the audience know that manned missions to Mars has been achieved and the mysticism of it all has started to wan a tiny bit with this one being the third mission called Ares 3. Goddard keeps the script tight and efficient as possible and superbly highlights human emotion and struggle with enough levity to not lose our interests completely, especially when it came to Watney, to which we'll come to later.

The other thing which was brilliantly executed in the script from the source material is the whole reality of the situation and actually giving weight to it. It respects the science behind it and the science, in a weird way actually heightens the film's tension just because it feels so plausible both in the problems and its solutions. Another great angle that the story explores is how Watney's situation also in a weird way actually unites the public and governments of the world into saving this guy.

I whole-heartedly believe that Ridley Scott's experience with Alien has certainly benefited the movie in presenting the scare factor. Scott does a great job in creating a hostile atmosphere just through the harsh climates and life-death situations, especially at the beginning, when Watney has to take out something out of his stomach. His direction and style is also bolstered with solid 3D. For example, there a scene when the astronauts are trapped in a dust storm and we can see large martian dust particles blowing in our faces, or showing us more field of depth in the landscapes. This is where 3d works best, environmental effects. I must also commend Scott in creating a light-hearted experience

First Vlogger on Mars...

One just cannot talk about this film and not talk about Matt Damon, and that goes quite beyond just because of the fact that he is the protagonist. Definitely, the character of Mark Watney was written well and that constitutes a rather large portion in making this character work. I mean compare this to Dr.Mann from Interstellar. Though, Matt Damon's delivery of these lines surely takes it to a new level and ultimately makes the quipping botanist very likeable. The best part for me is that the humour doesn't become irritating and actually makes sense because humour does counteract the overwhelming isolation .

It was an absolute joy watching him growing plants from faeces and going for long rover drives. The guy even makes rationing sound interesting. Damon is the one than carries the movie which is impressive when you see rest of the names in the cast. In fact I wanted this movie to only follow Watney like Moon or such examples. The audience identifies and roots for him both in the movie world and our real world which increases the significance of his stakes in our minds, which is a superb thing. Actually one of my only gripes with the story was that the ending felt a bit flat. It's not a bad ending by any means, it just felt a bit underwhelming to his story.

As for the rest of the Ares 3 crew, which consists of Commander Lewis (Jessica Chastain), Rick Martinez (Michael Peña), Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara), Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan) and Alex Vogel (Aksel Hannie), they definitely gave good performances but it always felt to me like they were working with something, less. And that is my second gripe with the script, they never really explore the relationships between the crew mates. We do know that Watney is the 'clown' of the group and the others usually make fun of him calling his field, not a real science. Even though it does establish the relationships in Watney's case, we just don't see much dynamics between the rest of the crew. To know the characters better I guess you have to watch one of the viral films but since they are not part of the movie, its hard to count them.

In this case I felt that the characters back at NASA were given more things to do. Jeff Daniels plays the director of NASA, good performance I must say. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Vincent Kapoor, the head of the Mars missions, another good performance. Donald Glove plays basically the Jeff Goldblum of The Martian if we really get into labels. I mean they are all good performances but again nothing really clicks you know, especially when for a good time the movie completely shifts to Earth.

In my opinion, on NASA's side, only Sean Bean's character, Mitch Henderson had some sort of development from the story and actually made me care about him. I also liked Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose who is NASA's spokesperson because you don't really see the 'media person' much in sci-fi movies and her position presents a fresh perspective on the situation. Plus Wiig also plays the character in a very strong, journalistic mindset which makes sense for her character, constantly butting heads with the rest of her colleagues when it came to PR. And Montrose in a way actually represents the public angle of the story, which is cool.

At the end of the day all of my gripes, really are just gripes. Ridley Scott has managed to craft a very satisfying experience and this movie is a great example of how great a director he is. And I definitely feel that he performs better in sci-fi than other genres and this movie is a great example of that also. For all the things that I relatively less enjoyed, there was each scene with Matt Damon or a landscape shot of Mars that was just classic. The Martian is an absolute visual treat, its a bit long admittedly but the situation is very captivating especially since we have already started our jouney towards manned missions to Mars. And yes sometimes it has an identity crisis between a thriller and something more light-hearted but I'm not complaining. In the end its a very enjoyable movie and also teaches you some science along the way.

Sorry for the long post....here is a bunch of Martian potatoes :)