I’m Catching Up 2015: KINGSMAN: The Secret Service

Welcome to my series of posts detailing what I have seen, read, and attended in 2015. Now that my C2E2 retrospective is written, I’m going back to discuss movies in their order of release.

  
“KINGSMAN: The Secret Service” is loosely based on a comic book by Mark Millar. The premise is part MI-6, part Matthew Vaughn-style violent fun. The members of Kingsman, a secret secret espionage organization, are given code names that correspond with the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur (Michael Caine) heads up the organization, while Galahad (Colin Firth) is in charge in the field, and Merlin (Mark Strong) oversees training. In a spectacular opening sequence, we see the old Lancelot die as a result of an error that Galahad takes the blame for, and a new Lancelot (Jack Davenport) is chosen. Cut to several years later, when this Lancelot is killed attempting to rescue a kidnap victim. Galahad searches out his family to tell them personally of the death. Galahad bonds with the young son, Eggsy, and gives him a phone number to hold onto.

  
Years later, a teenage Eggsy is arrested, and rather than try to reach out to his now-alcoholic mom and overbearing, unlikable step-dad, Eggsy pulls out the number and calls. He meets with Galahad, who gives him the spiel on Kingsman, an organization that prides itself on manners before violently eliminating dangerous people.
  At this point, the action picks back up in earnest, and the fun really begins. Be warned: this is a tongue-in-cheek story that knows exactly what it is doing. The dialogue is cliched; the action is beautifully over the top, and the visual style lines up with what director is best known for. Samuel L. Jackson as a strange,lispy villain is a bit odd, but that’s my only quibble. There’s not much more to say. This is pure popcorn cinema, even though it had a winter release. For a fun escape, give this film a look.

Fun, cheesy, cool, and inspiring: “Green Lantern” (2011) review

It has happened. I have seen “Green Lantern.” I have a lot to say about it, so bear with me…

The trend among critics seems to be to paint this as the worst film in a long time, and possibly one of the worst ever. I don’t see this at all. The same critics who are bestowing poor ratings on this movie often say that it’s a better movie than “Thor,” which they gave a mediocre to fair rating. What gives?

I suspect that I know exactly what gives. For young hipster critics, hating GL is a really cool thing to do. This has been the case for Internet fanboys ever since the first trailer hit last fall. For the 45 and over crowd, there is a pervasive curmudgeonliness in their reviews – all of them, not just this film – that seems to prevent them from enjoying any superhero movie that wasn’t directed by Christopher Nolan or that doesn’t present a highly topical issue interwoven with the hero’s plot/life/mission/etc. I feel fortunate to be at a place in my perspective as a watcher of movies to have enjoyed this movie for what it was.

This is another origin story. I understand that origin stories get tiresome. Understand, though, that Green Lantern is a rich mythology that NEEDS a serious amount of exposition before it can possibly get into any kind of story. “Green Lantern” gets right to it, giving a VERY brief history of the Green Lantern Corps before introducing the main villain: Parallax, an entity who embodies the emotion fear, represented by yellow energy. In the comics, it is known that green lantern rings’ green energy (will) is vulnerable to yellow. Parallax wounds his captor, Green Lantern Abin Sur, and escapes. Abin, knowing that he is mortally wounded, instructs his ship to head to the nearest inhabited planet to begin the “selection process.”

Meanwhile, test pilot Hal Jordan is introduced, and we quickly find that he is an irresponsible womanizer who makes rash and reckless decisions. His father was also a pilot, and Hal lives in his shadow.

Hal is, of course, selected as Abin Sur’s replacement. After experimenting a little with the ring and accompanying lantern he inherits, Hal is suddenly whisked off by his ring to Oa, home of the Green Lsntern Corps, as well as the Guardians, their mentors. Hal is welcomed by Tomar-Re, a fish-bird combination looking GL. He is very briefly trained by the enormous, gruff GL Kilowog, as well as the pink skinned Sinestro. The latter makes Hal decide that he may not be Lantern material after all. But what of Parallax and his apparent connection to Earth???

The main reason I loved this movie is that I felt like a 12 year old as I was watching it. The effects, a popular topic of derision, looked great to me, as did Reynolds’ costume. Reynolds himself took the part seriously, and to me was an ideal Hal. Mark Strong is perfect as Sinestro, as are Geoffrey Rush as Tomar-Re and Michael Clarke Duncan as Kilowog. Even Blake Lively was suited to the role of Carol Ferris. Say what you will, but she’s far better than Katie Holmes in “Batman Begins.”

My favorite aspect of the movie was the constructs themselves. As Hal got more comfortable, the constructs became more inventive and cooler. I loved the CG, the look of Oa, and the glowing green energy permeating the uniforms. My only technical problem is the Guardians themselves. The animation of their faces is too cartoony. I feel like they should have seemed somewhat more real, a la Gollum.

The only other complaint I have is that much of this movie feels rushed. If possible, I would love to see an extended cut of the DVD released so that the pace relaxes a wee bit more. Not much, though, as the forward momentum helps to keep the excitement going.

In all, I love this movie. It’s terribly flawed, but it speaks directly to my inner adolescent. It has humor, action, and excitement. A note about the mid-credits scene: I felt that it WAS set up in an earlier scene and didn’t come out of nowhere.

Bottom line: if you want straight up entertainment, this is your movie. “Green Lantern” is no “The Dark Knight,” but it shouldn’t be. It’s a space opera that can be an exhilarating ride, but only if you are capable of relaxing enough to just go with it.

Kick-Ass: artful gore, American Pie-style humor…one of the best superhero films yet!

It’s impossible to talk about “Kick-Ass” without spoiling some of the geeky gory goodness contained within. It’s not exactly a deconstruction of superheroes as much as it is a story about what might happen if some random people, each mentally unbalanced in his or her own special way, decided to act as though they WERE superheroes and actually take on crime lords and corrupt cops. Out of that comes both superhero movie parody and comic-book homage, as well as some fascinating characters and exciting, harsh action sequences that verge on Tarantino-level violence. Some will hate it. In fact, I know a handful of people who do. In my very humble opinion, though, Kick-Ass is a fantastic variation on the superhero movie genre.

I’ll avoid giving away plot points, but let me just introduce you to the central characters. Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is the lonely teenager who eventually becomes Kick-Ass. Dave’s hormones are typically in overdrive, and he reads comic books. As Kick-Ass, he is the closest of our heroes to having superpowers. Through a complicated accident, Dave has lost several nerve endings in his body, and much of his skeleton has metal reinforcement. In a nutshell, he can be hurt badly and not feel it. Also, his major bones are hard to break.

Damon MacCready (Nicolas Cage) has been training his 11-year-old daughter, Mindy (Chloë Grace Moretz), to be his sidekick for most of her life. They’re a variation on Batman and Robin, except that Batman’s secret identity is more Ned Flanders than Bruce Wayne, and Robin is a girl who has totally lost her own identity in her father’s revenge quest. Big Daddy even looks like Batman, and talks in the same stilted rhythm that Adam West used in the 1960’s TV show. Hit Girl is essentially a female Robin in appearance, with the addition of a schoolgirl plaid skirt and a purple wig…yikes! Hit Girl gets some of the best lines and most impressive action sequences.

Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) becomes The Red Mist, a spoiled brat who has a tricked out car. The superhero ID isn’t nearly as interesting as Chris himself, who is the attention-starved son of Frank D’Amico, the crime boss who is also the object of Big Daddy’s hatred. The elder D’Amico is played with delightful wit and timing by Mark Strong. (GEEK ALERT: Strong will appear as Sinestro in next summer’s Green Lantern!!!)

The joy of watching this movie the first time for me was not knowing exactly how it was going to unfold. I want to leave that surprise to you, the uninitiated viewer. If you’ve already read Mark Millar’s comic series, the movie maintains the tongue-in-cheek tone, yet retains its heart. There are moments of hilarity, shock, and genuine emotion. All of the actors are well-cast, and the pacing is pretty even. Even the exposition doesn’t really lag. I hope that the sequel can deliver a story of equal or better quality. This is definitely my favorite superhero movie of the year.