DVD Review: Infected (2008)

On DVD 5/19/09

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When a city official tipster phones in with a conspiracy theory involving "creatures," "other-worldly elements" and the highest levels of corruption, it seems like it's the type of story that should be handled by Ben (Gil Bellows), the journalist who runs the fictitious "Mysteries of Science" desk at The Boston Daily.

Instead, water department worker Taylor Lambert (Neil Napier) didn't waste his time contacting the news of the weird readers and instead moved directly to Ben's co-worker and (conveniently) Ben's ex-- the news-hungry reporter, Lisa (Maxim Roy).

However, when Lisa winds up meeting her source in person, she's stunned when the man who told her to wait in his office for proof soon coolly assassinates the mayor and a few other individuals in order to obtain a vial of blood from the neck of the mayor.

Fully convinced that the horrific "Boston Plague" sweeping through the setting of this Genius Products and RHI Entertainment release Infected is part of a governmental conspiracy involving a wealthy organic farmer and bottled vitamin water distributor-- once Taylor becomes a hunted man, the baton (or evidence) is passed along to the journalists Ben and Lisa as they find themselves paired up once again. Initially simply chasing the same story, soon the two begin running for their lives when they uncover more about the monstrous "infection" that is threatening to take over the rest of the planet.

Director Adam Weissman's Canadian filmed work begins impressively with stellar production values for what had originally been a small screen television movie. Indeed since it's heavily CGI driven, Infected's transfer to disc is so gorgeously vivid that it's logical to assume it was taken from a largely digital or possibly high definition source as the widescreen and technical aspects of the picture and sound of the DVD are first rate.

Additionally--although I worried it would be a silly little "Creature Feature" from the get-go-- I was immediately taken it by the film as something that felt more like a hybrid between a John Grisham novel and a Philip K. Dick story blended together on film and understood what drew talent such as the Golden Globe and Emmy nominated Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini to the work.

Unfortunately, my fascination with the initially action-packed conspiratorial tale began to dwindle until it ultimately flatlined in the final act as-- instead of the intense build up that had been established while trying to figure out how to survive this mutant plague and likewise expose the truth-- soon Infected just devolves into a gross-out B-movie slithery, slimy, creature fest.

For-- although the plot had begun to jump ship with the arrival of likable Breakfast Club star Judd Nelson's nuttier-than-a-fruticake nonsense spouting character-- it grows increasingly hokey to the point of awe that it would have been financed in the first place and furthermore that it required FOUR writers to construct the eighty-nine minute feature.

And despite the fact that I was impressed by the tactics applied in the beginning at both the script and editing level as fact-gathering and action goes hand-in-hand when a young woman tries to get Taylor the proof he needs, quickly it just becomes an endless parade of "yuck."

Never one to reveal major plot spoilers, I won't fill you in on the level to which the fate of the world rests in the hands of our journalists since soon brain power is usurped with guts and the plot doesn't matter at all when the opportunity to amp up the gore is utilized to the max in a revolting finale.

Likewise, when you piece together the whole story in the end (if you can), you'll realize that it's a work that's neither fit for the paper's "Mysteries of Science" or "News" desk. In fact, I'm still confused as to what it was trying to be. I do know however that it's a movie you should definitely avoid watching at night alone with the lights off.

All in all, an uneven work that wasn't sure if it wanted to go for creepy but smart or creepy and overwhelmingly stupid-- unfortunately, Infected ends up switching sides to the latter category roughly midway through the picture, never looking back as it goes into third rate science fiction autopilot. And while the "Creature Feature" CGI wizards had a blast creating the slithering mutant/human hybrids (including a surprise juvenile trick that gives new meaning to the phrase "boob job")-- unfortunately, we're never given the chance to have the same fun.

DVD Review: Incendiary (2008)

Michelle Williams & Ewan McGreggor
Reunite in Sharon Maguire's Explosive
Incendiary on 5/5/09

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As we hear in endless prescription commercials-- most medications come with a stern warning to patients not to operate heavy machinery while under the influence of whatever the pill contains. And much like the supremely devastating work of Danish Dogme director Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, and Manderlay)-- Bridget Jones's Diary helmer Sharon Maguire traded in the tacky reindeer sweater of Colin Firth for her unflinchingly bleak follow-up film Incendiary which, similar to von Trier's films should be doled out to viewers along with a temporary supply of anti-depressants at least until the post-traumatic stress wears off.

Although the phenomenal turn by Brokeback Mountain Oscar nominee Michelle Williams anchors this controversial tragedy that-- like David Gordon Green's recent Snow Angels-- proves that women's weepie cinema didn't die in the 1950s as initially assumed-- even an impassioned portrayal can't aid the film during its severe gaps in logic, human decency, taste, and thinly disguised manipulation as a female punishment picture.

Although helmed by a woman, Incendiary invites us to judge right from the start as we meet Williams as a strong-willed Cockney accented cliched East Ender who takes her beloved four year old son to the beach for a day while running around in jeans that read "Sexy Mama." Soon her voice-over begins labeling her sad-sack soccer obsessed (or "football" rather), Top Gear, and TV dinner husband "right miserable," while she bemoans her hum-drum life as a third generation resident in what appears to be government housing.

Moreover, and in an incredibly unflattering light, we see Williams portraying someone whom Maguire and the original novel's author want us to assume is so typical that she hasn't even been given the decency of being bestowed with an actual name and the only one that seems to stick out from the start is the lewd one she applies to herself as a "slapper."



To this end, it isn't long before the "young mother" who is prone to wearing miniskirts and staring off into space in boredom decides to act. Thus, tired of coping with her psychologically drained police officer husband who returns from work on the bomb squad with the same unfunny line, "Well, I'm still here, aren't I?" whenever Williams inquires about his day, she begins looking for an outside thrill.

Dressing even trashier than usual and planting her baby monitor directly in the hands of a next door neighbor, she hits the local pub and makes a good show of blowing off the slightly sleazy journalist (Ewan McGregor) who comes onto her instantly before soon enough he's at her table, the floodgates open, and she begins telling him every detail about her unhappy life.

Williams manages to evoke sympathy for her stereotypical character in that we sense just how lonely she is without someone with whom to speak and-- despite the fact that she embarks on an affair, because of her undeniable humanity and authenticity, we're with her every step. However, it's a tentative trust we have in her that is dismissed just as soon as it is introduced by Maguire, working from the divisive and infamous novel by Chris Cleave-- when it moves Williams' and McGregor's early coupling into excruciatingly tawdry terrain.

For, in the middle of a very graphic extramarital shag right on the sofa she watches television on with her husband, the two are caught in the act by the most brutal form of comeuppance ever as a bomb rips through the soccer stadium where her husband and child are at that very minute.

Running towards the scene of horrific terrorism which left over a thousand residents killed-- still in shock-- we suspend our disbelief long enough with our jaws still on the floor as McGregor and Williams journey to the site knowing in our gut even before she does that the men in her immediate family are dead because as the film implies, "the slapper" deserved it.

While Cleave's novel had the intense misfortune of being released on the very day that London's public transit system was attacked back on July 7, 2005, Maguire's film-- already building in that bad sense of karma-- was struck by more horrific timing when its premiere at Sundance coincided with the death of Williams' ex and father of her child, Heath Ledger in 2008.

Now over one year later, Incendiary makes its way to DVD and Blu-ray via ThinkFilm and Image Entertainment. And while certainly it's bolstered by the performances of its two lead stars who also worked well together in the equally misguided yet infinitely more watchable, predictable clunker Deception with Hugh Jackman, Incendiary is a film that it's nonetheless hard to view objectively. This is especially true given not just the subject matter and sense that the wounds are still not healed in regards to horrific attacks but also on another level when you realize what Williams has gone through as well.

Still, trying to push all this aside and simply focus on the narrative with gaping plot holes and juggling a few too many red herrings and false starts in this jam-packed work that has several storylines all fighting to be the main one-- we're left with an absolutely compelling and heart-rending performance by Williams in a film that moves from a five stages of grief melodrama to paranoid thriller as Williams and McGregor ascertain that a cover-up may have been involved. As if this isn't enough, it also tries at least for little while as well to become a portrait of loss on both sides of the situation when she becomes friends with the unaware and surviving family members of a man who was more than likely one of the suicide bombers.

Flirting with the possibility of moving into Pelican Brief territory as her husband's former boss (creepily played by Matthew Macfadyen) makes a play for Williams and lets a few details about that fateful day at the stadium slip in an unforgiving and disturbing love triangle-- the film's decision to make McGregor a journalist at first showed potential that a mystery would be resolved but ultimately it's all inconsequential.

And unfortunately Maguire's adaptation and direction for the work soon makes a large case that it's an allegorical female punishment movie a la The Life Before Her Eyes as Williams' tartish character must make amends and physically save or resurrect life to "replace" the ones she took away with her unbridled lust.

While it does have its moments of sheer power and gives Williams a real "one woman show" style to display her amazing capability to convey emotion despite our wish that she was offered something far better than this work-- in the end it buries itself an even deeper grave. Embodied in an arc that at first seemed chilling and intriguing-- we find Williams narrating letters she's written to Osama Bin Laden as part of the healing process to deal with her loss that move from poignant to ridiculous by the film's conclusion with lines that have been quoted verbatim in countless reviews in utter disbelief.

A well-intentioned film that nonetheless "blows apart"-- to borrow from its tagline-- by the "truth" that it's all flash and spark that ignites us more from shock than by anything from the picture as a whole; in fact, you'll discover that much like Life Before Her Eyes and Blindness, you'll grow even warier of it the day after the one hundred minute work concludes and you can start wrapping your head around what you've seen.

Of course, I must admit that it's always nice to see the natural chemistry between Williams and McGregor and this pleasant admiration would be even stronger if the two were actually allowed to act opposite one another in a film that's worth their considerable talents. Moreover, let's hope that next time for the sake of the women of London's East End who may not appreciate the idea that they're all nameless and interchangeable or journalists who will do anything for a story-- we find them moving away from anything resembling a conspiracy and perhaps towards something that--horror of horrors, may actually involve a smile or come without a warning of serious post-traumatic depression.

Traitor

Go see it
(but don't tell your friends about it).

One of the great things about going to the movies is the post-mortem discussion where not only do film geeks exchange their own views about what they just saw but they get to dissect everything from the actors to the music to the structure itself. Admittedly, a good percentage of casual moviegoers are happy to just sort of dismiss or recommend a film with one sentence — namely, they either dug it or they didn’t. However, for film buffs it goes several steps beyond that and for critics, often the discussion can get far more intense.

The press screening for Traitor was no exception as a small group of the Phoenix media exited the darkened theatre into the brightly lit lobby in the early afternoon (a time that I think most will agree isn’t the most conducive for the “event atmosphere” of theatre-going). In an impromptu conversation, we quickly moved away from the general consensus of liking it and recommending the film (for the note-taking studio PR rep) and focused our attention to an entirely different and more urgent problem altogether.

More specifically, our problem was this: just how the hell were we supposed to write about a film that demands such an extreme element of surprise?

A few critics joked it would be the shortest summary in movie history and lamented the fact that even the title gives something away! Likewise we didn’t envy the studio marketing team who obviously would have their work cut out for them in not revealing spoilers. And while the first few trailers for writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s film (which surprisingly came from an original story idea by comedian Steve Martin) just showcased the film’s breakneck pace, emphasis on action, and globe-hopping structure, sure enough the most recent commercials reveal darn near every single surprise.

Therefore, if you find yourself face-to-face with a Traitor trailer or commercial, close your eyes and plug your ears as they should be avoided at all costs. Simply put — Traitor is the cinematic equivalent of a house of cards and its success will topple if word gets out too soon.

So in the spirit of trying not to give anything away and avoid forcing my readers into the legions of those already in the know thanks to the ads, you’ll have to forgive a perfunctory synopsis. Essentially Traitor tells the story of elite, contemplative FBI investigator Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) who pursues the path of American citizen Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) who is linked to a group of international terrorists. Predictably, Clayton discovers — and I’m sure the title does cause most imaginations to run overtime — that there may be more to Horn’s story than it would appear.

Quicker than you can say “Jack Ryan meets Jason Bourne,” the film steps into high gear at its halfway point, making the second (and far more successful hour) all about political espionage, intrigue and conspiracy. A high tech version of cops and robbers in our post 9/11 world, Traitor does suffer from its delusions of grandeur and the fact that a revelation about two characters that comes in at the hour mark may have made the film’s script much stronger if audiences had been in on this from the start.

Not to mention, seven years after 9/11, we’ve begun growing weary of similar sounding rhetoric and Traitor’s screenplay is in desperate need of a polish as — due to its sometimes overly politically correct and sound-byte heavy dialogue — Pearce and Cheadle are forced to preach about religion far too often. And in the same token, the terrorists deliver speeches that sound like your run of the mill, anti-American propaganda we’re faced with on a daily basis in the media.

Still, while it falls short of its goal to be a new Bourne Identity entry or successor to Tom Clancy’s famous Jack Ryan series, Traitor never fails to entertain and does that job quite well. Additionally, it’s bolstered by wonderfully edited action sequences that ratchet up the tension as well as a top-notch cast headed up by one of my favorite character actors, Don Cheadle (who also produced).

While Pearce, Jeff Daniels, and Neal McDonough are all uniformly excellent, look for Traitor’s surprising scene stealer Said Taghmaoui (The Kite Runner, Vantage Point) who can next be seen playing Breaker in the hotly anticipated big screen adaptation of the Gen X favorite action figure — G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra.