DVD Review: The Captive (2014)

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Meditations on loss both literal and figurative, the haunting yet humanistic films of Academy Award nominated writer-director Atom Egoyan are hard to shake.

As an audience of Alices ― in each puzzle-like picture we tumble through the rabbit hole ― landing headfirst in a contemporary but illusive Egoyan wonderland where we're quick to discover that nothing is as it seems.

Illuminating if ultimately unsettling, from The Sweet Hereafter to Felicia's Journey and beyond, Egoyan has spent his career holding up a microscope to the dangers that exist just below the surface of a world where smiles hide secrets and (much like objects in the rearview mirror) evil may be closer than it appears.

As the years go by, in Egoyan's latest aptly named effort The Captive, a heartbroken father played by Ryan Reynolds finds himself unable to look ahead ― literally and figuratively trapped in the past ― after discovering with a glance in his rearview that his nine year old daughter had vanished from sight.

Moving back and forth from past to present and in point-of-view, The Captive's maze-like narrative approach initially infuriates more than it fascinates.

Requiring us to figure out where each piece fits along the timeline while we struggle to process each scene ― we're introduced to multiple parties held captive by the same horrific moment, beginning with the kidnapped girl (who’s now an adult) as well as her captor who for years has been hiding in plain sight of both her parents and the police.

With this in mind it's no wonder that when the film screened at the Cannes Film Festival for its Palme d'Or qualifying showing, Egoyan's opus appeared under a title that emphasized the plural nature of its theme (as Un Captives) to better illustrate the grief of all involved.

Yet while it works either way, the singular name change suits the film well in not only ratcheting up the tension and immediacy but also by encouraging greater critical thinking on the part of the audience as we evaluate each captive one by one.

As a modern disciple of Hitchcock whose experimentation with the role of the viewer as voyeur has overwhelmed the Egyptian-born Canadian filmmaker's work since his American arthouse crossover hit Exotica roughly twenty years ago, Egoyan is clever enough to understand that in suspenseful storytelling, the true power comes from what isn't shown vs. what is visualized.

And this is especially imperative given the delicate subject matter of Captive which, to both the film as well as Egoyan's credit, feels far less exploitative than a typical episode of network television police procedural series.

Revisiting the same terrain he's explored throughout his undeniably eerie oeuvre including the complex and at times codependent relationship of good and evil that varies considerably from one film to the next, Captive plays particularly well as a thematic companion piece to Felicia's Journey.

While both films feel like updates on age-old fairy tales – echoing everything from Little Red Riding Hood to Hansel and Gretel to the aforementioned allusions to Alice in Wonderland, this time around he uses the cinematic looking glass to examine the role that storytelling plays on its own accord.

Trading in twisted role-play and dark storytelling on the deep web, we learn how a narrative can mean different things to different people.

However, unlike the way that the titular Felicia's Journey was placed in the hands of someone else, The Captive shows us in a variety of ways how words can keep not only hope but people alive as two of its characters make the choice to use the power of their stories to rescue themselves, whether or not they're in control in their current state.

A stronger execution of the same argument that he attempted to make in Chloe, although it’s structurally still something of a mess, The Captive grows bolder and more confident with time, resulting in one of Egoyan's most thrilling climaxes in years.

Nonetheless, the inclusion of an alternate ending on the newly released Lionsgate DVD makes you wish that he would've struck a greater balance between the two separate conclusions in order to give viewers a stronger sense of closure regarding one key subplot in particular.

Bolstered by its script as well as stellar support from Ryan Reynolds in an uncharacteristically serious turn ― despite its shortcomings, the film reminds viewers once again just how criminally underutilized he is in traditional leading man roles.

Intelligently crafted and undeniably suspenseful, like all of Egoyan's work, The Captive will linger in the mind for days.

   

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Parts Per Billion (2014)

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In his overly ambitious yet ultimately overwrought feature-filmmaking debut, writer/director Brian Horiuchi takes an Altman meets Iñárritu style approach to his end of the world tale of three couples whose romantic relationships are put to the test on the brink of a biomedical weapon hastened apocalypse.

Filled with confounding edits and nonsensical transitions that frequently lead us forward and backward in time before we’ve even begun to get our bearings straight, Horiuchi’s meandering work moves so awkwardly from one place, point-of-view and time to the next that we’re left with a knotted yarn we can hardly unravel as opposed to the poetic tapestry I believe he was attempting to weave. 

Nonetheless, to his immense credit and future promise as a storyteller, Horiuchi utilizes a clever foundation with which he begins to build his narrative.

For contrary to their initial introduction as everyday citizens watching events unfold on the news over which they seemingly have no control, we soon realize that the film’s main three couples are not only linked to one another but also to the war-related attack that’s hastened the end of civilization.

While this alone should’ve ensured a promising thriller, tragically Horiuchi uses the lightest of brushstrokes to illustrate this idea rather delving further into a greater exploration of man’s culpability and link to one another on a global scale.

Thus instead of focusing on the actual tangible moral drama inherit in the setup, Horiuchi’s film spends way too much time manufacturing sudsy soap operatic subplots involving marital strife, economic woes and domestic issues that are all in desperate need of a major rewrite.

And while this could’ve proven intriguing if the narrative had perhaps unfolded a bit more conventionally in chronological order, unfortunately by inserting lines of dialogue that don’t even begin to pay off  (or even make sense until much, much later) it all feels very inconsequential when you contrast the petty squabbling with the end-of-the-world framework that should’ve taken precedence throughout.

Moreover although the literary technique might have served the material much better on the page than on the screen, ultimately as a film, the odd priorities of foolish arguments and vague inferences that never fully explain just where the characters are coming from make Billion largely ineffective overall.

A work where certain moments as well as the chemistry of its cast (most notably between Penn Badgley and Teresa Palmer) help keep you watching, all in all there’s not enough for the players to do to sustain your interest for long.

And perhaps sensing that and ultimately giving in, Horiuchi chooses a strange moment for the action to simply end in a cut to credits that feels more like a surrender than a stopping point.

A major letdown for actress Rosario Dawson (who also inexplicably produced this cinematic blunder) as well as Josh Hartnett (who plays her husband in a likewise underwritten role), Parts Per Billion not only fails to generate any empathy or genuine understanding for those two leads but it doesn’t even bother specifying a certain fate for the characters in its bizarre conclusion.

Although Gena Rowlands and Frank Langella help class up Horiuchi’s pretentious misfire, overall it’s one of those mind-boggling, conceptually clever yet half-baked celebrity driven film festival bait movies where one A-list caliber actor signs on and it starts a chain reaction for other under-utilized, talented performers to join the pursuit even if they’re unable to heighten the film based on their charisma alone.

An apocalyptic Altmanesque film that tries to build tension before realizing that there’s nowhere for the movie to go, although Horiuchi’s Parts Per Billion started with an enviable amount of potential, ultimately what we’re left with is less a cohesive work worthy of your time than simply a mismatched collection of its disparate parts.

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

DVD Review: Raze (2013)

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An underground female-centric hybrid of Gladiator, Fight Club and Battle Royale that’s literally set underground finds everyday women abducted and forced to compete in an appalling test of survival of the fittest while doing deadly battle in co-writer/director Josh C. Waller’s adrenaline-charged feature filmmaking debut of Darwinism at its worst.

With their loved ones held hostage back home in order to force them to fight, the women who have been deposited into veritable prison-cells are only let out when it’s their turn to compete in the next match to the death.

A fierce lioness doing whatever it takes to protect her cub, Kill Bill stunt-woman turned action star Zoe Bell is compelling from first line to last brawl in her most impressive and demanding role to date as a former P.O.W. soldier who is fighting for the life of her estranged daughter.

Deceptively simple and at times knowingly campy, Raze breaks up its emotionally exhausting scenes of grueling, graphic bone-breaking and blood-letting battle with a bizarre introduction to the maniacal cultish husband and wife team who’ve kept this underground dungeon-like bloodsport operating as a family business handed down throughout the generations.

As brutal as it is, Waller’s work is thought-provoking nonetheless the more time that passes following your immediate visceral reaction to the concept as you’re able to let your heart-rate stabilize and take the opportunity to reflect.

Raising valid questions about the gender double standard when it comes to extreme fight films, Waller steers clear of any opportunities to indulge in a fetishistic catfight-heavy, clichéd women in prison subgenre approach that a lesser director might have employed by opting for a matter-of-fact representation of the characters in such extraordinary situations regardless of gender.

Admirably staying true to his experiment, Waller avoids any and all opportunities to titillate or relish in the male gaze by staying away from nudity and filming everything with the same docudrama level of intensity he would’ve utilized had Bell headed up a cast of men.

The absolute opposite of glamorous, the film employs a largely gloomy, muddied color palette to heighten the emotional undercurrent of the work, save for a few bursts of passionate red that help punctuate their desire to rage against the machine holding them down.

Augmented by the strong turns of Bell along with her Death Proof co-star Tracie Thoms, while the women are joined by their Proof co-star Rosario Dawson for a perfunctory, blink-and-you’ve-missed-it cameo as another fighter, it’s Bell’s film overall and she grabs us in a choke-hold that doesn’t let up for its roughly ninety minute running time.

Although it illustrates Bell’s ever-evolving range as a talented actress in her own right, because the film is so overwhelmingly bleak, it’s a hard one to imagine watching a second time.

Yet even if we know that the last act’s Die Hard style ‘80s heroics will be short-lived, it’s easy to lose yourself in this ‘70s era exploitation picture complete with a nihilistic air and world-weary flawed antihero determined to redeem herself under dire circumstances.

A fast-moving fight film that proves time and time again that hell hath no fury like a powerful female scorned and pushed to her limits, Waller’s film that nobody would’ve blinked twice about had it only starred men makes us question that double standard on a humanistic level.

Yet as its heroines prove that when push comes to shove, they won’t think twice about pushing back, Waller’s film illustrates a deeper, philosophical counterpoint that for women, the fight for survival is nothing compared to the fierce protective instinct that gets awakened in them when someone threatens a member of their tribe (whether lover, mother, husband or daughter).

Ultimately making us realize who the leader of the pack really is when they’re forced to play this most dangerous (and manmade) game, Raze reminds us of the primal power of #YesAllWomen indeed.

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Sin City (2005) -- Recut, Extended, Unrated 2-Disc Edition

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A.K.A. Frank Miller's Sin City

To hear Frank Miller explain it, the creation of Sin City was one he undertook for the most selfish reasons in deciding to build a comic book around all of the things he enjoyed drawing the most such as fast cars, hot babes, and more. And of course, to match the images with the tone, it would all be carried out in the style of film noir complete with a Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane feel of hard-boiled insanity lurking around every dark corner.

Although, truth be told—we’re all united by taste and art is the greatest bridge upon which to build a relationship-- so with the unrelenting passion of super fan and digital filmmaking genius Robert Rodriguez who damn near stalked Miller down (contacting his editor, agent, and lawyer Godfather style), Miller realized he’d found a like-minded artist who was turned on by and tuned into the exact same things.



Flash-forward more than a decade and—eager to prove his worth and mettle for the material—Rodriguez invited Miller out to his very own Troublemaker Studios in Texas for one day to run a “test.” Humoring Rodriguez by obliging to visit-- all the while wondering what on Earth a filmmaker could accomplish in a single day—Rodriguez managed to round up A-list talent like Josh Hartnett with the plea of “I don’t have the rights; help me convince Miller” to shoot what is now the opening sequence of the film as the old-fashioned, handsome Hartnett startles a beautiful blonde on a rooftop, mistakes her into trusting him for a smoke and embrace before she’s left dead for reasons unknown.

Needless to say, Miller was dazzled and honored by just how incredibly faithful Rodriguez was to his material as the two collaborated as co-directors on one of the most surprisingly visceral, visually spectacular cinematic works of 2005—complete with one mini-macabre comedy sequence filmed by guest director Quentin Tarantino-- whom Rodriguez hoped to seduce with technology as a gateway drug to encourage QT to move from film stock to all-digital filmmaking. It didn't work but boy, did Tarantino have fun as he's all over the Blu-ray and commentary tracks.

Joking that despite the enormity of the three men’s egos they were still able to get along, Miller stated that he wouldn’t have relinquished the rights to Sin City if he hadn’t had the opportunity to help direct. Throwing out the idea of a screenwriting credit and even alienating the Director’s Guild of America by Rodriguez’s incredible vision and determination to bring Miller in on the same level, he decided he didn’t want to simply make a movie of the comic but instead use the medium of cinema and turn that into the comic since at their core, he argues that they’re very similar mediums that both use still images.

The best evidence of this theorem you can see below in the aforementioned rooftop scene beginning with Miller’s drawing, the use of the green screen during production, only to digitally transform the background in the post-process to the startling and riveting finished product.





Relishing in every opportunity to be as deliciously twisted or lurid as possible—watching the film again today on Blu-ray, a few years after seeing it for a paper I wrote on modern day neo-noirs in film school—it dawned on me that for those who were disappointed by the Grindhouse film undertaken by Rodriguez and Tarantino with their respective contributions-- Planet Terror and Death Proof respectively--Sin City is the answer.

Moreover, you can see how well all the time spent watching "grindhouse" movies in the ‘70s was put to use in this alternatively exploitative and disturbing yet compelling and mesmerizing contradiction of a trashy masterpiece.

Although the second disc of this astounding Blu-ray transfer gives the filmmakers the opportunity to present the complete unrated, recut and extended version of the film which adds on a little more than twenty minutes and gives you the opportunity to watch the individual stories unfold one at a time with four specific breakdowns—aside from the Hartnett cameo that opens and closes the work-- essentially the film can be broken down into three distinct stories all directly pulled from Miller’s series of graphic novels.

A cross between vintage film noir with a bit of the old west spirit thrown into the mix (and not simply just in the scene with exotic dancer Jessica Alba whipping up the crowd with her lasso)-- the film’s characters who populate the eponymous Sin City aren’t presented to us in the traditional white hat/black hat or good guy/bad guy Hollywood standard, instead showing us the evil and the good side by side and on both sides of the law as in the case of the film’s standout storyline.

This finds Bruce Willis’ dedicated cop John Hartigan ignoring his doctor’s orders and warnings about angina in order to save eleven year old Nancy Callahan from the clutches of a sadistic pedophile, who is incidentally the son of a powerful politician. When his partner turns on Hartigan and leaves him for dead-- pinning all crimes involved on Hartigan-- he gets locked up for eight years trading his freedom to save the beautiful little girl he’d rescued who sends him weekly letters under the pen-name of “Cordelia” until one day they suddenly stop.

Fearful that she’s either grown too old to write pen pal letters to the cop that had saved her life or that something has happened to Nancy—and not knowing which thought is worse to Hartigan who states that her written words were the only thing that kept him from killing himself—he confesses to the crimes he didn’t commit and ventures back into the dimly lit, dicey streets to hopefully rescue Nancy once again.

Of course, by this point in the nonlinear narrative that jumps around with characters and storylines that overlap and blend together unexpectedly, we’ve realized that Nancy is none other than the beautiful Jessica Alba who has fallen in love with her childhood hero. But, unfortunately endings are never traditionally happy in the world of noir and especially not in the realm of Miller’s Sin City as the same themes of love, loss, and revenge are woven throughout the other tales.




Featuring a nearly unrecognizable Mickey Rourke as the battered Marv who falls in love with the angelic “perfect woman” Goldie-- a one night stand to whom he awakens to find dead,-- he tears throughout the city in order to avenge the woman he considers his true love, enlisting the help of others including his tough but tender lesbian parole officer Carla Gugino who maternally reminds him to take his anti-psychotic medication without which he has a tendency to hallucinate.

Worried that he’s been led down the wrong path by his own mind playing tricks on him, Rourke’s Marv gets far more than he bargained for when he starts down a horrifying maze of bloodshed, insanity, cannibalism, conspiracy, and mad science that are far beyond his worst nightmares.

In the fascinating but a bit overly long and meandering middle storyline that boasts a ridiculous number of gifted actors including Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Alexis Bledel and others—the tone changes from darkly comic to terrifying as the talkative, flirtatious barmaid, Shellie (Brittany Murphy) tries to stop her married, old abusive boyfriend (Del Toro) from busting down her door where she’s presently with her new one (Owen).

And despite the fact that Del Toro has brought along a group of heavy-hitters with weapons, we all know that the man who should’ve been James Bond can easily take ‘em down as Owen chases them off into the night, venturing into Old Town which is coincidentally run by the women of the night who look after their own and exact their own brand of justice.

When things get out of hand and Del Toro’s character is killed before they discover his profession as a police officer, Owen and his ex—the dominatrix styled Rosario Dawson—begin preparing for an all-out war. Not willing to let the mafia or the cops take Old Town from the women, Dawson and her motley crew of nubile, scantily clad but deadly divas strap on guns, ropes, and ammo in a standoff that lasts far too long when a double-cross enters the equation and too much time is spent explaining what we’re seeing in a way that would’ve benefited from tighter editing.

While the men are mostly out for the kill whether it’s in the name of love, revenge, or insanity (and sure enough the second disc boasts an interactive "killing" game) and the women are either damsels in distress or vixens—essentially, the work is a depiction of violence at its most primal and carnal. Additionally, it's one that never shies away from its exploitative tendency (repeatedly on display throughout the oeuvre of Robert Rodriguez from the most over-the-top sex scene in Desperado and beyond) but despite this, the film keeps you watching for the sheer audacious aesthetic appreciation of the groundbreaking techniques employed in its creation.

Primarily filmed in black and white with flashes of color whether it’s in a woman’s blue eyes, red lips, a dress, blonde hair, blood, or the personification of evil in the form of the monstrous “Yellow Bastard"-- Sin City is that rare film you find yourself wanting to turn away from but realize you’re unable to do so since you’re riveted by this wholly creative, free-wheeling, yet painstakingly precise world concocted by Miller and Rodriguez.

While Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Miramax have managed to nail down the Blu-ray format to an exact science with recent releases, they’ve truly outdone themselves in what has to be the second most impressive Blu-ray of the year, closely following their amazing restoration and multi-disc presentation of Pinocchio.

The level of clarity in the sound and picture makes Sin City honestly a film that looks much richer on Blu-ray than it did in the theatre as it was originally filmed with high-definition Sony cameras, so its move right into 1080 pixels helps reaffirm that for Sin City’s origins as a digital picture, “there’s no place like home” on Blu-ray.

While in these economic times, I’m usually pretty cautious in recommending readers upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray unless there’s a marked difference in quality or features viewers truly want-- I have zero hesitation this time around in advising you to move directly to Blu without passing go.

Having fun with the format itself and equipping the film with D-Box motion control along with three different audio tracks (including commentary and one Austin Audience Reaction track), you’re also given the opportunity on the first disc alone of utilizing the “Cine-Explore” feature that incorporates behind the scenes extras into the viewing experience itself.

Giving viewers the freedom to watch the individual stories separately on the second Blu-ray in their longer, uncut forms—Rodriguez continues with his grand tradition of loading discs with some truly first rate bonus features such as his short “15-Minute Film School,” along with a surprising inclusion of a “10-Minute Cooking School.”

While some of the extras are fun but not quite necessary like the cooking lesson and Willis rocking with his band—the making-of-featurettes are all quite interesting breaking down the film from the costumes, special effects, props, to interviews and play-by-play recollections with Miller, Rodriguez and Tarantino such as in the one I cited at the start of this review, “How It Went Down: Convincing Frank Miller To Make The Film.”

Although unfortunately as filmgoers master the art of digital technology and that irresistible green screen that makes anything and everything possible and unfortunately sometimes making films feel a bit cooler, artificial, and uninvolving like the beautiful but vacuous recent Miller release The Spirit-- in Sin City it feels absolutely essential in transferring the comic to the screen.

Therefore, it makes one even more excited for the 2010 announced sequel as surely Rodriguez’s wizardry and penchant for digital invention will have the opportunity to climb even greater heights five years after the first film was made.

DVD Review: Wonder Woman -- 2 Disc Special Edition (2009)

The First Female Comic Book Superhero
Shows 'Em How It's Done
In This Impressive Warner Premiere

On Blu-ray, DVD & On-Demand
3/3/09

"Don't Laugh at the Comics," was the title of the Family Circle magazine interview article with noted Harvard psychologist and inventor of the lie detector, William Moulton Marston that really started it all.

Published in October of 1940 and penned by his former student Olive Byrne-- the article which championed the potential educational impact that comic books could have on children in a capacity more than just providing a vicarious escape from the Great Depression-- found a kindred spirit among the man who would go onto create DC Comics, Max Gaines.

Soon after, Gaines employed Marston to become the printer's "educational consultant," and shortly following his arrival, Marston-- inspired by both Byrne and his wife Elizabeth, decided that the world needed a brand new superhero. And in coming up with one, his mission was to counteract the hyper masculine counterparts of DC typified by Superman, Batman, and the Green Lantern (soon to star in the next Warner Premiere DVD) so the polygraph creator said that he wanted to invent a character "who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love."

His wife's reply-- according to Boston University's Fall 2001 alumni magazine was a simple "fine," added with a society altering request when she said, "but make her a woman."



And the rest, as they say is Amazon history. For as soon as she made her debut in DC's All Star Comics #8 in December of 1941 (and ironically in sync with the beginning of our involvement in World War II when women found themselves in the workforce), the beautiful, headstrong heroinebecame not only the first female superhero in the history of American comics but one that's still beloved to this day.

Perhaps part of its success is in creator Marston's staunch and unwavering attitude to stick to his original purpose in using it as he wrote "psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe rule the world." In an era frought with gender double standards, Martson made his mission for Wonder Woman clear, writing in 1943's American Scholar:

"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."

However, and while proportionally in ratio of men to women while DC Comics was always more prone to be "more progressive for women," as is revealed in the first disc's extra Wonder Woman: The Amazon Princess, as Disc 2's in-depth documentary Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream reveals, censors and conservatives tried to crush what they felt was her overt sexuality and sensuality creating a Comics Code Authority that had to approve everything which the interviewees felt may have exacerbated Marston's polio.

And indeed, he was so much a part of Wonder Woman that following his death, DC Comics was uncertain whether or not the character could continue but its popularity flourished as Wonder Woman survived its many incarnations as a sexier Avengers styled contemporary woman in the '60s to becoming the cover of Gloria Steinem's debut issue of Ms. with the tag-line of "Wonder Woman for President" up through its television series with Linda Carter and animated appearances in Warner Brothers and DC Comics' The Justice League. And so it's only fitting that she's now the star of her very own feature length film.

Additionally, since Hollywood just can't seem to get it together in the creation of a live action version of Wonder Woman after the duds of Catwoman and Elektra and recent rumors of Joss Whedon's version (allegedly to have starred his Buffy and Dollhouse heroine Eliza Dushku) now fallen through the cracks-- I'm delighted to report that this stellar quality animated version featuring Oscar nominated vocal talents and stunning artistic quality not only surpasses WB's pre-Dark Knight anime work Batman: Gotham Knight and Lionsgate's Marvel offering Hulk Vs. but is a work that honestly could've played theatrically on its own.

Reuniting Waitress cast members Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion, the film takes a beneficial "origins" approach to its character with a mesmerizing (and surprisingly violent) near-prologue which sets the stage of the battle against the war god Ares (Alfred Molina) by Queen Hippolyta (voiced by Sideways star Virgina Madsen) and her fellow powerful "sisters" including Artemis (Rosario Dawson), Persephone (Vicki Lewis), and Alexa (Tara Strong) for their emancipation following years of slavery.

When Zeus and Hera prevent Hippolyta from killing their son Ares, they opt instead to make him their prisoner and give the women the utopian peaceful island of Themyscira-- a mystical civilization where the Amazon sisterhood can live in beauty and harmony away from the evil of the outside male-dominated, violent world.

Once there and unable to bear children, Hippolyta is able to create a daughter out of love and clay with the help from the Gods and she grows into the over-sheltered Princess Diana (Keri Russell) who-- tired of never getting more heroic opportunities and dangerous assignments like Artemis-- decides once and for all to prove her mother wrong.

When American Air Force fighter pilot Steve Trevor (Fillion) crash lands in Themyscira, Hippolyta decides that a competition will be held to determine which of the Amazon sisters should serve as the most capable emissary to return him back to the outside world of America, Diana dons a helmet as a disguise and accepts the gladiator challenge which, naturally she wins.

Bestowed with the indestructible bracelets and American flag modeled uniform to show respect for the United States, she and Steve journey to New York City where within minutes-- Diana instills girl power in a young child left out of playing with boys and chides a flirtatious office worker for going into the damsel in distress routine to try and attract men.

Feminist and proud, the gamely Diana quickly proves that she isn't susceptible to Steve's attempt to get her drunk on tequila (which he refers to as his version of the Lasso of Truth) or willing to back down from muggers as she routinely saves the lad in distress instead of the other way around. And while the animators and screenwriter Michael Jelenic thankfully and rather humorously give her a purple dress to conceal her skimpy Betty Grable style pin-up attire so that he won't be picked "up for solicitation" by acknowledging the rather revealing outfit-- luckily that's as far as they go in modernizing the comic or the woman.

No, throughout the seventy-four minute animated work directed by Lauren Montgomery, who is also working on the upcoming Green Lantern:First Flight, following her direction of 2007's Superman: Doomsday and work as a storyboard artist on Justice League and the recent Hulk Vs., Wonder Woman remains incredibly faithful to the original comic-- so much so that it's an equal treasure for ardent enthusiasts of the superhero as well as those just casually checking it out.

Additionally, with its superlative quality as again the best straight-to-disc animated superhero work I've seen over the past year with crisp animation that came alive when the DVD was up-converted in my Blu-ray player filling the widescreen television-- it ends on a note that helps establish the Wonder Woman Diana was to become in a way that makes it possible for more films to follow.

While of course, one worries about a studio cashing in too much on a successful and creatively sensational product but if the same team is employed and the same care is taken that's evident in both the finished work as well as all of the heavily researched documentaries that make the two-disc version far superior (complete with a Digital Download for Windows Media PC compatible devices), then I'd say long live Wonder Woman and moreover, why why not involve them in a live-action version if it ever gets off the ground.

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Blu-ray Review: Eagle Eye (2008)

Your Cell Phone Will Never
Look the Same Again

One of those edge-of-your seat roller-coaster rides that lost some of its signal strength following the overwhelm of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and Jon Favreau's Iron Man which eclipsed every other action film at the box office-- D.J. Caruso's Eagle Eye has been given the deluxe treatment in a dazzling digital transfer to Blu-ray by DreamWorks and Paramount.

Offering viewers a second chance to get caught up in the ideal format that matches the high-tech paranoia and breakneck pace of the film, I'll tackle this review in two parts-- first addressing the film itself (with movie clips, etc.) by presenting my original theatrical review and then taking on the Blu-ray aspects directly.

I. The Film

Eagle Eye

Director:
D.J. Caruso

Next time your phone rings and it’s just a telemarketer or a public opinion poll, consider yourself lucky. Director D.J. Caruso reteams with his Disturbia leading man Shia LeBeouf for yet another high tech Hitchcockian styled paranoid thriller sure to make one initially suspicious of all incoming calls or texts for at least twenty-four hours after his film Eagle Eye ends.

While that can only come as a pleasant surprise for those frequently over their cell phone minute plans and the parents struggling to intervene in their teenager’s text message addiction, in the world of Eagle Eye (view the trailer), the phone becomes even scarier than it was in Wes Craven’s “the call is coming from inside the house” styled horror trilogy, Scream.

Thanks to our current era of the online banking, the Patriot Act, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, wiretaps, online tax and vehicle registration, scanned medical charts, traffic cameras, elevator cameras, hidden microphones and GPS navigational systems, now more than ever Orwellian’s Big Brother is watching.

Blending together Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State, Wes Craven’s Scream, Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, Jan de Bont’s Speed, and even a conveyor belt homage to Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, D.J. Caruso’s fast-paced stunner is by far the most gripping thrill ride of 2008.

Much like David Fincher’s Panic Room, Eagle Eye has a deliciously simplistic set-up that the team of writers milk for all it's worth as regular citizens find themselves in extraordinary circumstances after a mysterious woman with a chillingly calm yet controlling voice (Oscar nominee Julianne Moore) phones two strangers and informs them that they’ve “been activated.”

Activated for what, neither character is entirely sure, however they quickly realize that their lives as well as their loved ones are in overwhelming danger unless they comply with each and every demand she aims their direction whether it’s holding security guards hostage to obtain a top-secret briefcase or fleeing from authorities.

Set in the near future—January of 2009 to be exact and beginning with an introduction right out of the world of Tom Clancy and Jason Bourne—it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize they’re being set up as terrorists as part of a vast governmental conspiracy but who authorized the game and how do you request a time-out when you’re not the one calling the shots?

The first victim is the delightful wisecracking slacker Jerry Shaw (LeBeouf, whose ability to charm, flirt, scheme and improvise reminds me of a young Paul Newman). When he isn’t busy being rude to the customers at the Copy Cabana or manipulating his coworkers in a masterful poker bluff, he’s using his charisma like a weapon on a fellow transit passenger or trying to make ends meet with his incessantly late rent.

After he gets word that his patriotic and heroic twin brother, the Air Force officer Ethan Shaw (complete with a genius I.Q.) has perished in a truck accident in Washington D.C., Jerry is stunned to discover upon returning from the funeral that his bank account is well into the six figures and he’s received an alarming number of dangerous packages containing firearms, bomb-making equipment and poison delivered to his apartment. Within seconds, his cell phone rings and Moore’s voice coolly instructs him that he should run as the F.B.I. will be there directly.

Sure that this is all some sort of easy misunderstanding, Jerry ignores the bullying voice and is interrogated for suspected terrorist activity and about his deceased brother by the no-nonsense Joint Terrorism Task Force Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). Advised that it’s not the best time to become a terrorist by Morgan (just one of many zingers nailed by Thornton), Jerry continues to plead his case as a quintessentially Hitchcockian innocent man to no avail.

And after Ethan’s old colleague, Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson) a fellow Air Force officer arrives to find out exactly what’s going on with the situation on behalf of Defense Secretary Callister (The Shield’s Michael Chiklis), Jerry is stunned when the Attorney General faxes in an authorization for him to make a phone call, yet far more concerned when he discovers the voice cutting into his call is none other than Julianne Moore’s. Yet this time, instead of ignoring the stranger’s demands, like Keanu Reeves’ Neo in The Matrix, he accepts her advice to flee from the F.B.I.

“Escape.”

Meanwhile, as Jerry is well into his own plight, we encounter the second victim of the mysterious Moore in the form of the lovely Michelle Monaghan (Made of Honor). A devoted single mother and minimum wage earning paralegal who grudgingly packs off her beloved trumpet playing son for band camp in Washington D.C., on her first night out with the girls, Monaghan’s Rachel Holloman receives a similarly frightening call.

“Rachel Holloman, you’ve been activated.”

While Rachel has the benefit of being out in public and not trapped in a tiny apartment filled with mercenary equipment fitting for a Unabomber, she takes a decidedly different and logical approach by dialing 911 before Moore cuts back into her call and tells her that if she continues to disobey, her son will be killed. And it’s only a matter of time before Jerry and Rachel collide by the demands of the dangerous stranger, being led on a deadly scavenger hunt as they make their way towards a fateful State of the Union address, with Thornton and Dawson’s characters following the entire way.

Car Chase

While it’s filled with intense, nonstop action sequences that continuously top the one before it in a way for which neither actor is unprepared (as LeBeouf had starred in Transformers and Indiana Jones and Monaghan had been cast in Mission Impossible 3), one of the benefits of Eagle Eye’s approach is that it seemingly demands intellectual audience participation as we strive to stay ahead of Moore’s demands along with our heroes. Whether it’s imagining what we would do in a similar situation from just hanging up the phone or merely refusing or trying to change a plan—despite a finale that does involve a major 2001: A Space Odyssey styled suspension of disbelief—every action initiated by Jerry and Rachel seems entirely plausible.

However, one major drawback involves the presentation as similar to Cloverfield, the filming style of a constantly moving camera is hard on the eyes especially when rapid-fire quick cuts that flow far less smoothly than the comparable ones in last year’s Bourne Ultimatum are added into the mix. And additionally, the volume, much like Dark Knight and Iron Man seems as though it could cause hearing loss yet if you pack along ear plugs and make sure you don’t sit too close to the screen, the comfort level for viewing should benefit considerably.

Still, despite this, I must admit that it’s by far my most recommendable blockbuster of the year so far and one sure to appeal to not just Orwellian and Philip K. Dick devotee cyber techies but especially action junkies eager to re-experience the same type of edge-of-your-seat rollercoaster we did more than a decade ago with Jan de Bont’s Speed. And this is ever more the case since, despite the continuous calls to go green, a relatively small number of us ride the bus but nearly everyone and their brother has at least one cell phone. Who will be calling you next? Can you hear me now?

II. Blu-ray

While the theatrical presentation of Caruso's action-packed thriller left viewers with a bit of eyestrain as we struggled to keep up, the transfer to Blu-ray actually improves the film in my opinion as DreamWorks and Paramount continually strive for the highest level of picture and sound, presenting Eagle Eye in 16x9 widescreen 1080p High Definition with 5.1 Dolby TrueHD sound.

Whereas some older films manage to show their age when they make the format change, Eye is hitting Blu at precisely the right time, by including every single extra (aside from the photo gallery) in HD quality and giving viewers-- depending on their set-up-- the chance to tweak the picture to brighten up the predominantly dark color scheme, duplicate the intensity, and-- even without a five speaker and subwoofer wired room-- adjust the crystal clear sound to the right level for their particular comfort.

Including the nearly required favorites of a gag reel, the original theatrical trailer, and deleted scenes, I was particularly drawn in by the various making-of featurettes that take you on location in Washington D.C., on the road, or in the best one, given a full-access pass to "Asymmetrical Warfare: The Making of Eagle Eye."

Offering a nice balance between cast and crew interviews and rockin' stunt set-ups, we discover that essentially Disturbia director D.J. Caruso eyed his film as though it were a studio budget "independent movie," or the type of road film he loved back in the '70s like The French Connection (which he cited as a major inspiration).

With a constantly moving production as the entire cast and crew seldom stayed in the same location for more than two days, he freely admits that the first hour of Eye represented a near live-action video game as the characters (similar to the viewer) never knew exactly where the film was going as neither Jerry and Rachel nor the audience had any choice as their telephone narrator led them from Point A to Point B.

With the original idea for the film being hatched in the mind of American master Steven Spielberg a decade ago-- Eye's director and star LeBeouf marvel at the fact that back in the late '90s, the film would've fallen into the category of science fiction whereas now they realized that Spielberg's vision was not only possible but entirely probable.

As we're increasingly aware that our "digital existence" can be "more prevalent" than our "real one," the filmmakers strived for authenticity in making sure that everything that happens in the film is viable as you can witness in the especially creepy scientific, Orwellian extra "Is My Cell Phone Spying On Me?"

Essentially reuniting with the same community of professionals both behind-the-camera and in-front of the lens that has helped present such modern day action films as Disturbia and Mission Impossible 3, LeBeouf was in ideal hands, being approached with the project from his "father figure" Spielberg even before he'd been handed Indiana Jones.

Relishing at the opportunity to work with Caruso again and joking that by now following Disturbia they have such a fast gesture based shorthand that the men can read each other with the minimum of words, Caruso was equally thrilled to present the former nineteen year old boy as a leading man.

Filmed when he was twenty-one but portraying a twenty-five year old, LeBeouf was teamed with a co-star six years his senior, but after you catch the off-screen chemistry and camaraderie between the adventurous and brainy Michelle Monaghan and LeBeouf, you realize that as unlikely it may seem on paper, it's actually a perfect fit.

Additionally, LeBeouf humbly noted that when he'd heard Monaghan was hired, he realized that most of the work was already done since she's so talented and they're comfortable with each other-- having worked together on Constantine a number of years earlier. Eager to launch headfirst into the increasingly complicated array of stunt-work (using a minimum of CGI as we're both terrified and impressed to discover in the featurettes), LeBeouf joked that given the fact that they did a large majority of their own stunts, it was constantly Monaghan who was pushing him on, running in four inch heels and hurling her body down a DHL conveyor belt, egging him on when he was tired with the teasing, "Why don't you just man up?"

While techies and special effects junkies will love the "how did they do that?" demonstrations including the big rig flip and the dedication to authentic live-action effects and sure enough, aside from the twenty-five minute HD "Asymmetrical Warfare" extra, there's a number of other making-of bonus features to explore, those who were more intrigued by the Enemy of the State styled ethical questions won't want to skip "Is My Cell Phone Spying on Me?" which interviews experts in the field of cyber security and privacy.

In the same turn, it also offers a creepy challenge to viewers that they should devote one entire day to be aware at how many times their photo is snapped and they are caught on a security camera as they go about their routine. Of course, I'd recommend trying this at your own risk and possibly, so that you don't send yourself into a frenzy, you may want to just go ahead and switch off your cell phone (if you can)... if not for the day than at least for the 117 minute running time of Eagle Eye.

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