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Reviews
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Less than the sum of its parts - Very slight spoilers
The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is the latest film adaptation of the C.S. Lewis book that kicked off the Chronicles of Narnia series. Set in World War Two, the story begins as four children are whisked away to a big old estate far away from where the Huns are raining bombs upon London. The Pevensie children, Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan discover a wardrobe that leads to a kingdom called Narnia clasped in the grip of a century long winter.
The frigid spell is the result of the usurped rule of the Witch, who has declared herself queen of Narnia, when in fact the true rulers are foretold to be two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve. Local talking fauna are convinced that the quartet of Pevensie siblings are the prophesied revolutionaries who will be instrumental in restoring Narnia to it's former self, leading them all on an adventure revolting against the evil pretender to the throne.
Unlike Tolkien, Lewis's works are intentionally analogous to Christianity. Aslan, the lion found in the title, is a Christ figure. He is good and just, hated by the wicked and loved by the righteous. The book deals in themes of truth, honor, duty and sacrifice in barely disguised allegory to the Gospel. One wondered if Disney would leave those themes in place, or would the Witch Queen of Narnia be recast to represent George Bush, the Wolves his Texas Oil Buddies. Would Aslan become the heroic transgenderd heroin addict who rallies Narnia's bohemian community to wage peace against the forces of intolerance and corporate greed? To my joy, the Gospel themes are intact, and I daresay, quite forceful and explicit. The movie is at its strongest and most resonate in the scenes that depict Aslan's character doing what Christ did. The creators deserve credit and accolades from Christendom for resisting the temptation to water down a powerful story. Unfortunately, those same creators deserve a severe beating for chaining a gigantic steel ball to the leg of the movie. Great jumping catfish, just how long do you need to dwell on scenes of children traipsing through snow? I had loaded up with a big soda before the show, so I sat watching uncomfortably for fear of missing something big. I needn't have suffered so. The way the action has been paced, there were no small climaxes on the way to the big one. A good storyteller will traverse peaks and valleys on the way to the big mountaintop, but director Andrew Adamson makes the trip such a long slog that you are not excited by the big finish so much as relieved.
The child actors elucidate the famous British understatement, even the precocious Lucy. When a Limey from that era says "things are a bit sticky" he is likely armed with a teaspoon and surrounded by 100,000 angry Zulus. While I find that aspect of the classic English character charming, the surrounding action has to step up and provide a context that makes the understatement work. None of the main cast are particularly lively, with the exception of the animated ones who provide welcome relief along the grueling plot.
I will say that the animated creatures, particularly Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, are delightful, and the combination of Liam Neeson's voice and a fantastic animated lion make Aslan majestic and noble. When Mr. Tumnus and Lucy relate that Aslan is not tame, but is good, the description is well befitting the character we've watched on the big screen.
TCON was written before the hand-wringing era of Dr. Spock and Teletubbies (In my day an alien flying saucer would be surrounded by tanks and infantrymen, by gum!). The Pevensies are given arms, and prepare themselves for medieval combat. These lead to some intense scenes, and I could see where less mature children might be distressed by seeing peers on screen in peril. I don't recall any blood or flying parts, but the implication is there. People and anthropomorphic critters are being bludgeoned, slashed and impaled. For my own part, I think we have given children the false impression that there isn't evil in the world that seeks to destroy them, but parents who think otherwise are hereby duly cautioned.
Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe seems to want to be Lord of the Rings but the story's shoulders are not broad enough to handle all the majestic shots and lingering views. While parts of the movie are wonderful and moving, the sum of those parts are plodding. As a Christian, I am grateful and encouraged that a major studio not known for being friendly to my faith made a faithful rendition of a cherished allegory. The movie lover in me knows that it's about 20 minutes of scene-eating too long, and is disappointed.
Gunner Palace (2004)
Good, truthful documentary - a little heavy on the downer
Gunner Palace, a documentary by Michael Tucker that follows the U.S. Army's 2/3 Field Artillery for two months while the cope with occupation duty in Iraq. The title is a conflation of the nickname of the unit, The Gunners, and the fact that they have set up shop in a bombed out palace of Uday Hussein.
I can't find it on the web, but I read a bio that the filmmaker served in the mid to late 80s, roughly the same time I was in the Army. I've latched onto the fact (and I hope it is true) because it explains the tone of the film. When I walked out, I told Jim, who had seen it with me, that this guy wanted to make an anti-war movie, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it.
What we see is as much cinema verities we are likely to get in this politically radioactive conflict. Tucker lets the young troops pretty much be young troops for the camera. They all to some extent (and one in particular a great deal) mug for the camera and utter their doubts, concerns and reveal their conflicts. There don't appear to be many people above the age of thirty, though I find it hard to believe that an entire battalion would be so comprised.
We also see soldier show great restraint in difficult situations. In one scene, a drugged out, dirty and bedraggled street urchin is delivered to a place where he will hopefully find some sort of care. The GIs are careful, almost solicitous of the child, demonstrating a great deal of tenderness when considered in context of the fact that they are in a city where they are compelled to carry heavy weapons and wear body armor.
There is a lot of very scraggly video of nighttime raids. Bear in mind that field artillerymen are trained to shoot high-explosives over the horizon and wreck stuff, not tool around a foreign capital like cops. Again, these young men show tremendous restraint as they round up people suspected of manufacturing roadside bombs and lobbing mortars at their temporary home.
You feel a sense of futility at times as you watch, but a 60 day snapshot of a difficult mission is going to do that. Some of the soldiers make statements that could be found on you garden variety Bush = Hitler website, and it broke my heart. What they are doing is noble and necessary given the condition of the world, though a 20 year old would be hard pressed to put it into proper context. It is a shame for anyone over there doing their best to not feel their due honor.
If you rabidly feel one should speak-no-evil of the war while we are at war, Gunner Palace will irk you or worse. I found it to be sufficiently truthful and sincere to be a must-see. Pro-war and anti-war folk will find inspiration, which may mean it was done just about right.
Constantine (2005)
Good action movie with a nuanced presentation of the nature of faith
I'm never sure what to expect when I go to see a movie like Constantine starring Keanu Reeves and Rachael Weisz. Hollywood, in my estimation, does not understand Christianity and spends a great deal of time and effort not understanding it.
However, looking at something sometimes require a magnification of the greater themes. Stories that illustrate big themes require big characters and big actions, an exaggeration one has to expect. Christianity is all about the fight between good and evil, but the battle for the human heart is more interesting if one uses computer-generated demons and gleaming gold guns in the shape of a crucifix.
I commend the director for not squandering screen time with gratuitous sex, though this is not a movie for kids. I wouldn't recommend anyone younger than 16 seeing it. It is very violent and scary at times.
As an action movie, Constantine is pretty darn good if a bit pedestrian. Reeves in the title role is Reeves as he is in every other title role but in this case it is just what the movie needs. John Constantine is a conflicted man who, through a series of events, becomes something of the James Bond of occult warriors. He dispatches otherworldly creatures who violate the uneasy truce between God and Satan here on earth.
John Constantine is a cynic, and believes that he is doomed to an eternity in Hell, having been there after a suicide attempt in his youth. On his return, he's fruitlessly tried to redeem himself by crushing Hell's minions, but his cynicism toward God blinds him to grace. An interesting twist that Constantine believes in God, just not in God's goodness. The resolution of Constantine's conflict with God is remarkably sophisticated in light of Hollywood's chronic problems with comprehending faith.
I believe that God's protection is more akin to that enjoyed by Marva Munson in the 2004 version of The Ladykillers than anything proffered from Latin incantations and holy water. Nevertheless, Constantine navigates the logical incongruities of warring against principalities and powers with bullets forged from religious charms well enough to not be distracting. This is ultimately not a movie about the finer points of theology but rather a man at war with himself and God. The liberties are forgivable, in my view because they actually hit just the right note in the end.
I am not a reader of the Hellblazer comic, a D.C./Vertigo imprint on which the movie is based, so I cannot speak to the faithfulness of this adaptation. On its own merit, Constantine is a top-shelf action/occult thriller with great special effects. It illustrates broad themes of good and evil particularly the internal conflicts. There are good thrills and a respectable smattering of laughs. I very much appreciate the relatively thoughtful rendering of the struggles any man would have when facing the world's pain. Watching one of Old Scratch's foul servants get punched in the head with a set of cross-inscribed brass knuckles is just an added bonus.
Tim McNabb
www.fivehundredwords.com
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Less than the sum of its parts
The wife and I went to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events at the Kenrick Theater Saturday. We both agreed to check it out, using some gift certificates I've been hoarding since my birthday.
Unfortunate Events details a slice out of the life of three orphans whose parents perished in a tragic fire. The children are placed in the care of Count Olaf, played by Jim Carey weirdness ensues.
The Baudelaire Orphans, as the narrator refers to them often, are themselves exceptional. Emily Browning plays Violet, and captures a winsome mix of plucky and vulnerable. Violet is clever and inventive, cobbling together contrivances and developing solutions to their perils. Liam Aiken is Klaus, who ably portrays the younger brainy brother whose voracious appetite for learning provides impetus for Violet's inventiveness. Sunny is an adorable toddler whose contribution is her ability to bite (and be otherwise amazingly well-behaved).
The movie is surreal and incongruent, which is to be expected. The settings are Victorian, like turn of the century England. Most of the adults have mannerisms that we associate with England, but everyone is American. It's a little odd.
Piled onto this oddness is the ick factor of watching children being pursued by a murderous villain. As funny as Carey makes Olaf, the fact is that the man ends up attempting dreadful things, actions that would land any child in therapy for years. On the other hand, it is rewarding to see children be tough and work to overcome their problems rather than curl up and suffer slings and arrows. The adults in their lives are at best negligent idiots. Against outrageous circumstances the trio stand, surviving by their wits, will and cooperation.
The visuals are a real treat, particularly if you like the Victorian era. The set pieces and props show tremendous attention to creating a world that resembles something we are familiar with, but is distorted enough to take the edge off the truly awful nature of the unfortunate events of the movie's title.
Jim Carey absolutely chews up the screen. As part of the plot he adopts several personas, and he completely owns his scenes. I would say that the weakness of the movie is the strength of Carey's performance. We have a natural sympathy toward the orphans, and while they do good work capturing the essence of enterprise, Carey's antics are so overwhelming that the movie becomes too much about his character, and we just don't like him.
That said, the film has funny moments. Irrational fears about household items turn out to not be so irrational after all, and Dustin Hoffman makes a cameo appearance that is amusing and inexplicably brief.
In summary, Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' is an enjoyable but flawed movie. The visuals are excellent as are the performances of the protagonists. Carey is at his rubber-bodied best, but that ends up distracting. The film has a dark theme, but not one a kid over eight couldn't deal with.