DOUBLE FEATURE

I went and saw the following two movies within 24 hours of each other, so they may as well have been a double feature anyway. One was quite good. The other not so much...

Super 8

The new film from JJ Abrams (who, of course, was the creative force behind Lost), this feels like a total homage to 80's sci-fi and coming of age films. I've heard it described as a cross between Alien and ET, I'd throw Stand By Me into that equation as well. Set in 1979, it's basically about a bunch of young friends in a small town who decide to make a movie, and one night while filming a scene they witness a train crash. From there a whole bunch of weird stuff stats happening, with suitable doses of mystery, intrigue and suspense.

Coupled with the sci-fi thriller element of the film is the coming of age story of the friends who become caught up in the weird going ons, and the heart of the story (as far as I'm concerned anyway) is the friendship/romance between central protagonist Joe and Elle Fanning's character Alice. There is a quote from one of the characters early in the film that spells out in very simple terms why this film works and why I get frustrated with so many other sci-fi/action films. Whilst going about making their film, Joe's friend who is directing the film makes a comment something along the lines of "It doesn't feel like a story yet. When we give the main character a wife it will make people care about what happens because of their relationship." It's not quoted verbatim but you get the idea. We care about the predicament the characters are in simply because we care about the characters, and about tthe relationship at the heart of the film. For those people who still think The Expendables was a good movie, there's your answer right there as to why that movie sucked (not the only reason though, obviously). But anyway.

There are a surprising amount of themes on display in this movie; dealing with grief, growing up in a small town, bravery, the impact of father's behaviour on their children, and the treatment of people or things that you don't understand (as seen in the film's alien.) The problem is that it only really skims the surface of all these ideas, and doesn't delve deep enough to keep this viewer satisfied. Having said that, all the elements of this film combine nicely to make an overall enjoyable viewing experience, although it falls short of being an amazing one.

***1/2 out of *****

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Oh dear. Here we have what started as an immensely popular and respected family adventure movie that has now degenerated into a shameless attempt to cash in on the franchise with one of the most pointless, redundant sequel I've seen for a while. I wasn't planning on seeing this one after reading the bad reviews, however I was invited out with a group from work and figured why not. Why not indeed.

This film sees Blackbeard, the British Navy and the Spanish all on a quest to find the fountain of youth? Why? Because they can I guess. Jack Sparrow joins Blackbeard's crew, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) joins the British, whilst the British are hardly seen. Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom are gone from this film, and although they played the most annoying characters in the original trilogy this film is somehow more annoying without them. Penelope Cruz joins the cast as Angelica, Sparrows former lover, and despite the writers best efforts to make their relationship a point of interest it fails miserably.

In stark contrast to Super 8, I was left wondering why I should care about anything that's going on. There's no warmth or depth to any of the characters or relationships, and there appears to be nothing at stake should they fail to find the fountain of youth. The only spark of humanity in the film is found in the relationship between a missionary on Blackbeard's crew and a mermaid (yep). There are plenty of pointless action scenes to stop you from falling asleep (Sparrow even gives a monologue before the final fight about how pointless it would be for them to all become involved - but they do anyway), and I'm sure a lot of people will argue that this film is just a bit of harmless fun. But without being set up to give a crap about anything that's happening I don't think that argument is sufficient.

** out of *****