But in the past three weeks, I have watched Lions for Lambs, Hitman, and the Kingdom, in that order. That is courtesy of MBO cinemas having those movies at very convenient times for me and my classmates (a little free time vacuum for most of us, an exceedingly rare phenomenon.) I still haven't watched Beowulf, but I got a very stern warning from my brother that its the single worst movie he has ever watched in his life. Apparently, the story is dumb, the physics illogical to the point of unbearablility and the entire movie is filled with little scenes that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. The movie's only saving grace, which is apparently the gore, couldn't quite compensate for the incredible stupidness of everything else. Thats what my brother said. I haven't watched it, so I don't know. But if I'm honest, I have to admit that I'm pretty apprehensive about Beowulf now. (Even if I get to see Angelina Jolie and a naked succubus.)
But back to the main issue, the movies that I have watched. I'll give you the bad news first. Hitman sucked. I never played the game, but I always found the concept to be exceedingly cool. A mute, merciless killer who strikes and no ones is none the wiser until he's safely immersing himself in a jacuzzi after extraction. But the movie completely betrayed agent 47 (I think that was his number) He becomes a gung ho, trigger happy, not particularly witty and bald version of Jason Bourne. Its hard not to make comparisons of the two movies, especially when the scene where the Hitman proves his observational powers to his pantyless pretend girlfriend is a blatant rip off from the first Bourne movie. The Hitman is supposed to sneak, poison, trick and strangle his way to mission objectives. He does not walk into a room full of gangsters and let rip with two sub-machine guns. The real Hitman would have found that approach vulgar. Even for an action movie, its weak. But then again, I have been spoilt not too long ago by the Bourne Ultimatum (which I think is one of the best movies this year, hence the constant comparison). So here is a warning. If you loved Hitman as a game, and would like to be spared the agony of watching him turn into a pussified, gunslinging man who is betrayed by his own agency for no reason other than to satisfy some Russian president, then stay away from the movie. Go rewatch Nacho Libre or something.
Now I have two more movies to talk about, both of which I have to admit I liked very much. The latest one I saw was the Kingdom, which is about terrorists in Saudi Arabia blowing Americans up. The FBI rightly gets pissed off, but because the American government is so buddy buddy with the Saudis, they can't get a team onto Ground Zero to do investigations. What follows is the usual story about a particularly ballsy FBI agent who blackmails his way into Saudi Arabia, solves the case, and puts him and his entire team in the line of fire. What particularly unnerved me about this movie is the fact that I actually felt pissed off when I saw the Muslim extremist give his inflammatory speech. Suddenly, my dim view of religion got even dimmer. Its all nice and good for the moderate Muslims to denounce the terrorists and loudly proclaim that the terrorists have no right to call themselves Muslims. It doesn't change the fact that they do call themselves Muslims and their murder is derived from the very same book that the moderates get their values from. I'm sure that there is nothing wrong with the teachings in the book, as everyone of the faith will proclaim. But over the many years that civilization has existed religion has time and again proven that its not something that the human race is ready for. I don't think that the fact that some people can take the text in a non-murderous and non-bigoted way can be used an excuse for the continued preaching of it.
I was throughly depressed at the end of the movie, even if I didn't really show it. The stark truthfulness of the entire movie reminded me of how fucked up this world really is. The ending definitely left an impression. The same promise made by the FBI agent and the dying terrorist cell leader, "we will kill them all". The message couldn't be clearer. The senseless killing will not stop until either side is wiped out. And some people actually argue that cultural relativism is actually a good thing. /wrist
Right, on to Lions for Lambs. (If you have read this far and still remain vaguely interested in what I have to say then, thank you.) =P. This movie has three stories running parallel. There is one part with a reporter being given a scoop on a new American initiative in Afghanistan by the Senator who is running the whole operation. The other is about a disillusioned political science student who called in to see his professor. And the third is about two American soldiers that are stuck in the Afghan mountains, awaiting rescue. I found the first two deeply entertaining, the third to be some kind of compulsory action sequence that movie makers seem obliged to do.
The first scenario was sparring by a liberal (the reporter) versus a war hawk (the senator) on the issues on global terror and the war in the Middle East. I actually found both sides well represented, although I generally tilt towards the anti-war hippie camp. I found the
Senator's arguments compelling, and I think that movie did a lot to help me understand his side of the story, and the reasons behind all the war mongering.
But it was the second scene that struck a chord. A professor sees a bright student lose interest, and decides to intervene. The student is adamant that the world is fucked up, and not worth saving, so he might as well go and live his own comfy life in the corporate world instead of making the change that he feels needs to be made. The situation really is deja vu. It wasn't so long ago that a very cynical me sat before a particularly well read and optimistic old fart and trashed out the issue with him. That ended with him declaring that I'm there is little hope left for me and that he is saddened that a person that has reached my level of reasoning should choose a path of doom and gloom. (At least thats how I saw it). Well times have changed, and I've grown up a bit, so I'm actually not naive enough to authoritatively predict doomsday within the next generation. So if a right cause comes along, I might actually do something. (maybe the fight against domestic violence, but AWAM seems to ignore my attempts to contact them.)
Still, that movie gives me the sense that I'm not alone in my disillusionment. It says loud and clear to me that just because no one else seems to care or even seems bothered to know, it doesn't mean that you should be like that too.
So, yes. If you have time and cash to spare, do watch the two movies. But don't blame me if you don't like them. I do have really weird tastes.
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