Anyway, here's a bunch of mini-reviews of films that I forgot to see earlier.
Free State of Jones
A part of me really wants to give Free State of Jones a more positive review. Viewed only on a technical critique, the environment looks beautiful, the acting screams Oscar caliber, and the underrated Gary Ross offers his boldest and grittiest angle for a film to date without cowering to obnoxious shaky-cam like last time. Viewed on the subtext, Ross also tackles his noblest of ideas. Setting during the American Civil War, the film draws parallels in the real world, inasmuch as the Confederate army leeching off the poor countries in the false pretense of “winning the war” calls back to the modern paranoia about the rich leaders leeching off our benefits. Even though it’s been done before, doubly so with the added dose of racism, the film takes a fresh new angle, even if it boils down to Matthew McConaughey’s real-life character resorting to more like Robin Hood than a more complicated figure. Adding multiple other commentaries on racial suppression that spans to almost a century on top of that, and this film would almost take care of itself.
Viewed as a functioning story, however, it just doesn’t work. For all its willingness to go headfirst into these ideas, the movie struggles to find any focus or any coherence. You see, the film occasionally cuts back and forth between huge gaps of time in order to view many ways the corrupt “white Confederates” horribly harass the working class, but without any strong rhythm to do so. More troubling, the film gets too relaxed with itself and doesn’t supply enough enjoyment, issuing way too much downtime with only a few sprinkles of tension in order to advance the plot. And once said plot already resolves itself once the “Free State” has been obtained, we still have an extra half hour of meandering. I get that they want to transition to life after the war, (that court case, KKK burning houses, retrieving a lost son from outside of the state) but the way they arrange these events so haphazardly leaves very little investment.
This, in hindsight, would work if said connective tissue allows us to flesh out McConaughey’s character outside of a clearly glorified “steal from the rich” archetype, but there’s not much else to chew on with this character outside of a weirdly offensive speech that claims that his bankrupt status is on the same level of slaves dealing with lynching and whipping. I don’t know how unaware Ross is with that self-centered claim, but the way this character plays as a blank slate savior of the oppressed makes his ulterior motives so uncomfortable.
Despite the film's noble intentions intertwined with ultra-real set piece battles, Free State of Jones is way too clumsy and inert for me to recommend. It takes the racial issues and the One Percent parallels without any consideration to adding anything connecting to all of it. It inspires itself as both a Confederate war epic and a Robin Hood tale but doesn’t have enough steam to go all the way with it. I appreciate this film and it’s by far the most original out of the summer schedule, but that is as far as this film offers.
Rating: 5/10
The Purge: Election Year
Here’s what I seem to get out of the Purge movies up at this point, on account of not being a fan of any of them. So far, the whole point of The Purge trilogy is to construct an alternate world that allows one night to commit any crime they want without penalty in order to commentate on real world tendency to go full anarchy mode at any moment. That’s fair enough, but here’s what I don’t get: these movies constantly make it clear how BAD it is – even go as far as to blame the Purge on the One Percent making money out of the working classes insurance – yet they have no problem glorifying it either? Seriously, for all its jabs aimed at the demonized right wing rich guys profiting off murder, it all feels like an excuse to show director James DeMonaco’s tendencies to film what should be classified as flashy montages of music videos saying basically “LOOK HOW AWESOME YET AWFUL THIS LOOKS!”
At that point, it's wise to explain how contradicting all that is, but this honestly seems like it’s the series lasting charm, however, odd it may be. In the case with The Purge: Election Year, it’s a film that clumsily tries to mix political allegories with gratuitous money shots of murders and carnage straight out of a Michael Bay-produced playbook, but with an extreme passion for doing so that it gradually sustains itself into being its own fascinating hybrid. This time around, it immediately draws parallels to the current presidential nomination, to which a blond woman runs for in order to discontinue the Purge. This doesn’t bode well for the rest for the rest of the city – after all the Purge proves to deplete crime – as they vote an unsubtly sketched Republican evil-doer with a hidden agenda with the Church (I forgot to say that this isn’t subtle, right?) that plans an assassination against his opponent. Thankfully, she is aided by Frank Grillo as the Punisher Who Could’ve Been, who teams up with her and an army of rebels in order to survive the Purge and ultimately end it soon.
I utter this again, guys, this movie is not subtle! You could practically paint the face of the running mates as both Clinton and Trump and it would not make one bit of difference, the dialogue exchange offers more hammer-to-the-head allusions, and the aforementioned carnage porn the film keeps throwing at us is about as on the nose as anyone could expect. But it’s also oddly enjoyable, mainly because of how much action and over-the-top sequences the film keeps throwing at us. Sure anybody can point out the implausibility’s and roll their eyes in its aloofness, but I’d like to refrain from that on this movie alone. Bottom line, it's airless but screams guilty pleasure.
Rating: 6/10
The BFG
At this point, I’m about as sick and tired of people shit-canning Spielberg simply by the fact that he never made the next E.T. “What happened to Spielberg?!” on one side, “He’s gone soft!” on the other. It’s annoying, mostly because Spielberg, arguably the most influential of geek filmmakers, is doing just fine! But all these constant articles keep telling me that he’s in the “washed-out” phase like he’s freaking Metallica when all I can think of this argument is “well, what do you think? He can’t make Jurassic Park all the damn time!” And besides, since this is the same guy who made Close Encounters, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Schindler’s List, Lincoln, and Minority Report, and pretty much shaped the blockbuster landscape decades ago, I believe he has all the rights in the world to put out at least one middlebrow film like this for a change!
All that venting aside, calling The BFG “middlebrow Spielberg” isn’t so much a criticism as much as it is a reminder that whatever this movie achieves may not bode well for those that either want more or less of it. In this case, the film strips most of Roald Dahl's classic tale into a lean and child-friendly adventure flick that lacks the complexities and or many adult undercurrents like his last films. But even as minor of an effort from the master of whimsy, the film is still a delightful, gorgeous, if a bit flawed, film that achieves much of what it wants to be to some extent.
One of the said achievements is the major cog in this machine: Mark Rylance’s facial motion capture of The BFG himself. Even though a lot would dismiss this type of animation as some type of “uncanny valley” gimmick, I believe it’s used quite well, mostly due to the physical actor involved. Credit is due to the little girl playing Sophie (who is just adorable!) Rylance, in particular, breathes life into this character, while the filmmakers walk a fine line between too realistic and too cartoonish without tipping on either side. Speaking of the CG, this is one of those films that breaks free of Spielberg’s real-life limitations and just swoops the camera wherever it wants, issuing a new standard for CG photography. Say what you want about Spielberg, even most of his shortcomings are about as good as this.
That isn’t to discredit what’s not working, though. For all the downtime the film offers to grow the friendship between the Giant and Sophie, it also has too much going on in the second act that it almost loses itself from the plot. And not to disrespect the late Melissa Mathison, but it’s not particularly her best-written effort, as it does skew too much for kids. Speaking about children, even though I don’t mind the details of explosive farts as it was in the books, I doubt people would find it appealing.
Even those minor issues aside, this goes to show how much even the slightest of a genius’ efforts can still turn out better than anyone else. There is no denying the disappointed faces of those that expect the next E.T., but I believe that we can still appreciate the same level of heart and wonder that remains. Overall, recommended.
Rating: 7/10
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