You can't handle the truth!

Rrrrrrright time for another movie review and this one is a Hollywood court room drama which is A Few Good Men, which was originally play by Aaron Sorkin, so let's give it a shuftie...

Right the film basically starts with two marines, Lance Coporal Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison) and Private Douney (James Marshall) who are stationed at Guantanamo bay in Cuba, who enter a young marine's room and tie him up and stuff a rag down his throat, however as a result of the attack the marine dies, and Dawson and Douney are arrested.  The two marines defence counsel turns out to be the young, cocky and inexperienced Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) who is at first reluctant to take the case on, but he is assigned to naval investigator and lawyer Lieutenant Commander Jo Galloway (Demi Moore) who tells him she thinks that the two marines were acting on order known as a "code red" which is a form of disciplinary military punishment.  Kaffee and Galloway along with Kaffee's assistant, Lt Sam Weinbeg (Kevin Pollak) travel to Cuba where they meet with the commanding officer, Colonel Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) who does not confirm or deny the practice of code reds on the base, and after a brief investigation of the base, the three of them fly back to the States.

However on their return Jessup's executive officer, Lt Colonel Markinson (J.T. Walsh) goes awol, and Galloway grows more convinced that the order was a code red.  Kaffee and Galloway go and question Dawson and Douney who tell him that they were given an order to perform a code red on the young marine, Private Santiago.  Kaffee then approaches the prosecution lawyer Captain Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) and tells him the marines were given an order and he works out a plea bargain with him, where he will offer the marines involuntary manslaughter for which they would receive a reduced sentence of six months.  Kaffee takes the offer to Dawson who turns it down as he refuses to admit he did anything wrong other than follow his duty and will not dishonour himself or his corps.  As a result, Kaffee verges on quitting the case after having a row with Galloway, who insists they go to court and put the marines on trial, but he soon decides to take on the case.  And from here this is where the court room drama begins....

As far as court room dramas go, A few good men definitely is one of the most entertaining.  The story itself was actually based on a phone call the writer Aaron Sorkin had with his sister, who worked as a lawyer in the US Navy Corps for three years, where she defended marines who were accused of murder after a direct order from their commanding officer to carry out a hazing disciplinary action on a fellow marine.  Sorkin's screenplay is wonderfully written and richly worded and the characters are all really well drawn out, and it lead toward a fruitful career as a screenwriter for TV and film, as Sorkin went on to write The West Wing for TV, as well as films such as The American President and The Social Network.

And it has to be said that what makes A few good men work so well is the performances from the cast, as the cast are all excellent.  Starting with Tom Cruise, who admittedly is annoying at times in his role as the cocky young upstart who goes through his "journey" toward becoming a man and following in the footsteps of his late legendary father, who was a superb trial lawyer, but overall he delivers a really good performance.  Cruise also get's his share of good lines, such as when he Galloway argues with him over his lazy attitude towards the case and he says after "Wow!  I'm sexually aroused, commander!".  Cruise also later on provides some good moments in the court scenes especially when thunders away at Lt Kendrick (played by Kiefer Sutherland) and Colonel Jessep.  Another funny moment is where he argues with the prosecution lawyer and his friend, Captain Ross in a bar, and as Ross is about to leave, Kaffee is lost for a retort and instead he yells "you're a lousy fucking softball player, Jack!!".   

Demi More is surprisingly also good in her role as Jo Galloway even though she is quite an unlikely choice to play such a part.  Moore's numerous rows with Cruise are also quite amusing at times in the film, especially near the beginning when they first meet and he is about to leave her officer and she says "you're dismissed" and Kaffee replies "I always forget that part!".  Later on Moore also has a good line whne Kaffee get's drunk and explodes at her and she says "I'm sorry I lost you you're set of steak knives" (referring to a quip from Kaffee saying that he will get a set if he wins another case).

As for the other cast members, Jack Nicholson is great as the devious and manipulative Colonel Jessup, who you can see is dirty from the get go (sorry if that is a spoiler!) and he has an intimidating and commanding prescence throughout.  Jack has quite a few highlights, and the ones that stand out are his scene at the Gitmo base where Kaffee casually asks for Santiago's transfer order, but Jessup says firmly "you have to ask me nicely!  You see I can deal with the bombs and the blood.  I don't want money or medals, but what I do want is for you to stand there and with your Harvard mouth extend me some fucking courtesy!".  Also later in the court room scene where (PLOT SPOILER HERE!) Kaffee thunders away at Jessup and tries to get him to admit he ordered the code red, and Kaffee shouts "I want the truth!" and Jessup replies "you can't handle the truth!".  Also another amusing line Jessup has is when he refers to Jo Galloway as being Kaffee's superior officer and "there is nothing sexier on this Earth than having a woman you have to salute in the morning.  Because if you haven't gotten a blow job from a superior officer, you are just letting the best in life pass you by!".  Nicholson apparently also loved the script so much that he would willingly do multiple takes for the director Rob Reiner, and even read in his lines when he didn't need to, and overall this is one of the finest performances.

Next up there is J.T Walsh as Markinson, who is great in his part, and Walsh was always a very understated actor and his performance is very sutble here and he had a great of conveying much without having to do much at the same time.  Kiefer Sutherland as the young Lt Kendrick, who is the commanding officer in charge of Dawson and Douney, is also very good in his part.  Sutherland's highlight is of course his court scene where he is questioned by Kaffee, who get's him pretty riled, and Sutherland perfectly highlights the marines fanatical qualities for the corp and religion.  Sutherland also is given one of the film's best lines where he says to Jo Galloway "Commander, I believe in Jesus Christ, and I can say this that Private Santiago's death was a tragedy.  But he is dead because he had no code, he is dead becasue he had no honour and God was watching!".  Kevin Pollak as Kaffe's friend Sam Weinberg is also very good, and he provides some amusing moments in the film as well as an informer for Kaffee's ignorance in all matters to do with the marines.  Pollak has quite a few good lines but one of my favourites is when he pushes his baby in a pram and he says that she said her first word "Pa" while pointing and Kaffee says "she was pointing at a mailbox, Sam!" and Sam replies "that's right, as if to say "Pa, lookl!  A mailbox!".  Also briefly Wolfgang Bodison gives a fine performance as the marine Dawson, who has a good scene with Tom Cruise who offers him a lea bargain which he turns down and says "I will not dishonour myself, my unit or the corps just so I can go home in SIX MONTHS!! Sir!".  And at the end of the scene when Kaffee asks "what happened to saluting an officer when he leaves the room?" which leaves Dawson to stand up grumpily and thrust his hands into his pockets defiantly!   

And finally I cannot finish without mentioning Kevin Bacon as Captain Ross, who provides an excellent performance as the professional prosecution lawyer.  Bacon delivers a solid and efficient performance throughout, and he has some good moments, especially his scene where he meets with Kaffee in a bar, who tells him that he has Markinson, and Ross says to him that Markinson won't hold up and he reminds Kaffee that "he was bullied into that courtroom by the memory of a dead lawyer" (i.e.Kaffee's father).   

As for any flaws well there are one or two niggles, starting with Kaffee's character, who despite Cruise's largely fine performance, there are times when he really comes across as the annoying callow cocky youth, who you would love to slap, and at times you just think of him as having just wondered out of the set of Risky Business or Cocktail, as it was a mode of acting he was yet to escape.  Aaron Sorkin's screenplay while it is great and richly written, it is also very wordy and there are times where you feel certain scenes could be a bit shorter if it wasn't for Sorkin's insistance to extend sentences and you wish at times he would just get to the point quicker in a scene.  But apart from that its all pretty good.   
 
Direction wise Rob Reiner (director of Spinal Tap and When Harry met Sally) does a fine job with such a big cast, and he paces the film really well and keeps the courtroom drama sequences interesting, and he also provides a nice balance of drama and humour.  Reiner also starts the film really well by showing the JAG corps officers perform their match with their rifles just before Jo makes her appearance.  Marc Shaiman also provides a good music score for the film which is mainly syntheizer based and there are some good passages in there to be found.     

So that's it for my look at A Few Good Men, which still remains and entertaining and engrossing court drama, which is well worth watching if you haven't already.

And I will leave it right there.

P.S. this will be my last post for a few days as I will be heading off to London for the weekend.  Yeah baby!! (sorry about that bit!).  Until the next time bye for now!

Tomb Raider "I hate tombs!"

OK time for a wee change from the movie reviews as I've decided to review a video game and this one will be the new revamp of the Tomb Raider series, which has been aptly named Tomb Raider.  It sees a far more adult and gritty take on the series than we have seen in the past and this sees the origins of Lara Croft becoming the intrepid explorer that she is, so with my usual review structure let's have a look at the ol plot.

Well the story begins with the young Lara Croft (voiced by Camilla Luddington) who travels on a ship the HMS Endurance, on an expedition to find the lost kingdom of the Yamati.  The ship however travels into dangerous waters as it heads at the suggestion of Lara into the Dragon's Triangle, east of Japan.  The ship is caught in a violent storm which causes the ship to split in two and the survivors wash up ashore and are stranded on an isolated island.  Lara is captured by a savage man who takes her to his cave, however she soon escapes and the man is killed as the cave collapses in on itself.  Lara soon catches up with one of the crew, Sam, who is a close friend and she is with a man named Mathias who claims to be a passenger on the ship.  Sam tells Mathias of the legends of Himiko, a Japanese queen, while Lara from exhaustion passes out, and when she comes to, Sam and Mathias have both gone.  Lara eventually rejoins the remaining survivors of the ship as she tries to find one of the missing crewmembers, Roth, whom she eventually finds, who tells her to try and find a way to send a distress signal for help.  Lara however also learns along the way the island they are on is in fact Yamati and they inhabitants all workship Himiko, who capture the remaining survivors, and it is also soon revealed that Mathias is in fact the leader of the cult followers on the island, who has captured Lara's friend Sam as she is a direct descendant of the queen Himiko, whom he intends to use to revive her.  And from here its up to Lara to try and rescue her crewmates, stop the evil inhabitants and rescue Sam from her fate....

As a reboot of the series, Tomb Raider is an excellent, intense and enthralling experience, which pulls you in from the word go.  The design and style of the game is actually very similar to the critically acclaimed action adventure game Uncharted 2, which was about the adventures of the archaeologist Nathan Drake.  There are plenty of seamless cut scenes where we go between the live action and the story of Lara as she progresses through her trials on the island.  And the main theme here of course is survival as we see Lara start off as a frightened young woman, who is thrown into a terrifying and harrowing situation and as the game moves on, she becomes a strong, hardened survivor.  And the game does really well in making that leap and it is done with fair credibility that Lara is able to adap to her violent surroundings, as she finds the adventurer in her that was with her family before.

Gameplay wise Tomb Raider is very much what makes the game work so well, as the control system is very ease to use, and Lara can do pretty all the usual moves, such as run, jump, crouch, shimmy, etc and she can also pull some melee attacks at close range.  Lara's movement in tight areas such as cave crevices also makes impressive use of her movement as she can crouch into these areas really well, and she can also in dark places also light a torch.  Lara can also use an icepick to climb cliff faces as she can jump from a bridge onto the side of a cliff, she uses her axe pull herself up.  In the game you also have access to the usual sort of weapons, starting off with a bow and arrow, then a handgun, automatic rifle (which is later upgraded with a grenade launcher attachment), and a shotgun.  And one of the best aspects of the gameplay is the upgrade system as Lara can gain new skills, such as hunting, brawling, as well as being able to upgrade her weapons, by adding various add-ons to them, such as more ammo, attachments, better grips, etc.  This is usually done by Lara finding a camp site she can sit down at and as she fights her way through the game she gains more experience.  Another neat aspect of the game is Lara's ability to use zip lines, and she can also create them by using her bow and arrow tied with rope she can fire at an aimed target such as a cliff face or wooden wall.  Then there is the much use timed button process, where you have to react to an enemy attack by press the right button at the right time, which is fairly easy in this game and doesn't get too frustrating.  Lara also has survival instincts, which you can use to scan areas for clues on how navigate cetain areas of the game, such as trying to find your way up to a higher level or a platform, these areas will be highlighted in pale yellow as the screen goes grey in instinct mode.   

Visually the game also looks stunning and the environments are vast and very impressive, and there is a great deal of variety, as Lara runs around the woods, beaches, cliff faces, castles, and of course tombs!  The character models are also very good, and Lara has been given a new overhaul, and her face is based on the real life model, Megan Farquhar, so she looks pretty good.  Also more realistically Lara no longer has ridiculously big boobs, and she has instead a smaller but nice and firm pair (ok sorry perv mode off!) which may leave certain fans of the series disappointed! ;-)  But the game has come quite a long way from the ridiculously sized polygons of the first game back in 1996.  The voice acting is also really good and this time Keeley Hawes, who voiced Lara for every Tomb Raider game since Tomb Raider Legend decided not to return, and this time the young (and hot!) actress Camille Luddington has taken over her duties, and she delivers a fine performance.  And Camille conveys really well Lara's fear and vulnerability at the start (even if she overdoes the sobbing a bit early on!) and as she progresses, her toughness in adverse situations.

In terms of the game's flaws well its not got too many, but one thing I guess that can be levelled at it is the overall tone of game is very serious and grim.  And it might have proved to have been a choice that could have alienated an audience by making this reboot of the Tomb Raider series more adult and intense than before.  The game is also not short on graphic violence and gore, as Lara is put in many situations where she is forced to kill many baddies in bloody ways such as sticking her pickaxe through their skulls or stabbing them in the back as well as shooting them or burning them alive with flame tipped arrows.  There was also controversy over a scene early on in the game where it is implied that Lara was about to be raped, by one of the Russian mercaneries one the island.  However having watched the scene its not really conveyed that way, although in the scene you to prevent Lara from being killed by him, and this leads into her first kill of the game.  But to be fair the overall tone of the game maybe serious, but I think it was important in a way to show Lara's beginnings as an explorer and as the series progresses I'm sure it will develop.  And the game isn't entirely devoid of humour as Lara falls into a tomb at one point in the game she gasps frightened and says "I hate tombs!".

So with all that said, Tomb Raider is a very worthy and entertaining reboot of the series and it maybe more adult and intese than before, but in a way its no bad thing as it is a new slant on an old series, and if you are into previous Tomb Raider games and like action games in general, you will find alot to like in this one.

And on that note I shall leave you there.   

Star Trek Generations: lifeforms, you tiny little lifeforms....

Well its time to go back to the Star Trek movie franchise and do another review, as I've done up to Star Trek IV (with the exception of the new Star Trek film, but I won't count that one just now) so I'll carry on with Star Trek Generations.  Generations was the first of the Star Trek next generation cast films, so it sees Patrick Stewart head the cast as Captain Jean Luc Picard, but let's get on to the usual structure of this blog, i.e. we've done the intro now its time for the plot...

So the film begins in the 23rd century with the now retired Captain Kirk (William Shatner) attending the maiden voyage of the newest model of the Enterprise, along with his former shipmates, Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig).  However the ship soon receives a distress call and they are forced to respond to try and save two ships from a large energy ribbon in space which ultimately destroys the ships, but some of the crew are saved.  Kirk however in an effort to help save the Enterprise from being caught in the path of the ribbon goes to the lower decks to alter the deflector shields, however the ribbon passes over the hull of the ship and takes a section of it away into the vaccum of space and Krik with it.  From here Kirk is presumed dead and is never seen again.

The story then jumps forward to the 24th century where the current crew of the Enterprise, headed by Captain Jean Luc Picard (Stewart) receive a distress call from a solar observatory.  On arriving at the observatory they find only one survivor, Doctor Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) who is taken back onboard the Enterprise.  Soran however is keen to get to back to the observatory and while the Enterprise crew members, Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and the android Data (Brent Spiner) search it, Soran surprises them, knocking out Geordi, and Data having recently installed a new emotion chip, finds himself too afraid to retaliate.  Soran is transportred with Geordi to a Klingon bird of prey, which is under the command of the renegade Duras sisters.  Soran plans to do business with them by giving them a compound called trilithium which the sisters want so they can create a powerful weapon.  Picard speaks with the Enterprise's bartender, Guinan (Whoopie Goldberg) who tells him that Soran is trying to re-establish a link with the ribbon, which is called the nexus.  Guinan describes the Nexus as being like inside joy, and that is what Soran is trying to do, however in order to do that he will use a nuclear missle to detonate a nearby sun on the planet Veridian III, but the impact while ultimately destroy the planet.

Picard soon tracks Soran to the planet and tries, unsuccessfully, to reason with him, but soon enough Soran fires his missile just as the nexus ribbon arrives he is transported.  However while this is happening Geordi has been given back to the Enterprise crew, has unbeknownst to him, had his visor changed to allow the Duras sisters to see his vision, and they launch an attack on the Enterprise, but they are soon destroyed in the attack.  The enterprise however suffers a warp core breach, where the ship's saucer section is separated and it crash lands on Veridian III, and shortly after the nexus wave passes over the planet and it is destroyed.  Picard meanwhile has been transported to the nexus and he finds he has a wife and children, something he has always wanted beside his duty, but he soon realises it isn't real and speaks to an image of Guinan who explains he is in the nexus and he can go anywhere from here.  Guinan also explains that another man has just arrived in the nexus as well, and as Picard goes to find him we see none other than Captain James T. Kirk chopping wood, who is caught up in his own fantasy of being at home, with a chance to reuinte with an old flame.  And from here its up to Picard to try and persuade Kirk to help him save the day....

While its not the strongest entry in the Star Trek franchise, Generations still is quite a good effort and it brought in the Next Generation cast very well.  Although the Next Generation crew were never in my opinion as interesting or as fun the original crew, its an entertaining affair, and they are introduced amusingly in the scene where the Enterprise crew are all dressed in a navy outfits, where Worf (Michael Dorn) is given promotion, but he has to walk the plank on an old ship to get his "hat of office", but they remove the plank and he falls into the water (however it turns out to be a holodeck!).  But the reappearance of Kirk is a very welcome one and his two old crewmen, and when you see them together you see the rapport they have with one another shows just what the new crew are missing.  Whereas Picard is always pretty straight laced and a bit too goody goody and lacks the rebelious streak that Kirk had, and that goes pretty much for most of the rest of the crew, but that's not to say that they don't provide moments of entertainment as they do and the TV series also had some good episodes.

So getting onto the next bit of the old blog movie review structure, the performances in Generations are actually fairly good, starting with Patrick Stewart in the role of Captain Picard, who has always played the part with a strong moral compass and seriousness about his duty as a starfleet officer.  Stewart however does have one slightly cringeworthy moment when he breaks down crying reflecting on the news of his nephew who was killed in a fire.  But what I do quite like about Stewart's potrayal of Picard is his no nonsense attitude and one of his best scenes comes when he makes Data deal with his fear, when the emotion chip is infused into his neural net and he becomes overwhelmed by the emotions, and Data wants to be deactivated.  But Picard sternly tells him "I have every sympathy for what you are going through, but I need to do your duty and you will not be deactivated, that is an order, commander!".

Jonathan Frakes as Picard's second in command, William Riker was always actually a more colouful character and he was more akin to Kirk than Picard, and Frakes gives a good performance here although his role is little bit underwritten.  Frakes does however get one of the film's best lines when Picard says to him at the end "we are only mortal" and Riker replies "speak for yourself, sir.  I plan to live forever!".  The standout of the next generation cast however is of course Brent Spiner as Data who provides a wonderfully funny and at times even poignant performance, as the android who uses the emotion chip and he experiences a different range of emotions.  Of his various amusing moments, a few that standout include when Guinan gives him a drink but he can't articulate the emotion as he grimaces as he swallows it, and Guinan says "well he looks like he hates it" and Data says "yes I hate this!  This is revolting!" Guinan "more?" Data "Please!".  Also the moment where he resumes duties after a short break he goes onboard the Enteprise bridge and Riker orders him to search for lifeforms to which Data replies "I would be happy to, sir.  I just love scanning for lifeforms!" and then sings that famous line "lifeforms, you tiny little lifeforms!" as he scans for them.  Also in the moment where the Enterprise hurtles towards Veridian III's planet surface Data looks alarmed as the planet's view comes ever closer on the monitor screen and he says "oohhhhhhhhhhhh shit!".

The other next-gen members are all ok, but they aren't given a great deal to work with however Marina Sirtis as the ship's counsellor has a couple of nice moments, one with Picard where she consoles him over the deah of his family, and at the end where Data cries with joy having found his cat.  Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher (hubba hubba!) also provides a moment of amusement when Geordi is being examined by Dr Crusher with his visor having been hacked by Soran, the Duras sisters can see through his visor on their screens and they groan in disgust when they see Beverly and say "human females are so repulsive!".       

As of the other cast members well getting to the old generation, we can't forget William Shatner's contribution as James Kirk, and he is perfect once again in the role as the retired captain.  Shatner get's quite few good lines here as well as he meets with Picard who insists he help him, Kirk says "I don't need to be lectured by you, I was out saving the galaxy while your grandad was still in diapers!".  Also when he asks if Picard is thinking of retiring from his post as Captain and he tells him "don't! Don't let them promote you, don't let them transfer you!  Don't let them do anything that takes you off that bridge, because while you are there, you can make a difference!".  James Doohan also get's a brief amusing cameo as Scotty as does Walter Koenig as Chekov, and Doohan has a funny moment where at the start of the film he wants to help the young Enterprise captain rescue the ships, but he resists the urge to stand up and Scotty says "Captain, is there something wrong with your chair???".

Getting onto the flaws of the film however well there were a few niggles, first off the controversial decision (PLOT SPOILER!) to kill off Kirk was in itself a bit of a flaw and it didn't go down well with the Star Trek fans.  And the nature of Kirk's death in the end is a bit lame as he lies in the wreckage of the broken bridge that Soran shot down, and he says quitely "oh my...." as his last line before he passes on, which is pretty feeble to say the least, and it seems just not right that they should kill off such a great character under any circumstance.  Malcolm McDowell's performance while it is far from bad is also problematic, mainly because he talks in cliches and some of his dialogue is pretty cringeworthy especially in the scene where he turns to Picard and says "now do excuse me, Captain, because I have an appointment with eternity and I don't want to be late!" and "don't you feel time gaining on you, Captain.  Its like a predator, stalking you!".  One of the amusing things about Soran though is that he is the man to have killed off Kirk and also the only man to have head butted Picard, now there's a double whammy!  You could also say it doesn't always necessarily feel like a Star Trek film but more like a glorified extended TV episode than anything else.  And this brings me onto Dennis McCarthy's score which is by no means bad but it does feel like it belongs to the TV show and not on the big screen, and it pales in comparison to the scores written by James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith.  Another thing that bothered me was when Picard arrived in the nexus and met with his wife and children, why the hell where they all in Victorian clothes????  I mean they lived in the 24th century and not the 19th!  It just seemed to be a very peculiar choice, or perhaps in Picard's subconscious perhaps he wants everyone to dress like that and get back to Victorian values! ;-)

Anyway all that aside Star Trek Generations is still a worthy and entertaining addition to the Star Trek franchise and while its not one of the best, it is worth a watch and it is for me easily the best out of the Next Generation films that followed.  First Contact was up next which was not bad although a bit dull, and Insurrection and Nemesis were both crap, so basically I won't be reviewing them.

So I will leave it there for now and beam myself up!   

The man of steel is back

Right so its time for a new movie review, as I've done plenty of older ones, but as I've just seen the new Superman film, Man of Steel this week, I thought I would give it a review so here it is, so I will start with the usual plot synopsis (don't worry I won't give it all away, BUT THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!) and take it from there....

The story begins on the planet Krypton where their civilisation is in grave danger as the planet's core has become unstable and will inevitably self destruct.  Jor-El (Russell Crowe) a scientist and his wife Lara, launch their naturally newborn son into space, where Jor-El has infused his son's cell with the Krypton codex in order to preserve the Krypton race.  Jor-El however is soon murdered by a rebel leader, General Zod (Michael Shannon) in retaliation for stealing the codex.  Zod is soon captured by Kryptonian soldiers and he is banished with his men into the Phantom zone.  Soon after this Krypton explodes.  Meanwhile Jor-El's son, Kal-el travels to Earth in a spacecraft and crash lands, and is soon found by a married couple, Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) who raise him and name as Clark.  As a youngster growing up however, Clark finds it difficult to fit in with other kids and his super powers of enhanced hearing and sight disorientate him, but he soon learns to control them.  As Clark becomes a teenager, Jonathan warns him he can never tell people his true identity or what he is capable of as society would reject him.  Jonathan later is killed during a hurricane storm and afterward Clark leaves home and lives nomad lifestyle working different jobs.

Sometime later however Clark manages to locate a Kryptonian scout ship which was found by a scientific survey team.  Clark enters the ship and finds a way to communicate with the consciousness of his father, Jor-El, who appears as a hologram and tells Clark who he really is and where he came from.  A reporter, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who travelled with the team enters the scout ship as well but is attacked and badly injured by its defence systems, which Clark soon disables and he helps coiterise Lois's wounds with his x-ray vision.  Lois returns back to Metropolis to hear newspaper, The Daily Planet where her story of being rescued by a man with superhuman abilities is rejected by her editor Perry White (Laurence Fishburne).  Lois decides instead to trace where Clark came from and she eventually tracks him to his home in Smallville with his adopted mother Martha, and after hearing his story, she decides to keep his identity secret.  But this is where things start to get unpleasant as General Zod returns to the scene as he was freed from the Phantom zone after Krypton was destroyed, and he arrives on Earth delivering an ultimatum to give up Clark or the human race will suffer the consequences.  And its around about this time where Clark dons his dark blue suit and red cape and does his Superman thing.....

Well with Man of steel, we have yet another franchise reboot and overall its not a bad one and it sees a complete overhaul in the visual presentation of the film as well as its depiction of Krypton and the Kryptonian race.  It also sees an interesting concept where Clark arrives on Earth and is adopted by the Kents that it takes him time for his body to adapt to the conditions of the planet, as we see in the scene where the young Clark is at school and his superhuman abilities of sight and sound overwhelm him and he panics and runs out the room.  And from here Clark has to learn to cope with his super powers and to keep them under control, and it is the same for General Zod when he arrives on the planet, he needs to wear a special mask in order to cope with Earth's atmosphere.  Another interesting aspect of the film is how Clark decides to go through his wilderness years after his father died, going from place to place and using different identities, and it takes him time before he finds out who he really is as he eventually finds the scout ship in Arctic.

Getting onto the performances starting with Henry Cavill, who I have to say I had reservations about as the choice of Superman as in promo photos he just didn't seem to be the right choice for the part.  However after having seen the film, Cavill is actually not that bad in the role, and while he doesn't bear much resemblance to Christopher Reeve, he doesn't really need to in order to make it work (although he does slightly resemble Reeve with his specs on at the end).  Cavill pretty much plays the part straight down the line with little in the way of humour (but we'll get to that) but he does importantly show Superman's natural kindess, compassion and decency and he is still very much the quintessential goodie, even though he does sound a bit arrogant at times, which is very un-Supe like!  Amy Adams is also pretty good (and pretty!) in her role as Lois Lane and they quickly get to the fact that Lois is well into Superman (and as a PLOT SPOILER they do share a kiss later on!) although she does somewhat lack the sassiness that Margot Kidder and Kate Bosworth brought to the role.

Russell Crowe as Jor-El gives a decent enough performance but it felt to me more like he was replaying his role of Maximus from Gladiator, probably given that he uses the same accent.  Kevin Costner also rather surprisingly actually gives one of the film's best performances as Jonathan Kent, Clark's adopted father, as he plays the part in a very understated way, which makes you realise that Costner is still an underrated actor.  Laurence Fishburne while he doesn't get much screen time, is also very good in his role of Perry White, although I was pretty shocked to see how much weight he has put on!  The weak link in the cast however for me was Michael Shannon as General Zod as his take on Zod is very one dimensional and there is nothing much in the way of real menace and certainly not charisma.

But getting onto the flaws there are few, starting with the main one which is the overall tone of the film is very serious, in fact it makes Christopher Nolan's Batman series look like a light comedy! (funnily enough he was one of the co-producers for this film).  And that seems to be a common theme in the reboot of some of these franchises is that there is a need to be so serious and one note, removing alot in the way of wit and humour and not allow for the audience to relate to the characters.  The film also has one of the NOISIEST soundtracks of all time as well, as it is full with near non-stop booming and crashing sound effects.  The action scenes are also shot in a very frantic fashion and they can be a bit distracting, particularly in the scenes where Superman is flying, and later on when he fights against Zod.  Not only that it must impossible to calculate just how much Superman owes in damages to the city!  And there is also the insistance that along with the noisy explosions that Superman's take off also has to be noisy as well!  In the scene where he tells Lois Lane to step back a bit before he takes off, its like he is hitting you with an atomic blast when he flies off, what is wrong with a nice controlled take off a la Christopher Reeve style???? (although he does seem to get the hang of it later on).  And it doesn't really seem to start feeling like a Superman film until near the end where Clark arrives at the Daily Planet, then you get the sense that we have only then arrived in a film that belongs to the Superman universe.

However despite that the film still has something going for it, and visually it is quite impressive, and the Kryptonian soldier suits are pretty cool looking, in fact they are very similar in design to the biosuits in the video game Crysis.  The new superman outfit is actually not too bad either, and is an improvement on the rather dreary coloured suit that was used in Superman Returns and it has a much cooler cape (minus the S sign though).  Zack Snyder does a decent job at the directing duties but perhaps in retrospect he might not have been the best man for the job, regardless he acquits himself well enough.  And another plus Hans Zimmer's score, while its not in the same league as his terrific score for The Dark Knight Rises it is quite good, and it has a stirring theme tune.

So that's it for my look at Man of Steel, which is a fairly enjoyable reboot of yet another Superhero franchise, it is by no means perfect, but if you can forgive that then you might just enjoy it, and Henry Cavill is a decent choice for the role although I have to admit he's not the best choice and his take on Supe lacks the humility that Reeve and Routh brought to the role.  However hopefully Cavill can develop his character if he is given a sequel, which let's hope is an improvement.

And that's it for now.  

Baby did a bad, bad thing

OK time for a film reivew and I've decided to go for a slightly different choice which is Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut, which he died shortly after its completion back in 1999.  The film stars the then celebrity film couple, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and the film is very much centred on them throughout and their fantasies.  But anyway let's have a look at the plot...

The film is set in New York and focuses on a young thirty something couple, Dr Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) who are invited to a party by one of Bill's patients, the wealthy Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack).  At the party both Bill and Alice flirt with other people, as Alice dances with a sauve middle aged Hungarian man (Sky Du Mont) and Bill is tempted by two models.  Bill however is soon lead away upstairs to meet Victor who has a naked young girl who has overdosed on a speedball of heroin and coke, whom Bill eventually brings around, and Victor asks Bill to keep the incident under wraps which he agrees to.  Later that evening as Bill and Alice go home they share a marijuana joint and end up having a row where Alice soon confides that she had a fantasy about a naval officer whom she once saw on a vacation they had.  At this point Bill receives a phone call as the father of one of his female friends (played by Marie Richardson) has died, and as he goes over to her house she becomes upset and impulsively kisses Bill but he resists and tells her she doesn't know what she is saying, just before her fiance comes into the room, Bill then leaves.

Bill afterwards walks the streets, still disturbed by the fantasy that Alice has told him about, and he soon meets a prostitute named Domino (Vinessa Shaw) who takes him back to her apartment, where they share an awkward kiss, but Bill receives a call from Alice and he decides to leave, but pays Domino for her time.  Bill continues to walk the streets and comes along a nightclub where he sees the name of an old friend from his medical school days, Nick Nightingale (Todd Field) whom he had seen at Zeigler's party.  Bill goes inside and speaks to Nick who tells him he has another gig later that night and he is required to play blindfolded, but he had previously done a similar gig where he saw beautiful women who were masked.  Intruiged by this Bill get's Nick to tell him where the party is held, and Nick tells him he would need to wear a costume and a mask.  Bill rents a costume and a mask from an eccentric costume store owner, Milich (Rabe Serbedzija) who catches his young daughter (Leelee Sobieski) with two Japanese men in the store while they are there.  Bill then attends the party wearing his costume and mask and he sees there are many masked people with cloaks, and many naked women, who are in the middle of a sexual riutal ceremony, and they are paired off with men and they soon engage in sex.  Bill soon wanders around the party and is taken by a women who tells her he should leave immediately is he is in great danger.  Bill is soon confronted by the leader of the ceremony who demands he remove his mask, which he does and the leader insists he remove his clothes, but the masked woman prevents this and says she will offer herself as a sacrifice so Bill can be released, which the leader accepts.  Bill then returns home, but the next he starts to encounter some strange events that may have a strong impact on his life...

As Kubrick's swansong, Eyes Wide Shut is a fine film, although in alot of people's eyes it wasn't the film that they hoped it would be as Kubrick's last.  But despite that Eyes Wide Shut has alot going for it, and it was a rather unusual choice for Kubrick to make an adaptation of the short novel Dream story, written by Arthur Schnitzler, but with everything he did, Kubrick certainly made this adaptation his own.  Kubrick also due to his fear of flying, shot the entire film at Pinewood studios and he had his crew build a replica of Greenwich village in New York, where he went as far as sending his workmen over to measure the width of the streets and the location of newspaper stands!  And naturally during the production Kubrick was highly secretive as he always during his films.

And it has to be said that Eyes Wide Shut's biggest strengths simply come from the performances, and the two leads are both excellent.  And while I'm not Tom Cruise's biggest fan I think his performance is very good as the kind and humane Bill Harford, who at once a loving husband and then a frustrated man, shocked by his wife's revelation of her fantasy to give up their marriage just so she could have that naval officer, which leads him on his lurid journey, where he get's caught up in a mystery.  Nicole Kidman is if anything even better than Cruise and her scene where she argues with Bill while stoned is a real highlight, as is the scene where she sobs and tells him of her erotic dream of having sex with so many different men.  You can also clearly see that they are (well at the time) a loving couple which comes across in the film (before it all went pear shaped of course!) really well.  Kidman also get's the distinct honour of saying the last ever line in Kubrick's last film, and the last word interestingly enough is "fuck".  Just like Kubrick to go out on a four letter word! 

The supporting cast are also very good with director/actor Sydney Pollack giving an excellent performance as the wealthy Victor Zeigler who is clearly involved in all the sex parties and toward the end he shares an excellent, albeit drawn out scene with Cruise where he shares his revelation with Bill that he realises he was at the party.  Pollack also get's some great dialogue as he speaks to Bill and tells him how Nick Nightingale got into trouble for telling him about the party "OK so he got a slap on the wrist, that's less than what he deserves, anyway he's probably back home banging Mrs Nick!".  He also get's another really good line in that scene where he says to Bill "Come on, nobody killed anyone, someone dies, it happens all the time, life goes on until it doesn't, but we both know that, don't we?".  Rabe Serbedzija also gives a really good and amusing performance as Milich the eccentric costume store owner, who's young teenage daughter is involve in hanky panky with a couple of Japanese men.  Rabe has quite a few funny lines where he berates the men "gentlemen, have you no sense of deceny?! Can't you see that she is a child?!".  Yet the next day when Bill returns he makes a suggestive offer to Bill that he could offer up his daughter as a sexual favour, as he says "if there is anything you want, anything at all, it need'nt be a costume".  And lastly I will mentioned Todd Field as Nick Nightingale who does a good enough job as Bill's old friend, and Alan Cumming provides an amusing cameo performance as a camp hotel desk clerk.

However it has to be said that Eyes Wide Shut isn't perfect, and it has its flaws, starting with the whole mystery section of the film, where after witnessing the sex party at the mansion, Bill get's embroiled in a mystery over the dead prostitute and he is followed and receives warnings from an unnamed man.  At this point it seems like it is leading to something but the whole thing is killed when (PLOT SPOILER) when Bill goes to see Zeigler who later tells him the whole thing was a fake and a charade, designed to keep him quiet, and at the point the whole thing seems pointless.  One or two of the scenes are also a little bit cringeworthy to watch, especially the scene where the bereaved friend of Bill's played by Marie Richardson kisses him and gushes by saying "I love you, I love you!" out of the blue, its just a silly moment in the film where this woman decides out of grief to give up on her current relationship.  The sex orgy scene is also a bit silly and in typical Kubrick fashion is not that erotic, but more clinical to watch, as the masked men and women have sex (although the 69 sex bit with the two women is not bad!) at the party.  The film's length is also a bit problematic at times as some of the scenes are really long and painfully drawn out, and although Bill's scene witth Zeigler near the end of the film is one of the best, Kubrick really stretches out the pauses in dialogue just that bit too far, which threatens to ruin it.  And finally the repetitive use of Gyorgi Ligeti's "Musica Ricerta" becomes a bit tiresome after a while as its supposed to add to the tension in certain scenes but if anything it detracts from it.

All that aside though however direction wise Kubrick does a great job here, and despite any problems with pacing he has put together an excellent film which features an immaculate production and terrific set design (as I already mentioned).  The soundtrack, despite the repetitive use of the Ligeti track, is also very good and Kubrick chooses fine pieces, starting with Dimitri Shostaskovich's "Suite for variety stage orchestra" used at the start of the film and at the end, as well Chris Isaak's "Baby did a bad, bad thing".  And Kubrick hired English composer Jocelyn Pook who provides some excellent original music for the film, which is featured mainly in the orgy scenes at the party, one of the standouts being a track "migrations" used in the scene where Bill wanders around the party watching the carnal activities.

So that's it for my look at Eyes wide shut, which is a very good end to a magnificent film career for Stanley Kubrick, and while its not one of his greatest films, it saw him go out in fine style, and was fitting reminder of one of America's greatest filmmakers.

And with that I shall lie it right there.    

Doctor Who: Raging inferno

OK time for another review on this blog, and as you might have guessed if you have read some of these posts that I am a bit of a Doctor Who fan, and so for this one I will look at one the classics of the original series, Inferno, which is from Jon Pertwee's era in his first season back in 1970.  So let's delve into the story....

The story is set around a drilling project nicknamed "the Inferno" and is run by the arrogant and bad tempered Professor Stahlman (Olaf Pooley).  Stahlamn's project is set to penetrate the earth's crust and release pockets of energy into the core to provide unlimited cheap energy.  However problems abound at the project, starting with one of the workers, Harry Slocum (Walter Randall) who is called to repair a leakage of green fluid from one of the pumps on the drill, which he touches and it turns him into a primordial creature, who kills a few technicians and a soldier.  The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) who is also at the project, as he is trying to use the power energy from the drill to experiment with his TARDIS to get it working again, and he is accompanied by his companion and fellow scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) and the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney).  Stahlam also has to endure interference from one of his associates, Sir Keith Gold (Christopher Benjamin) who calls in a hot tempered drill expert Greg Sutton (Derek Newark) to help, but his help is soon turned down by the arrogant Stahlman.  The Doctor soon encounters Slocum who soon dies as he is shot by the Brigadier's men, and later on a quantity of the green toxic fluid is siphoned into a jar, which Stahlman scalds his hand on.  Stahlman slowly also starts to feel the effects of the fluid work on him as he decides to sabotage the drill's computer, which warns to stop the drilling.  The Doctor despite his best efforts to warn the Brigadier of the sabotage, gives in and decides to leave using the TARDIS console and he vanishes.

The Doctor soon comes to and finds that he is the same place at the project but that he is in a parallel version of Earth, where Great Britain is now ruled under a fascist regime.  The Doctor soon encounters parallel counterparts of the Brigadier, who is now the fascist Bridgade-Leader, and Liz is now Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw, and Stahlman is now Director Stahlman.  Stahlman's project has also advanced further ahead in time than in the other version of Earth, and the Doctor is captured and interrogated by the Brigade Leader.  However as the project nears the end and the Earth's crust is penetrated, the natural forces of the planet erupt as the complex is shaken by earth tremors, the project crew all flee.  The Doctor escapes his cell but is too late to prevent the events that will soon lead to the planet's destruction and he now has to try and find a way to get back to his own dimension to save the Earth from a similar fate....

Inferno is one of the best stories of the Pertwee era, and in his first season, the tone of the show was far more adult and hard hitting than in the follow seasons that Barry Letts and Terence Dicks produced.  This story in particular is similar in style to Nigel Keale's Quatermass, with its apocalyptic themes.  However the story itself is also brilliantly written by Don Houghton, and the script is also quite witty and there many great lines of dialogue throughout from the characters.  The themes of the end of the world are common in Doctor Who but here they are put to great and dramatic effect especially in the latter episodes where the parallel world faces the end, and the Doctor is left powerless to do anything about it.  And that in itself was one of the strengths of the seventh season in that dared to be dark and different and push to the series into areas that it hadn't really been before, although the show was still essentially Doctor Who.

Getting onto the performances starting with Jon Pertwee, who is perfect as the Doctor and he puts in one of his best performances in the role, especially as he is later put in an impossible situation to either try and save the parallel world and himself.  Jon also get's some great lines of dialogue too in the story, especially when he is in the parallel world and he is to he will be executed but the Brigade Leader says he will stand trial first and the Doctor replies "typical beaurocrat, you can't shoot me until you've filled out all the forms!".  I also liked the moment where Doctor is in his jail cell and he refuses to get up on his feet, but the Platoon leader Benton (John Levine) Sgt Benton's parallel world counterpart points his rifle at him, and the Doctor looks up and says "oh well that's different!".  Jon also shares a great scene with Caroline John as Liz Shaw in the parallel world where he tries to convince her that "no matter what they taught you in this biggoted world you still have a mind of your own!".  Jon also has a funny line when he angrily says to Stahlman "well I was wrong, Professor, its not your liver that's playing up, its your general disposition!". 

Nicholas Courtney is also great in his dual role as the Brigadier and the parallel world counterpart, the Brigade Leader.  Courtney has some great lines especially as the Brigade leader when the Doctor says to him "but I don't exist in your world!" and he replies "well you won't feel the bullets when we shoot you!".  Jon and Nicholas also both share a nice moment together in the scene at the end of story where the Doctor angrily tries to leave using the TARDIS console, but soon reappears covered in dust as he reveals he materliased in a rubbish tip, and the Doctor says "my dear fellow I wonder if I could get one of your chaps to help me move the TARDIS its landed in a rather inaccessible position!" and the Brigadier replies "a pompous self opiniated idiot I believe you called me, Doctor!".  Caroline John is also really good in her dual role as Liz the scientist and the section-leader in the parallel world, and its a nice change up to see her play a fascist character, although she does make that important arc in her character in the parallel world as she realises how the Doctor is telling the truth and she tries to help him towards the end.   But its a pity that Caroline wasn't given a better exit to the show than she was given here, but in the end there was a joint decision between Letts and Caroline for her to leave as she was pregnant at the time and Letts decided not to renew her contract.  And John Levine finally get's a larger role in the show as Sgt Benton and morely as the platoon leader Benton in the parallel world, where he get's to act as the bad guy and is pretty good at it, despite his silly metamorphisis into the primord later on.  Benton in the normal dimension of Earth has a funny moment with the Brigadier when he is ordered to try and get Stahlman to come and see him but Benton says "that he is too busy to waste time bandying words with a pompous military idiot, sir!" and the Brigadier replies sharply "Sergeant I wan't to see Professor Stahlman and I wan't to see him now, and I advise you better not come back without him!  Carry him in here if you have to, but get him!!".

Regarding the other cast, Olaf Pooley is really good as the stubborn and pompous professor Stahlman, and he get's some good lines, especially in his first scene with Sir Keith (played by Christopher Benjamin) whom he blames for interferring with his project, and he says "I'll make a bargain with you, you stay away from my drilling and I'll let you run your canteen!".  Pooley's exasperation at the Doctor is also amusing as he grows more frustrated at him during the project, and he says "that man ought to be locked up!" and "I'm rapidly losing patience with that man!".  Derek Newark as Greg Sutton is also pretty good, the drilling expert who is brought onboard the project by Sir Keith, and at times he exhibits a temper as fiery as the inferno itself.  In fact there are times you imagine that Newark will burst a blood vessel with all the shouting he does in the story, and my favourite line of his in the story is when he yells at Professot Stahlman toward the end "As far I'm concerned you can all blow yourselves to KINGDOM COME!!!".  Newark also has a good scene as Sutton with Sir Keith at the start where he is shown around the drill centre when Sutton arrives and Sutton asks what he is doing here and Sir Keith explains, with Sutton saying "so basically I'm a civil servant down here" and Sir Keith says "yes, how do you feel about that?" to which Sutton replies "no comment!".  Christopher Benjamin is also really good in his smaller role as Sir Keith who voices his concerns to the Doctor and the Brigadier about the project.  The only weak link in the cast comes from Sheila Dunn as Petra Williams, Stahlman's personal assistant, as she is rather one dimensional in the part and is largely sidelined to just gasping in shock and saying "no! and hugging Greg when things go pear shaped toward the end.

Douglas Camfield who was the director for the story does a great job here, although he acutally only directed two episodes as he fell ill with his heart condition, and Barry Letts, the show's producer directed the remaining story and he naturally deserves a great deal of credit aswell.  The story despite being a seven parter is actually very well paced, something which was always a problem with the longer stories in the show, and the change up of the parallel world helps keep the story going without dragging.  And the story also features some stock incidental music tracks, which are really good as well as atmospheric and creepy and the story itself is unique in that it has its own individual titles with footage of erupting volcanos at the start of each episode.

As for the story's flaws well there are one or two, for one I felt the concept of the project was a bit vague, as just how exactly would drilling into the earth's crust be a good idea, and how would they be able to utilise the pockets of energy that Stahlman intended to use????  Because if the forces of the planet are uncontrollable (which they turned out to be!) then why would they even consider it!  It just boils down to Stahlman's megalomania in the end that he refuses to listen to anyone or even to the drill's computer which warns him to shut down the drilling.  Also the make-up for the primords whilst its not bad, on John Levine and Olaf Pooley it does look a bit laughable, particularly on John Levine in the scene where he changes into a primord and he rolls around the floor!  Also another thing is the scene where Stahlamn makes the rash decision of putting his hand on the heat resistance jar with the green liquid inside, which starts to crack due to the intense heat of the substance.  Yet why didn't he lift it by the silver base of the jar???  That way he could have avoided burning himself and from turning into a Primord!  Its not very bright of him to say the least, but its all about the drama I suppose.  You could also argue that while the story is quite powerful, that its rather doom laden tone and of the seventh season in general at the time threatened to alienate the audience of the show.  And it was unknown at the time but the show was in danger of being cancelled after this season as the viewing figures were quite low, and to ensure the show's future Barry Letts and Terence Dicks did the right thing in changing the tone and bringing in the UNIT family to make the show more accessible to its audience.

But despite all that Inferno still remains one of Jon Pertwee's finest stories, which is pretty intense and dark in tone, but is not without its moments of wit and humour, and if you are a fan of the original show and haven't seen it yet, Inferno is definitely one to check out.

And that's it for now.  

Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country - "Don't catch any bugs!"

Right, so this is another revisitation post of sorts as I will be re-doing my post for one of the even numbered (i.e. good) Star Trek films, Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country. But does it really follow the even numbered path like the other Trekkie films??? (well except Insurrection that was God awful!).  Well, let's beam up and take another look...

And yes, the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the story begins with the news that the Klingon empire coming under serious threat of dying out as they lose a key energy production facility and their home planet's ozone layer is destroyed.  The Klingons now realising the danger of their existance decide to try and forge a peace treaty with the Federation of planets.  Spock (Nimoy) puts himself up as a peace ambassador and the Enterprise is given the mission to escort the Klingon chancellor, Gorkon (David Warner) to the negotations on Earth.  Kirk is naturally opposed to this arrangement as he has never forgiven the Klingons for the death of his son, and the Klingons and the Enterprise crew have an uncomfortable dinner onboard the ship. 

However after the Klingons return to their ship, they are attacked seemingly by the Enterprise and two men board the Klingon vessel in spacesuits, as they have disengaged the vessel's gravity, they kill several crew members, and they shoot Chancellor Gorkon.  Kirk back on the Enteprise is surprised by the attack and clearly has no idea what is going on and as a sign of good faith he decides to beam aboard their ship and help, along with McCoy who tries to save Gorkon who soon dies from his wounds, after this Kirk and McCoy are placed under arrest.  Kirk and McCoy are soon put on trial for alleged actions in the attack and they are prosecuted by stern and devious Klingon, General Chang (Christopher Plummer) who was onboard the Klingon ship when it was attacked. Kirk and McCoy are soon found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on a penal planet, Rura Penthe.

Back on the Enterprise Spock assumes command of the Enterprise and then sets about trying to find out what happened onboard the Enterprise during the attack, with the help of his student Vulcan, Valeris (Kim Cattrall) and the rest of the crew.  Meanwhile on the prison asteroid, Kirk and McCoy soon meet a chaemeleon like alien creature Martia (Iman) who tells them that she can help them escape from the prison, which she eventually does but she soon betrays to the Klingons, but Kirk and McCoy are soon rescued by Spock and beamed back onboard the Enterprise.  And from here Kirk begins unravel who is behind the assassination of Gorkon and who is set to sabotage the peace conference on Earth....

THOUGHTS 

It has to be said that Star Trek VI is a big improvement on the below par Star Trek V and it also saw the welcome return of Nicholas Meyer to the directorial helm which also features a fine screenplay which he co-wrote and is rich with quotes from Shakespeare's Hamlet.  The main characters are really well represented again and the idea of the Klingons seeking a peace treaty with the Federation is also really good, especially as their very existence is under threat due to the environmental hazards on their own world, which leaves in a weak position where they can no longer afford to fight. 

And the film also develops a whodunnit theme and Spock even acts as Sherlock Holmes in the film once he starts to investigate who was behind the attack, and he even quotes Holmes by saying "when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth".  The Klingon characters are also very well catered for with Chancellor Gorkon trying to make peace with the humans, and his mistrusting daughter, as well as the devious General Chang.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

Which brings me onto the performances of the film which are overall pretty good with the regular cast all giving their last hurrah together here and solid performances from the supporting cast.

Starting with William Shatner, who is great again as James T Kirk, and his character makes an important arc, especially as he starts off the film with hatred for the Klingons, but after the attack on the Klingon chancellor's ship he immediately surrenders to avoid confrontation, and he later understand the Klingons predicament. 

Bill as you would expect get's plenty of good scenes in the film such as the one where Kirk confronts Spock over his decision to act as the ambassador for the Klingon peace talks. So, in the scene Kirk after the meeting says to Spock of the Klingons "They're animals!" but Spock tries to persuade him of the talks "Jim, there is a historic opportunity here" however Kirk warns Spock "Don't believe them! Don't trust them!". Spock however is more sympathetic to the Klingons and tells Kirk "They are dying" but Kirk then callously says "Let them die!". Spock looks a little surprised by Kirk's harsh reaction, who suddenly sighs and says "Has it occurred to you that this crew is due to stand down in three months? We've done our bit for king and country!".

SPOILER SCENE COMING UP!

Another good scene is when Kirk realises that Martia, the shape shifting alien, who helps them escape from the Rura Penthe mines, has set them up so he hits her. So, Kirk angrily says to her "She didn't need our help getting anywhere! Where'd you get these convenient clothes?! Don't tell me that flare is standard prison issue! It's to let them know where we are. Ask her what she's getting in return". Martia tells Kirk that she is getting a full pardon and as Kirk waits for Spock to beam him and McCoy up (as Spock placed a transponder patch on Kirk's back earlier) and Kirk says to her "An accident wasn't good enough". Martia then tells Kirk "Good enough for one. Two would have looked suspicious" and then she morphs into Kirk and says "Killed while trying to escape. Now that's convincing enough for both!". Then as Kirk and Martia (now in Kirk's form) fight each other, Kirk says to Martia "I can't believe I kissed you!" and the Kirk Martia tells him "It must have been your life-long ambition!".

And after Spock manages to beam up Kirk and McCoy it happens just as the prison commander is about to tell them who was behind setting them up. So after Kirk is beamed up, he starts swearing and ranting as he materialises onboard the Enterprise and complains to Spock "Couldn't you have waited just two more seconds! He was about to explain the whole thing!" Spock then looks surprised and asks "You want to go back?" and McCoy firmly says "Absolutely not!" and Kirk quietly says "Its cold!". 

And lastly there is the scene where (SPOILER!!) Kirk saves the life of the Klingon president, Khitomer when an assassination attempt is made on him. So, as General Gorkon's daughter, Azetbur asks what is going on, Kirk says to her "It's about the future, Madame Chancellor. Some people think the future means the end of history. Well, we haven't run out of history quite yet. Your father called the future - "the undiscovered country". People can be very frightened of change". Azetbur seems touched by Kirk's words and says to him "You've restored my father's faith" and Kirk says to her "And you've restored my son's" as the crowd applaud them both.    

Leonard Nimoy as Spock delivers a fine performance and we see his personality from Star Trek II pretty much fully restored, where has a fine balance of logic and understanding of human behaviour. 

And Leonard has his on share of good scenes such as the one where Kirk confronts Spock over his decision to act as ambassador for the Klingon peace talks. So, in the scene after Kirk learns from Spock that they are expected to lead the Klingdon ambassador as an envoy out to the peace meetings and he is somewhat taken aback.  So, Kirk angrily asks Spock "We volunteered?!" and Spock says to him "There is an old Vulcan proverb. "Only Nixon could have gone into China". However Spock insists this could work for them and says "Jim, there is a historic opportunity here" and Kirk angrily tells him "Spock, you know how I feel about this. They're animals!" and Spock says to him "They are dying" and Kirk angrily says to him "Let them die!" and Kirk then insists they have done their bit for "king and country" and that Spock should have trusted him, which leaves Spock looking a bit confused.

Another good scene is where just after Kirk and McCoy have been sentenced to life imprisonment, the Enterprise crew watch the trial from the bridge and Spock requests to playback the footage of Enterprise firing its torpedos on the Klingdon ambassadors ship. So, Spock says "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". And when asked what Spock means, he says "It means that if we cannot have fired those torpedoes, someone else did". Spock then suggests another ship nearby could have fired the torpedos and his protege, Valeris suggests "A bird or prey" but Scotty insists "But a bird of prey cannae fire when she's cloaked" and Spock tells him "All things being equal, Mr Scott, I'd agree but things are not equal". 




Chekov then suggests if there was a ship nearby then surely the assassins would have beamed aboard from there but Spock refutes it and says "You're forgetting something, Mr Chekov. According to our databanks, this ship fired those torpedoes. If we did, the killers are here. If we did not, whoever altered the databanks is here. In either case, what we are looking for is here".

Then there is the scene where Spock is having his crew search the ship for the gravity boots the killers used to board the Klingon ship. So, in the scene Spock calls Scotty over and asks him "Mr Scott. I understand you're having difficulty with the warp drive. How much time do you require for repair?". Scotty however seems puzzled and says "There's nothing wrong with the bloody thing!" so Spock is forced to explain himself "Mr Scott, if we return to spacedock, the assassins will surely find a way to dispose of their incriminating footwear, and we will never see the Captain or Dr McCoy alive again". Scotty then smiles and says "It could take weeks, sir!" and Spock, satisifed says "Thank you, Mr Scott".

WARNING: SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

Another good scene is where Spock confronts Valeris as she is involved in the conspiracy to kill Chancellor Gorkon, so Spock forcefully uses his mind-meld on her to find out who colluded with her to have the chancellor killed.

So, as Spock performs his mind-meld on Valeris he speaks out the names of the conspirators and afterward the strain of the mind-meld appears too much for Valeris, so Spock let's her go after Kirk demands where the next peace conference location is. So, Spock emotionally tells Kirk "She does not know" and Scotty grimly says "Then we're dead!" and Spock says "I've been dead before. Contact Excelsior. She'll have the co-ordinates". 

Then we have the scene where Kirk visits Spock in his quarters and the two of them discuss what happened and Spock admits "You were right. It was arrogant presumption on my part that got us into this situation. You and the doctor might have been killed" and Kirk smugly says "The night is young!". So, as the two of them discuss what happened, Spock says to Kirk "Is it possible that we two, you and I, have grown so old and so inflexible that we have outlived our usefulness? Would that constitute a joke???". Kirk then says "Don't crucify yourself. It wasn't your fault" and Spock says "I was responsible" and Kirk tells him "For no actions but your own" and Spock tells him "That is not what you said at your trial". So, Kirk says to Spock "Spock, all human beings..." and Spock interrupts him and says "But Captain we both know that I am not human" and Kirk tells him "Spock, you want to know something? Everbody's human" and Spock a little taken aback says "I find that remark...insulting!" and Kirk grins and says "Come on. I need you!".

And last of all is the final scene where (SPOILER!!!!) the Enterprise has been ordered to be decomissioned and the crew are to stand down. So, as the crew look surprised by this news, Spock suggests to the crew "If I were human, I believe my response would be, "Go to hell." If I were human!".

DeForrest Kelley next up is very good once again as McCoy, who usually get's some of the best dialogue in the series and he has his share of good scenes here.

As for a few examples there is the scene where just after Klingon ambassador ship has been attacked and Gorkon shot, Kirk and McCoy beam aboard as an act of good faith. So, as they both see Gorkon dying on the floor, McCoy asks Cheng "Aren't you carrying a surgeon?" and Cheng says to him "We were until this disgrace!" so McCoy pleads "Then for God's sakes let me help!". 

Another good scene from Kelley is where Kirk and McCoy are on trial and Chang questions him and asks "Doctor, would you be so good as to tell me, what is your current medical status?" and McCoy with a smile says "Well apart from a touch of arthritis, I'd say pretty good!" and we hear some laughter from the audience. Chang then looks a little annoyed and says "You have a singular wit, Doctor!".

Chang then grills McCoy on the amount he had to drink that night where Gorkon and Chang attended dinner onboard the Enterprise. So, Chang asks "You know, I believe that you consumed a rather generous amount of Romulan ale in the officers' mess on the night in question. Am I right, Doctor?" and McCoy rather annoyed says "We all did! All of us!". Chang then confronts McCoy over his failure to save Gorkon that night, so he asks him "May, I ask do your hands shake?" and McCoy anxiously says "I was nervous!" and Chang says "No, you were incompetent! You WERE INCOMPETENT! Whether deliberately or as a result of age combined with drink, the court will have to determine!". McCoy however desparately tells the court "My God, man! I tried to save him! I tried to save him. I was desperate to save him. He was the last best hope in the universe for peace!".

Then there is the scene where McCoy and Kirk are imprisoned on Rura Penthe as they are trying to get to sleep and McCoy complains to Kirk "Three months to retirement. What a way to finish!" and Kirk says "We're not finished" and McCoy says "Speak for yourself!". Kirk however is seriously pondering what is going on as a result of their framing and asks McCoy "Bones, are you afraid of your future?" and McCoy says "That was the message I believe I was trying to convey!". Kirk however says "I don't mean this future" as in their sentence on the penal planet and Bones then asks a little annoyed "What is this?! Multiple choice!". However as Martia pays them a surprise visit she quietly tells them that she can help them escape and she kisses him before she goes. So, McCoy after looks to Kirk and asks irritably "What IS IT with YOU anyway?!" and Kirk grins and says "Still think we're finished?" and McCoy groans and says "More than ever!".

SPOILER!!! BIG GIVEAWAY IN NEXT PARAGRAPH!!!

And last of all is the scene where the Enteprise falls under attack from the film's main conspirator, Chang attacks the Enterprise and Spock suggests that they perform a dissection on one of their torpedos so they can return fire on the enemy ship. So, Spock asks McCoy "Doctor, would you care to assist me in performing surgery on a torpedo?" and McCoy smiles and says "Fascinating!". And as the two of them work on the torpedo, Chang's arrogant voice is heard over the speaker system and McCoy says "I'd give real money if he'd shut up!".  

Walter Koenig next up is good once again as Chekov also has a few amusing moments, especially when he is suffering from a hangover after having Romulan ale at the dinner with the Klingons, and Kirk says "Chekov are you aware of any radiation surge?" and Chekov wearily replies "Only the size of my head!". 

And Nichelle Nichols gets a funny moment where they try and cross Klingon airspace, and they have to communicate in Klingon, and they have loads of books of Klingon translation, and Uhura hastily and poorly speaks a few lines of Klingon to the Klingon's at the outpost, and they reply "Don't catch any bugs!" and they laugh, and the Enterprise crew laugh with them, and Uhura shuts off the comm annoyed.

James Doohan is great once again as Scotty here and he too get's some of the film's most amusing scenes

And as a couple of examples of his scenes for starters there is the one where Scotty rants to Spock about Kirk and McCoy's trial after their sentence when Spock suggests that an enemy ship nearby fired on the Klingon ambassador's ship and not Enterprise. So, Spock suggests they must inform Starfleet command and Scotty angrily shouts "Inform them of what, a new weapon that is invisible? Raving lunatics, that's what they'll call us. They'll say that we're so desperate to exonerate the Captain that we'll say anything!".


And lastly there is the scene where Valeris fires her phaser onboard the Enterprise as Chekov suggests why didn't the killers simply vapourise (or wapourise!) their incriminating gravity boots, however the staser sets off the ship's alarms.

So, after Valeris tells Chekov firing a phaser onboard a starship is illegal and unauthorised, Scotty appears and asks "Who fired that...?!". So, Spock then asks Scotty " "Mr Scott. I understand you're having difficulty with the warp drive. How much time do you require for repair?". Scotty however seems puzzled and says "There's nothing wrong with the bloody thing!" so Spock is forced to explain himself "Mr Scott, if we return to spacedock, the assassins will surely find a way to dispose of their incriminating footwear, and we will never see the Captain or Dr McCoy alive again". Scotty then smiles and says "It could take weeks, sir!" and Spock, satisifed says "Thank you, Mr Scott".

As for the supporting cast members, David Warner is excellent as Chancellor Gorkon as a seemingly decent and honourable man who is desparate to try and make a peace work with the Federation.   Warner also get's some fine lines of dialogue, and he does get an amusing one where Gorkon dines with the Enterprise crew and he tells them "You haven't experienced Shakespeare until you have heard it in the original Klingon!" and Chang demonstrates as he says the line "To be or not to be" in his native tongue. 

And after they have one of which is where he says to Kirk "You don't trust me do you? I don't blame you, if we are to build a "brave new world", then our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it". 

And in the scene where Kirk and McCoy board Gorkon's ship and find that he has been shot, McCoy desparately does what he can to try and save him but to no avail. So, with his dying breath, Gorkon brings his hand up to Kirk's head, who leans over him and Gorkon weakly says to him with his last words "Don't let it end this way, Captain" and he goes limp and his hand drops.  

Christopher Plummer is also excellent as the devious and manipulative General Chang and he also get's some fine lines, especially as he is quite fond of quoting Shakespeare (for some reason or other!).

And Plummer has his share of good scenes that include the one where Chang dines on the Enterprise with Kirk and his crew and they have an incredibly awkward and tense evening. So, Chang tells the othes ""To be, or not to be." That is the question which preoccupies our people, Captain Kirk. We need breathing room!" and as he has been hearing quotations all night, Kirk suddenly says "Earth, Hilter. 1938!" and Chang a little taken aback asks "I beg your pardon?". 

Then there is the scene where Kirk and McCoy are put on trial and Chang acts as the prosecutor and he questions both men. So, Chang starts with McCoy and he asks him of that night when McCoy tried to save Gorkon but failed to "Tell me, Doctor, do your hands shake?" and McCoy says "I was nervous!" and Chang says to him "No, you were incompetent! YOU WERE INCOMPETENT! Either by age or combined with drink! The court will have to decide!".

And then later in the scene he questions Kirk and he says "There we have it, citizens. We have finally established the particulars of the crime, and now we come to the architect of this tragic affair, James Tiberius Kirk. What would your favourite author say, Captain? "Let us sit upon the ground "and tell sad stories of the death of kings." Tell us your sad story, Kirk!".

So, as Chang questions Kirk, he plays an excerpt of Kirk's audio log where he reveals that he has never trusted Klingons and never will as he could never forgive them for the murder of his son (David). So, when Chang asks Kirk did he says those words, Kirk says "Those words were spoken by me" however Kirk's defence says that his political views 

Iman also puts in an appealing performance as the seductive shape shifting alien Martia, who helps Kirk and McCoy try and escape from the prison asteroid.  Iman has an amusing line when she initially meets Kirk who knocks out an alien he is fighting with by kicking it in the shins, and Iman says "that wasn't his knee, not all lifeforms keep their genitals in the same place, Captain!".  And Kim Cattrall is also good as Spock's protege who later reveals something rather dark under her Vulcan sleeve.  

As for Nicholas Meyer he does an excellent job here with the film and keeps the drama moving along very well, and maintains a fine line of suspense, action and humour all at the same time.  And the film also features a fine score from composer Cliff Eidelman which is quite grand and operatic at times and is more dark in tone than the previous film scores.  The film's special effects are once again done by Industrial light and magic and they are excellent as you would expect, although some of the effects were actually shot by other companies.  The make up for the film is also worthy of note especially the Klingon make-up is excellent particularly for Gorkon, Chang, and Gorkon's daughter. 

While the film doesn't have much in the way of too many flaws, there are one or two niggles, starting with how Kirk even at what must be the age of 60 is still attracting young ladies (or in this case aliens!) although perhaps this why in the new Star Trek reboot Kirk is seen fooling around with sexy alien females.  I also felt that it was a weird choice to actually make Klingon blood pink (or fuchsia more accurately) as in previous films the Klingon blood was actually red, so did they have some sort of blood tranfusion through the years???  It doesn't really matter of course but its just a curious oddity.  And its also funny how Chekov is so unfamiliar with some of the Starfleet regulations, such as firing a phaser onboard a starship is not permitted as it would set off the alarm, as Valeris informs him, but you would assume as a starfleet commander, he already should know that!

But apart from those small niggles Star Trek VI is a very good entry in the franchise and it was a fine swansong for the original cast of the show, as this film also marked the 25th anniversary of the show, and it was a pity that its creator Gene Roddenberry passed away shortly before the film's premiere.  And overall it stands as one of the best entries in the series.

So on that note I shall beam it up!  

Star Trek V: The final frontieerrr

Right well I thought it was time for a review on Star Trek V: The final frontier, as I've already done II, III and IV.  This time William Shatner took over the directorial duties here from Leonard Nimoy, so let's gie it a look then....

So the film begins with the crew of the new Enterprise (after the destruction of the original one in Star Trek III) taking shore leave after their first cruise in the ship goes awry.  And Kirk (Shatner) is sharing his shore leave with Spock (Nimoy) and McCoy (Kelley) as they are in Yosemite Park, but they soon receive a call from Starfleet command which brings their leave to an end.  Kirk and his crew are ordered to go and rescue human, Klingon and Romulan hostages on the planet Nimbus III.  On arrival at Nimbus III, Kirk and his crew discover that the man behind the hostage crisis is in fact a Vulcan named Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) which Spock soon reveals is in fact his half brother.  During an attempt to end the seige, Sybok captures the Enterprise crew and he also uses his mind melding powers to bend the crew to his will, and he tells them that he plans on taking their ship past the great barrier, to a planet that is known as Sha ka Ree, a place that is shrouded in myth that is said to be the place that was responsible for the creation of life itself.  However passing the great barrier in itself could prove to be a journey that could destroy the Enterprise, and as Kirk placed in the ship's brig along with Spock and McCoy, it is up to him to try and stop Sybok from achieving his plan....

Star Trek V it has to be said in comparison to the previous films is a bit of a letdown, although it is still fairly entertaining, Shatner seems to have made the franchise a bit of a joke.  Plus also the Star Trek crew at this point are also starting to look that bit older and we are subjected to one or two moments you wish you had never seen, such as Uhura dancing wearing very little and using large feathers to cover herself, which is cringeworthy in itself!  The humour is also a bit more heavily accented and while there are certainly some amusing moments it is also a bit cheesy at times, and it feels less grounded than the previous films and a bit more like slapstick.  The film itself underwent multiple re-writes and also it suffers somewhat from the fact that ILM were unable to do the special effects for the film, and they used a different team run by Brian Ferren, in order to keep the costs down, so the effects look distinctly less impressive than before. 

Performance wise the film is actually not too bad and one of the things that works better here is the dynamic between the three leads of Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley and the scenes they share together are the best in the film.  The best scene in the film they have together is arguably the best scene in the film where Sybok makes McCoy face his pain, as he shows him the image of his dying father and he chose to euthanise him to spare him the pain, only to find not longer after a cure was found for his condition.  They also share some funny moments such as where they are locked in the Enterprise's brig and Kirk tries to escape by being given a hoist to reach the bars above in the ceiling but instead he get's zapped by a defensive electric shock.  Spock then tells Kirk that the brig is inescapable as it was tested by the Starfleet's best officer for the job, and Kirk asks "did this officer have by any chance pointed ears and the endless capacity for getting his shipmates into trouble??" and Spock replies "he did have pointed ears".  James Doohan as Scotty once again also delivers an amusing performance as the ship's chief engineer and he helps Krik, Spock and McCoy escape from the brig and he yells "don't you know a prison break when you see one!".  Scotty amusingly later on tells the trio how to escape back to the communications room, and Kirk says he is a miracle, and Scotty replies "oh I know this ship like the back of my hand!" and he then walks into a high beam, knocking himself out. 

As for the film's main antagonist, Sybok, Laurence Buckinhill gives a decent performance as Spock's far more emotional and passionate Vulcan brother.  However it has to be said his performance is a bit melodramatic at times especially in the moments where he uses his mend melding powers to relieve people from their pain and he says "this pain has poisoned your soul for a long time!".  Also the scene where he introduces himself to Spock, he sounded almost like a gameshow host "Spock its me!  Its Sybok!".  Although the interesting thing about Sybok's character is that he isn't really a vilaiin and he in the end his just wants to achieve his goal of reaching Sha ka Ree rather take any lives in the process.

Getting on to the flaws of the film, well there are a fair few, starting with the useless addition of the enemy Klingon captain Klaa, who is far from menacing and is a bit of a joke as far as baddies goes, he decides to pursue Kirk for his own personal glory.  However when Klaa catches up with the Enterprise, the Klingon ambassador stops him from carrying out his attack, and he is told off like a schoolboy and forced to apologise to Kirk.  The group dynamic of Kirk, Spock and McCoy does work well in the film, but I do find it a bit difficult to digest that they would spend their shore leave together, as something just doesn't sit right with that.  Surely you would think as McCoy suggests "all that time we spend on the ship getting on each others nerves, and what do we do?  We go on vacation together!" that they would want to spend their shore leave apart.  Also the main villain piece of the film turns out to be (PLOT SPOILER) the God of Sha Ka Ree who is no more than a powerful existential being that wants to escape its planet, and it makes for a rather hasty decision to turn him into a baddie, which leads to the film's rather poorly concieved climax.  Although this scene leads into a funny line from Kirk when Klaa's klingon vessel appears and aims its gun at Kirk who says "so its me you want, you Klingon bastards!".     

On the plus side however the film sees the return of the composer Jerry Goldsmith and he provides the film with a pretty good score and its good to hear that familiar main theme of Goldsmith's (which was at the time used also for the TV series: Star Trek The Next Generation).

So that's it for my look at Star Trek V, which doubtless remains one of the weakest entries in the franchise, and although it is still fairly enjoyable its far from one of the best.

And that's it for the now.