Rogue Rebels And The Heavy Breather

“Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Director.” ~ Darth Vader

“The power that we are dealing with here is immeasurable.” ~ Orson Krennic

“The captain says you’re a friend. I will not kill you.” ~ K-2SO

“Our rebellion is all that remains to push back the Empire. We think you may be able to help us.” ~ Mon Mothma

“They call it the Death Star. There’s no better name. And the day’s coming soon, when it will be unleashed.” ~ Galen Erso

“Take hold of this moment. The Force is strong.” ~ Chirrut Imwe

“I’ve been recruiting for the rebellion for a long time.” ~ Cassian Andor

“The world is coming undone. Imperial flags reign across the galaxy.” ~ Saw Gerrera

 “We have hope. Rebellions are built on hope!” ~ Jyn Erso

When the Disney studios got their hands on Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise, the decision was made not only to continue to make more films, hence the release a year ago of The Force Awakens, but also some tie-in self contained stories set in that universe, basically an anthology of tales firmly set in the galaxy of Imperial forces and courageous rebels. Rogue One is the first of those stories, set shortly before the events of the 1977 original film, featuring a small band of rebels racing to retrieve the plans for the Empire’s ultimate weapon.

As a prelude, scientist Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) is taken by force from his family by Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), an Imperial weapons designer who wants him to return to work on a secret project. His wife is killed during the raid, and their daughter Jyn is taken to safety by a rebel, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Years later, Jyn (Felicity Jones) is freed from Imperial captivity by rebels and brought in on a mission after word has been smuggled out from her father on what the Empire has in store. The small band of misfits now find themselves racing to thwart a doomsday weapon most film audiences are quite familiar with: the Death Star.

The concept for this goes back long before the Disney-Lucasfilm deal, this notion of telling self contained stories firmly within the universe as established by George Lucas. John Knoll, a visual effects supervisor for the prequel trilogy, was pitching the idea for some time, and did so again after the deal. The studio decided to go ahead with the idea of these self contained tales, alongside the new trilogy being unfolded at present. Knoll and writer Gary Whitta had a hand in the story process at one point or another, with the screenplay being finished and polished by Tony Gilroy and Chris Weitz. The story is at heart a dark one, a war epic with a very clear line between good and evil. Beyond that, the story mixes in dark humour (particularly from the resident droid), and a sense of impending tragedy- we know things can’t end well for these people. While a good number of the characters are new, some familiar faces appear- Mon Mothma and Bail Organa have both appeared previously in Star Wars lore, and their appearances here are welcome.

Gareth Edwards was brought in as director, which was a good touch. He had recently done the Godzilla reboot in 2014, and his style for an epic, sprawling action tale transfers well over here- with more looks at what we’re seeing, as opposed to the glances and cutaways and darkly lit set pieces of a good part of that film. The production style he employed in filming this rings true to the style of the original Star Wars- the sets, costumes, props, and visual effects don’t seem out of place with that film, given that this movie so closely leads into that one. There are some visual surprises along the way- body doubles mixed with digital effects bring in the late Peter Cushing’s Tarkin as well as a young Carrie Fisher as Leia, and that comes across seamlessly. And in keeping with Star Wars tradition, the visual effects are part of introducing us to strange new worlds, as well as some familiar ones- filming in the Maldives, for example, gave us a watery atoll setting that’s strangely beautiful, before things go terribly wrong, and perhaps evoke thoughts of the Second World War in the Pacific theatre.

Edwards keeps the movie flowing, never slowing down, but steadily driving up tension as he goes along. There’s an underlying sense of dread and urgency as things go along, and the director’s visual style plays to that. He films battle sequences- on planets and in the stars- with a ferocious intensity fitting the genre- this feels like a war film. The movie also marks the first time that a Star Wars film does not have the musical work of John Williams. Michael Giacchino, who’s been doing a whole lot of work in recent years, including the Star Trek films, comes on board as composer, giving a darkly moody score that does incorporate Williams’ themes here and there as needed.

The cast is international in scope, and that plays off well. Ben Mendelsohn is the primary villain of the piece, Orson Krennic, an ambitious, contemptuous, and ruthless Imperial officer and designer of weapons for the Empire. The Australian character actor has been in a lot of roles down through the years- the first time I ever saw him in anything was as a laid back mountain climber in Vertical Limit, but others might remember him as Bane’s corrupt corporate ally Daggett in The Dark Knight Rises. His character is a nasty piece of work, with a malevolent streak and little in the way of sympathy. Darth Vader appears as well, the ultimate villain at his most malicious. James Earl Jones reprises the voice of the Dark Lord, while the physical role is carried out by two actors- Spencer Wilding and Daniel Naprous. This might well be the last we ever see of Vader at his darkest on the big screen, and he’s a cruel, brutal pleasure to watch, chilling at the same time.

Alan Tudyk (Serenity) did the voice and motion capture for K-2SO, a droid that was once an Imperial enforcer, its memory erased. K is a whole lot less polite than C-3P0 ever was, and snarky in his own way, so there are times he steals the scenes. Riz Ahmed gets an interesting role as Bodhi Rook, an Imperial pilot who chooses to defect to the Rebellion, and his place in the team requires the actor to step in two worlds and convey the sense of shifting allegiances. Jiang Wen plays a Rebel soldier and mercenary named Baze Malbus, tough and capable, and a friend to another Rebel. That character being Chirrut Imwe, played by actor Donnie Yen, a character who’s blind and yet in touch with the Force, something of a zen presence to the team.

Mads Mikkelsen is one of those character actors always compelling in whatever he does, and here he’s the father of the lead heroine, torn away from his family and forced into doing the bidding of evil. Mikkelsen brings a sense of regret and loss to his performance as Galen, as well as poignancy. Forest Whitaker is also a character actor who can make a role fascinating to watch, and he gets a lot to do as Saw Gerrera, a veteran of the Clone Wars that were such a strong component of the prequel trilogy. Gerrera is courageous and bold, and clearly a leader. Diego Luna shows up as Cassian Andor, a Rebel intelligence officer given responsibilities over the mission, including one that serves as a troublesome contingency measure. He’s a leader in his own right, brave and stoic as the film unfolds, weighed down by the responsibilities he faces.

Felicity Jones has the lead role as Jyn. She’s hardened by what life has had in store for her, cynical even, and yet not broken. All that she loved was torn away from her, and at the same time she’s come out of it as a survivor. She invests herself in the mission with a personal stake, and we sympathize with her, part because of way Jones carries herself in the role, but also because we’ve been a silent witness to what she’s lost. Jones makes the character compelling to watch, bold, brave, and poignant. It’s a one time role, but it’s a good one, and a worthy heroine for the Star Wars universe.

Rogue One is an entertaining addition to the Star Wars mythos, giving us new characters in a familiar universe of dark threats and the hope of a better day to come. It’s self contained, but ties strongly into what’s come before. It is ferocious and intense at times in its action sequences, and dark in its tone, but it works well, leaving the audience satisfied and wanting more of these self contained stories. Next up? A tale of a young smuggler with a talent for getting himself and his friends into trouble...

An Inferno Of Conspiracies

"Dante's Inferno isn't fiction. It's a prophecy." ~ Robert Langdon

“There is a switch. If you throw it, half the people on Earth will die, but if you don’t, in 100 years, the human race will be extinct. You are humanity’s final hope.” ~ Bertrand Zobrist

"Professor, you are having visions, aren't you?" ~ The Provost

"You won't be able to trust your own thoughts for awhile." ~ Sienna Brooks

“The greatest sins in human history were committed in the name of love.” ~ Robert Langdon

Conspiracies and chases through breathtaking Old World architecture abound as Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard return for Inferno, another adaptation of a Dan Brown novel. Following in the footsteps of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, which featured troublesome authority figures, dark conspiracies, hidden truths contained in art, and an overly curious and knowledgeable American professional, the film returns to Europe for a country hopping exercise in preposterousness and high stakes poker. Well, not the poker, just the high stakes.

Having had taken a hand in deciphering Leonardo's great secrets and saving the Vatican in previous film outings, Robert Langdon (Hanks) finds himself waking up in an Italian hospital with no idea how he got there, and suffering of a head graze. The attending doctor, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) informs him he was shot, which has affected his short term memory. Before he has time to even adjust, a woman (Ana Ularu) turns up armed and ready to kill. The two flee, following a trail that starts with an oddity among Langdon’s personal belongings that points the way to the works of Dante, a conspiracy that has global implications, a villain who’s gone and killed himself even before the first act starts, and shadowy forces whose agenda seems murky at best.

This is the third Robert Langdon outing in film, though the character has appeared in four books now, each time as the proverbial Smartest Man In The Room, able to figure out cryptic mysteries long hidden away in art, books, or aged documents. Dan Brown has made a bloody fortune off the character, who’s proven to be exceedingly popular since the second book of the series, The Da Vinci Code, became a runaway bestseller. That book and Angels & Demons got film adaptations from Howard and Hanks, though the third book in the series, The Lost Symbol, got passed over in favour of this most recent book, which follows the characters from Florence and Venice in Italy to its finale in Istanbul, Turkey. It’s been seven years since we last saw Hanks in the leading role.

David Koepp, who has many screenwriting credits, as well as directing credits to his name, previously co-wrote Angels & Demons as an adaptation, so this is his second time around with Langdon. The adaptation makes some significant departures from the source novel, particularly in the second half, telling a tale of a biological weapon and a madman who thinks he’s doing the right thing for the world- even if there’s some sense to the root cause, what with overpopulation being a real issue. Unlike the previous books and films, which stressed old secrets hidden away by secret societies in various odd places, this story has a more contemporary thread in its conspiracy, even if it makes use of old creative outlets and artistic sensibilities.

The preposterousness that’s standard to a Dan Brown plot is there, of course, along with the plot holes. Also returning are some of the standard Brown operating procedures: shifting allegiances, authority figures who might be on the side of the right or wrong, the highly intelligent young female counterpart to Langdon, and the broad conspiracy theories. The formula might seem a bit well worn by now, what with having had seen it already play out before. The pacing of the film itself seems rather frantic, and deeply convoluted at times. Of the three films, this one doesn’t work as well as its predecessors (particularly Angels & Demons), perhaps because of that frantic, convoluted pace, and because it’s following already familiar territory. And I found myself a bit irritated by the villain’s entire plan- why not just release the damned virus instead of going through this whole elaborate, grandly staged scheme? The notion ends up coming across rather like a Bond villain- only there, you expect that sort of grandiosity out of the villains.

Howard filmed on location, some of that being in Florence and Venice, but also on sets in Hungary, substituting perhaps for Turkey, which, let’s face it, isn’t exactly friendly territory for filming these days. He’s already well familiar with the world of Robert Langdon, the incessantly curious academic with a tendency to find himself wrapped up in mysteries and hidden secrets; the films mark his only actual film franchise, since his directing work has usually been self contained stories. He films at times both in the frantic chase style that the story requires, but also like he’s doing a travelogue, looking at places you’d love to get a look at yourself- if not for the fact that his characters are being chased by one dangerous lunatic or another. He does what he can with what he’s got- Inferno as a source material isn’t quite up to the entertainment reading value of the first two Brown novels- and ends up bringing out a film that’s at least a capable, if not quite as satisfying, follow up.

The cast are well chosen. Ben Foster appears only briefly as the villain, playing Zobrist as a man who entirely believes in himself and his cause, and damn the consequences. There’s something inherently dangerous, charismatic, and unhinged in the man, but he believes he is absolutely right, and that his path is the only path to follow. It reminds one of a cult leader, without the cult. Omar Sy appears as Christoph Bouchard, an official who turns up as the story goes along, and ends up playing to the what's his real agenda aspect of most of the characters in the film.

Ana Ularu is a Romanian actress, and she finds herself following in the footsteps of Paul Bettany and Nikolaj Lie Kaas before her, playing the profoundly dangerous henchman, the immediate threat to the protagonist. She certainly impresses in that job, as the actress conveys a thoroughly ruthless, efficient energy to the performance, coming across as a credible threat on screen.

Irrfan Khan is best known to audiences in India as an actor, but he’s done some work in Hollywood, including last year’s Jurassic World. Here he plays a character nicknamed The Provost, the head of a private security concern whose allegiances shift as the story goes along, from working on behalf of a client to coming to grips with the fact that his client is a monster. It makes for a rather interesting take on the character, less clinical than the character was in the book.

Sidse Babett Knudsen is a Danish actress, playing a pivotal role for the film, Elizabeth Sinskey, head of the World Health Organization (though we must wonder why the WHO has officials who run around with weapons). The character is desperately racing against time to contain a crisis, and like others in the film, we are left to wonder for a time at her own agenda. The character is an interesting one, with some history with Langdon, and the actress gives the character a sense of gravity and resolve as she goes along.

This is only the third project I’ve seen Felicity Jones in. She had a blink and you’ll miss it appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and appeared in Julie Taymor’s adaptation of The Tempest (which I absolutely hated- honestly, Shakespeare should come back from the grave and sue her for that). The actress appears next in the Star Wars one-off tale Rogue One next month. Here she plays the highly intelligent young partner by circumstance of Professor Langdon, but she too has her own secrets, which take her in different directions from the character’s place in the books. She certainly conveys the intelligence of the character in just the right way.

Tom Hanks returns once more as Professor Langdon. He brings to film the sense of curiosity and intelligence so integral to the character, which is a good thing. Langdon is a wellspring of information and arcane knowledge, and here he finds himself in a situation where his memory, one of his greatest gifts, isn’t quite reliable, which gives him a reason to be shaken up. He’s also shaken up by the stakes of the story, which go rather beyond what has come before. Langdon’s curiosity, even in the face of danger, does make him an interesting character, and Hanks plays to that. Being an already established character helps (as does being played by Hanks)- we’re generally already on his side and sympathetic to him. Hanks does have that history of playing characters we can at least empathize with; though personally I will never, ever, ever empathize with Forrest Gump, a character I would rather see wiped out of existence for all time.... did I mention I hate double infinity hate Forrest Gump? Fortunately this character is a world away from that loathsome irritant, and while he seems decidedly perplexed by the situation he’s in, it’s good to see him again.

Inferno doesn’t measure up to its predecessors in the series. For me, Angels & Demons with its high stakes and countdown to an awful thing happening tone works best as a film. This adaptation, with its plot holes, is treading ground we’ve already seen before, and does tend to be rather frantic and convoluted as things go along. Still, as long as you ignore the plot holes, the film works well enough, giving us another Langdon caper that also serves as something of a travelogue.

A travelogue, mind you, with bullets and deadly bio weapons.