Beware The Wrath Of A Grumpy Big Ape

“This planet doesn’t belong to us. Ancient species owned this earth long before mankind. I spent thirty years trying to prove the truth: monsters exist.” ~ Bill Randa

“An uncharted island. Let me list all the ways you’re going to die: rain, heat, disease carrying flies, and we haven’t started on the things that want to eat you alive.” ~ James Conrad

“Kong’s god on the island, but the devils live below us.” ~ Hank Marlow

“It’s time to show Kong that man is king!” ~ Preston Packard

“We don’t belong here.” ~ Mason Weaver

The monsters return in a big way in Kong: Skull Island, a new take on the King Kong mythos from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. The film is the second in Legendary Entertainment’s monster-verse, also serving as a prequel to the 2014 Godzilla, which is yet to come as far as the film’s timeline is concerned, but is referenced during the film. Bringing together a diverse cast for an adventure tale involving fierce monsters on a lost island, the film presents the cranky gigantic ape while evoking the Vietnam War era in which the story is set.

The story opens in 1973, where a government agent, Bill Randa (John Goodman) hires a former British SAS captain, James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) to lead an expedition onto an uncharted island in the South Pacific, known as Skull Island (which ought to be the first notion to make one reconsider making the trip). A helicopter squadron led by a grouchy Lieutenant-Colonel, Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) is brought in as an escort, and the expedition also includes a photojournalist, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), who has her own agenda, believing the expedition is little more than a military operation that needs to be exposed. Things of course quickly go wrong on the island when it becomes clear that Weaver’s suspicions are true, and that the island is home to more than one irritable giant beast.

The film is a reboot of the King Kong franchise, offering up an origin story that stands out well on its own but also gives nods to things to come. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen the big ape on the big screen, in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, which was set in the 1930s Depression and ranged from the mysterious lost island to the lights of New York City. The story here does not take the ape off the island, doomed to meet a bad end by falling off a huge building as has been the habit in previous Kong films. Instead it keeps things squarely on the island. The film has been in development for awhile, with acknowledgements that it would tie into Godzilla, something that it does in bringing Monarch, the secretive agency of that film into the mix, or giving us glimpses of familiar beasts in the lore of that oversized critter.

The screenplay is by Dan Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy) and Max Borenstein (Godzilla), from a story conceived by Gilroy and John Gatins (Flight). Setting the narrative in the dying years of the Vietnam War is creative- the tone of the story evokes Vietnam era movies, like Platoon or Apocalypse Now, with the dread of what’s up that river and the underlying tone of impending madness that you’d find in films dealing with that war. The story also deals with the dangers of obsession, most characteristic in the characters Randa, who seeks to confirm his own beliefs about the existence of monsters without taking into account their danger, or especially Packard, who comes across as a Captain Ahab of sorts. And the story thoroughly plays around with the thrills and chills of the monster genre, giving us a fearsome titular beast but turning things around by adding in creatures even more ferocious- requiring Kong to be a hero of sorts.

Location filming took place in Vietnam, Hawaii, and Australia, all tropical settings that do a good job of bringing to life the mysterious, exotic look of Skull Island, as well as lending an underlying menace as the film goes along. Several directors were considered in pre-production; Vogt-Roberts is a curious choice for the job, given that his previous experience is in part, in television, as well as two features- a documentary on stand up comedy and the 2013 film The Kings Of Summer, which is hardly the sort of resume you’d expect for a big budget adventure director.

And yet his film works well. Vogt-Roberts paces the film well, slowly building up tension, handling the character dynamics, particularly differences, in just the right way. He takes things in just the right way as he introduces the characters, many of whom won’t live to get off the island (again, what were you all thinking signing on to go to a place called Skull Island?). And then, when it’s time for the ferocity of the film to be unleashed, the director’s style is bold and well done. His visual style and camera work allows us to keep track of the action both on the human scale and the oversized monster scale. The setting is largely lighter than the overly dependent on night time filming of Godzilla, which also helps.

The special effects are well done. As was the case with Peter Jackson’s take on Kong, where people certainly appeared to be in the same space as these giant monsters, that applies here as well- Kong and the other monsters, the Skull Crawlers, as they are called, do appear to be occupying the same terrain, as opposed to looking stilted. Kong himself is a mix of CGI and motion capture work (done by Terry Notary, following in the footsteps of Andy Serkis, who’s made a career out of showing up on sets in motion capture suits). He certainly looks like a behemoth, a force of nature not be under-estimated. And he looks like you’d expect King Kong to look like.

I like the cast choices. It starts with actors like Toby Kebbell, Thomas Mann, or Jason Mitchell, all of whom play loyal soldiers under the command of Packard- perhaps too loyal, as the colonel proves to be a bit too obsessed with getting revenge. Jing Tian and Corey Hawkins get good roles as scientists, both with what might seem to be implausible ideas and hidden agendas, but both likable in their own way. It’s common of the whole cast that the characters are, in one way or another, misfits.

 John C. Reilly, who’s spent time in a wide variety of roles as a character actor, including inexplicably a couple of comedies with the profoundly obnoxious Will Ferrell (side note: if Will Ferrell were clinging to the side of a cliff, I’d step on his fingers). Here he gets to play an interesting and eccentric role- Hank Marlow, an American pilot who’s been stranded on the island since World War Two and has gotten to know the place more than he’d have liked to. Marlow offers up some needed expository dialogue (and wry humour) during the calm between the storms, but also leaves us wondering how a man lost to civilization for decades on end would cope with it all.

John Goodman is another one of those character actors you’ve seen in countless roles- I tend to like his film work. His Bill Randa is a good role, a somewhat secretive official who heads up the entire operation and omits vital details until the party is well and deep into trouble. He’s a man who plays his cards close to the vest, only revealing his associations with the Monarch organization and the existence of monsters after the fact. While he is duplicitous in that regard, he’s still brave enough to go out there in the field and take part in a dangerous operation, something you wouldn’t expect in someone who’s higher up in such an organization.

Brie Larson (Room) gets the leading lady role as Mason Weaver- and yet unlike Naomi Watts, Jessica Lange, or Fay Wray in previous Kong outings, she’s not the damsel in distress and object of affection by an oversized ape. Instead she’s capable and resourceful, altruistic and a pacifist by nature. She comes into the expedition with her own agenda, fuelled by cynicism and suspicion over the true objectives of what’s supposed to be a scientific expedition, and proven right by events as they unfold. She’s someone of conscience, driven by a respect for nature, and so she ends up viewing Kong in a completely different way than the colonel, accepting that the beast is not an enemy.

Samuel L. Jackson gets a whole lot to do as the relentlessly driven and perpetually grouchy military career soldier Packard. He gives the role a sense of authority- we can see why his men are loyal to him- and then invests it with a whole lot of obsessive crankiness as he becomes consumed with the idea of getting even with the over sized primate that killed some of his men. It’s a Captain Ahab sort of character, and we all know that Captain Ahabs of fiction never meet good ends. But Jackson gives him depth, showing an intensely driven man as the film goes along.

Hiddleston gets the leading man role as James Conrad (surely not a coincidence that he shares a surname with Joseph Conrad, who wrote Heart Of Darkness, the source material for Apocalypse Now, which in and of itself has an influence on this film). He's an interesting character- a veteran of the British Special Air Service, the sort of person you definitely don’t want to pick a fight with. We learn he’s also served in the Vietnam War, an odd touch since that was an American conflict, and we get the sense that his life’s experiences has left him broken inside. Conrad brings a certain skill set to the story vital for the expedition as a tracker and soldier. He’s a man who’s caught between war and nature; he understands conflict intimately, but can step outside that and view what seems to be an antagonist- a cranky giant ape- as something to be sympathetic about. The actor certainly carries himself well in the role and makes Conrad compelling, and it’s interesting to see him opposite Jackson in a completely different dynamic than their previous roles in the Avengers world (with Larson still to turn up in that respect in a future installment).

Kong: Skull Island is a satisfying adventure tale, with an interesting choice as period settings- we’ve seen the Vietnam War often in films, but never in the context of a monster movie. It establishes a shared universe with another monster, setting the stage for a future clash with Godzilla (and other gigantic beasts yet to come). The film is well paced, with suspension building in just the right way before unleashing action. It gives us a formidable leading beast with his own enemies, and a human cast of misfits who keep us interested and engaged. And the film leaves us wanting more. We’ll just have to be patient.

Never Call The Raccoon A Raccoon

Some links before I get started today on this film review, which Norma has reviewed as well. Shelly has a new grandson to celebrate. Check out this museum at Krisztina's page. Yesterday was a Square Dog Friday at Parsnip's blog. And The Whisk asked a pressing question of the gravest importance. 

"The fate of twelve billion people is in your hands." ~ Nova Prime Rael

"So here we are. A thief, two thugs, an assassin, and a maniac. But we're not going to stand by as evil wipes out the galaxy." ~ Star Lord

Guardians Of The Galaxy is the latest in the series of films from Marvel Studios, a space faring romp through the cosmos with a gleefully anarchic sense of fun. Director James Gunn helms the film, working with fellow screenwriter Nicole Perlman in telling a story of a group of misfits out among the stars confronting threats and learning to work together. The roots in comics reach back decades, when a team by that name was first formed in the pages of Marvel comics, having adventures a thousand years in the future. The configuration of these characters, however, goes to the writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who several years ago were heavily involved in writing the cosmic side of things at Marvel. Abnett and Lanning took a group of star faring characters who had been around at Marvel for years, joining forces and taking the name of the previous team. The core of that group helm this movie, and the film's story owes much to Abnett and Lanning's work. There is an ongoing series being published at the moment with the team, though I advise you to avoid it entirely- it is being written by the worst writer in the industry, a man who just happens to be the best friend of Marvel's head honcho.

The film opens up in the past, when we meet Peter Quill, a boy whose mother has just died. He is abducted by space pirates, led by the alien Yondu (Michael Rooker), and taken into the stars. Years later as an adult, Quill (Chris Pratt) has taken to calling himself Star-Lord and is in the midst of stealing a mysterious orb when he is intercepted by another alien, Korath (Djimon Hounsou). The orb itself, it turns out, happens to contain an Infinity Stone, something that can tend to be very dangerous in the wrong hands. His theft attracts other attention beyond Korath: Gamora the assassin (Zoe Saldana) is dispatched after him.

Two bounty hunter partners, a genetically altered raccoon called Rocket and a walking tree called Groot get mixed up into the mess. The interstellar peacekeeping Nova Corps arrest the lot and throw them into a cosmic prison, the Kyln, where they encounter another entity, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista). Drax has a grudge or two against Gamora, because of her association with a big bad named Ronan (Lee Pace). Ronan is a particularly nasty fellow (at least in this movie; the comics version has tread the line from acting as an antagonist to an ally). Gamora, however, isn't loyal to Ronan, and the group find themselves banding together, first to escape, and then to deal with the grave threat Ronan and his allies pose against the galaxy as a whole.

Gunn and Perlman's story leans heavily on the influences of Abnett and Lanning, and yet tells a story that stands on its own quite well. It stands apart from the previous Marvel films in that it sets its story out among the stars, and it infuses a sense of humour into the proceedings. This reflects itself in the makeup of the team, who are brought together not particularly in a voluntary way, and bicker with each other all along. It reflects itself in small ways- the incredibly bad taste of music on Quill's Walkman (his mother's musical inclinations, was, in a word, awful), or the way no one takes Quill's personal nickname seriously. Quill himself is written as a rogue, a fish out of water with an influence of Han Solo about him, a snarky and sarcastic character. The snarkiness certainly extends to another member of the team, the cranky Rocket, a motormouth voiced by Bradley Cooper. The story, over all, builds on the classic cinematic notion of a Maguffin (the heretofore mentioned mysterious orb) that everyone wants, and while it has all of the sci-fi action you would expect out of a comic book adaptation, the story has fun with itself, in the way that a good sci-fi film ought to be.

The special effects serve the story well. Having a story set out in the stars offers a variety of realms, and special effects and CGI render these realms in different ways. The world of Xandar, home of the Nova Corps, is an orderly- somewhat too orderly- world, clean and sterile somewhat. Other places are murky, particularly the Kyln or Knowhere, a refuge the team take to. That gloom extends to the lairs of Ronan, or his patron Thanos, who we've seen before. By contrast, the archives of the Collector is a place of the bizarre, and that comes across in the special effects. At times, of course, and that's to be expected in a comic book adaptation, the action can overwhelm the story, with the explosive pyrotechnics you'd expect, but it didn't become tedious at all to me.

Where the CGI and special effects particularly come out so well are in the renderings of two main characters. Groot and Rocket certainly come across as inhabiting the same space as the actors. Part of this might involve motion capture, the techniques being used in The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit films to such good effect. The snarky raccoon very much feels like he's scurrying about on gangways and in starships, just as much as his lumbering partner Groot comes across as a cohesive, real presence in the shots. Best of all- neither of the pair come across in the same obnoxious way as an infamous certain Star Wars character (Jar-Jar Binks, I'm looking at you). 

The cast make the most of their parts. For some it's taking things more seriously (villains tend to be quite serious, after all). For others, they're having something of a romp playing their roles, even if they can't quite show it. Glenn Close turns up as the head of the Nova Corps, and she plays the role with authority, albeit little tolerance and patience for nonsense and backtalk. She certainly comes across as a believable leader, and it's a pleasure to see her playing a very different part from what you might expect. John C. Reilly is one of her lieutenants in the Corps, and he gives his character something of a more sardonic quality. Michael Rooker, a character actor who's been in movies and television for years, plays Yondu with a slightly shifty moral worldview and a gruffness that you'd expect out of the actor from previous roles- but I liked him regardless. Benicio Del Toro returns as the Collector, after an appearance in Thor The Dark World. He's an eccentric sort of character, an elder being of the universe who seems to have a bit of a Liberace flamboyance about him, and a fondness for odd items. He plays the part as the weirdo a comics fan would imagine the Collector to be.

Djimon Hounsou has been around for years as an actor too, playing in historical dramas, action films, and more, often in memorable character roles. He plays the Kree Korath as the capable subordinate to Ronan, and gives him a rather impatient quality. There's an appearance by Josh Brolin as well, doing the voice of Thanos (a villain we'll see again). The character is as menacing as he'll continue to be down the line, and it was a good touch to give him the role. Karen Gillan plays a particularly unhinged character named Nebula. She and Gamora have connections, but are at each other's throats. I haven't seen her in anything before, but she gives Nebula a formidable, manic quality that I liked. Lee Pace has been appearing in The Hobbit films as the elven king Thranduil, and here he plays Ronan with conviction and weight. Ronan as a character has often been a villain, but sometimes not, and Pace gives him a serious, determined, and ruthless quality that you'd expect in an antagonist. His Ronan feels dangerous indeed.

Vin Diesel voices Groot- which is actually an easy job. Probably because Groot actually only speaks three words (though Rocket understands the differing meaning of those three words). I found myself wondering if Diesel got into a recording booth, did a few takes, and was done with his part for the film, or if there was motion capture involved. Bradley Cooper does the voice for Rocket, who tends to chatter a lot. This is a mixed factor for me. I didn't mind Cooper back when he was a cast member of Alias, but at some point after that, when he became famous, I began feeling a profound dislike of the actor. Fame seemed to get to his head, and frankly, the guy comes across as a complete sleazebag. That said, however, I didn't find myself distracted by that dislike. Perhaps just having the voice was a factor in that; I was listening to the character instead of the actor. Had he actively been appearing on screen, I might have felt different, but he does capture the snarkiness and crankiness of Rocket as I would expect.

Dave Bautista comes from a background in professional wrestling, so we're not talking about a formal actor here, but he actually does well as Drax. The character is a blunt force of nature, a wall of muscle driven by the idea of avenging the death of his family. Bautista really does look the part, and gives the character a  threatening, physical presence. Yet there's also in his role a degree of sympathy that we can relate to. There is much tragedy in the man, and Bautista conveys that. It's actually a surprise, because I wouldn't have expected that of a wrestler.

Zoe Saldana has been doing quite a bit of sci-fi in the last few years. She was in that miserable wretched excuse for a blockbuster otherwise known as Avatar (what can I say? I hate Avatar), and she's been a key player in the two Star Trek reboots under director J.J. Abrams. She plays Gamora as I would expect. The character is a thoroughly dangerous woman, and yet with multiple layers. She keeps much to herself, and yet is driven by a conscience and awareness of the right thing to do. She guards herself closely, but acts with courage and without hesitation when the stakes are high. Gamora finds herself puzzled by her comrades at times, impatient at others, and Saldana conveys these qualities in her performance, grounding the role in the character's need for redemption. She also brings good chemistry to her role with the last of the major players.

This is actually the first time I've seen Chris Pratt in any role. He's been on the series Parks And Recreation for years, and a look at his filmography reveals that he was in the tense Zero Dark Thirty film, but I have never seen his work. He plays the part with sarcastic glee, starting off as a man out of his element, out for himself. Placed into a crisis, however, he seems to come into his own, finding a sense of meaning for himself. He certainly exercises some of the disdain for authority that you would expect in Han Solo, for example, and I liked that, but when push comes to shove, he gives Quill a sense of leadership that feels natural for the progression of the story. Pratt's performance becomes part of the fun of the film, and a nice revelation to the viewer who's first being introduced to him as an actor.

Guardians Of The Galaxy especially cranks up the sense of fun at the box office. It features a motley group of misfits thrown into cosmic stakes danger, moves the story along at a brisk pace, and brings a good sense of humour to the proceedings. I had fun with this film; I think you will too. Even if the post-credits sequence features an extremely unwelcome character that should be cast into a black hole with all possible speed.

In Pursuit Of The Perfect Game

Some links before I get started today. Norma had a photoblog up yesterday at her page. Shelly is keeping an eye on events overseas.  Yesterday was a Square Dog Friday at Parsnip's blog. Eve had writer's block advice at her page. And the Happy Whisk asked who eats pot pies. Today I have another movie review...

"You're perfect. You and the ball and the diamond, you're this perfectly beautiful thing. You can win or lose the game all by yourself. You don't need me." ~ Jane Aubrey

"Sam Tuttle. I can't think of a better reason not to be a Yankee." ~ Billy Chapel

"Let's get outta here before we get our asses kicked twice in one night." ~ Frank Perry

"We're the best team in baseball right now, right this minute, because of you. You're the reason. We're not gonna screw that up, we're gonna be awesome for you right now. Just throw." ~ Gus Sinski

"Think, Billy... don't just throw. Think." ~ Billy Chapel

For Love Of The Game is a 1999 adaptation by director Sam Raimi, from the novel by the late writer Michael Shaara (The Killer Angels). It tells the story of an aging pitcher at the end of a bad season, trying to figure out where his life is going as he pitches one more game. Starring Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston, the film goes back and forth in time and explores the characters and the essence of baseball from the major league point of view, working both as a sports film and an intensely personal character study. It's the third in Costner's baseball trilogy after Bull Durham and Field of Dreams. 

The film opens with the Detroit Tigers coming into New York for the final game of the season against the Yankees. It's been a bad season for the team, and the heart and soul of the Tigers is their legendary pitcher Billy Chapel (Costner). He's not quite the player he was though; he's forty, and his arm is aching, something noted by his friend, catcher Gus Sinski (John C. Reilly), who Billy complains is the ugliest wife in the league.

Billy has distractions on his mind. He's had an on and off again relationship with a woman in New York, Jane Aubrey (Preston), a magazine columnist who tells him that she's accepting a job in London, bidding him goodbye. And the owner of the team Gary Wheeler (Brian Cox) breaks the news that he's sold the team to a corporate group who have decided to trade the star pitcher. Wheeler suggests Billy retire instead, that it would serve the incoming owners right. The team takes to the field in Yankee Stadium, one of the most hostile places in the world for a visiting team, and Billy starts pitching, all the while reflecting on his relationship with Jane, meeting her daughter Heather (Jena Malone), and the events that have driven them apart. As the game progresses (called by real life announcers Vin Scully and Steve Lyons), Billy struggles with decisions, thinks about the past... and realizes at last that he's pitching a perfect game.

The screenplay by Dana Stevenson adapts the book by Shaara, found among the author's works after his death. It blends the personal relationship aspect and the world of the major league game. While the moving back and forth in time aspect might seem confusing, much of the flashbacks are left to when Billy is in the dugout. On the mound, he's all business. The story fleshes out the characters both in how we see them in action, and particularly for Billy and Jane in the flashbacks. It also really gets us in the mind of a pitcher, something that Raimi picks up on in his work as a director. Chapel tends to talk to himself on the pitcher's mound, judging the man at bat, deciding how to handle each in turn. He has a personal mantra to shut out the sound of the crowd, and Raimi plays on that several times in completely numbing that sound. And he relates to players in different ways. To his team he's the leader. To opposing players, there's sometimes respect, and sometimes animosity- no more so clearly than with the Yankee Sam Tuttle, a hot head who turns everything into an argument.

Raimi filmed the baseball scenes in Yankee Stadium between seasons, using extras to fill sections of the stands where needed, and employing baseball players to fill out some of the roster on both teams. In Costner he had an actor who played the game in school days, and it shows in Costner's body language- he looks at home on the mound, as though he belongs, and he's the one throwing the pitches; we're not looking at a stunt double. Raimi gets us into the game through his camera work, sometimes filming in a way as if the audience is an unseen presence on the field, other times giving us the television perspective complete with announcers. The overall effect is one of authenticity- it feels like a game playing out, and interspersed with the flashbacks, it makes for a most unusual game. And in going into the stands from time to time, Raimi shows us an audience of die-hard Yankee fans slowly shifting from jeers and hostility into realizing they're watching history in the making- and actually rooting for someone from the other team. It's a completely different kind of movie for Raimi, better known for horror like Army Of Darkness and The Evil Dead, or his Spider-Man trilogy. The score by the late Basil Poledouris is one of my favourites of his work, drawing us right in. It's romantic, heroic, and noble at times, and such a contrast from much of his other work, including The Hunt For Red October, Conan The Barbarian, and Les Miserables (the non-musical version). Give a listen to this sample of his score.

The cast is ideal for their roles. Brian Cox is one of those character actors who can be interesting in whatever he does, sometimes as a villain and other times not. Here he's sympathetic as a team owner irritated by the way his favourite player is being screwed over by the incoming owners. He tells Billy that watching him play the game has been one of the great joys in his life. This in short is not the kind of owner we'd see in a George Steinbrenner (who's probably rolling over in his grave right about now). J.K. Simmons turns up as the coach of the Tigers, Frank Perry. Simmons is another one of those character actors you've seen a hundred times, a motormouth who you can't help but like. Raimi would later cast him as J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man trilogy, but here he's more sympathetic, a dedicated and driven coach. Though his team has had a bad year, he's determined not to just roll over for the Yankees and have them clinch the pennant without a fight. Bill E. Rogers is also of note here; he plays Davis Birch, a friend of Billy who got traded to the Yankees. The two have stayed friends, meet on the diamond twice in the film, and we see the mutual respect between the two, the understanding that this might well be the last time they see each other as players in the game. Rogers conveys that respect in the final inning, torn between wanting his team to win and wanting to see his friend pull off a rare achievement. 

Jena Malone plays Heather Aubrey mostly in flashback, though late in the film we see her watching the game. She plays the part over a number of years, and still comes across as both a teenager and young college student. When we first meet her she's wise beyond her years, brought up by a single mother, with an absent father who doesn't care what she does. While she comes across initially as a teen with teen responses to arguments, there's depth there and maturity, and both the audience and Billy can see that. In her performance, she relates to Kelly Preston very much in a believable daughter and mother way. 

Reilly has the look of a baseball catcher, somewhat stocky and pugnacious, and also looks like he belongs right at home behind home plate, waiting for the ball to hit his glove. His Gus has a lot of history with Billy- they're pretty much partners on the field, both knowing what the other will do next. With reason he worries about Billy's condition, but the friendship between the two is well established, and they trust each other. That's a hallmark of Reilly's performance, well fleshed out and feeling authentic.

The two leads fit their roles well. Kelly Preston plays Jane as a woman who's succeeded in her field despite struggles and troubles. Through her own hard work she's made something of herself, all while raising her daughter from an early age. She's not perfect- there are times her self esteem and sense of emotional guard get in the way of her happiness, as if she doesn't believe she can be happy, that she can't believe in love. Her daughter sees that, understands that her mother withdraws into herself. Preston plays into that, but also brings a sense of humour and infectious warmth into the role.

Costner was the perfect fit for the role. He wasn't much older than the character when he made the film, and still in the right form to be out on the mound. He plays Billy in different ways. He can be careless at times with his personal life, even withdrawing and pushing Jane away when an injury intervenes into his life. But there's also charm and a playfulness that features heavily into his relationship with Jane. They're believable as a couple, and that comes from both performances. On the field, the character feels true to life too, getting weary as the game goes on, even having doubts as to whether or not he can go on. Yet he's also a leader, surrounded by a team that's playing hard for him, something on display in the final two innings. 

We really get into Billy's head as things go along, and Costner conveys the essence of the baseball player in a way that feels grounded and true to life. That includes playing psychological games with an opponent or giving advice to a fellow player who's had a bad night. It also means that even though his team hasn't done well this season, the final game isn't a throwaway- he points out that it still means something to other teams in the pennant race. And late in the film, when he utters a prayer of sorts... it seems entirely appropriate. Billy isn't asking to win. He just wants the pain in his arm to go away for a few minutes.

The film bounces back and forth in time as a game plays itself out. It explores the nuances of a game and the crossroads of a great career, all while getting into the heads of the characters. In exploring a relationship through flashbacks, Raimi gives us a strong character study that for me worked just right.