Nineteen Years And 500 Yards

“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it.” ~ Red

“The funny thing is, on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.” ~ Andy

“I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.” ~ Warden Norton

“Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” ~ Red

“Couldn’t play somethin’ good, huh? Hank Williams?” ~ Heywood 

“They broke the door down before I could take requests.” ~ Andy

“You’re that smart banker who killed his wife, aren’t you? Why should I believe a smart banker like you? So I can end up in here with you?” ~ Captain Hadley

“There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret. Not because I’m in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, and this old man is all that’s left.” ~ Red

“Remember, Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” ~ Andy

In 1994, director Frank Darabont released The Shawshank Redemption, a prison drama based on a novella by horror master novelist Stephen King. It is a character study featuring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, and deals with themes like hope, the meaning of freedom, the depth of despair, and the power of friendship. The story, which for once was not a horror tale by King, nonetheless follows the writer’s tendency to set his narratives in Maine. The film opened to great acclaim, getting numerous Oscar nominations, but was a box office disappointment. However, in the years that followed, home video and cable viewings fuelled a second life for the film, which has become a beloved film among audiences, regardless of its dark subject matter.

In 1947, Maine banker Andy Dufresne (Robbins) is convicted of the murders of his wife and her lover and sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary for life. He seems certain to break- some of the convicts place bets on which of the newcomers will be the first to fall apart on their first night behind bars- and yet he doesn’t. Andy makes friends with other convicts, chiefly Ellis “Red” Redding (Freeman), who knows how to get just about anything smuggled into the prison. Heywood (William Sadler) and Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore) are two more convicts that Andy befriends. Life in prison is hard, and the brutality is not glossed over- Andy is initially the target of a gang, while the warden (Bob Gunton) and the chief of the guards (Clancy Brown) are both corrupt and ruthless. And yet in his own way, Andy’s spirit and integrity aren’t imprisoned, and he comes into his own.

Hope is a strong theme throughout the film- in a status where one is surrounded by the hopelessness of spending life in prison, particularly wrongfully, the story strongly plays off the concept of maintaining a person’s sense of self worth. Where Red is cynical about the idea of hope, Andy believes that hope is something that can’t be caged up, that can’t be taken away, and that theme strongly underlies the entire film. Even in moments of seeming despair- Andy being at a low point nineteen years into his sentence and speaking of a dream of a Mexican coastal town- that sense of hope prevails. As harsh as a film about life in prison is, the story is uplifting, with an ending that just brings out a smile every time.

 Darabont secured the film rights from King for the story, and wrote the screenplay, investing the themes of the story into the screenplay. It turns out that Rob Reiner, who had adapted a King story into Stand By Me, had wanted to helm the tale, with Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford in the leading roles. I could see Ford as Red, but Cruise as Andy Dufresne would have been a disaster. Darabont filmed a good part of the movie in an Ohio reformatory, which does a good job of conveying the bleakness of prison life. Other sequences were done on soundstages, but the locations and staging all come across as authentic in detail, evoking a twenty year period in the mid-twentieth century, as well as the harshness of life in prison. This extends to things like props, clothing, and vehicles, all of which are of the time, and particularly to the movie pin-up girl posters which end up providing such a vital plot element as the story unfolds. Darabont also chose the ideal composer for the score; Thomas Newman’s music for the film has taken on a life of its own, infused with themes that are strongly character based, filled with humour, and celebrating freedom.

The cast is one of the best you can think of assembled for any film. James Whitmore, the late character actor, gets the part of the elderly convict Brooks, a prison librarian who’s spent most of his life behind bars. There’s wisdom and frankness in the character, a friendly sort of man who’s become institutionalized behind bars and doesn’t know what to do with himself on the outside. Gil Bellows appears as a young convict, Tommy Williams, a brash talker who joins Andy and Red’s circle of friends and as it turns out has prior prison time and information that proves vital to a great turning point in the story. As cocky as the character comes across, there’s an underlying sense of principle in him too. William Sadler has a terrific role as Heywood, a convict who tends to be rougher around the edges than Brooks, but also an inherently decent man.

Clancy Brown, who’s spent a good part of his life as an actor playing villains, gets a good role as the nasty Captain Byron Hadley, the chief of the guards at Shawshank. He’s brutal, sadistic, corrupt, and sees nothing wrong with administering beatings (or worse) to convicts to keep them in line. The character’s a bully and a thug, a thoroughly unpleasant person. While he’s entirely unsympathetic, Hadley’s a memorable character for the actor to play. Bob Gunton is another character actor who’s spent his career playing various roles, including strict and authoritarian people, which certainly factors into his role as Warden Samuel Norton. The character presents himself as a pious, devout Christian, but the man is deeply corrupt, ruthless and vindictive. He’s a sanctimonious, self righteous hypocrite, and one of the great joys of the film is watching things go completely upside down for him.

Morgan Freeman plays the pivotal role of the convict Red, who narrates the film and gives the audience their point of view character. It’s the perfect casting for the role (aside from Ford, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford were also considered for the character’s casting). Freeman gives the character authority, warmth, and authenticity. Red has a richly developed voice, a bit of cynicism in his outlook on life, and a whole lot of depth. Because he serves as our point of view, his worry at a critical point in the film- he believes Andy to be suicidal- becomes our worry as well, and Freeman plays into that, bringing the character so strongly to life.

Tim Robbins is perfect as Andy, a laconic man through much of the film. He doesn’t know if he’s a murderer- the night of the murders he got himself so drunk he doesn’t remember- but he comes across as what he is- an inherently decent person who doesn’t lose hope or his own integrity as he faces life behind bars. His defiance is expressed more in a subdued way. There are moments that he seems to be drifting into despair, and it’s a wise thing as it turns out to not really see Andy’s inner thoughts- the payoff late in the film is all the better this way. He expresses his thoughts in his behaviour and his words, and so we get to know him more at a distance than we do with Red. When we see that payoff play out, in an ingeniously crafted way, it becomes all the more satisfying. Convict or not, Andy is a man whose spirit can’t be caged, and Robbins brings that throughout his performance.

While The Shawshank Redemption brings across life in prison in its brutality, with the language and violence one would expect of that, it is ultimately an uplifting, tremendously satisfying film about the power of the human spirit, the strength of friendship, and hope in humanity. It’s become a favourite of viewers after the fact, and has taken on a reputation as one of the best films ever made.

Which would have never happened had Tom Cruise been cast as Andy Dufresne, so we really dodged a bullet.

Another Christmas Eve, Another Terrorist Incident

Some links to see to first of all. Norma has the opening to her book Superhero In Training available at Wattpad, and the details can be found at her latest post. Yesterday having had been a Friday, Parsnip had a Square Dog Friday. Krisztina had some Christmas decorating ideas.

Now then, as to today. Last year I reviewed my favourite Christmas movie, Die Hard. Therefore, it was time to review the first sequel, which happens to also be set at Christmas time.

"I think Cardinal Richelieu said it best: treason is merely a matter of dates. This country's got to learn that it can't keep cutting the legs off of men like General Esperanza, men who have the guts to stand up to Communist aggression." ~ Colonel Stuart

"And lesson #1 starts with killing policemen? What's lesson #2? The neutron bomb?" ~ John McClane

"No. I think we can find something in between." ~ Colonel Stuart

"Murder on television. Helluva start to Christmas week." ~ Trudeau

"Next time you kill one of these guys, get 'em to enter the code first." ~ Leslie Barnes

"You give me this story and I'll have your baby." ~ Samantha Coleman

"Not the kind of ride I'm looking for." ~ John McClane

"McClane! I assume it's you, McClane. You're quite a little soldier. You can consider this a military funeral." ~ Colonel Stuart

"Oh, we are just up to our ass in terrorists again, John." ~ John McClane

After the success of Die Hard, it was inevitable that there would be a sequel (and three more after that at last check). Die Hard 2: Die Harder was the 1990 film directed by Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger) and bringing back Bruce Willis and Bonnie Bedelia as John and Holly McClane, caught up in another terrorist incident on Christmas Eve. It is based on the novel 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, and weaves the characters created by Roderick Thorp into the narrative of that novel, which tells the story of an unseen terrorist taking control of a major airport's air traffic control system. It raises the stakes considerably from Die Hard, as sequels are often prone to do, and brings us a villain who's quite different from the first film's antagonist, but thoroughly ruthless.

Things open up in Washington on Christmas Eve, a year after the Nakatomi Tower incident. John McClane (Willis) is at Dulles Airport, having had arrived a few days ahead of his wife Holly (Bedelia) with the kids for a visit to his in-laws. He's picking up Holly, who's inbound on a plane, and the weather in the area is deteriorating as a major snowstorm is moving in. John's police instincts kick in regarding a couple of suspicious fellows, and an incident ensues in the baggage areas of the terminal. One of the men gets away, the other dies at John's hands, and John's suspicions are raised. His attempts to persuade the airport's chief of police, Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz) of what might be happening go unheeded. Trudeau (Fred Dalton Thompson), the airport chief of operations, and one of his right hand men, an engineer named Leslie Barnes (Art Evans) are trying to cope with the weather and the chaos of holiday travel.

Which of course is when things go terribly wrong. McClane's suspicions are correct. Someone takes control of the airport systems remotely, including communications, declaring his intentions. An inbound military jet from South America is carrying one General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), who will be facing drug traffficking charges in America. He sets down conditions for the General's release and warns the control tower not to interfere in his plans for the evening, or civilian planes will pay the price. McClane recognizes the sound of his voice from a chance encounter: Colonel Stuart (William Sadler), a disgraced former Special Forces officer with ties to Esperanza. With his wife's plane among those at risk in the snowy skies over DC, McClane goes on the hunt to find a way to thwart Stuart and his men.

The screenplay by Steven DeSouza and Doug Richardson took on some of the same elements of the first film- terrorist incident on Christmas Eve, antagonism with authority figures, ruthless villains, sarcastic hero- but then took them in different directions. In setting the story back east, but in a place not particularly his own (as would have been the case if the movie had been set in New York, as it is in Wager's original novel), it puts McClane out of his element, and in a situation where the weather is as much of an antagonist as the terrorists. The antagonism with authority figures plays out very differently from the first film, which was a wise course of action. Where McClane spends most of his interaction with Lorenzo in a state of mutual dislike (at least until late in the film), things are different with Trudeau, who's pragmatic and realistic enough to listen to the concerns of an out of town detective. This is very different, of course, from the first film, where we had Paul Gleason still berating McClane at film's end, and the FBI behaving like a pack of buffoons. 

Harlin has a good touch with action, and it certainly shows in this film, and would do so again in other work. He follows McClane's path through airducts and elevators, down frozen runways and in under-construction areas of the airport. Most of the film was shot in various locations such as airbases, and Harlin helms the film in the right way, showing a skill for ferocious action both at a distance and in the immediate up close and personal. He and his crew certainly convey the sense of weather being a factor in the story- anyone familiar with the Washington area knows what a bit of snow can do to cripple the city, and Harlin keeps the snow coming throughout the film, giving us a blizzard on just the wrong night for travelers, but just the right night for the intentions of his villains. He certainly knows how to film plane crashes- we get more than one here, and the sequences are spectacular. Harlin's direction keeps the pacing of the film going nicely; there's no real slowing down here. Instead we're caught up in the sense of the clock ticking down and the dread of potentially thousands of people at risk at the whim of a very dangerous man.

The casting choices are very well made throughout. We have a couple of other holdovers from the first film. Reginald Veljohnson reprises his role as Al Powell in a cameo, speaking with McClane by phone, the two partners keeping the mood light while dealing with a troubling situation. The energy between the two is much the same as with the first film, two men who have become friends and understand each other. William Atherton returns again as the sleazy journalist Richard Thornburg, who happens to be on the same plane as Holly, and who happens to have a restraining order against her (that whole thing with her hitting him at the end of the first film damaged his ego). He's still as self absorbed, irresponsible, and sleazy as he was the first time around, still believing he's destined for great things as a reporter. We despise him, naturally, which he surely has coming. Contrast him, though, with a new reporter, Samantha Coleman (Sheila McCarthy), who's a local reporter at the terminal looking for a story. McCarthy plays her as plucky and a bit ambitious, but with integrity that is utterly lacking in Thornburg. She even proves to be helpful where McClane is concerned, and McCarthy gives her a streak of humour and humanity.

Art Evans plays Leslie Barnes, the communications engineer who seems to be the smartest guy in the room, and who's an ally to McClane. He carries himself like a competent, efficient specialist, and we get to like him. Evans plays him as sympathetic and as a man trying to find a solution to a crisis. Though he's out of his element as a man under fire, he stays calm, and that's a big contrast to the airport's head of police, as played by Dennis Franz. Lorenzo is a profane, antagonistic walking temper tantrum (come to think of it, that pretty much sums up many of the roles Franz plays). He is completely dismissive of McClane (at least until late in the game) and seems to be five minutes from a heart attack (tempers can be such a trigger for those things). He's an unpleasant sort of person... and yet when things change as the story goes along, still a man who knows what his job requires, and does it... even while being terminally pissed off. The third member of the airport authority is the always reliable Fred Dalton Thompson (reliable at least when he's not going into politics). He gives Trudeau a gruff but sympathetic portrayal, another in the list of character roles he's played, and we can believe him as a man of his position. It's a pragmatic character, a man who's in charge and yet sees the control he usually has taken from him. And Thompson also plays the shocked horror the character must feel when a harsh lesson is inflicted on the airport by the opposition.

Franco Nero is an Italian actor with most of his credits in Italian cinema, but there has been work in American films as well in his resume. His General Esperanza reminds us of various Latin American dictators, a nasty, ruthless man who feels quite like we would expect a dictator to be: arrogant and aloof. Even in a fallen state, he's a man accustomed to getting his own way, and Nero brings these qualities across in his performance. 

John Amos gets a complicated role to play as an American Special Forces commander, Major Grant, sent in with his squad to take down Stuart. He has history with the Colonel, and when we first meet him, he's thoroughly believable as a military officer, tough and brash, disgusted by the situation, initially dismissive of McClane. And yet that shifts (and shifts again as we discover new things about the Major) and Grant's purpose changes. Amos really comes across as no-nonsense, something you'd expect out of such an officer. 

Bonnie Bedelia gets to spend most of the film trapped in an airplane, having to put up with the presence nearby of a dirtbag she dislikes. She retains the attitude, the spunk, and the spirit of Holly in her performance, and when she discovers what's happening on the ground, her actions to intervene in the irresponsible self glorification of said dirtbag (hello, Mr. Thornburg) are entirely justifiable. This was her last turn as Holly, and the character is grounded in what at that point is a healthy marriage to John- the two feel believable in their conversations by phone and their reunion late in the film. I've always thought it was a shame that the later sequels ended the marriage. 

William Sadler has played a lot of character roles down through the years, but his turn as Stuart is one of his best. In the tradition of good villains, he believes what he's doing is the right and justified thing to do... even if it requires doing horrific things. For him, civilian deaths are mere collateral damage, justifiable if it means success for the mission. He's a capable leader too, clearly having the respect of his men, a driven man who happens to be ruthless in his methods. All in all, Stuart comes across as a very dangerous adversary, and all of that comes from Sadler's performance.

Willis of course is good to see back as McClane. He brings back the attitude and the sarcasm from the original film. We can feel his exhaustion as the character is placed into life threatening danger time and time again, somehow coming out despite the odds- we might wonder how he manages to get through the film without a blood transfusion. Willis plays him as very human, not terribly diplomatic, and prone to getting annoyed at a moment's notice. He can take care of himself in a fight though, and we completely get what's driving him- both his sense of duty and his worry about the safety of his wife in particular and countless others in general.

The studio really should have stopped with the second film. It's not quite as fresh as the original film, but it's a well paced, tense action thriller that increases the peril and practically turns weather into a character in a film. The sequels that followed tend to have diminishing returns, both in making McClane regress into a screwed up single guy with family and personal issues and in their story pacing (not to mention having a son grow up to become not a terribly bright Jai Courtney). Oh well, such is life. Yipekayay, and pass the eggnog. Instead of watching It's A Wonderful Life for the fiftieth time, I recommend watching Willis and Sadler bludgeon each other instead. 

Tony, You Could Do With Some Sleep

"Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher." ~ The Mandarin, Iron Man 3

Robert Downey Jr. is back as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the third solo film for the Marvel comics character, and the fourth after last year's Avengers. The film starts out in the past, on New Year's Eve 1999 in Switzerland, where Tony is in the midst of seducing a botanist, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and crosses paths with a bookish and socially inept businessman-scientist named Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who has a business proposal for him. Both characters will figure prominently what follows.

Flash forward to the present, where Tony is dealing with anxiety attacks and nightmares in the wake of the alien invasion of New York during Avengers. This is added onto his usual obsessive compulsive disorder, and he spends much of his time in his workshop, building new armors, experimenting with ideas that include remote controlled armor. His girlfriend Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) is running his company, his friend Colonel Rhodes( Don Cheadle) is using the War Machine armor for the military, newly renamed the Iron Patriot, and his other friend and former bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) has moved up to head up security for the company. Tony is pouring his energy into work, avoiding issues. Pepper, on the other hand, is navigating the corporate side of things, including a meeting with Killian, much less bookish and socially inept now. His company is working on a new project called Extremis, that might well regenerate damaged bodies by recoding DNA; it's a concept that Pepper can't sign off on, due to ethical considerations. As it is, Extremis is unstable in some people... leading to very bad consequences.

Meanwhile, America is coming under threat from a mysterious terrorist calling himself the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). He's capable of hijacking the airwaves, broadcasting apocalyptic videos and threats, carrying out attacks through his henchmen, challenging even the American President (William Sadler). These attacks include explosions with no trace of bomb debris, carried out by gunmen who are living weapons powered by Extremis, capable of regenerating from wounds, of transferring lethal heat to bystanders and turning them in effect into a walking bomb. One of the attacks wounds Hogan, and sets Tony on a collision course with the Mandarin, a course that threatens the people he loves and forces him to deal with the issues that he's been trying to avoid.

The director's chair has been taken over by Shane Black, a screenwriter from the Lethal Weapon series who has moved into directing, most recently working with Downey in the caper comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He mostly handles the film well, taking the reins from Favreau, who's one of the producers this time out. There's a bit off in a climactic scene with numerous Iron Man armors set at a dockworks; I found the camerawork a bit too close into the action at times, and thought it could have benefitted somewhat from having a more distant perspective. Essentially this is an editing issue that I would have preferred being done in a different fashion. These moments in that sequence were more than compensated for, however.

The action set pieces for the most part work very well, particularly one set at Tony's cliffside mansion and another involving a mid-air rescue. Black has assembled a good crew throughout, particularly in the designs of the armors. The Iron Patriot armor, a red white and blue design based on a comic book plotline (long story, don't ask, and it was written by a complete hack of a writer who I call He Who Loves The Sound Of His Own Voice... hi, Darth Bendis!) at least has the right guy in the armor this time out, and I do like the design. The CGI works well, particularly the Extremis-fuelled henchmen and the effects of the procedure on the body. Black and his crew keep the story moving along, taking Tony out of the armor for good portions of the film, putting him in a situation where he has to keep a low profile. The story is true to character, though the casual viewer might find the motivation of the villain needs a bit of fleshing out. I caught it, but it might pass by someone else.

I did appreciate the little details of the screenplay and the nods towards the comics. Killian's company as Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM, is one such example. AIM is an organization with a nefarious and long history in the comics and a tendency to have annoyed most every super-hero out there, and it's good to see the concept used here. And an executive being held hostage by the Mandarin at one point is identified as working for the Roxxon Corporation. Roxxon is a company with a shady reputation in the comics, one that makes Bernie Madoff look respectable. Even the Extremis procedure- adapted from a comics plotline- reminded me of other Iron Man villains, the Melter or Firebrand.

The film is cast very well indeed. Favreau has been something of the comic relief in his cameos in these films, and that's true here, though he's also a guy who takes his job seriously... and can be overzealous about it. Paul Bettany returns as the voice of the computer system JARVIS, and as ever has that dry British wit in his voiceovers. William Sadler as the President is an interesting turn for the actor. I'm more used to him playing the heavy or the villain (his ruthless Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2 comes to mind) that it's unusual seeing him as a principled political leader. Rebecca Hall is one of those wonderfully expressive actors with great range. I first noticed her in The Prestige, and enjoy her work. As Maya, she's linked to Killian, and her work leads to the Extremis process. Hall plays her in a way that's quite enigmatic, but it makes the character work so well.

Guy Pearce has a history of playing flawed characters or villains, and he's so very compelling at it. He first got noticed for playing the ambitious cop in L.A. Confidential, and he's played many roles since, including my favourite role for him, the vindictive Fernand Mondeo in The Count Of Monte Cristo. He starts out here as something of a geek in the past, a charming and suave man in the present, and gradually we start to see the dark and malicious layers beneath. He makes for a formidable presence in the film.

Sir Ben Kingsley steps in as the Mandarin, and the character is a significant departure from the comics. There he was a Chinese man empowered by alien rings. Here he is something of an Osama bin Laden-like man, a dark threat from the shadows. His ethnicity is uncertain; he speaks in an American accent, though he wears ten rings and the robes of the Far East. His ominous threats via video mark him as a serious threat, and yet there is more to him. Of which I will say no more. I will say that Kingsley, one of those actors who's usually the most interesting part of a film, plays the various facets of this man very well indeed. Of his previous work, I've always had a fondness for his turn as Feste the Fool in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, a version from the nineties (if you haven't seen it, look it up). There's a moment or two here where Feste doesn't seem that far off... 

The returning cast, of course, is exceptional. Don Cheadle is back for the second time as Rhodes, after being cast in the role in the second film to replace the underwhelming Terrence Howard from the first one. Cheadle carries himself like a soldier and an officer, a good touch for the character. He has something of a sense of humor, the occasional impatience with his friend Tony, and he gets plenty to do this time out, as himself and in the Iron Patriot armor. Even though he's not fond of the moniker.

Gwyneth Paltrow has been playing this role in four films now. Her take on Pepper suits the character's history: spirited and feisty, but smart and capable. She worries about Tony, conveying the long history the two have, and she's believable as someone running a company. And the way she and Downey work together comes across as very natural.

The film belongs to Robert Downey Jr. He has given the character such a signature interpretation that it's hard to visualize anyone else playing Tony Stark. He brings across the character's sleepless obsessive streak, and rightly conveys the symptoms of an anxiety attack, something that's understandable given what the character has been through. When he realizes a way to deal with the anxiety (with help, mind you), it's simple and direct... and at the right time. He spends much of this picture out of the armor, and it's a good thing. It reminds us that Tony's greatest weapon isn't that armor, it's his mind and his ingenuity. Downey conveys all of these qualities, gives Tony his motormouth sarcasm... and even empathy, which shows itself from time to time.

I had a lot of fun watching the film. There's a lot of action, but the characterization was true to itself, the pacing of the film kept things moving along nicely, and even the small details were very welcome. In closing, keep your eyes open for a couple of cameos. Stan Lee does one of his signature appearances here, but it's a blink and you will miss it sort of thing. And in the sequence set in the past, a character killed off in the first film turns up briefly. That was a surprise to me.

And don't leave until the credits are finished. The post-credit scene features another cameo, and is probably the best of these post-credit scenes in these films. You'll get a kick out of it.