Weekly Review -- Bodies of water

Piranha (2010) -- Combine utter lack of pretense with suspension of disbelief and a cult horror film may pop up. Its self-explanatory title firmly in place, Alexandre Aja’s Piranha also has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek, promising nothing beyond carnage and sex jokes and boy, does it deliver.

The town of Lake Victoria is in the midst of an invasion by spring break partygoers. After a boater disappears, Sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) plans to close down the beach, but first has to contend with her teenage son Jake’s (Steven R. McQueen) shenanigans. Under the pressure of hormones and unbeknownst to Julie, Jake has begun working as a quasi location scout for a porn producer (Jerry O’Connell) for the summer, jeopardizing his safety in the process. Having managed to catch a live piranha, Julie gets in touch with a marine biologist (Christopher Lloyd), right around the time that all Hell breaks loose and the predatory fish start devouring the tourists…

As in some of his earlier works, like High Tension -- oh, how I still prefer Switchblade Romance -- and The Hills Have Eyes, Aja delves into the story using the maximum amount of blood that he can splash across the screen without getting an NC-17 rating. Nevertheless, the difference between this piece and his previous efforts lies in the pure, comical, drinking game type of fun that Piranha offers in spades. Screams abound, pretty bikini girls get less pretty as their limbs go missing and as the fish keep on plowing through the buffet. Aja shoots and displays the massacre with enthusiasm, all the while taking digs at North American pop culture spectacles such as Girls Gone Wild and spring break. This is particularly true of the mass killing scene, which is relentless in its viciousness yet loaded with dark humor, as is the rest of the film.

The performances are just as unpretentious as the screenplay. Each and every one of the actors appears to be enjoying this bloodbath, although Shue seems to be taking the proceedings a tad too seriously. Hiring Dreyfuss and creating a mini homage to Jaws is a nice touch; Aja knows exactly what he is doing here, but is aware of the beast that started it all, deciding to bow in reverence. It is good to see the always reliable Christopher Lloyd and Ving Rhames, while filmmaker Eli Roth has an amusing cameo as the appropriately titled Dying to Get Wet contest emcee. Additionally, fans of the CW Network will be pleased to see McQueen and Jessica Szohr, belonging respectively to the “Vampire Diaries” and “Gossip Girl” families.

Piranha is the kind of film that the viewer goes into with no expectations. It is a no-holds-barred cheesefest and a deliberate slap in the face of political correctness. Its entire raison d’être is to merge hysterical laughter with hysterical screams; the French summed it up best with their tagline, which just so happens to be 'Sea, Sex and Blood'. Watch it, relish the silliness and give your brain a rest.

5/10

Summer Review #4 -- Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Not every movie can brag about operating as both film and testing ground. This is why Michael Bay's latest offering is so irreplaceable in its intent. After the slam, bang, boom, unsavory experience of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, I can say that the movie has thoroughly tested my survival skills. If I made it through it, I can make it through anything.

In the wake of the two messy battles between the Autobot and Decepticon factions, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is an American hero unable to find a job and his parents are apparently inhabiting an RV -- nothing like a timely slice of life for the audience to relate, right? After Sam's new girlfriend (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) pulls some strings with her boss (Patrick Dempsey) to get her guy hired, and before you can say Victoria's Secret, Sam gets embroiled in another war. This time, the conflict revolves around an ancient Cybertron spacecraft, which happens to have been discovered by the first American astronauts. Ginormous displays of elaborate action sequences and textbook examples of bad acting follow, as we sit patiently, counting down the minutes and wondering why we did not see X-Men: First Class again instead...

If there is a story somewhere, it quickly gets lost among the grandiose technical achievements. Admittedly, these aspects are a sight to behold -- the highway scene and the skydiving sequences are truly impressive -- but they alone do not a movie make and we have seen most of these elements in the previous two installments. It is ironic that Dark of the Moon is being screened in 3D, considering that its terrain is void of multidimensional developments, effervescent characters and a single grain of ingenuity. No, I did not go in expecting a Shakespearean depth of narrative, but I was expecting an entertaining nugget on the level of the playful original, particularly because the filmmakers were boasting that they have made a better sequel than the insipid Revenge of the Fallen. Who were they kidding? Was that not a low standard from the start? This movie contains slow motion, bullet time, aerial shots and all other cinematic techniques in existence, dragging on for 2 1/2 hours with nothing substantial to show for it. Eventually, the proceedings turn into Battle: Los Angeles... oops, I mean, Battle: Chicago. And the warfare goes on. And on. And on. Suffice to say, an action movie that ends up boring its audience is never a good idea.

Another aspect that I found irritating, and offensive to boot, was the screenplay's latent homophobia. The only way that the franchise is capable of flaunting its "macho" factor is by throwing barbs at those perceived as not up to par in the rough-and-tumble, bring-it-on world. Guys, there IS a significant policy repeal being discussed in the media these days, and a military one, no less. You may have heard about it. Get informed. And yes, Virginia, somebody of the same sex is free to touch your hand without you growing "afraid" that they might be gay. The year is 2011.

Are the performances really worth mentioning? If I had to pick the best one, my vote would go to the special effects wizards who created the robots, but let me try and stick to convention. LaBeouf is going through the motions, by now probably well aware of the fact that method acting has no place in the Transformers universe. Huntington-Whiteley is so pretentiously, distractingly wooden, I was seriously starting to miss Megan Fox and her curvaceous lack of persona. I could not help wondering what Frances McDormand and John Malkovich were doing here, but hey, the cost of living is steep. Dempsey and McDormand are the only actors attempting to flesh human beings out of the cardboard characters -- the former does away with much of his charm-fueled image, while the latter hams it up as an uptight bureaucrat.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is so laughably bad, it actually managed to infuriate me while watching. I would have done anything for it to end and I would do anything to erase it from my mind. It is a shame that milking a cash cow and tossing creativity aside remains an acceptable way to get a movie made but, considering the financial intake so far, I guess the assumption is that the laugh is on us.

3/10

Weekly Review -- Mind's eye

Shelter (2010) -- Thrillers always have the potential to walk that fine line between thoroughly effective and thoroughly disappointing. This film by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein takes a different route, one that brings ambiguity to its value. While Shelter offers a unique idea and good performances, the U-turn that its topic takes leads to dubious developments and an anticlimactic conclusion.

Forensic psychiatrist Cara Jessop (Julianne Moore) has spent her career refuting the existence of multiple personality disorder. One day, her father (Jeffrey DeMunn) introduces Cara to amnesiac Adam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who not only exhibits the classic symptoms of the condition, but also plays host to identities of murder victims. As she starts uncovering the details of the crimes, Cara realizes that whatever is happening with Adam goes beyond her expertise, and indeed the natural world...

Shelter is a film that you invest yourself in, then end up hoping it will stay on the course that was initially mapped out. I loved the subject matter and the idea of a mind game between someone like Cara, who has allowed her religious views to override her professional curiosity, and Adam, who can quite obviously provide enough proof for Cara to question both her personal and scientific beliefs. The film could have been the perfect psychological thriller if it had kept to its fascinating premise and, along the way, employed intelligent twists examining human psychology, faith and the conflict between good and evil. Instead, it dissolves into a puddle of supernatural mishmash, lifeless mysteries and underdeveloped relationships. I did not see the point of the paranormal elements and felt that they represented an easy way out, particularly because the human element was so prominently introduced at the beginning. I felt that the screenplay should have paid more attention to aspects such as Cara's background and convictions, which would have painted a genuine contrast to Adam's disorder and missing memories.

**SPOILERS (please highlight to read)**

The film is full of plot holes that undermine its credibility. How does Cara know to look for the names in the yearbooks? We are assuming that her skills are based on experience, but even then her actions are far-fetched. How come no one discovered the body in Adam's house? Why does no one go to a hospital when strange lesions start oozing and bleeding all over their body? How come Cara does not search for descendants of the people in the recordings? None of these points are ever illustrated, rendering parts of the piece confusingly empty.

**END OF SPOILERS**

The actors are light years ahead of the material. Moore is luminous as always, even in the scenes that the viewer is neutral about due to the script's oversights. Myers moves seamlessly between the different personalities that torment Adam. His emotional range is incredible and, with his expressive face, you never know if he is a hero, villain, victim or survivor. Frances Conroy gives a touching portrayal of one of the victims' mother, while Brooklynn Proulx shows a lot of promise as Cara's daughter and DeMunn is affecting as Cara's father.

Shelter is a thriller that should be watched with a grain of salt; come to think of it, you could do with an entire salt shaker. The cast makes it compelling and the beginning is excellent, but the narrative goes downhill from there and never looks back. Unfortunately, the story's essence is marred by the usage of senseless peculiarities, going to show that sometimes the most riveting intricacy is simplicity.

6/10

Weekly Review -- Going under

The Invisible (2007) -- Supernatural phenomena are a bottomless well for filmmakers. From The Haunting to The Blair Witch Project to Paranormal Activity, many of these works have been successful due to a profound and everlasting interest in otherworldly subjects. Although The Invisible comes with quite the cinematic pedigree -- The Sixth Sense! Batman Begins! Prominently displayed! -- it suffers in comparison with these films, being that many of its aspects simply feel unfinished.

Nick (Justin Chatwin) is about to graduate from high school and is setting off for London, to start his dream life as a writer. After he tries to help his best friend Pete (Chris Marquette) fend off harassment by school bully Annie (Margarita Levieva), Annie and her gang attack Nick and leave him for dead. Stuck in limbo, Nick realizes that Annie is the only one who can rescue him, but she is on a self-destructive path that does not allow her to turn back...

The film suffers from that most frustrating of cinematic issues -- an intriguing idea lost in a barely passable execution. The premise is truly innovative, but could have benefited from a screenplay that dared to examine the details of its own enigma a little further. It made me wonder about the 2002 Swedish original, which I might seek out at a later date. The main problem with The Invisible are the random, unexplained and heavy-handed fragments that pop out of nowhere and are generally too out of context to be part of an eloquent narrative. I am not a fan of relationships without backgrounds or characters that change their motivation with every turn of the script. To name a few examples, I wish we could have got to know Nick's mother Diane, played with oppressively agonizing melancholy by Marcia Gay Harden, a little better; their stalled relationship would have added a new dimension to the tense events unfolding. As far as Nick goes, he is a surprisingly bland character. Yes, he has dreams and yes, he has a future that might be over before it has begun, courtesy of the wrong side of the tracks. We understand these facts, but please, give us something to wrap our minds around, something that makes us recognize ourselves in his fictional plight, something that makes us humanize. His arc simply moves from point A to point B, ending up void of any and all emotional expenditures on the part of the audience. And what is going on with Annie, anyway? In one scene, she is a maniacal delinquent with family issues; in another, she erupts in histrionics at the drop of a hat; in yet another, she is merely a misunderstood nihilist with a heart of gold. The character cannot decide whether to go the route of redemption or rebellion until the hurried finale, a dilemma that also ultimately leads to a lack of investment in her predicament. Contrary to a remake such as 2009's The Last House on the Left -- a remake that cherishes its every nuance and that, in my opinion, is the standard against which all remakes should be measured -- The Invisible wastes its psychological depth potential for the sake of superficial suspense.

The actors do the best job with what they are given. Chatwin displays anguished wrath as Nick, while Levieva is at her best when exploring Annie as a flawed human being with a latent sense of morality. Easily the best actor among the cast, Harden relishes an amazing moment -- indeed, the most effective moment in the film -- and Marquette is sufficiently shifty as Pete, the best friend unable to deal with his demons.

Overall, The Invisible leaves the impression that it could have been so much better, if only the writing had delved beyond the surface and into the rich fabric of human psychology. It is a different breed of supernatural whodunit and it deserves to have been carefully crafted, not assembled through slapdash tactics. See it if you are curious, but be prepared to deduce more logical questions than existential answers.

6/10