Movie Review - The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight (2008)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger

I made the decision going into this movie to be as hard on it as possible.  I've seen The Dark Knight several times, and I know that I love it.  I loved it before I even saw it.  From the moment the sequel to Batman Begins was announced, it was clear the movie had the potential to become something special.  Batman Begins was so good, and yet everybody knows the second movie in a superhero franchise is always better than the first (until Iron Man 2 came along and ruined that paradigm).  So the bar was set high instantly.  But director Christopher Nolan was at the peak of his powers.  He flexed his muscles early by dropping the word "Batman" from the title.  And The Dark Knight?  What an entirely perfect, bad-ass title for a Batman movie.  The cast, obviously, was as before a murderer's row, a fanboy's wet dream.  And then there was Heath Ledger.  When Ledger passed away, the reports about his death focused as much on how brilliant his performance was in the as-yet unreleased Dark Knight as they did on the tragic circumstances of his death.  There was a legend surrounding the movie before it was even released.  And after it was released, for once, the reality appeared to meet the expectation.  Despite the enormous hype surrounding the movie, you would have been hard pressed to find a negative review of it in the Summer of 2008.

I was just as impressed by the movie as anyone.  There was just so much to love.  Bale seemed so much more mobile in his bat-suit, and you could tell what the hell was going on in the fight scenes.  Katie Holmes was nowhere in sight.  The movie was dark and gritty as fans wanted, while still offering plenty of crowd-pleasing action spectacle.  And, of course, Heath Ledger's performance was absolutely transcendent.  It's hard now to imagine the days when Ledger was announced as The Joker and fans revolted.  Now, I just feel sorry for the next guy who has to play The Joker in a live-action movie.  There is such a legend and mysticism about Ledger's performance now that it's hard to separate the movie from it all.  Thus, going into this viewing of The Dark Knight, I wondered whether the greatness of Ledger's performance had allowed The Dark Knight to pull a sleight of hand in disguising it's warts.  Is it possible that The Joker is so good in this movie that audiences overlook other aspects of the movie, including it's flaws?  Is The Dark Knight really the 8th best movie of all time (as it has been voted IMDb users)?

The short answer is, of course The Dark Knight isn't the 8th best movie of all time.  It's a very good, very commercially viable film featuring some extremely well-known and beloved characters.  It became so popular in part because Nolan identified what his audience wanted to see, and delivered it to them in a nearly flawless package.  But, rest assured, the movie does have flaws.  In fact, most of them are the same ones that plagued the first movie, Batman Begins.  That's somewhat surprising, given how different the two movies are on the surface.  Batman Begins was entirely concerned with the dark and terrible underbelly of Gotham City.  After watching the first movie, you might surmise that the city consists entirely of dank alleyways, dirty streets, and dilapidated buildings.  By comparison, The Dark Knight is shiny and glittery.  There are more scenes in the daytime.  There are tons of sweeping aerial shots.  We get the impression of Gotham as a towering metropolis filled with skyscrapers, and broad, well-lit, clean streets.  I must say I preferred the Gotham of Batman Begins, and watching the two movies back to back, the difference is somewhat jarring.  I wondered why Nolan decided to so drastically switch courses in his depiction of Gotham City.

In addition to those surface, stylistic differences, there are some unfortunate similarities between the two movies all well.  For one, they are both simply too long.  For it's part, The Dark Knight has more interesting action sequences (that you can actually see!), and every scene with The Joker onscreen is just so compelling that the movie manages to stay riveting throughout.  But there is still a lot of fluff here.  Batman's trip to Hong Kong, and in fact, the entire character of the unscrupulous Hong Kong businessman could have been eliminated in my opinion.  Sure, the plot led to some beautifully shot scenes among the tall buildings of HK (and on Bruce's yacht), but it just wasn't essential to the story.  Speaking of inessential, how about that Rachel Dawes?  The actress changed, but the character remained as unfortunately boring as ever.  Rachel does provide an interesting impetus for Batman to want to "settle down" so to speak, and retire the cowl.  And the dynamic between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent and Dawes is interesting and well-executed.  But the character of Dawes is just flat.  She is the consummate do-gooder and damsel in distress, with nary a line or plot progression that isn't related to the men in her life.  Nolan has had two movies to develop the character into something more, and failed to do so.  Luckily for us, Nolan, perhaps realizing he had a much more interesting and stronger female character up to bat (har har) in the next movie (Catwoman), wisely killed her off.  Her death scene is a good one, though, and the aftermath is pretty vital to the story of the The Dark Knight.  In the end, her death was probably Rachel Dawes' greatest contribution to the bat-universe.  Hopefully, getting her out of the way will also make room in the next movie for more Lucius Fox and/or Alfred Pennyworth, two characters who people actually care about and whose roles were unfortunately reduced from Batman Begins.

Also somewhat extraneous in my opinion was the very rushed-feeling transformation of Harvey Dent into Two-Face.  It's too bad, because the dynamic between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Harvey was so intriguing up until that point.  The whole dark knight/white knight contrast felt very smooth and unforced to me, but the arc of Harvey Dent felt like it should have taken place over two movies.  It would have been so much more affecting if the final transformation of Dent into Two Face had occurred in the third movie, after the relationship between Wayne and Dent had been clearly established in The Dark Knight.  Instead, Nolan opted to shoehorn another villain into the movie (and if there was ever a lone villain who could carry an entire movie, it was Ledger's Joker), a move that was needlessly reminiscent of the old Joel Schumacher Batman franchise.  If Nolan has one downfall as a director, it would be his tendency to be a bit indulgent, a trait that he has probably earned with his great success, but could due to dial back a bit.  Unfortunately, since The Dark Knight Rises is even longer than the first two movies, it appears Nolan is unwilling to curb any indulgent tendencies for now.  And who am I to complain about getting more Nolan Batman anyway?

So The Dark Knight isn't a perfect movie.  But maybe Heath Ledger's performance is (if you don't mind a little ham in your comic book movie, which, why should you?).  And it is still so very, very good.  It's the best superhero movie ever by a long shot, and I don't imagine another one will surpass it.  In fact, comparing other superhero movies to The Dark Knight is like comparing The Godfather to Corky Romano.  This movie isn't just opting to be popcorn fluff.  It's ambitious.  And it has the chops to deliver on that ambition.  Those ambitious ideas and a lights out turn by Heath Leader as The Joker created a perfect storm of superhero movie goodness.  One we should be very thankful for.  It will be a tough act for Nolan to top this movie with The Dark Knight Rises, but contrary to popular belief, there is actually room for improvement here.  I'm waiting with baited breath just like everyone else.  I wish Mr. Nolan luck, and if he has the balls to kill Batman in the end, I'll give him a medal.

Verdict: 9/10

 

Movie Review - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

Director: Brad Bird

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg

 

 I went into this movie with a fair amount of hype, which was probably my first mistake.  The first 3 Mission Impossible movies alone would have done little to enhance my anticipation of Ghost Protocol.  But the movie was directed by Pixar super-genius Brad Bird (his first live-action effort) and was received quite well critically.  Ghost Protocol also managed to stay in the news on the strength of the hype surrounding a sequence that takes place at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (Dubai being the new "it" city for movies seeking exotic locales).  In case you somehow managed to not hear about it, Tom Cruise hangs from the side of the tallest building in the world during that sequence, and he does the stunt himself.  Also contributing to my inability to avoid the hype machine associated with this movie is the fact that I live in Japan.  Most American movies come and go here with little fanfare.  The Hangover, Twilight, and all the Marvel movies are just some examples of huge American box office hits that barely register here.  But when Japanese people do care about a movie, they go all out.  Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean are examples of this.  The media blitz for those movies was inescapable in Japan.  Well, in Japan, Tom Cruise is probably the most the famous and recognizable Hollywood star outside of Johnny Depp, so you could imagine how often I had to watch Cruise fake-grinning his way through an interview with the Japanese media in the weeks leading up to the release of Ghost Protocol.  I'm sure Tom thinks it was all worth it in the end, though, as this movie made bank.  In fact, it is the highest-grossing Tom Cruise movie ever, a fact that made me do a double take (Top Gun?).

The Mission Impossible series is an interesting one for a variety of reasons.  I've seen them all, but I couldn't tell you a single plot detail from any of them except this newest one.  In Ghost Protocol, when the characters start talking about main character Ethan Hunt's wife, and Croatia, I nearly shook my head in amazement: Wait a second, this movie actually expects me to remember what happened in Mission Impossible 3? I don't think I can be blamed for failing to keep track of the events in this series.  Every movie has been like a reboot, having little to do story-wise with it's predecessor.  And each one has had a different director, making the 3 movies very distinct stylistically.  The members of Ethan Hunt's team have been changing seemingly every movie, as well. The only real constant has been Cruise as Hunt.  And I must say I find it somewhat amusing that this franchise, which has been so long-running and earned so much money, is based around a character that makes balsa wood look interesting.  Ethan Hunt is truly the epitome of the generic action movie protoganist.  He displays no unique or interesting characteristics, and his character hasn't really changed or developed at all in 4 (!) movies.  It's pretty fitting that newcomer to the series Jeremy Renner is playing a character, Brandt, who is apparently being groomed as a successor to Tom Cruise when he is done with the series (which I hope doesn't happen: can't we agree to just stop making these when Cruise is done printing his money?).  Because Brandt is just as generic as Hunt.  It's somewhat confusing, given that I think Renner and Cruise are both very charismatic actors.  Just not in this movie. Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's M.I. curse, or maybe these guys are just all too willing to sleepwalk through these kinds of movies in the name of cashing a fat check.  I guess we'll never know.

In any case, one actor who does bring charisma to his role is Simon Pegg as Benji. At this point, the man is being typecast in a big way as the wisecracking smart-ass, but he is damn good at it, and he has a few good action moments in this one as well.  Pegg isn't enough though to give the movie any real sense of the heart that it lacks.  That's because, in addition to Renner and Cruise, the other member of the team, Jane Carter, is just as generic a character as her name would suggest.  She has a few good moments in the beginning, including a great cat fight in Dubai, but about midway through the movie she just seems to forget how pissed off she is that her boyfriend was murdered a few days ago or whatever.  Apparently keeping that thread alive constituted too much storyline for the makers of Ghost Protocol.   Unfortunately, they were misguided in that aspect.  Because this movie could have done with a lot more story.  What little story it does have is so half-assed it wouldn't even make for a decent season of 24.  Some guy wants a nuke, and there are some codes or something.  Whatever, let's get to the action sequences.

And what action sequences they are.  There are three or four sequences (including Cruise hanging from the Burj Khalifa) that completely save Ghost Protocol from being utterly irredeemable.  The part where Cruise and his team break into the Kremlin is also really cool, if not completely laughable and unbelievable.  Unfortunately, the parts of the movie where there is no action on screen are torture.  There is little to no chemistry between the main actors with the notable exception of Pegg and Cruise, and I think that's just because Pegg is so good.  Every plot progression is geared towards moving us to the next kick-ass action sequence, but there aren't nearly enough of them.  And the story in general is just painfully generic and by the numbers.  I was never entirely clear what the threat was, and perhaps most damningly, I didn't even care that it wasn't clear.  When the movie ended anti-climatically, my response before I went on about my day was: Is that it?  OK then.  The movie wraps up with a ham-fisted Ving Rhames cameo, some nonsense about Cruise's supposedly-dead wife actually being alive, and then the characters disappear into the night with the unfortunate promise of future sequels and cash grabs.  My only hope is that the director of the next movie can find a way to make Mission Impossible more compelling, or that maybe Cruise actually does get out of the way, and the series can start fresh, and maybe newer and better, with Renner or some other actor.  And I'm sure Brad Bird will make some great live-action movies during his career.  Unfortunately, this isn't one of them.

Verdict: 7/10

 

Movie Review - The Raid: Redemption (2011)

   The Raid: Redemption (2011)

Director: Gareth Evans

Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah

Now this is the kind of movie I like.  In my opinion, there are few things better than a well-done popcorn action flick like The Raid: Redemption.  I'm talking about the kind of movie The Expendables is supposed to be celebrating.  The type of movies that were oh-too-common in Hollywood in the 1980s and most of the 1990s: classics like Predator, Die Hard, and The Rock.  Movies that had a straightforward premise, great characters, and tons of ass-kicking while still managing to squeeze in a somewhat comprehensible and non-eyeroll-worthy plot.  The Raid: Redemption is all of that and more.  And as a result, Hollywood better watch out.

I'm not at all familiar with the Indonesian movie industry, so I don't know the quality and production value of a typical Indonesian movie.  Budget-wise, The Raid may be the Avatar of Indonesian films for all I know.  But I also know that it is as polished and stylish-looking as any action movie to come out of Hollywood recently.  Not that Hollywood has bothered making very many movies like this at all recently.  The poster for the The Raid proudly declares it "the best action movie in decades".  That is pretty hyperbolic, and I don't think it's true either, but it's a lot closer to the truth than I may have thought prior to seeing the movie.  The fact is, Hollywood just doesn't deal in these kinds of movies anymore.  It's an original story not based on any book or video game.  It's not a comic book movie.  And it's not a sequel. When was the last time a blockbuster Hollywood action movie wasn't at least one of those things?

And that's too bad.  Because we know Hollywood is capable of making movies like this if they just put up the effort.  And The Raid is so much fun.  If there was a checklist for making a kick-ass action flick, I think nearly all the boxes would be checked off for this film.  We establish in the opening moments of the movie that the main character is a complete badass.  We see his pregnant wife, establishing what is at stake for him.  And we don't bother revisiting that story much throughout the film.  No overly sappy stuff here.  Just enough to make you think "this guy really wants to get home, and I'm rooting for him".  And when the "twist" is revealed near the end, those little details make it more significant.  It's very elegant and very well-done.

Words like "simple" and "elegant" are easily applied to The Raid.  This movies knows exactly what it is.  It's so comfortable in it's skin, and I applaud director Gareth Evans for that.  He really has total control of the subject matter.  He establishes the premise very clearly, and very early on.  There is a big condemned building with a bunch of very bad dudes in there, including one crime lord who is the baddest dude of them all (and if there is an American remake of this movie, I demand that Benicio Del Toro play the crime lord role.  I spent half the movie trying to decide if the guy playing the crime lord was Del Toro's Indonesian half-brother or something).  Now this team of elites is going in to take him down.  OK, let's go.  That's all, in terms of setup.  From there, the action starts, and it literally does not stop until the end.  The setting of the movie is genius:  a condemned building.  Everything is dilapidated. So walls, floors, and other miscellaneous objects are constantly being broken through and destroyed.  There are tons of random items laying around to be thrown, thrown into and used in a variety of creative and ass-kicking ways.  The environment becomes a character.  And the fights are so well-choreographed and convincing.  Just really brutal, painful-looking stuff.  It's really amazing.  

One downside of all this is that because there are so many fights, and the environment stays pretty much the same throughout, some of the fights do take on a same-y feeling. But there are enough creative (and sometimes cringe-inducing) set pieces thrown in to keep things very exciting.  And it's not just ass-kicking of the martial arts variety, either.  There are plenty of gunfights, knife fights, and sniper fights to go around as well!  The body count is significant, to say the least.  This movie is basically Die Hard if John McClane was a mixture of Jet Li and the Indian guy from Predator.  How can you turn down that premise?  Iko Uwais lacks the natural charisma of an actor like Bruce Willis, but I understand he is a young and relatively inexperienced actor.  Plus, when the fights start, he is charismatic as hell.  Knowing that he is a real-life martial arts bad-ass gives him a little more street cred, as well.  And he succeeds in being sympathetic enough in the scenes with his wife and brother.  I look forward to seeing where Uwais goes from here, and if he can develop into a legit Hollywood action star similar to other Asian imports like Li and Jackie Chan before him.

The ending of this movie leaves things pretty open for a sequel, and I don't know how I feel about that.  Sequels to great action movies have a real problem living up to their predecessors.  Plus, I kind of like the idea of this movie as a one-off slap to the face of Hollywood, essentially saying, "Hey, if you're not going to make this kind of movie, the rest of the world will! Wake up!".  Unfortunately, I don't think Hollywood did or will get the message.  After all, instead of developing new action properties or young action stars, they'll just remake this movie with a bunch of white people in it.  It's encouraging that Sly Stallone continues to develop his Expendables movies as a sort of love letter to the old-school action flick.  And it's great to see all those old action stars onscreen together again.  But, here's a suggestion to you, Sly: instead of retreading old memories, how about watching a movie like The Raid.  Take note of how original it is.  And how it manages to feel familiar while still being fresh and new.   And then go out and try to make a movie like that.  Good luck.

Verdict: 8/10

 

My students are at it again...

Rather than participate in class, I had a group of kids who spent pretty much the entire period the other day drawing pictures of me.  The end result was rather entertaining.  One drawing of me is very nice and very flattering.  The one beneath it (which is apparently me in 50 years) is much more interesting!

Exhibit 1: Lovely, normal picture!

Exhibit 2: What the hell happens to me in 50 years? Am I exposed to radiation?

Fude No Sato Kobo

The city of Kumano is the number one producer of fude (brushes) in Japan. Kumano produces high-quality brushes used not only in the traditional Japanese art of calligraphy, but also for cosmetic purposes like applying makeup. The town grew in fame recently when members of the Japan women’s soccer team (“Nadeshiko Japan”) received makeup brushes made in Kumano from Prime Minister Naoto Kan after winning the Women’s World Cup in 2011.

Kumano is a very small town with not a great deal to offer in terms of sightseeing.  But in celebration of its remarkable brush-making reputation, the town has created the Fude no sato kobo, or Brush Pen Studio.  Fudeo no sato kobo was opened in 1994.

As I alluded to before, Kumano is a small town, and a bit out of the way. Thus, it seemed unlikely to me that many people would visit the town essentially just to see the Brush Pen Studio. That assumption proved to be a mistake. On the day I visited, the parking lot of the Fude no sato kobo was nearly full. And a survey of license plates quickly confirmed that many people had indeed come from all over Japan just to see these vaunted Kumano brushes.

As for the Fude no sato kobo itself, the building is impressive and modern-looking. The first floor is reserved for an information counter, a shop selling the brushes, and a small café. All of the displays are located on the basement level. Upon buying my ticket, I headed downstairs and was immediately struck by the enormous, nearly room-height fude standing in the middle of the area.  After taking a moment to process that sight, I took my time walking around and observing the many interesting and diverse displays the Fude no sato kobo had to offer. Unfortunately, all the exhibits are in Japanese with no English translations.  So those interested parties who lack considerable Japanese skill should consider enlisting the help of a Japanese friend to accompany them for this one.

The content of the displays was exhaustive. They explain the history of fude and calligraphy in Japan, dating back hundreds of years. There are numerous examples of fude and related tools used for both craft and makeup. There are examples of fude having been used to write, among other things, banners, books, manga, and the labels for alcohol and bottled water. There is a display celebrating some of the famous users of fude in Japan, both past and present, including Kusakabe Meikaku and Ishizaka Kouji. There are messages written with fude from various celebrities. There is a small movie theater showing on loop short clips which document the fude-making process. And, of course, there are many, many fude on display. The fude are from different eras and intended for different purposes. As such, it was interesting to note the very distinct size and design properties of each brush. The displays change periodically, and you can check the fude no sato kobo  website to see a schedule.

Because this is not a museum, but a studio, you can observe a fude being made by hand right in front of you.  You can also try your hand at making a brush yourself.   I wasn’t able to do that on this day, but apparently it’s surprisingly easy to make one.  You have to call ahead and make a reservation for those workshops, and the price is about 2000 yen.  Also while at the Fude no sato kobo, I had the opportunity to observe a great number of people practicing calligraphy as well.  There were both elderly people and children working diligently next to each other, and it was impressive to see that this traditional Japanese art is still alive and well in these modern times.  The shop at the studio sells Kumano brushes of all kinds, which range in price from 300 yen to 20000 yen.  You can also buy the brushes online.  If you want a convenient place to have lunch, the café on the 1^st floor offers pasta lunch sets for around 2000 yen. There is also a terrace which provides a good view of the beautiful lake which can be found behind the ude no sato kobo.

If you have any interest in calligraphy, you owe it to yourself to visit Fude no sato kobo. There is a ton of interesting information to be found here, and a great chance to see a Kumano fude made from scratch by a master, as well as try your hand at making one yourself. Even those who aren’t interested in calligraphy or makeup may find it interesting to see the many surprising ways fude are used throughout Japan for different purposes every day. For that reason, Fude no sato kobo comes highly recommended. 

Beer Garden!

In Japan, when summer rolls around, rooftops suddenly become a very exciting place to be.  That’s because summer in Japan is beer garden season, and these beer gardens tend to set up shop on the roofs of department stores, hotels, and other buildings. 

 

There are few things Japanese people love more than to eat and drink outside.  Barbecue and hanami are two fine examples of that tradition.  Beer garden is another.  Visitors to beer garden can typically expect to pay a flat rate of somewhere between ¥2000 and ¥5000.  

The particulars will vary somewhat depending on the place, but usually beer garden is all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat.  You are given a mug to pour yourself the drink of your choice from a tap, and all the food is laid out on trays for the taking.  Everything is self-service.

The beer garden itself is usually a patio-like setting.  There are many tables and chairs around, and you can sit wherever you like, as long as the area isn’t reserved.  And much of the area may well be reserved, particularly if you visit the beer garden on a holiday when the weather is nice.  Beer garden is a very popular destination for large gatherings such as office drinking parties.

Japanese people have a reputation for their shyness, but as anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time in Japan well knows, those walls quickly come down when alcohol is imbibed.  As such, beer garden can be the site of some interesting interactions from time to time.  Everyone is outside drinking in the same space, and the atmosphere is very festive.  In addition, there are no booths or walls separating parties as in the standard izakaya.  So don’t be surprised if a stranger decides to pay you and your group an impromptu visit!  It’s all in good fun.

Recently, during a slight reprieve from the constant downpour that has been the rainy season this year, a couple of friends and I decided to visit the Asian Beer Garden located on the rooftop of Lotz in Fukuyama.  For residents of Fukuyama, the beer garden on the roof of Lotz is a standard destination in the summer.  The price and location (near Fukuyama Station) are convenient, and the view is pretty good too.

Open from roughly mid-May to mid-September each year, the cost of Asian Beer Garden is ¥3500 for adults and ¥1000 for children.  It’s open every day 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.  The theme of the beer garden is Asian Cuisine, and usually you can find some dishes from Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, and other countries under the section labeled “Asian Cuisine”.  On this particular day, there was some tuna-kimchee concoction to be found there, among other things. 

Next to the Asian Cuisine section is the “Fried Food” section.  Here you’ll find izakaya staples such as fried potatoes, karaage, and korokke.  There is some dessert, too.  None of the food is a revelation, but it is about as good as you’ll find in most izakaya, and you’re probably there mostly to drink anyway.  Unfortunately, the only brand of beer available is Asahi Super Dry.  But they do offer black beer.  There are also soft drinks, and some shochu and nihonsyu.

My visit to beer garden this time was a good experience, as usual.  It was a nice day, with a gentle breeze.  Because it was a weekday, it was also a very calm, relaxing atmosphere with few people around.  If you go on a weekend, prepare for a much more lively experience!  If you’re going with a large group, I would probably make reservations.  I highly recommend beer garden to anyone wanting an authentic Japanese experience.  You may even make some new friends along the way!