Tuesday, 8 May 2012

2280 A mixture of saving the world, romantic and weird films

None of the films in this catch up in the first week of May 2012 will make it to anyone’s list of top of whatever category and time period chosen. The one which had potential and engaged my attention most admittedly stretched credulity and had some dodgy acting. The reason for my interest being the role of the personal adviser to the Prime Minister. The Adviser of the Culture Secretary please takes note.

31 North 62 east is the location of a British S.A.S unit which the British Prime Minister agreed should be murdered by the agents of the ambassador of a friendly power holder in Afghanistan who was offering an 80 billion arms deal. Unfortunately before the arms deal is signed an American Navy Seals unit takes out a position which involves civilian casualties including a close relative of the potentate. He demands the unit is sacrificed but before their location can be given they have returned to their USS naval vessel. The British SAS unit is in the area and is sacrificed so the deal can proceed with the Ambassador arranging for the location information given to the local fundamentalist terrorists/freedom fighters.

All would have gone to plan except that the commander of the unit is not killed and is taken prisoner. Apart from the role of the personal adviser the other interesting aspect of this film is not the treachery of the British Prime Minister but that the Commander is female and that several of the principal characters are also female.

She is held in captivity and repeatedly tortured to confess her guilt in the raid which led to death of relative of the potentate. Eventually the group believe the woman and her team were not involved and the information is relayed to the Potentate’s personal ambassador who tells the rebel to immediately kill the girl and keep stumm and he relays the info to the British PM who admits any leak will ruin his reselection chances while the ambassador knows his life will be quickly terminated for messing up and failing to take revenge on the perpetrators of the crime.

This is where the plot becomes more complex. The girl has a sister who was also in the army but in intelligence and with connections with the French, including a senior operative who is female and who in turn has a double agent  located in Beirut who is also a woman and who is respected by freedom fighting terrorists groups such as the one holding the British Commander.

She is able to visit the camp and confirm that the girl is alive and trade for her life with a substantial quantity of arms and ammunition. This is a bluff to enable an Italian team to take out the rebels and rescue the girl who returns to the UK allegedly having lost her memory and is suffering traumatic stress and placed in a psychiatric hospital before being discharged from the service as unfit for further duty. When is released home the ambassador with the knowledge of the British PM has paid  a female professional assassin half a million to ensure  the former officer dies in a suicide accident and soon this appears to be the position.

The sister finds out that something was rotten after the discovery at the camp of an email on the hard drive of a computer which gave the group the location of the S.A.S unit and sent to them by the Ambassador. They are able to connect the sending of the info to 15 minutes after the ambassador had met the British PM in a country Hotel. Proving the connection appears to be impossible and this where the plot becomes even more elaborate.

The sister is able to build a powerful computer system which hacks into that of the British Security services and from this learns the home location of the personal adviser/spin doctor for the PM who is also a woman and who is then kidnapped involving the use of a light plane and a commando style assault of one person, or so it appears. The woman is then infected with a snake poison which takes 40 hours to have full effect unless she reveals all when a serum is at hand. The interrogation of the prisoner is relayed to a 24/7 news platform which is then taken up world wide. The government cannot shut down the Internet system in the UK without arousing the political and media suspicion that they have something to hide. The impression is given this is a terrorist plot. The Prime Minister orders the security services to find the location of the transmission and take both women out after realising that his adviser has also become a threat.

The process of the interrogation and locating the transmission is stretched out to build up tension which is one of several aspects of the film which does not work. The sister is able to communicate direct with the intelligence service HQ and goads them when the crack unit sent find that the transmission centre is a proxy relay unit. However it does not take long for the crack special forces unit to find the location and appear to have killed the two women who are reported to have been killed in the attempt to release them, but only after the PM’s adviser has spilled the beans on International TV.  The PM holds a media conference to explain what has happened claiming that his adviser has had some kind of breakdown and was responsible for the situation (unbelievable except this is the very argument put out by the present Minister for Culture backed up by the Prime Minister that his personal adviser acted without him having any knowledge of his contact and information giving to the Murdochs. The P.M also confidently asserts that his Minister will vindicate himself at the Leveson Inquiry with the documentation also released only to the Inquiry in the first instance). The PM in the film talks of an inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened which will vindicate his actions and the cover story.

In real life that would be that.

However this where the film takes an even greater downward curve as it is revealed that the commander was not assassinated but with the help of the French intelligence and friends within British intelligence and special forces it is the assassin who dies in the car found at the bottom of a cliff. Moreover nor has the sister and the PM’s adviser died who all turn up at the press conference after he has assured the media both are dead. The PM is quickly taken away from the situation. The commander turns up at a bar to amaze her boyfriend with the quip you look as if you have seen a ghost while her sister is offered a job with French Intelligence which she takes up suggesting the ambitions of a sequel.

There is no pretence of realism is another one person saves the world film which I also enjoyed Captain America- The First Avenger in 3D. Captain America is a Marvel Comic superhero and was probably conceived out of the Charles Atlas phenomenon of a male weakling in terms of physical size, weight and strength into a power body building, selling his techniques and aids world wide.

Captain was also a weakling to with the outbreak of the Second World War attempted to enlist several times under different names always in failure until his latest attempt is witnessed by an experimental scientist Dr Eskine who is on the look out for suitable candidates for his project which is to subject an individual to a combination of drugs and electrical forces which turns him into a super soldier. The trainees are out through their military physical paces by Tommy Lee Jones (Colonel Phillips) who is preparing a support team and British Liaison officer secret agent Peggy Carter.

Previously in an earlier version of the project Eskine had used a German Nazi fanatic called Schmidt who was left with a disfigured Red Face.  In Germany with the help of another experimental scientist Dr Zola (Toby Jones) they have captured pre nuclear era type of device from which obliteration weapons can be constructed from individual being atomizers to whole cities. While he is working for the Third Reich he has a plan to use the new power to take over the world.

Unfortunately while the American young man is being changed into the superhero an agent of Schmidt has infiltrated into the project and kills Eskine just as the Steve Rogers is created a super soldier. He goes after the assassin in a dramatic chase only for the killer com commit suicide with Cyanide.

The government and the army decide to use their creation for a highly successful national buy war bonds campaign turning him into Captain America which he enjoys. However he remains upset because of what happened to the man who had given him chance and changed him and this comes to a head when while in Europe, in  Italy he learns that Phillips forces have suffered major casualties  in an effort to take on Schmidt. On impulse he singled handed goes to investigate and manages to release a substantial number of those who have been captured. He returns in triumph.

He also has found out the master plan of Schmidt who has a number of satellite stations around the world and he leads the team on successful missions to destroy or disable as well as capturing or killing those involved. Building on his image as recruiting captain America with a shield bearing the stars and the stripes. Now he is supplied with a similar looking shield except made of a special metal which makes it indestructible and which Captain America also uses as a weapon with boomerang capabilities.

They discover that the core weapon device is being transferred to the remaining control centre of Schmidt who is now acting on his behalf and Captain America and two close friends board the moving train in a spectacular move. One of the trio is Buck Barnes a lifelong friend of Rogers who looked after him when he was weakling including taking him on blind double dates. He is one of the special team captured by Schmidt at one point and rescued by Captain America. Now he is unable to save his friend who perishes falling off a carriage which hangs in a perilous position. Captain America then leads a frontal assault on the remaining stronghold of the enemy. Participating in the assault is Peggy the special British Agent, who believed in him from the outset and who help him lave the camp on the first mission against Schmidt. While the two have become close they have not become lovers and there is a moment during the finale, akin to most James Bond films in which the two disclose their love and agree to have a date, although knowing it is unlikely to take place as Captain America makes a desperate attempt to stop Schmidt taking off in a single swing wing aircraft which contains the last remaining nuclear type device heading for New York.

He manages to send Schmidt to his death and take control of the plane but only to bring it down into the artic ice. He is presumed dead.

The film commences with the discovery of a strange aircraft trapped within the ice of the artic in the present day. A discovery is made which gets everyone excited.  Captain America wakes in a room with a television showing a sport’s games from the 1940’s. He suddenly realises that something is wrong about the situation, breaks out of the room to find himself in the present day America. Staff explained to him that he has been in a state of frozen stasis for 70 years. He reflects that he late for the date.

Written like this the film appears similar to all the others of the same ilk. Perhaps it is the war time Nazi science fiction element which engaged, perhaps the weakling transformed, but I found the film more engaging than others of the kind.

According to Wikipedia over 200 million copies of the comic book have been sold in 75 countries. Sequel to thee film is scheduled for July of this year. This was also a production where the 3D enhanced without overwhelming.

The third in the category of Save the World films is one of two versions I have seen of the 1993 Australian book series Tomorrow when the War Began. I had seen a USA based version, possibly made for TV adaptation whose name I cannot remember but he plot is remarkably similar. It bugs me that I cannot immediately remember or find the title and info of the USA film.

The Australian film was made in 2010 with talk of two sequels and a TV series. The USA TV film had future look back to a monument marking when the young guerrilla’s had made their stand after the enemy had taken control of their local community. In the Australian version which I assume is a fair reproduction of the original novel a group of 18ish year olds decided to go on an outback camping expedition up river starting with the use of a parent’s six seater Land Rover with the party comprises an assortment of loose friends of the central two characters, two female friends one of whom has commenced a sexual affair. The three others invited include the Asian piano playing son of a local restaurant owner I suspect so as not to alienate the Asian community given that the film is about a Chinese/Asian successful invasion of Australia for living space ( a la the original Hitler justification for expanding the territory available to German speaking Aryans. The other members of the group are a local wild boy and a town girl who goes backpacking camping with her make up and cuddly slippers.

The expedition is successful as they find a small oasis at the source of the river or tributary complete with fresh waterfall. The only potential problem is a snake which reveals that the Asian is quick thinking and has good reflexes while the serious boyfriend reveals he is prone to panic and run off.  They return to the parents who loaned the land rover to find the family dog shot and the family not there and this situation is repeated at the other homes outside the town. The Internet/phone TV and radio stations are silent. This is the first misunderstanding of the approach taken by an invader. While communication would be cut at the earliest opportunity but once control was gained then it would re-established progressively to  give orders and information, The idea that such an event could occur without intervention from other nations is nonsense but will appal to  other young people as a test of how would I react in such a situation and one has to take account that thee average soldier is of a similar age to the young people who form a guerrilla band once they establish what has happened and the all the outlying population are corralled in the local showground while everyone is processed.

The group take a look at what is going on in the town at night and one is injured and fortunately they find a doctor who ha snot be interned to help. They manage to get him out and back to one of the homes after he has been treated.  In getting away the central character creates a petrol bomb which kills/injures a small group if investigating soldiers making her realises they are just as young as herself. The young man of the best friend reveals himself to be a selfish coward as he runs away leaving the two female friends in a situation where they are in great peril.  The group narrowly escape being blown up when a scouting helicopters decides there are people present at the farm. The book was written before heat seeking technology was admitted by the authorities.

The group faced with a choice between finding somewhere to live freely or take action with the obvious target the bridge for the local harbour which they subsequently learn is being used as one of the main landing areas for the invaders. The work out a way to try and destroy the bridge which nearly fails when the girls make a number of basic stupid and irresponsible errors but survive. One of their number is badly injured and is left to die with the “coward” who offers to say with her so she doe snot die alone and is presumed to have been captured as the film ends with the central character updating the video diary which forms the basis for he film as they go off to find others and continue to wage war. Hence the immediate indication of a second film to cover the rest of the book as other books in the series. The film received several awards in Australia

Now to a couple of romantic films with the  first having  an original subject which is of considerable interest to me as it combined what happened to the liberal revolutionaries society changers of the sixties and a their young people with similar values and ideals working today? As with the other films covered Blue State only works if you accept some of the initial story features. A young Democrat activist for the Democratic Party Presidential candidate makes he drunken boast on local TV that if George Bush is re-elected for a second term he will immigrate to Canada. When the election is lost friends assume he will keep his promise and when he is sent an email from a Canadian site where you Canadian men and women volunteer to marry USA citizens to enable them to become Canadian citizens and he notes the attractive appearance of several of the girls and he then loses his former job he decides that the idea is a good one. So instead of setting off on his own he first advertises for a travelling companion who shares his political and social values.

Most of the replying are men with whom he has nothing in common but when an attractive young woman arrives he is sufficiently attracted to overlooking the clues that she is not who she seems. They commence with separate motel rooms but as the journey progresses towards the Canadian border they share one room although nothing develops. He is something of a control freak having planned the journey in considerable detail including when they can get vehicles gas from a socialist based company. They each have major secrets.

He calls in on his mum and dad where the father is an extreme Bush supporting troop supporting maniac who cannot beat to listen to the views of his son and during the evening meal shortly on arrival asks him to leave. The father talks about their son other son as if he is still serving in Iraq/Afghanistan. It is only later hat we learn he was killed in action and his father has been unable to accept his death or that he potentially died for a lost or dubious cause.

The girl insists of  being dropped off just before the border admitting that she is not the young rebel with coloured hair protestor but in fact a soldier who has served in Iraq and is  due to return over seas after the furlough. She explains she is the only child of a several generation military family who given the alternatives joined up having been told she would not go into a combat area.

They arrive at the house of the organiser of the web site to find a wedding taking place and a mixture of oddballs more interested in finding a sexual partner than  because  feeling alienated by a second term Bush administration. She is not impressed by them or the Canadian society of Winnipeg or that he appears to readily go along with the plans of their mature hostess that he should marry her.

Once the two disclose their real feelings for each other they make a quick escape. She gives herself up at the border and he elects to return to the USA to await her release from custody sometime later. By then he has become a candidate for the Senate.

During their return they run out of petrol and are saved by  someone who turns out to have been a draft dodger at the time of Vietnam War and whose reflections has an influence on the couple.

There is nothing to commend Run Fatboy Run even the theme that true love will triumph. Dennis Doyle is a pathetic loser who runs away from the wedding to the mother of their child. He does keep in contact with their son and it is this contact that makes him realise what he has lost when she starts to date someone else. The man is an investment banker who is running in the London Marathon. This spurs Denis to enter and train and to finisher higher that the rival. For some reason this makes his former fiancée think better of him and they get together again. God help her and her son I say.

At least I understood the plot which is something I cannot say for Kaboon which is a creation for the teenage weekend audience with  bright colour lots of direct sex talk and casual sex. The story involved a film student who sexual identity is undeclared which provides the opportunity to explore physical relationships with both sexes. All fair enough you will say if you like this kind of thing

However this is all a preamble for the main storyline which is about extra terrestrial super natural abilities in which the to main characters turn out to be half brother and sister called London(female) and Smith(the male) and who are to be saved when the cult/ group are about to destroy earth with the exploding of nuclear weapons. The  couple and others are to be saved if they reach a secret underground shelter. They fail which delighted me greatly.

Described as psychological thriller with Charlotte Rampling Lemming has much more to commend it although  there are  lots of unanswered questions and the main charge of pretentiousness,

The Hero (Alain Getty) accepts a new position  as a Home Automation Engineer when devised a flying security camera which can be directed from an external computer. His new  boss  invites himself to dinner with his wife(Rampling) after a successful demonstration of the device. The couple arrive very late and engage is an abuse row with Rampling insulting her husband, accusing him of adultery and then their host for being conventional uninteresting and living in an awful  small modern home.

Alain then discovers a lemming dislodged in the S bend of the kitchen sink, hence the film title. This excites the specialist  the wife consults because lemmings are unknown in France.  The creature is smuggled back from Scandinavia by the child of a neighbour and I admit I still do not understand  the significance of this to the rest of the story which is about the nature of reality and how individual perceptions can be coloured by their internal forces.

In this instance Rampling invites herself  back to their home where she commits suicide after seducing the husband.  The wife is seduced by employer and goes to live with him after the couple  have an idyllic break at the isolated great view  holiday home of the boss and his wife. Husband and wife get back together as the mystery of the Lemming is solved. Was I interested? Did I care? No.  but Charlotte Rampling had my attention as she always does in whatever film she performs.

The last film is the only serious, moving and well acted film of this group. The Messenger 2009 is the story of a  an individualist Army Sergeant who is redeployed after becoming a decorated war hero to the Army’s Casualty Notification Bureau. He is the junior partner in a two man permanently on call  team who tries to teach him the  ropes of detachment and sticking to their written rule book brief. The advice not to become involves appears well justified as they share in the harrowing experience of several notifications and how the two men are able to cope with the grief and hostility they witness.

Then the Sergeant becomes obsessed by a young mother and son who appears to take the news in her stride. He starts to stalk her and find ways of getting involved with her and the son. The relationship appears to have a future when at the point when she packs up and leaves she agrees to exchange contact information. The film was nominated  for an Oscar for best original screen play and for best supporting actor as the senior member of the duo Woody Harrelson. You have to be in the mood for this film.

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