Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Coming out in 1984 at a time when big budget, sfx-laden films were becoming more common at the Box Office, this film left a lot of people walking out of the theaters with their heads spinning and saying wtf! The movie starts out with Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) performing a surgical procedure after which he is rushed away to test out a new jet-propelled car which he has equipped with an oscillation overthruster and which he drives through a mountain and into another dimension. When he emerges on the other side, he finds a strange alien organism attached to the pod; proof that he travelled to the 8th Dimension. The mentally unstable Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) sees a report of Buckaroo’s successful experiment on the news which prompts him to escape from the institution where he is imprisoned so that he can steal the overthruster. Lizardo had previously done similar experiments through which he was possessed by Lord John Whorfin, an evil Red Lectroid from the 8th Dimension. The escaped Lizardo/Whorfin heads to Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in Grovers Mill, New Jersey (yes, the link to Orson Wells’ radio broadcast is intentional) where fellow Red Lectroids John Yaya, John Smallberries, and John Bigbooté (yes, the recurring Johns are intentional) head up a group of renegades planning to return to the 8th Dimension and conquer Planet 10 once they acquire the overthruster. Meanwhile, a Black Lectroid spaceship commanded by the female John Emdall (yes, another John and this time a woman) orbits the Earth monitoring the situation. Emdall sends a message to Buckaroo and demands that he stop John Whorfin otherwise she will trick the United States and Russia into launching nuclear strikes on one another. With no other choice, Buckaroo calls into action his rock band/super adventurers the Hong Kong Cavaliers along with his civilian backup the Blue Blaze Irregulars and jumps into the crisis with guns blaring.

If that synopsis left your head spinning, then know that I really only scraped the surface of the experience that is Buckaroo Banzai. This movie delivered a cross-genre satire that poked fun at its comic book/science fiction origins while also relishing in the excesses of both and finishing off with plenty of wit and hip posturing. Eschewing the more broad Airplane-style spoofs and maneuvering past the low-brow humor of Spaceballs, the movie walked that fine line between comedy and drama with plenty of winks to the well-versed sci fi fans sitting in the audience. It starts out by setting a breathless pace as it throws the viewer into the middle of the action and it never takes a break to let the audience catch up. And that’s part of its charm, even if it likely put off many viewers on its first go around. This gets the viewers immediately involved in the action, even if they do not necessarily understand everything passing by on the screen as it proceeds at light speed. The movie takes several passes to fully get your arms around it and each new viewing turns up yet another nugget that the screenwriters stashed away somewhere for the tenacious, curious fan to unveil later.

Buckaroo Banzai also managed to deliver a spirit of fun, adventure, and whim that the Hollywood machine had already started to squash in favor of cookie-cutter Blockbusters. Like a breath of fresh air, it departed from the more structured, formulaic cinematic output and verged on the anarchic. But it never got too brainy or geeky, either. It was not the type of movie that only the nerdiest of sci fi fans could get into, just anyone who appreciates a good amount of wit and angular story-telling. It also had a sense of hipness about it with its attractive, ultra-cool cast (was Buckaroo perhaps the first cool geek?) and its stylized look (that distinguished itself just enough from the fashion of the 80’s to create a timeless chic). In many ways, Buckaroo Banzai was a superhero movie with its action-star, renaissance man hero, and it also included some throwback references to earlier adventure serials as well as 50’s sci fi. And Peter Weller along with his supporting cast made this look cool and effortless. And that cast includes a who’s who of names that have since established themselves in movies and television such as John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, and Clancy Brown.

Buckaroo Banzai was not a low-budget film with production costs coming in at $12 million. But it did veer to the lower side compared to other genre films that came out the same year like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($28 million budget) and Ghostbusters ($30 million budget) and it had a slightly lower price tag than 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ($16 million budget). But I count Buckaroo Banzai as an Anti-Blockbuster because of the way it thumbed its nose at Hollywood and delivered a completely unique film that defies easy categorization and that marketers found nearly impossible to promote (and thus they just chose not to). This resulted in a disastrous Box Office run (making back less than one fourth of its budget) when it was first released. The movie quickly caught on in the home video market, though, and has since become a cult hit. Unfortunately, the promised sequel (teased just prior to the ending credits as Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League) never surfaced because of the poor Box Office reception of this film. But the original creators did eventually carry on the story of Buckaroo in comics through several excellent mini-series put out by Blue Water Productions.

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Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

Directed By: Roy Ward Baker
Produced By: Anthony Nelson Keys
Written By: Nigel Kneale
Starring: Andrew Keir, James Donald, Barbara Shelley
Original Release: 1967

Reviewed By: John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: Based on the six-part BBC television serial from the 50’s by the same name, this movie follows Professor Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group who investigates a strange missile-like object found deep beneath London by a construction crew. At first the professor and his colleagues theorize that this might be an experimental, undetonated German weapon from World War 2, but fossilized remains of primates are found very close to it and Quatermass ultimately surmises that it may have alien origins. Continued investigation of the object unleashes dormant forces that take control of those nearby, sending them on violent rampages. When Quartermass discovers the carcasses of horned, insect-like creatures inside the missile, he theorizes that these may have been beings that came to Earth from a dying Mars millions of years ago and that they must have implanted memories of their civilization (including a final racial purge) in the minds of the early primates that provide the origins for much of the superstition surrounding devils and demons in human culture. And as the latent force in the spaceship becomes more powerful, it begins to affect all of the inhabitants of London as they begin to reenact the slaughter of the racial purge from the dying days of Mars.

Review/Comments: This was the third movie (all from Hammer Films) to bring the Quatermass character to the big screen and it adapted the third of the BBC serials. The story it was based on was also by far the best of both the television series and the movies (though the other two are still quite good). Quatermass and the Pit (more commonly known as 5 Million Years to Earth in the States) mixes supernatural elements with science fiction and does it by presenting a plausible scientific explanation for the paranormal events it observes as well as for the latent superstitions that recur across many cultures. But it doesn’t go that route by giving a talky psycho-anthropological dissertation, it does it by delivering a film that stirs up the very fears it speculates upon. It should come as no surprise to those familiar with the output from Hammer, but this one delivers a truly scary film that that still stirs up chills when viewed today. And even though it runs half as long as the television serial it that it was based on, it stays true to its source (with series creator Nigel Kneale penning the script) and perhaps even improves upon that by delivering a tighter, more focused story than the somewhat slow-paced (though never boring) television version.

The only real knock on this film is that it has not aged well from a technical standpoint. The special effects showing the flashbacks to the aliens on Mars are crude at best and laughable at worst. Modern-day audiences may have some difficulty sitting through those scenes without roaring aloud. But then other scenes, especially when the invisible force starts to sweep through the city and make the ground tremble, still hit the mark and help make this into a chilling and at times unsettling film. Part of me would like to see this one remade with a budget that could more adequately bring to life its ambitious script, but then I fear that the Hollywood machine would quickly lose touch with the primal terror that this film evoked and bury its genre-bending, penetrating story beneath CGI smoke and mirrors.

Those who have never seen this film should definitely give it a look, just understand going in that visually it falls short at times. But the overall story is strong enough and the dedication of the cast and crew is quite apparent throughout the film. This is an old-style Science Fiction film that manages to stir up our emotions while also making us think. Something that has become all too rare in a time that we now have the technical prowess to create films that deliver on this promise.

Unfortunately, this one is currently unavailable on DVD, though interestingly enough the original Quatermass and the Pit serial from the 50′s (which never aired in the United States) is now available.  Also, the second serial, Quatermass 2, is available on DVD.  Only two episodes survive from the original serial, The Quatermass Experiment, so that has not been released in the States (though a PAL format DVD collects those two episodes with the other two serials).  The first serial was remade in Britain in 2005 from the original script with a pre-Doctor Who David Tennant making an appearance, but that version has not received a DVD release here either.  The final serial from 1979, titled simply Quatermass, is also available on DVD which includes the four-part serial and the shortened theatrical version.

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Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Cube is a quirky little sci fi/horror film that writer/director Vincenzo Natali (Splice) delivered to us back in 1997 as his feature-length directorial debut. It focuses on a group of people who find themselves trapped in a strange prison that consists of multiple, inter-linked cube-shaped rooms. They discover that some of the rooms have traps (like a razor-thin wire grate that will slice the unsuspecting wanderer into cubes) while others offer safe passage. None of the abductees know each other and none know how they arrived in this bizarre maze, though ultimately they determine that each serves a purpose in this maniacal exercise controlled by hidden forces. They decide that they must work together to succeed in escaping from their unjust incarceration and they start to find clues that help them determine whether a room is safe or trapped. The math genius Leaven determines that this appears to key off the serial numbers at the doors between rooms and whether one of these numbers is prime. Later, after barely escaping death in a seemingly safe room, they determine that answer lies in prime factorization of these numbers. This task at first seems impossible, but the autistic Kazan who has joined the party is a savant and has the ability to calculate the factors in his head. Leaven also determines that the numbers act as Cartesian coordinates which indicate where each room is within the overall structure and that these rooms move throughout the larger cube and eventually each will move to a location outside of it and act as a bridge to exit the prison. But because of their personality conflicts and mutual mistrust, the group begins to crumble from within before they can achieve their goal of escape.

Canadian director Natali managed to pull together this film, which he claims was inspired by the episode from the original Twilight Zone television series “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, for about half a million dollars. And he made the most with his money by creating a creepy, claustrophobic, paranoia-drenched film following a small group of frantic people trying to understand their seemingly unmerited predicament. And he managed to maneuver past the expected pitfall of trying to make these people symbolic or representative of society in general. Instead, he created very real, believable characters, and each with apparently some function in this demented “game”. He did add one element, though, and that was a sense of guilt that each person felt for something they had done in the past (with the exception, we assume, of Kazan). This leads each of them to initially wonder, either overtly or subconsciously, if their past sins somehow lead to their imprisonment. This emphasizes that each of these people are not perfect, thus making them more human, and as we see their more sordid nature reveal itself as the film progress, the viewer almost wonders if they deserve their fate. But not to the point that we stop routing for them. We always want to see the abductees escape from this prison, even if our feelings shift from early in the film to later on which ones truly deserve to go free.

Natali sets up a Kafkaesque, Orwellian setting that immediately draws in the viewer and establishes a mood of tension and trepidation that carries the film to its bittersweet conclusion. And this is truly a Horror film, though with Science Fiction trappings, because of the threat from the traps throughout the maze as well as that unknown presence that must be controlling things from afar (the Saw film series would later follow a similar pattern, though with a much more exploitative bent emphasizing torture and gore).  And the fact that Cube never answers the questions of why this prison exists or why these people were brought here (though some hints seep through) gives the film that added dimension of despondency. Had this movie come out of the Hollywood machine, it would have never been allowed to go forward with its ambiguous conclusion. But since Natali did this as an indie, he had the creative control to follow that path, making this a much stronger film. And while the film plays out as a B-Movie and the actors sometimes fall short of the emotional range required of them, it still manages to stand out as a first rate B-Movie along the lines of other successful films in this milieu such as The Invasion of the Body Snatchers and They Live.

Cube had only a limited release in the theaters Stateside, but it quickly caught on as a cult film and had a successful run when it hit the home video market. It has even spawned two follow-up films, the sequel Cube 2: Hypercube which delivered a better than expected continuation of the formula, and the prequel Cube Zero, which delves into the backstory of the Cube. But the original film is the one that captured the imaginations of Science Fiction and Horror fans alike and gave us a must-see, genre-crossing psychological thriller.

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To enjoy it, take it for what it is: an action film that is good, dumb (make that very dumb) fun, with a lot of familiar faces to boot.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Yeah, I know it’s not Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror or one of the other sub-genres we cover on this site, but we know our readers will almost certainly have an interest in this throwback action film that lists any of a number of genre-veterans in its cast like Sylvester Stalone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke , Bruce Willis, and even Arnold himself. Stalone is the mastermind (I use that term loosely) behind this movie as he directed and co-produced it in the style of some of the more successful action films that he and his co-stars have appeared in from the 80’s to today. There’s no sense going into too much detail on the film’s plot as it is pretty flimsy with plenty of gaping holes, but do you really expect much more in this type of movie? Suffice it to say that Stalone’s character Barney Ross (I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere that I am missing) leads a group of mercenaries hired to overthrow a dictator from a fictional South American country who has been propped by a rogue CIA agent (hammed up to perfection by Eric Roberts). Stalone’s character decides to turn down the job after an initial reconnaissance proves a failure, but ultimately decides to go back to save the girl that helped them escape (and who also happens to be the daughter of the dictator). And thus the carnage ensues.

If you don’t like a machine gun paced story with plenty of knock-down, drag-out fights while explosions flare up all around, don’t bother with this one. But if an all-out action flick is what you are in the mood for, then this one delivers. And while it may never make its way to a Top 10 list of Action films, it will still be fondly received by fans of the genre, if for nothing else all of the familiar faces that pop up throughout the film. And while Stalone’s directing can falter at times because it’s too rushed, making it hard to follow the action, he gets the broad strokes right. The film does fall short on the wittiness and memorable lines you would expect from some of the better movies of its ilk, but still the characters do manage to get a few good quips in there.  And you almost get the hint that Stalone might have wanted to make this his Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood’s revisionist western) from the scene where Mickey Rourke’s character explains how he feels like he lost his soul when he could have saved a woman on a previous mission but did not. It does add a nice touch and succeeds in adding a dimension to all of the character’s of this mercenary team with one quick stroke. But it falls short of elevating this into an attempt at serious film-making (something which Stalone has desperately grasped for throughout his career). Take it as a nice bit of coloring added to a fairly guileless film and then return to reveling in the blazing firepower and the relentless action.

And there’s also the fun game of spotting your favorite action hero, possibly the biggest appeal the film holds. This includes Willis and Schwarzenegger who received a fair amount of attention in the advanced promotions, but who actually appear on screen for less than five minutes each (and in the same scene). And Schwarzenegger is unfortunately denied any really great lines, possibly an intentional snub from Stalone who has had a much more up and down career over the past forty years than his constant Box Office competitor. Others that Stalone approached to appear in the film include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Weslet Snipes, Forest Whitaker, and Kurt Russell. Each of those were either unavailable or uninterested, but there’s always the upcoming sequel. This of course assumes that these actors don’t get carted away to the old folks home before that The Expendables 2 gets realized!  (Or if they do, perhaps they will meet up with Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy and bring them onboad as well.)

Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Pi is an odd and at times obtuse indie film that came out back in 1998 from writer/director Darren Aronofsky. It zeroes in on a reclusive man named Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) who is a number theorist and may have discovered a numerical sequence with great predictive power and that perhaps even has mystical origins. As the film starts, Max informs us through the voice-over narration that he believes everything in the universe can be understood with numbers and that if you graph these numbers then patterns will begin to emerge. He has created his own super-computer (named Euclid) and he is trying to unlock patterns that would predict the Stock Market (not for financial gain, though, just to prove it can be done). His computer melts down in the process, though not before spitting out an odd 216 digit sequence of numbers. He consults his mentor and former professor who tells him he needs to take a break because he has become obsessed with this pursuit and it is affecting his health (Max suffers from seizures and extreme headaches). The professor becomes even more concerned when Max tells him about the number his computer generated as this hearkens back to some of his own early research. Two parties are pursuing Max throughout all of this as well. One is a sinister corporation who hopes to use his findings to control the Stock Market (and they actually crash the market when they use a portion of the number he discovered). The other is a Hasidic Jewish group who believes that a particular 216 digit number could be a code to God’s name and could be the key to the beginning of the Messianic Age. Max is not particularly interested in helping either of these groups, though, as he follows his obsession to understand the number which he believes could unlock the mysteries of the universe.

This film, which Aronofsky filmed adeptly in grainy black and white, provides an intense, intricate Speculative Fiction tale, with a psychological twist, that grabs the viewers and draws them into the story. With its number theory based premise, it could easily fly quickly above the heads of most audiences, but the film never dwells on the more intricate details of number theory that could easily weigh it down. Instead, it focuses more on the psychological aspects of a man on the brink of revelation who may not be able to cope with the epiphany it will bring. Like Adam toying with the forbidden fruit, Max has already nearly succumbed to the perils of his quest for knowledge and clearing the final hurdle could push him over the edge.

Pi, Aronofsky’s first film, was made on the tiny budget (by the Hollywood scale) of $60,000, but it never looks cheap or like a homemade project. The black and white photography (an unfortunately under-utilized art in this day of CGI-bloated films) along with the close angles from the hand-held camera lend to the cramped, claustrophobic feel of the movie and emphasize the sense of urgency that permeates throughout film. This masterfully helps bridge the gap between the intellectual subject matter and the more psychological undercurrents that keep the audience engaged in the action even if it may leave their heads spinning at times.

Some may argue that this one does not really count as a Science Fiction film, and that it is nothing more than a psychological thriller. But it definitely works on the Speculative Fiction level as Max tries to comprehend the vast implications of the theoretical numbers that he tries to decode in order to unlock hidden mysteries. In either case, this is definitely an excellent film and one in which genre fans will find both alluring and engaging.

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Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

Directed by: Matthew Robbins
Produced by: Hal Barwood, Howard W. Koch
Written by: Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins
Starring: Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam
Original Release: 1981

Reviewed by: John J. Joex

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

Synopsis: In a sixth century post-Roman kingdom called Urland, King Casiodorus (Peter Eyre) has made a terrible deal with a dragon in which he promises to offer it a virgin, chosen from amongst the population by lottery, twice a year so that it will not harm the kingdom. Several of the subjects unhappy with this arrangement seek out the aid of the wizard Ulrich (Ralph Richardson) whom they hope can depose the dragon. The king’s general Tyrian (John Hallam) follows this group to Ulrich’s castle trying to stop the attempt and he ends up killing the wizard unintentionally. Shortly thereafter, the wizard’s young apprentice Galen (Peter MacNicol) finds that he has inherited his master’s powers through an amulet that the sorcerer left behind and he seeks out the Urlanders to offer himself as Ulrich’s replacement. They are reluctant at first, but eventually accept him and he also starts to show feelings for the Urlander named Valerian (Caitlin Clarke) who had previously disguised herself as a boy in order to escape the lottery. Galen, however, finds that he cannot control the magic he now posseses as he thought and comes afoul of the king and his men and ultimately is thrust into a direct confrontation with the dragon which he is ill-prepared for.

Review/Comments: True sword and sorcery movies are fairly rare on the big screen so it is always a delight when an exceptional example comes along. And this movie, which hit the theaters long before CGI replaced special effects innovation, succeeds in unfolding a visually superior, grand epic on the big screen, though it followed a different course than you might expect from the blockbuster is was marketed as. Dragonslayer does not give us the dashing hero saving the princess type story, but instead delivers a more grounded tale that audiences can relate to. It focuses on the young apprentice Galen who demonstrates the immaturity and poor decision-making that you would expect from a person of his age. He at first acts cocky and sure of himself when he discovers Ulrich’s amulet, but quickly discovers that he has minimal control of its powers and eventually finds himself humbled in front of those he would protect. Ultimately, his participation is integral to the slaying of the dragon, but he cannot do it without the help of others, thus delivering a tale very much tied to themes of maturity and mutual cooperation.

The movie also delivers a very real, gritty world that looks like it takes place during the dark ages. We see the power that kings and religion held over people of that time and we also see the hypocrisy and self-interest in their actions. But not by giving us the clichéd, conniving villains. Instead, the film delivers several well-developed antagonists whose actions are motivated by their desire to do the right thing even if that ultimately does bring harm to others. We don’t see the clear-cut good and evil characters that you expect in a Fantasy story, though each have their leanings in one of the two directions. Each has a desire to do what is right, even if they do not quite achieve their ends, which adds that murkiness which gives the story and its characters more depth.

In lesser hands and without first rate talent, a film like this could easily go astray and embrace the clichés of the genre or just descend into a contrived mess. But Matthew Robbins (who directed and co-wrote the film and who also previously assisted George Lucas with THX-1138 and Steven Spielberg with Close Encounters of the Third Kind) proves quite adept at helming a film of this genre. It helps that he also gets some excellent, earthy performances by the standout cast highlighted by Peter MacNicol as the apprentice pretending to be a wizard and Caitlin Clarke as the girl who stands with the men and who provides a strong female lead role. And of course Sir Ralph Richardson, in one of his final roles, delivers a scene-stealing performance throughout the film.

Technically, the movie succeeds as well. As mentioned above, the settings deliver an authentic view of the world in the dark ages. And the dragon comes to life almost seamlessly through the combination of mechanical mock-ups, puppetry, and a twist on now lost art of stop-motion animation called go-motion. In truth, I have seen nothing from the CGI-age, including the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies, that bests the technical wizardry that the special effects crew of Dragonslayer used to bring the beast to life. It may not have been as grandiose and in-your-face as today’s CGI films, especially considering the fact that they teased audiences with only glimpses through the first half of the movie, but it definitely succeeded.

Dragonslayer failed to draw large crowds to the theaters when it was released, partly because it came out as a joint Disney/Paramount production and many expected a much more kid-friendly product. This movie actually led to Disney creating Touchstone Pictures which would handle their more mature films from that point forward. Since then, the film has flown under the radar and has never received the attention it truly deserves as a Fantasy movie that stands on par with other exceptional examples from the genre such as Conan the Barbarian, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Chronicles of Narnia films.  Unfortunately, the DVD of the film has gone out of print (though I’m sure they will do a 30th anniversary edition next year), but you can still find it at a decent price both new and used from Amazon sellers.

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Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

This movie from horror/sci fi cult icon John Carpenter has flown mostly under the radar since it first hit theaters in the late 80’s, but it delivered an excellent paranoia-drenched action-flick then that still deserves attention today from genre fans. It takes place ostensibly in the 80’s, but definitely shows the underside of that decade and suggests a society at the point of severe deterioration, definitely a comment on the recession the country experienced at that time. The film focuses on a drifter who shows up in Los Angeles looking for working (we never learn his actual name, but he is referred to as Nada and is played by pro-wrestler Roddy Piper). He starts work at a construction site and hooks up with another worker (Frank Armitage played by Keith David who had previously worked with Carpenter on The Thing) who also brings him to a local shantytown where he can stay for the time being. Nada notices some strange activities in the church across the street (secret meetings covered by choir singing played on a tape recorder) then watches aghast as the police raid the church then destroy the shantytown. He also comes into possession of a strange pair of sunglasses and when he puts them on he sees a different world than the one that appears on the surface. On billboards and on television screens he sees hidden messages issuing commands like “Obey”, “Consume”, “Marry and Reproduce”, “No Independent Thought”, etc. He also sees that quite a number of people on the streets are really skull-headed aliens in disguise. As he learns more, he finds out that these aliens are controlling our world by establishing a privileged class among the humans who will cooperate with them and by transmitting the subliminal signals that control the minds of the rest of the population to keep them docile. He finds out that a signal from the TV Station Cable 54 is the source of the deception (at least locally) and seeks out Frank, as well as a woman working at the station, to help him destroy the antenna and reveal the truth about the aliens.

They Live is John Carpenter’s take on The Invasion of the Body Snatchers without retreading on the territory that movie already covered. He found inspiration from the short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson (as well as the comic book story “Nada” from Alien Encounters), but made the final film very much his own. Whereas in the Body Snatchers people were replaced by emotionless automatons generated from alien seed pods, in this movie the aliens turn people into docile servants through manipulation and consumerism. From this angle, the movie delivers a commentary on society in the 80’s similar to what Body Snatchers did for the 50’s (even though the producers of that film insist it had no underlying messages which you can read more about at this link). Whereas Body Snatchers keyed off the shallow conformity that the American ideal of suburban life offered in that decade, They Live takes aim (much more overtly) at the “me first” decade and the threat posed by the corporations that had begun to dominate and control our way of life. And Carpenter makes no qualms about the fact that he is delivering a scathing satire on his contemporary world, even if it does not quite follow through to the end.

Because even though Carpenter overlays social commentary on They Live, he also points the film in the action-movie direction which at times make it seem a bit schizophrenic. Interspersed with Kafkaesque, Orwellian imagery of a world controlled by alien directed subliminal commands, we also get your standard action-movie scenes with the lead characters blowing away aliens and spouting off Schwarzenegger-like quips such as “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass…and I’m all out of bubblegum”. Sometimes these work, sometimes they just fall flat, but at least the action-movie angle never derails the film, it just keeps it from fully exploring its more subversive themes. And it also gives you a feeling at the end of wanting more in the way of story development.

Still, They Live gives us an enjoyable sci fi/horror film that rises above its B-Movie roots (it was made on a relatively skimpy budget of $3 million) and asks you to use your brain at least a bit between the shoot-outs and explosions. It did not do great at the Box Office when it was released (though not too shabby as it made back about four times its budget), and it has gone mostly unnoticed since then. I actually think this one would make a great premise for a television series and I’d much rather watch this than some of the shows we have to pick from like the insipid V remake ABC currently has filling up air time. If you have never seen this one, then it’s time to give it a shot and if you have not seen it in a while then it’s time to revisit the fun.

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Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

Directed By: Robert Wise
Produced By: Robert Wise
Written By: Michael Crichton (novel), Nelson Gidding (Screenplay)
Starring: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid
Original Release: 1971

Reviewed By: John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: A satellite crashes near a small town in Arizona bringing an extraterrestrial organism with it that kills all but two people, an elderly man and a baby. The government activates Wildfire, a team of experts trained to deal with threats of this nature. They at first investigate the town, then retire to the state-of-the-art, multi-level Wildfire laboratory to isolate and investigate their findings. They discover that the alien organism, dubbed Andromeda, is a crystal-structured microbe that killed its victims through disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and that it is continuing to mutate. They cannot determine, though, why the old man and the baby survived and they keep them isolated as they continue to administer tests, and in so doing they stumble upon the fact that the organism came to Earth as part of a government initiative to produce biological weapons from micro- organisms of extraterrestrial origin. However, Andromeda mutates to the point that it manages to escape containment which sets off the failsafe that will destroy the facility to prevent the spread of infection. But the scientists determine this will actually have the reverse affect as Andromeda can generate matter from energy and this will cause a massive, worldwide contamination. It is then a race against time to stop the detonation and keep the outside world safe.

Review/Comments: The Andromeda Strain was a rare event in cinema when it came out in 1971 as it delivered a big budget, hard science fiction film dealing with mature themes. Whereas today Science Fiction and Fantasy has become quite prominent on the big screen, back then it had much less of a presence. And when films in the genre did come out they often aimed at the younger crowd. However, the Michael Crichton book it was based on hit the bestseller list in 1969, prompting the studio execs to give it a chance with a big screen adaptation. And they awarded it a faithful rendering which diverged very little from the original story which meant that it was a lengthy, slow-paced, intellectual movie. Now in the wrong hands, this could have proved disastrous and potentially resulted in an incredibly tedious film. But director Robert Wise was up to the task (who, despite having directed musicals like West Side Story and The Sound of Music, had previous genre experience with The Day the Earth Stood Still and would later helm Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Teaming with screen-writer Nelson Gidding, the two did an excellent job of distilling the story for movie-goers and keeping the movie from derailing into an overly-intellectual, techno-babble laden film.

The Andromeda Strain would give us an early version of the techno-thrillers that would later become quite popular with theater-goers, though it was much less Hollywood-ized than what we would see from subsequent entries like The Hunt for Red October or Crichton’s own Jurassic Park. It took a more sober, less glamorous approach to adapting the story and also eschewed big-name stars in the lead roles. The producers even avoided the temptation to cast a Raquel Welch-like actress in the role of the female scientist a la Fantastic Voyage (and guys, we could debate the pros and cons of this, but artistically it was the right move). The actors chosen were definitely more than capable in their performances, though, coming off as believable in their roles as dedicated scientists trying to combat a contagion of unknown origination. The scientists resolve the issues by thinking them through while employing their analytical and deductive skills, but do so without the film descending into a snooze-fest. An urgency is established early on when we see the results of Andromeda in the small town and this generates a palpable tension that helps carry the movie along as the team struggles to find a way to stop the threat.

And while the movie had little in the way of special effects (supervised by Douglas Trumbull ), it did have very high production values which showed up in the portrayal of the Wildfire facility, which acted as a lead character of sorts itself for the movie. And some may feel that the final scene when Dr. Hall must navigate the central core to deactivate the self-destruct mechanism was a bit contrived and Hollywood-ized, but the same set of events closed the book as well (and us Star Trek fans were already numb to the self-destruct gimmick). This did not devalue the movie as a whole, though, which still stands out as a thoughtful, intelligent piece of speculative fiction that was rare upon its release and has unfortunately once again become rare in the age of CGI bloat-fest blockbuster epics that prefer to numb the mind rather than engage it.

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By Sam Christopher

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

This film is not connected in any way to the 1989 travesty of the same name which starred Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett, Jr., and a bunch of other people you’ve never heard of (although, in fairness, Gossett is a great actor). That first film, coming on the heels of Marvel’s extremely successful Mike Zeck-led Punisher mini-series, was doomed from the beginning in the eyes of the comics fans. The director, Mark Goldblatt, was quoted as saying the reason they wouldn’t be using the character’s trademark skull chest emblem on Lundgren’s chest was because “it makes him look too much like a comic book character”, leading most fans to wonder if the guy knew this was about a comic book character. Of course, we also wondered if he had ever seen Superman: The Movie or knew they were making a Batman film, cinematic displays in which the heroes had and surely would wear their costumes with pride. And star Lundgren didn’t help either, with his reported pronouncement that “there’s only so much you can do with this, it’s just a comic book character”. Then the film itself came out and all the fans’ worst fears were realized. A couple years ago a friend who’d never seen it found this version of The Punisher on DVD for a dollar. After he watched it he complained to me that he was overcharged.

Anyway, 15 years after the original debacle Marvel decided to make a new Punisher film, a complete reboot (on a modest budget of 16.5 million). The film starred Thomas Jane, a good actor with the physicality to play Frank Castle as the nuanced character he really needs to be. Castle is a man in pain. He is methodical while trying to hold back his rage at the senseless deaths of his family. It also had the talents of John Travolta to draw upon. Travolta plays Howard Saint, a man made rich through the laundering of drug money who also orders the execution of Castle and his entire family. Saint is a very good, very human, villain. He’s quirky and realistic, living in a world of self-imposed order before his destruction of the man Frank Castle was leads to the demise of his own world. The film is full of other quirky and strange characters: Saint’s head henchman Quentin, Castle’s “mole” Mickey, the people who live in the apartment building Castle moves into. Then there are the comic book touches, like the Russian, a huge behemoth who comes to the apartment building and spends what seems like an eternity throwing Castle through walls in an attempt to pummel him to death. Through it all part of the plan Castle employs to systematically destroy everything about Howard Saint before finally killing the man himself.

I saw this film and was stunned by it. It was so good, so well done. Yes, they changed some things about the character from the comics but I expected that, and these changes just weren’t that big a deal. I waited for the announced sequel. The next I heard, they were doing another Punisher origin story with another set of actors and still a third Frank Castle. I was told that Jane’s Punisher just wasn’t very commercially successful and that was the reason for the change. I have since learned that the film tripled its budget at the theaters and then did pretty well on DVD, and that there was going to be a sequel but Jane and the director quit over “creative differences” and that’s when the decision to start over was made. I also have read reviews of this picture that complain about the lack of humor in Jane’s demeanor, that Castle seems to get no enjoyment out of his exploits. This is The Punisher, folks, not Ambush Bug, The whole point is that Castle is not doing what he enjoys, only what he believes he has to do. Frank Castle would much rather be playing with his children and making love to his wife; instead, he has to be The Punisher and try and make sure fewer people have to experience what he has.

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Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

Directed By: Brad Bird
Produced By: Pete Townshend, Des McAnuff, et al.
Written By: Ted Hughes (Novel), Brad Bird (Story), Tim McCanlies (Screenplay)
Starring: Ed Harris, Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel
Original Release: 1999

Reviewed By: John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: In 1957, shortly after the launch of Sputnik, a large object crashes from outer space to the Earth which turns out to be a giant, metal-eating robot. A young boy, Hogarth (voiced by Eli Marienthal), who lives in the nearby small town discovers his presence and saves the robot from destruction when it starts to consume a power plant and is nearly electrocuted before he switches off the power. This leads to him befriending the metal being and he begins to teach the robot, which was damaged in the crash, how to speak (Vin Diesel provides the voice) and the ways of the people of Earth which includes showing it his comic books and telling it that it is like Superman. However, the landing of the robot did not go unnoticed, and a paranoid government agent, suspecting a Communist threat, arrives at the small town to investigate. The agent suspects that the boy knows something about what landed in the area and keeps a close eye on him. This leads Hogarth to seeking the help of a beatnik artist, Dean (voiced by Harry Connick Jr.), who runs the local junkyard and who builds sculptures from scrap metal. The Iron Giant successfully hides there, in the guise of a giant sculpture, and befriends Dean as well. While playing around, the Hogarth aims his toy gun at the Iron Giant which triggers a self defense system and leads it to retaliate, nearly killing the boy. Hogarth and Dean manage to revert the robot back to its previous state, but, as its self-awareness continues to grow, it fears it is closer to the villain from the comics than the hero. Hogarth, though, tells the robot that it can chose whether or not it wants to be a weapon. The government agent eventually discovers the truth about the robot and he calls in the military to confront it which places this potentially lethal living weapon between the military forces and the people of the town.

Review/Commentary: Based on the 1968 Ted Hughes novel The Iron Man, the movie adaptation follows a similar formula to E.T. though with less of the smarmy feel of that film and with a bit of a subversive bent. In many ways, this film has the feel of some of the classic Disney animated movies, though with more layers to peel than the standard Mouse-House fare. This one takes the formulaic child and his pal (dog, alien, giant robot, what have you), and infuses it with some Cold War tension and paranoia while also injecting an anti-war message that never throttles the viewer with self-importance nor descends into simple panacea. It definitely has a familiar feel to it, like the proverbial comfortable shoe, but it manages to separate itself from the pack with its spark of inspiration and its sincerity, the crucial elements that elevates most stand-out films above the more routine Hollywood output .

The Iron Giant also delivers another thing that has become rare outside of Japanese animation these days. It mostly steers clear of the CGI animation which has dominated the genre for the past decade or more in favor of hand-drawn animation (they did summon up the computers to aid with animating the Iron Giant himself, but he is done in the style of line drawn characters). Not that I have anything against CGI animation, but the style of movies like The Iron Giant, along with the Disney classics, emphasize the artistic expression in animation as opposed to CGI’s efforts to make more realistic characters and/or to simple wow the audiences with computerized pyrotechnics. The simplistic, retro look of the artwork invokes the comic books of old that provide a pivotal plot point in the film and also echoes the simple attitudes of the era it depicts.

Most importantly, The Iron Giant engages the viewers and involves them in the film. Early on, we feel for this strange alien robot and sense his loneliness and confusion. As he develops a friendship with Hogarth, we hope that the robot will find his true purpose, and even when he turns on the young boy we know that it is against his own will. And anybody who still has dry eyes toward the end of the film when the Iron Giant declares that “he is not a weapon” and chooses to sacrifice himself to protect his friends needs to check that they still have a pulse. Many family-oriented animated films tend to play it safe and only mildly engage the emotions of the viewers, but The Iron Giant takes it to a deeper level and really speaks to our inner selves and challenges us at the same time that it reassures us. Exactly what you would expect from a great movie.

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