Rise of the Aliens 8

Image via WikipediaHaving realised that I'm way behind on my films seen this year, I decided it was time for one of my "Cinebinges" so I headed for the nearest multiplex, "unlimited" card in hand. The first things that greeted me when I arrived at the not-too-pretty cinema in the bowels of  a concrete multi-storey car park, were queues. A look at the schedule screen showed that most of these frantic cinephiles were deseperately trying to get into Inbetweeners. I'm a fan of the show, so I'll perhaps get to see it later, but for now it made life easier for anyone wanting to get into the Summer blockbusters on other screens. The films I saw, in the order in which I saw them, were: Cowboys and Aliens, Super 8 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Cowboys and Aliens (cast pictured above) lived up to the promise of its title but didn't exceed it. As is often the case these days, the trailers hadn't left too many surprises but we are now being told that research proves that spoilers are a good thing so I must be happy about that mustn't I? Well no. I don't like spoilers and I'm not a big fan of most of the so-called research quoted in the press either. Are coffee and wine good or bad for you this week?: I can't remember which body sponsored the last desperate post-grad's work.

So aside from the fact I pretty much knew what was going to happen, was it any good? Yes. For someone like me who loves the classic film genres I was always going to go and see this one and it was so high-concept that its whole pitch was in the three words of the title like Snakes on a Plane. There was never any doubt as I first saw the title and drooled that I would be on the side of this one and happy to give it a chance. One problem with such a cross-over though is inevitably there is a danger of it falling between two stools and neither being a good Western or a good SF picture. I think it largely managed to avoid that. The cast, particularly, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Sam Rockwell, but also many of the smaller grizzled westerner roles, really looked the part and it was a pleasure to be back on the trail once more. Aliens are all beginning to look the same to me I think but the effects were fine and the aliens felt suitably dangerous and difficult to kill.

Leaving aside the more jaw-dropping "with one bound" moments (this is a film called Cowboys and Aliens after all, we didn't go to see it as a gritty documentary) it was good mindless fun and paid homage to both genres pretty well. I was, however, left with a vague feeling of disappointment in the back of my mind which I haven't fully analysed yet. Perhaps it was the lack of real shock or suprise (possibly because of those trailers) or perhaps with a genre-spanning picture there isn't enough space for the character development that would have made for more emotional investment in the people involved. This was done with broad brushstrokes painting in a quick bit of back-story, for example Harrison's war stories and Daniel Craig's flashbacks as his memory returned. The native-americans were also rough sketches and perhaps owed more to Blazing Saddles than say Little Big Man. Nevertheless, any criticism about lack of depth is somewhat unfair. Let's face it you don't go and see something called Cowboys and Aliens expecting subtlety. It did what it said "on the tin" and I enjoyed it. It did make me want to see a good "straight" western again though.



Super 8 gave me a feeling of Deja Vu. This was such a perfect copy of a 1980s kids' blockbuster that I almost felt I'd seen it before. A homage to films like ET and Goonies, at the same time it is also a hymn to film-making itself. It's no surprise to find that Spielberg, who directed and/or produced this type of film in the eighties is the producer here. The director is JJ Abrams who would have been about the right age to appreciate the originals in their day. He made the leap into big budget blockbusters with Mission Impossible III but it is his relaunch of the Star Trek franchise for which I am likely to cut him a lot of slack. In fact after that he can do no wrong...

Anyway Super 8 is a big-hearted family film with all the necessary elements to be up there with its earlier counterparts. The plot follows a group of young people with a Super 8 camera attempting to make a short horror film for a competition. Their location shoot suddenly becomes the scene of a much bigger drama, which they and their families get further drawn into as their town is enveloped in crisis. In the process we meet the families, who are trying to come to terms with an earlier tragic accident.

Whether it will appeal most to those parents nostalgic for the earlier films or a new audience of children I don't know. The decision to make it a period film set in 1979 may bemuse an audience who haven't experienced a world without mobile 'phones but it captures the era well and is full of interesting detail. Above all the film hangs on the acting of the young cast, and they all give a good account of themselves. It is particularly interesting to see them professionally acting amateur "acting" for the eponymous Super 8.

The final film of the day was Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a film of which I wasn't expecting too much. I am happy to admit that the first film was a classic and I'm glad I've seen it, however, I'm not sure I'd particularly want to see it again. More recently there was an attempt to re-boot the series with Tim Burton directing but despite a lot of loving care being exhibited in the portrayal of the apes this didn't work for me and, Burton fan though I am, I would say this is one of his weaker films. Another re-boot then was not something I would have particularly requested and I was not especially looking forward to it.

This, however, turned out unexpectedly to be film of the day for me. This is probably all about anticipation: Cowboys was exactly what I was expecting and once I'd seen enough of Super 8 to understand its origins it established expectations which it did exceed somewhat. My negative assumptions about the "Ape film" allowed it to sneak up on me and knock me over though. This is mostly because of the work of Andy Serkis and his fellow ape actors. As a physical actor he is second to none as we've seen in his work for Peter Jackson but he is also a good actor full stop. Hard to imagine such a role being given to anyone else but even so it surprised me how much sympathy he could engender in the role of a chimp. The real triumph of the film is that it enables the chimps, orang utan and gorilla to have real depth of character without constantly reminding us they are not really apes. For a summer blockbuster to mainly confine its action to the last scene or two is unusual but this is really a character movie even though the characters are damned dirty apes.

I'm a terror for upsetting cinema cleaning staff by sitting through the credits to the bitter end but two of these films repaid that with additional scenes after the credits began to roll. In my opinion it's always worth waiting for the information about location and music towards the end of the credits but in this case we were also rewarded by a couple of interesting extras.