Watching “Sucker Punch” (**1/2 OUT OF ****) may feel like the equivalent of a frontal lobotomy. “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder’s bizarre, babes-in-bondage, fantasy epic imitates Terry Gilliam’s far darker, Orwellian, science-fiction satire “Brazil.” Like “Brazil” (1985), “Sucker Punch” taps into the fertile imagination--where anything goes--of an individual--a single, white, female here--before a doctor performs a lobotomy on her at a corrupt mental institution. This ensemble, female-empowerment, chick flick arms Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, and Jamie Chung to the teeth with samurai swords, sub-machine guns, automatic pistols, and attitude galore as they slash, shoot, and kick their way through a hellzapoppin' variety of “Heavy Metal” escapades with wizen Scott Glenn briefing them about each mission. Of course, their fetish costumes and make-up are as immaculate as the situations that they encounter. This PG-13 rated movie rarely grovels in blood, guts, and gore, and the crisply staged violence is nowhere as savage as “Saving Private Ryan.” Meanwhile, the adventures that Baby Doll and her accomplices embark on before her lobotomy will make you feel like you’ve been plunged into a swirling vortex of popular culture imagery. This imagery ranges from doll-faced manga-influenced comics to high-stepping musicals like “Moulin Rouge,” to strange sword & sorcery sagas with vengeful mother dragons, to actual events like World War I trench warfare with Zeppelins air ships that burst into high-octane orange explosions. The soldiers in the World War I sequence are thoroughly ominous-looking, steam-powered German zombie-cyborgs. Every time that either a bullet strikes them or a sword blade gashes them, steam erupts in pneumatic jets from their uniformed bodies.
“Sucker Punch” takes place in the 1960s. The prologue that establishes our heroine’s predicament blends the creepy look of E.C. Comics with gritty Hollywood B-movies about woman behind bars. Baby Doll (Australian actress Emily Browning of “Ghost Ship“) and her younger sister discover their mother dead in her bedroom. Later, Baby Doll’s wicked stepfather (Gerard Plunkett of “2012”) flies into a rage when he reads his wife’ will. He gets nothing, while the two daughters get everything. The furious stepfather decides to rape the younger daughter. First, he locks Baby Doll in her bedroom. Second, he kicks down the door to the younger girl’s room. After she breaks out of her room on the second floor during a storm, Baby Doll grabs a gun from downstairs to kill him. Accidentally, she misses the stepfather and tragically blasts her young sister. In no time at all, the stepfather has Baby Doll committed to the spooky Lennox House for the Mentally Insane in Vermont. Snyder films this entire opening gambit as if it were an extended MTV rock video. An asylum orderly, the slimy Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac of “The Nativity Story”), demands that the stepfather pay him $2,000 to forge the signature of asylum psychiatrist Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino of “Sin City“) on the form to authorize Baby Doll‘s lobotomy. Mind you, the stepfather neither wants for the authorities to discover what really happened at home nor does he want Baby Doll to receive her mom's fortune. Initially, Baby Doll learns that she has five days before the lobotomy is scheduled.
The first jarring thing about “Sucker Punch” is the abrupt change of settings. Once you have resigned yourself to watching a movie that takes place in a mental asylum like the one in “Shutter Island,” you find the setting shifted to a classy bordello where the girls perform exotic dances for the well-heeled customers. Each time that Baby Doll dances, she mesmerizes her audiences. She imagines that each dance is like completing a larger-than-life mission. During the first mission, she meets a sword master (Scott Glenn) who furnishes her with an arsenal of weapons to battle three gigantic samurai warriors who have piercing red eyes. Baby Doll behaves like an invulnerable heroine. She survives blows from these humongous samurai warriors that would kill ordinary people. Later, she makes friends with the first inmate/dancer when she saves Rocket from being raped by a porcine cook. Eventually, Baby Doll assembles a “Fox Force Five” unit of dames -- Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish of “Limitless”), Rocket (Jena Malone of “The Soloist” ), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens of “High School Musical”) and Amber (Jamie Chung of “Sorority Row”) -- to cavort in the strip-club fantasy costumes with a combination of S.W.A.T gear and samurai swords to obtain four crucial things. Sweet Pea is the hardest of them to convince because she is the most hopeless member of the quintet. Once they come together, they act like a team until the villains whittle down their numbers.
Three far-fetched, outlandish sequences with our glamorous ensemble carrying out a mission occur in the episodic “Sucker Punch.” Mind you, each mission yields rewards that will enable our heroines to escape from the dreadful insane asylum. According to Baby Doll, they need an asylum map to get past the guards. Furthermore, they need fire--in the form of a butane lighter, a knife, and a special key. Obviously, the special key is a master key that will open any asylum lock. Naturally, none of the imaginative, over-the-top missions that transpire on screen apart from those opening and closing moments aren’t remotely realistic. Compared with “300,” “Dawn of the Dead,” and “Watchmen,” “Sucker Punch” delivers lightweight blows, but deploys them out with greater sophistication. The characters are as stereotypical as the set-pieces are formulaic. Of course, our heroines are constantly out numbered. Ironically, our heroine surmounts her bigger-than-life obstacles, achieves her incredible goal, but she pays a dear price for it in the long run.
Director Zack Snyder immerses our ear drums with atmospheric chart-topping tunes for more than the sake of their rock’n roll cult status. This music propels Baby Doll into her different states of mind. Moreover, Snyder observed that the music thematically holds the film together. Listening to “Sucker Punch” is like grooving to golden oldies such as "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," "White Rabbit," and two Queen songs “I Want It All,” and “We Will Rock You.” Despite its one-dimensional characters and formula-scripting, “Sucker Punch” qualifies as a suspenseful, above-average, metaphorical, but downbeat fantasy about gals with guns, guts, and get-up & go!
CINEMATIC REVELATIONS allows me the luxury of writing, editing and archiving my film and television reviews. Some reviews appeared initially in "The Commercial Dispatch" and "The Planet Weekly" and then later in the comment archives at the Internet Movie Database. IMDB.COM, however, imposes a limit on both the number of words and the number of times that an author may revise their comments. I hope that anybody who peruses these expanded reviews will find them useful.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''LIMITLESS'' (2011)
Scientists have been assuring us for years that we use only about 10 to 20 per cent of our brain. What if you could mobilize more than 80 per cent of your mind to solve your problems? Would you be happier? More productive? "The Illusionist" director Neil Burger and "Mrs. Doubtfire" scenarist Leslie Dixon explore this 'what if' premise in witty but speculative saga "Limitless" (***1/2 out of ****), based on Irish novelist Alan Glynn's 2001 techno-thriller "The Dark Fields." Some of the details have changed during the transition from page to screen, but the imaginative plot remains reasonably intact. When an aspiring novelist afflicted with writer's block resorts to an experimental opiate—kind of like Adderall--that enables him to not only finish his novel ahead of time but also emerge as a savant of sorts, he discovers addiction may be the least of his woes. This out-of-the- ordinary futuristic murder mystery about a slacker who learns that the sky is no longer the limit generates considerable charisma throughout its nimble 104 minutes because leading man Bradley Cooper makes the hero sympathetic despite his sardonic personality. A couple of movies about men who acquired higher brain power through either pharmaceuticals or surgery have been made, including "The Lawnmower Man" (1992) with Pierce Brosnan and "Charly" (1968) with Cliff Robertson. In both of these movies, the protagonists were mentally challenged, but the "Limitless" leading man isn’t handicapped. Instead, he is a hopeless procrastinator who lacks the ability to focus his energy and efforts to complete tasks in a timely manner. The odyssey that our hero embarks on puts "Limitless" in the same offbeat category as the Brad Pitt & Edward Norton movie "Fight Club" with its innovation use of computer generated imagery. Burger uses the CGI here primarily to reflect the paranoid-inducing impact of the drug, but he doesn't flaunt it to the extremes of most contemporary melodramas.
“Limitless” opens with our protagonist dramatically poised on the ledge of his ultra-high-rise Manhattan apartment as he contemplates performing a header into the street hundreds of feet below. A group of Neanderthal thugs are trying to break down the door to his super-secure apartment because he has something that they want. They are prepared to kill him without a qualm and he can do nothing to stop them. Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper of “The Hangover”) takes a jaundiced view of his predicament and then he explains how he wound up in this tight spot as “Limitless” shifts gears into flashback mode. In the beginning, Eddie was an author who landed a book contract. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to conjure up a single sentence. No matter how long he stares at his computer, he cannot get his creative juices to flow. Eddie’s girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish of “Sucker Punch”) decides that she would be better off without him and they split. Not only does she get a better job, but also she has grown tired of footing their bills. Our unhappy protagonist is wandering the streets when he runs into his former brother-in-law, Vernon (Johnny Whitworth of “Empire Records”), and they grab a drink at a bar. Vernon tells Eddie that he is no longer a small potatoes drug dealer. Indeed, he works for a pharmaceutical firm that has developed an $800-a-pop miracle pill called NZT-84. Vernon adds that the drug is on the verge of receiving FDA approval.
Initially, Eddie is leery of Vernon’s hype, but he decides to try it. Presto! Eddie polishes off his book, and his prose blows his editor’s mind. Eddie asks Vernon for some more, but somebody kills him before our hero can get the pills. Nevertheless, Eddie finds Vernon’s stash, borrows thousands from a Russian mobster, Gennady (Andrew Howard of “Revolver”) and parlays it into an overnight fortune. Eddie’s exploits bring him to the attention of a legendary Wall Street tycoon, Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro of “Goodfellas”), and our hero helps him acquire even more millions. Eddie even wins back Lindy, but he cannot get the Russian off his back. The Russian gets a taste of the drug and wants more. Moreover, another mysterious man is tailing Eddie everywhere, and this ruffian doesn’t mind wielding a knife to get what he wants. Suddenly, everything good that happened to Eddie turns really bad. At one point, he collapses in Lindy’s office and explains what has happened to him. Eddie has exhausted his stash of NZT and he needs Lindy to get him some more from a stash in her apartment in a sea shell. Lindy agrees and then realizes that the knife-wielding man is following her. When she tries to stall him with the help of two husky guys in Central Park, the knife man stabs them both. Frantically, Lindy calls Eddie on her cell phone from a hiding place as the knife man scours the terrain to find her. Eddie instructs her to take a pill. Despite deep misgivings, Lindy gobbles one and experiences the sharp high and outsmarts her dangerous assailant by leading him down to a ice-skating ring and using the blade on a skating shoe to slash him and then flee.
"Limitless" describes the exciting arc that Eddie traverses in his journey from ‘nobody’ status to ‘somebody’ status. Typically, this kind of materialistic movie degenerates into a heavy-handed Faustian morality play. In other words, the hero experiences a meteoric rise, only to suffer the consequences of a tragic downfall. The downfall occurs because he relinquishes his power to control his destiny. Meaning, at some point, he sells out for the short term and pays for it with his life in the long term. John Travolta made a similar movie, "Phenomenon" (1996), where he manifested mental powers beyond anything he had experienced. The toll that these powers exacted ended up killing him. He was no more irresponsible than the "Limitless" hero. Nevertheless, Hollywood rules dictated that the Travolta character had to perish. The people who made "Limitless" don't subscribe to this mentality. Bradley Cooper's heroic character fares much better that the John Travolta character. Although our hero boasts mental powers beyond anything that anybody else has, Eddie refuses to abuse his gift and "Limitless" allows him to reap the rewards. Indeed, he winds up enjoying the last laugh on villainous Robert De Niro. Mind you, this represents De Niro’s best work since “The Score” in 2001. Happily, Burger and Dixon use Eddie’s rambling voice-over commentary to deliver lots of humor, a technique that only Martin Scorsese usually gets away with in his mafia movies. Burger stages a bravura subway fight scene and intercuts it with footage of martial arts superstar Bruce Lee. Altogether, "Limitless" qualifies as an incredibly original film about our prescriptive, self-medicating society that goes where most Hollywood movies don’t dare!
“Limitless” opens with our protagonist dramatically poised on the ledge of his ultra-high-rise Manhattan apartment as he contemplates performing a header into the street hundreds of feet below. A group of Neanderthal thugs are trying to break down the door to his super-secure apartment because he has something that they want. They are prepared to kill him without a qualm and he can do nothing to stop them. Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper of “The Hangover”) takes a jaundiced view of his predicament and then he explains how he wound up in this tight spot as “Limitless” shifts gears into flashback mode. In the beginning, Eddie was an author who landed a book contract. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to conjure up a single sentence. No matter how long he stares at his computer, he cannot get his creative juices to flow. Eddie’s girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish of “Sucker Punch”) decides that she would be better off without him and they split. Not only does she get a better job, but also she has grown tired of footing their bills. Our unhappy protagonist is wandering the streets when he runs into his former brother-in-law, Vernon (Johnny Whitworth of “Empire Records”), and they grab a drink at a bar. Vernon tells Eddie that he is no longer a small potatoes drug dealer. Indeed, he works for a pharmaceutical firm that has developed an $800-a-pop miracle pill called NZT-84. Vernon adds that the drug is on the verge of receiving FDA approval.
Initially, Eddie is leery of Vernon’s hype, but he decides to try it. Presto! Eddie polishes off his book, and his prose blows his editor’s mind. Eddie asks Vernon for some more, but somebody kills him before our hero can get the pills. Nevertheless, Eddie finds Vernon’s stash, borrows thousands from a Russian mobster, Gennady (Andrew Howard of “Revolver”) and parlays it into an overnight fortune. Eddie’s exploits bring him to the attention of a legendary Wall Street tycoon, Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro of “Goodfellas”), and our hero helps him acquire even more millions. Eddie even wins back Lindy, but he cannot get the Russian off his back. The Russian gets a taste of the drug and wants more. Moreover, another mysterious man is tailing Eddie everywhere, and this ruffian doesn’t mind wielding a knife to get what he wants. Suddenly, everything good that happened to Eddie turns really bad. At one point, he collapses in Lindy’s office and explains what has happened to him. Eddie has exhausted his stash of NZT and he needs Lindy to get him some more from a stash in her apartment in a sea shell. Lindy agrees and then realizes that the knife-wielding man is following her. When she tries to stall him with the help of two husky guys in Central Park, the knife man stabs them both. Frantically, Lindy calls Eddie on her cell phone from a hiding place as the knife man scours the terrain to find her. Eddie instructs her to take a pill. Despite deep misgivings, Lindy gobbles one and experiences the sharp high and outsmarts her dangerous assailant by leading him down to a ice-skating ring and using the blade on a skating shoe to slash him and then flee.
"Limitless" describes the exciting arc that Eddie traverses in his journey from ‘nobody’ status to ‘somebody’ status. Typically, this kind of materialistic movie degenerates into a heavy-handed Faustian morality play. In other words, the hero experiences a meteoric rise, only to suffer the consequences of a tragic downfall. The downfall occurs because he relinquishes his power to control his destiny. Meaning, at some point, he sells out for the short term and pays for it with his life in the long term. John Travolta made a similar movie, "Phenomenon" (1996), where he manifested mental powers beyond anything he had experienced. The toll that these powers exacted ended up killing him. He was no more irresponsible than the "Limitless" hero. Nevertheless, Hollywood rules dictated that the Travolta character had to perish. The people who made "Limitless" don't subscribe to this mentality. Bradley Cooper's heroic character fares much better that the John Travolta character. Although our hero boasts mental powers beyond anything that anybody else has, Eddie refuses to abuse his gift and "Limitless" allows him to reap the rewards. Indeed, he winds up enjoying the last laugh on villainous Robert De Niro. Mind you, this represents De Niro’s best work since “The Score” in 2001. Happily, Burger and Dixon use Eddie’s rambling voice-over commentary to deliver lots of humor, a technique that only Martin Scorsese usually gets away with in his mafia movies. Burger stages a bravura subway fight scene and intercuts it with footage of martial arts superstar Bruce Lee. Altogether, "Limitless" qualifies as an incredibly original film about our prescriptive, self-medicating society that goes where most Hollywood movies don’t dare!
Monday, March 28, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF "BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE'' (2007)
Talk about a lackluster horror yarn! This pretentious supernatural saga got to the box office a year ahead of "Twilight," but it shares many narrative similarities. The girl in “Blood and Chocolate” (** OUT OF ****), is a werewolf rather than a vampire, but the guy is an ordinary human being. “Iron Jawed Angels” director Katja von Garnier states on the “Blood and Chocolate” DVD commentary track that she envisaged this tale of forbidden love as "‘Romeo and Juliet’ with wolves.” Moreover, she points out that she didn’t want to make a traditional horror movie. Instead, she refers to it as ‘an anti-horror movie.’ Although she dwells primarily on the romance, von Garnier and scenarists Ehren Kruger of "Reindeer Games" and Christopher B. Landon of "Another Day In Paradise" graph on just enough suspense and tension so that "Blood and Chocolate" qualifies as a quasi-horror film. The filmmakers divide their energies between two plots: first, a centuries old feud between man and wolf that has yielded an uneasy truce, and second, the reluctance of a 19-year old girl to adhere to the rules of wolf society. When the leader of the pack isn’t trying to recruit the heroine as his next mate, he has to worry about his rebellious son who has violated the rule that werewolves never hunt outside their pack. Clearly, this movie is all about breaking traditions, whether those traditions are cinematic or social. "Blood and Chocolate" amounts to a postmodern werewolf saga because the werewolves, referred to here as the ‘loup-garoux,’ resemble neither the standard Lon Chaney, Jr., Hollywood werewolf nor those of the "Underworld" franchise. The “Blood and Chocolate” werewolves are born werewolves, and the full moon doesn't dictate when they change their shape. Moreover, they are not man/wolf hybrids, and they cannot curse humans and turn them into werewolves when they take a chomp out of them.
While the filmmakers aren’t rewriting werewolf rules, they rewrite the 1997 erotic young adult novel by Annette Curtis Klause. The fans of the novel have been vocal in their strident objections to these revisions. Von Garnier and her scribes have transferred the setting from West Virginia to Romania. Mind you, the novel takes place entirely in the United States. Presumably, an American setting lacked the old world allure of a European setting. Surprisingly, the producers of the "Underworld" franchise had their paws in this bland creature feature, but "Blood and Chocolate" generates little of the excitement of the "Underworld" movies. The best scene is a showdown in a church between Aiden and Rafe who drools at the chance to kill Aiden. Rafe refers to Aiden at one point as the 'meat-boy.' Initially, jealous wolf-pack leader Gabriel only wanted Rafe to run Aiden out of town because he was interfering with his plans to mate with Vivian.
"Blood and Chocolate" exudes a lot of atmosphere, but little in the way of either suspense or chills. The scenes where the humans morph into wolves look ethereal but raise the age-old question about clothing. Do their apparel just magically vanish or is it absorbed? Unfortunately, von Garnier demonstrates minimal flair with the material. Not only is “Blood and Chocolate” a tame horror chiller, but it is also a lame love story. Production designer Kevin Phipps deserves praise for his authentic-looking sets. Indeed, all of the scenes with the real-life wolves were lensed on interior sets that look as if they were exterior sets. Brendan Galvin’s wide-screen cinematography is great to look at and Bucharest is a fabulous city. If you want to see "Blood and Chocolate" as it should have been done, then watch the much better as well as wittier “Ginger Snaps.”
Friday, March 18, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''MEGA PIRANHA'' (2010)
“Mega Piranha” (*** out of ****) is another one of those hilarious knock-off epics from Asylum Studios. Of course, these legendary cheese-meisters were exploiting French director Alexandre Aja's big studio 3-D remake of Joe Dante's “Piranha,” but writer & director Eric Forsberg has taken the concept far beyond the outrageous. Mind you, nothing about this outlandish opus is either remotely plausible or frightening. Indeed, not only Asylum has delivered a derivative creature feature with enough cinematic sophistication to make the grade as a horror parody, but it has also managed to provide moments of comic brilliance that surpass the films that it mocks. The setting, the subject matter, and the genre are also reminiscent of the "Anaconda" franchise and its hokey sequels. Okay, the computer-generated piranha look pretty goofy, but these piranha are supposed to look spurious. Only the most gullible will suffer traumatic after-effects when they bathe alone in a tub. In another one of those hideous scientific experiments gone awry, scientists have created a strain of piranha that mutate into an indestructible predators that double in size and threaten world safety. Forsberg's genius, however, is the way that his actors and he maintain a straight face throughout with moments of over-the-top hilarity that stand out all the more because those moments are so incredibly illogical. These moments are comparable to a Marx Brothers farce because they are so broadly anarchic. Specifically, these moments are reminiscent of Groucho's grease paint mustache that always infuriated literal-headed studio heads because they didn't grasp the comic incongruity of an obviously ersatz mustache when they felt that real one could have been grown.
“Mega Piranha” opens like the classic movie “Jaws” with a gal who goes skinny dipping with her boyfriend. No sooner do they hit the muddy Orinoco River than ravenous piranha hit them. Along come a U.S. diplomat, Ambassador Arnold Regis (Eric Forsberg of “Alien Abduction"), and a Venezuela politician on a boat with a couple of big-breasted, bikini-clad babes. While they were discussing politics, the toothsome fish attack, gnaw holes in the hull and make a feast out of them. Just to emphasis how little that he takes himself seriously, Forsberg himself is an early victim of the piranha. U.S. Secretary Grady (Barry Williams of “The Brady Bunch”) alerts buff Special Forces operative Jason Fitch (Paul Logan of “Cannibal Taboo”) by web cam. According to Grady, Venezuelan Junta Commander Colonel Antonio Diaz (David Labiosa of “The Entity”) believes that terrorists blew up the politicians. Furthermore, the CIA fear the incident may spark an anti-American military coup. This is Forsberg mimicking other films and establishing a somber tone, like this is a serious horror opus. “I need you to check out that river bottom and tell me what really happened before we have another Afghanistan on our hands.” Fitch catches a commercial flight to Venezuela. Before Fitch arrives, UCLA genetics researcher, Dr. Sarah Monroe (plump pop vocalist Tiffany), wildlife biologist Eli Gordon (Jesse Daly of “Another Gay Movie”), and microbiologist Brian Huggins (Jude Gerard Prest of “Teen Vamp") conduct their own investigation and uncover the ugly truth. Piranha are growing at an exponential rate, and they are scheduled to triple their size in 36 hours. Indeed, disaster looms for everybody. Unlike a Troma studios parody, "Mega Piranha" lives up to its hype. These piranha get really gigantic.
When our highly-decorated hero lands in Venezuela, a desperate Monroe accosts Fitch at the airport and warns him that Diaz is close-minded and paranoid. Fitch discovers this fact for himself later. Meantime, she explains that she had been conducting hydro-biological experiments. Basically, this means that Monroe and her colleagues have been escalating the size of the local food supply by genetically re-designing species of marine life to make them more robust. She was involved specifically with piranha. What? Why create bigger, meaner piranha? This is another of those brilliant moments deliver with a straight face. Who in their right mind would breed bigger, badder piranha!? Predictably, those carnivorous piranha escaped captivity and began breeding. Monroe hands him a fragment of the boat hull. Fitch can find no trace of explosives in the sample. Diaz takes Fitch for a chopper ride over area where the boat sank, but he refuses to let him investigate. Moreover, Diaz confines Fitch to the base. A stealthy Fitch slips off the base and gets a local to take him up river. Donning scuba gear, Fitch plunges into the river and swims up to the Arawak Indian Dam in an Orinoco Inlet where he encounters the pugnacious piranha. At first, he slashes at them with his knife. In a shrewd bit of foreshadowing, writer & director Eric Forsberg sets up the ending as the omnivorous piranha converge on the wounded fish and maul it. Fitch wades ashore. A single piranha pursues him with a vengeance. The fish lunges at him, and he stabs it repeatedly until it dies. Fitch slams the dead flesh-eater on Diaz’s desk and the colonel cannot believe his eyes.
The scientists inspect Fitch’s specimen and learn it possesses two hearts, triple-thick skin and is an hermaphrodite! Meaning, it can replicate by itself. Since the piranha are holed up behind a natural dam, Higgins recommends they drain the estuary before the fish grow large enough to escape. Instead, the villainous Diaz launches a helicopter assault. They blast the bejesus out of the river, but the fish survive. Of course, Diaz doesn’t realize the error of his ways. All he knows is the secretive scientists are responsible so he arrests them. He tortures poor Dr. Huggins. Meanwhile, the resilient piranha really begin to grow. Fitch helps Monroe and her associates escape. However, the piranha are heading up river by leaps and bounds. The scientists believe the fish cannot enter the ocean because piranha are fresh-water inhabitants and salt water will kill them. Imagine their surprise when the piranha ignore this genetic trait. Grady arranges for a destroyer to blast the fish. Predictably, the piranha survive the bombardment, gobble the ship, and enter the ocean. Now, the piranha are heading for Miami and Grady dispatches a submarine to torpedo them.
Scenes of piranha leaping out of the sea and smashing into buildings like suicide bombers with explosive crashes will make you laugh until your ribs hurt. The scene where Fitch is on his back, cycling his legs in the air so that his boots strike piranha as they pounce on him makes this alone worth watching. Make no mistake, these fish make formidable fiends, and Colonel Diaz amounts to a melodramatic villain. Nevertheless, the treacherous Diaz gets his just deserts. Another way of putting it is he becomes a just dessert for the fish. Before this 93-minute schlock concludes with its happy ending, these gluttonous fish gnaw up a U.S. Navy destroyer, an Ohio Class submarine--the U.S.S. Florida, and a helicopter hovering over the ocean! This in itself is reminiscent of director Enzo G. Castellari's "Jaws" rip-off "The Last Shark" (1981), aka "Great White," with Vic Morrow. Shots of these piranha sailing over the heads of our heroes is another reason to chuckle. If you’re going to take an idea to the absolute maximum, you must trash every modicum of credibility, and the Asylum people have done with grand gusto. Every character constitutes a hopeless stereotype, but Forsberg never lets the action loiter. He relies on swift editing and the equivalent of jump cutting. The imagery of a school of piranha bounding down river like championship jumping horses is side-splitting. Former "Brady Bunch" trouper, Barry Williams anchors the action with his pragmatic performance. Unlike sci-fi mutant movies of the 1950s that justified themselves as cautionary tales about science run amok, “Meg Piranha” harbors no such pretensions. This film is fun for fun’s sake. The computer-generated imagery won't receive any Oscars, but it is adequate enough for this drivel. Viewers who demand credibility should probably forego this half-baked fish yarn. “Mega Piranha” qualifies as so bad that it’s good!
“Mega Piranha” opens like the classic movie “Jaws” with a gal who goes skinny dipping with her boyfriend. No sooner do they hit the muddy Orinoco River than ravenous piranha hit them. Along come a U.S. diplomat, Ambassador Arnold Regis (Eric Forsberg of “Alien Abduction"), and a Venezuela politician on a boat with a couple of big-breasted, bikini-clad babes. While they were discussing politics, the toothsome fish attack, gnaw holes in the hull and make a feast out of them. Just to emphasis how little that he takes himself seriously, Forsberg himself is an early victim of the piranha. U.S. Secretary Grady (Barry Williams of “The Brady Bunch”) alerts buff Special Forces operative Jason Fitch (Paul Logan of “Cannibal Taboo”) by web cam. According to Grady, Venezuelan Junta Commander Colonel Antonio Diaz (David Labiosa of “The Entity”) believes that terrorists blew up the politicians. Furthermore, the CIA fear the incident may spark an anti-American military coup. This is Forsberg mimicking other films and establishing a somber tone, like this is a serious horror opus. “I need you to check out that river bottom and tell me what really happened before we have another Afghanistan on our hands.” Fitch catches a commercial flight to Venezuela. Before Fitch arrives, UCLA genetics researcher, Dr. Sarah Monroe (plump pop vocalist Tiffany), wildlife biologist Eli Gordon (Jesse Daly of “Another Gay Movie”), and microbiologist Brian Huggins (Jude Gerard Prest of “Teen Vamp") conduct their own investigation and uncover the ugly truth. Piranha are growing at an exponential rate, and they are scheduled to triple their size in 36 hours. Indeed, disaster looms for everybody. Unlike a Troma studios parody, "Mega Piranha" lives up to its hype. These piranha get really gigantic.
When our highly-decorated hero lands in Venezuela, a desperate Monroe accosts Fitch at the airport and warns him that Diaz is close-minded and paranoid. Fitch discovers this fact for himself later. Meantime, she explains that she had been conducting hydro-biological experiments. Basically, this means that Monroe and her colleagues have been escalating the size of the local food supply by genetically re-designing species of marine life to make them more robust. She was involved specifically with piranha. What? Why create bigger, meaner piranha? This is another of those brilliant moments deliver with a straight face. Who in their right mind would breed bigger, badder piranha!? Predictably, those carnivorous piranha escaped captivity and began breeding. Monroe hands him a fragment of the boat hull. Fitch can find no trace of explosives in the sample. Diaz takes Fitch for a chopper ride over area where the boat sank, but he refuses to let him investigate. Moreover, Diaz confines Fitch to the base. A stealthy Fitch slips off the base and gets a local to take him up river. Donning scuba gear, Fitch plunges into the river and swims up to the Arawak Indian Dam in an Orinoco Inlet where he encounters the pugnacious piranha. At first, he slashes at them with his knife. In a shrewd bit of foreshadowing, writer & director Eric Forsberg sets up the ending as the omnivorous piranha converge on the wounded fish and maul it. Fitch wades ashore. A single piranha pursues him with a vengeance. The fish lunges at him, and he stabs it repeatedly until it dies. Fitch slams the dead flesh-eater on Diaz’s desk and the colonel cannot believe his eyes.
The scientists inspect Fitch’s specimen and learn it possesses two hearts, triple-thick skin and is an hermaphrodite! Meaning, it can replicate by itself. Since the piranha are holed up behind a natural dam, Higgins recommends they drain the estuary before the fish grow large enough to escape. Instead, the villainous Diaz launches a helicopter assault. They blast the bejesus out of the river, but the fish survive. Of course, Diaz doesn’t realize the error of his ways. All he knows is the secretive scientists are responsible so he arrests them. He tortures poor Dr. Huggins. Meanwhile, the resilient piranha really begin to grow. Fitch helps Monroe and her associates escape. However, the piranha are heading up river by leaps and bounds. The scientists believe the fish cannot enter the ocean because piranha are fresh-water inhabitants and salt water will kill them. Imagine their surprise when the piranha ignore this genetic trait. Grady arranges for a destroyer to blast the fish. Predictably, the piranha survive the bombardment, gobble the ship, and enter the ocean. Now, the piranha are heading for Miami and Grady dispatches a submarine to torpedo them.
Scenes of piranha leaping out of the sea and smashing into buildings like suicide bombers with explosive crashes will make you laugh until your ribs hurt. The scene where Fitch is on his back, cycling his legs in the air so that his boots strike piranha as they pounce on him makes this alone worth watching. Make no mistake, these fish make formidable fiends, and Colonel Diaz amounts to a melodramatic villain. Nevertheless, the treacherous Diaz gets his just deserts. Another way of putting it is he becomes a just dessert for the fish. Before this 93-minute schlock concludes with its happy ending, these gluttonous fish gnaw up a U.S. Navy destroyer, an Ohio Class submarine--the U.S.S. Florida, and a helicopter hovering over the ocean! This in itself is reminiscent of director Enzo G. Castellari's "Jaws" rip-off "The Last Shark" (1981), aka "Great White," with Vic Morrow. Shots of these piranha sailing over the heads of our heroes is another reason to chuckle. If you’re going to take an idea to the absolute maximum, you must trash every modicum of credibility, and the Asylum people have done with grand gusto. Every character constitutes a hopeless stereotype, but Forsberg never lets the action loiter. He relies on swift editing and the equivalent of jump cutting. The imagery of a school of piranha bounding down river like championship jumping horses is side-splitting. Former "Brady Bunch" trouper, Barry Williams anchors the action with his pragmatic performance. Unlike sci-fi mutant movies of the 1950s that justified themselves as cautionary tales about science run amok, “Meg Piranha” harbors no such pretensions. This film is fun for fun’s sake. The computer-generated imagery won't receive any Oscars, but it is adequate enough for this drivel. Viewers who demand credibility should probably forego this half-baked fish yarn. “Mega Piranha” qualifies as so bad that it’s good!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON" (ITALIAN-1963)
This superior sword and sandal spectacle benefits enormously from stunning production values, a solid cast, and a believable storyline. Nothing supernatural occurs in "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" (*** out of ****), a Technicolor, Italian-produced opus distributed by American International Pictures. Our half-clad muscle-bound hero doesn't tangle with three-headed canines, fire-breathing dragons, or flying man-bats. As usual, this epic concerns an enslaved nation whose rebels plot to overthrow an tyrannical ruler, end palace intrigue, and allow a rightful heir to ascend to the throne. What sets “Goliath and the Sins of Babylon“ apart from most other ancient epics is the skillful use of irony and the surprises in the screenplay by Lionello De Felice of “Colossus of the Arena,” Roberto Gianviti of “Seven Slaves Against the World,” and Francesco Scardamaglia of “Seven Rebel Gladiators.” "Colossus of the Arena" director Michele Lupo draws on a dwarf for comic relief when he isn‘t orchestrating numerous fights between the heroes and the villains. Mark Forest registers as a sympathetic strongman hero, while Erno Crisa and Piero Lulli are sufficiently treacherous as the villains. Future Spaghetti western star Giuliano Gemma co-stars as Goliath’s friend and ally Xandros while fellow Spaghetti western actor Mimmo Palmara lends a hand.
An anonymous narrator establishes the setting: "Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the small kingdom of Nefer in the Persian Gulf was forced to pay tribute to its conqueror Babylon. The people of Nefer trembled with outrage and fear as the soldiers came to collect the yearly price, thirty of the loveliest virgins of the land." As the film opens, a girl (Eleonora Bianchi of "Ulysses against the Son of Hercules") bids farewell to her tearful family before the soldiers of King Pergasos, wearing red outfits, appropriate her as one of the sacrificial thirty. She tries to escape. Just when she believes she had eluded Pergasos’s troops in the market place, however, she runs smack into the arms of more soldiers. Goliath (Mark Forest of "Son of Samson") objects to the way one soldier roughs up the girl and intervenes on her behalf. After Goliath displays his unarmed skills as a warrior against the armed soldiers, they flee like cowards in a panic.
A resourceful little person, the mischievous Ninneto (Arnaldo Fabrizio of "Samson and the Mighty Challenge"), emerges from his hiding place in a basket strapped to Goliath’s horse and warns our hero about the consequences of this act of defiance. Ninneto races to a nearby tavern and tells Alceas (Mimmo Palmara of "Kindar the Invulnerable") and his friend Xandros (Giuliano Gemma of "Day of Anger") about Goliath. When these two see Goliath surrounded by the soldiers, they ride to his rescue. They literally hoist the strong man up by his brawny biceps and carry him away between them with their horses at a gallop. An imperturbable Goliath threatens to unhorse them, but they dissuade him because all three of them would then be captured. Meanwhile, Pergasos’s soldiers pursue them on horseback. Ninneto cuts them off when he shuts the city gates before the Pergasos’s men reach it.
The next time we see Goliath, Alceas, and Xandros, they are behind bars in an arena watching gladiators practice. Initially, Goliath refuses to become a gladiator. Goliath has nothing but contempt for gladiators who fight to amuse a crowd. The leader of an underground movement against the monarchy, Evandro (Livio Lorenzon of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"), explains to Goliath that the men training as gladiators in the arena are a part of a conspiracy to overthrow their dastardly ruler. According to Evandro, Nefer fought a war with Babylon four years ago and lost. The king of Nefer was murdered, and his older brother, Pergasos (Piero Lulli of "My Name Is Nobody"), arranged an armistice with Babylon. Clearly, Pergasos is nothing but a puppet for the Babylonians. They demand thirty virgins annually and sacrifice them. When Goliath asks about the slain king's daughter, Regia (José Greci of "War Gods of Babylon"), Evandro explains that their law dictates Regia must take a husband before she can rule. A frustrated Evandro fumes: "Who knows when a marriage will take place." Xandros states that they have pledged to halt these shipments of slave girls to Babylon. Evandro invites Goliath to join them so they will be 42 in number. Goliath agrees to help them. Ninneto chimes in "42 and a half" and joins them, too. "Alright," Alceas chuckles, “we’ll make you our mascot." Indeed, Ninneto serves as splendid comic relief, and he is genuinely funny, a little guy who can knock out unsuspecting warriors three-times his own size. The pottery scene where he eludes the soldiers is better than you'd imagine, particularly because Ninneto outsmarts them!
The father of the sacrificial victim at the beginning of the movie bursts into King Pergasos’s court where Pergasos has gathered the thirty girls for Morakeb (Erno Crisa of "Passport for a Corpse") to see. During the inspection, the father charges Morakeb and tries to stab him to death. Pergasos thwarts the father and has the man fed to the lions in the dudgeon. Morakeb worries about the growing intolerance of Pergasos’s subjects toward Babylon. “The years go by Pergasos and I’m sure our battles are only a memory. I blame your people. They’re beginning to forget the reason for having to pay tribute to our king every year.” Morakeb tells Pergasos that the sacred trireme will arrive within two days time to pick up the girls. “Let there be no more such incidents while girls are being taken onto the ship,” Morakeb commands. The evil Pergasos plans to use the spring chariot races to distract the populace from the departure of the slave girls. Pergasos' niece, Regia, vows to marry any man who can defeat her in the races. Neither Lupo nor his trio of scribes explain why Regia would want to remain a mere princess when she could marry and become queen. Pergasos points out that Regia would never deliberately lose the race. Meantime, Xandros has a rendezvous with Princess Regia‘s lady-in-waiting, Chelima (José Greci in a dual role), at a remote water fall. Xandros doesn’t like Regia. “Any girl who decides to rely on the outcome of a race to decide the man she will live with the rest of her life is just stupid.” Chelima chides Xandros for his intolerance.
Later that night, Alceas scrambles aboard a ship and begs for the merchant who owns the vessel to let him hide from Pergasos’s troops. Our heroes--Evandro, Goliath, and their followers--disguise themselves as soldiers, board the ship and confiscate it so they can stop the Babylonian trireme from coming to pick up the girls. Xandros wants to accompany Goliath and the rest of the men, but Evandro refuses to let him because he must participate in the forthcoming chariot race. Goliath, Alceas, and the others set off to attack the sacred trireme. Goliath chuckles at the sight of Ninneto who has strapped a bunch of cucumbers to his waist to serve as a life belt in case the ship should sink. Our heroes encounter the Babylonian trireme at sea and a battle ensues. During the free-for-all combat aboard the trireme, Ninneto wears a helmet equipped with a spike atop it that he sticks into various Babylonian soldiers. Interestingly, the Babylonians, who are clad in black outfits--seal their own fate when they launch flaming arrows at the ship bearing Goliath and company. Alceas swings aboard the Babylonian ship and kicks over the brazier that the enemy uses and their ship bursts into flames when the brazier tumbles below deck! Meanwhile, Xandros explains to Chelima at their special rendezvous that he must enter the chariot race where he will stake his life because he has no wealth. When she points out that he will have to marry Regia if he wins the contest, he explains that he will do it only to save their people from the Babylonian tyranny that they have suffered under Pergasos. “You must do what you feel is your duty,” Chelima concedes, “But you will always live in my heart.”
Little does Xandros realize that Chelima and Regia are one in the same. The crafty Pergasos sends assassins to kill Xandros after Chelima has departed. When Goliath and Alceas return in a long boat with the rest of their men from the sea battle, Evandro meets them at the shore and explains that Xandros is out somewhere with a woman. Goliath cannot believe that Xandros would jeopardize their plans in such a cavalier manner. part. Little Ninneto knows where to find Xandros and leads Goliath to there on horseback. shows up in the nick of time to save Xandros from certain death. Goliath shows up in time to thwart Pergasos's henchmen. Unfortunately, Xandros is wounded and cannot participate in the race. Pergasos is estactic until he discovers that somebody else--a stranger named Goliath--has replaced the ailing Xandros. There is irony in that Pergasos stopped Xandros from competing in the race, but opened the way for another contestant who ultimately defeats Regia. Regia isn't happy about the outcome of the race. Pergasos fumes about this reversal of events. "Well, now that he has had his victory in the arena, what's this Goliath up to?" One of the king's advisers replies, "This Goliath hopes to release all the slave girls. He intends to cancel our agreement with Babylon." Pergasos is incredulous with rage: "But if he does that Babylon with attack!" While Pergasos and his men brainstorm their alternatives, a lone survivor from the Babylonian trireme stumbles ashore. Three men pull him out of the water and a fourth helps them take him to the authorities. They believe that the man is a pirate.
Later,Goliath admits to Regia that he realizes he is not the man for her. He accuses her of setting a trap for Xandros and Regia convinces him that she had nothing to do with the plot to kill Xandros. Pergasos summons Goliath to the council room. "Your victory in the arena has earned you the right to voice an opinion within this council room," one of Pergasos's men, Meneos (Alfio Caltabiano of "Seven Rebel Gladiators") informs Goliath. "First, how much loyalty do have you to Nefer?" Goliath retorts, "Enough." Meneos challenges Goliath, "Then let us hear the names of every one of the conspirators who committed an act of treason." Goliath grows suspicious of Meneos's line of questioning. "Of what are you accusing him, Meneos? As far as I know, the sea doesn't speak." The lone survivor bursts into the council room and identifies Goliath without hesitation: "He attacked the trireme! He led the pirates that sank us!" Goliath fights his way out of the council room wielding the striker used to sound the gong to knock down the soldiers. He dives through the window and escapes. Meantime, Xandros learns the truth finally about Regia and Chelima. Regia didn't tell Xandros the truth because she feared that he would love her only for being a princess. "I wanted to be sure that you'd save my country." Xandros and she part on happy terms and he rejoins Evandos in the sity. No sooner has Xandros ridden off than one of his assailants who tried to kill him earlier seizes Regia and takes her hostage. The assailant hands Regia over to dastardly Morakeb.
Goliath meets up with Evandro and the rest of the men, and they launch a revolt to free the slave girls from the underground dudgeon. Meneos and his men rush into the corridors to battle them, and Ninneto releases lions and leopards from their cages. These predatory beasts attack Pergasos's men. Eventually, Goliath and company enter the palace and find Pergasos face down on the floor. When they rouse him, the mortally wounded Pergasos reveals that Morakeb killed his men and assaulted him. The rebels bring Meneos into the palace and Xandros and he square off in a sword fight. Xandros manages to kill him by slashing him across the stomach. Meneos dies dramatically when he smashes into the gong. A man who saw Regia delivered to Morakeb by the black assailant who tried to kill Xandros brings news about her abduction. Evandros hatches a grand scheme to get Regia back safely. "It's very clear what we have to do," he explains. "We must destroy Babylon before Morakeb can send his armies here so he can destroy Nefer. Now, I have a plan,a daring, desperate plan. If you approve the plan, I will need several men and one of them is sure to face certain dead." Goliath volunteers to be the expendable person in the plan.
In the next scene, four ambassadors from Nefer appear in Babylon at the king's palace to plead for leniency from King Cafaus (Paul Muller of "Avenger of the Seven Seas")for their people. Among the ambassadors are Xandros and Alceas and they assure Morekab and Rukus that none of the rebels survived the battle in the underground dungeon. When the Cafaus demands the whereabouts of the thirty virgins, Xandros reveals that the rebels killed all the slave girls. Xandros tries to convince the Babylonians that they are still allied to Babylon. To prove it they turn Goliath over to King Cafaus. The monarch stares grimly at the muscle-bound champion and vows: "Goliath, he's going to pay well." In the next scene, Goliath is shown strapped down spread-eagle to a slab. Morakeb supervises Goliath's torture. He wants to determine the loyalty of the ambassadors. Goliath's friends are forced to cut the ropes that will send spears plunging out of the ceiling down at him. Morakeb relishes the moment with the lines: "I know of only one thing worse than physical pain, and that's waiting to be killed. Yes, he might suffer badly waiting for the mortal blow, or he might be lucky and receive it from the first spear." Morakeb watches as the spears fall and barely miss Goliath and leaves him to his fate. The ambassadors and he leave. Little does Morakeb know that Evandro has mobilized the army of Nefer. They attack and repulse the Babylonian army and set the city ablaze. King Cafaus cries that the gods have abandoned Babylon. Our muscular hero relies on his brute strength to pull a Houdini and lead the revolt. The evil Morekab has King Cafaus stabbed to death in the back while he and his closest associates prepare to flee the city by the catacombs. They are surprised when they run into Goliath and Alceas. Goliath cuts off Morakeb's flight and the latter has to fight an unarmed Alceas. Alceas reverses Morakeb's knife and plunges it into him, killing him. At fade-out, Regia and Xandros plan to wed and rule over Nefer. The resourceful little Ninneto introduces everybody to his diminutive wife.
Lupo stages a boisterous sea battle, a careening chariot race, and several clashing sword fights with aplomb. Mind you, the chariot race is nothing compared to "Ben-Hur," but the arena setting is spectacular enough for an Italian peplum. Lupo is particularly adept at creating interesting transitions, and the one involving the gong being struck is really effective. The only thing lacking is the typical trials that the Herculean hero endures to prove his strength. Displays of brawn do not appear as often as they do in other better peplum movies. One of the big scenes shows Goliath chained to a slab in the dudgeon. Above him are several holes and each hole conceals a wicked looking spear. The spears are released by means of cutting the rope holding them and then these pointed weapons travel downward toward its victim. It is a cop-out that none of the spears actually strike our hero. The spears stop several inches from his important body parts while he patiently waits and then later rips out the irons restraining him.
Overall, Lupo does a good job with "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon." This widescreen Retromedia presentation qualifies as above-average despite some flaws in the print. This is one of the most polished looking Peplums ever with its pristine looking sets. The sea battle ranks as above-average, too, with scenes of the two full-size ships and actors swarming between them. This marked lenser Mario Sbrenna's debut as cinematographer, and he makes everything appear larger-than-life. Unfortunately, we never witness any of the sins of Babylon, short of people being fed to lions. For the record, the hero's name in the European releases was Maciste instead of Goliath. This Goliath movie is neither a sequel nor a prequel to the other Italian produced Goliath movies. Interestingly, in a departure from the formula, "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" doesn't contain the beautiful but mendacious queen character that maps out most of the palace intrigue and at some point slips the strong man hero a drugged goblet of wine. In a sense, Regia is a substitute for this stock character but she is on the side of the good guys.
An anonymous narrator establishes the setting: "Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the small kingdom of Nefer in the Persian Gulf was forced to pay tribute to its conqueror Babylon. The people of Nefer trembled with outrage and fear as the soldiers came to collect the yearly price, thirty of the loveliest virgins of the land." As the film opens, a girl (Eleonora Bianchi of "Ulysses against the Son of Hercules") bids farewell to her tearful family before the soldiers of King Pergasos, wearing red outfits, appropriate her as one of the sacrificial thirty. She tries to escape. Just when she believes she had eluded Pergasos’s troops in the market place, however, she runs smack into the arms of more soldiers. Goliath (Mark Forest of "Son of Samson") objects to the way one soldier roughs up the girl and intervenes on her behalf. After Goliath displays his unarmed skills as a warrior against the armed soldiers, they flee like cowards in a panic.
A resourceful little person, the mischievous Ninneto (Arnaldo Fabrizio of "Samson and the Mighty Challenge"), emerges from his hiding place in a basket strapped to Goliath’s horse and warns our hero about the consequences of this act of defiance. Ninneto races to a nearby tavern and tells Alceas (Mimmo Palmara of "Kindar the Invulnerable") and his friend Xandros (Giuliano Gemma of "Day of Anger") about Goliath. When these two see Goliath surrounded by the soldiers, they ride to his rescue. They literally hoist the strong man up by his brawny biceps and carry him away between them with their horses at a gallop. An imperturbable Goliath threatens to unhorse them, but they dissuade him because all three of them would then be captured. Meanwhile, Pergasos’s soldiers pursue them on horseback. Ninneto cuts them off when he shuts the city gates before the Pergasos’s men reach it.
The next time we see Goliath, Alceas, and Xandros, they are behind bars in an arena watching gladiators practice. Initially, Goliath refuses to become a gladiator. Goliath has nothing but contempt for gladiators who fight to amuse a crowd. The leader of an underground movement against the monarchy, Evandro (Livio Lorenzon of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"), explains to Goliath that the men training as gladiators in the arena are a part of a conspiracy to overthrow their dastardly ruler. According to Evandro, Nefer fought a war with Babylon four years ago and lost. The king of Nefer was murdered, and his older brother, Pergasos (Piero Lulli of "My Name Is Nobody"), arranged an armistice with Babylon. Clearly, Pergasos is nothing but a puppet for the Babylonians. They demand thirty virgins annually and sacrifice them. When Goliath asks about the slain king's daughter, Regia (José Greci of "War Gods of Babylon"), Evandro explains that their law dictates Regia must take a husband before she can rule. A frustrated Evandro fumes: "Who knows when a marriage will take place." Xandros states that they have pledged to halt these shipments of slave girls to Babylon. Evandro invites Goliath to join them so they will be 42 in number. Goliath agrees to help them. Ninneto chimes in "42 and a half" and joins them, too. "Alright," Alceas chuckles, “we’ll make you our mascot." Indeed, Ninneto serves as splendid comic relief, and he is genuinely funny, a little guy who can knock out unsuspecting warriors three-times his own size. The pottery scene where he eludes the soldiers is better than you'd imagine, particularly because Ninneto outsmarts them!
The father of the sacrificial victim at the beginning of the movie bursts into King Pergasos’s court where Pergasos has gathered the thirty girls for Morakeb (Erno Crisa of "Passport for a Corpse") to see. During the inspection, the father charges Morakeb and tries to stab him to death. Pergasos thwarts the father and has the man fed to the lions in the dudgeon. Morakeb worries about the growing intolerance of Pergasos’s subjects toward Babylon. “The years go by Pergasos and I’m sure our battles are only a memory. I blame your people. They’re beginning to forget the reason for having to pay tribute to our king every year.” Morakeb tells Pergasos that the sacred trireme will arrive within two days time to pick up the girls. “Let there be no more such incidents while girls are being taken onto the ship,” Morakeb commands. The evil Pergasos plans to use the spring chariot races to distract the populace from the departure of the slave girls. Pergasos' niece, Regia, vows to marry any man who can defeat her in the races. Neither Lupo nor his trio of scribes explain why Regia would want to remain a mere princess when she could marry and become queen. Pergasos points out that Regia would never deliberately lose the race. Meantime, Xandros has a rendezvous with Princess Regia‘s lady-in-waiting, Chelima (José Greci in a dual role), at a remote water fall. Xandros doesn’t like Regia. “Any girl who decides to rely on the outcome of a race to decide the man she will live with the rest of her life is just stupid.” Chelima chides Xandros for his intolerance.
Later that night, Alceas scrambles aboard a ship and begs for the merchant who owns the vessel to let him hide from Pergasos’s troops. Our heroes--Evandro, Goliath, and their followers--disguise themselves as soldiers, board the ship and confiscate it so they can stop the Babylonian trireme from coming to pick up the girls. Xandros wants to accompany Goliath and the rest of the men, but Evandro refuses to let him because he must participate in the forthcoming chariot race. Goliath, Alceas, and the others set off to attack the sacred trireme. Goliath chuckles at the sight of Ninneto who has strapped a bunch of cucumbers to his waist to serve as a life belt in case the ship should sink. Our heroes encounter the Babylonian trireme at sea and a battle ensues. During the free-for-all combat aboard the trireme, Ninneto wears a helmet equipped with a spike atop it that he sticks into various Babylonian soldiers. Interestingly, the Babylonians, who are clad in black outfits--seal their own fate when they launch flaming arrows at the ship bearing Goliath and company. Alceas swings aboard the Babylonian ship and kicks over the brazier that the enemy uses and their ship bursts into flames when the brazier tumbles below deck! Meanwhile, Xandros explains to Chelima at their special rendezvous that he must enter the chariot race where he will stake his life because he has no wealth. When she points out that he will have to marry Regia if he wins the contest, he explains that he will do it only to save their people from the Babylonian tyranny that they have suffered under Pergasos. “You must do what you feel is your duty,” Chelima concedes, “But you will always live in my heart.”
Little does Xandros realize that Chelima and Regia are one in the same. The crafty Pergasos sends assassins to kill Xandros after Chelima has departed. When Goliath and Alceas return in a long boat with the rest of their men from the sea battle, Evandro meets them at the shore and explains that Xandros is out somewhere with a woman. Goliath cannot believe that Xandros would jeopardize their plans in such a cavalier manner. part. Little Ninneto knows where to find Xandros and leads Goliath to there on horseback. shows up in the nick of time to save Xandros from certain death. Goliath shows up in time to thwart Pergasos's henchmen. Unfortunately, Xandros is wounded and cannot participate in the race. Pergasos is estactic until he discovers that somebody else--a stranger named Goliath--has replaced the ailing Xandros. There is irony in that Pergasos stopped Xandros from competing in the race, but opened the way for another contestant who ultimately defeats Regia. Regia isn't happy about the outcome of the race. Pergasos fumes about this reversal of events. "Well, now that he has had his victory in the arena, what's this Goliath up to?" One of the king's advisers replies, "This Goliath hopes to release all the slave girls. He intends to cancel our agreement with Babylon." Pergasos is incredulous with rage: "But if he does that Babylon with attack!" While Pergasos and his men brainstorm their alternatives, a lone survivor from the Babylonian trireme stumbles ashore. Three men pull him out of the water and a fourth helps them take him to the authorities. They believe that the man is a pirate.
Later,Goliath admits to Regia that he realizes he is not the man for her. He accuses her of setting a trap for Xandros and Regia convinces him that she had nothing to do with the plot to kill Xandros. Pergasos summons Goliath to the council room. "Your victory in the arena has earned you the right to voice an opinion within this council room," one of Pergasos's men, Meneos (Alfio Caltabiano of "Seven Rebel Gladiators") informs Goliath. "First, how much loyalty do have you to Nefer?" Goliath retorts, "Enough." Meneos challenges Goliath, "Then let us hear the names of every one of the conspirators who committed an act of treason." Goliath grows suspicious of Meneos's line of questioning. "Of what are you accusing him, Meneos? As far as I know, the sea doesn't speak." The lone survivor bursts into the council room and identifies Goliath without hesitation: "He attacked the trireme! He led the pirates that sank us!" Goliath fights his way out of the council room wielding the striker used to sound the gong to knock down the soldiers. He dives through the window and escapes. Meantime, Xandros learns the truth finally about Regia and Chelima. Regia didn't tell Xandros the truth because she feared that he would love her only for being a princess. "I wanted to be sure that you'd save my country." Xandros and she part on happy terms and he rejoins Evandos in the sity. No sooner has Xandros ridden off than one of his assailants who tried to kill him earlier seizes Regia and takes her hostage. The assailant hands Regia over to dastardly Morakeb.
Goliath meets up with Evandro and the rest of the men, and they launch a revolt to free the slave girls from the underground dudgeon. Meneos and his men rush into the corridors to battle them, and Ninneto releases lions and leopards from their cages. These predatory beasts attack Pergasos's men. Eventually, Goliath and company enter the palace and find Pergasos face down on the floor. When they rouse him, the mortally wounded Pergasos reveals that Morakeb killed his men and assaulted him. The rebels bring Meneos into the palace and Xandros and he square off in a sword fight. Xandros manages to kill him by slashing him across the stomach. Meneos dies dramatically when he smashes into the gong. A man who saw Regia delivered to Morakeb by the black assailant who tried to kill Xandros brings news about her abduction. Evandros hatches a grand scheme to get Regia back safely. "It's very clear what we have to do," he explains. "We must destroy Babylon before Morakeb can send his armies here so he can destroy Nefer. Now, I have a plan,a daring, desperate plan. If you approve the plan, I will need several men and one of them is sure to face certain dead." Goliath volunteers to be the expendable person in the plan.
In the next scene, four ambassadors from Nefer appear in Babylon at the king's palace to plead for leniency from King Cafaus (Paul Muller of "Avenger of the Seven Seas")for their people. Among the ambassadors are Xandros and Alceas and they assure Morekab and Rukus that none of the rebels survived the battle in the underground dungeon. When the Cafaus demands the whereabouts of the thirty virgins, Xandros reveals that the rebels killed all the slave girls. Xandros tries to convince the Babylonians that they are still allied to Babylon. To prove it they turn Goliath over to King Cafaus. The monarch stares grimly at the muscle-bound champion and vows: "Goliath, he's going to pay well." In the next scene, Goliath is shown strapped down spread-eagle to a slab. Morakeb supervises Goliath's torture. He wants to determine the loyalty of the ambassadors. Goliath's friends are forced to cut the ropes that will send spears plunging out of the ceiling down at him. Morakeb relishes the moment with the lines: "I know of only one thing worse than physical pain, and that's waiting to be killed. Yes, he might suffer badly waiting for the mortal blow, or he might be lucky and receive it from the first spear." Morakeb watches as the spears fall and barely miss Goliath and leaves him to his fate. The ambassadors and he leave. Little does Morakeb know that Evandro has mobilized the army of Nefer. They attack and repulse the Babylonian army and set the city ablaze. King Cafaus cries that the gods have abandoned Babylon. Our muscular hero relies on his brute strength to pull a Houdini and lead the revolt. The evil Morekab has King Cafaus stabbed to death in the back while he and his closest associates prepare to flee the city by the catacombs. They are surprised when they run into Goliath and Alceas. Goliath cuts off Morakeb's flight and the latter has to fight an unarmed Alceas. Alceas reverses Morakeb's knife and plunges it into him, killing him. At fade-out, Regia and Xandros plan to wed and rule over Nefer. The resourceful little Ninneto introduces everybody to his diminutive wife.
Lupo stages a boisterous sea battle, a careening chariot race, and several clashing sword fights with aplomb. Mind you, the chariot race is nothing compared to "Ben-Hur," but the arena setting is spectacular enough for an Italian peplum. Lupo is particularly adept at creating interesting transitions, and the one involving the gong being struck is really effective. The only thing lacking is the typical trials that the Herculean hero endures to prove his strength. Displays of brawn do not appear as often as they do in other better peplum movies. One of the big scenes shows Goliath chained to a slab in the dudgeon. Above him are several holes and each hole conceals a wicked looking spear. The spears are released by means of cutting the rope holding them and then these pointed weapons travel downward toward its victim. It is a cop-out that none of the spears actually strike our hero. The spears stop several inches from his important body parts while he patiently waits and then later rips out the irons restraining him.
Overall, Lupo does a good job with "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon." This widescreen Retromedia presentation qualifies as above-average despite some flaws in the print. This is one of the most polished looking Peplums ever with its pristine looking sets. The sea battle ranks as above-average, too, with scenes of the two full-size ships and actors swarming between them. This marked lenser Mario Sbrenna's debut as cinematographer, and he makes everything appear larger-than-life. Unfortunately, we never witness any of the sins of Babylon, short of people being fed to lions. For the record, the hero's name in the European releases was Maciste instead of Goliath. This Goliath movie is neither a sequel nor a prequel to the other Italian produced Goliath movies. Interestingly, in a departure from the formula, "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" doesn't contain the beautiful but mendacious queen character that maps out most of the palace intrigue and at some point slips the strong man hero a drugged goblet of wine. In a sense, Regia is a substitute for this stock character but she is on the side of the good guys.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''BATTLE: LOS ANGELES'' (2011)
If the tenacious enemy the U.S. Marines tangle with in director Jonathan Liebesman’s “Battle: Los Angeles” (*** out of ****) didn’t come from another planet, then this above-average PG-13 rated Columbia Pictures’ release wouldn’t qualify as a science fiction shoot‘em up. As it is, “Battle: Los Angeles” amounts to marginal sci-fi. The guys who wrote and directed this suspenseful but straightforward 116-minute saga strive for adrenaline-laced realism. They aren’t out to imitate the outlandish audacity of “Skyline” with its “Cloverfield” style monsters trashing a coastal metropolis. Ostensibly, “Battle: Los Angeles” seems like a Marine recruiting video. The scarcity of memorable characters and scene-stealing aliens are offset by its splendid computer generated special effects and Aaron Eckhart’s bravura performance.
Like last year’s “Skyline” and many sci-fi films dating to 1951’s “The Thing From Another World,” “Battle: Los Angeles” shows aliens plunging into the Earth in meteors that turn out to be spacecraft. Unlike “Skyline,” Liebesman’s movie boasts aliens that lack reptilian features with tentacles galore. Instead, the enemy look like the “Star Wars” storm troopers. Herein lies the chief problem that “Battle: Los Angeles” faces. Since it doesn’t look like your typical sci-fi tale and the filmmakers give the extraterrestrials the short shrift, many moviegoers and critics are maligning it without mercy No, “Battle: Los Angeles” neither wallows in political allegories like “District 9” nor does it assemble a speculative arsenal of weapons to destroy the enemy as in “Independence Day.” “Battle: Los Angeles” looks more like “Black Hawk Down.” You wind up caring more about the human characters. Nevertheless, you develop considerable respect for the pugnacious aliens. They track down and kill both civilians and military alike by targeting mobile radio and telephone communication. Unlike “Skyline,” “Battle: Los Angeles” concludes with greater optimism. Basically, this movie celebrates male camaraderie as well as the indomitable human spirit of survival.
After a false start that depicts the devastation the aliens have wrought around the globe, the action flashes back to the hours before the catastrophic invasion. During this prologue, Liebesman and "The General's Daughter" scenarist Christopher Bertolini introduce a number of young Marines and their leaders. Except for a few high-ranking officers, the Marines here are grunts on the ground. Aside from their platoon commander, these Marines are the followers who wind up leading the way. As the protagonist, veteran Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart of "The Dark Knight") has served 20 years in the Corps. Nantz wants to retire because his last campaign in Iraq turned bittersweet when he lost several leathernecks but received a Silver Star for valor. Not surprisingly, Nantz doesn't care about the commendation. Moreover, the memories of the men that died under his command haunt him. Naturally, when the meteors start falling, the Pentagon deploys the Marines from Camp Pendleton, and Nantz finds himself reassigned to Echo Company, 2nd battalion, 5th Marine regiment. Predictably, there is a rumble in the ranks about Nantz's gung-ho attitude, and the young Marines believe that he will treat them like cannon fodder. Indeed, Nantz behaves like 'John Wayne' in one scene, and his company commander, 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramón Rodríguez of "Pride and Glory"), orders him to knock off the heroics.
Meanwhile, Liebesman and Bertolini parcel out only piecemeal information about the aliens. They crave water and exploit it as a source of energy. Their blitzkrieg blankets the globe, and they are aggressively trouncing mankind. Indeed, Los Angeles resembles Beirut. Television news bulletins provide the modicum of information that mankind knows about these pugnacious intruders. None of it is useful to the Marines who must eradicate these miscreants. Initially, Nantz and his platoon are dispatched to an abandoned Santa Monica police station to rescue a group of civilians and then escort them to a forward operating base to await evacuation. Martinez's superiors warn him he has 3 hours to complete his mission before the Air Force obliterates everything in sight. In some way, "Battle: Los Angeles" is like "Aliens" as these smug Marines lock and load for action. The attitude change that comes over them after their first encounter with the enemy is dramatic. Initially, they desperately lack cohesion. Only after they acquire cohesion do they come together as a unit and experience success.
“Battle: Los Angeles” differs from “Independence Day” and the “Transformers” movies because it shuns the multiple levels of characters that those films contain. Typically, sci-fi movies have scientists struggling to figure out how to kill the alien invaders while the politicians scramble to placate the public that everything is being done to accomplish this goal. Eventually, when the politicians and the scientists get a clue, they pass it along to the military and the killing commences. “Battle: Los Angeles” confines its action to the Marines on the ground. Since the Marines can only see what is around them, the film resembles a first-person shooter videogame. The aliens never get up close and personal as in a “Predator” movie. “Battle: Los Angeles” isn’t a horror movie. Occasionally, a soldier is dragged by the feet into foliage and killed. Primarily, these aliens are like marauding Apaches that rely on stealth to strike. Moreover, they can be killed. Eventually, when the Marines run into greater numbers of aliens, “Battle: Los Angeles” settles down to conventional close-quarters combat. Incredibly enough, most of "Battle: Los Angeles" was lensed on location in Louisiana!
Like last year’s “Skyline” and many sci-fi films dating to 1951’s “The Thing From Another World,” “Battle: Los Angeles” shows aliens plunging into the Earth in meteors that turn out to be spacecraft. Unlike “Skyline,” Liebesman’s movie boasts aliens that lack reptilian features with tentacles galore. Instead, the enemy look like the “Star Wars” storm troopers. Herein lies the chief problem that “Battle: Los Angeles” faces. Since it doesn’t look like your typical sci-fi tale and the filmmakers give the extraterrestrials the short shrift, many moviegoers and critics are maligning it without mercy No, “Battle: Los Angeles” neither wallows in political allegories like “District 9” nor does it assemble a speculative arsenal of weapons to destroy the enemy as in “Independence Day.” “Battle: Los Angeles” looks more like “Black Hawk Down.” You wind up caring more about the human characters. Nevertheless, you develop considerable respect for the pugnacious aliens. They track down and kill both civilians and military alike by targeting mobile radio and telephone communication. Unlike “Skyline,” “Battle: Los Angeles” concludes with greater optimism. Basically, this movie celebrates male camaraderie as well as the indomitable human spirit of survival.
After a false start that depicts the devastation the aliens have wrought around the globe, the action flashes back to the hours before the catastrophic invasion. During this prologue, Liebesman and "The General's Daughter" scenarist Christopher Bertolini introduce a number of young Marines and their leaders. Except for a few high-ranking officers, the Marines here are grunts on the ground. Aside from their platoon commander, these Marines are the followers who wind up leading the way. As the protagonist, veteran Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart of "The Dark Knight") has served 20 years in the Corps. Nantz wants to retire because his last campaign in Iraq turned bittersweet when he lost several leathernecks but received a Silver Star for valor. Not surprisingly, Nantz doesn't care about the commendation. Moreover, the memories of the men that died under his command haunt him. Naturally, when the meteors start falling, the Pentagon deploys the Marines from Camp Pendleton, and Nantz finds himself reassigned to Echo Company, 2nd battalion, 5th Marine regiment. Predictably, there is a rumble in the ranks about Nantz's gung-ho attitude, and the young Marines believe that he will treat them like cannon fodder. Indeed, Nantz behaves like 'John Wayne' in one scene, and his company commander, 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramón Rodríguez of "Pride and Glory"), orders him to knock off the heroics.
Meanwhile, Liebesman and Bertolini parcel out only piecemeal information about the aliens. They crave water and exploit it as a source of energy. Their blitzkrieg blankets the globe, and they are aggressively trouncing mankind. Indeed, Los Angeles resembles Beirut. Television news bulletins provide the modicum of information that mankind knows about these pugnacious intruders. None of it is useful to the Marines who must eradicate these miscreants. Initially, Nantz and his platoon are dispatched to an abandoned Santa Monica police station to rescue a group of civilians and then escort them to a forward operating base to await evacuation. Martinez's superiors warn him he has 3 hours to complete his mission before the Air Force obliterates everything in sight. In some way, "Battle: Los Angeles" is like "Aliens" as these smug Marines lock and load for action. The attitude change that comes over them after their first encounter with the enemy is dramatic. Initially, they desperately lack cohesion. Only after they acquire cohesion do they come together as a unit and experience success.
“Battle: Los Angeles” differs from “Independence Day” and the “Transformers” movies because it shuns the multiple levels of characters that those films contain. Typically, sci-fi movies have scientists struggling to figure out how to kill the alien invaders while the politicians scramble to placate the public that everything is being done to accomplish this goal. Eventually, when the politicians and the scientists get a clue, they pass it along to the military and the killing commences. “Battle: Los Angeles” confines its action to the Marines on the ground. Since the Marines can only see what is around them, the film resembles a first-person shooter videogame. The aliens never get up close and personal as in a “Predator” movie. “Battle: Los Angeles” isn’t a horror movie. Occasionally, a soldier is dragged by the feet into foliage and killed. Primarily, these aliens are like marauding Apaches that rely on stealth to strike. Moreover, they can be killed. Eventually, when the Marines run into greater numbers of aliens, “Battle: Los Angeles” settles down to conventional close-quarters combat. Incredibly enough, most of "Battle: Los Angeles" was lensed on location in Louisiana!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''A MAN TO RESPECT" (ITALIAN-WEST GERMAN-1972)
This entertaining 'crime-does-not-pay' European heist caper pits mastermind safe-cracker Kirk Douglas against his trapeze artist sidekick Giuliano Gemma as well as his former Teutonic criminal underworld boss Wolfgang Preiss. "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" director Michele Lupo's suspenseful yarn boasts intrigue, betrayal, and a demolition-derby car chase in Hamburg, Germany, as our hero sets out to pull another one of those formulaic fool-proof last jobs. "Un uomo da rispettare" benefits from the terrific widescreen cinematography of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" lenser Tonino Delli Colli and his use of 'Dutch' tilt angles. Composer Ennio Morricone contributes a muted orchestral score and Lupo relies on a lively classical Mozart tune in two scenes. The twist here is that our anti-heroic protagonist stages one robbery but plans to be caught for another robbery so as throw the German police and the villains off the scent. Naturally, nothing goes quite as it is planned in this ingenious but familiar caper. Like director Richard Brooks' crime caper "Dollars" (1971), Lupo's film focuses on banks that contain ultra-sophisticated security systems to safeguard their assets.
"Un uomo da rispettare" (**1/2 out of ****) opens with marked police cars rampaging around the city while Detective Hoffman (Reinhard Kolldehoff of "Shout at the Devil") transports convicted career criminal Steve Wallace (Kirk Douglas of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") home to his wife Anna (Florinda Bolkan of "The Last Valley") after having served three years in prison. No sooner does the police car leave Wallace in front of his house than a carload of thugs cruise up. One of the ruffians informs Wallace that their boss, Miller (Wolfgang Preiss of "Raid on Rommel"), wants to talk to him. Reluctantly, Wallace accompanies them to see the well-heeled Miller in his huge office above a casino. Miller surrounds himself with an array of electronic gadgets to present his proposition for a heist with a million dollar payday. "I've got a job only you can do," he explains. "Now, listen carefully, you must knock out this alarm system. It's called 'Big Ben.' If it goes off, the whole city can hear it." Miller shows Wallace the vault on the top floor where the International Insurance Company has stored a cool million. "Now I know you can handle this safe, Steve, but Big Ben is the problem. The buzzing of a fly, a footstep, a deep breath is enough to trip the alarm." Miller pauses and then observes in an effort to entice Wallace. "Nobody has ever thought of it before." Wallace refuses flatly to pull the job for Miller. Before he worked for Miller, Wallace never encountered trouble. He wound up serving three years in prison when he did his first job for Miller. Nevertheless, Wallace tours the building and finds the edifice decked out with surveillance galore. He heads up to the top floor to snoop around but the disembodied voice of a woman interrupts him. He tells her that he has an appointment with Mr. Schmitt. The woman at a central control desk tells him that Schmitt's office is located on the second floor. Miller's rough-hewn henchman (Romano Puppo of "Death Rides A Horse") spots him leaving the building. He tries to persuade Wallace to see Miller again. Wallace refuses. While they are talking, a young man in an old jalopy, Marco (Giuliano Gemma), pulls up behind the henchman and honks at him. The two tangle in a rough and tumble fight with Marco demonstrating his agility. Miller's man brandishes a pistol. Wallace intervenes and knocks the gun out of the thug's fist.
This chance encounter serves as an opportunity for Wallace and Marco to become friends. Sadly, Wallace doesn't pay enough attention either to his unhappy wife or his new friend. Wallace convinces Anna that he can steal millions without being held accountable if he stages one robbery but takes the fall for another lesser robbery. If everything goes according to plan, Wallace calculates that--under German law--he will only land in prison for 18 months from robbing a pawn shop. Unfortunately, Marco relies too heavily on his switchblade knife. Earlier, Wallace warns Marco sternly about this predilection. Director Lupo does a good job of staging the International Insurance safe-cracking job. Wallace decides to pull the job in the afternoon rather than at night. He slips into the building just after it has closed and looks like just another businessman with a bag that contains his instruments. Meantime, Anna makes appropriate phone calls at the precise moments to distract the uniformed guards while our hero sets up an array of gadgets to warn him when the guards are making their rounds. He uses Mozart music to skillfully distract the 'Big Ben' alarm system. Furthermore, after he gains access to the vault room, Wallace sprinkles powder on the push-buttons that must be punched according to a sequence to raise the circular vault out of the floor. He uses the powder to determine which buttons have fingerprints on them. Pretty savvy!!! Unfortunately, the best laid plans go awry when poor Marco kills the guard. You'd think after his knock down, drag-out brawl with Miller's henchman that Marco could have beaten the guard and left him unconscious. That isn't the point. The guard must be found down and at the last moment so that it comes as a complete surprise to Wallace.
"Un uomo da rispettare" is one of those crime caper films made after the abolition of the Production Code. Earlier, Hollywood films and European films would never allow the criminals to escape with their ill-gotten gains. This would been a prescription for anarchy. Filmmakers could not make such a radical, anti-status-quo statement. The idea that 'crime could pay' would have been considered unethical! Cleverly, however, Lupo and scenarists Roberto Leoni, Franco Bucceri, Mino Roli, and Nico Ducci create suspense by letting Wallace get away with one robbery only to be nabbed for another one! After all, this is a testament to Wallace's brilliance as a safe-cracker. A handsome, well-tailored Kirk Douglas is shrewd throughout until he realizes that he has been sold out. As his immature pal, Giuliano Gemma looks like a European version of Paul Newman. He appears to be performing his own stunts in the circus scenes. The slam-bang car chase between Marco and Miller's lieutenant as a part of their feud is amusing. This isn't the kind of car chase that was usually found in Hollywood epics at the time. Surprisingly, this chase seems to have been filmed in chronological order since neither vehicle looks like it changes during the demolition.
"Un uomo da rispettare" (**1/2 out of ****) opens with marked police cars rampaging around the city while Detective Hoffman (Reinhard Kolldehoff of "Shout at the Devil") transports convicted career criminal Steve Wallace (Kirk Douglas of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") home to his wife Anna (Florinda Bolkan of "The Last Valley") after having served three years in prison. No sooner does the police car leave Wallace in front of his house than a carload of thugs cruise up. One of the ruffians informs Wallace that their boss, Miller (Wolfgang Preiss of "Raid on Rommel"), wants to talk to him. Reluctantly, Wallace accompanies them to see the well-heeled Miller in his huge office above a casino. Miller surrounds himself with an array of electronic gadgets to present his proposition for a heist with a million dollar payday. "I've got a job only you can do," he explains. "Now, listen carefully, you must knock out this alarm system. It's called 'Big Ben.' If it goes off, the whole city can hear it." Miller shows Wallace the vault on the top floor where the International Insurance Company has stored a cool million. "Now I know you can handle this safe, Steve, but Big Ben is the problem. The buzzing of a fly, a footstep, a deep breath is enough to trip the alarm." Miller pauses and then observes in an effort to entice Wallace. "Nobody has ever thought of it before." Wallace refuses flatly to pull the job for Miller. Before he worked for Miller, Wallace never encountered trouble. He wound up serving three years in prison when he did his first job for Miller. Nevertheless, Wallace tours the building and finds the edifice decked out with surveillance galore. He heads up to the top floor to snoop around but the disembodied voice of a woman interrupts him. He tells her that he has an appointment with Mr. Schmitt. The woman at a central control desk tells him that Schmitt's office is located on the second floor. Miller's rough-hewn henchman (Romano Puppo of "Death Rides A Horse") spots him leaving the building. He tries to persuade Wallace to see Miller again. Wallace refuses. While they are talking, a young man in an old jalopy, Marco (Giuliano Gemma), pulls up behind the henchman and honks at him. The two tangle in a rough and tumble fight with Marco demonstrating his agility. Miller's man brandishes a pistol. Wallace intervenes and knocks the gun out of the thug's fist.
This chance encounter serves as an opportunity for Wallace and Marco to become friends. Sadly, Wallace doesn't pay enough attention either to his unhappy wife or his new friend. Wallace convinces Anna that he can steal millions without being held accountable if he stages one robbery but takes the fall for another lesser robbery. If everything goes according to plan, Wallace calculates that--under German law--he will only land in prison for 18 months from robbing a pawn shop. Unfortunately, Marco relies too heavily on his switchblade knife. Earlier, Wallace warns Marco sternly about this predilection. Director Lupo does a good job of staging the International Insurance safe-cracking job. Wallace decides to pull the job in the afternoon rather than at night. He slips into the building just after it has closed and looks like just another businessman with a bag that contains his instruments. Meantime, Anna makes appropriate phone calls at the precise moments to distract the uniformed guards while our hero sets up an array of gadgets to warn him when the guards are making their rounds. He uses Mozart music to skillfully distract the 'Big Ben' alarm system. Furthermore, after he gains access to the vault room, Wallace sprinkles powder on the push-buttons that must be punched according to a sequence to raise the circular vault out of the floor. He uses the powder to determine which buttons have fingerprints on them. Pretty savvy!!! Unfortunately, the best laid plans go awry when poor Marco kills the guard. You'd think after his knock down, drag-out brawl with Miller's henchman that Marco could have beaten the guard and left him unconscious. That isn't the point. The guard must be found down and at the last moment so that it comes as a complete surprise to Wallace.
"Un uomo da rispettare" is one of those crime caper films made after the abolition of the Production Code. Earlier, Hollywood films and European films would never allow the criminals to escape with their ill-gotten gains. This would been a prescription for anarchy. Filmmakers could not make such a radical, anti-status-quo statement. The idea that 'crime could pay' would have been considered unethical! Cleverly, however, Lupo and scenarists Roberto Leoni, Franco Bucceri, Mino Roli, and Nico Ducci create suspense by letting Wallace get away with one robbery only to be nabbed for another one! After all, this is a testament to Wallace's brilliance as a safe-cracker. A handsome, well-tailored Kirk Douglas is shrewd throughout until he realizes that he has been sold out. As his immature pal, Giuliano Gemma looks like a European version of Paul Newman. He appears to be performing his own stunts in the circus scenes. The slam-bang car chase between Marco and Miller's lieutenant as a part of their feud is amusing. This isn't the kind of car chase that was usually found in Hollywood epics at the time. Surprisingly, this chase seems to have been filmed in chronological order since neither vehicle looks like it changes during the demolition.
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