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Dan Owen reviews
P a r t T h r e e
Thunderbirds certainly weren’t go at the box office. A live-action movieof the classic 60’s puppet TV series has been awaited by decades, and when itarrived courtesy of an American director… the result wasn’t good. Despite anote-perfect Sophia Miles as Lady Penelope, the Spy Kids influenced projectwas mired by a woeful script, bad casting and iffy special effects. Adisastrous “assault” on the US box office hammered the final nail in the FABcoffin. Oh, as did the Busted revamp of the theme tune!
Hellboy, a superhero movie based on a relatively obscure comic, flounderedworldwide but gained some success in the US. Guillermo Del Toro directed theexcellent Ron Perlman as a red-skinned demon who now works for the USgovernment hunting down occult monsters. Hellboy was definitely different andblessed with good production design and a strong emphasis on its centralcharacters. Sadly, though, it all rang a little hollow.
Tom Cruise turned bad in Collateral as a hitman being driven around LosAngeles by Jamie Foxx’s cab driver. Michael Mann always directs with incrediblevision and ensures this drive into the dark side of L.A life was rivetingentertainment with some marvellous acting – particularly from Foxx.
Halle Berry may be an Oscar winner, but her win has quickly turned into acurse if Gothika and now Catwoman is anything to go by. Berryplays the titular superheroine, in an appallingly silly cat-suit. Sharon Stoneplayed the villainess in this camp and downright stupid exercise in how not tomake a comic-book movie.
Sky Captain & The World Of Tomorrow perplexed movie-goers and becameone of the year’s biggest disappointments. The movie was filmed entirely inblue-screen, in case you didn’t know. Unfortunately, that’s all anyone seemedto know about the movie thanks to duff marketing that put the effects-workbefore the characters and plot. Sadly, the characters are fairly wooden andthe plot is one long cliché. There is style and production polish occasionally,but this is one B-movie adventure they don’t make any more for a reason!
Finding Neverland was a “serious movie” that found success and willhopefully win a few Academy Awards next year, with Johnny Depp playing PeterPan author J.M Barrie alongside Kate Winslett. A beautiful and well-actedbiography of a somewhat overlooked talent and with a phenomenal turn fromchild-actor Freddie Highmore (now taking the title role in Charlie & The ChocolateFactory, alongside Depp!)
Alien Vs Predatorwas widely despised before its release – thanks to the presence of rent-a-hackPaul W.S Anderson behind the camera – AVP is a cynical marketing ploy to pullin fans of the Alien and Predator franchises. The fact it works is down todeep-seated love for the sci-fi monsters on display here, although AVP isnever half as bad as you’re probably expecting. There’s enough low-brow funand violent fisticuffs to keep most people happy, just don’t expect anythingequalling James Cameron’sAliens.
There are always movies with “bad productions” and The Exorcist: The Beginningis perhaps the new daddy of them all.Taxi Driver.screenwriter Paul Schader completed the prequel to the 70’s classic and wastold it just wasn’t scary enough and the studio canned it entirely. Amazingly,they then hired Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2) to recast and reshoot the movie withmore blood and shocks. The result? A mess of a movie with barely a redeemablefeature and another cynical parasite of William Friedkin’s masterful original.
The Grudge amazed many people when it did great business worldwide,starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as a nanny living in Japan who discovers asinister building cursed by bitter ghosts. This remake by the original’sJapanese director was hardly original, and did lift some elements from The Ring,but it’s hard to deny it’s a genuinely affecting horror with plenty of scaresand a few masterly moments of menace.
Following Pixar’s Finding Nemo, Dreamworks also dived into the fishy world ofanimation for their altogether more “hip” movie Shark Tale. Featuringthe vocal talents of Will Smith, Jack Black, Robert DeNiro, Angelina Jolie andMartin Scorsese, the movie was expected to be a huge success. It was commercially,but failed critically. After Dreamworks’ success with the Shrek movies,Shark Tale should make the studio realize that Pixar’s devotion to decentcharacters and lack of product placement (Coral Cola?) is a vital part of thegame.
Not content with Hero, the same director also bettered that movie a mere fewmonths later with House Of Flying Daggers. It’s another sumptuous wonderof creativity and retina-jazzing production design. Quite simply a masterfulexperience from an expert director in his field – this really does put Westernaction movies to shame.
Bridget Jones returned in The Edge Of Reason, again starring the excellentRenee Zellweger and Hugh Grant. For many this was a mildly entertaining sequel,although it’s painfully obvious it’s treading water much of the time andresembles a remake of its own predecessor more than anything else. Disappointingbut entertaining fluff.
Showing Dreamworks how it’s done, Brad Bird (The Iron Giant) teamed up withCGI powerhouse Pixar to bring The Incredibles to life. It was the storyof a family of outlawed superheroes now hiding in suburban America and keepingtheir superpowers under wraps… until a dastardly villain lures The Incrediblesback into action. Wonderful animation, gorgeous scenery, excellent characterisation,punchy music, great jokes and an engaging story – everything we’ve come toexpect from Pixar. The only downside is that one day, when they do make astinker, it’s really going to be a fall from a massive height!
Director Robert Zemeckis pushed the boundaries of special-effects withseasonal Christmas family adventure The Polar Express. This was acomputer animation where every character was motion-captured by real actors togive a startlingly realistic “painterly” look to the animation. Think Gollummeets Van Gogh! Starring Tom Hanks in a variety of roles (including SantaClaus himself) The Polar Express became a modest hit with a great deal oftechnical brilliance, but was altogether a little too saccharine and flimsyto be a true blockbuster.
Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2004.
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2004 Retrospective – Part 2 – 2004 Retrospective – Part 4
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.