edm-the_red

Revenge is hardly a fresh concept in film-making. This basic theme, however, here takes a backseat to the styled execution of "Out of the Furnace." Told through an all-star cast, the story unfolds slowly, but powerfully. Set in a rural, present-day America, the cinematography captures a beautiful country and glory that is seemingly fading under the weight of war and the economy. The cast skillfully fleshes out the various characters, establishing believability and giving them a rare level of depth. This makes the atmosphere tangible and arguably makes the element of human drama the actual star of the film. The entire cast is excellent and essential, however Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson absolutely steal the show. As the bad-to-the-bone "villain" of the script, Harrelson is awesomely despicable, his mere presence on the screen inciting anxiety. Alternately, Bale plays a good but troubled man, condemned to watch his life disintegrate one piece at a time. I caught the director, Scott Cooper, in an interview segment on Carson Daly. He mentioned a desire to impact and "immerse" the audience in his movies. In that regard, I would judge this effort to be an undeniable success. During certain scenes, I found myself echoing the actions and emotions depicted on screen, such as dread, liberation, uneasiness, tension, and particularly, a relieved breath of serenity. More drama than action, the tone for me was reminiscent of "The Place Beyond the Pines", another well-executed drama with a definite crime flavoring. Also, I felt that the Pearl Jam number that opens and closes the film was a perfect choice for the intended vibe, and deserves a special mention. Overall, this movie is very well done, despite lacking the glamour and flash of an action flick. As a drama, I highly recommend it to fans of the genre.

Only God Forgives... a foreboding name to match an epic, hyper-violent revenge saga set in Bangkok's criminal underworld. Actually, God is deliberately nonexistent in this movie, and this is for the best, as its characters are nearly entirely unworthy of redemption. I have recently come to appreciate Ryan Gosling, especially his recent efforts in Drive & Gangster Squad. However, his character in this movie is strangely devoid of personality. There is basically no character development, whatsoever, making the ugly twists of the plot almost laughably overbearing. The movie is brutal & extremely violent, but the violence carries no emotional weight and mostly feels unnecessary. The sexual overtones are also ugly and try too hard to be "edgy", resulting in a few unpleasantly weird scenes that cross the boundaries of good taste. As unappealing as the story is, you might find it hard to look away: the cinematography is amazing (where did they film this?) and gives the film a fevered, hypnotic vibe. I also liked the accompanying music (??karaoke?? segments aside), it enhanced the atmosphere and intensified key sequences. Arguments could be made for the abstract style of storytelling, but I personally found it too disconnected to be meaningful. Overall, there are some positive notes here, but I don't know if they are worth the grotesque elements and nonsensical plot you must stomach to enjoy them.

I'm pretty much a fan of Johnny Depp, as I usually appreciate his performance regardless of my ultimate opinion of the movie itself. Sleepy Hollow was a masterful re-envisioning of the classic story of Ichabod Crane, featuring a nice blend of mystery & horror. From Hell seemed like a natural extension of this character archetype, with a loosely-based historical inspiration, adding weight to the horrific scenarios that it depicts. With that in mind, I decided to check it out.

There are many things that are done right in this movie, number one being the atmosphere. London is gray, rainy, & dark, and its desperate citizens reflect this foreboding setting well. The women whore themselves out for an extra cent, while the men retain control through intimidation & violence. Racial tensions, corrupt officials, and secret societies complicate the picture, and the actors in their elaborate costumes capture the unrest perfectly. As the film is a work of historical fiction, it takes liberties in the portrayal of certain events/facts, but only for the purpose of increasing the dramatic potential of the plot. In fact, these little deviations in historical accuracy felt very creative, and mostly fit in with the ambiguous nature of one the most infamous unsolved mysteries.

The faults, while noticeable, are not disqualifying. The characters are played well, despite being mostly unremarkable to begin with. Depp's Inspector Abberline is likable, though his behavior is inconsistent. As an opium addict, he seems content to waste away his life in an altered state, yet jumps into action without hesitation, and utterly dedicates himself to risk life and limb tracking down a vicious serial killer & sifting through the lies that keep him so elusive. This also serves to make his relationship with Heather Graham, as the female lead, seem slightly artificial. The visionary, opium-induced haze that enables him to keep pace with the killer was an interesting touch, but wasn't utilized to its full potential, in my opinion. Also, the killer's character is not developed enough, and so comes across as "cartoonishly" scary, lacking in realism.

Ultimately, this is a tense thriller that will captivate your attention, with a unique interpretation of the Jack the Ripper mythos.