Month: February 2003

Dark Blue (2002)

Dark Blue (2002)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theaters, February 2003) Corrupt cops are a dime a dozen in movies, but we should be so lucky as to have them played by Kurt Russell! His take on a cop whose sense of justice doesn’t stop at legal technicalities is one of the best things he’s done in years. The story isn’t terribly original (the similarities of Training Day may stem from the fact that both scripts were written by the same person), but it carries itself ably up to the third act, which is brought down by a hideous coincidence, a gratuitous “big speech” ending and a lack of resonance with 1992’s L.A. riots. Dark Blue isn’t a film that’s going to be remembered a few years from now, but it’s decent enough entertainment; the type of thing you see on late-night TV and watch with a vaguely satisfying impression. There’s real fun in seeing an unorthodox police investigation produce some results and, as mentioned, seeing Kurt Russell in a meaty role for once.

The Third Option, Vince Flynn

ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

Pocket, 2000, 402 pages, C$10.99 mmpb, ISBN 0-671-04732-9

Vince Flynn’s first thriller, Term Limits, was a provocative thriller in which super-patriot terrorists began killing corrupt politicians. While the novel later settled for a very disappointing conclusion closer to what we’d call “the usual thriller”, it was an original debut from a writer with potential. Flynn once again delivered the goods with Transfer of Power, a by-the-number hostage thriller in which the White House was taken over by Middle Eastern terrorists. Despite familiar plot mechanics, it was a decent enough novel with enough dynamic energy to make it interesting.

Sadly enough, Flynn’s third outing displays none of the interest and most of the flaws of his previous efforts. It’s dull, pointless and reminiscent of the type of so-called “thrillers” churned out by Robert Ludlum in his most featureless period.

There isn’t even a decent hook to draw us in. Once again, an American secret operative is double-crossed and left for dead. Naturally enough, he’s barely wounded and vows revenge on whoever betrayed him. There are friends in high places, enemies in equivalent positions and high-level political intrigue. Our hero is forced to flee, infiltrate, attack and punish. All of which has been done before in much more interesting stories.

Worse; in The Third Option (which refers to “special” intelligence work, once diplomacy and military force are no longer practical), Flynn explicitly brings back characters from his previous two novels. Super-agent Mitch Rapp is back as the protagonist (along with his girlfriend, with predictable plot developments) and Congressman Michael O’Rourke follows up from the events of Term Limits.

The biggest problem with continuing series is that it robs the reader of a sense of unpredictability. While this is acceptable -even comforting- in some genres such as the mystery genre (see Robert B. Parker’s Spencer series), it’s not an option in the thriller genre. Here, part of the pleasure of reading is in not knowing what can happen at a very high level. The president can be assassinated; a city can be incinerated; conspiracies can be uncovered; protagonists can die. Here, the stakes become correspondingly smaller. The magnitude of the thrill is reduced by built-in constraints. Any writer tempted to write, as Flynn is doing, “a series of political thrillers” would be advised to reconsider. (This goes double for editors trying to sell this stuff.)

The Third Option‘s conclusion is a splendid example of how series can hamper the thrills; all of our protagonists survive and some of the villains are caught while the bigger villains escape to strike another day, much like in any bad cartoon made for children. Thrills? Slight. Memorable impressions? Even slighter. Worse; the novel is padded, drawing out the unsatisfying conclusion. Some of the political manoeuvring is implausible even for a guy stuck in Ottawa, a fatal blow to a so-called serious “political thriller”.

To be entirely fair, it’s impossible to know at this point what Flynn has in mind for his series. Is it all leading up to a concluding tome which will kill the whole cast and send Washington in orbit? Maybe. In the meantime, though, does it mean his readers are going to be teased at every “thrilling” instalment waiting for something to happen? Why should their pay money and waste their time for this dubious privilege?

As it stands now, The Third Option is a setback for anyone paying attention to Flynn’s career. He’s not a terribly gifted writer on a technical level, so the success of his books tends to depend a lot on the plotting. Consequently, he can’t manage to hold any interest in a very average third novel. Worse; chances are that he’s managed to make anyone very indifferent to the prospect of a fourth one.

Daredevil (2003)

Daredevil (2003)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theaters, February 2003) Marvel Comics’ recent run of decent movie adaptations continues, though Daredevil isn’t much more than decent. The problem isn’t to be found in the built-by-numbers story or the lead cast: While Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Michael Clarke Duncan are a touch bland but okay, Colin Farrell steals the show with one of the most delightfully over-the-top villains in recent history. Nope, the problems are concentrated in the choppy editing, the nervous direction and the lack of oomph. Resemblances are easy to see with Spider-Man, up to a point where it’s possible to worry that comic superheroes movies will all pretty much have the same trauma/story setup. Still, this is darker than usual, though the film chickens out near the end when comes the time to seal some characters’ fate. I was very disappointed at some of the so-called action sequences, which were often over-edited in a choppy mess. (The bar fight is a prime example of this). Some of the operational details of Daredevil’s lifestyle are also sadly unexamined, though some of it may be left in the rumoured 25 minutes of cut footage. What can’t be fixed though more footage, though, is the soundtrack which is already dated “Summer 2002” by its overuse of RIAA-approved rock bands cloned from Creed genes. Still, I’m not complaining too much; as comic book movies go, this is still one of the good ones, and even if it’s lacking, it’s not completely awful. It’ll do.

Cradle 2 The Grave (2003)

Cradle 2 The Grave (2003)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theaters, February 2003) Well, that was fun. Some will argue that the best part of the film is the opening heist sequence. I’ll disagree in a moment, but said lightning-fast sequence certainly sets the breakneck rhythm of the film. The result may be moronic beyond measure, but at least it moves quickly enough that you won’t have time to reflect on the problems until after the film is over. (Thanks to a funny sequence that plays over the credits, that means that the moment of reckoning takes place after all is done.) The biggest strength of Cradle 2 The Grave (don’t look for a relation between this title and the film) is how it doesn’t solely depends on Jet Li and DMX as the protagonists, but assigns a lot of time to a bunch of highly amusing sidekicks. There are a few good action sequences, the best of which involves a chase between police cars and an All-Terrain Vehicle: it’s a lot more fun than you’d think it would be. Alas, this chase is better than the scattered ending, which gracelessly cuts between three or four underwhelming action sequences. Overall, Cradle 2 The Grave is a fun little action film, probably the best American film Jet Li has been in (it is not, however, Jet Li’s best performance in a stateside movie given the lack of material he’s got to work with here.) Gabrielle Union fans will be pleased to note that she not only turns in a fine performance here, but she also does a strip-tease. As if you needed any other reason to see the film…

25th Hour (2002)

25th Hour (2002)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theaters, February 2003) Spike Lee detractors might be pleasantly surprised with this film, a low-key drama that feels like his least militant, yet most mature work to date. Actor demi-god Edward Norton stars as a convicted drug dealer spending one last day of freedom before heading to prison for seven years. Naturally, several plot lines come together during that last day as he says good-bye to family, friends and, er, “business acquaintances”. The rhythm is tepid, but handled nicely; there’s seldom a dull moment. It all builds to a strong conclusion, but a few set-pieces overshadow the narrative arc: an uninterrupted conversation over the wreckage of Ground Zero; a joyfully incorrect sequence in which Norton swears at New York’s population; a last-minute fantasy that threatens to cheapen the whole film. But it all holds together in an intriguing drama. Part of it we’ve seen before (Philip Seymour Hoffman’s arc is duller than his character), but most of it is intriguingly new; how do you say goodbye for seven years, maybe forever? The cast is up to the subtlety of the material, with particular kudos to Barry Pepper as a friend whose tough-love rhetoric hides profound guilt. (Also, Rosario Dawson has seldom looked better.) This is the first film to confront the post-World Trade Center New York City, and if some shots feel gratuitous, at least it hasn’t shirked away from the challenge. All and all, it’s a solid film, worth a look without being spectacular.

Tomorrow Now, Bruce Sterling

ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

Random House, 2002, 320 pages, C$37.95 hc, ISBN 0-679-46322-4

Anyone who’s been following Science Fiction over the last decade knows that Bruce Sterling is The Man. Since 1992, he has produced an impressive series of solid, cosmopolitan, cutting-edge stories. He writes with a degree of originality and complexity that is seldom seen amongst his contemporaries. At a time when SF is massively retreating back on its past glories, Sterling dares to look in our current future and write delightfully energetic Science-Fiction. He’s one of the best, if not the best SF writer today.

His latest non-fiction book, Tomorrow Now is a reflection of the abilities that have propelled him to the top. Sterling has grown up, and this book demonstrates it. Billed as “envisioning the next fifty years”, this book is more akin to a wide-ranging lecture on a variety of subject.

It’s loosely structured around Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” (as outlined in As You Like It) First on the list is “The Infant”, along with a discussion of the possibilities of biotechnology. Standard futurist stuff, though with an emphasis on the disturbingly sceptic feel these innovations will take. The rest of the book is as much about now as it is about tomorrow. “The Student” looks at today’s innovation in education through the Internet while “The Lover” examines technology made “lovable” through personalization. In both cases, Sterling isn’t predictive as much as he studies what is happening today.

This impression strengthens in Chapter 4, “The Soldier”, as it reads like a Wired article describing the careers of three unorthodox military leaders. The portrait is fascinating; chances are that even though all three have lived and fought during the 1990s, you’ve never heard their names. And yet, taken together, these three show the way towards a future type of warfare. “The Soldier” may be the book’s most interesting chapter. It clearly shows where Sterling got his ideas for his previous novel Zeitgeist, uncovers a facet of recent history few of us even know about and manages to spin it in a blueprint for the next few decades.

But Sterling also stretches his scope outside simple prediction. In “The Justice”, he discusses the growing complacency of government and becomes a political theorist. In “The Pantaloon”, he tackles economic matters and mentions his invitation to the Davos World Economic Forum with a proper degree of humility. (“If I were to cut and paste my latest 1040 tax form onto the page here, it would be far worse and more shocking that posting nude pics of myself on the Internet.” [P.216]) Finally, in “Mere Oblivion”, he muses on the environment and the dangers of global warming.

All in all, it’s fantastic reading even if he doesn’t always deliver on what we may expect from a “book of predictions.” Tomorrow Now may meander and end up being too short, but there’s no denying that it’s a new-thought-a-minute, two-quotes-a-page peek in the mind of a genius.

The only thing that really annoyed me about Tomorrow Now is the physical object itself. Published as a stunted hardcover scarcely bigger than a regular paperback, Tomorrow Now‘s presentation feels a lot like an attempt to camouflage a short book as something worth 40$. Granted, the calibre of the ideas contained therein is certainly a cut above the usual hardcover, but it still doesn’t make up for the perceived loss in value. I’m still glad I sent some money in Sterling’s pocket, but readers without my generous book-buying budget may want to borrow this one at the library… or wait for the paperback edition. I also hated the translucent cover and the title-less design of the dust jacket… but that’s just me.

Despite the above caveat, I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest that this is a book that deserves to be read. Despite the often-frustrating rambling and dodgy structure, there is a lot of material here for Sterling fans, think-tanks, techno-geeks, SF writers and anyone else interested in what a fun guy like Sterling may have in mind. As he points out, “you don’t want a free author in your house” [P.230] but Tomorrow Now is the next best thing. Fans of the authors are free to ponder one thing: much as his previous non-fiction book The Hacker Crackdown marked a significant shift in his fiction, what will happen after Tomorrow Now?