Edge of Darkness

First Hit: This was a surprisingly good film.

Granted I went into the film thinking this film would be an updated cross between Lethal Weapon and Payback but it was more than this.

Mel Gibson plays Thomas Craven a detective in the Boston Police department who becomes a man with nothing to lose in finding out who and why his daughter Emma (played by Bojana Novakovic) was savagely killed by a shotgun blast when they were walking out the front door of his house.

His daughter had unexpectedly returned home for a visit and it is clear that she is troubled. She is also very sick. In a bout of coughing and spitting up they decide to go to the doctor. As they head out the front door she is blasted by an assassin.

Initially, everyone on the police force thinks that Thomas was the target. However, Thomas thinks different and starts out to find out who killed his daughter and why.

The story heads into intrigue with government agencies, a US Senator, a large private corporation where his daughter worked, a private security company, and an anti-nuclear armament activist group. For an action film, this film is well crafted.

The story line is strong with not a lot of obvious holes, the dialogue is good and the overall direction and scenes are, at times, shockingly strong.

Gibson is very strong and believable as a father with nothing to lose as he makes in-roads towards finding his daughter’s killers. Ray Winstone is great as a mediator of sorts; he’s the guy you call if you don’t want someone to track a story from A to B. The script is not spectacular but it is solid and the direction is very good as this film keeps the audience’s attention and anticipatory.

Overall: This is a very entertaining and well done film.

Fish Tank

First Hit: This film was disturbingly good.

Katie Jarvis plays Mia a 15 year old girl who has an easily accessible temper. Just about anything sets her off and she doesn’t back down from anything.

This is set up well at the beginning of the film when a girl asks her why Mia is watching her and her friends dance, Mia walks up and head butts her. She and her younger sister are being brought up by a single mother who would rather drink, party and sleep with men than be a parent.

What is being modeled to these two kids has nothing to do with being responsible or following any rules. The Essex housing complex they live in, is home to the lower working class and families living on the dole.

This is a tough neighborhood and Mia is alone and a loner. Besides her quick temper, Mia shows a level of compassion which is displayed towards an old horse which is chained up to a cement block. She attempts to free the horse but gets caught buy some young men who physically push her around and threaten her.

Her mother Joanne (played by Kierston Wareing) brings home a new boyfriend named Connor (played by Michael Fassbender) who honestly likes the girls and tries to make good in his relationships with each of them. Mia’s escape from her life is dancing. She hip-hop dances in an abandoned room to mostly rap songs. Her dancing is the only thing that she finds any peace and solace. By reading an paper advertisement, she decides to become a professional dancer by entering a video for an audition.

Meanwhile, Connor moves in and life is a better for both the girls for a while, but as time goes on, complications arise. Mia’s angst towards Connor drives her to make some poor decisions which lead to her deciding to start a new life with a boy she hardly knows.

Jarvis is effective and believable as Mia. Although her decisions were very questionable, I thought she made the character and decisions very believable. Fassbender was also very good and brought a level of compassion and inappropriate behavior to his character. Wareing was also good as a mother who is extremely selfish and only cared about herself and not her children.

Overall: This is a strong film although the subject matter isn’t necessarily pleasant to watch.

Extraordinary Measures

First Hit: Although based on a true story, I found it hard to connect to because much of it seemed staged.

Harrison Ford plays an ornery self-absorbed scientist, named Dr. Stonehill, who is looking for a way to create a treatment for Pompe disease.

This disease is about muscle degeneration and the kids who are born with it usually die by age 9. John Crowley and Aileen Crowley (played by Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell respectively) play the real life parents of three children, two of which have the disease.

The two children Megan (played by Meredith Droeger) and Patrick (played by Diego Velazquez) are bed and wheelchair bound. After a scare, where Megan almost dies, John walks out of a business meeting and heads to Nebraska to meet Dr. Stonehill. When he finds him, he discovers that he is very opinionated, headstrong, underfunded and underappreciated in the research work he is doing.

John believes in the work the Dr. is doing and starts a fund and then a company to find a cure for his children. However, Dr. Stonehill is as difficult to work with as he is ornery and to make their dream come true there are numerous trials and tribulations they must work through.

Ford is effective as Stonehill. He plays self absorbed and ornery very well and was very convincing as a scientist who has done a lot of theoretical work but has never brought a drug to market. Fraser was OK but I never found him believable in the role, except as a loving father. Russell was underutilized in this role. I don’t think Tom Vaughan (Director) let the story speak for itself. I kept feeling that emotional scenes were too set-up with music and dialogue instead of letting the story carry the emotion and the scene.

Overall: It is a good story adequately told.

The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)

First Hit: Although long and a bit tedious, it is a powerful view of German culture leading up to WW I.

The symptoms and expressions of WWI and WWII are well documented in films.

However, there are few, if any, films attempting to identify why Germans were susceptible for becoming primary instigators of both these world wars.

This film takes an earnest stab at identifying the cause and effect of how children were raised and educated in a small German village.. The story is narrated by the village’s school teacher who recalls a look back at many unresolved incidents in the village.

His voice gives us the impression that he is now a much older man. He speaks of remembering what he thought was the initial incident; when the town doctor, riding back from his usual equestrian riding lesson, is thrown from his horse. The horse had tripped on a wire strung between two trees on his riding path. The fall causes him to suffer a broken shoulder and arm.

The Baron of the town’s land pushes the town's folk for a strong harvest. As tradition has it, he must share what they harvest from his land but some people think the Barron is too stingy and destroys the Barron’s cabbage patch. In another scene a barn is burned to the ground.

In another scene a father is killed, followed by the torture of young boys and there is also child molestation. All this festers in the town shielded by righteousness. Additionally, children are disciplined at home in cruel and harsh manners. Discipline, order, and blind obedience to the adults and people in authority is the order of the day.

The Baron, personally affected by the incidents, funds finding the culprits. With no luck, he calls in the police from nearest town. The answers aren’t forthcoming until one day, the young retarded boy of the town midwife tells his mother who the culprits are.

She isn’t heard from again. At the same time the teacher, and narrator of the story, figures out the answer as well.

Michael Haneke created tension and wonder throughout the film. At times I thought he stayed with scenes too long but, taken as a totality, this was a very strong and powerful film.

Overall: This film was thought provoking, insightful and strongly captured an idea and concept as to why the German people were susceptible to being strongly involved in the two world wars of the last century.

The Book of Eli

First Hit: This film was well made, well executed and very well acted.

The world has almost come to an end. Thirty years earlier, a flash of light was all anyone saw before it killed most of the people in the US (we assume the rest of the world as well). There are a few people who lived through the flash and they are now the elders.

Because it destroyed most everyone and everything, there are no schools, water is the most valuable commodity, and people are surviving anyway they can. Theft and brute force go along way towards obtaining what people want. There are few towns and one is controlled by Carnegie (played by Gary Oldman).

Oldman sends his henchmen out to find and collect all books. In particular he is looking for a specific book. This book, he believes, will give him the words to rule others, just like before the flash. The problem is that all copies of this book were either buried or burned.

Eli (played by Denzel Washington) possesses this book and is on a mission to deliver it out west. Voices told him he would know where to go and that he would be protected on his journey. Eli travels alone and wins all battles against the thieves and killers who want his water, food or book.

Eli happens into the town ruled by Carnegie who learns that Eli has the book he wants. Carnegie offers Eli everything to turn over the book and Eli responds that he knows when and whom to turn the book over to and Carnegie isn’t it.

The remaining part of the film is about Eli’s struggle to deliver the book to the intended audience.

Washington is perfect in this part. He is wise and smart enough to stay out of trouble while being agile and physically strong enough to handle the thugs who don't heed his warning. Washington’s intelligence and ability to keep the tone of the film from falling into scenes of good guy versus bad guy fights is faultless. Oldman as Carnegie is a stroke of brilliant casting. He commands presence during his scenes and keeps his role believable. As leader of the town, he is cognizant that leadership is always on a razors edge and he knows it, that’s why he wants the book. Albert and Allen Hughes directed this film with a wonderful touch. The scenes are not overly produced and complicated; they are direct without a lot of waste. The landscape represents just enough destruction and emptiness to provide the right backdrop to the world as it might be after we attempt to blow ourselves up.

Overall: This is an effectively done story and is definitely worth a watch.