Well, this weekend I sat down and decided to watch a couple of films for pleasure instead.
Ant-Man
With all the super seriousness of most superhero movies these days, it's nice when one decides to try for harmless fun instead. Ant-Man does this and succeeds, coming up with a movie that isn't ground breaking but is an enjoyable romp. It's a popcorn movie, but a fun one, even when it starts to delve into the rest of the ongoing Marvel movie universe.
That said, because of that lighthearted spirit, I found myself laughing at the ridiculousness of its heavier emotional moments. Hank Pym's recounting of the loss of his wife? I admit it, I spent the whole scene waiting for a punchline. Everything is just a bit too goofy, including Corey Stoll's over the top self-absorbed bad guy, to make this film find any sort of emotional resonance. What it does do right is its humor, particularly with Michael Peña. I have been a fan of Peña for a while, and he never fails to impress regardless of dramatic or comedic roles.
Like I said, Ant-Man is a popcorn movie. But it makes for a nice contrast compared to all of the other superhero movies we're getting these days. I really hope we don't eventually miss out on these little heroes getting mixed in with the big ones.
Hardcore Henry
This action movie is gory, violent, adventurous, at times humorous, and more than a little strange. It's an experiment that works in some aspects but also has the potential for making the audience violently ill, so your enjoyment may hinge solely on that aspect. I had a blast with how ridiculously exaggerated it was in its presentation, but as someone who has been forced to take a critical eye and notice little details due to work, some of the rapid cuts and motion blur got to me in a couple of places. Still, I never puked in my popcorn, though I've heard that's been an issue.
Hardcore Henry is an action film done entirely in first person view from the perspective of a cyborg with no memory of his previous life. All Henry knows is that he's alive, his wife is under attack, and he must escape or fight back against a strange telekinetic man named Akan. While this plot is further expanded upon, there are a lot of questions never answered. Admittedly, I don't think they need to be. Instead, this is about the ride, and about realizing what it looks like when our first person shooters get translated accurately into film, because that's pretty much what this is. It's very much reminiscent of a video game, with all the logic leaps and problems that occur in the medium.
In the meantime, we get mayhem. People get killed in this movie. Not nicely shot, but blown apart, stabbed, slaughtered, and destroyed. Heads get blown open, chest cavities torn apart, people burned to a crisp and dumped or ripped apart by shrapnel. By the end, our voiceless protagonist is caked in blood and barely working himself, but he's shredded more than his fair share of people into ribbons. It's not quite Riki-Oh in terms of ridiculousness, but...oh, who am I kidding? It's very much Riki-Oh in terms of ridiculousness at times. There's more gore than a GWAR concert. It's also almost nonstop action, so if you can stomach it, this is pure gold.
Oh, speaking of those details I notice...when Henry breaks into an apartment by climbing through the window, one of the posters on the wall is for a little movie called Lady in the Lake, a classic film noir from 1947 that was the first film done entirely in first person. I'm glad Hardcore Henry knows its history.
