Kim’s Movie Picks

I have to admit I entered the movie theatre to see Episode III with much nostalgia…when my husband and I first saw Star Wars we were dating…now we have been married close to 25 years and have watched George Lucas, and these Star Wars movies, come full circle.

It has been an amazing journey for Lucas, re-inventing the movie serials he enjoyed as a youngster and in the process, re-inventing how movies themselves are made. His Industrial Light and Magic studio is the world’s epicenter of movie special effects and Lucas was instrumental in championing the use of digital film making techniques, long before other major studios would take a chance on the newer technology. These films aside, what greater gift could any film maker leave behind than to improve the industry in which he participated? 

And so I didn’t exactly come to this film with an unbiased eye – and so I confess it here in this review. Yes, I even liked Episodes I and II – despite all the flaws in both those films, they continued the story of characters I loved. I would have watched them in the driving rain.

Episode III, directed and written by Lucas, has more thrills for die-hard fans. Whether it will equally thrill someone new to this genre is not clear to me. Because it wasn’t the battles and the special effects that gave me the most thrills, it was all the pieces to the plot puzzle that finally fell into place. As usual, the special effects were spectacular. And there were some plot surprises — and not all of them small. But this is a tough film in which to be surprised, as we all know this film’s ‘ending’ – we’ve known it since the first Star Wars movie, which began in the middle of this story arch.  Darth Vadar is a villain, an instrument of the Dark Side, an apprentice to the Emperor and the Evil Empire.

But there are good villains and bad villains, and we rejoice that Anakin Skywalker, former Jedi and father of Luke and Leia Skywalker, is both. We try to overlook the really bad writing that gives truly insipid love lines to poor, stoic Natalie Portman, who plays Senator Padme Amidala and Anakin’s secret wife. And we try not to notice that Hayden Christensen’s character acting consists of long, tortured glares and equally long, strident walking. On the plus side, Yoda gets to kick butt again, and actor Jimmy Smits (playing Senator Bail Organa) finally gets more than one line and is revealed as a pivotal character in the saga.

Bottom line: there is much glory in the passing of these characters, and in the closure of this plot circle. Love it or leave it, Star Wars created a separate, new, and yet familiar, world and a separate, and very lucrative, film franchise. Take your pick; in ‘our’ world, both milestones have merit.

Three out of four stars.  Satisfying fare for true fans.  Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images.  Okay for anyone over age 9.

Kingdom of Heaven, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings trilogy; Pirates of the
Caribbean), Liam Neeson, Jeremy Iron, Ed Norton, and Eva Green, is a marvelous spectacle of modern film-making.

Unfortunately Bloom’s portrayal of Balian, former blacksmith, and newly acknowledged son of Lord Gregory (Neeson), is so passionless that you are left with nothing much beyond that spectacle.

There are gloriously choreographed battles, stunning sets of knights and ladies, bazaars filled with the noise and colors we come to expect from Hollywood’s interpretation of the East – but between Scott’s flat direction and Orlando’s equally two-dimensional characterization of the ‘best of all Knights..” we are left with a hollow Faberge-egg of a movie.  All gilt and glory outside, but no filling inside at all.

Orlando plays Balian as stoic and pure, while all around him people plot, murder, torture and die.  He hardly breaks a sweat, even in gory battle, and appears to keep all his feelings buried so deep inside that we are left to guess what he is thinking – and then we realize that even if we knew, we didn’t care. 

Two out of four stars, mostly for the pageantry. Historians should stay away, some things in this film will just keep you awake nights. There are some bright spots: Ed Norton’s portrayal of leprous King Baldwin is touching, but, unfortunately, the role is fleeting…and Liam Neeson’s performance is also solid, but then he is gone from the plot too soon, leaving Orlando to carry the day and the movie…to no avail.

Note to Star Trek fans: catch dashing actor Alexander Siddig (who played Dr. Julian Bashir, on ST: Deep Space Nine), in this film. He plays Nasir, a pivotal character from whom Balian (and Orlando) should have learned more.

The Interpreter, directed by Sydney Pollack, and starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, is a solid thriller with uneven performances.

Nicole Kidman is intriguing in the starring role, as an interpreter at the United Nations who claims to have overheard an assassination plot against a visiting South African dignitary.  Sean Penn plays the federal agent assigned to either (a) keep her alive, or (b) ascertain if she is telling the truth. For Kidman’s character is also South African and may possibly have a motive for setting these events in motion – or is she just an innocent, and coincidental, pawn? 

Pollack, once again, makes a Hitchcock-homage appearance in a movie he directs, playing a minor character, while Penn tries, somewhat woodenly, to add some torment to his role as an agent plagued by his own self-doubts in the face of a recent personal tragedy.  His recent loss should have made him connect more to Kidman’s character, but I wasn’t buying it. Too much was left unsaid between these two characters. The chemistry, the fragile trust, was almost there, but to me Penn’s performance was more of a near miss. 

Two stars out of four. Solid entertainment with a few, intriguing plot twists. Rated PG-13 for stark and brutal violence, some sexual content and brief strong language.