CLIMAX

Sofia Boutella

     Please deliver me from such absurdity as this movie.  It starts out not too bad, with dancers responding to interviewers’ questions about their thoughts, feelings, and dreams.  Some come across as very young and inexperienced, but some are thoughtful and humorous in their responses.  Other than their all being young, it’s a diverse group with a wide range of values and points of view, setting the stage for what will come later.

     But first, some 20 or so dancers engage in a spirited dance that shows off their talents and is enjoyable to watch until their moves tend to get repetitive and the scene becomes tiresome.  It is strenuous effort, so afterwards the spent cavorters get to have a party. Refreshments have been set up, and one dancer expresses her pride in offering sangria, implying that it’s a special treat.  She seems not to know—as does no one else, apparently, except for one—that it has been laced with LSD.  

     One of things human beings can do for a power trip is to drug another person without their knowledge or consent.  That is what happens here, and much time is spent in trying to figure out who the culprit is.  Needless to say, accusations fly right and left, some escalating into physical fights.  It's very sad, especially when you remember that some of the dancers  have no experience with drugs.

     Of the many distortions in the plot, one of the most egregious is the mischaracterization of the effects of LSD, which is still being used therapeutically under the proper conditions.  But even under “normal conditions”, the mind-altering experience is usually pleasurable, even though some people can have negative reactions.  The distortion in this movie is that just about everyone has a bad trip—none of Timothy Leary’s “tune in, turn on, and drop out”.  I kept wishing that everyone would just go to bed.  Instead, they keep hanging around one another engaging in gossip and personal fantasies, becoming more and more paranoid.

     Of course, it could be that in writer/director Gaspar Noe’s fantasy everyone got huge doses, and that accounts for bizarre behaviors.  But I seriously doubt that a group of people would go bonkers like these people do; i.e., peeing in the middle of the floor, a character kicking a pregnant woman in the stomach, another pushing a woman into a candle that lights her clothes on fire, etc.  Absolute mayhem ensues.  Much of the time is spent in characters trying to push others away.  

     To make matters worse—and even more uncomfortable for the viewer—a child on the premises, awakens after his mother put him to bed and tries to join the party.  His not-the-best mother locks him in a room to keep him “safe”, whereupon he yells and screams during most of the rest of the evening, adding to the din of the loud ear-grating music.

     This film has no redeeming value in the slightest.

For the sake of all your five senses, avoid Gaspar Noe’s Climax.

Grade:  F                                    By Donna R. Copeland

HOTEL ARTEMIS

Jodie Foster     Sterling K. Brown    Sofia Boutella     Jeff Goldblum

Jenny Slate     Dave Bautista     Charlie Day     Brian Tyree Henry

     There is no honor among thieves—true most of the time.  But that adage is disproven now and again in Hotel Artemis.  The hotel was created as a gesture of honor years before 2028 when this story takes place, one among many interesting twists in the narrative about a kind of hospital for wounded criminals, administered by The Nurse (Foster). Riots about the shortages of water are flaming in Los Angeles, which makes the hospital very busy.  But a few clear-cut rules have been designed to establish order, e.g., only paid members admitted, no cops admitted, no weapons allowed, no serial killers or pedophiles admitted, no real names used, etc.  Each person is called by the name of his/her room, e.g., Waikiki, Honolulu, Acapulco, Nice. (One of the clever little features that elicits a smile from us.)  Nurse runs a tight ship aided by her trusted Everest (Bautista), who towers above everyone else, is completely devoted to his job and to Nurse, and is handy in managing the electrical generators and being a bouncer when called upon.    

     On a particular Wednesday night during the riots, only one room is vacant when Nurse is handed a dilemma that will cause her to break one of her own rules, and coincidentally, other infractions happen for various reasons, and then suddenly a call comes from the owner of the establishment needing to be admitted. This happens to be Wolf King (Goldblum), crime boss of the city.  Beyond the main events, sub-plots are interwoven involving activist Waikiki (Brown) and his brother Honolulu (Henry), the assassin Nice (Boutella) and her fluctuating relationships with Waikiki and Acapulco (Day), a loud-mouth American full of bluster and entitlement, and a mysterious patient (Morgan) with a significant past connection to Nurse.

     Drew Pearce, writer/director, and his team have produced an unusual take on a crime story with elements of mystery, suspense, and intrigue; colorful but entirely believable, complicated characters (the most complex being Foster’s “Nurse”); Cliff Martinez’s expressive score; Chung-Hoon Chung’s guiding cinematography; and all the others involved in making the film a work of art.  And we must not omit the many, many modes of humor and plain laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled in here and there. Quotable quotes run rife. “You work with what you got; not what you hoped for.”  [My dad] lives in Florida; life took him out already.”  “They bought your death; don’t give them your dignity for free.”  And finally, “Getting out is always tougher than getting in.”

     This is likely to be another star in Jodie Foster’s star-studded acting crown, easily measuring up to a host of award-winning performances in Silence of the Lambs, The Accused, Taxi Driver, and Contact—just to name a few.  It was personally gratifying to see her physical appearance reflecting her life of grief and servitude rather than her being “prettied up.”  Gray-haired and wrinkled, and relying on inspirational tapes to manage her anxiety, asthma, and other maladies, Foster delivers on-point perfection in giving us an in-depth look at her character with a significant past.

     Also notable are Sofia Boutella (always mesmerizing), Sterling K. Brown as an honorable “criminal” loyal to his brother to a fault, Dave Bautista as a bouncer with a heart, Charlie Day as an American stereotype who talks too loudly and too much, and Jeff Goldblum as an astute crime boss who’s disappointed in his youngest son for being too soft.

Hotel Artemis:  A place like you’ve never seen before, with goings on that thrill, chill, pull the strings of your heart, and make you chuckle.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE MUMMY

Tom Cruise   Russell Crowe   Annabelle Wallis   Sofia Boutella   Jake Johnson   Courtney B. Vance

     The Mummy is another showcase for Tom Cruise to dominate the action by performing impossible feats, bare his physique, and rescue a beautiful woman, usually blonde.  Here, the story in the beginning casts him as Nick Morton, a soldier supposedly on a reconnaissance mission getting distracted from his duties in the interest of stealing antiquities and selling them on the black market.  Far from being an admirable fellow, he is a thief, having stolen, in addition to artifacts, an archeological map to reach a Mesopotamian (now Iraqi) site that holds antiquities he can sell.  When he ends up having to be rescued by his commanding officer, Col. Greenway (Vance), he lies without blinking an eye. 

     Accompanying Greenway is archeologist Jenny Halsey (Wallis), who is keenly interested in the site (guess where Nick got the map), and insists on exploring it after a bomb made a huge pit exposing valuable artifacts from Egypt (most unusual) in a tomb far from Egypt’s borders.  Greenway sends Nick and his sidekick Vail (Johnson) down into the pit with her—presumably for protection—and gives them only a limited amount of time.  Nick and Chris are like two boys in a candy story trying to nick (pun intended) every bauble they can grab.  Appropriately, Jenny scolds them, but a far more threatening force has been unleashed by the violation of the tomb.  They have unearthed (thanks to Nick’s careless use of his gun) a sculpture of a god that was not meant to be disturbed.

     As background, we are told about an ancient Egyptian ruler named Ahmanet, who made a deal with the god of death, Set, when her father bore a son who would eventually usurp Ahmanet’s reign.  She is punished and mummified for killing her father and his son, but by disturbing the site in the way he did, Nick is now cursed.  The mummy of Ahmanet has risen and has decided that he is her “chosen one”, Set, so she tries to persuade him to join her in death to be a god.  He is not very tempted, but she is able to “get into his head” in a way that propels him to go in directions he does not intend.  It is only through sheer will that he is able to thwart her.

     It turns out that Jenny the archeologist works with a Dr. Jekyll (Crowe) in London, who has grandiose plans of his own.  Nick ends up there when Jenny realizes that he has been cursed, and she wants him to see a doctor.  Here, Nick learns that Dr. Jekyll has actually captured Ahmanet as part of his plan and she is in chains.

     Interspersed in all this are mummies turning into zombies, endless struggles by Nick and Jenny to break free (he’s now become, magically, a more honorable figure) of the curse, with Ahmanet pursuing them relentlessly, seeming to have superhuman powers.  The film ends with a clear-cut set-up for sequels.

     The best part of this film is watching Ahmanet, who is fascinating to look at, eerie and forceful in her actions, and relishing her evilness.  She is abhorrent and beautiful in a surrealistic way, and about the only creative force in the film.  Cruise plays his usual role; Annabelle Wallis is competent in rendering what she is given by the script, and Jake Johnson plays as well as he can his completely irritating character Vail, who is transformed into a zombie.  Russell Crowe can certainly play conniving baddies, but the script he is given here makes his character neither convincing nor understandable because his “plan” is not well articulated. 

     Although there was a low-key applause at the screening I attended, it is doubtful this film will catch the fire that the studio and filmmakers hope for.  It’s no longer interesting to see unending fights, despite the hope for CG effects to elevate them. 

This is an uninspired attempt to revive The Mummy franchise.

Grade:  D+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

ATOMIC BLONDE

Charlize Theron     James McAvoy     Sofia Boutella      John Goodman     Toby Jones     Eddie Marsan

            Atomic Blonde—an intentional play on the name James Bond—is a spy thriller that takes place toward the end of the Cold War, just before the Berlin Wall is torn down.  But British MI6, with Gray (Jones) in charge has one last puzzle to solve.  One of the MI6 officers had obtained a vital list of double agents who were being smuggled into the west, but he is killed, and no list is found on his body or his belongings.  The CIA (Goodman) is called in to help evaluate the situation by questioning British agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) who was sent in to locate the list.  The Berlin contact she is to collaborate with is David Percival (McAvoy), the established, well-respected British ambassador in West Berlin.  The film is her account of what happened.  She comes in with black eyes and bruises and scrapes all over her body.

            Lorraine is irritated from the get-go, when she is not met at the airport by Percival.  Instead, she is whisked off by some Russians pretending to be British.  The Bond-like blonde immediately grasps what is transpiring and makes quick work of the thugs that involves harrowing combat in a speeding car.  This is just the opening.  Many more astounding feats will follow.

            The bottom line of the movie is the advice Lorraine is given by the experienced Percival at the beginning of her sojourn in Berlin:  Trust no one.  She begins to investigate, starting with the dead agent’s apartment and sleuthing out what the Russians knew of her assignment.  In the process, she encounters a mysterious female French agent (Boutella) whose role is only determined across time.

            David Leitch (stunts for V for Vendetta, 300, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith; producer, John Wick) has directed a thrilling story written by Kurt Johnstad, which was based on a graphic novel series written by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart.  The story is suspenseful, thrilling, and even a little humorous, and the fight scenes are well choreographed—presumably reflecting Leitch’s stunt experience.              

           Theron kicks a--, clearly matching her male predecessors’ acumen and sex appeal.  Women will cheer her role as a major breakthrough for female actors.  I found her fighting skills shown to be far beyond that of even well trained women athletes, but that is often true of male actors in this genre as well.  Most audiences seem to like that fantasy, despite its hyperbole.  McAvoy and Goodman show their fine talent in playing ambiguous characters who must be discovered across time.  Sultry Algerian born French actress Sofia Boutella (Kingsman:  The Secret Service, Star Trek Beyond) is becoming known to American audiences, and clearly displays her talent in this film, where her character is thought to be “beyond her depth”, but ends up providing critical information.

            Audiences who are drawn to action spy thrillers are likely to relish Atomic Blonde and cheer on the move toward making more women action heroes.

If you’re wishing for a female James Bond, you will love this film.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

STAR TREK BEYOND

Chris Pine   Zachary Quinto   Karl Urban   Simon Pegg   John Cho   Zoe Saldana   

Anton Yelchin   Idris Elba   Sofia Boutella   Lydia Wilson

          After three years in space, the crew of the USS Enterprise is getting a bit antsy.  Captain Kirk (Pine) applies for the job of vice admiral because he’s a bit bored, those with families are feeling the separation, and Chief Engineer Scottie (Pegg) is dithering about budget problems.  Suddenly, an escape pod appears, and its occupant, Kalara (Wilson) requests Captain Kirk’s help after an alien warlord attacked her ship and captured her crew.

In all good faith, the Enterprise heads to the crippled ship, only to find out it is a trap.  The remainder of the story entails taking on the warlord at great risk, suffering severe threats and requiring all the ingenuity, tactics, and memory the captain and his crew can muster simply to survive. 

          They do encounter an ally in Jaylah (Boutella) when she saves Scotty from soldiers about to capture him.  Her people were already captured and killed by the warlord Krall (Elba).  Much to Scotty’s surprise, she has come upon the Federation’s missing USS Franklin, making it her home, and ingeniously getting key equipment up and running.  Moreover, she has the ability to put a hologram around it to conceal it.

        Star Trek fans will be thrilled with the returning cast from previous films, like Pine, Quinto, Saldana, Pegg, Urban, Cho, and Yelchin (sadly, Yelchin died earlier this year in an accident).  Beloved Spock actor, Leonard Nimoy also passed away this year, and tributes are made to both in the film.  Two new key figures have been introduced, played by Elba (Krall) and Boutella (Jaylah).  

          All the actors kindle the human/bot dramas into a warm and glowing fire, but the film is almost completely overrun by warring spectacles—including, of course, the obligatory hand-to-hand combat.  (How I wish filmmakers of blockbuster movies would eliminate this completely unnecessary motif, particularly in the context of futuristic technology).  The special effects are impressive, but it’s too bad they overpower interesting stories.  This feature clearly marks the influence of Director Justin Lin, known for his The Fast and the Furious action films.  Many will prefer such a hyped up version, whereas the rest of us are more focused on human drama.

A fast and furious rendition of the Star Trek franchise.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland