The Raid (or, if you hail from across the pond, the Raid: REDEMPTION - yes, the caps are necessary) punched its way into cinemas and into our hearts last week. It is rather good, but I'm not sure if I can recommend it to people who find little to enjoy big action spectacles. I don't say this as a self appointed "action fan" - mainly because I wouldn't label myself as that, but more that I find the notion of rejecting a film due to genre a bit ridiculous. Fine, the overt violence displayed in films by the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Tony Jaa might be off-putting to many, but the truth is, that's not real violence. What you see during the running time of the Raid has been as carefully constructed as any ballet you might see and that's what keeps me riveted during such films. Obviously, it helps when you've a plot and solid actors drawing you into the stakes of a situation, but there's something I find incredibly mesmerising about the "let's put on a show" mentality.
I'm obviously a very special (and possibly warped) case. I remember seeing films as violent as the Terminator at a very young age, but the fact is I always knew there was little difference (beyond budget) between Arnie slaughtering a whole police station and my childhood games of Cowboys and Indians (aside - actually the most often game we played in primary school was Jurassic Park. The boys were the park goers (Neill, Goldblum, etc), the girls were velociraptors. This explains why girls terrify me). Although I loved that Terminator/police station sequence, what I always found more exciting and inspiring was the hilariously dated use of animatronics. Such it looks nigh on awful now, but it really resonated as a kid. I didn't just see Arnie rip his own eye out, that was a model, but someone built that model and that is awesome.
Sadly, special effects don't hold that mystique for me any more. Some might blame computer aided imagery. I definitely could point at least eight of my fingers at my laptop and shout "BLAME!" at the top of my voice. Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate the hard work that goes into programming but unfortunately, unless you geek out over vectors and advanced geometry, the mystery of effects has diminished. Compare An American Werewolf in London and An American Werewolf in Paris - just on the effects please, it's unfair to keep beating the corpse of ...Paris over ten years later. I remember what I thought the first time I saw the transformation sequence in ...London. It was "how?".
Special effects and martial arts share a rather strange place in cinema. Regardless of the quality of the non-fighting sequences in the Raid (hmm, I think that's all of five minutes), the film is inherently jawdropping, tense and, most importantly interesting. Same with the special effects sequences in films like Terminator, An American Werewolf in London and the Thing. In fact, you could replace all the non-effects scenes in the Thing with acting of the quality of the Room and it would still be recommendable. Dancing and music should be two similar sets pieces, but beyond Astaire/Rogers and the musical hi-jinks of Chico & Harpo Marx, these things rarely work in film. I guess when it comes down to it, it's easy to assign life & death stakes to fighting and gooey monsters. I can't think of a tense dance/piano sequence (note to self: Speed with a piano, 30 notes a minute, no dissonance).
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So if you follow film as much as I do, you'll have probably seen the three big teaser trailers released today. For those who haven't, please watch below (they're only a minute or so each).
In terms of quality, from start to finish, you should probably watch them in that order. Make sure to full screen the middle one though.
As mentioned in a post earlier this month, spoilers and information presented in trailers is quite the contentious issue. I think all three of these are fairly safe. In fact, there's no guarantee that any footage in the Anchorman and the Master trailers especially will reach the final cut. I like teaser trailers. I think they're a great way of establishing a mood for a film without giving away any of the tricks. So the Master, for example, looks to be continuing the path of the American nightmare that was There Will Be Blood. Skyfall is the most surprising, mainly because I don't have high hopes for anything Craig, Mendes or Bond related and that is an incredibly pretty trailer (Deakins!). Anchorman 2 - sheesh. I hope that's not going to be reflective of the finished product. Painful. At least it's getting straight to what people want. Regardless of how ill defined they are, people enjoyed the KVWN news team.
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Other musings
I have no explanations for you as to why this took me so long to write. I just haven't felt wonderfully inspired lately. I may warm up the old creative muscle and try to write some fiction for next time.
It was Jonathan Hatfull(of http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.co.uk/ fame)'s birthday on Saturday. That was rather messy. In fact, I don't remember much of it and I'm still feeling rather rough from then. I have some odd grazes on my hands, wrists and elbows. I'm quite happy for it to stay a mystery. His birthday gift arrived in the post today. Don't tell him! It's a secret!
Everyone welcome my old friend Thomasin Bailey into the blogosphere! You can find her and her musings on life via Shakespeare here: http://waxenhearts.blogspot.co.uk/ . She's even brave enough to record videos. Say hi, be polite.
Just when comic book movies were being taken seriously... http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/05/21/she-has-no-head-dear-marvel-stop-ruining-everything/
Devils/Rangers continues tonight. Do you think work would mind if I turned up tomorrow with my face painted?
As mentioned in a post earlier this month, spoilers and information presented in trailers is quite the contentious issue. I think all three of these are fairly safe. In fact, there's no guarantee that any footage in the Anchorman and the Master trailers especially will reach the final cut. I like teaser trailers. I think they're a great way of establishing a mood for a film without giving away any of the tricks. So the Master, for example, looks to be continuing the path of the American nightmare that was There Will Be Blood. Skyfall is the most surprising, mainly because I don't have high hopes for anything Craig, Mendes or Bond related and that is an incredibly pretty trailer (Deakins!). Anchorman 2 - sheesh. I hope that's not going to be reflective of the finished product. Painful. At least it's getting straight to what people want. Regardless of how ill defined they are, people enjoyed the KVWN news team.
-------------------------------------------------
Other musings
I have no explanations for you as to why this took me so long to write. I just haven't felt wonderfully inspired lately. I may warm up the old creative muscle and try to write some fiction for next time.
It was Jonathan Hatfull(of http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.co.uk/ fame)'s birthday on Saturday. That was rather messy. In fact, I don't remember much of it and I'm still feeling rather rough from then. I have some odd grazes on my hands, wrists and elbows. I'm quite happy for it to stay a mystery. His birthday gift arrived in the post today. Don't tell him! It's a secret!
Everyone welcome my old friend Thomasin Bailey into the blogosphere! You can find her and her musings on life via Shakespeare here: http://waxenhearts.blogspot.co.uk/ . She's even brave enough to record videos. Say hi, be polite.
Just when comic book movies were being taken seriously... http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/05/21/she-has-no-head-dear-marvel-stop-ruining-everything/
Devils/Rangers continues tonight. Do you think work would mind if I turned up tomorrow with my face painted?
That man just turned 40. Boom.
To bed! With Vanity Fair, New Empress and a big old glass of water.
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