A Month at the Movies - Mar. 2013

Robin Shou was convincing and at ease in his role as Liu Kang, the main protagonist. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was - I'm in the minority here - awesome in his role as Shang Tsung, the main antagonist. It's funny that his one-expression face hasn't garnered any memes yet. And the population is usually so quick on this. Anyway, an entertaining performance. The number of emotions / expressions Bridgette Wilson managed to cram in was quite an achievement. Rather than acting like an eye-candy robot, she functioned as a barely active eye-candy robot. But despite all this, her fight scene with Kano seemed authentic, with all the punches and the kicks and the whatnot's. But still, a robot. Linden Ashby is instantly forgettable in his role as Johnny Cage. A performance that is further marred by the hilarious, not-at-all-fitting dialogues / quotes. Christopher Lambert bought a quiet dignity to his comic-relief character Rayden, but it just wasn't "enough"! But he did subtly break boring moments with his detached comedy. Talisa Soto was attractive in her role, yes, but barely memorable or even worthy of mentioning.

Anyway, since the story is neither ground-breaking nor is it entertaining with a capital E, I will just cut to the chase: performances. Jacques Charrier was just fine in his role as Freddy. Although he did provide a handsome face, some well acted moments, and overall deep understanding to the character, he was badly denied the main spotlight by not-so-good editing and quite-bland script-writing. Following him is Charles Aznavour as Joseph, the hapless of the two, but certainly the most horny. His character has to be one of the most unmemorable characters I've ever seen, as he had absolutely no distinct features or characteristics. The females, however attractive, were just obvious mannequins thrown in as to not to create an isolated environment that is so starkly presented in dystopia movies.

The first film has a foreboding, doomed atmosphere, a dark and unpredictable layer covering it. It is as colourful as Charlie Chaplin's clothes. The sequel - of course, they had to expand the story; nobody understood the first film even after repeated viewings - has a comical, laid-back atmosphere that, to me, totally ruined the complete understanding and logic behind the universe of The Matrix. Indeed, it is clever in the quotes department - "Do we control the machines, or do they control us?" - but like I said they quickly dissolve into silliness that does little to no justice to the first part - "I just love you too damn much!" Seriously, they went from that to this?

Performance-wise, Sanjay Dutt as Munna totally steals the show. He has always been one of my favourite Bollywood actors ever since I saw him in Hum Kisi Say Kum Nahin. He is at home at playing corrupt figures, police officers, or otherwise tough characters. A sort of Vinnie Jones of Bollywood. Sanjay Dutt is one of the relatively few actors who can blur, or vanish, the fine line between actor and character. Other notable mentions are Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman and Boman Irani, who appears in this film as the primary antagonist, Dr. J. Asthana. He is easily one of the finest actors of Bollywood, of this time and of all time. True, he ain't no Sanjeev Kumar, but since his characters have aggressive demeanors and large personalities, he doesn't need to be compared to other actors, since he marches to his own beat - or at least at times.

The film starts off with Frank Leone having a saudade-of-sorts moment. The slow movement and the plethora of photos give us hints that if you want to sympathize with him, now's the time to do it. After when that's done, Frank and his girlfriend, Melissa, engage in a different kind of lock-up. After when that's done, a small series of unconvincing happy scenes follow which is supposed to be Frank's happy little life. But as a long time movie-goer, I patiently wait for this bubble of happiness to go bust. And the prick with the needle is Warden Drumgoole, who has a long-time vendetta and hatred against Frank, determined to make him suffer as much as possible. Now, Drumgoole had the potential of becoming one of the most intimidating and villainous wardens in movie history, but Donald Sutherland's pitiful, laughable acting makes Drumgoole as silly as his name. I mean, I thought he would bring some integrity to his role, some charisma, but failed in both accounts and then some.