| May roundup : brief comment on IRON MAN (6/10), CHARLIE BARTLETT (5/10), OUTPOST (5/10) |
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| Sunday, 25 May 2008 | |
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"Downey brings a lot of attitude to the '60s cad bachelor paradigm," Favreau explained to Variety.  In the last couple of weeks, two films have arrived in the UK which together suggest that Robert Downey Jr, having emerged from his much-publicised personal travails seemingly stronger and wiser, is now fulfilling his decades-old potential to be (with no apologies to Sean Penn) the American actor of the post-Pacino/De Niro generation. Trouble is, neither superhero blockbuster Iron Man nor quirky high-school indie Charlie Bartlett (obtaining release, one suspects, largely because of Downey Jr's current prominence) are themselves properly worthy vehicles for the star's quicksilver, too-cool-for-school talents. Of the pair, meghahit Iron Man is on balance the more satisfactory enterprise, and it does at least put Downey Jr front-and-centre the leading role. He's multibillionaire playboy inventor/industrialist/weapons-dealer Tony Stark who, because of reasons too cumbersome and implausible to relate here, ends up developing a flashy metal exoskeleton-type suit that allows him to perform the kinds of feats previously restricted to the likes of Batman and Superman. The picture provides intermittent fun over the course of its excessive running-time, but is never quite as original, smart or funny as it seems to think itself to be. With the exception of the very last couple of seconds, there's the sense of director Jon Favreau and his scriptwriters opting for a "safe hands", rather plodding approach to material which ideally calls for the kind of maverick, risk-taking sensibility which gives both Stark and Downey Jr their appeal. Iron Man is all too blatantly set up for a sequel, and has done sufficiently well to give whoever takes charge of the project (Favreau reportedly hasn't yet "inked" a deal) the leeway to push the material into more interesting directions. Downey Jr, meanwhile, has, if nothing else, found a perhaps-unexpected mid-career "Jack Sparrrow" style payday - or three. We can therefore expect to find him less often in indie-schmindie fare such as Charlie Bartlett, in which he's frustratingly relegated to the background as the title character - a precocious, entrepreneurial, 17-year-old from an opulently affluent background - dominates proceedings. As rather gratingly, hyperactively incarnated by Anton Yelchin (the child star of Hearts In Atlantis back in 2001), he isn't the most sympathetic teen protagonists. Indeed, at several points you may wish the picture had a rather different focus, and was instead entitled either Nathan Gardner (after Downey Jr's semi-alcoholic school principal, who's increasingly perturbed by Bartlett's antics). Or perhaps Susan Gardner (Nathan's independent-minded daughter, who becomes - to her father's disapproval - Charlie's girlfriend). Or even Marilyn Bartlett - Hope Davis (also Yelchin's parent in Hearts in Atlantis) as the kid's wine-quaffing, unstable mother... this is one of those movies where the protagonist is one of the less involving and engaging characters on view. Charlie's identity crisis, meanwhile, mirrors that of the movie itself, which rather shamelessly cobbles together numerous previous variants on similar themes, from Pump Up the Volume to Igby Goes Down to Rushmore to the ur-text of such oddball-young-man fare, Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude (which the picture rather clumsily homages not once but twice, via a certain key Cat Stevens track). Recent American cinema - and literature - is chockfull of tales focussing on dyfunctional rich boys who have tricky relationships with their mothers, and Charlie Bartlett, though not devoid of interest (it might play better to 15-18-year-olds than adult audiences), doesn't do enough to quite justify another exploration of such overfamiliar themes. Ditto Outpost, a derivative (Shock Waves, Dog Soldiers and Deathwatch, with touches of The Keep, The Fog and even a little Raiders of the Lost Ark), testosterone-soaked, Scottish-shot chiller about mercenaries in an unspecified corner of Eastern Europe - the bosky environs of Castle Douglas passably doubling for Kosovo - who encounter a platoon of ghostly Nazi zombies. Or something. As the multinational squad's grizzled, worldweary leader, Rome star Ray Stevenson - looking (and acting) like the tough-bastard offspring of Hell Drivers stars Stanley Baker and Patrick McGoohan - adds much-needed ballast and gravitas to a picture which, though classily shot (Gavin Struthers) and scored (James Brett), ultimately falls some way short on the script (Rae Brunton) front: the ending is a particular fizzle-out. Not a bad job, considering what was evidently very limited budget - and there's no shortage of talent involved who may go on to bigger and better things. But, all told, it's really more suited to DVD exposure than cinematic release, and it's no surprise to learn it's already been out on the small-screen format in the States for a couple of months. Neil Young 25th/26th May, 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARLIE BARTLETT : [5/10] : USA 2007 : 96m (BBFC timing) director : Jon Poll (The Tree [1982].) editors : Mark Allan Kaplan (Delusion; The Tree.) Jon Poll (Meet the Fockers; Scary Movie 3; Austin Powers In Goldmember) seen 25.May.08 Rijeka, Croatia (Blitz CineStar Adria : KN 22.00 = £2.38 approx) IRON MAN : [6/10] : USA 2008 : 126m (BBFC timing) director : Jon Favreau (Zathura - A Space Adventure; Elf; Made.) editor : Dan Lebental (The Break-Up; The Woods; Zathura - A Space Adventure, etc) seen 20.May.08 Sunderland (Empire cinema : £5.80) OUTPOST : [6/10] :UK 2008 (copyright-dated 2007) : 90m (BBFC timing) director : Steve Barker (debut) editors : Alastair Reid (In the Hands of the Gods; Free Jimmy.) Chris Gill (28 Weeks Later; Sunshine; The Dark, etc) seen 19.May.08 Sunderland (Empire cinema : £5.80) the films of Robert Downey Jr 1970 Pound* 1972 Greaser's Palace* 1980 Up the Academy* 1983 Baby It's You 1984 Firstborn 1985 Tuff Turf 1985 Weird Science 1986 Back to School 1986 America* 1987 The Pick-Up Artist #10 1987 Less Than Zero 1988 Johnny Be Good 1988 Rented Lips* 1988 1969 1989 True Believer 1989 Chances Are 1989 That's Adequate* 1990 Air America 1991 Too Much Sun* 1991 Soapdish #20 1992 Chaplin 1993 Hearts and Souls 1993 Short Cuts 1994 Hail Caesar 1994 Natural Born Killers 1994 Only You 1995 Richard III 1995 Home For the Holidays 1995 Restoration 1997 Danger Zone #30 1997 One Night Stand 1997 Two Girls and a Guy 1997 Hugo Pool* 1998 The Gingerbread Man 1998 U S Marshals 1999 In Dreams 1999 Friends & Lovers 1999 Bowfinger 1999 Black & White 2000 Wonder Boys #40 2003 The Singing Detective 2003 Gothika 2004 Eros 2005 Game 6 2005 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2005 Good Night, and Good Luck. 2006 The Shaggy Dog 2006 A Scanner Darkly 2006 Fur : An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus 2007 Zodiac #50 2007 Lucky You 2007 Charlie Bartlett 2008 Iron Man * Dad-directed |
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