May 2006
Elevator to the Gallows
Malle, 1957
Elevator to the Gallows was Malle's first major picture, as well as his first and last film noir. It is hard to say why he didn't go back to the genre, as he did seem to be very confident behind the camera and made a good impression for a debut film. When crafting Gallows, Malle really didn't do too many things perfectly, but he didn't do anything completely wrong either. It is a flawed film, especially when it comes to the script and character motivations. Some of them do much too random things way too fast and some parts of the movie seemed rushed and others too slow. Other little things, like the guy not being able to find the ignition in a car at first, but only a moment later climbs into the car and immediately turns it on and drives away. It was little things like that bothered me.
But the movie was still very well done from a visual point of view, as I really enjoyed the way it was shot, and the voiceovers of character's thoughts worked very well. The Miles Davis soundtrack was also a joy to listen to in contrast to so many other terrible film noir scores. I guess Gallows ultimately was a good debut film, but it failed at really hitting the right stride. It never really felt like it was in the highest gear, and lapses in logic and motivation hurt the movie. But I did enjoy myself, as the story and the twists were generally engrossing, and Malle's visual style was distinct. I also really liked both introduction and the ending, and overall it was actually a very entertaining and at times suspenseful film noir. A solid debut film, but Malle was destined to make stronger films later in his distinguished career.
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Fantastic Four
Story, 2005
Fantastic Four is one of the lower end comic book adaptations. That almost sounds like a compliment, let me reword it; Fantastic Four is not only one of the worst comic book adaptations I’ve seen, it’s also one of the worst movies I’ve seen - period. First of all, the characters and their powers suck. Maybe they worked in the comics, but they don’t in here. I mean, a guy that can stretch like plastic? That’s bordering comic mockery. I won’t even mention the ‘acting’. The way the movie is structured is both horrid and perplexing. Almost the entire movie consists of the ‘superheroes’ experimenting with their stupid ‘powers’ and making ‘snappy’ remarks and comebacks. Even the CGI is just terrible (see the above shot to see what I mean...)
It’s only during the very end of the movie that there is even a confrontation with the villain and it only lists for one battle. Then the villain is defeated and the movie ends. It was as if it were a three act movie and they cut it at the end of act two and left out an entire third of what a narrative story should have. About the only thing I liked in the entire movie was Michael Chiklis, but that is most likely only because I am a big fan of him and The Shield. Otherwise, the movie is an abomination of epic proportions. During the middle ages, the church should have been hunting down the forefathers of the hack who made this instead of Muslims and left handed people. It was so bad it should havebeen funny, but wasn’t.
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