The Place Beyond The Pines

Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Mahershala Ali, Bruce Greenwood, Harris Yulin
Running Time: 140 min.
Rating: R  

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

                             **Spoiler Warning: This Review Reveals Major Plot Points**  

Almost halfway through The Place Beyond the Pines a title card appears on the screen that reads: 15 YEARS LATER. It's certainly not the first instance of a massive time jump during a film, but what makes this different is the anticipation level. I can't recall a time where I ever wanted to know more about the events that would follow that title screen, as my heart was practically pounding out of my chest. What director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance accomplishes in his sophomore feature is what most filmmakers aspire to get right. Unlike anything released in the past year, it's wildly ambitious and uncompromising, spinning a multi-generational epic that seems destined for cult classic status, if not greater. For almost two and a half hours it remains tight, focused, and unfussy even as tells three intrinsically connected stories that somehow isn't based on a published novel or true crime story, despite feeling so every step of the way.

I've gone back and forth on whether to reveal the big plot point at the movie's crux and determined it's necessary in fully explaining the film's tragic pull. If you don't want to know, it's best you STOP READING NOW and return after you've seen it. While the development is undeniably a shocker, the plot development cuts deeper far than that, exceeding a simple "twist.". Killing the protagonist off halfway through the picture is brave, and while it's been successfully accomplished before, it's impossible to name an instance involving not only this huge a star, but the actor being sold as the face of the picture. Of course, that creative decision alone isn't necessarily worthy of praise. There has to be something to it and it must be a narrative necessity.

Here, the main character perishes because his reckless lifestyle and behavior was bound to eventually lead him there. And also because he has to. This is a film that understands consequences and how decisions and actions reverberate beyond those who are immediately affected to sometimes cross over generations. In this case, from fathers to sons. It's interested in the consequences of death and what that means to those left to pick up the pieces. So, yes, the protagonist is killed off an hour in, but for the remaining time it never once feels like he's gone. It's only through death that the character ends up pushing the story into a far larger context that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

Ryan Gosling is motorcycle stunt rider Luke Glanton, who travels the country performing in circuses without ever really laying down roots anywhere. His latest stop is Schnechtady, New York, where he reconnects with single mother Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress worn out and beaten down by life. They previously had a fling and now he's discovered her baby boy, Jason, is his. Despite her moving on with boyfriend Kofi (Mahershala Ali), Luke's determined to stick around town to do the right thing and help provide for his son. He takes a job with local auto repair shop owner Robin (Ben Mendolsohn) but his minimum wage salary isn't cutting it, leading the two to pair up and successfully rob some banks in the area.

It isn't long before Luke's worst tendencies grab hold, with his volatile temper threatening to keep him  from his son and his daredevil desire to hit more banks increasing. Robin warns him, "If you ride like thunder, you're gonna crash like lightning." He ends up being right, as Luke's recklessness sets him on a collision course with Officer Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), creating a situation where only one can escape alive.

The opening hour just might contain the best work Gosling's ever done, which is scary when you consider the ground that covers within the past few years and the fact it's actually a SUPPORTING performance. That it can be said with absolute confidence that the character he creates is as instantly iconic as his unnamed getaway driver in Drive is no small praise, especially considering the surface similarities between the two. We know we're in for something special from the film's sensational opening sequence, as the camera follows Luke from behind into the carnival arena like a cage fighter entering the octagon. He puts on his signature ripped Metallica shirt, which, as James Franco pointed out, already seems like Gosling's new scorpion jacket. And I completely agree with Franco that the character ascends to and owns rebel status within minutes of appearing, before even speaking a word of dialogue.

Luke's an adrenaline junkie who can't control his lapses of slow, simmering rage, but he's also trying to do the right thing and be there for his son in a way he claims his father wasn't for him. It's a sadly prophetic desire, as the harder he tries to do the right thing, the deeper a hole he digs for himself doing wrong. He's doomed and doesn't even know it, pushing for reconciliation with Romina that can't possibly happen regardless of whether a child is in the equation or not. And the more it can't happen, the more he pushes. Boundaries don't exist for Luke, on a bike or in life.

His boss Robin makes the mistake of dangling the carrot of criminality in front of the last type of personality who can handle it. Ben Mendelsohn specializes in playing low-life creeps. At first glance it seems as if Robin is exactly that, but he's not. I love that Mendelsohn plays him as essentially a good guy who went down the wrong path and now just seems bored to tears. He comes across as more of a benevolent mentor and friend than corrupting influence, even if a strong argument can still be made for the latter. When he realizes the monster he's awakened in Luke, he lazily tries to stop it but can't even really muster enough energy to do that. It's too late anyway. There could be a whole other movie about just Robin and I wouldn't complain, but the performance deems it unnecessary, giving us everything we need about his character while withholding what we don't.

When these two are flying high together, so is the film, as the entire opening hour is an addictive rush, filled with images, quotable lines and events destined to burn into my consciousness with Mike Patton's mesmerizing score as the soundtrack. Cianfrance really engulfs the viewer and while this is unquestionably a heightened depiction of Schenectady, accentuating both the city's positive and negative attributes, it's far from an inaccurate one considering it was actually filmed on location. From the few who have seen this, the biggest criticism has been that it suffers after Gosling exits, with the last two thirds of the picture paling in comparison to the first. But I'd argue Luke Glanton's legend only grows after his departure, infusing the rest of the story a larger scope and even greater momentum as everyone is left to pick up the pieces of the damage he's left.

The Bradley Cooper section of the saga is every bit as gripping, while still continuing and finishing what was started. While Officer Avery Cross gets his man and is justifiably hailed by the media as a hero for taking out Luke, it's not that simple. Besides being treated like garbage by his superior and fellow officers, his career's essentially over due to the shootout. That his wife Jennifer (Rose Byrne) and father Al (Harris Yulin) never wanted him to be a cop in the first place is only salt in the wound. But Avery's hardest on himself, wracked with guilt over the fact that he killed a boy's father, emotionally paralyzing him to the point that he can't even look at his own baby boy.

Anyone still doubting last year's discovery of Cooper as a major acting talent or writing it off as just lucking into the right part, should take a look at what he does here, with his most complicated role yet. What's so pitiful about Avery is that, despite the mildly controversial details involving the shooting, he really is a hero who was forced to take the action he did. Cooper plays him at first as kind of a dim bulb, until we slowly realize, with his back against the wall, that he's actually very smart and cunning. He's forced to
be.

Ray Liotta has played a lot of corrupt scumbags in his career but his Peter Deluca just might take the cake. It's a compliment to him that it's hard to think of a more recent movie character I've hated more. I hated the condescending way he talked to Avery. I hated the way he talked to Avery's wife even more. I hated his greediness. Every time this guy speaks it's infuriating, which is exactly what a great villain who gets under your skin should do. Cianfrance takes the well worn plot mechanism of police corruption and makes it fresh and gripping, raising it to the level of Greek tragedy in terms of how it affects all involved, especially those on the periphery.

That Gosling and Cooper never share a scene together and yet the film somehow still feels like their two and a half hour grudge match is a testament speaks not only to their performances, but the rich characterization provided by the script. There's this faint undercurrent running throughout that if Luke and Avery hadn't been on opposite sides of the law then they could have possibly gotten along under different circumstances. That hunch is confirmed in the third act, culminating in a final showdown that can only occur through their sons. And both are very much their father's sons and a product of those events 15 years earlier.

Try as his mother might to keep it from him, you could see how a teen Jason (Dane DeHaan) would want to eventually learn what he could about his biological father. And you could also see how when he finds out about his dad's infamous "motobike bandit," past, that he'd find it really cool and want to know more. At an age where nothing makes sense and there's very little sense of identity, that's a big thing. And it makes sense that path would have to cross with Avery's son, AJ (Emory Cohen). It's not a contrivance. Just a tightly constructed story having its last screw turned. And what a final act it is. It's here where the highly ambitious three-act structure starts to make a lot more sense and all the cards fall into place

Thanks to DeHaan and Cohen's powerfully believable turns there's never any doubt they're the sons of these men despite the lack of any noticeable physical resemblance.DeHaan plays Jason as a sad, quite loner with a short temper while Cohen's AJ has a huge chip on his shoulder, appearing at first to be every bit the thug you'd expect given the years of neglect from his dad. Like their fathers, they're much more alike than different, as both actors transcend those one line descriptions to deliver something deeper and more meaningful. They're also headed for a collision course, finishing the business their dads started, whether they know it or not.

That storytelling this ambitious and expansive could be accomplished on a relatively small budget isn't all that surprising when you consider the ingenuity of the director behind it. Cianfrance's previous collaboration with Gosling, Blue Valentine, stands as one of the few recent films that's grown substantially in stature for me since I first viewed it.  It's a bit more free flowing and messier than this, but contains the same general thematic framework of damaged people as products of unstable families. He just understands what makes his characters tick and knows how to present it onscreen in the most insightful, realistic way possible.

Repeat viewings could easily present the already gripping first hour in a new light knowing what eventually follows. Much like what Affleck did with Boston, Cianfrance turns Schenectady into his personal wasteland of corruption and immorality, where the setting informs the film as much as its characters. If merely the thought of recasting the roles didn't seem to border on sacrilege, there's enough depth and richness here to sustain a long-running television series, with writing and directing that can actually match what we've been seeing now in that medium. With as much ground as this covers, it still even feels like there's more. The Place Beyond The Pines is an epic crime drama that isn't about crime, reminding us that the best ones rarely are.         

Bridesmaids

Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Chris O'Dowd, Jill Clayburgh 
Running Time: 125 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Dubbed "The Hangover for women" when it was released to much box office success this spring, Bridesmaids resembles that comedy as much for its weaknesses as its strengths. To be fair, it is slightly superior to The Hangover, even if that film at least extended us the courtesy of not crossing the two hour mark. No comedy should be that long. Ever. It's just unnecessary. I should really just go ahead and not recommend it for that miscalculation alone, as it joins the likes of Wedding Crashers and Knocked Up in biting off more story than it can chew and occasionally struggling with tone, but the writing and performances (namely one) ultimately save the day here. It's a slight notch above those other comedies and though I giggled more than I busted a gut, it definitely entertains the whole way through.

As with other Judd Apatow productions it faces the problem of trying to mine laughs from real life situations that sometimes feel too real, uncomfortably flirting with dramatic tragedy. That's certainly the case here as single, thirtysomething Annie (Kristen Wiig) is asked by lifelong best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) to be maid of honor at her wedding. Still reeling from her bakery business going belly up and regularly sleeping with sleazebag Ted (a hilarious Jon Hamm) the exciting announcement of her best friend's nuptuals only rubs salt in Annie's wounds, bringing all her insecurities to the surface. Making matters worse is the arrival of Lillian's prissy new best friend Helen (Rose Byrne), the trophy wife of the groom's boss who's threatening to displace her in the wedding and in Lillian's life, sparking a bitter feud. They're joined by the other bridesmaids: Frustrated housewife Rita (Wendi McClendon-Covey), goody two shoes Becca (Ellie Kemper) and Lillian's future sister-in-law Megan (Melissa McCarthy).

The movie's at its best when it's most ridiculous, not taking itself too seriously while reaching for the crassest laughs. A scene in a bridal shop when the bridesmaids suddenly and uncomfortably feel the after effects of a Mexican meal they had earlier is hilarious, as is a plane trip to Vegas where a drugged Annie unintentionally jeopardizes the well being of everyone on board. Most of the film deals with the feud between Annie and Helen, which is comical, until the movie dramatically overreaches, sugarcoating it with life lessons and trying to wring sympathy for an overly pitiable protagonist. It really didn't need to do that. The movie's funny and the characters likable so less would have definitely been more in terms of spelling out how we're supposed to feel and sending a message, but this is an Apatow movie so no surprises there.

Up until now the jury's been out on Kristen Wiig as a leading lady who can carry a film and after this I'd say the jury's still out, which isn't to say she did a bad job at all. There's no question she's a gifted physical comedienne and possibly even a great actress but it does take some getting used to seeing her as a romantic lead in mainstream comedy, which could be attributed to the goofy persona she's perfected all these years on SNL. She kind of carries that over to this so it was hard to escape the feeling I was watching a highlight reel of her best sketches strung together over a two hour period with some drama thrown in. The movie really belongs to Melissa McCarthy who deserves every bit of praise she's been getting for her award-worthy supporting performance as Megan, a butch, brash government employee with an unsatiable sexual appetite. To say she steals every scene she's in would be an understatement. I wondered how infrequently we see a female character like this in a comedy. Keeping us unsure of what this woman will say or do from one moment to the next, McCarthy creates this unusual, one-of-a-kind persona from the ground up. Most impressively, she doesn't turn Megan into a joke, but a cool lady, finding the humanity and motivation behind her outrageous behavior.  The rest of the bridesmaids are dispensable with the exception of Byrne's Helen, who's essentially a snobby, arrogant stereotype, albeit a very funny one. But a braver comedy wouldn't have attempted to redeem her. Chris O' Dowd brings a likable charm and sincerity to Officer Rhodes, a local policeman  whose fledgling relationship with Annie might just be the one dramatic element in the story that's a home run, mostly due to his skillfully understated performance and natural chemistry with Wiig.

Although this was co-written by Wiig, it's surprising to learn it was directed by Paul Feig, who created TV's brilliant, short-lived Freaks and Geeks. This definitely isn't that. There's no mistaking it's a mainstream comedy primarily aimed at women, to the point that it could easily be considered a "chick flick," and that's fine. I can see where it also definitely has appeal for both genders and it's unlikely any guy would be complaining that they were dragged to it. Every year there seems to be a comedy everyone falls head over heels for and I'm left scratching my head wondering what the big fuss was about. Expectations can be a funny thing. Bridesmaids works, but doesn't when it occasionally forgets to be a comedy and plays it too safe, hammering home the truth that each successful comedy released these days seems the same as the last. But at least this is mostly a good one.

X-Men: First Class

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz
Running Time: 132 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

I've never read an X-Men comic, never saw any of the previous movies and have no familiarity with any of the characters in the superhero franchise. So saying that, the highest compliment I can give (and it's a big one) to Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class is that it made me care and want to see more. For a while  I even forgot I was watching a superhero movie and by the time it fully morphs into that by its finale, it's a transformation that's well earned and impressively handled from a technical standpoint. The origin story it weaves is compelling, making especially excellent use of its time period and setting to convey an atmosphere that makes the film play more like a lost James Bond entry (back when they were fun) than another cash grab for Marvel along the lines of Iron Man 2 or Thor. It's good to make money and build a franchise but you need a foundation to do it on and Vaughn gets that, crafting an entertaining, often mature PG-13 rated adventure that doesn't insult audience's intelligence and delivers thrilling action when necessary.

The origin story goes all the way back to to the swinging early 60's to show how young mutants Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) and Erik Leshner/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) become allies when they're recruited by CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) to stop the villainous Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). Seeking revenge on former Nazi doctor Shaw for the death of his mother years ago, Erik's bloodthirsty obsession and cynical outlook clashes with Xavier's decidedly more peaceful worldview, planting the seeds for an eventual feud between the two friends. We also meet Xavier's blue-skinned adopted sister Raven Darkholme/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) struggling to accept to her identity. She's joined by Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), Sean Cassidy/Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Till) and Armando Munoz/Darwin (Edi Gathegi), all outcast mutants with special gifts they've yet to find the ability to fully control or understand.

The script juggles multiple storylines as the story jumps between settings and time periods with what seems to be little effort at all, making the over two-hour running time fly by in a flash. There isn't a dull moment to be found and given how many characters there are a suitable amount of attention is paid to each one that goes beyond just exploring their powers. Setting the action against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and social unrest of the 60's could have easily been a clunky device but the story of these mutants being ostracized and used by the government resonates since it only enhances already existing themes.

Three performances are legitimately superb and they're the three most crucial to the film's success. Best known for his breakout supporting turn in Inglourious Basterds, Michael Fassbender kills it in his first mainstream starring role, simmering with low-key intensity and bitter, pent-up anger as Erik and believably selling his character's slow building transformation into Magneto. When the climactic encounter with Shaw arrives it's a testament to Fassbender that it not only feels epic, but its result earned. As a hard-partying womanizer turned peacemaking humanitarian McAvoy's in a far different mode here than we've ever been used to seeing him while Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence is the heart and soul of the film, bringing needed depth to Raven in showing how she gradually loses her innocence. Kevin Bacon chews scenery even speaks German at one point, having a blast as the villainous Shaw. Casting the physically striking but emotionally vacant January Jones as diamond-skinned ice queen Emma Frost was a stroke of genius considering it's her only big screen role so far that's efficiently covered up all her weaknesses as an actress, or at least has given her a convenient excuse for them. If she's the weak link, it doesn't show for a change. As the only non-mutant, Rose Byrne makes MacTaggert seem essential rather than the odd woman out.

Vaughn stacks the film with many memorable scenes taking full advantage the retro time period and setting, incorporating impressive production design and clever musical choices, such as a recruitment montage set to Gnarls Barkey's "Run" and the use of Freddy Cannon's "Palisades Park" during a club sequence. This is how a intelligent comic book movie should be made and it wouldn't be a stretch to say it raises the bar, especially for those still feeling burned by X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. If my average rating seems to betrays my enthusiastic reaction that's only because I still have my doubts as to whether the film will be worth returning to repeatedly if you weren't a fan to begin with. Here's hoping I'm wrong, and that's certainly possible given how much there is here to appreciate. It's fun seeing back stories of characters I've only heard about and seen pictures of play out in ways more interesting than I suspected. Whether a sequel can build on that remains to be seen, but at least I'd be looking forward to it. X-Men: First Class proves to be just the shot in the arm the superhero genre needs.

Knowing

Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Lara Robinson, Ben Mendelsohn
Running Time: 121 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

So, here we go again with Nicolas Cage. And his hair. Except this time things are a little different. His chronic overacting tendencies are tempered slightly while his hair is more in control than it was in Ghost Rider, Next and Bangkok Dangerous. Fewer actors have made poorer choices and seen more undeserving box office returns than Cage. And since winning his Oscar over a decade ago no actor has has caused us greater disappointment and frustration.
When his sci-fi thriller Knowing opened earlier this year after collecting dust on the shelf and wasn't screened for critics, it stood to reason that we had another one of his infamous action stinkers on our hands.

The director attached to this Cage project wasn't just some hack, but Alex Proyas, a gifted filmmaker responsible for two films that helped define sci-fi in the '90s: The Crow and Dark City. The latter, over time, has emerged as a cult classic in the genre while it remains a testament to Proyas' talent that former has transcended the tragic circumstances surrounding its star's death to be remembered as the visionary achievement it is. You wouldn't be far off to call either a masterpiece. Despite abysmal advanced word of mouth and widespread panning, Knowing surprisingly tore it up at the box office in March, resulting in a wide critical and commercial split not seen again until, well, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened a couple of weeks ago.

The lone voice of dissent among a barrage of terrible notices came from Roger Ebert, who very controversially awarded the film four stars, calling it "among the best science-fiction films I've seen -- frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome." Of course, in the minds of many this just confirmed long-running suspicions that he completely "lost it" after cancer surgery. For better proof of that, they probably should have submitted his opinion of this film as evidence instead. Either way, giving generous star rating doesn't constitute "losing it." Failing to articulate your opinions does, and no one could ever accuse him of that.

His review just might be more interesting than the actual film, which is fascinatingly sloppy. It's the weakest script Proyas has had to direct yet and is all at at once a mystery thriller, an action movie and a science fiction allegory. There's greatness in it to be sure and it isn't difficult to see why Ebert loved it, or why anyone who is a serious sci-fi fanatic would. And it's easy to see why mainstream audiences embraced it as well, as there's enough action to compliment the enormous ideas the script introduces but doesn't completely follow through on. Luckily, Proyas picks up a lot of the slack and the ideas are so big you wonder if it was necessary or even possible to follow through on all of them.

The film centers around a mystery that must be solved and then completely changes the rules veering in a different direction entirely, far from what we expected containing moments that are truly scary as well as a couple of sensational child performances. As messy as it all feels at times, you can't say it isn't original or ambitious, especially the ballsy conclusion. It's science fiction with at least a few brain cells and a premise so interesting that even Cage's over emoting (thankfully kept to a minimum here) can't screw it up. While not the film it could have been or wants to be, Knowing has a lot more on its mind than it got credit for, and a great deal less.

John Koestler (Cage) is a widowed M.I.T. astrophysics professor whose lively lectures consist of trying to understand the universe and make sense of the controversial debate centering around Evolution and Intelligent Design. He comes closer to that debate than he ever wanted to when his son Caleb's (Chandler Canterbury) school holds a ceremony to unearth a time capsule buried under the school's grounds in 1959 containing children's drawings of what they think the future will hold. Except Caleb's sheet isn't a drawing. It's covered with a series of seemingly random numbers, scribbled by a creepy, disturbed young girl named Lucinda Embry (Lara Robinson) who we meet in a very effective prologue sequence. Upon examining the numbers Koestler discovers that they form patterns that accurately predict nearly all the major disasters of the past fifty years.

Naturally, the one person Koestler can count on, his colleague, cosmologist Phil Beckman (Ben Mendelsohn) thinks he's crazy and seeing something that isn't actually there, even suggesting he's using the list to subconciously make sense of his wife's death. In searching for the truth Koestler is able to track down the late Lucinda's daughter Diana (Rose Byrne) and her granddaughter Abby (Robinson pulling double duty). The children are a key component to the story, especially Caleb who hears noises through is hearing aid and is being stalked by mysterious "Whisperers," shadowy, pale figures who eerily recall the "Strangers" from Proyas' Dark City. Where things go from here is entirely unexpected and can't be discussed without heavy spoilers. It's much bigger than you think.

Sci-fi premises don't get much stronger than this. The set-up is so strong that the film almost backs itself into a corner immediately by presenting a mystery so deep and philosophically interesting that it's practically impossible for the script to resolve it in a satisfying way for all. But it does try it's best and final 10 minutes are so exciting and ambitious it could almost make up for the mistakes that precede it. Chief among them is the decision to have Koestler go into action hero mode stumbling (sometimes accidentally and sometimes not) into various catastrophic disasters and trying to save the day, against the backdrop of obvious, but visually impressive CGI. On another filmmaker's watch I could just imagine how terrible and cheesy looking these huge scenes could have been but Proyas succeeds in making them terrifying, especially a fatal plane crash that has a frantic Koestler desperately trying to rescue survivors in one long, uninterrupted shot.

The bizarre direction the story takes could have come off like a bad mythology episode of The X-Files but doesn't because there are some genuinely scary moments and suspense is effectively built. The "Whisperers" are absolutely terrifying, with their presence only enhanced by Simon Duggan's shadowy cinematography and a Marco Beltrami score that seems to pop up at just the right moments, effectively underlining the horror.

This film doesn't succeed because of Cage. He's one of those actors who has made choices so bad in the last few years that the second you see him up on screen you're almost immediately taken out of the film, with all thoughts shifting from what's happening in front of you to wondering how bad the movie will be because he's in it. As far as his recent bad paycheck performances go this is definitely one of his better ones and he's a lot more understated than usual. He's also more believable than you'd expect in the role of a college professor. Still, his mere presence rather than his actual performance makes the movie seem less than what it is and casting another actor in the role would have been a wise move creatively. The truth is any actor could have played it. Some better, some worse. This is in no way a return to form for him. We'll have to keep waiting.

It isn't difficult to see why most already had their knives sharpened and were prepared to rip Cage a new one before even seeing a minute of the film. I'm guilty of it myself. That's a problem and it's unfair, but he has no one to blame but himself for building up such a poor reputation in choosing projects. He's given strong support with exceptional performances from Canterbury and Robinson and anyone familiar with Byrne's work on TV's Damages knows what she's capable of as an actress so it's a relief that she's really given an opportunity to cut loose. She brings dimension to a role that should have been forgettable.

Ironically, Ebert's opinion of the film, as lofty as it is, seems closer to reality than the bashing it took from his peers just because it was the latest Cage action release. Those going in anticipating that will find more to think about than they expected, but those (like myself) who would have been happier that they didn't try to squeeze a typical blockbuster into the middle of it will walk away a bit let down that a premise so promising ONLY lets us consider the ideas rather than attempting to dig deeper and explore them itself. The film has a bunch of screenwriters credited to it which isn't a surprise because it does feel like there were too many cooks in the kitchen trying to craft a story that appeals equally to the mainstream action crowd and hardcore science fiction fans. Originally, Richard Kelly was the only writer attached to this project and I probably don't have to tell you how much better I think this would have turned out had he penned it.

Sometimes I just have to wonder what my opinion of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would have been if I didn't know beforehand that David Fincher directed it. We enter films with certain mindsets and expectations, all of us guilty of altering our viewing experience to match them. And that's as we should because once we stop doing that we stop being passionate about movies. Ebert is obviously a huge fan of Proyas and this genre so that could have influenced his opinion greatly. Nothing wrong with that at all. I'm more likely to seek out a movie he overpraised not because I necessarily think it will be good, but because I know if it isn't, it'll at least be interesting and worth watching. In that regard, this didn't disappoint and neither did Proyas, who further confirms what everyone's suspected since The Crow, except this time with a messier template to work with. So that's at least an accomplishment for him. If he can do this much with material below his talent level just imagine the possibilities if he were given a top shelf script. The ideas presented in Knowing could easily fill up hours of discussion, even if the film itself can't.