What I Really Think: Edge of Tomorrow

(Spoilers ahead)

Edge of Tomorrow combines two plot types I’m a sucker for: the alien invasion and the time loop.  The resulting film does not disappoint on either front.  

There’s fundamental problem with the scale of alien invasions.  They typically present a threat to the entire world, require a huge fleet and vast armies.   Yet, a band of plucky heroes still must singlehandedly defeat the entire invasion force.  I liked Edge of Tomorrow’s approach.  The idea of the invasion force is really a single organism is interesting and plausible enough that I accept it.  Also the fact that the invasion was starting from a central point, and working its way out across land, rather than flying around on ships simplified things greatly as well.  Their mechanism for time looping works for me as well. I’m sure it’s full of holes, but it makes just enough sense for me to go with it.  Going into the movie you know you’re going to accept that part of it no matter what anyway.

Time loops are always an opportunity for comedy, and Edge of Tomorrow is no slouch.  The first third of the movie is full of dark humor as Tom Cruise’s character dies in a variety of ways.  But because of the time loop, the deaths have no real bite to them.  It felt like a cartoon in a good way.  It was a sort of deadly slapstick.  The film does settle down later and get more serious, the whole movie is not a laugh riot.  But it has enough humor to keep things from getting too dour.

It’s probably a bit much to call it a twist, but I like how the dam is a trap.  The shift in plot provides a refreshing change of pace.  Up to that point the movie had felt very linear and predictable.  But then the change-up gave the movie a second wind.  I think without the extra shift in direction I would’ve felt the movie was too short.  

I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance sub-plot.  It was pretty predictable.   I did like how it created a dilemma for him where she never survived past the helicopter.   I liked his realization that he doesn’t actually need to bring her at all, that he’s learned enough to do it alone. 

One thing I was curious about was how they were going to edit this together.  You don’t want to go through the details of every time loop.  But you do want to see some of the loops, to see the difference he makes.  I thought they struck a good balance.  They showed enough of certain events repeating different ways to scratch that itch, but not enough to wear become boring.  Sometimes they would skip ahead, showing him suddenly knowing exactly what to do for an extended period of time, indicating he had been through it many times.  The switch up once they get past the beach where it goes into an extended scene without loops provides a nice change of pace, and gives the audience a rest from seeing things over and over again.   It’s also fun to spot the hints that this isn’t actually the first time he’s done this.  In particular I like how he comments that sometimes he tells him things that she ordinarily wouldn’t, then later when she dies she tells him her middle name, which he had asked about earlier.  When she dies is when she talks, and it really puts the earlier scene in a different light once you realize that.  

I was disappointed when he lost the time loop abilities, but I understand why they did it.  It’s much more interesting in the finale if there’s actually something at stake.  They did kinda cop out with a happy ending with everything resetting to before anything happened, but with the alien still dead.  For some reason.  Not entirely sure how that worked, but could tell it was a bit of a cheat to get the happy ending.  

Overall, it’s a good movie that I really enjoyed watching.  Probably my second favorite after X-Men First Class this year, but it’s a close one.  I feel like I wouldn’t mind watching it again, which is rare for me.

What I Really Think: Maleficent

(Spoilers ahead)

I like the idea of the story Maleficent was trying to tell better than the actual execution.  The idea of having a character acting in haste and later regretting it is a good simple idea, and one that can resonate with a lot of people.  I feel like the movie would’ve worked better without the baggage of being a version of Sleeping Beauty.  Making it a retelling increased the profile of the film and got people into the seats, but it also creates odd disconnects with the audience when the narrative strays from what’s expected.  Ultimately, this is not a retelling of the animated Disney movie Sleeping Beauty, but really its own version of the whole thing. Though it borrows many elements from the Disney version.

The weakest part for me was the first act.  I think the relationship between Stefan and Maleficent is glossed over a bit too fast for the audience to really connect with the characters and their relationship.  I also feel like seeing more of Stephan might have been good so we understand more why he betrayed Maleficent.  The film would’ve been better if this was allowed a bit more time to breathe.  

I feel like the second act, with Maleficent’s turn to evil and Aurora growing up is where the film really shines.  I liked seeing Maleficent change as she basically ends up watching Aurora grow up.  That all worked for me.  But, the scene with defeating the soldiers before showing Aurora the moors felt really unnecessary to me.  The fairies were a little bit too useless for my tastes, but I can see why they did that, effectively forcing Maleficent to intervene.  But some of their antics was good comic relief.

The bait and switch with Prince Phillip was fun, though I thought it was pretty obvious how the kiss of true love was going to play out.  I did like the way the true loves kiss breaking the spell was set up.  With it being an ironic echo of what Stephen told Maleficent.  Which is another reason I think it would’ve been nice to actually see that scene, instead of just having it voiced over.  

I wasn’t a fan of Stephen overall.  He just felt too shallow a character.  Ironically, in attempting to make the previously shallow villain deep, they end up creating another shallow villain to oppose her.  Mostly he comes across as obsessed and crazy.  It would’ve been a lot more interesting to me if he was driven more from love of his daughter.  But even when she shows up he’s still more interested in fighting Maleficent.  Having two sympathetic villains would’ve been a lot more interesting.  

The final action climax felt more tacked on than anything.  We had already reached the emotional climax of the movie earlier with waking Sleeping Beauty, so the action at the ends doesn’t have much purpose other than to kill of the king (in traditional Disney fashion).  It would’ve been much better if they could’ve held of the emotional climax and made it a bigger part of the end.  For example if Maleficent realized outside the castle that her own love for Aurora could break the curse, and then have to fight her way in to reach her that would’ve been much more satisfying.

Extradiagetic: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

At last, the end of the Disney package films.  The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, released in 1949, marks the end of the wartime packaged films era.  These shorts are based on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Wind in the Willows.   In an unusual choice for Disney, the protagonists in both shorts deeply flawed characters with little redeeming value.  The story of Mr. Toad gets away with it, by telling an interesting story about an interesting character.   Ichabod however, is set up intentionally to be unlikable, so that his ultimate fate is not so unpalatable.

Mr. Toad is a rich reckless playboy who follows whatever whim gets into his head, totally lacking of any self-control or restraint.  Despite that, the story still creates sympathy for him, by having Mr. Winkie maliciously lie to the court.  Reckless or not, the audience understands that Mr. Toad was wrongfully imprisoned, and lets them get behind his later escape.  It also justifies his desire to get the Toad Hall deed back, despite earlier being happy to trade it for an automobile.  It’s now a matter of seeing the true villain get their due.  Because of this the audience is willing to follow along on the adventure, despite Mr. Toad giving little reason to root for him.  And while he says the experience has changed him, ultimately it is not surprising when he lapses at the end.

This complete lack of character development in Mr. Toad is tolerated, and even embraced, by the audience because he represents the unrestrained id.  He is there to do what the audience is too sensible to do themselves.  It offers the opportunity to briefly live vicariously as the reckless Mr. Toad, and experience that rambunctious freedom.  The narrator highlights this at the end, suggesting the audience envies him a bit.  Mr. Toad provides a safe way to explore our own desires to indulge ourselves not care about the consequences.  

Ichabod Crane presents an entirely different approach to the virtue-less character.  One in which the lack of sympathy is very deliberate. Ichabod is gluttonous, manipulative, greedy and cowardly.  His rival, set up as the antagonist is not perfect, but possess more virtues than Ichabod.  He’s boisterous, and prone to pranks, but not truly malicious, he’s even described as the local hero.  Even the love interest, Katrina seems perfectly happy pitting suitors against each other for her own gain.  These other characters are set up this way to make Ichabod not seem quite so bad in comparison, and allow the audience to maintain some impression that he’s still the hero.  

Ultimately there is no great villain in the story.   Even the headless horseman is less a villain than a force of nature, mysterious and unavoidable.   Something that can only be escaped, not fought.  In a more traditional story he might survive the encounter, and change his ways because of it.  Similar to Scrooge, in A Christmas Carol.  If this was a love story, his interest in Katrina might prompt him to better himself.  Instead they make it clear that he’s just as interested in getting her father’s farm and all the money it would produce.  

Despite all the time spent with the rivalry between Brom Bones and Ichabod, this isn’t a romantic comedy, or even really a ghost story in the end.  It is a morality play.  When the Headless Horseman comes, he comes not for a good man, but for one deeply flawed.  It is a cautionary tale, warning of the dangers of following in Ichabod’s character flaws.   

There are many types of protagonists in stories.  And the standard convention is for them to be heroic, and have depth and character growth.  But it’s possible to tell compelling stories without either of those things.  But they have to be supported by the right structure in the story, or the audience will quickly loose interest in an unlikable character. 

What I Really Think: X-Men Days of Future Past

This is my favorite movie so far this year.  Good action, good drama and a good story.  I still think X-Men 2 tops my list for X-Men movies overall, but this one is a close second.

When I saw X-Men: First Class, I was dubious about the choice of connecting Mystique’s history with Professor X’s.  But that choice really paid off in this movie, making her the emotional core.   Her choice becomes central, and her history allowed both sides to be compelling voices that mattered to her.  

I liked Magneto in this.  In the movie series I’ve always liked how willing and able he is to do whatever he considers necessary to help his agenda for mutants.  In this movie he doesn’t hesitate to turn on Mystique to make sure the Sentinels can never reach their full potential.   I did like it when he turned on her in the third movie after she lost her powers, but it worked for me here.  Though looking about I admit that her leaving her behind was in character for him in X-Men 3.

Quicksilver is a scene stealer when he’s around, and his big moment during the prison break is really fun to watch.  But he doesn’t get in the way of the other characters or the story.  He has his part in it and then cleaning steps aside.

I also appreciate that with the exception of Quicksilver they didn’t try to shoehorn a bunch of new characters into the story.  Sure, there’s a bunch of new faces in the future, but beyond knowing their powers we really don’t have to worry much about them.  They’re just there to set up the story and present some action scenes at the end.  The main bulk of the story remains lean, with just the few central characters

 

If you like superhero movies, this is one you shouldn’t miss. 

Extradiagetic: Melody Time

Melody Time continues the now familiar format of a package movie for Disney in this period.  While there’s other shorts in the film, and in particular a fairly long Pecos Bill short, I’m just going to touch on three of them.  Once Upon a Wintertime, Johnny Appleseed, and Little Toot.  Each of these short stories provide a stripped-down example of themes seen in many other stories.

The Once Upon a Wintertime short provides a simple romantic narrative.  We have a man and a woman on a winter skating date.  The opening romantic song makes the relationship between the mute couple clear.  Since they begin together, they need to be separated to create some conflict.  In this case, the man upsets the woman by showing off while skating by jumping over some logs, inadvertently spraying her with ice when he skids to a stop.  She walks away annoyed, though does give a backwards glance, but the man is upset as well now and ignores her, so she continues away.  The tension suddenly builds as a sign is uncovered revealing she’s headed for thin ice.  The tension increases again as the ice breaks, and the woman starts floating downriver.  The man fails to save her, and it ends up being the horses, birds, and squirrels that had been tagging along to save the girl just before she goes over a waterfall.  Saved from certain death, they are reunited, their brief conflict forgotten.  This is a common romantic setup in stories; boy and girl split up, girls gets into trouble, man saves her, and everything is fine again.  This bit of mini-drama is often slipped into the romantic sub-plot of a larger story, rather than standing alone.  

The Johnny Appleseed story has many of the elements of the hero’s journey in it.  It starts with the call to adventure, which happens when Johnny sees settlers headed west.  This leads into the next element of the hero’s journey where they initial refuse the call.  Johnny gives the excuse that he’s weak and doesn’t have any of the right gear for it.  This leads into the mentor and supernatural aid when his guardian angel shows up and convinces him that he’s ready enough.  Johnny then heads into the wilderness to begin planting apple trees.  Another element of the hero’s journey comes near the end with the Apotheosis, in this case a physical death from which he transcends from planting apple trees on earth to planting them in Heaven.   This leaves out a lot of other steps, but not all steps are necessary and it is a short story.

The Little Toot story can be summed up as a basic redemption story, where the disobedient Little Toot gets into the trouble and is banished, but finds redemption by saving another ship in a storm.  Little Toot is initially shown to be a mischievous troublemaker, but then tries to go straight after having a close call with a police boat.  Unfortunately, his attempt to help his dad ends up just making his biggest mess yet.  This helps generate symphony for the character.  He is able to be banished to move the story along, but the audience also continues to root for him because we know his intentions were good. When he finally finds redemption there’s a brief moment of sacrifice where Little Toot gets totally submerged, creating a metaphorical rebirth to indicate how much he’s changed.  It also helps create a small amount of tension, especially for younger viewers.   The redemption story is a powerful one, and has been a constant theme in stories for as long as there have been stories.  

These simple stories present the seeds that can grow into much larger and more elaborate tales.  Keep them in mind when writing.  These are all themes that can be mixed together in many different ways to tell numerous different stories.