A WIN FOR QUINN

MOVIE
Birds of Prey
Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor
Director Cathy Yan
Review Ray Chan

THE eccentric Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) has broken up with her psychopathic lover, the Joker, with whom she had a relationship in 2016’ mediocrely-received Suicide Squad.
    And now, without the big J’s protection, the scatter-brained Harleen Quinzel faces a life confronting previous enemies ready to cash in on karma, to the extent that she can’t even eat an egg sandwich without being pursued by a variety of riff raff that she has managed to offend in the past.
    That’s the basic setup as director Cathy Yan jumps around haphazardly in time, from mere hours ago to several weeks before, and then even further back to ‘80s Sicily, as she tries to introduce the players in this all-female ensemble.
    Surrounding Harley on centre stage are Dinah Lance/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), an employee of the movie’s villain, Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor); Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), a detective whose accomplishments go unrecognised; young pickpocketing thief Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco); and The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a staple DC Comics character given a light-hearted treatment in the movie, and the recipient of many comedic scenes.
    Although the adventure is set in Gotham, there's no appearance of a certain caped crusader, or even the estranged prince of clowns. Which is a good thing, for there is little need for such cameos.
    Certainly, there are some frustrating plot inconsistencies. However, such maladroit machinations can be overlooked when Birds of Prey makes it abundantly clear that fun is on the menu.     
    Keeping the shortcomings of the storyline at bay becomes a lot easier thanks to the cast’s performances and the multiple running gags that stick their landing.
    Robbie’s frenzied energy suffuses life, but Ewan McGregor’s tongue-in-cheek flamboyant take on Sionis – as Black Mask, who’s in a complicated relationship with henchman Victor Zsasz – is a scene-stealer.
    Despite the high level of candy-coated fun, the movie earns its R-rating with its forays into violence. Harley loves crunching bones and smashing people with baseball bats and carnival mallets. The Huntress lives for stabbing opponents and slaying with crossbows. Zsasz is a sadistic creep with a penchant for skinning flesh and collecting human faces.
    And yet the combination of whimsy and wildness works far better than it should. Eventually, the narrative ties the plot threads together to deliver a satisfying finale, with the cast finally getting to play off each other as a dysfunctional unit.
    But there’s a feeling that the story could have been told much better without the Tarantino-style structure that requires some work on the viewer’s part to stitch various sequences together.
    As well, most of the characters are only fleshed out minimally, as they’re only developed as much as can be done in an hour and 49 minutes.
    Still, Harley and the gang deliver a high-level of entertainment to the proceedings, and offers up an enjoyable cartoonish romp that whets the craving for the next ladies’ night out.

#birdsofprey  #buzzmarketing

HIM TARZAN, YOU LEFT COLD

This review was published in The West Australian dated Jul 14, 2016.

MOVIE

The Legend of Tarzan
Alexander Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson
Director David Yates

Review Ray Chan

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan was a product of its time – back when it was perfectly legitimate, and even exciting, to imagine the story of how an English nobleman, bred by apes, ended up talking to animals, leading the African people, and being doted on by a subservient wife.

    But the character’s capacity to excite contemporary audiences was probably doomed to extinction the day political correctness dawned.

    Tarzan was created by a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) writer, educated largely in the 19th century, whose vision of Africa was strictly that of a colonial imperialist, and whose impressions of women were equally as outdated.

    I wonder whether anyone born after 1970 has the slightest clue what to make of this guy in the loincloth, and, since 1980, Hollywood has had a string of flops with the character to prove it. Do kids still read Burroughs’ books today?

    And so it is with this in mind that one should view the latest Tarzan offering, if one is to gain maximum enjoyment. The lord of the jungle is a century-old superhero, and his adventures take place during a time of insensitive racial and gender representations, not to mention the occasional case of animal cruelty.

    As the movie starts, Tarzan (or Lord Greystoke, as he is rightly known, played by Alexander Skarsgard, son of Stellan) is already ensconced in his role as a member of the English Parliament. He is asked to resume his Tarzan role and help the debt-ridden Belgian government steal sacred diamonds from the Congo, but in reality it is a way for Belgian schemer Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) to deliver Tarzan to Congolese tribe leader King Mbonga, who wants to exact revenge on him for the death of his son.

    Along the way, Samuel L Jackson fills his annual quota of fantasy movie roles by portraying US emissary George Washington Williams, tagging along to ensure Congolese civilians aren’t being enslaved.

    The older generation will be familiar with Tarzan’s origins, but for the younger audiences, flashback scenes to how his parents died and his subsequent adoption by apes may prove confusing, for they do not reveal how he rose to become champion of the African lands. They will be equally bemused as to how Tarzan can communicate so easily with apes, ostriches, elephants, lions, water buffalo, crocodiles and a whole menagerie of other forest fauna.

    The Congo, as it turns out, is home to several different tribes of varying hues, yet it sticks out like a sore thumb that none of them question the appearance of George, an educated black man clothed in Western gear and speaking a different dialect. While he eventually helps save Tarzan in a moment of peril, it does seem his inclusion as an improbable sidekick was simply to serve as a counterpoint to any suggestion of racial discrimination.

    Then there's Jane (Australian Margot Robbie), who, while not exactly a damsel in distress, isn't much else. As Tarzan’s wife, she insists upon joining his journey home, eventually falling into Rom's clutches, and conveniently being used as bait to lure our hero into a trap.

    There are some nice scenes throughout which reflect Burrough’s visions. Tarzan swings through the jungle with grace and power, and his connections with the animals are conveyed well. If anything, Skarsgard is too stoic, although perhaps the script called for a humourless hero.

    If this were a movie about another Burroughs’ creation, John Carter of Mars, battling aliens on some exotic world, audiences would certainly find it enthralling. But trying to envisage an Earthman taking on and talking to animal herds and creating stampedes by himself will require a greater suspension of belief.

    Him Tarzan, me half-satisfied.