Movie Review: Everything is Illuminated

Everything is Illuminated (2005) 

Directed by Liev Schreiber 

Written by Liev Schreiber

Starring Eugene Hutz, Elijah Wood, Boris Leskin. Laryssa Lauret

Release Date September 16th, 2005 

Published November 12th, 2005 

Everything is illuminated in the light of history. So says Alex the narrator of the delightful film Everything Is Illuminated, the directorial debut of actor Liev Schreiber. Undeniably, the sentence is over complicated. It is also, easily the cleanest, clearest English Alex speaks in the entire film.

Alex (Eugene Hutz) is a Ukrainian youth who works for his parents tour company as a translator. The company provides tours of the country to jewish visitors in search of their family history. The company's newest client is Jonathon (Elijah Wood), a goggle eyed American whose pasttime is collecting small artifacts of his family history in plastic bags and tacking the bags to the walls of his home.

Jonathon hopes the trip to Ukraine will lead him to the woman who helped his grandfather Safran escape the Nazis. Her name was Augustine and she was from a small village called Trachinbad. The little village has a great deal of meaning to Alex's grandfather, also named Alex, who is the tour company's driver despite the fact that he believes he is blind and will not travel without his crazed dog, or seeing eye bitch as he refers to her, Sammy Davis Jr Jr.

And the quirks they keep on coming in this often Fellini-esque configuration. Liev Schreiber is a little distinguished actor, he has a tendency to fade into the background as an actor. As a director however, Schreiber shows a vibrant imagination and attention to detail. His visuals, with the aid of cinematographer Matthew Libatique, are crisp and lovely in ways Eastern European locales are not often shown.

Schreiber adapted the screenplay himself from the especially quirky book by Jonathon Safron Foer and has managed to make a film of equal idiosyncrasy. And yet as odd as both the film and the book are there is an emotional undercurrent that rises at the end to really catch you off guard.

All along we are aware that the history being chased is part of the holocaust and World War 2 but we are distracted by the unending quirks of the characters until the end of the journey and the introduction of Lista (Laryssa Lauret). Lista is linked to both Jonathon's search and Alex's Sr's past but I will leave you to watch the film to see just how.

The film is not without problems. Most dire is the fact that it the story hinges on the rather large coincidence that Jonathon would hire Alex's family to be his guide and that Alex's grandfather's past would be so entwined with Jonathon's. That is a pretty big contrivance but one I was willing to forgive because so much of Everything Is Illuminated is delightful,

Liev Schreiber is a director to watch. His talent for eye catching visuals and his slightly askew take on normal character arcs are a refreshing change from the norm. No cookie cutter characters, no simple over coming the odds story, nothing you might see in a typical Hollywood creation. Schreiber's off kilter direction of Everything Is Illuminated is a breath of fresh air.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) 

Directed by Gavin Hood 

Written by David Benioff, Skip Woods

Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Dominic Monaghan

Release Date May 1st, 2009 

Published May 4th, 2009 

Arguably the most revered of all superheroes, among the hardcore comic book fans, Wolverine has long deserved his own place in the comic book movie world. Nothing against the X-Men movies which were of varying but often superior quality but Hugh Jackman's Wolverine always seemed to strain against the convention of the superhero team. Granted, some of that was by design, the character has always been a lone wolf, so to speak.

But more than the design of the character, Wolverine and Hugh Jackman were simply bigger than the X-Men, as the character really has always been. Thus, there is a great deal of pressure on this Wolvie movie X-Men Origins Wolverine. The pressure to live up to an outsized reputation and the pressure to live up to beyond outsized fan expectatons.

Origins traces the life of young James Logan from the day he found out he was a mutant who could grow claws of bone through years of work as a mercenary alongside his mutant brother Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) in the US Army, to the day he tried to leave mercenary work behind and live a life of peace and normalcy.

For a time Logan worked with a team of mercenaries assembled by General Stryker (Danny Huston). Along with his brother, Logas fought alongside shooting expert Agent Zero (Daniel Henney), Swordsman Wade 'Deadpool' Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), Chris 'Bolt' Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), John Wraith (Will I Am) and Frederick The Blob Dukes. Together this team committed what Wolverine comes to believe are atrocities, hence why he walked away.

Of course, if they had just let Logan retire we wouldn't have much of a movie. Living in Canada, Logan has met a woman, Kyla Silverfox (Lynn Collins) and is living an idyllic life when General Stryker arrives with a warning, someone has begun killing the team. It's Sabretooth and he wants to make his brother pay for walking away.

With Stryker's help, Logan undergoes a procedure intended to give him the ability to not merely fight his brother but do something no conventional weapon could do, kill him. With the use of out of this world technology that bond unbreakable metal with all of Logan's bones, he becomes the indestructible Weapon X, Wolverine.

Directed by Gavin Hood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has some terrific action and some seriously goofball stuff. The good stuff is watching Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber go claw to claw. The good stuff is Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool taking out room full of armed men with just two swinging swords.

The goofball stuff is the stuff from the trailers and commercials for Wolverine. The flying from an exploding car to a helicopter to walking away in slow motion as the copter explodes. We've seen goofball stuff like this before and have become immune to the point of kitschy laughter at how cheesy they seem and how self satisfied filmmakers seem with these scenes.

The mythology stuff, all of the back story, the Origins of the title, will appeal only to the hardcore fans who will search for their other X-Men favorites among a group of child mutants rescued by Wolverine late in the film. Hardcore fans who can name the real name of Agent Zero without having to look it up. Those fans will no doubt be stoked by the high level of efficacy or terribly disappointed by whatever inaccuracy they can seize upon. Even in the nitpicking they will find pleasure. Those not in the cult however may be a little put off by the thickness of the plotting, especially since so much of the action doesn't deliver enough distraction from the plot.

Still, what works for Wolverine is Hugh Jackman whose cut physique and cigar chomping charisma perfectly capture the elemental badass nature of Wolverine. He was the perfect choice for this role in the X-Men movies and he has only grown more comfortable and capable as the character has progressed. Wolverine gets us past alot of the troubled, overly dense plotting of X-Men Origins.

Mostly for the hardcore fan, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is sub-par by the standard set by The Dark Knight, Spiderman and Iron Man. On it's own, away from the lofty comparison, it succeeds with Hugh Jackman's performance, as a summertime filler that should please the faithful.

Movie Review Salt

Salt (2010) 

Directed by Phillip Noyce

Written by Kurt Wimmer

Starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andre Braugher

Release Date July 23rd, 2010 

Published July 22nd, 2010 

Can a movie run on pure rocket fuel adrenalin? The answer is yes but only when your star has the astonishing star power of Angelina Jolie. “Salt,” directed by Phillip Noyce, begins with a jolt and after a few moments of exposition to set the stakes it sets off on a pace that makes “Fast and the Furious” look like “The Remains of the Day.”

Angelina Jolie is Evelyn Salt, a CIA Agent who is accused by a Russian defector (Daniel Olbrychski) of being a Russian sleeper agent tasked with killing the Russian President. Naturally, Salt claims she is being set up and just as naturally no one, aside from her partner Winters (Liev Schreiber) believes her.

Internal Affairs Agent Peabody (Chiwitel Ejiofor) certainly doesn't believe her and intends on detaining her but with her husband (August Diehl) having gone missing and the defector having escaped, Salt takes it on herself to escape to chase the baddie, find her husband and prevent the job she's allegedly been tasked with from taking place.

There is a great deal going on plot wise in “Salt“and not one iota of it matters in the least to the success of the film. “Salt” is a film that exists purely as propulsion. The action proceeds at a pace that distracts from the whacked plot and seems intended to do just that.

Director Phillip Noyce and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer have constructed a movie so convoluted that the entire film functions as a weird Rube Goldberg experiment that relies desperately on the next ludicrous yet intricately designed, rapid fire action scene. In one of the biggest and most outlandish scenes in the film Jolie leaps from one moving truck to another and then another all while being chased and shot at. The physics are laughable but if you treat it like the inside joke between filmmaker and audience that it may in fact be and you can really have some fun.

Angelina Jolie is both gorgeous and badass with just a touch of vulnerability. Those lips and that body draw you in and the rest keeps you riveted to the screen waiting to see what she will do next. “Salt” was initially written for a male protagonist and Tom Cruise was rumored for the lead. Seeing “Salt” on the big screen it's impossible to imagine anyone but Ms. Jolie, she owns this role with style, sex, charisma and an almost physical command of the screen.

Of course, if you pause for a moment and pull the plot apart it would crumble like a bad game of Jenga but like I said “Salt” has little time for a plot. “Salt” is a perpetual motion machine of gunfights, car chases, foot chases ,and Angelina Jolie's unstoppable charisma. Take it for what it is and ask for nothing more and you will be satisfied with “Salt.”

Movie Review Repo Men

Repo Men (2010) 

Directed by Miguel Sapochnik

Written by Eric Garcia, Garrett Lerner

Starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Liev Schreiber, Alice Braga, RZA, Yvette Nicole Brown

Release Date March 19th, 2010 

Published March 20th, 2010 

Warning: The movie Repo Men has been sitting on a studio shelf for nearly three years. The film starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker never developed a reputation as a troubled project but for some reason the studio never saw fit to put it on the screen until now. This is, generally, a bad sign. Films that sit on studio shelves for a while have an almost literal stench of failure attached to them.

Repo Men stars Jude Law as Remy, a man with a very unique and disturbing profession. It is Remy's job to retrieve property but not just any property, Remy retrieves internal organs. A company known as The Union has developed mechanical organs to replace failing human organs of all types, lungs, heart, kidney et cetera.

The catch is that  these mechanical organs are unbelievably expensive, so expensive that the company offers an exorbitant payment plan. If you default on your payments for more than three months the Union sends Remy and or his pal Jake (Forest Whitaker) to retrieve the organ by any means necessary. Bloody gutting and death are the usual result.

As you may have learned from the trailers and commercials, Remy has an accident and ends up with a mechanical heart courtesy of The Union. Becoming a transplant patient changes Remy and he can no longer be a repo man. Also helping change Remy's perspective is another former patient (Alice Braga) who Remy falls in love with and eventually goes on the run with in order to escape the repo of both of their important parts.

Repo Men has an interesting idea, one that could be played to capitalize on the current debate over health care reform in America. What better way to parody the heartless insurance and HMO conglomerates than with the mass, bloody retrieval of organs that patients fail to pay for. The satire practically writes itself. 

That, however, is for another movie, as noted above Repo Men was made nearly three years ago before the battle over health care reform became a daily lead story on the national news. What Repo Men is really about is hardcore bloody violence reminiscent of the recent blood and guts epics coming out of Japan and South Korea. Repo Men apes a number of Asian action and horror conceits, especially the bloody violence of Chan Wook Park's Oldboy.

A scene late in Repo Men seems entirely lifted from Oldboy. In it Jude Law takes on several bad guys in a narrow hallway with a knife, a saw, and some sweet Kung Fu. It's a terrific scene but also derivative and in the end pointless. I won't spoil the ending but trained film watchers will be disappointed at how Repo Men tips its hand early on and cheats to the finish in a most irritating way.

I don't know exactly why Repo Men was left on the shelf for three years. There is little that could have been done in that time to improve it. My guess has less to do with production trouble than with marketing challenges. The studio (Universal) was likely holding the film until Jude Law regained his status as a marketable leading man.

In 2007 Jude Law was coming off of a series of box office disappointments and indie movies that barely made it beyond the art house. He was also a rising tabloid star having had a troubled marriage and well publicized affair that kept him from making many movies from 2004 to 2007.  In 2009 Jude Law came back to the top of the marquee starring opposite Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes. With Law's name recognition once again on the rise, and his tabloid troubles seemingly behind him, Universal likely felt they finally had a marketing hook and Repo Men arrived.

None of this means much to the quality of Repo Men. It's merely one of those notable Hollywood stories; a peculiarity of the Hollywood system where stars are coveted for their ability to sell a movie with their name and persona but shunned at the mere mention of potential scandal or perceived lack of appeal..

Repo Men is the result of that bizarre Hollywood system where marketing means as much or more than the quality of the movie. No one seemed to care whether Repo Men was any good, it's not great but not terrible. The more pertinent concerns for executives were whether the movie could be sold. In 2007 it wasn't an easy sell. In 2010 it became an easier sell.

Putting aside the Hollywood junk, if you are a fan of hardcore, blood and guts violence or a fan of Jude Law you will find a lot to like about Repo Men. If you prefer movies with strong story, characters and motivations skip Repo Men which pushes aside an interesting cast and story in favor of more blood and more guts and more spectacular ways of displaying them on screen

Movie Review Kate and Leopold

Kate & Leopold 

Directed by James Mangold 

Written by James Mangold, Steven Rogers

Starring Hugh Jackman, Meg Ryan, Liev Schreiber, Breckin Meyer, Natasha Lyonne, Bradley Whitford

Release Date December 25th, 2001 

Published January 24th, 2002 

There has been talk that romantic comedy is a dying genre. The plots and conventions of the genre have become too familiar and many filmgoers are growing more pessimistic about on-screen romance. Kate & Leopold may not be the film to breathe new life into this struggling genre but for what it is, a light little cookie of a film, it's not bad.

You know your watching a romantic comedy when Meg Ryan comes on screen wrinkling her cute button nose that screams, “Love me.” In this film she is the titular Kate, who is more concerned about getting ahead at her job in advertising than finding a meaningful relationship. Her last relationship was with a quirky scientist played by Liev Schreiber. Schreiber is trying to solve the puzzle of time travel so that he can travel through time to meet his great-great uncle Leopold (Hugh Jackman), an inventor who may hold the key to Liev's scientific writer’s block.

After accomplishing time travel he accidentally brings Leopold back to the future with him. From there Kate meets Leopold who she assumes is some method actor. Leopold is immediately drawn to Kate but she at first just thinks he's weird. There is something odd about him, he's chivalrous and well mannered and well spoken. Very unusual for the modern male, but then as we already know he's not modern at all.

The love story develops well and director James Mangold doesn't let the film’s gimmicky premise get in the way of Ryan and Jackman's wonderful chemistry. All great romantic comedies are based on the chemistry of the lead actors, as Ryan has shown with Tom Hanks and Billy Crystal previously.

In Kate & Leopold, Jackman shows himself a worthy replacement for Hanks. Jackman's best work is in his willingness to humiliate himself while holding on to his Victorian era dignity. Jackman becomes a star right in front of our eyes, breaking out of the action genre and proving he can do just about anything as an actor, as he would later demonstrate in a brilliant hosting gig on SNL.

Ryan is her natural cute self in Kate & Leopold, which isn't a bad thing. But there are moments where you can see she is beginning to tire of this kind of role. More than a couple times she looks outright bored by material that she has done more than a few times. Jackman and the very surprising comic turn by Schreiber save the film. He steals every scene he's in with a goofy energy we haven't seen from him before.

Kate & Leopold isn't anything you haven't seen before but as a Friday night rental to relax and watch with your girlfriend, it’s an enjoyable rent that will leave you smiling.

Movie Review: The Sum of All Fears

The Sum of All Fears (2002) 

Directed by Phil Alden Robinson

Written by Paul Attanasio, Daniel Pyne 

Starring Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Bridget Moynihan, James Cromwell, Liev Schreiber 

Release Date May 31st, 2002 

Published May 29th, 2002 

SPOILER WARNING!!! 

The City of Baltimore gets blown up by a nuclear in the new Jack Ryan adventure, The Sum of All Fears, during the Super Bowl in Baltimore, and no one cares. That's the spoiler. Aside from this truly bizarre occurrence, The Sum of All Fears is a serviceable action movie with the wrong leading man. It's a fine action thriller bogged down by a performance by Ben Affleck that simply doesn't work. 

Tom Clancy's signature character Jack Ryan has become a sort of everyman version of Batman. He's your average, workaday CIA agent who, on occasion, is called upon to single-handedly prevent catastrophic world tragedies. The parallels extend off the big screen as well with the Ryan character having the same revolving door casting. The role originated with Alec Baldwin and then to its iconic image, Harrison Ford, and now to Ben Affleck. Sadly, Affleck's Ryan is reminiscent of George Clooney's Batman.

Trying to make sense of how Jack has actually gotten younger since his last adventure is a waste of time, just suspend disbelief and absorb yourself in the intrigue of espionage and politics. After the death of the Russian President, CIA analyst Jack Ryan is called upon to profile the new president named Nemarov, well played by the heretofore-unknown Ciaran Hinds. Ryan is an expert on Nemarov, having predicted his ascendancy to the presidency years before. 

CIA head Cabot (Morgan Freeman) has Jack accompany him on a trip to Russia to meet the president and inspect a nuclear weapons plant. While inspecting the plant Ryan notices three scientists are missing. The disappearance of the scientists leads to the discovery of a plot to smuggle a black market nuclear weapon into the U.S. Ryan is then teamed with an undercover operative named John Clark (Liev Schreiber, surprisingly effective). While Clark tracks the weapon, Ryan must convince his superiors that the Russians aren't involved in the plot.

Ryan and Clark are too late and the bomb explodes in the middle of the Super bowl, killing millions and nearly killing President Fowler, played by James Cromwell. Once the bomb explodes, our worst fears are nearly realized as the two super powers amp up their arsenals for worldwide nuclear war. The films nuclear explosion and its aftermath are jarringly realistic in wake of real life events, but the producers bow to political correctness making the terrorists Nazi's instead of Clancy's use of Arabs. I can see the producers point, that maybe Arab terrorists might be insensitive, but then blowing up the city of Baltimore in the middle of the Super Bowl isn't exactly comforting.

Jack Ryan not only has explosions and terrorists to deal with, he is also saddled with a lame subplot romance with Bridget Moynihan, playing the role once held by Anne Archer. In the previous films, Ryan is married to her. In Sum of All Fears it's a burgeoning relationship that lacks depth and purpose. Moynihan's character is entirely unnecessary, she adds nothing to the film except lead to the joke in the trailer where Freeman tells Ben to tell her why he has to cancel their date and she doesn't believe him. 

She also participates in the films tacked on happy ending where evil is punished and our hero picnics in the park across from the White House. The scene is rather casual considering the City of Baltimore was erased from the planet just days before traumatizing the entire country amid The Super Bowl. Despite those problems, director Phil Alden Robinson deftly handles action and suspense and does an admirable job of translating Clancy's mixture of military fact and dramatic fiction. Paul Attanasio no doubt helped the adapted screenplay along with a rewrite by Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman.

The weakest link in Sum Of All Fears is Ben Affleck, one of my favorite actors. Ben just doesn't carry the dramatic weight to be taken seriously as a guy consulting the President of the United States and the President of Russia. Harrison Ford benefited from his past action hero glory as iconic characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones, those roles gave Ford credibility as a guy who could be trusted to save the world and scream at the President, the iconic retort, 'How dare you, Sir!' 

The fact of the matter is there is no reason for Affleck's character to be called Jack Ryan. The name is merely a marketing tool. Just a way to put butts in the seats via something they find familiar. With the character growing younger and Affleck's lack of Ford-like credibility, the film might have been better served by giving him a different name. Keep the title and call him Jim Taylor or some other bland name and keep Jack Ryan for some other story. 

The Sum Of All Fears is a suspenseful action ride that suffers only for it's poor choice in leading man. Though again I must point out that Affleck is one of my favorites, he is just not right for Jack Ryan. Affleck is best known as a smartass romantic from Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy and as the deeply flawed but likable character’s from Bounce, Good Will Hunting and Changing Lanes. In Sum Of All Fears he's called upon to do things that just don't fit what we know of him. The passion for the part is there but not the “save the world” credibility of Ford.

The Sum Of All Fears with Harrison Ford could have been an exciting summer blockbuster but with Affleck it's a rentable movie if you have nothing else to do.

Movie Review The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Directed by Jonathan Demme 

Written by Daniel Pyne, Dean Georgaris 

Starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Kimberly Elise 

Release Date July 30th, 2004 

Published July 29th, 2004 

The 1962 original The Manchurian Candidate, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra, is an unmitigated classic. The film was the brainchild of Sinatra who saw in the complicated satire a chance at an acting comeback after a series of flops. Boy was he ever right, the film brought Sinatra back to prominence as an actor. Despite being pulled from release for 24 years after the assassination of President Kennedy, the film remained a classic.

Denzel Washington, starring in the 2004 take on The Manchurian Candidate, has no need for a comeback. He is clearly at the top of game. His director, Jonathan Demme, on the other hand could use a hit after his disastrous remake of Charade in 2002. For the record, The Truth About Charlie was not nearly as bad as the way it's producers dumped it into release. Why Demme would do a remake as his "comeback" is a fair question. Let's just be glad he did because his modernized version is the rare remake that doesn't dishonor the original.

Major Bennett Marco (Washington) is a decorated veteran of the first Gulf war. Though he seems to have it all together he is secretly plagued by nightmares that bring his memories of battle into question. Marco is not alone, other members of his squad who were involved in a memorable incident while on a recon mission in Kuwait have been having the same nightmares. Private Al Melvin (Jeffrey Wright) is slowly being driven insane by his nightmares, which mirror Marco's.

Both remember the incident in which their squad was attacked by what they thought were Iraqi militia members. Both were knocked unconscious and their lives were saved by Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), who went on to receive the medal of honor because of Marco's recommendation. However, both Marco and Melvin's nightmares play out a different scenario in which Shaw was never a hero, but in fact the entire squad was taken hostage by someone other than Iraqi militants. They were taken to a hospital and reprogrammed and two other members of the squad were murdered.

For his part, Sgt. Shaw is now Senator Shaw, a rising star in his unnamed political party (I think he's a Democrat but it's never spoken of aloud). Shaw is on the verge of being nominated for the Vice Presidency thanks to the backstage machinations of his determined mother, Senator Eleanor Shaw. Raymond also has strange nightmares about brain implants and mind control. As he confesses to Marco midway through the film, he can remember the mission as he has been told of his heroic actions but can't actually remember doing the heroic actions attributed to him.

As the plot unfolds, the mystery is whether Marco is just paranoid or if the things he dreamt about actually happened. We believe Marco because we see what he sees but it's easy for characters in the film to dismiss him especially as Marco grows more and more erratic. We also are privy to things he is not such as the behind the scenes meetings between Mrs. Shaw and the mysterious executives of Manchurian Global. Manchurian Global is a company that profits from America's foreign policy decisions by essentially betting on wars in the stock market.

The parallels with the real life Carlyle Group or Halliburton are completely intentional. Where the original The Manchurian Candidate played on our fears of the Cold War, this new version makes corporations the sinister forces working behind the scenes to rig our system in their favor. It's scarier if you've seen Fahrenheit 9/11and have seen the back room connections between the current administration, Carlyle and Halliburton. Of course, much of what these real life companies do is quite well known and helps you realize that you don't need a sleeper assassin to put your company man in the White House. All you need is a big enough checkbook.

The Manchurian Candidate is not meant to perfectly reflect reality but rather just fan the flames of conspiracy-minded moviegoers. Who doesn't love conspiracies?

The Manchurian Candidate 2004 is a paranoid potboiler with a complex plot and enough solid twists and turns to keep audiences glued to their seats. Who better than Denzel to lead us through all of the film’s complexities? His winning personality, charisma and believably carry us over a number of plot holes. Watch closely his relationship with Rosie, played by Kimberly Elise. Late in the film it hints at a whole other layer to the film’s dense plot and will make you pay to see it again.

Meryl Streep is perfectly on point in a role that won Angela Lansbury an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1962. Streep should also be on track for a nomination as she is the perfect choice for this Machiavellian mother from hell. Most have drawn odd comparisons with Hillary Clinton, although a better more accurate comparison might be Lady MacBeth with her lust for power and willingness to kill to get it. Not to mention the hinted at but little seen incestuousness between Mom and Son which mirrors another historic text.

Jonathan Demme's direction has not been this solid since The Silence Of The Lambs. Those who thought he had lost his touch will be turned around after watching the way he twists and turns the audience with one smart set piece after another.

True, there are plenty of holes in this plot. The script adapted by Daniel Pyne is like a sweater that could unravel with the tug of a string for a long enough period of time. It's best not to dwell on character motivations and small plot points and focus on the stronger elements of the film like it's performances and the timeliness of its references.

Movie Review The Omen (2006)

The Omen (2006) 

Directed by John Moore 

Written by David Seitzer 

Starring Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Michael Gambon 

Release Date June 6th, 2006 

Published June 5th, 2006 

666 is the number of the beast. It's also the number hiding somewhere on the body of five year old Damien Thorn. You see, Damien is not in fact the son of Robert and Katherine Thorn, played by Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles. On the day his son was to be born Robert Thorn arrived at a religious hospital in Rome to find his son had died at birth. The doctors waited till Robert arrived before telling his wife Catherine (Julia Stiles). There was however a secondary motive to not telling her. A small child was born simultaneously in the hospital to a mother who died while giving birth.

The priest in charge of the hospital makes a deal with Robert to adopt this child in secret and raise him as his own. If all of this sounds rather convenient, you have no idea how right you are. Cut to five years later and young Damien is a slightly creepy looking five year old with no outwardly sinister ambitions until his birthday. At the party Damien's nanny suddenly decides to hang herself in front of the entire crowd of children and parents. Only young Damien seems unaffected by this scene.

Following this disturbing event Robert is visited by a crazed priest, Father Brennen (Pete Postlethwaite). Babbling about how Robert needs to accept Christ as his savior, Father Brennen wishes to explain to Robert that his child Damien is actually the son of the devil. Upon Father Brennen's ghastly death a photographer (David Thewlis) makes a terrifying discovery that will lead he and Robert across the globe to uncover his sons true nature. Meanwhile young Damien and his new nanny Mrs. Baylock (Mia Farrow) set there sights on poor Katherine.

At first The Omen 2006 is a slavishly devoted retelling of the original story. However, director John Moore eventually finds his own way of making The Omen his. Through the use of some exquisite art direction, location shooting and cinematography, The Omen develops a steadily chilling atmosphere that grows exponentially more shocking and genuinely scary as the movie progresses.

John Moore's first film was a forgettable remake of the Jimmy Stewart flick Flight Of The Phoenix. That film never gave any indication that Moore had this kind of directorial talent. His eye for visual splendor in The Omen is exquisite here, where it was desperately muted in Flight of the Phoenix. Moore draws genuine scares not from the usual bait and switch histrionics of cats leaping from the shadows and music stabs but from crafting atmosphere and artful misdirection.

The film evokes the original The Omen with stars Schreiber and Stiles bringing echoes of Gregory Peck and Remick to live but never surpassing the legends from the original. Only Mia Farrow as Mrs. Baylock truly stands apart from the original film. That is mostly because of the oddity of her casting. Ms. Farrow is well known as the mother of Satan's child in 1969's Rosemary's Baby. Her casting in The Omen is a terrific inside joke for horror fans.

Because so little is changed from the original The Omen is a directorial revelation. Only John Moore's direction provides the opportunity for updating this material and that is a challenge that Moore meets and surpasses. The Omen 2006 is a visual horror nightmare that improves on familiar material with directorial flourish worthy of masters class. I never would have expected this from John Moore but after The Omen I cannot wait to see what he could do with original material.