Wick's Law

Humans have fascination with  revenge, whether it is because we like imagine ourselves getting revenge on those we despise, or because it is so foreign to us it's interesting, the truth that remains is revenge movies always sell. Some of the most famous revenge movies such as Kill Bill and Mad Max were huge box office success, Mad Max actually held the record for the most profitable movie for 20 years. So what I'd like to do is shed some light on lesser known revenge flicks, in hopes they might gain a little more recognition.

A year ago John Wick released in theaters and boasted an unexpected profit. Considered a main stream comeback for Keanu Reeve's, this film followed John Wick, a former hitman who changed his ways after marrying his wife. Some time she passes away to an illness, arranging for John to receive a puppy posthumously. After bonding with the pupper John house is broken into and he is assaulted, his car is stolen, and most damaging to him, his dog is killed. Losing his last connection to his wife John returns to his former ways and begins to hunt down the assailant, who happens to be his former boss's son. John's carries out his revenge in adrenaline fueled one night rampage, pulverizing anybody that gets in his way.

Five years earlier Law Abiding Citizen premiered. This film follows a similar trail as John Wick in which our protagonist is bent on revenge after his home is broken into and his wife and daughter a murdered. However after the arrests of these men the legal system fails to convict one, pushing our protagonist, Clyde, over the edge. This is when the two films differ, Clyde lacks the skill set John did. Being an engineer, Clyde opts to silently plan for his revenge, waiting ten years until one of the assaulters is to be lethally injection and switches it out the chemicals that cause him immense pain. Clyde also kidnaps the unconvicted killer and tortures him on video. Finding evidence that links him to the murders, the same attorney that worked for Clyde is now trying to convict him. However Clyde holds the upper hand in studying law for ten years, he knows they will need a confession from him to convict him. He uses this a bargaining tool and continuisly ups the anti. Taking out everyone that failed to do him justice, including innocents.

We see these two films take a very different route. One has a man going on an all out assault in one  night to get back at those who wronged him, but never anyone else if he has to. Compare that to Clyde, who sits and wait and plans for ten years, to methodically pick off every single person who was involved with the legal preceding. Clyde's wait makes him grow insane, he is not afraid to pick off bystanders to make a point, he has become no better than the men he is fighting against.
  

Ring of Stars

When you discuss film franchises many can come into play. However the discussion would be pointless if you do not talk about the two possibly largest franchises to ever grace the screen, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  These two films do not only share reverence but also share the the iconic Hero's Journey despite a drastically different setting.

Let's begin with the protagonist's beginning. Luke and Frodo share a very quaint and simple beginning, a farm boy and and a resident of the shire respectively. They are launched into their journey by the acquaintance of old wiseman, Obi-Wan and Gandalf. They are as well accompanied by misfits. All these things are shared parts of the Hero's Journey. But what makes these too films unique? In Star Wars Luke has to come to terms with primarily external forces, connecting with the force, his father, being placed in the role of a leader, etc. Not to disregarding his internal struggles such as coming to terms with his own much like his father. Contradicting that in Lord of the Rings is Frodo's internal struggle. His dilemma battling his own constant temptation of the ring and longing for home. Again even those these struggles are prominent, we should not forgot his external ones as well, like a crossing a continent full of Orcs.

I know this post was a bit shorter and a lot more out format than the others. But going over certain literary trends in one of my classes had me thinking about this a lot and I really wanted to do a piece on these two series before the semester was over. 

Fighting the Momentum

The idea of the twist ending has been around a very for a very long time in literature, some even claiming it goes as far back as Arabian Nights. Many directors use twist ending cheaply and are only in the film to make it's otherwise stale premise acceptable. But a few films perfect the shock ending almost as if it is an art.

One of the most foremost directors that heavily deal in twist endings is David Fincher. With his 1995 breakout film Se7en, Fincher launched himself onto the scene with an ending the punched audiences in the stomach. His next film, Fight Club, heralded one of the most famous endings of all time. We start by seeing into the life an unnamed corporate employee who suffers from chronic insomnia. Our protagonist begins to find solace in a man he befriended on a business trip, Tyler Durdan. The two begin to have routine scuffles outside of bars that attract attention from working class men. The group decide to begin a club for these men to meet together. However over time the club begin to evolve and go out of the protagonists control and directly into Durdan's hands. I can only minorly touch on the ending of this film without giving it away, but what makes it so great is simplicity and how well it makes sense. It is a seamless reveal that enriches the film as a whole

Christopher Nolan is a director that received massive praise for his recent films such The Dark Knight, Incepetion, and Interstellar. However one if his first films, Momento, is in my opinion his greatest, and certainly most under appreciated. Momento follows, and I use that term loosely, Leonard Shulty, a man who's wife was killed during a home invasion by two men, one whom escaped. Leonard suffered a head injury during the attack and is unable to retain short term memory. As he conducts his own investigation to find the second murderer he must himself notes and clues to remind himself of what's going on. What makes this movie unique it is told in reverse chronological order, meaning we see the last 5 minutes, then the 5 minutes before that, etc, etc. It is so different but at the same time so well done that, it almost makes each scene a new twist, yet still remaining fresh. The twist actually appears at the beginning of the chronological order, as opposed to fight club. Both films however are brought together by their endings, making it whole.

The Red Pill

The idea of a home is something that every human can relate too, most animals as well. We all have our territories. Protection of said territory is one of the most primal instincts we have and can be one of the most emotional experiences one can have. Because of this, many forms of art and entertainment have used protection of home as a plot point. I will be discussing two films in particular that do not really stand high on scholarly ground. But rather are given breath by a large cult following.

When The Matrix premiered in 1999 audience had seen not much like it. Sci-Fi was not new but the cyber aspect of it was still in its infancy. The internet was only emerging from the fringe and was still foreign to many people. Beyond being a story about the weary's of technology and control, The Matrix is battle for home. After a cybernetic revolution, humanity has become the fuel for these new hyper-intelligent machines. With the majority of humans being supplanted in the simulated reality known as The Matrix while being hooked up to apparatuses, a small collection of humans have formed a resistance against the machines. We see here how humanities own home, earth, has been taken from them by their own creation, and now they are fighting to get it back. We see the deteriorated state humanity is in and how some are so displaced they don't even know what they are fighting for. But we see the certain visionaries that do not give up the idea of home, they are steadfast and unfaltering. And that's what inspires us as viewers.

Fifteen years earlier America had just started the 4th quarter of the Cold War and paranoia was high. The movie Red Dawn is a perfect example of how the fear of losing our home makes it's way into our culture. The film portrays an alternate history of a Soviet-Cuban invasion of American clay. In Colorado a group of teenagers resist the occupation, and much like in The Matrix they are forced to live in destitute conditions. We see in this film that even children will fight for their home when it is threatened. Our home is the most basic unit outside of a family, and we will protect it until our last breath,

A Family of Lions

A man's strongest bond is often considered to be his family. He is quite literally born and raised with them. This bond has been explored by many works of literature and cinema, often dealing with how far one would go in order to benefit his family, whether he is forced upon the mantle or the mantle is thrust upon him.One of the most famous films covering this is Francis Ford Coppela's The Godfather. 

I discussed several films that have been toted as the greatest of all time and The Godfather is no exception. This film is a miniature epic set in post-war New York, following the Corleone crime family and it's youngest son, Michael. Initially Michael is hesitant in participating in the family business, he has a serious girlfriend and is initially committed to her and their future. But after several events place Michael in a position where he must accept his role as the patriarch. We see Michael begin to betray his beginning values in order to secure his family's position, eventually transforming into an image of his father, the very thing he wanted to distance himself from.

Now is the part where I usually bring a second film up to compare it to, and I still am, but I'm going to change up my style a little bit in order to keep myself a little fresh. Normally I'd find some equally revered movie that I could couple with The Godfather, something that could tread on shared hollowed ground. However I could not think of something so I decided to go a bit off the rails discuss for the first time an animated movie.

In my limited opinion I believe The Lion King is the best animated Disney feature, and it shares several parallels with the The Godfather. We see Simba, the heir to Pride Rock, in contrast Michel Corleone. Where Michael was rejecting towards his family's business in the beginning, Simba on the other hand is eagerly awaiting his ascension to the throne. Both parties have groups invested in their demise, which leads to our protagonists exiles, Simba to desert and Michael to Sicily. And like Michael as well, Simba is called home by unforeseen circumstances to battle for his family and rise to his rightful position.

Both these films portray the lengths that a man will go through to protect his family and those who look to him to lead. Although these two films are extremely different in style, I believe they share a common thread in their core.

Wild Nostalgia

Nostalgia is one of the strongest emotions humans have. Our connection and longing for the past is something that can bridge any nation or culture, it is a vital part of the human experience. People people experience nostalgia over different things, for some it could be his childhood home, for others it could be the laugh of their first love, or it could even be as simple as a home cooked meal mom used to make. Being one of the most moving and emotional human phenomenon, many art forms have addressed this and handled it different ways. Two outstanding directors in particular handled this in different, but effective ways.

Soviet director Andrei Tarkovksey is considered to be a master at evoking emotion from the viewer. His sense of cinematography and direction strikes a chord in the heart. This was exemplified in his 1983 film Nostalghia. This film follows Andrei Gorchakov, a Russian writer researching an exiled Russian musician from the 1700's in Italy. During his research his becomes distraught and distant from his only companion, his translator. Andrei often experiences visions of his family he left behind at home, as well as Russian landscapes. He becomes an acquaintance of mentally ill man who through his past, makes Andrei reflect on his own.

When watching this film one must take in to account what was special about the production of it. Nostalghia was actually the first film Tarkovskey made after being exiled himself from Russia. Which adds merely another layer to the films already complex system of nostalgic overlays. This allows Tarkovskey to direct this film from his own emotion, which produces a beautiful account of the pain a man experiences when he longs for that he cannot have. In the film it is mentioned that the exiled Russian composer Andrei is researching, Pavel Sosnovskey, returned to Russia from Italy to go back to his life as a serf, because he could not bare the pain of being away from his fatherland. I believe this mirrors Tarkovskey's own attitude towards the USSR. He felt abandoned by his home, but returning meant he would allow himself to become a slave the USSR's strict film regulations. 

Where Tarkoskey's method was quite abstract throughout Nostalghia, director Ingmar Bergman took a more grounded approach in his 1957 film Wild Strawberries. It begins with a voice over by the main protagonist, Professor Isak Borg, who covers his distaste for many things, as well as his confessed distraught at the world. Following this we see his journey to a University across Sweden, along the way he accompanied by his daughter in-law, as well as a young couple and their friend. Throughout the trip, we begin to see glimpses of Borg's past, though he reminisces about them, we see that he was plauged by several misfortunes, producing the sour man he is today.

Bergman is helped out in this film by superb acting from Victor Sjorstrom, who plays Prof. Borg with flawless emotional mimicry. By allowing to see deeper and deeper into Borgs past throughout the movie provides us with keener understanding into why Borg is the way he is. However even in light of the bad things that have happened to him, we see that Borg still longs for the past, a part which I believe is telling the viewer that we must enjoy our experiences now, because they might be all the bit of happiness we have in our future.

The Wolf of Lyndon

One of the oldest and most tragic tale is that of the man that who fights and claws for his goal and achieves, only for it to slip from his grasp. There are many films that be placed under that description, way too many for me to list. So in this piece I'm gonna be focusing on two in particular made by two great American directors.

As often as I've paraded Stanley Kubrick around as being one the greatest directors of all time, and in my opinion the greatest American director of all time, I haven't really talked about enough of his movies I feel like. So I'd like to cover what I feel like his most underrated and under recognized film, Barry Lyndon. Set in 1750's Ireland, Barry Lyndon covers the tale of Redmond Barry, a man who runs off from his quaint village and enters a the subtle world of the upper class 18th century Britain. Throughout the film, we see Barry rise and take advantage of his predicaments and be rewarded, culminating in his marriage to a very wealthy widow. We also see him grow colder and ruthless through this transformation. Only for his harsh ways to lead to his downfall.

Among great American directors, Martin Scorsese is always mentioned. Many of his films fall under the idea of a man fighting for what he wants, but I think the comparison with Barry Lyndon would fit best with one of his most recent films The Wolf of Wallstreet. While being a drastically different tone than Barry Lyndon, this film does not fail to mirror the raise and fall of an ambitious young man. We see Jordan Belfort  began as an optimistic honest* stock broker, and through a fall of bad fortune, he begins to resort to scamming techniques. Gaining phenomenal success, Jordan rises to the top as one of the premier investment firms in New York, living life the executives of dream. And much like Barry, his own tactics that got him to his high position, ultimately lead to his life's entire collapse.