ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

action film

Emancipation – Fight for freedom

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“We will not ask for freedom. We will not wait for freedom to be handed to us. We will take freedom!”

As one might expect from the title, Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation is a story of freedom. The true story the film is based on involves a photo known as “Whipped Peter” (the man’s actual name was Gordon), which became an icon of antislavery fervor during the Civil War. The photo shows a man with severe scarring from the punishment he endured. But the man in the photo also went on to fight in the war to free others.

The film is the story of Peter (Will Smith) who is torn away from his family and forced to help the Confederate Army build a railroad. The first quarter of the film details the severe conditions the enslaved workers dealt with. This was a time and place where black lives truly did not matter (at least to the white people involved). Some of the men were worked to death. Others were killed out of savagery, perhaps even sadism.

The middle half of the film begins when Peter and a few others escape the camp. Their goal is to reach the Union army in Baton Rouge, because they have heard that Lincoln has freed slaves. They just need to reach the Union forces to achieve that. But Baton Rouge is several days away through swamps. Peter must survive the dangers of the swamp (alligators, snakes, flies) and avoid Fassel (Ben Foster) and his crew of bounty hunters (and dogs) who are determined to bring him (or at least his head) back to the camp.

The final section of the film is after Peter reaches the Army. (At this point, the famous picture is taken.) He hardly finds emancipation. Instead, the only options for him are to work on the farm or joining the army. When the time comes, the black soldiers are sent in first as more expendable. Peter shows his innate leadership and grit. In time, the army will continue to other areas and bring freedom to the enslaved at the plantations—including the one where he left his family.

One of the key qualities the script gives to Peter is faith. We first see Peter in his cabin with his family. They are gathered as he washes his wife’s feet and quotes bits of Psalms about God’s goodness and protection. When he arrives at the camp, even in the midst of the savagery, he claims that God is with them. Another of the enslaved men seeks to rebut this idea, but Peter holds firm. In battle, his faith continues to support him.

Fuqua and Director of Photography Robert Richardson have created a very drab and gloomy world. The film often seems to be in black and white, but actually, the colors have been desaturated, leaving only glimpses of colors, usually red and a bit of green. This emphasizes the bloodiness of the work camp and the war. It also makes the natural world of the swamp just as threatening as the world of men and their hatred.

The film leads us to consider something of the nature of freedom. The fact that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t really free anyone. It could only be effective if the Union won the war. Even when Peter reaches the Union lines, he is still treated as less than a real person. Even though he had reached a place where freedom might be possible, he would never be truly free until he could get back to his family and liberate them as well. Freedom, it seems is not a gift bestowed by a president. In this film, freedom is that which comes from within and requires the strength and struggle to be made a reality.

Emancipation is in theaters and streaming on Apple TV+.

Photos courtesy of Apple TV+.

Angel Has Fallen: Banning Goes Boom!

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Angel Has Fallen sees the return of Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) who is arrested after he is believed to be responsible for the failed assassination attempt of U.S. President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman). After escaping from custody, Banning must evade the FBI and his own agency to discover the truth behind the attack. Desperate to clear his name, Banning must turnto unlikely allies in order to save his life and, more importantly, the entire country.

Directed (and co-written) by Ric Roman Waugh (Snitch), Angel is the third movie in the Fallen franchise, this time turning the conspiracy plot against Agent Banning himself. On the run for a crime he didn’t commit, the film doesn’t shy away from any of the particular clichés that fill the genre. Person from his past with an agenda? Check. A ‘higher power’ bent on destruction? Sure. FBI agent who may believe Banning is innocent despite the facts? Absolutely. (At one point, one yearns for Tommy Lee Jones’ speech about searching every ‘dog house, hen house and outhouse’ from The Fugitive.)

Gerard Butler stars as ‘Mike Banning’ in ANGEL HAS FALLEN. Photo Credit: Simon Varsano.

But none of that matters here.

From the outset, Angel knows exactly what it wants to offer its audience and it does so with confidence and style. What remains most important for action films like the Fallen franchise are the quality of the set pieces. As a result, despite the above plot clichés, Angel thankfully proves wildly entertaining through its action sequences and sheer desire for wanton destruction. Subtly has never been the goal for this franchise as Banning must duck, dodge and dive his way through increasingly difficult odds on his way to clear his name. Loud, boisterous and fun, the film unapologetically plays out like a theme park ride—and that is to its credit. (Personally, I found the sequences involving the drone attack or the semi-truck particularly fun.)

As Banning, Butler has clearly grown more comfortable in the role of the Secret Service agent and Angel allows him to explore the characters history more than previous films. Broken by the job physically and emotionally, Banning is weighing whether or not he can continue in his current role or if he should finally take a position behind a desk for the sake of his family. (“We’re lions,” an old friend reminds him.”) Time is clearly catching up with Banning and his priorities have changed with a young child and his wife to think about. As a result, the film is interested in exploring what it means to make sacrifices, whether it involves taking a bullet for the president or giving up the only thing you know for the sake of your family and health. (Weirdly, the film even tries to hold Banning’s decision up against his own father’s decision to abandon his family in his youth.) As a result, Butler gives the audience a chance to feel for the big lug as he works through his own personal drama while fighting for his life and reputation.

In the end, Angel Has Fallen admittedly has little depth to its script but that isn’t the goal. This is a film that wants to entertain you by assaulting your eyes and ears with excess and, for the most part, it works. Should the film succeed financially, one can fully expect to see more of Banning over the next few years as well. 

Now, pass the popcorn.

Angel has Fallen blows up the box office beginning on August 23rd, 2019

Cold Pursuit: Laughing in Cold Blood

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In Cold Pursuit, Nels Coxman (Liam Neeson) lives a quiet life as a snowplow driver in the harsh winter conditions of Denver, Colorado. However, his simple existence comes crashing to a halt when his son dies under suspicious circumstances. As he seeks out the truth, he soon set out for vengeance against a psychotic drug lord named Viking (Tom Bateman) and his sleazy henchmen. As his quest turns violent, Coxman sets off a chain of events that includes a kidnapping, a series of deadly misunderstandings and a turf war between drug lords.

Directed by Hans Petter Moland, Cold Pursuit is an English language remake of his own film, In Order of Disappearance. Transporting the location from Norway to Denver, and substituting Stellan Skarsgard for Liam Neeson, Pursuitis a dark thriller with comic sensibilities. There is something unique about the film’s tone as each death is treated somewhat playfully, with epitaphs limited to the character’s mob nicknames and pop music played joyfully in the background. As the vengeful (but ‘citizen of the year’) Coxman, Neeson parodies the types of characters that gave him a career resurgence in recent years, as he energetically clears a path through the mob as his plow does the snow-covered roads.

What’s more, the film’s brutal weather conditions and landscape parallel beautifully the viciousness of the crime syndicate that reaches across the territory. Despite its scenic background, this is a land of harshness and cruelty. The snow is relentless and the traveling treacherous. The police are largely ineffective, simply allowing the law to be overlooked. This is a male-dominated world where women are largely ignored and those that offer grace are considered weak. (In fact, the only woman that garners respect from her peers is the one who uses her sexuality to get the information she needs from a male informant before pushing him aside.) In this world, justice is ‘eye for an eye’ (or, if you will, ‘a son for a son’).

Yet, somehow, in the midst of this, Coxman is a sympathetic character. Like many of Neeson’s characters, Coxman is an everyman who is simply pushed too far after the loss of his son. Though he’s willing to kill out of vengeance (after all, he read about it in a crime novel), we also see a side of him that is genuine and nurturing. He is a man who simply wants himself and his family to be left alone, after justice is service of course. There is little space for hope in this barren land, unless it comes at the end of a gun. In other words, this representation of Denver is a picture of what happens when darkness is permitted to run rampant.

While the film has moments that work, Pursuit largely seems unclear on what it wants to accomplish. Though it has been compared to the work of Tarantino or Elmore Leonard, Pursuit’s sense of humour just seems to miss its mark for a North American audience. (Are mobsters discussing a dog’s bowel movements considered hilarious? Or a child referencing ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ while lying innocently in bed with his kidnapper?) While Neeson excels in the role of everyman’s hero, he struggles to underline the humour in this type of world. Maybe something gets lost in translation but it’s for this reason that Pursuit largely left me cold.

 

Cold Pursuit is in theatres on February 8th, 2019

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3.25 Coming Home to SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING

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This week, Steve teams up with Peter Percival (YouTube’s Bearded Movie Guy) and Jeff Baker (Geek Orthodox podcast) to talk about SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING!  Peter Parker has swung back into theatres (and the Marvel Cinematic Universe) with his 6th film in the last 15 years.  Have his web-fluid gotten stale?  Or should our spider-sense be tingling to get to the theatre?  In a fun conversation, the guys get to talk about coming-of-age, the importance of the ‘small’ and their favourite ‘Spider-Moments’.

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

3.25 Spiderman Homecoming

A special thanks to Peter and Jeff for coming on the show!

 

Spider-Man theme song composed by winner Paul Francis Webster and Robert “Bob” Harris.  Copyright 1967

The Belko Experiment – Kill or Be Killed

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“Normal people do not work at Belko”

It starts off like a normal workday at Belko Industries, except for the paramilitary guards outside. Belko is an American company that has set up shop near Bogotá, Columbia. Because of the threat of kidnapping, each employee has a tracker embedded in them for security purposes. As the day begins there is lots of comradery (and some rivalry) as at any workplace. Just as people are settling into work, an announcement come over the speakers. In the next half hour, two of the people in the building must be murdered, or four random people will be killed. The building is completely sealed off. There is no escape. Is this some sort of prank or a deadly game? Well, since the title of the film is The Belko Experiment we have to assume this is not going to end well.

As the day plays out and the stakes get more and more deadly, people react differently. Some try to problem-solve their way out of the building. Some think it’s all a hallucination caused by the water. Some think they need to follow the orders and start the process of deciding who will live and who will die.

Viewers, of course, will consider which group they would end up as a part of. Should they try to survive by stealth and cooperation, or would they take up violence to survive at any cost? I suspect most viewers would say those who eschew the violent response are the good guys and those who only seek their own well-being are the bad guys. But is that an oversimplification? And what of those who are running this show? Aren’t they the true enemy that should be confronted by everyone?

The character that we are given the most reason to identify with, Mike (John Gallagher Jr.), is clear that killing each other is the wrong approach—for one reason, they should know that whoever is doing this will never let anyone tell the world about it. He serves as the main moral voice that holds out against the violence. We want his position to lead to a way of defeating the unseen power that is crating this situation.

ALERT: SPOILERS FOLLOW

Mike maintains that moral high ground even when some of his coworkers are trying to kill him. At least he does until the last five minutes of the film when he opts to lash out in rage—not only at the killers inside the building, but those who are controlling it all. The film ends by crushing any hope we had that there is a better way than violence. It is as if you were to watch Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge (which is slightly bloodier) and after Desmond Doss refused to touch a gun and spent hours rescuing wounded soldiers, he finally picked up a machine gun and blew away half the Japanese army. I felt as though my hope that there is a way to conquer evil without violence, which had been fed throughout the film, was betrayed by those last few minutes.

Photos courtesy of MGM

John Wick: Chapter 2 – The Soul of the Soldier

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NOTE:  The following article contains major spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 2.

John Wick: Chapter 2 continues the story of ‘retired’ hitman, John Wick (Keanu Reeves).  Set a mere two weeks after the events of first film, Wick has successfully finished his manic vengeance and settles in at home for his new life… for about 10 minutes.  Soon after, he is met by Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), a former associate who reminds him of an old debt that needs to be repaid.  Despite his protests, Wick is forced back to work to fulfill his obligation—after all, there are rules to be followed—and he finds himself in the middle of a global turf war.

In the most surprising mash-up of the year, John Wick: Chapter 2 opens with a clip of Buster Keaton projected on a nearby wall as the action takes place below.  The immediate imagery is clear:  This is a film that will emphasize the visuals and physical performances.  In essence, this means that, like Keaton, Reeves’s character will show you through the story with his actions, as opposed to his words.  By utilizing a unique style of violence that some have dubbed ‘gun-fu’, the appeal of the Wick films seems to lie with its almost dance-like action sequences, combining the use of martial arts and firearms.  Whereas the majority of actioners now make use of the infamous ‘shaky-cam’ style of filmmaking (I blame you, Paul Greengrass), the Wick series follows the violent acts in ways that develops genuine intensity.  Although extremely violent, it remains both visceral and stunning visually.

Still, there is far more to the film than choreography and headshots.  Whereas the first film follows Wick’s grief-filled heart, Chapter 2 focuses entirely on his soul.  As the film builds to its climax, he seems to straddle two different worlds.  With the final battle taking place in an art gallery featuring an exhibit entitled ‘Reflections on the Soul’, John Wick has no time to do so. By literally making his descent into the underworld that he is caught between heaven’s gates and hell’s flames.  Through the director’s ingenious choice to place the final battle in a hall of mirrors, we see that Wick is actually two men – one seeking redemption and the other forever damned.  (Admittedly, this reflective setting is hardly new to the action genre, but the subtext keeps the moment fresh.)

What’s more, in John Wick: Chapter 2, justice is swift and vengeful.  In an “eye for an eye” world, Wick is reminded that he is “still Old Testament”.  We see this evidenced in the penultimate moment of the film where, in a scene reminiscent of Genesis 4, John literally kills his ‘blood brother’ in the Continental’s dining hall.  However, in doing so, he also breaks one of the key rules of his profession and thus, destroys the only place of Edenic shalom that he has enjoyed.  As a result, such an act causes him to be thrown out into the night.  Yet, even so, the Continental’s benevolent and ever-present manager, Winston (Ian McShane), continues to care for him.  In a moment reminiscent of Cain’s exchange with God after the murder of Abel, Winston informs John that the only reason he remains alive is ‘because he wills it’.  (What’s more, to deepen the comparison with this moment, Winston even hands John a marker as he departs.) As the film closes, he is cast out into the night with nowhere to wander.  Through Winston’s act of grace, he takes on a God-like persona as he watches over Wick, yet because of his actions, there must be consequences.  John is a man who has sinned against Winston and, although there remains the desire to forgive, Winston cannot erase the actions that have already taken place. As a result, he is now the target of everyone yet protected by none.

This is a film that explores the moment where one is forced to decide who they shall be.  While on his way to meet underground crime boss, Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), Wick is met with a sign that says ‘Jesus saves’, yet he walks right past it.  It is a reminder that the justice of the Old Testament can appear dark without the light inherent to the New Testament.  Wick is a man who needs salvation yet finds no absolution in anything.  Near the end of the film, he sits in his burnt down home, clutching his wife’s rosary and reflecting on the events that have just taken place.  Although he is clearly repentant, he refuses to—or, more accurately, is unable to—move beyond his past.

After all is said and done, what people will most likely remember about John Wick: Chapter 2 is its stylized violence and spectacular battle scenes.  Still, the deeper story within the film reveals a man who wishes to take steps into a world of freedom but remains a lost soul, running from his past and leaning into an empty future.  (“Am I free?,” he asks as he is reminded that he ‘never will be’.)  Though called ‘the Boogeyman’ by those who fear him, Wick is, in fact, more of a ghost, floating through life without any firm spiritual grounding.

One only hopes that, in the inevitable (and likely, final) Chapter 3, Wick finally finds some shred of light in the darkness that continues to swallow him whole.