Author: Chad

To those outside the world of comic books, Neil Gaiman is a name that would raise few eyebrows. As a novelist and comic book writer, he has stayed largely outside of the realm of Hollywood. Last year featured the release of two of his biggest movie projects to date. He co-wrote the screenplay for Beowulf and saw his the film adaptation of Stardust finally hit theaters across the globe.

Even though I would go so far as to claim myself a fan of Gaiman’s work, I had never read Stardust. I went into the film only knowing that Matthew Vaughn had left the 3rd X-Men film and decided to make this movie instead. After finishing the movie, I think he made a wise decision (if you guess that I was not a fan of X-Men 3, then give yourself a gold star.)

Before I continue I think it should be mention that if you saw a preview for the movie during its theatrical run then you probably still have no idea what the film is like. In our current age of cinema, recent fantasy films have been epic tales about the fate of the world, all played to complete seriousness. Stardust is a movie that adds a bit of humor, sometimes very dark humor, to the traditional mix of witches, princes, and heroes. Lately, when a movie has resorted to that tactic it can easily be passed off as a kids movie, which I can certainly say that Stardust is not.

The film gives us the basic fantasy premise with all the trimmings: An eager young hero (Charlie Cox), a beautiful heroine naive to the danger that stalks her (Claire Danes), a powerful witch craving youth (Michelle Pfeiffer), and a dark prince willing to do anything to claim his throne (Mark Strong.) If you know your storytelling then I am willing to bet you have a good idea on how it all works out in the end. Knowing endings is nothing knew, and in fantasy, much like other genres, it is all about how you get there. This is where Stardust throws in some quirks like… a one night stand, encouraged (and comically celebrated) fratricide, and a twist on the stereotypical Sea Captain archetype.

But what is it about? You have a small stone wall separating two towns. On one side is a real-world, quaint English village, aptly named Wall. On the other side is a bustling world of fantasy known as Stormhold. One night, a shooting star passes over the sky, and sets in a motion a race by three people, each with their own reason to get their hands on the fallen celestial prize. Two of the people dwell within Stormhold, and the other is a young man from the village who has more of a connection with the land on the other side than he may know. Who will reach the star? What is the star? Why do they need the star? What… do you really want me to ruin it?

After I had reached the end of the tale and people were off living happily ever after, I found myself quite satisfied with what I had seen. I thought the movie managed to juggle being fun, sweet, and dark quite nicely. Its rather simple story moves along at a very brisk pace, and even tries its best to throw in some twists and turns to make you think that perhaps this is that one time that things won’t work out in the end. The idea of an adventure being just beyond a wall is something that appeals to me.

However, it is not without fault. The biggest negative that I could give it is that I found it to be a bit forgettable. As enjoyable as it was, it will never get out of the long shadow cast by The Princess Bride. The balancing act between the comedy and drama that I enjoyed, is bound to turn some people off. I speak from experience on this criticism. After viewing the movie, I ended up spending a fair amount of time trying to defend it from a friend that hated it with such passion that you would think that the director had personally pissed in his popcorn. His distaste for the comedy is justifiable. In prepping for this review I found out that the screenwriters that adapted the story added whimsy and humor to it in order to offset the violence and sex of the original story. I think it is a bit of sad statement when we can find more mature material in the form of storybook/comic book than on film, but that’s a blog post for another time.

What can I say? I am a sucker for a whimsical tale… and comedic fratricide… can’t forget about that.

Stardust @ IMDB

Released in the heart of the summer of 2007, Rescue Dawn was a film long forgotten when the awards season came around. If you listened close enough to the dark horse predictions from critics you would hear Christian Bale’s name brought up from time to time. After finishing the film, I was prepared to join the small, but growing bandwagon of critics cheering on the overlooked film… then my eyes were opened to the real story.

The film tells the true story of Lt. Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a Naval pilot shot down over Laos in 1966. He is captured by forces sympathetic to the Viet Cong and is eventually detained in a remote POW camp. Already inside the camp are a handful of other prisoners, including two Americans – Duane Martin (Steve Zahn) and Gene DeBruin (Jeremy Davies). Rounding out the group are a couple of quiet Thai prisoners, and a sickly looking prisoner from Hong Kong named Y.C. Unlike Dieter, all the men have been in the camp for over a year, and it shows. The frail men warm to Dieter and take to showing him around the camp, helping him learn the name of the guards, and adjusting to the daily routine. All the while Dieter is absorbing the information and forming his escape plan. He rallies the men and urges them to stick together to try and find one last chance at freedom. Will they escape? Can they survive in the jungle?

Writer-Director Werner Herzog moves the film along at quite a nice pace. The scenery is beautiful and stifling at the same time. Dieter’s rush from the fresh wreckage of his plane seems to spiral him into a twisting maze of cliffs, rivers, and never-ending miles of emerald green. Herzog throws himself and his cast into the untamed landscape, and even drags the audiences through the thick walls of branches and vines.

In the middle of it all is the hero, Dieter Dengler. You can feel the absolute love that Herzog has for his epic hero. In fact, Rescue Dawn is not the first time he has covered Dieter’s story. In the 1998, he made a documentary about Dieter Dengler’s story titled Little Dieter Needs to Fly. (If you suddenly had a flashback to Martin Short’s character in Three Amigos!, you’re not the only one.) It is this hero worship though that slowly undoes the film. There is no doubt that Dieter Dengler is an amazing man, and one that showed unbelievable courage and heart. However, you should not raise a person’s heroics at the expense of the brave and heroic actions of others.

Yet that is exactly what Herzog does in this film. All of Dieter’s fellow POWs are shown at best, to be sickly and weak, and at worst, manic and dishonest. In reality, that was not the case at all. The character of Gene DeBruin is played with unstable aloofness by a dangerously thin Jeremy Davies. There is a key scene in the film that portrays DeBruin as a broken, untrustworthy madman. It is a powerful scene that makes you feel disgusted and frustrated with the character… and in reality, it did not happen like that. Herzog admits in the supplemental material that he was wrong about the actions of DeBruin, and that he wishes he could have inserted in the real story about Gene, but that he didn’t learn about it in time. The issue I have with that is that Herzog has been working with Dieter Dengler’s story since the mid-to-late 90’s. Add to that the alteration of other important events in the film, and I cannot let an, “oops, I didn’t know,” excuse quell my unease with the film. I understand that the vast majority of movies that claim to be based on true events are just feeding us the stories as they think we want to see them. In a case like this, where there is such an interesting story to be told just by telling the truth, I see no reason to make drastic changes.

In the end, if you view the movie as a fictional tale, you will be treated to a solid story. There is no denying the visual talent of Herzog and his crew. Every member of the cast went above and beyond for this film, and none of them could ever be accused of phoning in their performances. Any award buzz they garnered was well deserved. If only the real story could have been told….

*If you are interested in seeing the movie, skip these links until after you’ve finished it*

Read the Wikipedia page for Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn: The Truth

Rescue Dawn @ IMDB