Rush (1991)

There’s something inherently intriguing about a drug addicted cop.  They’re constantly weaving back and forth between upholding the law and breaking the law, probably going against the law more though.  They either think they’re invincible or have a death wish by being so determined they can do their very dangerous job and be totally wired at the same time.  We’ve had some great cop turned junkie pictures like Bad Lieutenant (both of them), Narc and Leon: The Professional.  Now although this subject is completely disconcerting in real life, it’s 100% prime badass on screen.

We start with one long uncut shot of Gregg Allman (yea, that Gregg Allman) taking a walkthrough of his bar starting out at the second floor and eventually winding all the way downstairs, through a back gambling room, a front area with a live band and outside where Gregg speeds away in his Mercedes.  Right off the bat this is impressive filmmaking.  They even figured out how to turn it into a crane shot at the very end when the car drives off.  Most of the cinematography isn’t anything to write home about but every once in a while you get a really fuckin’ cool shot that stands out and the opening is one of them.

It’s kind of unfortunate that this opening doesn’t go anywhere though.  After Gregg tosses out a guy who snuck in the back seat we cut to the next day (presumably) where we’re introduced to Jim played by Jason Patric (Speed 2: Cruise Control, The Lost Boys).  He’s an undercover cop that recruits rookie Kristen (Jennifer Jason Leigh (Backdraft, Single White Female)) to infiltrate the drug filled underbelly of Texas.

Jim is cool as a cucumber with his all black outfit, long-ish hair and beard.  He’s sure of himself, seen it all and maybe even thrives on the danger of undercover work.  Kristen on the other hand doesn’t entirely know what she got herself into.  Since she’s new to the world of scumbaggery she hasn’t seen dick but insists that she can handle the assignment.  She’s pretty much an angel that gets sucked into the entire culture of drugs and is addicted to being scared that she doesn’t know what will happen next. 

And these two proceed to do a ton of drugs, become completely hooked and have a hard time doing their job, particularly with turning in all the shit they buy.  They end up either keeping or cutting the evidence for themselves.  Jim and Kristen also fall in love which is expected.  I’m fine with this, It’s just that they fall for each other, and become addicted, almost instantly and that seemed rushed (pun intended?).  The filmmakers should’ve taken a little more time building up their relationship and increasing the drug usage and the hardness of the drug type.

But I will admit that the scene where Jim and Kristen do heroin for the first time is so fucking great.  They’re trying to score from this big black guy named Willie Red (Special K McCray (China Moon)).  He casually holds a gun in his hand all strung out insisting that they shoot up so he knows they’re cool and not cops.  Jim barely hesitates and goes ahead with the business.  Kristen tries to get out of it but it doesn’t play and has to go for the needle.  The biggest reason why this scene is so good is because Special K is phenomenal and actually kinda scary as a doped up dude who will definitely shoot you if you don’t do what he says.  He gets high off of watching others get their fix and that makes him one sick motherfucker.  And I love his description of the initial rush as “floating on a cloud of titties”.  Of course this is a big moment for our leads too.  And the seriousness is all the more pronounced because Jim demonstrates to Kristen earlier that if someone wants him to mainline heroin he’ll use baby aspirin instead which should fool most folks.  Not this time though as Red hands Jim a needle all ready to go.  Just tie off and you’re all set.

Another amazing scene is when a low level dealer confronts Jim about suspicions that he’s a cop.  It doesn’t take long for Jim to pull out his piece and snarl “I’ll drop this fuckin’ hammer on your ass so fast you’ll be dead before you got here”.  There isn’t a whole lot more conversation before that dealer becomes an informant. 

Jim doesn’t fuck around and that bluntness along with his tenacity really drives the movie and keeps the pacing up.  Kristen getting in deeper with the increased drug use and losing her innocence also keeps the story interesting and compelling.  And both Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh are very good in this.  They nail these parts with a ton of emotion and so much heartache.

One thing to note is that this was directed by Lili Fini Zanuck, wife of mega producer Richard D. Zanuck (The Sugarland Express, Jaws, Driving Miss Daisy, Road to Perdition, etc.).  This is the only movie she’s done.  She did a little TV after this but this is her baby and she did a great job with it.  It doesn’t feel like someone’s first time out and even bears a few of the traits that would accompany the indie film explosion a couple of years later like some of the cinematography, editing, a relatively small self-contained tale that focuses on character and, most importantly, damn good story telling.  I guess Lili didn’t care too much for the process though and that’s a shame because this is a strong debut.  At least we got this one.

What a cool little film guys.  There are so many wonderful and fascinating choices here like that Eric Clapton did the soundtrack (combined with the Gregg Allman thing Lili must be really into classic rock), this was based off a book of the same name written by a woman (Kim Wozencraft), Sam Elliot (Shakedown, Road House) and William Sadler (Hard to Kill, Die Hard 2) have supporting roles, and this was edited by Mark Warner who did Rocky III, Big Trouble in Little China and The Running Man.

The cop junkie subgenre is moderately small but what’s there tends to be something to check out.  And this is no exception.  I mean I don’t want to build it up too much, it’s not incredible.  It’s pretty similar to The Panicin Needle Park except that was a straight drug addiction picture with regular citizens that also get hooked on each other and not cops, and it’s a better movie overall.  But Rush certainly is a real good watch.  Shoot it, I mean see it.  

Jason Patric looks bad to the fucking bone here

Blown Away

Ryan Gaerity (Tommy Lee Jones (Rolling Thunder, Batman Forever)) busts out of prison in Ireland where he was being held as a mad bomber guy.  He makes his way to Boston where he discovers his old pal Liam McGivney, now called Jimmy Dove (Jeff Bridges (Starman, King Kong (1976))), is also living there and part of the Boston bomb squad (I honestly don’t know if Dove being part of the bomb squad is stupidly ironic or if it actually makes perfect sense).  As you would expect, Gaerity starts blowing away Dove’s team members and also goes after Dove’s family. 

You may notice a key thing missing in that plot description, motive.  There’s some background I left out which involves Dove being part of Gaerity’s crew a long time ago in Ireland and Dove messed up Gaerity’s plan to kill hundreds of people.  He only got to kill a handful (including his own sister), but the point is Gaerity got locked away because of Dove.  The thing I can’t get past is that Gaerity didn’t cook up a revenge plan while in jail and then put it into action once he broke out.  He had no idea about Dove being in Boston and his new family or any of that shit.  This is made explicit in the movie too where Gaerity is shocked to see Dove on TV as part of coverage on a bomb found at MIT (not one of Gaerity’s by the way, some other asshole).  So right off the bat this film’s premise is based off of a huge coincidence.  That’s really not a good starting point.

I mean what was Gaerity planning on doing if he hadn’t serendipitously come across Dove?  Was he gonna blow stuff up anyway or was he gonna hang back and take it easy?  The way they have it it’s like “oh shit Dove’s in Boston too?!  Well, I gotta kill everybody now”.

Jeez, look at that fuckin' Jesus shirt

And the story isn’t the only thing that’s underdeveloped.  Every character, except Dove, is flat as can be with ham-fisted traits that define their entire existence.  Dove’s wife (Suzy Amis (Firestorm, The Usual Suspects, also James Cameron’s wife, but not at the time)) is there so he can explain his background to somebody and so she can be an eventual target for Gaerity.  She’s an all round good person that we never learn anything about except that she plays the violin in an orchestra.  Dove’s step-daughter (Stephi Lineburg (Richie Rich)) is there so she can also get in the sights of Gaerity.  Once again, seems like an all around good little girl that we don’t know a damn thing about.  Anthony (Forest Whitaker (The Color of Money, Species)) is there so Dove can bump heads with a teammate and keep tempers hot.  He also fulfills the deus ex machina role at the end.  His whole thing is he’s a cocky bastard.  He brags about his “moves” when it comes to bomb disposal and likes to listen to jazz at full fucking volume in headphones.  And Gaerity is just evil, plain and simple.  We never learn why he has this urge to blow everything up so badly or get any insight into his politics, except that he wants to create a new country called chaos and a new government called anarchy (that’s actually in the movie by the way, I didn’t make that shit up).

Dove is the only character with any nuance.  He has a sordid background about being into Gaerity’s…uhh…craziness?  I don’t know, it isn’t explained.  He’s trying to forget his haunted past and focus on his new family.  But he also doesn’t want anyone to know about his Ireland days which adds some good tension so I’ll give the film that.

There’s plenty of bomb stuff in here for those of you that are into that kind of thing.  The filmmakers really play up the idea that a bomb could potentially be anywhere, in anything.  The problem is they choose some silly setups that don’t make sense if you’re purely trying to kill people and create havoc.  Like there’s one where this bomb kills a team member by ricocheting part of the thing off of steel plates in a fancy way.  I don’t even have to explain what’s wrong here, the movie does it for me: “…if somebody wanted to kill one of the squad he wouldn’t have to go through all that trouble…he’d just blow the shit out of him”.  And you could say that about every single scene involving a bomb in this picture.

I will admit that the filmmakers did remarkably stick to a bombs-only rule.  I think a gun is fired only three times and never at a human.  It would’ve been so easy to throw in a shootout or have any character whip out a gun to heighten and/or end a situation.  But they didn’t go that route so kudos, I guess.

And I just want to mention the showdown at the end on the abandoned ocean liner.  It’s an ok final fight but the exploding ship climax looks fucking incredible.  It looks like they did it full scale too with a giant mock up that they completely obliterated in a massive fireball.  The explosion goes full goddamn frame with a bunch of the angles they used and is quite a sight.  This and the bomb squad truck explosion in the middle of the movie are really impressive.  The special effects team did a fantastic job creating some memorable blasts. 

Also, this piece is really into Boston.  There are several skyline shots, MIT, Irish shit everywhere, TWO Red Sox games and what I can only assume is the Boston Pops orchestra playing at the Hatch Shell.  What’s missing is the famous accent.  Bridges puts it on a handful of times but that’s about it.  No one else even tries which is kinda weird since this is otherwise such a blowjob to the city.

But to wrap this up, man, this movie is way dumber than I remembered and that’s unfortunate because Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones look like they’re pretty into it.  Jones especially with one of the most cartoonish Irish accents I’ve ever heard (but because it’s so exaggerated I actually kinda like it).  Not even director Stephen Hopkins, who had a run of damn fun movies up until this point (Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Predator 2, Judgment Night), could mold this into something really exciting.  It just didn’t blow me away (oh Christ, sorry).

One last thing, it’s interesting that Jeff Bridges made another bomb-centric movie with Arlington Road just five years later.  From what I remember that didn’t blow me away either (alright I promise that’s the last time) but I wanna say it’s better than this.         

Here's some other shit:

Lloyd Bridges is...Mad Max

This poster is better than the film

Live Free or Die Hard

Does anyone out there know how Live Free or Die Hard is generally viewed today?  It seems to have faded from people’s (and the internet’s) memory in the last eight years.  Well I decided to check it out again and I think I understand why it just doesn’t get brought up very much. 

Firstly, there are some legitimately cool things in the film like the first shootout sequence, the hand to hand fight McClane has with Maggie Q (up until they move to the elevator shaft), the computer shit isn’t as insulting as it usually is, Bruce is Bruce (even if he plays it way too cocky in this installment) and the cinematography is very nice including some particularly fucking awesome camera movements.  I’ll totally give kudos for making all of the action comprehendible instead of going for the shaky cam with a million quick cuts method which was widely popular at the time.  The overall technical aspects of the filmmaking are pretty well done here.   

But just to be clear I don’t think this is really a good picture.  The way they constantly contrast McClane’s old fashioned attitude and approach with the modern world is extremely contrived, most of the action sequences are downright cartoony (like McClane jumping off an exploding fighter jet and sliding down a collapsing freeway ramp or launching a speeding car into a helicopter somehow from the road below), the main villain (Timothy Olyphant (Gone in Sixty Seconds, Justified)) was actually cast well for what they were going for but the character itself is lame especially compared to the previous three movies, and the parkour shit is laughably dumb.

There’s one scene in particular that I want to bring up because I think it’s very interesting.  At one point McClane has a conversation (more like a speech really) with Justin Long (Drag Me to Hell).  He opens up and explains how being a hero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  He says that heroism only leads to shattered relationships and a lonely existence with little acknowledgement of your honorable deeds.  This is the first time McClane digs into the psyche of his previous exploits (even though he’s not naming specific events of actions).  This seems kinda strange at first because in parts 2 and 3 McClane shrugs it off whenever someone mentions that “Nakatomi thing in LA” to him.  But he’s getting older and sure, he’s allowed to philosophize on his life and where he currently is mentally and with his family and etc.  That’s why I like this new development in the character.  It’s genuinely sad to hear that McClane is still having a hard time at home.  And it sounds like shit has only gotten worse with not only a wife that doesn’t want anything to do with him but now a daughter that hates his guts as well.  The only minor problem with this scene is that the dialogue comes off a little too self-aware but it’s not a big deal.

Moving on, I wonder what made the studio suits choose Len Wiseman to direct because all he had done up to that point were two Underworld films.  And subsequently all he did was the Total Recall remake.  I can’t beat on him too much though because anyone would’ve had a hard time making the next Die Hard (especially coming off of With a Vengeance).  The only possible exception is maybe McTiernan.  But the big problem there is that he was wrapped up in some bad legal shit then which eventually led to him doing time.

But let’s get back to my main question: how come no one talks about this anymore?  The thing is number 4 here isn’t really terrible or really good or even a forgotten gem.  Everyone forgot about it because it lies somewhere in the middle.  There isn’t enough to get worked up over in any way.  It has some nice moments but it also has a bunch of bad ones, a few cringe worthy but mostly it’s stuff that just doesn’t stick with you.

So it’s not a total bust if you should decide to throw it on, but it leaves you with a feeling of “I guess that was sorta fun…maybe”.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

What a badass fucking movie guys.  It had been a long time since I had seen this one and I remember it being good but I forgot how ballsy Robin is.  The guy walks right into villainous Prince John’s castle all by his lonesome, throws a dead royal deer down on the table in front of John, sits down, gnaws on some gamebird and makes incredibly pugnacious remarks about how bad of a person the Prince is.

Robin doesn’t give a fuck and that’s why I love him.  He doesn’t doubt his own ability or his morality for a second.  He believes it’s his divine duty to protect the people of England.  And his band of merry men are his cult followers that keep the singular goal of defying Prince John at every turn until King Richard returns from the Crusades at the fore.

To anchor this piece you have a marvelous trifecta of acting talent.  Errol Flynn (Captain Blood) as Robin Hood keeps you on your toes with his sharp tongue and bold feats, Basil Rathbone (The Hound of the Baskervilles) as Sir Guy of Gisbourne is a stuffy douche that serves as Robin’s main opponent, and Claude Rains (The Invisible Man) is the haughty and egomaniacal Prince John who plays it with just the right amount of wimpiness so that you know he’s really some wiener behind all his power.  And sure, you also have Olivia de Havilland (Gone with the Wind) as Robin’s love interest who does very well and even saves Robin’s life at one point (in fact she almost does it twice if it weren’t for that piece of shit Guy of Gisbourne).  So a great cast all around.

Now I know what you’re all thinking, “this is from 1938, it’s probably boring and filled with terribly staged scenes of nothing but trite dialogue”.  And that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  This thing is almost all meat.  There’s a ton of action including several sword fights, a hand to hand tussle, a chase on horseback, arrows are flying all over the place including into henchmen’s chests (for real too, they hired an expert archer to shoot arrows into actors chests that were heavily padded, I mean holy shit that’s a fucking crazy thing to do for just a movie) and there’s an archery contest.  It’s kinda unbelievable how many people Robin kills throughout the film without thinking twice.  And the non-action stuff is fantastic too because they’re always advancing the story and shit keeps escalating.

Jeez, Robin's about to shoot that guy at point blank
range with his arrow, what a crazy sonuvabitch

I’ll fully admit that this is sort of a hammy picture.  Errol Flynn especially tends to deliver his lines in an over the top cartoony way.  But his performance is still cool because he backs his shit up with very aggressive and athletic action.  You know, I was gonna mention something about having the mindset that this is like a 30’s version of a comic book movie but fuck that.  This is just an awesome film.  I don’t care if it feels a little hokey at times, it’s a fuckin’ balls out adventure and a beautifully vivid colorful picture to look at.  If you’re an action connoisseur like I am then this is a must see.