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#569 – Paul (2011)
Paul (2011)
Film review #569
Director: Greg Mottola
SYOPSIS: Graeme and Clive are two nerds attending Comic-con. On their road trip towards Area 51, they come across an actual alien named Paul, who is on the run from the authorities that have been holding him. Graeme and Clive end up helping Paul to get to the spaceship that is waiting to pick him up, and in doing so, end up getting chased by a number of people that they have annoyed in the process…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Paul is a 2011 sci-fi comedy film. Starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Graeme Willie and Clive Gollings, two British nerds and sci-fi artists/writers who are attending San Diego Comic-Con. Being alien fanatics, they take a trip out into the Nevada desert to the sites of Area 51 and the Roswell incident. On the road along the way, they come across an alien named Paul, who is being chased by the authorities after he escaped their custody, and is on his way to meeting a spaceship to pick him up and return home. Thus begins a buddy road trip film that plays out pretty much how you would expect: with plenty of laughs, silliness, and some heartfelt moments too. It’s clearly meant to appeal to a more casual filmgoer, but there’s a decent amount of quick references that more avid fans will pick up on. The story offers few surprises, but you don’t really notice because the film instead offers some quickfire comedy and solid momentum that keeps things rolling. It has a feel of Blue Brothers in parts in the sense that it builds into a chase film that has enough chaotic energy to bring all the characters together and make something interesting.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, as always, play the leads with good chemistry, and Seth Rogen as the alien Paul offers a character with enough gravitas and presence that contrasts with Pegg and Frost, but very much like a typical Seth Rogen character. It feels like his character is meant to be a lot more crude, but is perhaps toned down to make the film more mainstream, with only a bit of an edge. Even though Paul is obviously CG, he is still animated and expressive, and his interactions with the cast feel natural, which is a solid plus for the film. The supporting cast are very typical characters, but again, for the casual film viewer, play a part well, and you know what their role is very clearly and quickly.
Paul is a film that works with very broad strokes: it’s comedy is quick and energetic, the story is condensed and easy to follow, and the characters have good chemistry. However, going any deeper you find an awful lot missing that is needed to make the film more memorable and gripping. It feels like the film was conceived with these very broad stroke, and little was done refining this underneath the premise. It plays it safe in the sense that it clearly needs to appeal to a mainstream audience (apparently this is what the funding for the film was based on), and so any smarter references or parodying other science-fiction works is reduced to easily missed one liners that don’t disrupt the flow of the film. The film is still lots of fun, even if you’re not a fan of the crude (but never too crude) humour. It could have been a lot more, but what we have is good enough for an entertaining ride.
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#568 – The Island (2005)
The Island (2005)
Film review #568
Director: Michael Bay
SYNOPSIS: Human survivors of a post-apocalypse “Contamination” live their lives in an underground silo with every aspect of their lives monitored and regulated. The only way out is to win a random lottery, wherein the winner gets transported to “The Island,” an apparent paradise. Lincoln Echo Six, one of the residents, begins asking questions about the outside world and The Island, and when his friend Jordan Two Delta wins the lottery to go to the island, he takes the chance to try and find out for himself what that entails, leading to a discovery that forces him and Jordan on the run…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Island is a 2005 sci-fi film. It is set in an underground bunker, where the human residents are told they are the last surviving life on the planet, and their lives are monitored in every detail to ensure their safety. Lincoln Six Echo is one such resident who is questioning the whole system, much to the annoyance of the director. The only way to leave the facility is to win a random lottery, where the winner will be take to “The Island,” a paradise where the winner can live a life of luxury. The setting of the film should be familiar to those who know anything of the genre, as it pays homage to films such as Logan’s Run, in setting it in a dystopian futuristic society where certain things are forbidden (love, mostly). It, subsequently, should come as no surprise that this whole set up is hiding a dark secret, and when Lincoln Two Six discovers that The Island doesn’t exist, and they are all just clones being used as spare parts/organs for their sponsors who paid for them to be made, he and Jordan Two Delta, who has just won the lottery to go to The Island (which in reality is just having your organs harvested), make a break for it and escape into the outside world. They are pursued by a mercenary force on the orders of the director to have them returned. The whole setup should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with this type of film, but the familiarity with the concept allows the characters a bit more breathing room to develop. The trouble with this, is that the film doesn’t really do that: it just turns into a chase film with little direction: I get that the two main characters are just trying to survive and perhaps not thinking about a long-term goal, but this does leave the film feeling, as a viewer, a little rudderless.
Lincoln and Jordan are pursued by this band of apparently highly trained mercenaries, but the fact that they are unable to stop two people that have never been in the outside world or seen many of the things that exist there just makes them seem a bit incompetent. Despite a lot of focus being on the intimate relationship between the two leads, the film does have a fair few big action scenes, unsurprisingly brought to you by director Michael Bay. As you might expect, there are scenes full of high speed chases, explosions, and loud noises that are designed to have a lot of energy and hype. The problem with this though, is that it doesn’t really mix with the other part of the film, and again, that these two people who have never been in the outside world are able to survive these over-the-top sequences just seems implausible. The film does feel like it is made up of two different films that just do not mix. There’s a number of scenes that are quite gory and visceral too, which feel a bit much for a middle-of-the-road sci-fi film. The trailer too, makes the film seem like more of an action film, with comedic elements, when that just is not the case, so you can understand why it received mixed reviews for failing to deliver what it promises.
The chemistry between the two main characters, played by Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannsen is pretty good, but the fact that they are described as being like fifteen year olds who have no idea about sex, relationships, the outside world etc. makes them very odd characters to try and get to grips with sometimes: sometimes you can be convinced that they are clones raised in an underground silo, other times it just doesn’t seem plausible. I imagine it’s hard to write characters that fulfil their premise, and I don’t think it’s the fault of the actors, who do a good job, but I do think the film sets itself quite a difficult premise to implement, especially as the film is marketed as a more casual sci-fi film. The supporting cast is composed of familiar faces such as Sean Bean and Ethan Phillips (Who played Neelix on Star Trek Voyager), and again help ease the viewer into the film. While the film does deliver some different parts that work, they don’t come together to form a cohesive whole in and of itself. The film is marketed as something it is not, and I’m not sure what the vision of it is: it obviously pays homage to a specific type of dystopian sci-fi, but how it is building on it (via subversion parody etc.) never becomes apparent. The story is a bit of a mess, and feels very implausible at points, and it doesn’t push its character development enough to make it’s leads stand out. Has some good parts, but becomes a bit of a jumbled mess when stitched together haphazardly.
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#567 – Snowpiercer (2013)
Snowpiercer (2013)
Film review #567
Director: Bong Joon-Ho
SYNOPSIS: After an attempt to halt climate change by releasing a chemical into the atmosphere, the Earth has turned into a frozen wasteland. The only survivors live aboard a trans-continent train that takes one year to travel the globe. At the front of the train, the people live in luxury, while those at the rear live in squalor. Among them is Curtis, who is scheming to revolt and make his way to the front of the train, and lead the people there to a better life…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Snowpiercer is a 2013 sci-fi post-apocalypse film based on the French graphic novel of the same name. The opening introduces us to the premise of the film; in which a solution to climate change was to disperse a chemical into the atmosphere, but this had an effect of completely freezing the earth and rendering it uninhabitable. The only survivors are living aboard a train that is constantly moving around the world, completing one full trip every year. The train is separated into a very specific order, with the wealthy and privileged living a life of luxury in the front cars, and the lower class living in squalid conditions in the rear carriages. One such person, Curtis, is working on a plan to stage an uprising to get to the front of the train and take control. The film follows the revolution as it travels through the train from the back to the front, and while you might be a little sceptical of how much variety and action you can fit in a 2-hour film set inside a train, you need not worry, as the film does a solid job of keeping things interesting, and varied. You get the claustrophobic feel of the carriages thanks to the impressive camerawork and crowded sets that generate a unique environment. Different carriages look like slums, factories, classrooms, restaurants, and nightclubs, all bound up in the same physical dimensions of a train carriage, and it’s very solidly executed. The story is a fairly simple one to follow, and again, despite it’s linearity, the film is able to drop in plenty of surprises and unique obstacles as the cast travel through the train. Perhaps they could have done something a bit more impactful with the ending, but that’s the only criticism I can think of.
The cast of characters are well defined, and often exaggerated personifications of different facets of society. Curtis is the reluctant leader of the revolution, and you get a decent insight into the decisions he makes and how they weigh upon him. There’s also a constant element of danger, as the stakes are constantly raised as a reminder that no one is safe; as main characters get killed left and right, and the revolution is always in a precarious position. The cast feels genuine, and on the whole the film is well acted, with a good, varied cast.
As mentioned, the film really shines in it’s design and atmosphere: the train is able to encapsulate all these familiar environments, but with the twist of being contained in a carriage. It doesn’t rely on cheap special effects, but rather well-co-ordinated action sequences that, thanks to the cramped settings, put you right in the action. The premise of a global-spanning train might sound a bit silly, and a post-apocalyptic setting that is used because only the best ones have already been done to death, but Snowpiercer genuinely offers something refreshing and exciting, combining a harsh and gritty setting with some stylish and exuberant characters. While the ending leaves things open-ended, it’s a satisfying journey that combines a layer of seriousness and high stakes with some more absurd and exaggerated characters that lift the film out of being a total gloomfest just enough. Yes, the train is a thinly-veiled metaphor for the class-system, and there’s not a lot of surprises in that regard, but the film genuinely surprises in being an entertaining, action-packed story despite the kneejerk impressions you might have of a revolution taking place on a train. I genuinely enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and again, while not perfect, excels in enough ways to take it an entertaining and interesting watch.
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#565 – The World’s End (2013)
The World’s End (2013)
Film review #565
Director: Edgar Wright
SYNOPSIS: Gary King is haunted by a twenty year old memory of failing to complete the Golden Mile with his friends: twelve pubs, twelve pints that stretch across his hometown of Newton Haven. He decides to reunite the five friends and convinces them to travel back to their hometown to complete the task they began twenty years ago. However, as they undertake their legendary pub crawl, they begin to notice that there is something strangely different about their home town…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The World’s End is a 2013 filmed directed by Edgar Wright, and the third film directed by him and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fizz being the previous two. in the opening, we see Gary King, a good-for-nothing tearaway, who decides to conclude some unfinished business from twenty years prior: a legendary pub crawl across his home town, with twelve pints across twelve pubs, concluding at the World’s End pub. Gary convinces his four friends, who now all have grown up with families and careers (apart from Gary, who is basically the same as he was in high school), and they return to their home town to try and finally complete their unfinished business. however, they find their home town has changed a little…in more ways than one, as they eventually discover that the town’s population has been taken over by robot clones by an alien intelligence who wishes to “improve” humanity’s behaviour to prepare it for acceptance in the wider galactic community. The film handles the split between the more down-to-earth premise of the beginning of the film, and the sudden turn to sci-fi strongly and smartly. But this shouldn’t be much of a surprise, given that Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz also did the same thing with similar success. The World’s End feels like a continuation of what those film’s achieved in terms of storytelling and humour, delivering fast-paced dialogue, fight scenes and banter from it’s likable leads. poking fun at the trope of alien possession such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it provides a good setting for the characters to approach it in the guise of a pub crawl.
Simon Pegg plays the lead character of Gary King, an immature, good-for-nothing tearaway who hasn’t changed since his schooldays, and who presents us with a character we’re not sure whether to like or dislike: he exists as both someone who is problematic and an embodiment of some of the worst qualities of humanity, but also a reminder of who we once were as teenagers that quietly gets lost as the “real world” dawns upon us, highlighted by Gary’s four friends all having careers and/or families. They all provide a counterpoint to Gary’s antics, but Gary never feels outnumbered, as he’s always such a huge presence and takes control of conversations to turn them into high energy performances. Ultimately, Gary’s character arc doesn’t really get resolved in any final way, but that’s kind of the point: that people like him don’t fit into the grand plan, and that’s okay. The ending of the film isn’t able to match the rest of it, with the dialogue between Gary and the alien entity not having the same energy and witty wordplay as the rest, and the epilogue being the onset of the apocalypse may not be to everyone’s taste, but does little to sour the movie as a whole.
The film often feels like a refinement of the practices undertaken in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, with Pegg and Frost doing their own stunts, high-octane action sequences, and quick, snappy wordplay which never misses a beat. The weak spots in the film are it falling short of following through on it’s theme of maturity, growth etc. in the end, and while it’s obviously going to be compared to the two aforementioned films, The World’s End doesn’t have those memorable moments that will distinguish itself and make you think of it on it’s own merit. The film definitely has plenty of polish and refinement, and the comedy, acting and general sense of fun are all top notch though, and make the film worth a watch regardless of any negatives that don’t sour the whole experience.
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#564 – Chronical: 2067 (2020)
Chronical 2067 (2020)
Film review #564
Director: Seth Larney
SYNOPSIS: In the year 2067, Earth has suffered an almost complete ecological collapse. Humans survive only using synthetic oxygen, which has a side effect of making people sick. The only hope seems to be a top secret project by Chronicorp: a time machine that can travel into the future, where there is hope a cure can be found. However, the time machine has sent only one message through since it was activated: “Send Ethan Whyte”…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Chronical 2067 is a 2020 Australian sci-fi film. It is set in the year 2067, where Earth has undergone complete ecological collapse, and all plant-life has been wiped out. Humans only survives by breathing synthetic oxygen, which in turn gives them a deadly disease they call “The Sickness.” Ethan Whyte, a lowly technician, is called to Chronicorp headquarters where he is offered a job that apparently will save humanity: to travel to the future in a time machine to find a cure for The Sickness and bring it back, as the time machine has only sent a message from the computer that stated “send Ethan Whyte.” Since this indicates that someone is alive at the other end, it is assumed that the future has a cure for the sickness, since someone would have had to have sent the message, and Ethan agrees to go because his wife also has the sickness. The film attempts to create a lot of suspense and mystery surrounding the fate of the world, the message sent, and the disappearance of Ethan’s Father, but the main problem is it never really comes together, and neither are the situations Ethan is thrown into ever filled with that atmosphere. It’s fairly obvious that there is something more going on than has been revealed, but it never really builds up that mystery and suspense to keep the audience guessing. Typical story elements such as an estranged relationship with a Father, for example, further cement a feeling that you’ve seen it all before.
The characters are also fairly typical, and even though there’s an attempt to build them up, there’s not enough of a hook to make them solid pillars to the film. Coupled with some flat acting here and there, it overall just feels like it’s difficult to immerse yourself in their world and the setting. There’s some nice visual effects that are able to put you more in the main characters shoes, but there’s never enough to balance out the lows. Overall, there’s not much else to say about Chronical 2067: it presents a fair amount of mystery and a basic amount of intrigue, but never the suspense or drama that it needs to in order to hook a viewer into the mystery. There’s a constant feeling you’ve seen a lot of it before, and done better. It’s not terrible, and there’s some good ideas, but there’s perhaps too many of them, and they never properly cohere into a strong narrative, or the sheer multitude of them just make the characters walking tropes that splinter off every which way, so they too never become individual personalities that can drive forward the story. A classic case of good ideas, bad execution.
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#563 – Gog (1954)
Gog (1954)
Film review #563
Director: Herbert L. Strock
SYNOPSIS: A series of unexplained malfunctions at a top-secret government facility in New Mexico leads to suspicions of sabotage, and the Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI) send Dr. David Sheppard to investigate the facility. As some of the scientists are killed under mysterious circumstances, it becomes a race against time to unravel the mystery before more people are killed…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Gog is a 1954 sci-fi film. It is the third of a trio of films independently produced by Ivan Tors that feature the Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI) in some form. This time, we see Dr. David Sheppard travel to a top secret government research facility in New Mexico, where strange malfunctions have been occurring which is suspected to be sabotage. As a number of prominent scientists die under mysterious circumstances, Sheppard must work out who is responsible, and stop them. Like the other two films produced by Ivan Tors, The Magnetic Monster and Riders to the Stars, the film goes heavy on science fact more than science fiction, with it going into a fair amount of detail on the structure of the facility, radiation, the different projects etc. There is obviously a lot of consideration and thought that has gone into getting everything as accurate as possible, but the downside to this is that there are a lot of scenes which are just standing around talking exposition. The things they are talking about would probably have been a lot more interesting and “futuristic” back in 1954, whereas today all the talk of computers and radiation might seem a bit mundane. Another problem with all this dialogue is that it breaks up the flow of the story quite a lot, so it struggles to maintain energy throughout, and leaves you wondering just what you are supposed to be paying attention to.
The characters are probably the weakest element of the film: the main character, David Sheppard, is just the typical male lead, and him being a scientist of some sort doesn’t really play into the story. The story does have more than one female character at least, but the main female lead just serves as an assistant/love interest for the male lead just like every other film of the time. The rest of the cast are the various scientists that are in the research facility, each of which has a research specialty, and come from a different country (reflecting the U.S. tendency to recruit scientists from their enemies in World War II). The different subjects are again explained and provide a bit of variety, but again, the characters themselves don’t really stand out: they’re all just middle-aged or elderly men in white lab coats.
The most interesting aspect of the film is the NOVAC computer, which apparently controls most of the functions of the facility. Again, this is one of those things which wouldn’t be too interesting nowadays, but back in 1954, having such a computer and having it explained in such detailed would have been fairly novel. We also have the two robots, which again look clunky and cheap nowadays, but have a life of their own which would have been impressive: even more so because the film is a rare colour sci-fi film, like Riders to The Stars, so the sets and props really stand out compared to many other b-movie films. There’s a nice amount of detail, and the setting is well constructed, to give it an authentic, yet futuristic feel. Also, the finale of the film just has everyone fighting with flamethrowers, so that’s pretty cool if nothing else. Overall, Gog is a neat little movie that has plenty of substance and detail, relying on science fact rather than science-fiction. The drawback to this is that a lot of explaining what is going on is required, and halts the momentum in the story constantly. The clear effort put into the science and the design of the sets and robots does make the film stand out from it’s contemporaries as well as being in full colour, but it’s shortcomings mean the film is very much a mixed bag.
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#561 – Riders to the Stars (1954)
Riders to the Stars (1954)
Film review #561
Director: Richard Carlson, Herbert L. Strock
SYNOPSIS: A group of twelve men highly specialised in various fields are recruited for a top secret project. They undergo various physical and psychological tests until only four remain and they learn the secret of the project: to travel into space and collect a meteorite to discover how they exist in space despite being bombarded by cosmic radiation…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Riders to the Stars is a 1954 independent sci-fi film. The film’s story centres around twelve men, including Dr. Richard Stanton, who are highly trained experts in their field, all invited to a secret project, where they are put through a series of physical and psychological tests to determine their suitability for the project. When only four remain at the end, including Stanton, they are told the purpose of the project: they are to go into space to collect a meteorite, to see how they survive in space despite the large amount of cosmic radiation, which destroys man-made material. The story mostly revolves around these twelve men undergoing the various tests associated with space travel, including zero-G training. The film has quite a lot of detail and there’s obviously some knowledge and consideration about what would actually be required for a human to go into space, even though in 1954, no one would have done so, so it is a bit speculative. The trouble with all of this is that the film is that everything is so boring, and it doesn’t really bring the science or danger alive thanks to dull characters and long-winded exposition. There’s some discussion about how they need to go into space before their enemies (Soviets, presumably) so they can “keep space free,” but one of the men points out that position is no better than their enemies from conquering space, so the film does have a bit more depth than simple U.S. propaganda in the “space race,” but again, this often gets forgotten over the low energy of the overall plot and progression.
The cast of characters don’t really stand out from one another: the twelve candidates are all middle-aged men with short dark hair that are barely distinguishable from one another. There is, of course, one solitary female character in the main cast, but she is an actual scientist herself (with the “Dr.” title too), which is very rare. Unfortunately, her role devolves into being just a typical romantic interest for the male lead, which is disappointing. The finale of the film does have a bit more energy, as the three rockets head into space to try and collect meteorites, and Stanton being the only one who survives at the end. The cast learn that meteorites survive cosmic radiation by having a thin layer of carbon surrounding them (like diamond), and so presumably they can build satellites and space stations now thanks to this information. Obviously this isn’t really what happens in space, but again since nobody had been to outer space at that point, it probably seemed more believable at the time it was released.
Despite being an independently produced film, Riders to the Stars has a fairly good look and feel to it: the sets are detailed, including a Zero-G testing machine for the candidates, the attention to detail on the science is pretty good, but as mentioned, it does result in long scenes of people explaining things without being able to translate that knowledge into something interesting to watch. Also of note is that the film was filmed and released in colour, which most of these cheaper films of the time were not. A lot of stock footage is also used near the end of the film, including mice in a Zero-G environment, and some of the first footage taken of the Earth from space, but again, it doesn’t really accomplish much in the context of the film. Overall, Riders to the Stars has a decent amount of effort put into it’s production, and is obviously well-researched into what it would take for people to go into space, but the problem with this is that the film is often just dull exposition and dialogue, rarely able to bring the ideas and knowledge it is grasping with to life. Perhaps interesting at the time of release to show viewers how space travel would actually work, nowadays it is wholly unremarkable.
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#559 – The Magnetic Monster (1953)
The Magnetic Monster (1953)
Film review #559
Directors: Curt Siodmak, Herbert L. Strock
SYNOPSIS: The Office of Science Investigation (OSI), made to deal with new threats in the atomic age, send their agents, led by Jeffrey Stewart, to investigate a case of strange, powerful magnetism. It turns out that the incident is caused by the research of a scientist who has created a new element that is feeding off energy, and threatens all life on Earth…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Magnetic Monster is a 1953 science-fiction film. In the opening, we get a monologue about the threats faced in the new atomic age, and in response to this, the Office of Scientific Investigations (OSI) is established to counter this new threat. One of their A-men, (atomic-men) agents, named Jeffrey Stewart, is called to investigate a strange case involving items becoming magnetised, and stumbles upon some dangerous research and a new element that could threaten to destroy the earth. The film has a very serious tone to it: the narration by the main character is very dramatic and dry, and reminds me more of what you would find in a crime-noir film. The plot itself is decently structured, with some mystery that unfolds at an even pace. The narration helps explains the story, but perhaps overdoes it by relying on it too much rather than showing the story.
At a time of cheap b-movies which were cheap looking that leads them to not being taken seriously, The Magnetic Monster does put some effort into treating the new era of atomic warfare seriously, which presented science almost as if it was exclusively a weapon of war. As mentioned, the narration gives the film a very serious tone, and there’s not much light-heartedness or humour to supplement it. There’s also not really that much action: the “Magnetic Monster” is just some sort of…radioactive element that can only be seen through a microscope, so it limits how much of a threat it can be perceived it to be, but the effects it makes look quite nice. The characters are all fairly bland and similar: just middle-aged men in uniforms talking or arguing with each other, with a grand total of one female character, who’s only role is as Jeff’s wife.
Despite being an independently produced film, there’s some good points about the production: there’s a variety of sets and locations, and they’re fairly detailed so you get a sense of the different locations. The huge machine at the end of the film is quite impressive, but the footage of it is taken from the 1934 German film Gold, and the finale of The Magnetic Monster essentially revolves around the use of the footage from Gold, taking place in an underwater facility that provides the climax for a series of explosions. The Magnetic Monster feels like something a bit different from the usual 50′s sci-fi b-movie. It takes the spirit of the time seriously and delivers a sombre and straight story without any cheesy monsters of special effects. the downside to this is that it’s not that entertaining, and a lack of action and energy might this film difficult to concentrate on through it’s runtime.
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#558 – Return of Mr. Superman (1960)
Return of Mr. Superman (1960)
Film review #558
Director: Sabir Manmohan
SYNOPSIS: A child from the doomed planet Krypton is sent to Earth as the last of their kind, and lands in rural India. A farmer finds the ship and the child inside, and takes them back to his wife, where they raise the child themselves. They realise that the child possesses super powers, but keep it a secret. As an adult, he moves to Bombay to work as a newspaper reporter, and also stopping criminals in his secret identity as Superman. However, when an imposter starts committing crimes dressed as the Superhero, Superman becomes wanted by the law, and must fight to clear his name…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Return of Mr. Superman is a 1960 Indian film and an unlicensed adaptation of the Superman character. The film starts out like every version of the Superman origin story, with Superman as a child being loaded onto a spaceship on the doomed planet Krypton, and sent to Earth to escape the planet’s inevitable destruction. The ship lands in rural India, where a farmer discovers the child and takes him back to his wife, and the two agree to raise him together. They learn that the child possesses extraordinary powers, including beating other children at wrestling, and finding a buried treasure (presumably via his x-ray vision or something). When the boy, now named Jairaj, grows up, he moves to Bombay to work at a newspaper, and starts to lead a double life; fighting criminals as “Superman,” and alerting the police to criminal activity. The story in this respect follows the origin story of Superman reasonably accurately (apart from the ship landing in rural India instead of the rural U.S.), and it has everything it needs to be a Superman story, even if it is unlicensed.
The main plot of the film revolves around a criminal smuggling gang hatching a plan to get revenge on Superman by having an imposter commit crimes dressed as him to turn the police against him. It’s really not an original plot, and one definitely not suited for Superman: how do you imitate someone with superpowers? The plot is a little all over the place, and doesn’t really go anywhere beyond where you would expect it to. The characters are all pretty bland, including the Lois Lane replacement, the comic relief of Johnny (probably meant to be the Jimmy Olsen character), and the criminal gang who serve as the villains not really having much to do with anything. Superman barely even does anything anyway: he usually just calls up the police inspector to report crimes. I don’t know if there is a limit to how much a film at the time could show someone being a vigilante rather than just calling the authorities (The U.S. film serials abandoned the “vigilante” role as someone who works outside the law around the time of the second world war), but either way, it makes the film really boring when you’re expecting Superman to do something and he picks up a telephone.
Speaking of Superman, the most notable thing about this film is probably his costume: forget everything you think you know about Superman’s iconic outfit, this one is clearly cobbled together with whatever the filmmakers could find lying around: driving goggles and leather helmet, complimented by a towel wrapped around his neck to serve as a cape of sorts. It looks like there was no thought given to the costume’s design, but thankfully you don’t see it very often. The film has the typical musical numbers you expect in Indian cinema, but the first one doesn’t show up until over thirty minutes in the film, but then they become constant. The songs also lack the usual dancing and choreography, so they’re not very interesting. This is the third Indian Superman film I’ve watched (the others were released in 1980 and 1987), and it’s easily the worst, although the others aren’t exactly great. The plot is all over the place and fails to provide anything unique or interesting. The costumes and production lack any kind of consideration, and the characters are barely established, leading to a dull and incomprehensible mess.
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#556 – Superman (1987)
Superman (1987)
Film review #556
Director: B. Gupta
SYNOPSIS: As the planet Krypton is about to be destroyed, the parents of a baby boy send him to Earth to escape the destruction. He lands in India and is raised by a couple who soon realise he has superhuman powers, but keep his powers a secret, naming him Shekhar. As an adult, he travels to the city in search of his childhood, Gita, while his old rival for Gita’s love, Verma, is a tycoon and super-villain who aims to become rich by causing a series of natural disasters across India and buying up the land cheap…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Superman is a 1987 Indian film and an unlicensed adaptation of the comic book superhero. This is not the first adaptation into Indian cinema either, with similar (unlicensed adaptations) in 1960 and 1980. The film’s story follows the typical Superman lore fairly accurately, as in the intro, we see the planet Krypton about to be destroyed, and a young baby boy being sent to earth as the only survivor. However, rather than landing in the rural U.S. as is canon, he instead lands in India, where a young couple find him and give him the name Shekhar. They soon learn he has superhuman powers, but tell him to keep them secret. When Shekhar is grown up, he heads to the city to find his childhood Gita, now working as a reporter (the “Lois Lane” of this version), while his old rival for Gita’s affections, Verma, is now a crime-lord who attempts to get rich by creating a series of natural disasters across India in order to buy the land up cheap (being the “Lex Luthor” of this film). The story, apart from being set in India, fits the established story quite well…a little too well, as it is essentially copying the 1978 Superman film point-for-point. The capsule which takes Superman to earth as a child is the exact shape as the one from the original film, but obviously made from silver foil rather than expensive (for the time) CG. Also, it straight up steals footage from the 1978 film’s ending, where Superman flies around the Earth so fast he turns back time, alongside using the John Williams theme is definitely has no permission for. As such, we can’t give the film too much credit for it’s story if it’s just taking it from an other successful film, but it follows the beats of the film fairly well. It also adds in some usual musical and dancing numbers, but these feel quite underwhelming compared to other films I’ve seen; almost like they were focused on making a Superman clone and had to add in musical numbers because that’s what Indian cinema does. Alongside this, they also use Michael Jackson’s “Beat it” in one dance scene, which again I’m pretty sure they did not have the rights to do so.
As mentioned, the characters from the Superman franchise are all recreated here quite faithfully, although being based in India rather than the U.S. Superman/Shekhar has Clark Kent’s naivety and Superman’s bravery, Gita has Lois Lane’s dogged determination, and Verma has Lex Luthor’s evil streak. We see the planet Krypton at the start of the film, adorned with a cheap set full of random coloured blocks, and there is also the fortress of solitude, where Superman goes to learn about his home planet, all loving recreated with nowhere near the budget of it’s Hollywood counterpart. Superman seems to have all of his powers such as super strength and flight, but also has telekinesis for some reason too, shown in a scene where he unwraps food and sets a table with his mind. The film has a decent mix of humour, action and drama, so it’s not uninteresting, although being released nearly ten years after the very successful film it is copying, I’m not sure if the audience would have already seen the original film subtitled or dubbed by that time. Nevertheless, I suppose it’s a pretty good adaptation of Superman, only because it is ripping off a good Superman film beat for beat. Otherwise, the obligatory dance and musical numbers are poor and uninspiring, and a bloated runtime of over two hours to incorporate more typical drama elements weighs the film down. The choreography, in both the musical numbers and the fight scenes is pretty dire, as you can obviously tell that none of the punches are connecting to anyone. Despite all this, it is still one of those films you really need to see to believe, so if your curiosity is piqued, then maybe you’d better put two hours aside to savour this cinematic wild ride.
