My weekly movie reviews. You can also read these on letterboxd.
This week focuses on four films I watched as a reference for a screenplay I recently wrote, a thriller called HUNT THE EDGE about D.B. Cooper.
THE GREY (2011)
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
I avoided THE GREY for years because I don’t care much for Joe Carnahan. His stylized action pictures like SMOKING ACES bore me to tears, his big-budget A-TEAM remake was a squandered opportunity, and I find his “great” films like NARC to be over-praised. That said, I did not expect the grit and power of this 2011 survival film, clearly his best work.
THE GREY is an intense, brutal thriller that prioritizes practical effects and cleverly works around showing much of the wolf predators that hunt our heroes. The movie focuses on character, a rare quality in 21st century action films. It features one of Liam Neeson’s better performances in this later part of his career when all of his badass characters just seem to blend together. Here, surrounded by a pretty good ensemble with one exception, Neeson has a chance to play more layers than usual and even takes the picture in an existential direction, one that leaves the viewer with more questions than answers.
The one weak link in the cast is Frank Grillo. It’s not only the actor’s fault; his character is under-served in Carnahan’s screenplay. The writing isn’t the shining star of this great film, a movie that somehow thrives on a basic script unlike THE EDGE which excels because of the script. Carnahan overcomes this much like Rob Zombie, through the tone and force of the basic story. Production-wise, the movie is near perfect, only failing in a silly sequence where the characters jump off a CGI enhanced cliff. Other sequences (the various wolf attacks, a drowning, the plane crash) are expertly crafted and unforgettable.
Watched on Tubi
THE EDGE (1997)
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
It’s interesting to look back now and see that this is clearly one of the best films of the 1990s, though at the time of its release this was just “another thriller”. I even remember my grandfather, a big Hopkins fan, dismissing the film as a trash choice for the Oscar-winning actor.
But time has been kind to THE EDGE and shown it to be more than critics and most audiences realized. Much credit goes to the David Mamet script, a survival thriller with depth. The funny thing is that, though the dialog is quite memorable, it doesn’t sound like Mamet. Without his oversight, the actors make it their own without the self-conscious, stylized delivery of the films he directed (and that’s a good thing). Like another great thriller RUNAWAY TRAIN, Lee Tamahori focuses more on the characters and their conflicting philosophies over action. Of course, the action when it comes is expertly filmed and shames any of the terrible CGI killer animal movies that have been made since. But it’s the quiet moments of discussion between Hopkins and Baldwin that make the movie great: talking about why some men survive over others , the importance and effect of being rich, the direction they’ve taken in their lives and the ability to change the direction of those lives. Thank goodness those sections of the film weren’t chopped up and left on the cutting room floor.
THE EDGE will never make a “Top 100” list but it’s a movie we’re still talking about and referencing most than twenty years after its release and I believe it to be one of the best films of its time.
Watched on Tubi.
BEYOND THE REACH (2014)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
I did not find this survival thriller as ridiculous as most of the critics nor did I think Michael Douglas was over-the-top in his role. Actually, it was a pleasant surprise that his millionaire villain strayed away from the psychotic MOST DANGEROUS GAME type. Instead, he’s a logical businessman, one who cuts his “thinks fast” as he self-proclaims, cuts his losses at a moment’s notice, and is used to buying whatever he wants. Douglas hasn’t been great in features as of late and it was nice to see him in good form.
The cat and mouse game in the desert kept me engaged and I didn’t always know where it was going. It tests the boundary of believability but doesn’t cross it until the end, a disgraceful final ten minutes that shouldn’t exist. They should have taken a page from DELIVERANCE!
Watched on Tubi.
THE PURSUIT OF D.B. COOPER (1981)
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
This early 80s caper has a completely different take on the D.B. Cooper than the script I recently wrote.
Their version of the mysterious hijacker is a happy-go-lucky thief played by Treat Williams. I can’t even call him an anti-hero since he really has nothing that makes him even slightly unlikeable for the audience. He pretty much shares the protagonist role with Robert Duvall, an investigator on his trail. In fact, the movie has no antagonist and that might be its main issue. A goofball pain-in-the-ass played by Paul Gleason (also on Cooper’s trail) doesn’t count; he’s way too silly to pose any kind of threat to either Williams or Duvall. So instead, this becomes a movie where we’re routing for both sides and that gets dull after a while.
One thing is for sure. Duvall makes every film better. Even this entry in his filmography, mostly forgotten, features a performance that elevates the film and makes it watchable from beginning to end. The movie also has some well-shot action scenes, specifically the river chase and the plane versus car chase at the end. However, these sequences would work better if the film didn’t have such a light tone. If it had approached Cooper’s story with more grit, still with a sprinkle of comedy here and there, it would work better. As is, this is a lightweight action comedy that doesn’t make much of an impression.
Watched on Tubi.
