The Amazing Spiderman – Poorly Executed Reboot

Director: Marc Webb

Actors: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans

Rating: 2.5/5

There is a similarity between the tribals of Chhattisgarh and the studio that has produced ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ (TAS). Both seem to be desperately battling for survival. What else would explain the reboot of a franchise that began hardly a decade back and which, despite its best intentions has only regressed the original story?

The all too familiar story of Spiderman’s beginnings has undergone only cosmetic changes. His father is shown to have been working for Oscorp before he disappeared. His girlfriend is Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) who is his first love in the comic books and not Mary Jane and her father is a cop. Spiderman inadvertently creates the monster he later fights. And Peter Parker/Spiderman (Andrew Garfield) lets both his girlfriend and her father know his secret identity.

The really amazing thing about this film is that this almost similar film to the 2002 version even got made...

 It is hence fun finding out why this film was made. Here are six probable reasons.

1. Peter Parker in the original franchisee got married and it was time to send him back to school. 2. If comic books can reboot from a Spiderman to ‘The Amazing Spiderman’, why can’t a film. 3. To help the Titanic of a sinking studio, stay afloat.

4. If kids can like Transformers, they will like anything that has special effects. 5. Girls hate lizards so every time the lizard guy comes up, girls will jump on the lap of their boyfriends who will create a word of mouth buzz. 6. The studio found a director whose last name was had some connection with spiders - Webb.

At its core level, one can describe this film as the template of the original Spiderman mixed with few scattered elements taken from various films. E.g. introduction of the concerned father of the girlfriend like in Twilight or have him make his own gadgets like Batman.

There are too many problems with the film to narrate. First is the story itself which does not have the emotional pull or the engagement of the original Spiderman. The characterisations are not handled properly and even Gwen ends up becoming just a pretty face without a mind or aspiration of her own.

Even the hesitant, love angle between Peter Parker and Gwen is not handled well. And many characters are left hanging without a conclusion, most notably that of Irrfan Khan. Despite being a brilliant actor he is hardly suited for this blink-and-miss role where he fumbles with his ascent.

One department where TAS does not fail, is its special effects. Considering the state of commercial cinema emanating from Hollywood, one can safely assume that this would be reason enough for the film to make a billion dollars globally.

TAS gets an early release in India. It is not hard to imagine why. Demographically India not only has the world’s largest number of teens, but also the worlds largest concentration of them, teens who have grown up ‘loving’ the brainless ‘Transformers’ series. The Indian angle with the presumably last minute introduction of Irfaan Khan is also meant to woo Indian audiences.

If reboot is what Hollywood was looking for, they could have done something much more interesting and fun. Maybe a kind of handheld camera, found footage film like you had in the underappreciated gem ‘Chronicle’ last year.

If quick reboot is the new flavour of Hollywood, one dreads to wonder what they will reboot next - Harry Potter and Twilight?

(This review was written for the wire service IANS)

Supermen of Malegaon – Poignant, Hilarious Ode To Filmmaking

Director: Faiza Ahmad Khan

Cast: Sheikh Nasir, Akram Khan, Shafique, Farogh Jafri

Rating: 4.5/5

There is global cinema and national cinema. In a country like India, there’s also regional cinema. What many don’t know is that India is also home to what can be called ‘Local Cinema’ where film are produced and consumed locally.

‘Supermen of Malegaon’ is a hilarious, poignant and well-researched take on one of the dozens of local film industries existing in India.

It is a love poem to cinema, an ode to the spirit of human ingenuity, a passionate tale about making films and it’s hilarious to boot. For most of the audience, this might be the funniest documentary ever made.

A film crew follows Sheikh Nasir a resident of Malegaon as he tries to make a parody of Superman called ‘Malegaon Ka Superman’ with actors, cast, technicians and props sourced from his town. We get a glimpse of the joys, the agony, the achievement and the epiphany of creating cinema.

That he is making a low budget, made for a local audience film without the aspiration of making money, lends it the poignancy and innocence missing from the biggest filmmaking centres of the world.

If Marin Scorsese’s ‘Hugo’ was the feature film version of the depiction of one man’s passion for making special effects laden cinema, SOM is the documentary version of the same passion.

Like Georges Méliès who desired to make a rocket fly and men disappear at a time when it was considered impossible, Sheikh Nasir tries to find cheap alternative to making superman fly, to find local solutions to complex cinematic problems at a budget where such special effects seem impossible.

SOM is thus a study in ingenuity, of a die-hard but untrained film crew’s intense desire and ability to conjure up tricks to create magic on screen. Thus we see Sheikh locally making the green chrome background used for special effects.

We see our crew tear up our Superman’s external undergarment and another mans jeans to hoist them, groins first, through an iron bar before the green chrome screen to show them flying. We see Sheikh using a cycle as a trolley and an empty bullock cart as a jimmy jib.

While it is a serious film about someone making a parody, it also becomes a metaphoric parody of commercial cinema, and all the clichés they belt out in a spirit of self-righteous megalomania.

For this is how filmmaking can and should be – a work of passion first and commercial considerations second, just like Georges Méliès and Sheikh Nasir saw and like thousands of aspiring filmmakers globally dream of but are not allowed to make.

Ironically, this tale of Malegaon’s filmmaking ‘Supermen’ has been made by a motley group of talented superwomen. Director Faiza Ahmad Khan’s keen sense of satire and irony are amply visible. Sneha Khanwalkar (Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye, Gangs Of Wasseypur) gives a rustic feel to the film with her earthen music while editor Shweta Venkat Matthew lends the film its poignancy with her observant edits.

Two superhero films release this week in India - SOM and ‘The Amazing Spiderman – The Untold Story’. Ironically it is SOM that has an amazing story that has not yet been told. Spiderman the world has watched on three previous occasions but this is perhaps the first time anyone is telling the funny, hugely inspiring and globally awarded story of a local film industry.

The choice of what to watch, dear viewer, is entirely yours. 

(This review has been written for the wire service IANS)

Kshay – Small Film, Big Message

Director: Karan Gour

Actors: Rasika Dugal, Alekh Sangal

Rating: 3.5/5

Digital filmmaking has opened up a whole universe of opportunity for those with cinematic aspirations. Today, like photography being the art of the masses, filmmaking has come closer home to the larger masses.

This should have resulted in crazy, wonderful experiments. And it has. To have proof watch independent film ‘Kshay’, made on a micro-budget, a handful of actors and over a two years period. It is a film which despite its flaws, not only manages to hold its own, but in a few moments, shines.

Chhaya (Rasika Dugal) gets enamoured by a white statue of goddess Laxmi and wants to have it at any cost. The husband, who is struggling to make ends meet, agrees to get it once he has money. Soon however her desire takes an obsessive turn to disastrous consequences.

A tale of obsession...

The greatest strength of the film, is its obvious but beautiful and extremely important metaphor. Chhaya’s obsession for the statue of Laxmi (goddess of wealth) and her ability to see it everywhere is an allegory to modern man’s maddening obsession for wealth. Driven by a madness not different from Chhaya’s, we want money. We do not care what this does to those near us or what its final conclusion would be.

Like the mythical king of greed who banished by a just king asks for refuge in the metal gold and is granted only to finally pollute the king because the king wears a golden crown, we have all been corrupted by the need of something more than that we can possibly consume in our lifetimes. And this obsession, debutante director/writer Karan Gour captures beautifully and metaphorically in his film.

The film shot in black and white, complements its straightforward statement against obsession. There’s no final reason given for the character’s fixation with the statue, but there really is no need. Obsession is an end in itself, an end of all beauty and grace.

The film however is not bereft of flaws. Though otherwise the editing is nice, it is 15 minutes too long. One has the nagging feeling that the makers were scared of not being taken too seriously if the film did not reach 90 minutes duration. This leads an otherwise beautiful film to slack.

Many shots are useless and don’t add to the narrative. E.g. in the end when the guy is crossing the road, it takes him forever and the camera meanders with the character. It does not serve any purpose because his next crucial act is not carried out in that one long take. Three minutes could have been easily saved just in that shot.

The film rests on the petite shoulders of Rasika Dugal. And this FTII graduate plays the transformation of an innocent, loving housewife into a bewitched woman elegantly. One can only wish her the best, hoping she’d catch the attention of more filmmakers for her solid performance.

It is simply amazing what a person with a sound knowledge of the art and craft of filmmaking can do today, without even going to film school and with often as much budget as it takes to buy the world’s cheapest car. The budget can be ‘nano’ but the film can really be big.

It is an exciting time indeed in India, to be a viewer full of aspirtation - for seek, and ye shall find the film of your seeking. 

(This review has been written for the wire service IANS)

Rock of Ages – Funniest Rock Comedy Since Spinal Tap

Director: Adam Shankman

Actors: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise

Rating: 4/5

If you have been following the news lately, you’d have heard of ACP Vasant Dhoble. The ‘Dabaang’ cop is wreaking havoc on Mumbai’s already depleting night life by landing unannounced at parties armed with hockey stick, camera or an entire police battalion.

Dhoble has an enemy now – ‘Rock of Ages’ that takes off from where Dhoble’s vigilantism begins to deliver the funniest rock film since ‘This Is Spinal Tap’.

After his live music joint is threatened by moral police led by Patricia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) Dennis (Alec Baldwin) must find ways to save it. Hope comes in the form of Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) the popular rocker going solo and his own waiter Drew (Diego Boneta) who is inspired by his singer girl friend Sherrie (Julianne Hough) to have rock dreams of his own. Things however, will take a turn for the worse. 

Tom Cruise is simply hilarious as the ageing rocker with a sense of self-persecution

If one were to look at this as a simply ‘Rock and Roll’ movie, one is bound to be disappointed. For one the songs in the film are not all rock and roll with generous dosage of pop, love ballads and a slight sprinkling of the blues.

However, look at the film as a farce, a satire on everything including rock and roll, and you’re on hilarious ground hardly ever traversed so well after ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ captured the imagination of the masses.

In the true essence of a farcical comedy this musical based on a Broadway musical directed by Kristin Hanggi with a book by Chris D'Arienzo, mocks rock and roll and its icons and their self indulgence. Thus Tom Cruise’s serious rocker act becomes a spoof on all rockers, and their over indulgence on sex and alcohol and their hilarious sense of persecution when they were all along enjoying life.  

The serious journalist from Rolling Stones magazine who almost ends up having sex with an ageing rocker she seems to hate, is a spoof on all ‘serious’ rock and roll journalists. Its tacit message: don’t burden music like rock and roll with too much of meaning. Enjoy it and forget it.

The films irreverence to the same things it seems to be valorising is its funniest gig.

Tom Cruise is a sheer delight. His slow, meanderingly paced act as the indulgent rocker, who cannot seem to stay in his senses is simply stunning and different from anything he has done. Despite some good competition from others around, especially the perennially delightful Paul Giamatti, and the lovely Catherine Zeta Jones, Cruise, cruises along brilliantly.

The film will be of particular interest to the generation that grew up listening to song of bands like Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Journey, Poison and Europe among many other. The way some of their popular songs are used, misused and often mutilated, is simply delightful.

It is a film that ACP Vasant Dhoble must watch for it just might be the pill that will ease him up a bit.  

(This review has been written for the wire service, IANS)