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The Culture Vulture

Cruelly Intending To Payback The Forces Of Nature

Forces Of Nature 

It's genuinely distressing for fans of the spirit and verve of independent films when their makers and stars hit the big time, sell out and dive headlong into the schmaltzy world of tinsel glory that is Hollywood, California. Ben Affleck is one such individual (although his fall into Technicolorama is not quite complete and redemption may be glimpsed on the horizon in the form of the upcoming 200 Cigarettes).

Affleck's first starring role in a major Hollywood production is in Forces of Nature, alongside the crown princess of Tinseltown, Sandra Bullock. This is a romantic comedy that draws on a number of past hits, most notably the Steve Martin/John Candy hit, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Affleck plays Ben, basically a boring shade of grey - copy writer, un-adventurous, somewhat anal and neurotic about flying - about to take flight from New York to Savannah to get married. Ben finds himself seated next to sassy, funny Sarah, also on her way to Savannah. The plane crashes before it even takes off and Ben and Sarah find themselves journeying across America together through a series of travel disasters - an uncoupled train, a dearth of buses, a re-routing to Mexico and even the loss of a wallet.

As they spend more time together serious sparks start to fly between the two and Ben finds himself questioning whether he really does want to marry his fiancee Bridget, whilst Bridget herself has to do some soul searching as her high school sweetheart Steve makes a last gasp attempt to win her back and Sarah starts to take a good look at herself and reveals that she is actually already married.

The really funny bits in the film were the scenes in which Ben runs into a variety of opinions on marriage en route to his own one; all of them horror stories of infidelity, boredom and in one case, grievous bodily harm. The best gag out of this lot was the sweet elderly couple who tell Ben how happy they are together and then tell him that they are both married to other people and having an affair with each other!

Now all of this sensory overload would drive anyone to a vow of singleness and by the time Ben arrives at his wedding he is seriously troubled. A round of applause though, to the ending of the film which in the main is a surprise - and although altogether too wholesome for my taste buds - a good twist to the tale. The sub-plot endings are typically saccharine-sweet and that pretty well sums up the entire film. Affleck is wasted in this type of bland role and he looked decidedly uncomfortable throughout - almost like a farmer boy trying on a suit for the first time. Sandy Bullock pulls through with star power though, and is bubbly and energetic through out, although in her case, the role is everyday cornflake stuff. 3/5

Cruel Intentions 

One of the most heartening developments of the past two years in film is that whilst Hollywood remains glitzy but without much substance and indie movies continue to have great depth but without any glamour, a new breed of young directors and actors are finding a fine medium between the two extremes, creating films that are both interesting (even if they are not particularly deep) and glamorous (if not opulent) by combining the resources of Hollywood and the creative ethos of the independents. The success of films such as Scream, Can't Hardly Wait, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legends and now Cruel Intentions is significant because they appeal to a wide spectrum of moviegoers, albeit up to the thirty something brigade and no older.

Part of the reason for this success is the emerging young talent that is on display. Cruel Intentions features many of the hot new stars around, including Ryan Phillippe (from 54), Sarah Michelle Gellar (I Know What You Did...), Reese Witherspoon, Joshua Jackson and Robert Sean Young.

The story is essentially a modernisation of Les Liaisons Dangerouses (Dangerous Liaisons) and is set in the preppie world of Upper East Side Manhattan. Kathryn (Gellar) and Sebastian (Phillippe) are step-siblings: spoilt, self-indulgent and utterly amoral. When Sebastian announces that he is "bored of sleeping with these insipid Manhattan debutantes", Kathryn (who's idea of turning to God for help in trouble is snorting cocaine out of a hollow crucifix around her neck) challenges him to bed the daughter of the new headmaster of their prep school, Annette (Reese Witherspoon), who's stated intention is to remain a virgin until marriage. Sebastian leaps at the wager and the rest of the film tracks his attempts to woo Annette and the outcome of his suit.

Whilst the main plot was interesting in itself, the many sub plots were equally so as they consisted of a number of little intrigues hatched by Kathryn and assisted willingly by Sebastian. All of Kathryn's plotting stems from some slight or the other (perceived or otherwise) that she has suffered and her single-mindedness in getting back at the perpetrators thereof.

The film is very clever in its quite open scorn for society life in America; the superficiality, the indulgent decadence, the racism. When the snooty Mrs Caldwell finds out (through Kathryn) that her daughter is in love with her black cello instructor she immediately fires him. When he accuses her of racism she exclaims "I'm not racist, I gave money to support Colin Powell)!" Kathryn immediately gets Sebastian to de-flower the Caldwell daughter and then proceeds to bed the cello instructor herself, all of this to revenge herself on Mrs Caldwell for encouraging some sundry boy to dump Kathryn for her daughter. Well, exactly; this is how petty the characters are and their portrayal in such a catty manner is quite a biting indictment of rich preppie New Yorkers.

The story ends in pretty much the same manner as Dangerous Liaisons and Kathryn gets her due come-uppance with a public humiliation at the prep school where she is student body president but there is a happier ending in this for Annette and the rest. The acting was polished and without frills throughout the film. The chemistry between Gellar and Phillippe added dimensions to the interaction of the characters of Kathryn and Sebastian and Reese Witherspoon was good as the virginal Annette tempted by the charms of Sebastian. All in all, this is a caustic, cynical film that is very funny and highly entertaining. 5/5

Payback 

We've seen a great deal of Mel Gibson over the past decade (including his posterior in Lethal Weapon) and we've seen him in a variety of roles too; violent, sensitive, wise, strong, weak and sometimes even a combination of the whole lot. However, even the mentally unhinged Martin Riggs of Lethal Weapon is a fluffy kitten by comparison to Gibson's characterisation of Porter in Payback.

Porter is (a) psychotic and (b) a "hard bast**d". A pickpocket and hold-up artist by profession, Porter is double-crossed by his heroin-junkie wife and by his partner in crime. Shot in the back by his wife and left for dead, Porter has emergency surgery of the backroom-anesthetised-by-bourbon-variety and comes back seeking revenge and the USD 70,000 share of a heist owed to him. During his absence his wife has embraced the junk beyond redemption and his partner Resnick has used the money to buy his way into a highly organised crime syndicate called "The Outfit". The Outfit is run like any other business organisation, with a board of directors, two vice presidents and a man at the top - perhaps a subtle dig at the endemic white collar crime in America.

Porter, in his single-minded vendetta finds himself taking on The outfit, two bent coppers and even the Korean gangsters he held up in his ill-fated heist. Being psychotic, Porter does not do what most people would do and simply forget it, but embarks on an ad-lib scheme to bring down the whole lot. That he succeeds is no surprise, this being Hollywood big budget stuff , but the manner in which he does so is highly entertaining, albeit improbable, and this film is a must see for its self-deprecating humour and great action scenes.

The characterisation is also very good. Gibson is compelling as the bonkers-yet-clever Porter and his performance is so atypical of himself that it ranks in the Vulture's book as one of his best ever. All the supporting roles are well played by a group of unknown names, although most of the faces are familiar as bit part players in hundreds of films. One of the better minor characters is Lucy Alexis Liu as a totally over the top dominatrix hooker who beats up her clients with a wicked glee and tries to knock off Porter with surely the most demented giggle on screen since Fu Manchu. Kris Kristofferson is typically hard-beaten as the big boss Bronson. Even the boxer dog puts in a good performance.

The violence is fairly graphic but it is offset by being very funny at times, giving the viewer the sinful luxury of being able to put morals aside and laugh out loud at people being shot full of holes, kneecapped and generally pulped about. Porter is somewhat lionised as the hero in the film and this too is to be applauded given Hollywood's usual care to be politically correct in depicting characters like this as getting their just rewards in a crime-does-not-pay message. 5/5

All three movies are available to rent in a variety of formats at PEARL VIDEO CENTRE, 702 C, 8th Lane, Colombo 3. Tel:- 500230

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