Engaging and entertaining
By Roger Moore
FILM: Promised Land
CAST: Matt Damon, Rosemarie DeWitt, John Krasinski, Hal Holbrook, Lucas Black
DIRECTION: Gus Van Sant
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Promised Land is an engaging and entertaining—if preachy—look at Big Energy and fracking—the land-and-water-wrecking practice of drilling and pumping water and chemicals into the ground to extract natural gas from shale.
To Steve Butler (Matt Damon), a “consultant” who came from farm country himself, farming and the small farm town lifestyle are “delusional self-mythology” believed by simple people living in the past. His “money for nothing” offer—underground leases—is “the only way (embattled, indebted small farm owners) have to get back.”
He’s just gotten the big promotion with Global Cross Power Solutions. But dropping into an Anytown, USA named McKinley with his partner, Sue (Frances McDormand) is a sobering come down. Renting an ancient Bronco II and buying flannel at Rob’s Guns, Groceries, Guitars & Gas won’t be enough this time. It may be a one gas station town, but the locals are going to make him work for this.
Hal Holbrook is the high school science teacher who has Googled “fracking”. And as willfully uninformed as some of his shortsighted, let’s-cash-in neighbours might be, the teacher gets things called to a vote. Bribes to the local board of supervisors won’t be enough.
To make matters worse, a slick “hippy environmentalist” (John Krasinski) shows up with posters of dead cows and poisoned farms. You almost start to feel sorry for the fracking folks as public opinion shifts.
Damon and Krasinski co-wrote the script, and they set up a war of wills—rivals trash-talking each other, both flirting with the cute age-appropriate schoolmarm (Rosemarie DeWitt). Who will win?
But we already know that, don’t we? The movie is a stacked deck of cards. Back when they filmed Other People’s Money, the idea was to surprise the audience by making both the populist side and the Big Business side of an argument compelling, rational and reasonable. Not here.
McKinley—the movie was filmed near Pittsburgh—really is dying. We see desperation in the eyes of the first farmer (Tim Guinee of TV’s Revolution) we meet. Others, such as a rube played by Lucas Black, just envision dollar signs. But in either case, their way of living is going extinct. Promised Land pulls its punches in making that counter-argument.
Damon the Oscar-winning writer does something nobody else in Hollywood would—write a dumb character for Matt Damon to play. Steve is blindsided by the old science teacher, humiliated and silenced in a way no sharp salesman would be. He’s been working in this business for years and never let himself see the consequences of his actions?
Krasinski and Damon make well-matched romantic-and-moral rivals. McDormand’s Sue is the flinty, no-nonsense sell-out who refuses to learn what Steve is finding out. DeWitt’s performance is limited to flashing her pretty smile and biting her lip as she flirts. Director Gus Van Sant captures bucolic nature, lands the jokes and does well by the many friendly and unfriendly bar scenes. But an evenly-matched fight makes for more convincing conflict and better drama. And we needed to see a lot more conflict within Damon’s character. You can’t play “dumb” and “morally compromised” when you can’t say “I’m a good guy” like you don’t quite believe it.- MCT
Quirky crime comedy
FILM: Stand Off
CAST: Brendan Fraser, Colm Meaney, David O’Hara
DIRECTION: Terry George
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Director Terry George’s quirky crime comedy stars Brendan Fraser as Joe Maguire, an American running an antique store in an Irish town. He becomes wrapped up in a hostage situation inside the store when a young man who owes thousands to a local crime boss runs into the shop after robbing a local fishery, and Joe then comes into possession of evidence that will put the bad guy away.
Meanwhile, Detective Weller (Colm Meaney) takes control of the hostage negotiations, and attempts to figure out what’s going on as the situation grows more and more complicated.
For Oscar-nominated writer and director Terry George, Stand Off, (also known as Whole Lotta Sole) is new territory. Usually drawn to dark subject matter (Hotel Rwanda; In the Name of the Father), here he aims for whimsical and funny – with mixed results.
Brendan Fraser gives an underwhelming performance as Joe.- WS
Fantasy fare
FILM: The Sorcerer and the White Snake
CAST: Jet Li, Eva Huang, Raymond Lam, Charlene Choi
DIRECTION: Siu-Tung Ching
A fantasy film, The Sorcerer and the White Snake is based on a Chinese legend about an herbalist who falls in love with a thousand-year-old White Snake disguised as a woman.
Susu (Huang Sheng-yi) and Qingqing (Charlene Choi), two beautiful and mischievous snake demon sisters, have come to the mortal world because Susu has become smitten with Xu Xian (Raymond Lam), an herbalist whose life she saved earlier. They fall in love, and might live happily ever after, except that demon-hunting monk Fahei discovers Susu—and there can be no intermingling between the mortal and supernatural worlds.
The film has a lot of visual effects to stimulate the audience.
Jet Li looks good in action, although for this movie that often involves wire work, defending against CGI creatures, and striking poses so that energy can be shot from his hands.
The rest of the cast does nicely enough. Raymond Lam and Huang Sheng-yi make a good pair as Xu Xian and Susu.- WS
(DVDs courtesy:
Saqr Entertainment Stores, Doha)