Shrek’s Mid-life Crisis

 The Final Voyage Needs a Bigger Forever
By
Morgan P Salvo


I was introduced to Shrek in two ways. First was the commercials hype on the TV screen, along with the toys and images affiliated with whatever fast food chain that has the market on them. Secondly and more importantly was when I was painting a kid’s bedroom way back when. I heard a lot of cartoony chatter coming from through the muffled wall along with tons of laughter from the kids. But I also heard some cool music from the likes of The Eels, Joan Jett and shockingly John Cale. I thought that someone must’ve had some cool alternative radio show going at the same time in a different room so I peered in and lo and behold there it was. Really cool music attached to the childlike phenomenon called Shrek. I decided to check it out. The first one was sharp and witty with enough humor for adults in a Rocky and Bullwinkle fashion, and way fun for kids. I checked the second installment for about five minutes, lost interest and shut it off and by-passed the 3rd Shrek entirely. Now along comes Shrek Forever After and so does my curiosity as to what they’ve come up with for the grand finale.

The plot is simplistic fairy tale wherein Shrek, stuck in a rut of domesticity, is on the brink of running amok. Gone are his days of being a mean ogre with the ability to scare people with his mighty roar and greenish bad looks. Diminished to a dedicated family man, Shrek now changes diapers, has play dates with Donkey’s kids and tries to relax poolside with an eye-ball-tini. Nowadays he lives on the trail of a guided tour and autographs pitchforks for fans. Longing for the days when he felt like a "real ogre," Shrek is duped into signing a pact with an evil magician, the smooth-talking dealmaker Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek suddenly finds himself in an alternate universe, where ogres are hunted, Rumpelstiltskin is king and Shrek and wife Fiona have never met. Now, it's up to Shrek to save his friends, restore his world and reclaime his one “True Love.” Hokey for sure, but hey it’s a kid’s movie.
Back are all the originals. Mike Myers as Shrek seems to be just barely going through the motions. Cameron Diaz as Fiona delivers her lines like she’s aware it’s going to be a cartoon translation. I never get the connection. When she was a princess it made sense but Diaz’s voice just never gels with the plump ogre chick with cleavage on screen. Eddie Murphy reprises Donkey the wisecracking jackass keeping up the momentum once again with bad puns, one-liners and wretched songs. But the scene stealer is Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, this time without boots because he’s gotten fat. Cat lovers will have a field day enjoying his tidbits of humor. Then there’s Rumplestiltskin (Walt Dohr) who basically dominates the entire movie. Dohr has co-written some of the Shreks, a SpongeBob Square Pants and is head story writer here. He does a great job for an unknown because I spent the whole movie trying to figure out what actor he was. And I could have never called the voices for the army of wicked witches who hunt and capture ogres for slave labor - Kathy Griffin, Regis Philbin and Larry King. I shit ye not.
There are some funny parodies of other movies like Deliverance, and for the most part everything hits its mark. The few noticeable misfires seemed to be the use of the Pied Piper to make people disco dance and the choice of music this time around has really taken a dive. Gone were the alternative choices to spice things up. In their place were generic sounding songs and the use of the Carpenters “Sitting on Top of the World” which felt awkward and off kilter.
Technology has come along way. The computer animation is so disturbingly realistic that even though I opted against 3-D it still felt like the characters were sitting in my lap. One thing that I thought I’d never see though was five o’ clock shadow and chest hairs on a big green ogre. That’s borderline wrong.
As far as grand finales goes this Shrek is pretty tame but entertaining for sure. Makes me wish I was a kid again and all that. But I would’ve gone with way more bells and whistles if this was my swan song. A mighty bottle of champagne was needed to bust open this bon voyage. As it is I guess simple says it best, but I would’ve liked to seen it pull out all stops and pack more of a wallop. Even though kid’s movies aren’t my thing, Shrek Forever After was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Shrek Forever After
Starring Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas
Directed by Mike Mitchell
2 ½ stars

Gladiator in Tights… well sort of...

Not the Stuff of Legends
by Morgan P Salvo

How many versions does it take to botch the saga of Robin Hood? Among all the songs movies, cartoons and TV shows add one more with this boring one-note treatment of the band of not-so-merry men. Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood is so hard pressed to be serious that it squishes the life out of itself. I guess the fact that no one wears tights is the first dead give away.
This flick is essentially the longest intro in cinematic history – one long drawn out prologue to set up how Robin Hood came to be. The plot drags on like a slow moving history lesson instead of an exciting, action-filled adventure. The mediocre opening battle sequence sets the tone for the remainder of this long uninspired movie.
Beginning with a printed outlaw legend in old English calligraphy, we are drawn into instant battle and heroism by Robin Longstride (a grimacing Russell Crowe).As an archer fighting for King Richard the Lionheart (a gratuitous Danny Huston), Longstride is accused of disloyalty but escapes after Richard is killed. Upon retrieving the dead king's crown from bandits, Robin sets out for London, where Richard's weaker brother John (Oscar Isaac) will now reign. King John’s evil henchman Godfrey (Mark Strong) is in cahoots with the opposing French enemy. Taking a fallen soldier's title, Robin goes to Nottingham and meets the soldier's widow, Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett) and her father Sir Walter (Max Von Sydow) who asks Robin to pretend to be his son and discover his true origin. The over bloated plot just gets in the way of itself. Basically Robin goes from archer to nobleman and finally to enemy of King John and the movie ends where usually the folk-hero adventures begin.
The actors must’ve had fun dressing up in robes and leather, riding horses, hollering once in while, while carrying swords, daggers and shooting arrows but their performances are consistently bland .Crowe brings no life to his character and is way too solemn for a merry man. Blanchet is a saucy wench indeed but wears too much make up for a farm-woman. Sydow bubbles with delight but you just know he’s gonna croak before the credits. Isaac plays the same fey conqueror as Joaquin Phoenix did in Gladiator with unforgivable bouts of over acting. William Hurt shows up to screw up his lines, and once again Strong is plucked from the "best-villain-ever" deck of cards to sneer and growl like a good scoundrel.
The script is R-Hood’s weakest link. Instead of robbing from the rich to give to the poor, this Robin Hood babbles old English dialogue with contemporary slang and preaches about liberty and the rights of the individual. I am pretty sure they didn’t use the phrase “this is a whole different animal” back in those days.
Inevitable comparisons will be made to Gladiator, the other Scott/Crowe collaboration, but Robin Hood is so much more watered down and monotonous that they are light years apart. Director Scott has a visionary film style with a checklist of fine movies (Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise), but what looks good cinematically makes it all the more obvious and disturbing when it isn’t working. Robin Hood has arrows and slashing swordplay but no blood, no surprises, and no trickery and deceit unless you thought you were going to see a good movie. Ah me poor unfortunates, ye have been duped! Mainstream formulaic and boring, all you didn’t want to know about Robin Hood is crammed into this monotonous prequel for what must be some sort of vapid trilogy. This is not the of stuff myths and legends. As it darts hither and yon Robin Hood is a grandiose exercise in spare-no-expense tedium.

Robin Hood
Starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchet, Max Von Sydow, Marc Strong
Directed by Ridley Scott
1 star

Goo Goo Dolls

The cute factor reigns supreme with those darn Babies
By
Morgan P Salvo


What’s the big deal about babies? I ‘m not especially fond of other people’s babies and there’s nothing more torturous than baby home movies. I know they’re cute when they’re little and everyone thinks theirs is the most wonderful of all, but what’s so special about babies? They don’t last long, pretty soon after making a mess of things they grow up and progressively make bigger/different messes until they get to adulthood, Seriously, what’s so special about babies? Who gives a rat’s ass unless they’re your own? I don’t get it.
The new documentary Babies cashes in on the cute and, hopefully, shared fact that we are all enchanted by life’s beginning and how awesome it is to be born while surrounded by a bunch of shit we can’t comprehend. Clearly I was assigned this movie as a cruel joke, but nothing prepared me for how truly bad this flick would be.
Director Thomas Balmès might have had a good idea originally, capturing the captivating moments of early life from around the world. However, it quickly morphs into nonsensical juxtapositions of baby footage. Done in a non-traditional style, there’s no narration, just images with more gurgling and cooing than dialogue. If it came with commentary like a History Channel or a decent National Geographic doc with some educational info, there might have been something here. But as it stands, Babies feels like all the favorite snapshots of four different babies with no real links to the similarities or vast cultural differences between them.
Going to four corners of the world, Babies follows the early stages of life. We are introduced to Hattie (San Francisco), Mari (Japan), Bayarjargal (Mongolia), and Ponijao, (Namibia). Babies feels unbearably long even at 79 minutes. I kept saying to myself “hey is that Mongolia in the background? I can’t tell---there’s a big freakin’ BABY in the way!” Mainly we see all four babies getting washed, crying, peeing, grinning, crawling, but mostly we see them just staring blankly into space sometimes accompanied by some peppy, incoherent music. By far the star was the African child. Ponijao’s eyes had an intelligence of awareness far superior to most adults.
Even beyond the subject matter, this was a poorly made documentary. When a scene got somewhat close to interesting (which was close to never) it abruptly cut to another scene of over-the-top boring cuteness. The handpicked, random cute stuff included, but was not limited to, belly sucking, tit squirting, fountain-like peeing and baby yoga. Babies didn’t resemble a celebration of life, but rather a home movie that I felt the need to excuse myself from. If I weren’t on assignment, I would’ve gotten up and kept running.
One of the best parts was watching some of the disgusting food some cultures eat, from pans of goat guts to something that resembled an ice-cream meat cone dipped in water.
The most engaging scenes were the ones with pets and babies, but were way too reminiscent of YouTube videos. All the babies seem to have pets. Three of them play with kitties while Ponijao plays with his pet flies. I kept expecting Bob Saget to narrate with baby-talk cartoon-voice. Babies really went downhill when they learned how to make noise. The mass crying provided ample time to for me to squirm and wish I were on another planet.
The crawling times passed quickly and then the babies stood, giving me hope that the torment was over, but nope, it keeps going filling in the black holes with more goo-goo speak and home movie footage. The credits even has an epilogue that shows them “today”, which looks like five minutes later.
French composer Bruno Coulais' ( Coraline, Winged Migration) score uses woodwinds, strings, pans, pots, rattles and anything else he could get his hands on to make this bubbling ethnic pop that is supposed to be jubilant. I guess one might find it uplifting, but to me it sounded like South American pan-flute street music fused with sound effects records.
If you're expecting a baby, once had a baby, or if you have a baby right now you might like Babies. But for other side of the coin if you can't stand, are afraid of, don't get, or are immune to the charms of babies, you will not like Babies. I’m not sure a movie called “tweens” or god forbid “grown-ups” would capture hearts as much as this movie will, but there’s only so much “AWWWWS” a guy can take in one movie. This was beyond torturous. It was by far the most boring movie I have ever seen and the longest 79 minutes spent in my life. One big diaper-less pampers commercial or perhaps one huge ad to adopt an African baby. Babies was just that wrong on so many levels.
With the combination of a concept so poorly delivered, the subject matter so redundant, and the movie so tediously crafted, Babies was my version of a horror movie. Considering after viewing the likes of Dawn of the Dead and Saw, I slept like a baby, but Babies was designed to give me nightmares.




Babies
Starring Babies
Directed by Thomas Balmès
 ½ star

 
  just in case.....

Dream On

Michael Bay continues to murder the classics
By
Morgan P Salvo


Producer Michael Bay is on a murder spree. He is systematically slaughtering remakes of classic horror/slasher movies from the 70s-80s in a churned out torture-porn-slam-bang fashion. He has destroyed what was good about Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Last House on the Left, and Friday the Thirteenth and now, true to form, has revised A Nightmare on Elm Street to new slice and dice levels of schlock and mediocrity.
Elm Street was created by Wes Craven (Hills Have Eyes, Scream) in 1984, franchising into nine slasher films, a television show, novels, and comic books. In case you’re from Mars, here’s the plot: a group of teens suddenly seem to share the same nightmare involving a scary guy in a red-and-green-striped tattered sweater and fedora. Serial killer/monster Freddy Kruger wielding a glove with knives as fingers is stalking and killing people in their dreams, resulting in their real death. Freddy’s seeking revenge on his victim’s parents, who had burned him alive years before for being a child molester.
Incorporating Bay’s brazen tactics, music video director Samuel Bayer (Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit) helms his first feature, with a colorful pulsating panache. But there are no surprises. Bayer tamely duplicates many visual cues and effects sequences from the original: bathtub claw, morphing wall, flying bodies, swarms of blood, finger-blade sparks and the irritating fingernails on a blackboard sound effects. Keeping at an eerie drive-in pace, Nightmare builds some nice suspense here and there but all the scare scenes are done in by a relentless and ultimately predictable amount of shocks-from-nowhere; the equivalent of hiding and at the last moment yelling BOO!
New screenwriter Eric Heisserer and veteran Wesley Strick (responsible for new-aging Scorsese’s Cape Fear) show considerable restraint, following the formulaic horror film genre. However they skip from one idea to the next sending mixed messages and metaphors. The idiotic sub-plot gives us no rationale behind the kids’ multiple memory loss about abuse, allowing for Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew investigating that goes nowhere fast. Not to mention a lamely depicted back story of the demise of pedophile Kruger.
The acting throughout looks misdirected, but most of the teens are believable at angst-ridden, frightened and spewing blood. Clancy Brown shows up as an unrealistically concerned parent, high-schoolers Kyle Gallner (the permanently sad faced kid from Haunting in Connecticut) sports a Joy Division T-shirt to let us know he’s hip, and heroine Rooney Mara looks like she’s already graduated from college.
Jack Earle Haley follows in the footsteps of Robert Englund’s Freddy, who got campier with each sequel, finally becoming a mere caricature. Here Nightmare doesn’t allow Hailey much more than to grunt like a burn-victim ghoul. He just seems like a dripping-faced runt in a striped sweater with an ax to grind, and the fedora has never been explained.
The blurred line between dreams and reality has always been fascinating. But that concept is merely just tapped into here and not unleashed. The notion that a boogeyman can go from nightmare to nightmare, appearing anywhere at any time wreaking havoc with every rip of his razor hand, should be a never ending creative field day for filmmakers. Luis Buñuel, the great surrealist filmmaker who worked with Salvador Dali, once said of his films “when in doubt… put in a dream sequence.” Wes Craven knew this. The concept of people being killed in their dreams corresponding with their real life death and the impossibility of staying awake as the only way to avoid their own gruesome murder is true genius.
Still genuinely creepy this somber gory remake might hold its own as a new feature if we weren’t so inundated with the Kruger saga or if it brought something new, rather than following Bay’s predictable formula. As dormant as Nightmare was, I wasn’t afraid to fall asleep or wake up dead. Let's just say this Elm Street won't cause any nightmares.

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Starring Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Clancy Brown
Directed by Samuel Bayer
2 ½ stars

Out of the Blue

Comic Book Fun is Rejuvenated
By
 Morgan P Salvo

The Losers starts off with a bang and a laugh-inducing somewhat jaw-dropping beginning that is guaranteed to take some steam out of the upcoming A-Team movie. Based on a DC comic book from the 70’s written by Andy Diggle, and illustrated by Jock, I thought I might hate this cartoonish, nonstop action movie but I have to admit that I found it pretty darn amusing.
The plot has a bunch of Predator-gone-turbo mercenary types shooting things to smithereens, blowing tons of stuff up and punching the crap out of everyone in their path (including each other). On a mission deep in the Bolivian jungle, the commandos find themselves betrayed by a powerful enemy known only as Max (Jason Patric). The team head honcho Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), computer-tech geek Jensen (Chris Evans), big-knife wielding Roque (Idris Elba), getaway driver Pooch (Columbus Short) and super sniper Cougar (Óscar Jaenada) are presumed dead and then surreptitiously hired by a mysterious sexpot operative named Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who has her own agenda. Their mission, if they choose to accept it, is to hunt down their enemy, exact revenge and regain their status among the living. Meanwhile the ruthless villain Max is hell-bent on enmeshing the world in a new high-tech global war. Losers then becomes a not-so-confusing tale of double cross and payback.
The screenplay by Peter Berg (Very Bad Things) and James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) keeps the wise-cracking dialogue quick and choppy. French director Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard and I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer) keeps things moving at break-neck speed, throwing camera shots and styles from every angle, using different film stock, super fast editing, hand held camera and enough pans and zooms to make you dizzy. The movie moves to Dubai, Mumbai, Miami, New Mexico and Los Angeles yet it never really matters where they are because it’s all about how funny and over the top the next shoot-out, punch-fest or BSU (blow shit up) scene will be. Although blood spurting and gore is sacrificed to keep the PG-13 rating the use of shooting tranquilizer darts and/or hitting bullet proof vests somewhat redeems itself.
The good news about Losers is that the chemistry between the characters stays engaging. Looking like Robert Downey Jr. meets Javier Bardem, Morgan plays the sensitive yet gruff Colonel with all the right gravitas. Elba does steely, no nonsense with ease. Evans’ character quirkiness wears thin, and he has more t-shirt changes than wardrobe malfunctions on a Victoria Secret catwalk. Patric has maybe too much fun elaborating on Max’s smarmy evilness. His villainous take on CEO with the Michael Jackson glove is reminiscent of a skanky Bradford Dillman. Out of the Avatar’s “navi” blue, Saldana's lithe dancer's body looks good kicking ass Matrix-style but ridiculous holding a rocket launcher.
Colorful, quick and witty, the banter is well timed but eventually runs out of freshness. There are more “you better kill me now or else” kind of lines in this thing than you can shake a fiery exploding jet at.
My real gripe was the use of Journey’s “Can’t stop Believing” ( well… Journey in general). Not only did that song end The Sopranos, The Losers also chose to stop the song and film exactly where that exalted series did. That’s sacrilege.

Even though Losers has gaps and gets sappy it still holds your attention. With the “seen-it-coming-a-mile-away” twists and a silly ending nodding to the sequel, this is the definitive version of how comic books should translate onto the big screen: wacky characters without explanation, an insane plot devoid of a lick of sense, the right dose of humor, and good clean mindless action that doesn’t let up. Entertaining and stupid at the same time Losers condenses all the right amount of fun.

The Losers
Starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Jason Patric, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba, Columbis Short, Óscar Jaenada
Directed by Sylvain White
2 ½ stars

When Super Humans Attack

Kick Ass Opens a Can of Whoop-Ass!
By
Morgan P Salvo


Kick-Ass is a goofy, mixed up movie that examines what would happen if regular people became super heroes. I don’t think this movie is sure what it is: teenage angst flick, revenge crime-stopper thriller, mob-boss-goons action flick, or sensitive slice-of-life indie slacker comedy. Oh, and tons of spurting blood combined with enough curse words to garnish an R-rating, plus an 11 year old heroine using the “c” word and chopping off as many limbs as a ninja assassin, accompanied by flying bullets to rival John Woo’s early work. Basically this movie has its moments, but it’s a mess.
Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a geeky high school student and comic book fan. His life is bland, he goes unnoticed by girls and he gets mugged by thugs in alleys. After pontificating that the world needs real super heroes to do the right thing even if they don’t have powers, he orders a super hero suit online and goes out to make the world a better place. Dave encounters his first battle and gets his ass kicked. This does not deter him from his quest however and he somewhat overpowers his next batch of thugs and is captured on video, spawning the legend of “Kick-Ass” and a huge internet craze. Meanwhile across town a father-and-daughter crime-fighting duo Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) are in training to fight a mob boss (a wildly funny Marc Strong), and soon both scenarios merge.
Drawing from Tarantino’s pop culture sensibility, director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) lays down the gritty and soft lens when needed, some insanely disconnected soundtrack music (theme from Banana Splits and Joan Jett) and strings together a bunch of intertwined events with a variety of excitement.. But the last act falls short deflating the novelty of a little girl slicing and dicing her way through mob henchmen.

Based on the comic Kick-Ass penned by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita Jr. while Image Comics co-founder Rob Liefeld describes this superhero interpretation as extolling "hyper-real super-violence". Kick-Ass is bloodier and funnier than one would think but it misses the mark more than hits any bull’s-eyes, skimming only the surface of Super Bad meets Ironman. Aside from some dazzling action sequences the best parts were the banter between the geeks dishing out sarcastic dialogue.
British actor Johnson brings real believable innocence to his confused alter-ego’s plight. Strong is still the best villain going these days and his tongue-in-cheek comic timing of a super serious bad-ass crime boss is hilarious, though he’ll get a lot of flack for punching a little girl…twice! Moretz is a great actress and steals the show but unfortunately she’s paired up with Cage’s stumble-bum acting style. Seemingly unaware of which direction to take, Cage plays goofy/wacky at first, than channels Adam West’s Batman for his super hero persona and then a stern yet sensitive ex-cop. These are not layers these are inconsistencies.
Kick Ass relies heavily on overused concepts, from having cartoons tell a back story to a Taxi Driver inspired “talking-to-the-mirror” scene. It also takes stabs at the power of the internet, skewering MySpace and YouTube and had a great twist about secret identities.

Combining family-movie sentimentality with grind-house debauchery Kick-Ass stays true to the comic book inspired idea that violence is here to shock and titillate, but then defeats its purpose by becoming way too formulaic: mob guys are dolts, real people are sensitive and there is no such thing as crime fighters, just crime killers. Like the teens obsessed with Kick-Ass comic books, we are supposed to share something in common with the film’s pop vigilantes, but all I shared was popcorn with my date.

Kick-Ass!
Starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Mark Strong
Nicolas Cage, Michael Rispoli
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
 2 stars

Propheteering

A Prophet examines a criminal’s metaphysical rise to power

  By Morgan P Salvo


A Prophet is a French prison/mob film that sucks you in from the first scene. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture, I guarantee this movie will inspire you to recommend it to others... a) because it’s that good and b) because…it’s just that good.
Prophet is the story of the transformation of impoverished young Frenchman of Arab descent, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), and his Machiavellian rise to power within the prison system. Learning the ropes as he goes Malik is a quick study. From the Muslim gangs to the Corsican mob lead by César Luciani (Niels Arestrup), he constantly absorbs knowledge. Malik starts out nervous, illiterate and inarticulate but smart enough to take in everything around him. Serving as underling to the Corsican gang he also studies language and economics from Ryad (Adel Bencherif), an Arab with terminal cancer. Malik learns to smuggle drugs, play all sides of the fence, and to survive. For guaranteed protection he must also prove himself by murdering someone. This leads to an intense razor-blade-in-the-mouth scene with one of the hugest torrents of blood spurting in film history. His ongoing relationship with this “first kill” as a visiting phantom guides him through tough times, inspiring his visionary insight, hence the movie’s title. As he toughens up and achieves more of his goals, the end result is nothing we expect. But the intensity and the intellect of this film goes way beyond any stereotypical “behind bars” trappings. A Prophet is smart, superbly acted, and deftly filmed.

Dubbed as the "French Scorsese," director Jacques Audiard has said Prophet is the "anti-Scarface”, and its non-stereotypical take on racial behaviors provides the feel of an anthropological documentary. A combination of influential movies come to mind like, Midnight Express, Brubaker, Papillon, 1983’s Bad Boys (with Sean Penn), even Shawshank Redemption, but Prophet mostly resembles Andrew Dominik’s Chopper mixed with the gritty realism of Fernando Meirelles’ City of God and the surrealism of David Lynch or Takashi Miike.
The acting obtains absolute perfection. Arestrup commands the screen with true mob boss spirit, passive and friendly one minute, exploding into fits of cruel rage the next. His transformation from top dog to a thug whose days are numbered is devastating. Rahim is an actor who at first glance doesn’t seem all that special, but his portrayal of a gifted learner who can hide his thoughts, calculate his moves, and take courageous risks to get ahead proves nothing short of mezmorizing. Rahim’s performance is strong but not grandiose. You want to root for Malik, but his power playing keeps him mutating back and forth between loyalties so much that you that you get left in the lurch.
Steeped in plot intricacies close to that of Godfather II and The Sopranos, Prophet’s genius lies in exposing the fact that nothing is what it seems and it’s all right there in front of you. A Prophet derives as much power from surreal dream scenes as hard hitting realism. But what delves deeper is Audiard's minute deconstruction of socio-political power dynamics. This is Machiavelli's The Prince played out in prison –Malik never lies yet deftly gains power against others by using truth as his deceit.
Audiard shows extreme attention to detail, from the distant echoing yells from faraway cells to the compelling theme music, handpicked blues and the ending credits’ Mack the knife by Jimmy Dale Gilmore. The height of the drama includes an extremely original, dazzling yet claustrophobic shoot out scene that can only be described as a blood-spattered bullet-riddled cocoon-like rebirth.
A Prophet is an epic, riveting drama examining a survivor at the purest level, with an almost spiritual transcendence nearing redemption. At two and a half hours, it was just getting started.

A Prophet
Starring: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup,Adel Bencherif
Directed by Jacques Audiard
4 ½ stars