Action and Adventure films - 2012
If we were to rank the genres for which one kicked the most in 2012, I think it's clear the super genre won. But action/adventure had a very strong and diverse showing as well, with the return of James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, action stars of the past, and Quentin Tarantino wading into the fray.
| Skyfall | Expendables 2 | Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows |
| Django Unchained |
____________________
 |
Daniel Craig finally returns as James Bond after a 4-year absence in Skyfall. The film was one of the top money-makers of 2012 and the most successful Bond film on record. The production was impressive and it received many accolades for the story and performances, but of course I had some complaints.
Skyfall seemed to spend a lot of time deconstructing James Bond. Casino Royale was the reboot and A Quantum of Solace was an addendum to that. So, in the next Bond adventure they are already talking about how Bond isn't fit for duty and should consider retiring while only now introducing a bevy of new supporting characters. Gentlemen/Ladies, please make up your minds . . . This Bond movie features a relatively lame pair of Bond girls. One is pre-destined to be limited and the other was treated in such a callous, woman-as-tissue paper way that it shocked my sensibilities. In the end of the film, Bond throws the bad guy a curve which unfortunately fails to achieve its intended goal. But so long as the bad guy dies what else really matters?
One more pet peeve in Skyfall - I am sick and tired of the cliche of the omnipotent hacker villain. This has been done before, most notably in the fourth Die Hard movie. Contrary to what a lot of people may be led to believe, it's just not that easy for a person to be able to single-handedly crack governmental and corporate defense systems. I realize that many people are dazzled by the coolness of Javier Bardem, but I found the notion of him having been a damaged one-time MI6 agent, who morphed into a world class computer genius a bit of a stretch for me, even in a Bond movie.
_____________________
 |
So many of the films that have been successful this year have been continuations from prior movies. My next mention is from a franchise too, but it's a fledgling one. Though one might be able to make an argument that Expendables 2 doesn't just follow up on The Expendables, but every high-octane action hero movie from the 80's and 90's. Complain about how dated they may seem if you want, but the action movies of those decades rocked. To see those guys on screen again, doing what they do, "made my day." (Wow. Eastwood in the next one? I can dream.)
I've read a lot of opinions about Expendables 2. Most people seemed to like it better than the first because it seemed lighter-hearted and more self-deprecating then the first. OK maybe, but think about it. If you take out the scenes with Schwarzenegger and Norris and some with Willis, the show is pretty much a straight marginally-good-mercenaries vs. really-awful-mercenaries revenge story. Honestly, I would have preferred more character revelation and more plot. But I think Stallone found himself with an opportunity to bring together all of these iconic faces. What plot could have done them equal and deserving justice? In the final analysis, the story wasn't the greatest, but I still loved this movie. And I did feel that Stallone and Van Damme's final fight scene gave me my money's worth.
____________________
 |
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Submitted for your approval, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - action heroes. Though the many depictions of Holmes in the past never showed him shying away from a fight, this new interpretation is notably different. The first movie - Sherlock Holmes (2009) - established some of this. We have a Holmes who approaches physical combat as an intellectual exercise as well as a physical one. He and Watson are frequently pursuing, apprehending, and brawling with evil-doers without waiting for Scotland Yard to arrive.
Whether he is Tony Stark or a Victorian Era sleuth, Robert Downey Jr. specializes in the egotist as hero. This is a strength to some and a downfall to others. While I find the flamboyance a bit irritating, Downey's Holmes is still a man of honor who loves his friends and strives for justice, otherwise who would (or should) care about him at all.
I admired the intelligence of the plot of Game of Shadows, while I was a bit incredulous as to the mental faculties that were ascribed to Holmes and Moriarty. If only Einstein had been so astute. I realize the writers needed to create a Holmes/Moriarty conflict to impress. Writing a believable, and hopefully comprehensible, story about two deeply complex thinkers in a deadly battle of wits is no small feat.
In keeping with the new interpretation of Holmes, a lot of emphasis was put on running, jumping, fighting, and shooting and not enough was spent on enjoying the characters and making the story clearer. As to the face-to-face confrontations between Holmes and Moriarty, it often seemed like an insufferably arrogant couple of guys determined to "one-up" the other. I enjoyed the addition of Holmes' surprisingly eccentric brother Mycroft to the story and I appreciated that they gave Mary Watson interesting things to do rather than just sending her to the sidelines. Overall, it was an enjoyable story, if a bit tiring.
____________________
 |
There are elements of Django Unchained that I genuinely liked. Christopher Waltz's performance as a likeable, sophisticated, but still cold-blooded bounty hunter earned him much deserved praise. Leonardo Dicaprio and Samuel Jackson chew up a lot of scenery in over-the-top villainous roles. Slavery was a stain on the early days of the United States and these two play that up with about as much awfulness as one could imagine.
There has been Oscar-talk for this movie. I'm sorry, but that is patently absurd. Tarantino, a lover of schlocky films, has made a schlocky pastiche film of his own but with high production values. He has learned that even shockingly tasteless fare will sell well if you do it over the top (so you couldn't really be serious, could you?), use good actors, and make it look good. There were many enjoyable moments in Django, but serious it ain't.