I LOVED this and that was a bit of a surprise as I also love the original series which this could not be further away from but I also tend to like most of Fuquas pictures so its not *that* big of a surprise. Still, what this film uniquely does is pretty remarkable. First, we get a very steadily paced, unrushed opening twenty minutes or so that simply establishes tone and psychological detail before all hell breaks loose. Thats appreciated but it really goes beyond that--there are moments where I actually thought of it as a genre variation on those supremely still and attentive portraits that Sokurov gives us. And that time allows for some very nicely detailed, shaded work from both Denzel and Chloë Moretz. Thats all the more crucial for adding weight and substance because you start to realize that this is functioning in the mode of both very old fashion melodrama (try silent melodrama) and also, finally, myth. That naturally appeals to me but its the way in which this is that which is so remarkable. Obviously weve seen a lot of these kind of pictures. But I really cant recall anything quite like this. Its pared down to an essentialism thats almost virtually inhuman because there are so few of the standard cliche moves for this form that were used to seeing, the ones meant to make the mythic narrative in some way relatable. Denzel really does act as the hand of God in this and that provokes and unsettles. Hes unflinching throughout to a degree we simply do not ever see, that goes far beyond the usual heroic posture of everyone else in everything else. We do not get the standard structure here (that affects all such pics from Jason Statham to Captain America) of the hero momentarily put down (i.e. made relatable), only to rise again and exact a more satisfying vengeance. Here there is none of that. McCall simply barrels through everything in his path with what is basically a superhuman capability. And that does unsettle and I think its meant to (there are numerous indications that were meant to take McCall as a kind of reticent executioner, one finally giving way to an inevitability of character and thats fascinating). On top of this, Moretzs character is pure melodrama pretext, so pure that it becomes mythic. In any other picture like this, shed hang around to further humanize McCall and to get in on the action or become a prop of suspense. Here, those complications are clearly beside the point. McCall is depicted as the mirror inverse of Marton Csokass villain--they are both functionally sociopathic but McCall is capable of being motivated by sympathy, by love. The fact that this motivation then propels him on to a relentless, almost fascist campaign of takedown violence is another detail that hardly seems incidental. Theres a nice Michael Mann quality to much of this as well, most especially centered around the isolation of the perfect professional. They dont really need to make any more of these as this one pretty well ideologically sums up the purity of the content but I would certainly gladly watch another.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:22:34 +0000