Movie Review: Hostiles

Hostiles *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Scott Cooper.

Written by: Scott Cooper based on a story by Donald E. Stewart.

Starring: Christian Bale (Captain Joseph J. Blocker), Rosamund Pike (Rosalie Quaid), Wes Studi (Yellow Hawk), Ben Foster (Sergeant Charles Wills), Stephen Lang (Colonel Abraham Biggs), Timothée Chalamet (Private Philippe DeJardin), Jesse Plemons (Lieutenant Rudy Kidder), Rory Cochrane (Master Sergeant Thomas Metz), Jonathan Majors (Corporal Henry Woodson), Adam Beach (Black Hawk), Q'orianka Kilcher (Elk Woman), Peter Mullan (Lieutenant Colonel Ross McCowan), Robyn Malcolm (Minnie McGowan), Paul Anderson (Corporal Tommy Thomas), Scott Wilson (Cyrus Lounde), Bill Camp (Jeremiah Wilks), John Benjamin Hickey (Captain Royce Tolan), Scott Shepherd (Wesley Quaid), Ryan Bingham (Sergeant Malloy).

 

Scott Cooper’s Hostiles is a Western that has so much going for it that ultimately it is able to make up for some of it’s rather glaring flaws. It isn’t a classically structured Western, but rather one that aims to depict the brutality of America at that time in all its harshness. This, it undeniably does, but the film also plods along at a rather slow pace, and at times it feels like little more than a parade of misery. And while it’s laudable that the really wants to give humanity to the Native Americans, it suffers because the Native characters are thinly written, especially when compared to the roles for the white actors in the film. The film is about the slow realization of the main character – Captain Joseph Blocker – that Natives are humans to, and deserve that humanity. If only the film had been able to do more with its Natives characters, it could have been great.

 

The film takes place in 1892, and opens with a massacre of a white family on their homestead at the hands of the Comanche – who want to steal their horses. To do this, they kill the husband, two daughters, and an infant son – leaving only the mother, Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike) alive – and only because they cannot find her. The film than flashes to a group of Army men, taunting and tormenting their latest Native captive. These two scenes make it clear that there is no love lost between these two sides, and brutality is going both ways. Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) is then given his final assignment before retirement. He is to escort chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi), and his family – who have been prisoners for 7 years – back to his homeland in Montana, where he can die in peace. It has become clear at this point that the White Man has won the “war” against the natives, so a little harmless PR stunt like this won’t hurt anything. Blocker is deadest against it – so much so that he risks a court martial to try and fight it. Eventually, he gives in, because he has no choice. But he isn’t happy about it – and once out of the army base, he demeans the Chief and his son (Adam Beach) by putting them in chains. Eventually, they will come across Rosalie, still staying in her burnt out shell of a house, with the bodies of her family – clearly suffering from PTSD. They take her along with them, and she slowly comes out of her shock – but the danger of those Comanche is always there.

 

The first half of the film is really where it is at its best – the journey from the base, to the point where they have to deal with the Comanche that killed the Quaid family. From there – about the half way point, things become a little more scattershot, and less effective. The film introduces a killer (Ben Foster), who had previously served with Blocker, and who they are tasked with bringing back to another base to stand trial. Foster doesn’t understand why he is being tried for murder, when all the army does is murder people. There are also side trips to deal with brutal fur trappers, and a final showdown with some people who arrive out of nowhere.

 

To be fair to the movie, it handles these things fairly well. Bale is great in his role, and he is able to show his slow dawning change in him in how he views Yellow Hawk, and other natives – from the man practically shaking with racist rage in the opening scenes, to someone who really does fully respect them, and is willing to back that up. Rosamund Pike is also quite good (even if her “recovery” seems rather quick – especially after the incident with the fur traders). The film looks utterly gorgeous as well. While the film has a slow pace, perhaps too slow given its runtime, it does make the eruptions of violence hit harder.

 

Yet, I cannot help but think that much of the energy in the second half, devoted to these side trips, could have been better served rounding out the Native characters. Wes Studi is a great actor, and he has undeniable screen presence in Hostiles – but the film doesn’t really give him anything to do except have screen presence. Talented actors like Adam Beach and Q'orianka Kilcher – are given even less to do. If you’re going to make a film about the relationship between the White Man and Natives, it would help if both sides are given fully realized characters to play.

 

Still, while that’s an undeniably flaw, it doesn’t sink Hostiles – which really is a fine, modern day Western, which wants to help correct the mythmaking of old Hollywood films. The film was directed by Scott Cooper – who has made four solid films now (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace and Black Mass are the others), but hasn’t yet made a great one. He may well get there one day – but for now, it’s been interesting watching him try.

Movie Review: Black Mass

Black Mass
Directed by: Scott Cooper.
Written by: Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill.
Starring: Johnny Depp (James 'Whitey' Bulger), Joel Edgerton (John Connolly), Benedict Cumberbatch (Billy Bulger), Dakota Johnson (Lindsey Cyr), Kevin Bacon (Charles McGuire), Peter Sarsgaard (Brian Halloran), Jesse Plemons (Kevin Weeks), Rory Cochrane (Steve Flemmi), David Harbour (John Morris), Adam Scott (FBI Agent Robert Fitzpatrick), Corey Stoll (Fred Wyshak), Julianne Nicholson (Marianne Connolly), W. Earl Brown (John Martorano), Bill Camp (John Callahan), Juno Temple (Deborah Hussey).

Johnny Depp has taken a lot of criticism of the past few years – much of it admittedly deserved – for his performances, which seem to be unhinged and eccentric – or perhaps just unhinged and eccentric in the exact same way each time. With the exception of last year’s Transcendence however, Depp has never given an uncommitted performance. Sure, he has given some awful performances in the past few years, but Depp really does seem to be trying each time out – and sometimes, it just doesn’t work. Therefore, it is a pleasure to see his work in Scott Cooper’s Black Mass – played infamous Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger – who ran the rackets in Southie, murdered a lot of people, and was a protected FBI informant who used his status as an informant to get the FBI to eliminate all his enemies that he personally couldn’t. It is another committed performance by Depp – but this time in a completely different way. His Bulger is cold, cruel and calculated – and he doesn’t let the layers of makeup, the contact lens or the deliberately bad hair piece he’s wearing to do all the acting for him. It truly is a wonderful performance – his best since his underrated turn in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies (2009) – and perhaps even further back than that. Unfortunately for Depp – and the audience – however he is far and away the best thing about director Scott Cooper’s movie. The film has a great ensemble cast, but often they simply seem to be trying to outduel each other in their exaggerated Boston accents. The plotting of the film is more than a little confused as well. Because of Depp’s performance however the film is still well worth seeing – but had it been as good as Depp is in it, it would be one the year’s best.

The film basically alternates between the two different sides in the equation. Most of the time is spent with Jimmy, as he moves from small time hood, willing and eager to do whatever it takes to get ahead. The rest of the time is spent with John Connolly, who is already a “hero” FBI agent, when he’s transferred back to his old stomping grounds in Southie. He grew up friends with Jimmy’s brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch) – now a powerful State Senator – and when he joins the task force assigned to take down the mob in Boston, he reaches back out to Billy to get in touch with Jimmy. They’re all Southie guys – and John believes Jimmy can help him bring down the Italians who run the city. And if the FBI needs to allow Jimmy to get away with some things, so be it. The Mafia is the probably – Jimmy’s a small time hood – at least for now. But Jimmy keeps getting bigger – and John keeps right on letting him, getting closer and closer to his informant.

Joel Edgerton is a fine actor – he has been great in several movies, most recently in his own directorial debut The Gift, this past summer. However, his Connolly never quite rises to the level to make a good counterpoint to Depp’s Jimmy. Much of the problem seems to be that the film never quite figures him out – it makes complete and total sense why Jimmy does what he does, but Connolly? The movie gives him basically the same speech several times, about loyalty and unbreakable bonds, but it rings false. Cumberbatch is playing an even more thinly defined character – as does the worst accent to boot, so he’s basically a distraction every time he’s onscreen. The stars in the supporting cast are the ones with the smaller roles – Peter Sarsgaard as a crazed, drugged out criminal, Rory Cochrane as one of Jimmy’s key men, who is slowly, silently breaking down throughout the movie, Jesse Plemons as Jimmy’s ever present, young muscle and W. Earl Brown as Jimmy’s go to hit man. They add color to the background of the movie, and help to elevate it.

Black Mass has been compared to the work of Martin Scorsese – but I think that’s a rather lazy comparison. Cooper’s film reminded me much more of the work of Sidney Lumet – in films like Serpico (1973) or Prince of the City (1981). To be fair to Cooper, Black Mass generally looks great – Boston almost always seeming cold and overcast, and he creates a palpable sense of tension that could explode into violence at any time. Plus, there is Depp, who keeps the movie grounded and interesting even when things start to meander in the final act (which isn’t quite set up or executed very well). Overall, Black Mass is an average movie – after Cooper’s first two films, the Oscar winning Crazy Heart and the underrated and under seen Out of the Furnace, it’s a little bit of a step down, yet still keeps me interested to see just what he’s going to do next. He’s got a great film in him – but no matter how great Depp is in it, Black Mass isn’t that film.

Movie Review: Out of the Furnace

Out of the Furnace
Directed by: Scott Cooper.
Written by: Brad Ingelsby and Scott Cooper.
Starring: Christian Bale (Russell Baze), Casey Affleck (Rodney Baze Jr.), Woody Harrelson (Harlan DeGroat), Zoe Saldana (Lena Taylor), Forest Whitaker (Chief Wesley Barnes), Willem Dafoe (John Petty), Sam Shepard (Gerald 'Red' Baze), Tom Bower (Dan Dugan).

Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace almost feels like a freshly discovered crime drama from the late 1970s. Take out the few instances where cell phones are used, replace the word “Iraq” with “Vietnam” and “meth” with some other drug – and that is pretty much precisely what you have. The film takes place in one of those small Pennsylvania towns that made James Carville describe the state as “Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with Alabama in between”. Time hasn’t much changed this town – where young men are forced to decide between working at “the mill”, joining the army, not working at all or leaving town. The men live here all seem to wear flannel, have facial hair and haircuts dangerously bordering on mullets. They also do not say much – preferring to keep their feelings bottled up or drowning them in alcohol.

Christian Bale stars as Russell Baze, who is one of those men, but basically a good one. He keeps his head down, his nose clean and heads off to work at the mill everyday – even though working at the mill is probably what has made his father so sick. He is in love with Lena (Zoe Saldana) and has no greater ambition in his life than to lead a quiet, happy one with his girl, and raising a family. His brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) is an Iraq war veteran who has been “Stop Lossed” more than once and has done four tours of duty. When he’s not in Iraq, he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. He drinks, he gambles – borrowing money from John Petty (Willem Dafoe) – a small time sleaze ball, who is the nicest criminal we’ll meet in the movie. He also bare knuckle boxes to pay the bills. Basically, Rodney is angry – he’s given everything for his country, and they’ve repaid him with a future that offers little to no hope.

Yet it is Russell, not Rodney, who ends up in jail – a drinking and driving accident with fatal consequences lands him there for a few years. When he gets out, all he wants to do is rebuild his life – which is hard as Lena has left him for the local Sheriff (Forest Whitaker), his father has died, and Rodney seems further gone than ever before. When Rodney makes the mistake of getting mixed up with Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson) – who Petty (generously) describes as an “insane, inbred hillbilly”, you know he’s in trouble. DeGroat is pretty much pure, unrepentantly evil – and we know this from the beginning, as the first scene has him smack around his date at a drive-in, and then beat (perhaps to death) someone who dares to intervene. But Russell will not let what has happened go.

Out of the Furnace, co-written and directed by Scott Cooper, is pretty much bleak from beginning to end. You could easily turn a film like this into an action film or a thriller – but Cooper doesn’t seem too interested in doing that. There is nothing exciting about the film – even when it does turn violent. When that turn does come, the violence is brutal and ugly. Cooper’s only previous film was Crazy Heart – the film that finally won Jeff Bridges a long overdue Oscar. That film was also rather bleak in places – but by at least ends on a hopeful note – one that allows us to see the life its protagonist is now going to be able to lead. Out of the Furnace offers no such comfort. There isn’t a character here whose future looks all that promising. Like Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace shows that Cooper is a real filmmaker – and makes me want to see his next film even more. Also like Crazy Heart though, he perhaps leans a little too heavily on his influences here (with Crazy Heart, it was clearly Tender Mercies – here, it’s The Deer Hunter – and no, I really didn’t need the scene of actual deer hunting in this movie to draw that connection).

But also like Crazy Heart, Cooper does excel at getting excellent performances from his cast. He probably cast better actors than he needed to in supporting roles – but Tom Bower, Sam Shepherd, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe and Zoe Saldana all do fine jobs in their roles – even if they are never given all that much to do, and their characters are fairly one note. Still, an actor like Shepherd just oozes authenticity – he is incapable of hitting a false note – and his mere presence are often enough. For Saldana, this is an attempt to do something more serious than she’s known for – and she’s shows she is more than capable – a scene with her and Bale on a bridge where she tells him some devastating news is perhaps the best in the film – her face clearly showing the wear since last time we’ve seen her. Harrelson is, as always, great as DeGroat – even if he never truly becomes a realistic character, he is truly one of the scariest, most vile villains you’ll see in a movie anytime soon. Casey Affleck is great as Rodney – showing once again just how great an actor he is. It’s too bad he decides not to work more, because his mere presence in a movie indicates quality (which is perhaps why he doesn’t work more). Bale delivers one of his best performances as Russell – it’s a quietly intense performance that threatens to explode at any point. He is playing a fundamentality good guy, who little by little goes down a path he cannot retreat from. It’s further proof that he’s one of the best actors of his generation.

Out of the Furnace doesn’t really do anything new – yet what it does do, it does well. Cooper is a fine filmmaker – a young one, just at the beginning of his career, who already has two solid films under his belt. He’s one to watch – and so is his latest film.

Movie Review: Crazy Heart

Crazy Heart *** ½
Directed By: Scott Cooper.
Written By: Scott Cooper based on the book by Thomas Cobb.
Starring: Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jean Craddock), Robert Duvall (Wayne), Colin Farrell (Tommy Sweet), Paul Herman (Jack Greene).

One of Hollywood’s favorite stories is about the washed up superstar who has been destroyed by his own demons, who tries – either successfully or unsuccessfully – to make his way back to the top. We see multiple version of this story every year. If we’re lucky, you get a movie as honest and brilliant as The Wrestler out of the formula. But more often than not, filmmakers telling this type of story are lazy, and don’t even try. But Crazy Heart, which tells the same old story, is a very moving, very honest exploration of a former country music star, now spending most of his days drinking, and playing dives where few people care who he is. What makes Crazy Heart special is two things – the performance by Jeff Bridges, and the music, both of which are damned near perfect.

Bridges plays Bad Blake. He had some hits back in the day, but he has spent much of the last decade drinking, and not really writing any new material. He drives around in his pickup truck to one loser gig after another, with no money in his pockets, and just the remnants of fame with him. He cannot even afford his own band anymore – and has to play with a series of pickup band. One of the guys who used to be in his band, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), has become a big star, and this makes Blake bitter. Not because Tommy has forgotten about him – he hasn’t – but because someone who used to play behind him, is now out in front, and no one cares about Blake anymore.

He cruises into Santa Fe for a two night stand at a seedy bar, not looking for much of anything accept to make a little money to buy more booze. A local reporter, Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) wants to interview him for the paper. She’s beautiful, so he agrees. The conversation quickly steps away from the interview itself and becomes flirtatious. Blake still has charm, and he uses it on Jean. Jean has her own demons – an ex-husband no longer in the picture, and a son she adores – and slowly, reluctantly, she allows Blake into her life, knowing the risks.

Crazy Heart gets the details just about right. The lousy clubs that all look the same, the aging audience members looking for a bit of nostalgia, how one day drifts into the next, one gig is the same as another, and how you start drinking early in the day to get over the previous day’s hangover. This is Blake’s life, and while he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t know what else to do.

Bridges is great as Blake. He has the look of an aging country music star perfectly – the beard that hasn’t been trimmed in god knows how long, the cowboy hat, the sunglasses that are always slightly askew. Not only that, but he sounds like one to. Bridges does his own singing in this movie, and he does a great job. Full credit must go to T-Bone Burnett who wrote all the music for the film, because the songs sound authentic, and Bridges delivers them with force and emotion (the great song, The Weary Kind which Burnett co-wrote with Ryan Bingham is easily the best song written for a movie this year). No matter how strung out he appears to be, when he goes on stage, he really does try his best – not even having to leave momentarily to puke can keep him off the stage for very long.

Bridges does a great job off stage as well. He wants to be a nice guy, a reliable guy, especially after he falls for Jean, not to mention her son Buddy. But he just cannot help himself. He is who he is, and the alcohol has a hold on him that he cannot fight off for very long. There have been many great performances of movie drunks, and Bridges performance stands with the best of them. After more than four decades in the movies, Bridges continues to evolve as an actor. What other actor of his generation could have played The Big Lebowski, the President in The Contender and Bad Blake? Not many.

The presence of Robert Duvall in a supporting role as perhaps Blake’s one remaining true friend, brings to mind Tender Mercies, the 1983 film that Duvall won his only Oscar for (Duvall also produced Crazy Heart). In that film, Duvall plays a washed up country music singer looking for redemption, and finding it with a young widow and her son. So yes, the two movies are similar, but they aren’t the same. I think I even liked Crazy Heart more. These characters feel real, even amidst all the clichés that the movie surrounds them with. As Roger Ebert never tires of saying, and I never tire of quoting, a movie is not about what it’s about, but how it’s about it. The acting here – not just by Bridges although he towers over everyone in the movie – but by Gyllenhaal, Duvall and even Colin Farrell (who, I must admit, it took me a while to get used to as a Southern country music singer), finds just the right notes. The direction and screenplay by newcomer Scott Cooper is subtle, but wonderful. And the music is great. I don’t like country music very much (unless it’s Johnny Cash), but the music here hits just the right notes. Crazy Heart is a movie that rises above its clichés, and becomes something truly special.