Last updated on November 5, 2013
Jack The Giant Slayer – I like these sorts of films. You go into the experience with zero expectations, considering the sheer idiocy of the premise and why Hollywood wants to cash-in on fairy tales from the distant past). In the end, you expectations actually improve the film in the end! Jack the Giant Slayer, in this regard, succeeds brilliantly, It looks rather droll and boring at first glance. What do you do with this story that hasn’t already been done, and how do you turn it into an action-adventure movie without introducing too many characters and too much mythology? Admittedly, Jack The Giant Slayer goes overlong into this during its beginning parts, but it establishes its story quickly enough that you won’t lose interest.
Of course, Jack the Giant Slayer tries to fit an old story into the Peter Jacksonian “Lord of the Rings” model, and ends up usurping some action-adventure tropes to get there. It’s a strange thing to watch in action, but it does keep old stories fresh and exciting! Directed by Bryan Singer, best known for The Usual Suspects and the X-Men series of films, almost every character fits into an archetype while playing against type. Our hero, Jack, isn’t the confident farm boy, but a stuttering and shy little kid who isn’t exactly brimming with vigor. Your medieval princess does the whole “I am rebellious and want to see real people” deal, but isn’t as annoying as that usually becomes after a while. The “mentor” character (Ewan McGregor, who may as well be called Obi-Won Kenobi here – although that hairdo of his made me laugh the entire film) actually encourages and congratulates the hero on his actions, rather than dismissing him outright. Even your villains turn into something a little more complex than the average…well, if you think Stanley Tucci twirling his “evil man” mustache is nuanced, or a giant played by Bill Nighy with an edifice complex strikes you as full of depth.
But hey, it’s an action movie, so you take what you can get, right? All of this variety plays with tropes, throws equal parts humor and darkness (giants do eat people, you know), and ends up being a massively entertaining adventure. It’s certainly much smarter than a host of summer films I’ve seen in recent weeks (even if it didn’t technically come out in the summer), and there’s a lot of credit to that. If anything, the relatively boring visual style may turn you off right from the beginning, but the generic look actually fits this. My own experience derives this tale from Mickey Mouse’s feathered cap and animated hijinks, so this felt like a refresher by comparison.
Will you, dear reader, like this? Depends on your tolerance for lighthearted entertainment fare, and/or an ability to get past the visuals and enjoy it for what it is. It does look like the current wave of fairy-tale blockbusters may be coming to an end, but at least we got a fairly good set of films out of it, eh?
Gurenn Lagann – As Two Best Friends Play might say, “Gurenn Lagann is the hypest s***!”
I will admit to saying this: I find most giant robot anime boring, if not by characters than by the slow and plodding mecha battles. I am not looking down on Gundam in this respect, which deals much more with the horrors of war and conflict than it does in watching metal robots beat the crap out of each other. There’s a time and a place for it, but maybe not in something hilariously unrealistic like this? I will, furthermore, add that my anime tastes skew in strange places. Everyone likes Cowboy Bebop, duh, but I prefer mine to throw crazy things at me (Serial Experiments Lain, Boogiepop Phantom) or just demonstrate the wonders of animation (Samurai Champloo). Aesthetic choices to go along with story still feels rather hard to quantify, though I am certainly trying my best right now!
In that sense, Gurenn Lagann hits each and every single note I’d want. Every fight feels exciting and “hype”, we might say. Every conflict has a reason to exist. The show’s hilarious yet poignant without delving too far into either. Characters actually exist for a reason without being too overbearing. And, as a good point of comparison, Gurenn Lagann knows how to ramp up a battle like a Hideki Kamiya boss fight! Man, it does get the blood pumping. Maybe it’s just the way it’s drawn, or how over the top it all looks, but the effect really gets you invested in the whole shebang. If it didn’t have a huge budget, then I am pretty astounded at the quality of the animation on display here. I want my mecha fights intense and crazy, something I can’t see in real life, so Gurenn Lagann certainly works purely on that level.
Of course, I’ve only seen two episodes at the current moment, so that’s just my instinctual judgment calling, but I imagine it turns into a rather fine series as we go. The critical reception on both sides of the Pacific blossomed with praise, so I can’t imagine not liking it as it goes along. Like Trigun before it (the Western thing and post-apocalyptic setting certainly demonstrate a similar inclination to tell such stories), the dreary dusty world remains the perfect setting for humor, action, and tiny bits of truth with plot twists hinted along the way.
What else can I say? Go watch it! It’s on Hulu for free right now, unless you somehow hate subtitles with your Japanese language anime. Now, to start Attack on Titan. That’s all the rage nowadays, right? Just when I thought I was out of the anime, they pull me back in!
