Contract

Rating : 2/10
Running Time : 122 Minutes
Release Date : 18th July ‘08
Director : Ram Gopal Varma ; Writer : Prashant Pandey ; Music : Amar Mohile, Sanaa, Bapi-Tutul
Starring : Adhvik Mahajan, Sakshi Gulati, Zakir Hussain, Sumeet Nijhavan, Upendra Limaye

I would like to put out a contract against Ram Gopal Varma’s ego. I have an issue with a person who treats the art of cinema so disdainfully, calls his film company a ‘factory’ and makes 3-4 films in a year.

Contract showcases nothing new – either in terms of story or cinematic treatment and is further let down by clichéd dialogue, wooden performances and an unrealistic ending that leaves itself open to the horrifying prospect of a sequel. The story, that of an ex-army guy, who’s family is killed in a mass bombing and now seeks revenge by becoming a terrorist, is clearly old hat. His rise up the ranks of the underworld / terrorists is almost too easy – maybe that’s how it happens in real life, I cant claim to know any better – but it just seems too simplistic. And we’re also exposed to gore, deaths etc to make it worse.

Adhvik is ok – slightly wooden but has potential in terms of physique and looks. Sakshi Gulati is an improvement vs Ramu’s previous muse (Nisha Kothari) but then so would most people on the planet be, so that’s not saying much. Maybe with the right role, she could be better. The others seem to be sleepwalking through a performance which doesn’t demand too much in terms of emoting or dialogue delivery. And we are further subjected to really weird camera angles and the gritty, yellowish, dark photography that is de rigueur in all of RGV’s films.

Couldn’t wait for it to end. Go on, RGV, I dare you to make a sequel to this one ! I think after your recent disasters, even you will struggle to find backers in the future.

Hancock

Rating : 6/10
Running Time : 92 Minutes
Release Date :11th July ’08 (India)
Director : Peter Berg ; Writer : Vincent Ngo, Vince Gilligan
Starring : Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Jae Head
Hancock is the world’s first scruffy superhero who doesn’t give a damn. All superheroes so far have always been smooth, clean-shaven (not a moustache or even long sidebars between them), PR savvy, politically correct, with secret identities, uniforms, fans, adoring public, and a bevy of beautiful women after them.

Hancock thinks nothing of pinching a woman’s butt, clearing away a line of kids to get an ice cream, or rescuing a whale by simply tossing it out into the sea (and sinking a sailboat in the process) or even drinking all day. He doesn’t have a secret identity or uniform or any fans (in fact the opposite) or beautiful women after him. Right from his first rescue mission – when he breaks the road when he takes off, then hits & breaks a freeway sign which in turn hits and damages several police cars chasing the baddies and then how he tackles the baddies by beating their car against several buildings and damaging property worth $9mn, you know you’re in for something different.

And then there is a twist in the middle that was brilliant, I wasn’t able to spot that coming (and neither was Hancock), which made things more interesting briefly. But I feel the director / writer wasn’t quite able to decide what to do / how to end it and the movie kind of petered away in the end. Also, somethings weren’t explained fully – didn’t make sense. I like clarity of rules ie Superman is man of steel except around kryptonite or Sandman is very strong except when wet etc. Here, this part was not so clear.


But the unkempt, grungy, unsmiling yet wise-cracking Will Smith, the delectable Charlize Theron (looks gorgeous even while playing a normal housewife) and some lovely situations (the crowd reaction after he rescues a PR agent, for example) ensure you have a lot of laughs and enjoy the film. It was interesting to watch a superhero movie that breaks all the rules. And just for that, its worth a watch…

PS : I also liked the way they adapted the international movie poster for India by including the Taj...more power to India !!

KungFu Panda

Rating : 6/10
Running Time : 92 Minutes
Release Date : 4th July ‘08
Director & Writer : Mark Osborne & John Stevenson ; Writers : Jonathan Aibel & Glen Berger ; Music : John Powell, Hans Zimmer
Voices of : Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan

It made me laugh but is not a classic. There is a very good take-off on all the good old kung-fu movies, with moves like ‘the Wuxi finger hold’ (or something like that), places like ‘Pool of Sacred Tears’ and ‘The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom’, fighters like the tigress, crane, monkey etc using exotic styles like tiger claw, white crane and monkey kung fu. The animation is exquisite, as with all DreamWorks films, with really lovely touches like petals flying, the grass rustling, the ripples in water etc. And there is lots of fun, as we watch a huge, overweight, ungainly, wise-cracking paunchy panda demonstrate his skills (or the lack of them) at kung fu.

However, I feel this is a movie which I would be able to watch only once or maximum another time, while I can (& I do) see the animated classics, several times. There are two things which make the difference to me – one is the dialogue – movies like Ice Age had brilliant dialogue, with several ‘layers’ – some jokes which kids got and some others which were meant for adults. This one was pretty average as far as the dialogue was concerned, nothing brilliant and missed the layering almost completely. The second is the lack of multiple, endearing and characters – whether it was Finding Nemo or Jungle Book, both had several beautifully sketched, distinct, whimsical personalities (the amnesiac fish, Doreen, the turtle or Bruce, the vegetarian shark from the former & Kaa, Colonel Haathi, King Louis or the evergreen Bagheera and Baloo from Jungle Book). In KungFu Panda, too much time is spent on the Panda, too little in making us get to know the other characters and their idiosyncracies.

Kids, though, loved the movie. I enjoyed it too, despite all the intellectualisation above. And its for sure worth the price of a ticket.