Anatomy of a Fall - Dead On Arrival

Rent on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and YouTube 

    In the 2011 mystery drama The Lincoln Lawyer, one of the best moments is when the titular character comments that the most terrifying client is an innocent one because if you fail to do your job as a defense attorney, your client ends up in prison for a crime he/she didn’t commit, and that guilt will torment you forever. By a similar token, the most terrifying film to review is one that you wish was better or at least liked more than you did because the last thing you want to do is come across as arrogant or unable to enjoy films that make an effort to focus on the essential things like characters, story, and especially the performances. In an age when expensive special effects extravaganzas unfairly rule the cinemas, it’s unnecessarily harder for smaller productions to make an impact. 

    Yet, here we are with the acclaimed mystery drama Anatomy of a Fall. It is a film that should have me firing on all cylinders (usually) about how great the performances are and how admirable the focus on story & characters is. Still, the inexcusable two-and-a-half-hour runtime combined with an overtly static & uniform presentation leaves me bored, agitated, and disappointed. While the performances are indeed admirable, it’s sadly not enough to compensate for the film's shortcomings everywhere else. 

    Set in the snowy mountains of France, the story follows two artists and their blind son. He and his mother find their lives flipped overhead with the discovery that the father’s body had somehow fallen from the top floor of the house. Foul play is suspected but challenging to prove, primarily due to the father & mother's apparently rocky relationship and the son's inability to recall specific events well. As the trial proceeds, certain & seemingly irrelevant details begin to surface that may or may not determine the nature of this unfortunate incident while providing some possibly profound & precocious ponderings about life. Or at least it would if the film hadn’t been so incredibly sleep-inducing. 

    Despite featuring adequate performances, a clever enough mystery, and moments of sharp writing, the overall film is too long, static, uniform, and repetitive to profoundly impact anything other than the number of power naps needed to watch the whole thing. 

    The story can be told in about ninety minutes, but the film drags it out into a two-and-a-half-hour feature for no justifiable reason, padding its runtime with redundant scenes and seemingly drawn-out improvised moments. The cinematography lacks a compelling visual style with overtly broad uniform lighting, a severe lack of shot variety, and poorly motivated camera movement. Plus, while I usually favor ambiguous endings, murder mysteries are typically not the best place for them! 

    Anatomy of a Fall is a sad dud of a film. It is, unfortunately, dull, visually inept, and lacks any compelling or emotionally resonating reason to care. This is one mystery best left unsolved. 

    Don’t waste your time. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading. 

Retro Review - No Escape (1994)

 

Stream on Arrow Player and Flix Fling

Rent on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, and YouTube 

    When I was a kid, there was a video rental store in my hometown that my family and I frequently visited. Like many video rental stores, the walls were littered with various movie posters and other cinematic memorabilia. One of the more prominent posters was for the film No Escape, the exact poster you see here. Although I was not of the proper age to see this film, I made it a point to do so once I was. Over time, I had forgotten & remembered the movie's poster many times and almost allowed it to fade into obscurity. Until I came across a YouTube video discussing the lack of film preservation and the superiority of physical media over streaming, showcasing No Escape as an example of a film that almost fell into complete obscurity as it was in danger of falling out of print only to be rescued by Unearthed Films with a brand new BluRay release. At that moment, I resolved to finally buy a copy of the film and give it my long-awaited & undivided attention. As you can imagine, it was well worth the wait 😊. 

  Based on the novel The Penal Colony by Richard Herley, the story follows a young former soldier named Robbins (Ray Leotta) who was sentenced to life in prison for murder. Upon arriving at a maximum security penitentiary, the warden drops Robbins on a remote island populated by other prisoners divided into two factions: the Outsiders, a savage band of raiders and scavengers led by the charismatic psychopath Marek (Stuart Wilson), and the Insiders, a civilized colony lead by The Father (Lance Henriksen) and protected by their head of security, Hawkins (Ernie Hudson). Despite the promise of a decent life within the confines of the Island, Robbins' only desire is to escape. With the surveillance satellites watching the entire island and the rising potential of an all-out war between the two factions, escape may be impossible. 

  This movie is what I like to describe as good cheese or a high-ranking "B" movie. It's a quintessential example that just because you don't have to do a good job doesn't mean you shouldn't. 

  The action is one of the film's many selling points. Like most action movies before the year 2000, it doesn't rely upon shaky-cam and rapid-fire editing techniques to amp up the action artificially. Proper fight choreography, ample stunt coordination, and heavy reliance on practical effects (with a bit of CGI when needed) are the prime ingredients that make this a delightful action fest. 

    The performances carry the film's story in many entertaining and surprisingly nuanced ways. According to YouTuber Oliver Harper, the goal was to get a traditional action star in the lead role, such as Stallone or Jean Claude Van Damn. However, the film's tight budget made that impossible, as it could not accommodate such a high-rolling star. So, instead of getting known action stars, they cast talented character actors who could learn how to handle the action. It reminds me of movies like Con-Air or Predators: high-octane action films cast with unknowns and character actors who could carry both the action and emotional weight with ease. 

    Ray Liotta is especially noteworthy here. His character comes off as cold and distant, conveying the typical firm and silent type seen in most movies of this caliber. But underneath the surface is a fractured man with PTSD who is trying to make things right for his previous and dreadful actions. 

    The MVP award goes to Ernie Hudson for being his usual charming self and delivering an instantly likable and excellent character. He is also the source of the movie's many bonus points for not having the black character die in the story, an overused cliché I have never appreciated. 

    No Escape is, somewhat ironically, a fantastic and enthralling piece of escapist art. It delivers the goods with engaging performances, thrilling action set pieces, and a decently nuanced commentary on the human condition. If you've never seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to hunt down a copy and see it. Start off the new year with a bang! 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.