Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my opinion on two of the higher profile films of August (strangely both were shot digitally), the indie shark flick OPEN WATER and Michael Mann's newest COLLATERAL.. I'd usually write two separate reviews, but I got something special in the mail today that I'm itching to dive into... No, it's not a case of used dildos, you trash-minded people! I can't say what it is, but I will say that I'm about to find out what happens to some very interesting honk mah-fahs.
OPEN WATER
I have been jazzed to see this film ever since all the great buzz came out if its screening at SUNDANCE. I was lucky enough to see the other indie horror flick that got the same recognition from Sundance (which actually has a trailer on OPEN WATER) SAW. After seeing SAW I understood why people went nuts for the movie. It's not perfect (thanks to some choice over-acting by Cary Elwes), but it's sharp, beautifully shot and genuinely creepy... It also has a great ending and is one of the few horror flicks I've seen in recent memory that earns its ending.
OPEN WATER seemed to play into my sensibilities more, though. As you can no doubt tell by my AICN alias, I hold JAWS in high regard and am a sucker for a good horror/adventure on the open seas. So, naturally I expected OPEN WATER to blow me away... But it didn't.
I applaud the filmmakers for all their successes with the film. The idea is very solid, the execution is inventive for its budget and the balls it took to have the actors in the real ocean with real sharks is incredible. For they budget they had, I'm really impressed with what they pulled off, but I have to critique the film as it is, not as it was made.
Firstly, while the film is very short (under 80 minutes), there's about 20 minutes that could be cut. I'd actually be really curious to see how differently the film would have played if it had started with the couple getting on the boat instead of all the time spent with them before they leave for the trip and when they're chilling in Hawaii or whatever tropical island they're visiting, even though I certainly appreciate the gratuitous Blanchard Ryan nudity shown the night before their doomed diving expedition. All the info we get about them as a couple is either repeated while they're floating aimlessly in the ocean or could have been introduced there in a more unique way during their adventure.
The acting is a tad spotty at the very beginning, before they get to the island, but is pretty strong throughout the majority of the film. Blanchard Ryan is very easy on the eyes, but she also sells the horror of their situation as the couple is carried by a current out into the shark infested void. Daniel Travis is also pretty strong as the husband and sells more the hysteria of the situation than the terror of it.
The pacing is what I have the most trouble with. There really is only one story being told here, but for no reason there's about 5 minutes worth of cutting back to the island and watching people party or close-ups of lizards spread throughout the movie. It really feels like filler, that the filmmakers realized they only had 60 minutes of real story, so they had to put in what they could to drag it on a little bit. That was a little annoying, but the real pacing problem comes at the end of the film. I won't go into any details to avoid spoilers, but the whole film builds to fairly disappointing and anti-climactic ending. I like the ending... I like it a lot, actually, but it just kind of happens too quickly.
Say the movie starts at Point A and builds to Point B, which builds even more to Point C, quicker to Point D and then it speeds right to Point Z.
Like I said above, the film succeeds in the great shots of actors with real sharks (the shot of Blanchard sleeping especially got me) and the idea is a good one. Floating on an ocean filled with much unseen danger is a great, great device. I think the filmmakers got all they could out of their budget, but I really wish they would have had some more money to play around with. The DV is good and fits the film, but it really needed some money to spend a little more time on location to get what the ending needed. Consider me mixed... although it was cool seeing Broken Lizard member Steve Lemme hanging out on the boat! The lucky bastige is dating Blanchard Ryan, so... He get's the juicy semi-featured extra role in her indie movies. hehehe
COLLATERAL
I loved COLLATERAL. It's great in a way that I wouldn't have expected had I not known that Michael Mann was in the director's chair. This is Mann at his best, not Mann at his "pretty good."
The story's about a struggling, introverted cab driver named Max (played by Jamie Foxx) who picks up a guy named Vincent (Tom Cruise) who offers him $600 to make 6 stops throughout the night. Of course we soon find out that Vincent is an assassin on a job for one night in LA and that's when things get interesting.
The details are what make this movie. The detail in the character, in character relationships, in the action and inaction of the movie. Mann is a master and is in top form with this picture. Let's talk a little bit about the character relationships. I promise not to go too deeply into any spoilers.
The first bit of great chemistry comes from one of the first fares we see Foxx pick up, the lovely Jada Pinkett Smith. I don't think I've liked her as much in a film as I did in this flick. Her interaction with Foxx in the opening is perfect. He's quietly charming, but in a real life way, and she's cautiously receptive. The chemistry is snapping in this scene and you feel so good for him when he gets a number at the end of the ride.
The other truly great relationship is between Max and Vincent. Cruise has never been better (OK... maybe in MAGNOLIA... that scene where he's stripped of all his power by the reporter is fantastic) or played a more simple, yet somehow at the same time complex character. On the surface Vincent is a standard character... Part Leon, part Jerry Maguire, part Jason Bourne and part Punisher, but his humanity (or lack thereof) is very rich and played with the perfect subtlety.
The film doesn't go where you expect it to. Cruise never plays it too hard or too soft, but he also never becomes Foxx's friend. The whole relationship is played in shades of gray. Somehow Vincent brings out the confidence in Max and Max in turn brings out some of the humanity in Vincent. On some level these people both end up caring for the other in a small way, but every bit of both personalities are tested during the runtime of the film.
The movie, shot on a 24p digital camera, doesn't really look like film, but definitely looks good and perfectly fitting to capture the cold LA that Mann needed for this story. It also helps that Mann hired a real cinematographer, Dion Beebe (EQUILIBRIUM, CHICAGO) who shot it like a film using great lenses that give depth to the film and used an actual lighting set-up. The movie is shot like a film, lit like a film and directed like a film, so the fact that the actual medium was digital doesn't make any sort of real difference.
The pacing is deliberate, but never boring. It kind of reminds me of a visual representation of great, old-time R&B. Specifically, I was reminded of Otis Redding's TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS (made famous for this generation by Duckie's dance and lip-synch in PRETTY IN PINK)... It's a very simple song, mostly just Otis singing his heart out with a light backbeat and piano. The soul and raw talent of Otis Redding is displayed in that song just as the raw talent of Mann's confident direction, specifically his direction of actors, is displayed in TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS. Also, both slowly and deliberately escalate to an energetic climax.
This is a spot-light film for Cruise. There's a reason he's pushing this one so much. I would frankly be surprised if he's not recognized by the Academy. The thing is... he didn't just play against type, but like I said above he brings a level of subtlety and depth to this character that could have been a walking assassin cliché. It takes real talent to pull that off. Foxx is also the best he's ever been. He was great in ALI, but he really shines in COLLATERAL. The change his character undergoes is quiet, but very powerful.
I loved COLLATERAL and think this is the best any of the people involved have been in a very long time. This very well could top my best of the year list. We'll see what the Fall and Winter have to throw at me, but I can't imagine I'll see a relationship as well executed as Vincent's relationship to Max.
Anyway, that's it from me. Gotta get running. I'll be back soon when I finally move off my ass and transcribe those exclusive one-on-one SKY CAPTAIN interviews. There's some good reading in there, so keep your eye on the site, squirts! 'Til then, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu!
-Quint
