Category
Things finally start to ramp up towards the end, and by then the slow place turns into a mad dash to the credits. Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon show up for a couple of scenes and the movie could have benefited from having them on screen longer, but maybe the budget wouldn’t allow for it. The absurdity of the plot and what the bad guys are chasing make for some good, cheap laughs, but it just seems too little, too late.
One of the most shocking events the documentary explores is that just a couple of years after the bomb test, there was a surge in infant deaths among the families in the nearby towns. In the decades that followed, there was a large amount of cancer cases that were too numerous to be a coincidence or a medical anomaly. It was clear that the radioactive fallout was wreaking havoc.
The beginning of the movie revolves around Guy Pierce’s character going on a rant about how different kinds of people aren’t meant to live together. The villain is so cartoonishly hateable that he ends up carrying the film. On the flip side, you have Alex Pettyfer who plays Fallon, the vampire who eventually decides he will do something about the evil bigot who is tormenting the town.
The Death Tour follows wrestlers as they partake to see if they have what it takes for glory. The documentary captures the human psyche of a wrestler’s profile, and why they choose to compete. For some, they are driven by the idea of fame and glory.
Christopher Nolan’s meditation on the father of the atomic bomb is tense, dramatic, and beautifully crafted from the first frame to the last. Much credit goes to Cillian Murphy, whose interpretation of the title character is worthy of an Oscar, and Robert Downey Jr., whose reading of Lewis Strauss reminds us that he is so much more than Iron Man.
The most interesting aspect of the whole film is arguably its visual design and just the general aesthetic of the film. The setting is like a mix of Victorian London with a steampunk world and traditional sci-fi setting. Many shots in the movie are fantastic eye-candy and combined with the menacing, intrusive score, the end product is both beautiful and unsettling.
After Paul soaks in the strange adulation from strangers, things take a turn. People’s dreams about him turn into nightmares where he begins to brutally murder people. The depiction of those nightmares feels accurate compared with real dreams; they’re not overly absurd and the imagery is disjointed and confusing when presented to the viewer.
I think Peter B.’s muted presence in the film is one reason fans are so receptive to these new Spider-People. The film pays homage to the history of the character but also directs us to pay attention to the new cast. It comes across as a film that is specifically tailored for everyone. It emphasizes Spider-Man as a symbol of hope.