The Tomorrow War

Gillipedia Official Rating: Take it from me, don’t think about this movie, and you’ll enjoy it just fine

          Okay, so let’s think about this. For whatever reason, present day is 2022. Why not make it present day… in 2021? That would also give you a clean 30 year time jump because the future takes place in 2051. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This Amazon Prime exclusive film is advertised as a big blockbuster as they compete with Netflix to throw millions upon millions of dollars into production costs. The story is that soldiers from the future travel back and interrupt a soccer match—presumably the FIFA World Cup since it’s 2022—and talk of peace and prosperity to come and there’s no worries or a care in the world. Just kidding, it’s actually just impending doom stuff. They're losing a war against an alien race, and they created a machine that travels back and forth between their present time and 2022 in the hopes of recruiting humanity to help in the… tomorrow war.

          As for the very opening of the movie, it literally looks like the first draft to Guardians of the Galaxy as Chris Pratt is sucked into the sky in some poor effects and falls down into an apocalyptic city—a prelude to what’s to come 30 minutes from now. I will give props for the fact that the movie sets up the plot and themes relatively quickly so that we can get to the alien butt-kicking action.

          After the future soldiers arrive, we flash forward a couple of months to our hero Pratt teaching high school science. It’s hard to motivate the kids while chaos ensues throughout the world over how to help the future and the fact that nothing matters since the world ends in a couple decades anyways. Pratt soon receives news that he is getting drafted into the tomorrow war, and he heads to their agency without much of a choice. He is paraded around and gets some questions answered, but most soldiers hardly talk to him as they busily conduct tests on him to see if he qualifies for their program. They inform him that people who have already died before the war even started are eligible to be drafted. And very fairly, Pratt is in a frenzy as he learns that he dies in the near future and they respond by not telling him anything about it. Not cool, future peeps.

          So yeah, future dead people are eligible to help the future dying people. They insert a tracking device, and give Pratt 24 hours to get his affairs in order before he’s sent off for training for the war. Once he gets sent over, if he survives for 7 days, he will automatically be sent back to 2022 to resume his life. As far as a drafting process for a desperate war, it seems pretty logical to me. Pratt heads back home and his wife worries about him because the survival rates are close to only 30%, he visits his father played by the great J.K. Simmons that he had previously cut ties with, but most critically, he spends time with his elementary-age daughter. Simmons wasn’t around much for Pratt, so humanity’s survival comes second to Pratt’s motivation of wanting to return so that his daughter has a father.

          Most of the soldiers sent back to 2022 are pretty young, and most draftees are on the older side to help ensure there isn’t crossover in these people having met in the future. Pratt turns out to be a very solid choice as the lead because it has some of the more serious elements of an alien war like Edge of Tomorrow or Battle: Los Angeles, but his draft class buddies are aging, middle class workers, so they are rightfully so assigned to comedic side roles and Pratt is able to add his own flair in with them. Sam Richardson from the show Veep is particularly effective, and Mary Lynn Rajskub from 24 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine rounds it out. There’s also the super serious Dorian now already on his third tour, and once I saw him, I thought to myself that he seemed like a discount Aldis Hodge. Then, the credits rolled around after the film (as they do), and I saw the name Edwin Hodge, so turns out discount Aldis Hodge is actually just his brother.

          Their training gets cut short, and they get thrust into the line of duty. And then some error (never explained) occurs, and the time jump process malfunctions. Instead of a smooth transition, all soldiers are propelled into the river of time and we now return to the opening shot of the film where everyone is falling out of the skies. There’s a neat brutal shot of some people clipping buildings and helplessly falling to their deaths. There’s some tension from the angle of the shot as it looks like Pratt might miss a rooftop pool that he’s aiming to land, but he narrowly gets it. Even though this pool on a good day can’t be more than 12 feet deep and he would still be crushed. Even though after he lands in the pool someone falls in after and rams into him and that should also kill him. Or at least severely concuss him. But he gets out with ease since he’s the hero. Yes, this is a movie about time travel and aliens and I’m over here complaining about a rooftop pool in Miami.

          Pratt receives radio communication from a future colonel, and he takes a leadership role (fair enough, they explain that he led a squad in Afghanistan) in proceeding with their mission. There’s a group of scientists in a nearby building with important vials that they are tasked with retrieving. The following scene is one of the best in the film. In fashion of something like World War Z, 28 Days Later, or even A Quiet Place, genuine tension is created as they try navigating through stairwells in a building knowing full well that aliens are on their tail and they don’t know how powerful these creatures may be.

          A little after this scene, RVs are sent in to the rescue the team. There’s a shot of the team with smiles all around and cheering as the RVs blast into sight. And then the next shot is aliens ramming and destroying the vehicles, and it cuts back to show the shock and disappointment from the team. It feels mindlessly dumb. In this same sequence, there’s also slo-mo shots where director Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie) tries to channel his inner Zack Snyder. And I don’t think I give Snyder enough props. He absolutely over uses slow-mo, but it’s undeniable how cinematic and artistically staged the shots are. They’re stylish and excessive, but in this movie it just feels unnecessary.

          Now that you have a decent grip on the early stages of the film, let’s talk plot holes. First and foremost, as Pratt and his daughter (Pratt brat) are watching soccer, he explains to her that those players are the best in the world. I would like to point out that I am not in this film. So this statement is clearly incorrect.

          Here’s something that I’ll give props for and then immediately take back. Props: in the beginning they do a decent job of explaining things. Like, someone asks why not send the 2022 people to say 2048 before the war starts and warn everyone then. But they describe the flow of time as like a constantly flowing river, so they can send people back the 30 years, but time is still moving forward in that timeline as well as the present 2051 year where they’ve nearly lost the war. Doesn’t explain the fact that it brings them back to 2022 for whatever reason, but that’s okay. But one thing I wanted to give props for was a conversation about how the people being drafted are all dead by the time the youngling soldiers are born so that they don’t know each other. But they quickly break that rule after they jump forward into the war.

          The week timeline works logistically, but they don’t know how to use it properly at all. Pratt teams up with the colonel in the future in trying to find a way to beat the aliens. They find a possible serum, but they have to test hundreds of iterations to find the right mixture that will be effective against the aliens. Which the colonel single-handedly undertakes. They explain that she has a degree from I think MIT in genetic research, but I don’t believe that it’s nearly enough time. Or that only one person would be working on the testing.

          And probably the biggest plot hole I thought of is this. So the alien war has been going on for a couple years by the time the movie rolls around. That means that they were able to create a machine for time travel. But in the time it took to build this machine, you’re telling me they couldn’t find a viable solution against the aliens? One that Pratt by the way ends up helping discover in under a week’s time? I will have none of it. None of it I tell you!

          Let’s talk extra-terrestrial. The best effects are for the aliens. Yes, they’re too much of a grey-scale color, but they’re a decent mix of cool and frightening. Although I’m also not convinced that they are capable of wiping humanity out. Like if you make a noise in A Quiet Place, uh, yuh dead. But I digress. As for the rest of the effects, they’re passable. Like if this was 2013, the effects would even look good. But as it stands, the green screen usage is iffy. Speaking as the designated expert, I think the issue is the fact that you have the real elements, and then you distinctly have fake elements. And they don’t blend well. I’ll give 2 examples of where it worked extremely well. 1917 won the Oscar for visual effects. Yes, it has the whole single shot feel to it, but it’s a realistic war film. Where are the effects? All over, actually. But the visual effect assets are photorealistic and blend right into the shot that you don’t give them a second thought ever, and that’s why it won the Oscar. Something you can compare to more would be The Mandalorian. That show is a trailblazer in projecting the visual backgrounds and lighting right on set. But in order to achieve this, in the foreground they still have real props that they match up, so you can never tell where the real stuff ends and where the fake stuff begins.

          If you’re expecting a thriller that makes you think like a Christopher Nolan film, you might be disappointed. But if you’re looking for a neat sci-fi concept with a mix of action and comedy more like Edge of Tomorrow, you’ll enjoy yourself. It’s not as good and the plot isn’t as sound, but this film is still entertaining. It still feels like it’s a third or fourth draft of a script, and not quite a final draft where it all comes together seamlessly. But if you shut your mind off and enjoy the movie for what it is, it’s entertaining! And if you have Prime, you get to stream this blockbuster for free. So treat yourself to some Pratt, aliens, and a care-free good time.

 

In Brief:

• I just watched Black Widow. -Sigh- Oh how wonderful you are, Scarlett Johansson. Great cast, decent action. It’s a fitting story and film overall. Not perfect or exactly a standout Marvel film, but it’s pretty good.
• What I’m considering for my next review: A Stephen King classic with lots of heart and an engrossing cast.

The Intouchables + The Upside

 

The Intouchables

Gillipedia Official Rating: Don’t worry, this review comes with subtitles

          If you’re struggling to find quality content on Netflix, you absolutely need to check out The Intouchables. This 2011 French film is about a superrich quadriplegic (a word I struggle both saying and spelling) that hires a seemingly unqualified man with a criminal record that grew up in a rougher part of town to be his caretaker. It’s the kind of pairing that is destined to be a sentimental story, but there’s a couple things going for it that elevate it beyond your standard film. First, it’s not a sappy film that projects the two leads as heroes of light that are infallible; no, these are two men from completely different backgrounds that you naturally end up rooting for. Second, and more surprisingly, I was expecting humor from the film, but I was not expecting to laugh nearly as much as I did. This movie is hilarious.

          I knew I was in for a treat as quickly as the opening scene (it also helped that a friend highly recommended the film). We’re immediately introduced to nighttime Paris, and caretaker Driss is driving Philippe. There’s some well-crafted shots like a focused shot of Driss taking a moment to look over at Philippe with everything else out of focus. Philippe looks stoic, perhaps more disheveled, and only looks out the window. Driss decides to show off the expensive car they’re driving, and he speeds around cars through tunnels and on the freeway. It isn’t long before the cops show up with their sirens. The only dialogue we get is Driss betting Phillipe that he can outrun them. And the car chase that ensues is legitimately better than most action film sequences. There’s plenty of shots that feel like POV shots from the front bumper of their car as they swerve around traffic, and there aren’t cuts that hide any of the stunts or action. Eventually, they get pulled over where Driss starts yelling that his passenger is a paraplegic that needs to get to the hospital. Philippe dutifully plays along and foams from the mouth. The cops of course feel bad, and they end up offering an escort. As Driss returns to the car, he can’t contain his laughter as he really convinced the police to give them an escort. The mysterious edge of the situation has been lifted as the two blast “September” by Earth, Wind, & Fire with their police escort. It perfectly encapsulates the themes and mood of the film. There’s the heavy subject of Phillipe’s situation, once people around notice they take extra care to be sympathetic, and then Driss comes in to hilariously banter with Phillipe.

          It’s a strong start to the film that then goes back to the day Driss applies to be the caretaker. It took me longer than it should have to realize that it was Driss meeting Phillipe, but there’s a big difference in Phillipe’s scraggly beard in the first scene to when they first meet and is now clean-shaven—and necessarily so because it’s the best way to know we have indeed traveled back in time. It may have taken me a bit to realize it, but I appreciate that way more than there being a black screen that tells me “And now 4 months, 53 days ago…” And again, this scene is well done. The other applicants are all proper gents that take extreme caution to overtly praise Phillipe and all have backgrounds being caretakers and having degrees from prestigious universities. Driss skips a couple guys in line to hurry up for his interview. Not because he’s excited about the opportunity, but because he needs to show his parole officer that he’s applying for work and collecting the benefits. He struts in, flirts with Magalie who is the manager of the estate, and doesn’t have a second thought to Phillipe’s condition. In fact, he goes out of his way to crack jokes. It’s not exactly tactful, but it’s also not mean-spirited; rather, it’s more like the way you tease your friends. And to Magalie’s surprise, this is exactly what Phillipe is looking for, and he hires Driss.

          Driss enjoys a hot bath in his fancy sleeping quarters, and he starts to learn his role as caretaker—and the money that comes with it. He bonds with other workers on the estate, and he mostly dutifully performs. He has to feed Phillipe, bathe him, perform active stretches for him with the physical therapist to ensure his body doesn’t turn to mush, he has to pick him up to transfer him from his bed to the wheelchair, and he takes him everywhere like art galleries to buy overly priced works of abstract post-modern stuff. But he refuses a couple things. Like Driss has no interest in handling wiping duties for Phillipe’s backend situation. And he’s intrigued by Phillipe as well. While pouring some hot water, he accidentally spills a bit on Phillipe’s leg. Of course, he doesn’t react, so he pours way more all over as Magalie comes in and intervenes and Driss and Phillipe laugh it off.

          Driss is played by Omar Sy who has appeared in a couple of blockbuster American films. He has a couple scenes with his family and how they’re dealing with their own struggles that work pretty well, but the main attraction of the film is his bond with Phillipe. And like I said at the beginning, Driss isn’t a perfect guy. But every action he does is with a smile on his face. Or where others are more than happy to please Phillipe and go along with him, Driss calls him out. Phillipe will be first surprised, but as he turns to someone like Magalie, even she reluctantly agrees that Driss has a point. So what you get are tons of jokes from Driss, and they’re not all funny, but he laughs along with all of his own jokes, and you can’t help but feel that infectious energy.

          Omar Sy is the best, but Francois Cluzet is also great as Phillipe. He holds the sophistication of an aristocrat and listens to classical music. He doesn’t give away much with his emotions, but occasionally, Driss breaks through, and Phillipe can’t help but burst out in laughter. The film takes moments to let Phillipe lament his late wife and think back on the paragliding accident that put him in his current situation, but it’s not even a focal point. We all see the big wheelchair and man that can’t use his limbs. But Phillipe explains it better in the movie than I ever could in this review. Magalie asks him why he hired Driss, and he explains how he enjoys that Driss casually will try handing him the phone and forget that he can’t reach out to grab it. Because even though he needs obvious significant help and Driss is literally his caretaker, above all else, Driss treats him like a fellow person. And with all the interactions he has with the outside world looking down and sympathizing him, that’s exactly what Phillipe was looking for. And yes, Phillipe explains this in a conversation in a film. But he’s not bursting out in tears while dramatic Hans Zimmer music plays. It’s simply another moment in the film that is elegant and simple, and the filmmakers let the moments do all the talking.

          From top to bottom, this is an amazing film. It handles its subject matter incredibly, the acting is top-notch, and it has a true warmth to it while being quite funny as well. And there’s even scenes that I can really appreciate where Phillipe takes Driss paragliding and Driss is scared out of his mind. And they have a couple helicopter or paraglider shots, but they also handed the actors a couple of GoPros and showed off that these guys really went paragliding and it’s so much fun to see that.

          Now you know I both love and hate to say this, but the film isn’t perfect. First, it’s a French film, and you know, screw the French amiright. But no, I was expecting there to be a better tie-in as to why Driss and Phillipe were in the car in the opening scene and Driss takes the cops for a ride. It is in character, but there isn’t a moment that happens where you go Ohhhhhhhhh. Also, while I’m glad they kept it to a 2-hour runtime and it’s not a bad ending, they didn’t completely find a great way to end it either. The journey and story is completed, but it pales slightly to all the great moments from before. Regardless, put any skepticism you have aside for having to watch a film with subtitles on, and go watch The Intouchables. And create your own blog and review it there so that you can recommend it to your friends too. That second part is more of a suggestion, but go watch it! Do it! And remember: Les beignets du Café du Monde sont un peu surfaits, et la bonne méthode de sommeil est avec un ventilateur allumé, une jambe dedans et une jambe hors de la couverture, mais il doit aussi couvrir vos pieds.

 

The Upside

Gillipedia Official Rating: It’s still a vague title that isn’t great, but it admittedly works better than The Intouchables. But just the title, not the movie.

          I didn’t think this was a very advertised film—strangely so considering it starred Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston—but I had only heard of it and didn’t watch it until after The Intouchables. It’s the American remake of the film, and I was surprised how negative some reviews for it were. Some of the people referenced how it didn’t come close to the original, and others found it extremely overboard in creating a bond between two such extremes of people. Even the positive reviews tended to say good, but not as good. And that’s mostly where I’d describe I’d fall. You really only need to watch one of them which would be the original, but I feel like you’ll still come away satisfied if you watch The Upside.

          It both is and isn’t surprising in how similar the story beats are. Like some shots and scenes in themselves are fine, but it honestly almost feels like plagiarism in how much it tries to mimic the French version. It’s like if your friend wrote an essay and you were like, “Dude dude dude, just copy and paste the whole thing over to me. And I swear I’ll switch a couple things around.” To give the benefit of the doubt, many of the changes do feel like they were just trying to creatively be different and try something new, but there’s subtle changes that do make the film uniquely its own—but not really for the better.

          This is true right from the start. It’s the same situation where Hart’s Dell is driving Cranston’s Philip. And I’ll talk about the acting in a bit, but the biggest disappointment is from director Neil Burger (didn’t know his name or work off-hand, but he most recently did Voyagers and is best known for the decent Bradley Cooper film Limitless). Just the way things are framed, the camera is too close to Hart’s face, and none of the shots create a feeling of mysticism  or has the same deft touch or creates emotions of anything really. No truly, I basically felt nothing during this opening. And where Driss speeds around because it’s his carefree nature and he wants to live it up with Phillipe, Hart initially speeds because he gets frustrated by the slow drivers in front of him and is just trying to beat the light. Again, it’s a very small change and is in line with how both the characters are portrayed, but it just works better in the original. Also, the vital part where Driss has the escort and knows they got away with it and starts blasting Earth, Wind, & Fire is an awesome conclusion to the opening, and it’s missing from the American version. The car chase portion is also chopped up and feels like there isn’t any real stunts performed. There’s plenty of similar scenes, but The Upside cuts out just enough to where it loses some of the punch that the original delivers. But it actually has a longer runtime because they add a couple scenes and spend a little more time on different things.

          Where Omar Sy honestly is more suave, Hart delivers his line with more harshness. The best way to compare the two is when they first get hired. Sy jumps into bed playfully, where Hart lies down, a man down on his luck with family troubles, tired of what he hasn’t provided in the past and all that he needs to provide in the future. Hart’s backstory is the biggest difference between the two films. It’s about his ex and their child and how Hart hasn’t been there to help out. Lots of the added runtime comes from these interactions, and it’s a change I’d say works in benefit of the film. Oh, also, I know nobody is surprised, but after the first scene, there’s a big title card that reads “6 months earlier,” because, you know, despite this being a film geared toward an adult audience, we’re all idiots and need that extra context in order to understand the film.

          I will also give props to The Upside for giving Philip a backstory about how he made his money. There’s never anything revealed in the original, and here Cranston both is an author and an entrepreneur that helps businesses get off the ground. Admirable, indeed. Also, unsurprisingly, false. The real life guy the story is based on seems to mostly have inherited his money and the family hotel which isn’t a great way for audiences to bond with him—which is why I’m also guessing they left it out entirely from the original.

          There’s a similar scene in both films where they head to the opera. Where Driss kinda introduced Phillipe to stuff he likes, I think this film did a better job of making things a 2-way street where Hart and Cranston embrace each other’s interests. And the opera scene here is also done a little better.

          I appreciate that Hart ventured into a more dramatic role here and still exercises his comedic chops, but he doesn’t quite have Sy’s depth. Surprisingly, I also have to say the same for Cranston. This might be more of a difference in how the script was written, but Cranston feels more hollow than Phillipe whom has that hard exterior but you see it break away better with Sy. Magalie is now played by Nicole Kidman, and it surprised me to see her red hair, the same as Magalie. Like I understand wanting to keep a female in that role, but it’s not like the red hair was a necessary aspect of the character. Not that it matters, it just adds to the sense of this being more of a copy than an improvement.

          It’s that time again. Time for me to be a picky reviewer. As I’m sure all of you have already read, my last review was Luca. I complained that it could’ve drummed up more of a dramatic conflict in its last act. Here, The Upside manufactures conflict and tension where The Intouchables trusted in the story. Although it follows very similar beats, the original has the characters talking and acting in a manner that feels more like how they should in real life, but here it feels more like movie conversations that moves the story along but the motivations weren’t established and the resulting dialogue feels forced. To avoid a spoiler alert here, I’ll make up an example of what I mean. If a fish gains weight because another fish told him he was too skinny, he gets bigger. But if that same fish loses his job as a bubble blower down at the local reef and eats his sorrows away, he still gets bigger. The result is the same, but the reasoning behind how we got there is different.

          There’s still a slight disconnect with this film from the opening scene to returning to that point later in the film. It’s the biggest missed opportunity of both films, but I was disappointed this film didn’t take any chances to wrap that up better. And here’s a critique you probably won’t hear very often: the dolly work in this film is atrocious. The camera can’t move 5 feet without it wobbling. It feels amateurish and takes me out of the dramatic moments.

          You remember Disney’s Hercules? That voice actor is in here. Tate Donovan. Good guy. We had brunch just the other week.

          Don’t hate me for this, but this film uses Aretha Franklin, and I preferred Earth, Wind, & Fire from the original. But near the end Philip plays an opera song but it has Aretha, and it’s a really cool way that connected Cranston’s and Hart’s interests.

          Both films have dramatic moments and jokes. But The Intouchables lingers on the jokes a little longer, and Sy is laughing along and Phillipe breaks and joins in the laughter; with The Upside, it feels more like Hart when he’s roasting Stephen A. Smith. The Intouchables simply works better. You only need to see one of the two films and The Intouchables is a must-see film, but if you watch The Upside which can be found on Hulu, you’ll still have a good time.

 

In Brief:

I may have been a bit critical here of Kevin Hart. Don’t get me wrong though, it was a good performance. Omar Sy was better. But I did just watch Hart’s newest film on Netflix Fatherhood, and he’s very impressive. I really loved that story, and it’s a good film to bring a couple tears to your eyes over the hard work and love from family.