LEGO DC BATMAN: FAMILY MATTERS (2019)

  

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

This DTV animated film, the ninth in the DC series, follows in the wake of THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE. The script for FAMILY doesn't pursue the previous film's idea of "Bruce Wayne, Conspicuous Consumer." Yet there's still an argument that in some ways Batman can be, as he's termed late in the film, a "narcissistic jerk." (Did the kids who were the main audience for this DTV have any idea what a "narcissist" was?) Though the Dark Knight still puts his ass on the line to defend the helpless, he also gets a charge out of being a hero. He hates devoting any time to the philanthropic pursuits of his billionaire alter ego, because it takes time away from his crimefighting.

During a meeting with his board, Wayne is told that the corporation can save considerable expenses by adopting a new computer program known as Brother Eye. Wayne not only embraces this policy, he also decides to sell off Wayne Enterprises so that he can be Batman full-time, despite protests from butler Alfred, Current Robin and Nightwing (the latter evincing worries about his "trust fund"). 

At the same time all this is going on, a new criminal mastermind, the Red Hood, begins making inroads in Gotham, enlisting the talents of many prominent Bat-foes into his service: Killer Croc, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, and Two-Face. In fact, Red Hood devotes quite a time to conferring with Two-Face, who happens to be enduring a villain's "mid-life crisis," because he's often considered a "B-lister." (Would he have been happy if they called him a "second-rater?")

Red Hood begins laying traps for the current members of the Bat-Family, which in this narrative also includes Batgirl and the New Batwoman. (I don't recall a previous Lego-video claiming that Nightwing and Batgirl had started dating, but that's the game plan here.) I don't know if in 2019 the average kid, given Internet access, would have been surprised by the revelation of the Red Hood's identity, especially since in the comics the Big Reveal was almost twenty years old. Suffice to say that Red Hood's career of crime is something of an imposture. However, Two-Face essentially takes over his operation for real, weaponizing Brother Eye and his worker-robots, the OMACs, to conquer the city, so that the five Bats have to assemble to stop him.

Given that Two-Face drops his criminal pattern of focusing on "twos," nearly any villain could have been plugged into his place. The main threat stems from the computer and its drones (both extrapolations of scenarios presented in the 1970s by Jack Kirby's short-lived series OMAC). As it happens, Batman's the one forced to emphasize the double nature of his existence, since he uses his two identities, costumed and uncostumed, to outwit the schizophrenic marauder. The cowled crusader does realize that he needs to maintain both his identities in order to better serve Gotham, and his Bat-fam largely functions to point out his strengths as well as his weaknesses. One interesting aspect of FAMILY is that while the other Lego-Bat films don't show more than cursory scenes of fighting, all five Bat-heroes get a lot of martial action (G-rated of course) against their assorted foes.

MONKEY KING REINCARNATION (2018)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*                                                                                                                                                I confess I only checked out this subtitled streaming item because I looked it up on IMDB and didn't really see much information on it, aside from the name of the director and three of the actors. The plot description was entirely generic, and I thought, "Maybe I'll play explorer and find out if there's some hidden quality in this thing."       

 Surprise, surprise-- the reason almost no one on the Net has written about this oddity is because there's nothing much to it, even in comparison to the daffy old chopsockies of the 1970s. The main plot does have something to do with reincarnation. A swordsman called "Sage of Sword" in the subtitles and "Gong" on IMDB (Bernard Sen Jun) has a chance encounter with Yue, a nutty young woman (played by an actress with the risible name of "Haha He") who can throw darts with deadly accuracy. She drugs Gong for some reason so that he's out of it when she's attacked by the henchmen of her father. Seems that august gentleman wants Yue to marry someone she doesn't love. Yue escapes her pursuers and gets separated from Gong for a bit, and then for no reason I can see, the two of them team up for various comic adventures that go no place fast. At some point, Gong divines that Yue-- whose martial skills are nowhere near as good as his-- is the reincarnation of his lost love-- I think. Then there's an end fight with the henchmen of the father and Yue dies.                   

 The most interesting thing about this flick-- which admittedly is colorful and pleasant to look at, as long as one doesn't try to comprehend the plot-- is that it's a total fakeout with its allusions to the popular "Monkey King" narrative. Only a frame story, in which Monkey is suffering some sort of torments from some goddess, possibly Kuan Yin, alludes to the traditional story at all. I think someone tried to sell the movie by adding the notion that Monkey became incarnated in the body of the mortal Gong so that he could learn about love, or something. I think I need a dose of Brucesploitation to get this one out of my system.         

CREATION OF THE GODS I: KINGDOM OF STORMS (2023)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*                                                                                                                          Of the various posters I saw for the first part of this lavish Chinese fantasy-trilogy, I like the one above, since it shows the poster fairly bursting with an avalanche of characters-- which probably represents about a fifth of all the named personages in this extravaganza. I don't know a lot about Chinese culture, but I have over the years noticed, through reading two or three of their older novels and seeing a lot of cinematic works, that the Chinese people always think more characters are better than less.                                                                

 CREATION adapts a voluminous 16th-century Chinese novel which focuses on the interaction of gods and demons with mortals during the Shang Dynasty, one of China's earliest periods. Wiki's translation of the novel's title as "Investiture of the Gods" may be more accurate than the word "creation" in the streaming title. The gods already exist in this world, though the subtitling of CREATION calls them "Immortals of Kunlun." But even the entities of Heaven apparently need some sort of process of renewal, and that's what makes all the entangling conflicts of the story significant in a cosmic sense. One such earthbound conflict, in which a vassal ruler rebels against the Shang Emperor, becomes the hub around which all the cosmic events revolve.                                                                                         

  Although the forces of Shang, led by the Emperor's son Yin Shou (Fei Xiang), conquer those of the vassal, the outbreak of human violence releases an evil fox-spirit from confinement. At the same moment of the spirit's escape, the princess of the rebel lord takes her life to avoid capture by the enemy. The fox possesses the dead woman and allows Shang's forces to take her prisoner. If I understood the sometimes confusing continuity, she stage-manages the murder of the Emperor so that Yin Shou will take his place. In due time she becomes the new Emperor's concubine and begins bending Yin Shou to evil ways-- though I for one was never sure how much of Yin's evil was of his own will.                                           

 At this same time, the Immortals of Kunlun fear that because of some vague archaic "Curse," the stability of the universe will be imperiled unless the Emperor of China performs a ceremony of investiture for the gods. To this end, the Immortals must send one of their number down to Earth with a special scroll used for this installation ceremony. The price of descending to Earth is that the chosen Immortal reverts to mortality and loses his fantastic powers. Two or three of the gods volunteer for the mission, but "The Supreme One" chooses an Immortal who hasn't been meditating in Kunlun that long: Jiang Ziya (Huang Bo). Down to Earth goes Jiang with the scroll. Yet he's not totally on his own, for two other Immortals follow to grant him assistance with their super-powers-- so Jiang's not precisely on his own in the mortal world. After some minor adventures Jiang and his comrades get an audience with Yin Shou, and Jiang explains how the scroll stabilizes reality by interacting with human souls. However, an evil sorcerer-tempter named Gongbao persuade Yin to use the scroll for his own advancement. Jiang takes back his offer to give Yin the scroll and flees the forces of the enraged emperor.                                                 

 While I'm not about to try accounting for all the side-characters in CREATION, the person who's been merely a viewpoint character up to this point, a young lord named Ji Fa, becomes more intimately entangled in Jiang's resolve to keep the scroll from Yin's hands. Initially, Ji is loyal to his king, but over time he's convinced that Yin has become a tyrant. This would have been a good central conflict for at least this first installment of the film-series to pursue. Unfortunately, the "embarrassment of character-riches" causes CREATION to divert to many other characters under Yin's sway-- Ji's father, Yin's queen, etc etc. I confess I didn't even try to follow them all, but I assume they all contribute something to what seems to be the dominant theme: the chaos that results from the abuse of the powers of Heaven and Earth.                                                                 

 I think CREATION is a serious attempt to plumb the meaning of China's archaic mythology, but since I've not read the source novel, I don't know how successful PART 1 is in its mission of adaptation. I recognize a lot of familiar tropes here, but I can't say I feel like it all comes together, though seeing the other two parts-- one of which has not debuted yet-- could make a difference. My biggest complaint is that I don't know whether any single character is the main one, or if CREATION is built around an ensemble that might at the very least include Yin Shou, Ji Fa and Jiang Ziya. Ji Fa kills Yin at the conclusion, but the Fox revives the evil ruler, so he may or may not function as part of a centric ensemble. Time, and the availability of streaming purchases, may tell. 

SPLIT SECOND (1992)

 

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PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*                                                                                                                                                Though I thought SPLIT SECOND was a decent formula flick, I can see why a lot of reviewers bagged on it. The title is generic and means nothing, at most reminding people of a lot of inferior Rutger Hauer vehicles. The original script was intended to pit two buddy-cops against a supernatural serial killer in modern Los Angeles, but because this idea resembled another movie in production, the setting was changed to London in the near future. And in the first 20 minutes, Hauer's character Harley Stone is given a background suspiciously similar to that of Sam Spade in Hammett's classic MALTESE FALCON.                                                                           

 That said, scripter Gary Scott Thompson adds a lot of colorful details that make up for this bit of literary pilfering. I suppose the main reason the action changed from LA to London was that SECOND became a US-Great Britain co-production, meaning that most of the cast is British, aside from Hauer, Kim Cattrall and Michael J. Pollard (the latter in a bit part). But it's fun to see Hauer channeling Dirty Harry in a British setting and chafing at being teamed with a British college-boy cop rather than an America one. In addition, Thompson's near-future London is full of watery streets, thanks to the results of global warming, and this adds some extra visual interest without requiring any major changes to the London architecture.                                                                                                    

Further, Thompson gives his version of Dirty Harry more human touches. He gets exhausted from running around chasing a maniacal serial killer and simply falls asleep if he's not had enough coffee. When the serial killer gets away after having bloodily slain a female victim, Stone actually puts his coat over the body of the slain woman, just as an act of simple decency. In scenes between Stone and his romantic interest Michele (Cattrall), there's no reference to their guilt over committing infidelity with one another before Michele's husband (and Stone's former partner) was slain by the serial killer. Nevertheless, Stone feverishly pursues the killer as if seeking to expiate past sins, and it's no coincidence that the aggrieved cop shares a psychic link with his "shadow-self." And though Thompson cleaves closely to the trope of "mismatched partners," he at least gives collegiate cop Dick Durkin (Neil Duncan) some funny lines.                   

  The movie's weakest concept is its villain/monster. The original idea was apparently that of a sorcerer who killed victims and stole their hearts for a sacrificial ritual. For whatever reason, the serial killer became what appears to be an alien creature, physically similar to The Alien but hunting victims to collect their hearts, like The Predator. The creature has SF-aspects, like copying the DNA strands of its victims and storing them in its own body for unknown reasons. However, Thompson keeps a lot of the occult lore in the story, which doesn't match up with the ET stuff. But SECOND is predominantly an action-opus, and the two directors manage to keep things blowing up real good. Thompson's more famous for his writing-contributions to the FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise, but I liked this quirky B-film more than any of those entries.              

SUPERNATURAL: THE ANIME SERIES (2011)

 

Though TDKR is at least a creditable adaptation, SUPERNATURAL THE ANIME SERIES demonstrates that some ideas just don't lend themselves into animated spin-offs. 

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the idea of Japanese storytellers providing their take on an American series, or vice versa.  And given that the live-action SUPERNATURAL has provided some strong scares and shocks throughout its eight seasons, one might expect that some Japanese artists might be able to ring in their own cultural approach to horror.

Unfortunately, the twenty-two episodes of this Japanese TV show-- whose segments are introduced by the live-action stars Ackles and Padalecki-- tend to plod along, offering few shocks and seemingly concerned with riffing on the live-action series' mythology (only from the show's first two seasons).  There are many metaphenomenal series-concepts whose mythology is loose enough that an animated show can riff on it to good effect, but SUPERNATURAL is not one of them.

The animators clearly like the seriocomic appeal of Dean, barely getting any of Sam's mojo.  Not surprisingly, the Winchester Boys end up fighting a few more Japanese demons-- a *kappa,*  a poverty-god-- than they would ordinarily encounter.  Even the better episodes rate no better than a "fair" episode of the live-action series.  Toward the end of the DVD, I did get one laugh: when Ackles and Padalecki say to their audience, "Really? You're still watching our lame promos?"

MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (2022)

  

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*                                                                                                                                                  I recently finished reviewing the last couple of DESPICABLE ME films, concluding with the note that I wouldn't mind seeing an end to Felonious Gru's adventures. I had a similar feeling toward the idea of giving Gru's jabbering henchpersons their own feature in 2015. Even while admitting that these films weren't made for my age-group, I thought MINIONS was no more than competent formula comedy. That film ended with the intimation that the mustard-colored munchkins were finally going to hook up with their destined master Gru, still in his bitter grade-school years, but I could not have cared less.                                                                      

To my surprise, I found that I liked RISE the best of all the movies in the franchise. I suppose that some of my reaction stems from the script playing up the "seventies vibe" of Gru's youth, and nowhere is this better seen than in the villain-group Young Gru aspires to join:  The Vicious Six. All six of these notorious super-villains constantly pull off major crimes that earns them Young Gru's adulation, as well as having punny names whose humor might require explanation to kids of a certain age. I myself didn't get the significance of the name given to the group's eldest member and leader, "Wild Knuckles." But whatever the meaning, Knuckles gets special treatment by his comrades, because in the midst of a major heist with the aim of conquering the world, the other five betray their leader. Knuckles survives the betrayal and plots vengeance. Meanwhile, the quintet put out the word that they need a new sixth so-- they can keep the same name??                                                                                             

   The seventies vibe also helps sell the franchise's penchant for combining Lucas-and-Spielberg thrills with wacky humor, but I stress that even though the Minions are the headliners and have their share of funny scenes, RISE only works because Gru is a co-equal member of the starring cast. His outcast status from the normie world makes Gru hunger for validation from other outcasts, so when he's rejected from member-consideration because of his age, he steals the Five's world-conquering doohickey, hoping to impress them. The ruthless robbers want their gizmo back and are willing to pulverize a little kid to get it, while their renegade partner Knuckles also puts the snatch on Young Gru and subjects him to torture-- okay, a funny version of torture, but still. Nevertheless, through all adversities Gru never wavers from his desire to become a great villain, and eventually he impresses Knuckles enough that the elder-statesman criminal does forge a mentor-student relationship with the eight-year-old.                                                     

    Of course, in a kids' film with a scattershot approach there's stuff that doesn't work well, such an extended sequence in which three Minions learn kung fu from an Asian acupuncturist (Michelle Yeoh). But the trio's newly acquired martial skills play an important role later, so the sequence justifies itself in the slam-bang finish. But RISE's best facet is giving audiences the chance to see Gru's early villainy unfettered by all of his adult self's later attempts to become a Square Citizen. Steve Carell provides yeoman rendering Gru's weird accent into a kid-voice, and four of the Vicious Six are embodied by talents made famous by action-movies and TV: Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, and Danny Trejo. But while we might see Respectable Old Gru in theaters again, I suspect this is the final bow for Young Felonious.   

HONOR ROLL #267

 Felonious Gru came by his villainy dishonestly, by stealing from his idols THE VICIOUS SIX.                                                                        

SAM AND DEAN WINCHESTER get animated.                                        

For NEIL DUNCAN, holding his own in scenes opposite Rutger Hauer was far stressful than fighting alien serial killers.                              

I can't decide if FEI XIANG is the star of this show or not, but at least he's a major player.                                                                                                                     

That's a funny name, HAHA HE! (I think she's the one at bottom.)             

LEGO RED HOOD? What's next-- Lego Bug-Eyed Bandit?