Wonder Woman 2017 review

Here's a post that has little, if anything, to do with Japan. Sorry. Sometimes you have to follow your heart.

So, Wonder Woman, you guys.

There's this scene where she's in a WW1 trench, looking out across No Man's Land (get it? GET IT?), where a small village held by the enemy is slowly starving. She wants to cross, but her male partner is like, "But bro, you can't, because you will literally die." And then she's like "BUT I'M WONDER WOMAN" and she fucking SPRINTS across that shit, and suddenly her allies are backing her up, and angry Germans are shooting hundreds upon thousands of bullets at her and she just pulls out her shield and is all "I'M WONDER WOMAN THOUGH." It's pretty great.

I really liked this movie. Maybe more than it deserves, because I badly wanted to, but it's still a good movie. The pacing and editing could use some work, especially the interminable front-loaded exposition scenes, but things pick up once we hit the comic relief detour in London. The fight scenes don't have a lot of tension, but that's endemic to the genre, and at least they're brief enough to at least feel exciting. Characters' abilities are telegraphed fairly well, that is to say, they don't suddenly develop new powers as the plot demands. Wonder Woman gradually manifests her strongest abilities over the course of the story before finally getting a grip on them for the final confrontation, rather than having them come out of nowhere at the end. When Chris Pine has to fly a plane at one point, we don't blink, because we've already been shown that he knows how. The WW1 setting is cool, as well (opening up comparisons with Captain America: The First Avenger, but that's a topic for another blog and another blogger).

Viewing the movie as a man, it seems like the Chris Pine character was supposed to be our audience insert. I was prepared to be annoyed by this, because like, why can't I envision myself as Gal Gadot instead? I want to be Gal Gadot. Everyone wants to be Gal Gadot. But it actually ended up being really well-done. They could have played him as a boorish horndog who only finally comes to acknowledge Wonder Woman by the end, but no, they had him be respectful from the start, not to mention intelligent, funny, and moral. He treats her as an equal partner, if not more so, giving credit where it's due, and admonishing any card-carrying member of the Old Boys' Club who suggests she may be anything less than capable for being a woman. In other words, he's a fine role model for young MEN, which I wasn't rea;;y expecting from this movie.

UPDATE: Here's a column that says everything I just said, except articulately.

Also, Diana gets to have sex! And again, it's done really well! It comes off as a sudden but natural development in their growing relationship. She doesn't “give in” to his advances, and it doesn't devalue her as a woman or in any way whatsoever diminish her power as a feminist icon. She goes for it because she wants it, has fun, and doesn't regret it. Fucking perfect.

I don't know yet what the reaction has been from Japanese women, but women in the English-speaking world seem to be psyched about this movie, and it's awesome. Will Wonder Woman signal the beginning of a new era for women in action movies, or cinema in general? Will we FINALLY get a Black Widow solo film? Wait, does this mean Gal Gadot will get a larger role in future Fast and Furious movies?! Because that would be fucking sick.

By the time I was done, I felt like I'd glimpsed the future.

Rurouni Kenshin review

Signed by Satou!

 I'm a few weeks late to the party here, but with Rurouni Kenshin's pending international release, it really seems as timely as ever.

If you're familiar with the source material, you'll be pleased to find that the live-action adaptation strongly adheres to the spirit, if not the letter, of the original story. It basically covers the Toukyou Arc of the manga and anime, though some events are shifted around and a few characters are combined. The appearance of Saito Hajime, who previously didn't appear until the bridge between the first and second arcs, is particularly egregious; presumably he was thrust in there because of his unspeakable coolness and fan favouritism, and possibly with a view towards a sequel. But these changes are inherent and necessary in any media adaptation, so you really should go into it expecting them. What's important is that the style and message carry through, and the film does an excellent job of communicating them to the big screen.

On the other hand, if you haven't experienced either of its previous iterations, the plot may well be incomprehensible. The Japanese is generally simple, with the exception of a few speeches and such that are a little more technical, but the problem is the film's tendency to throw major players at you with little or no introduction. Tt would have done well to excise a few of them if only for economy of characters. It really gets down to time, as with only a few minutes to devote to each new face, we're left unable to really grasp the details that make them compelling. When Sannosuke gets into a fistfight with a bad guy, we know rationally that we want him to win, but without any emotional associations built up we don't actually really care whether or not he does. Motivations and logic are also poorly explained, so while it's never tough to figure out what's going on, without a little a priori knowledge it's going to be a challenge to understand why.

Casting is a little odd, with most characters being severely toned down. Satou Takeru does a serviceable job as Kenshin, particularly in his ability to mix the seriousness and slapstick that are in many ways the character's trademark, but somehow can't quite match up to Suzukaze Mayu's anime performance. Takei Emi as Kaoru is especially lacking; former Kaoru could fill a screen with her energy alone, but this one doesn't offer much more to pay attention to than a cute voice. That's not entirely her fault, since Kaoru is a pretty weak and boring character to begin with, but it would have been nice to see her bring a little more presence to the role. Although the role of Saitou doesn't require much more than for his actor to look angry and dress well, Eguchi Yousuke fits it well. Aoi Yuu is perfect as the deviously delicious Megumi, and Tanaka Taketo seems to actually be Yahiko ripped from the printed page.

Rurouni Kenshin is almost worth going to see for the visuals alone. The fight scenes are fluid and exciting, though since it basically amounts to a chanbara flick, I guess it'd better be. Focussing on technique over raw power, and style over realism, they're a little more restrained than those they were based on, but not by much. There's still plenty of the weird “swordsman's spirit” stuff and what basically amounts to hacking physics, which you'll either revel in, or have to look past, depending on your preference. It opens on what might be its most enjoyable scene, depicting one of the last battles between the Shinsengumi and the Ishinshishi, drawing the viewer into the fight with its immediacy and flow as shots are fired at close range, the mob seeths, and bodies are sliced open with a shocking degree of violence given the tone of the work.

But even the more mundane aspects like the doujo, Meiji-era streets and local hangout Akabeko are lavished with detail. The palette is vivid and deep, footpaths look well-travelled, buildings appear lived-in. Like Memoirs of a Geisha, which admittedly took place in a drastically different time period, Kenshin shows us a Toukyou on the cusp of modernization, and the juxtaposition of more traditional Japanese furnishings with contemporary conveniences is fascinating and beautiful. More than once I wished I could hop through the screen and walk around.

The film drags heavily when it spends the bridge to the third act trying to be profound. Kenshin definitely has an interesting history, and Megumi a tragic past, but we're fed way too much material intent on pointing this out. It really isn't a stretch to suggest that most of us came in to watch swordfights, not characters dicking around and emotionlessly narrating the worst things that have ever happened to them. The denouement has a similar problem, starting out all right with an overwrought but at least decent statement on the value of what's all gone on, but then somehow transitioning into a two-minute dialogue just in case we weren't sure how we were supposed to feel about it. The conclusion is also a little awkward as the plot does a clumsy job of fitting the final two battles together, a consequence of a film having two major villains, especially ones who come from completely different parts of the original story.

None of this kills the experience, though, because Rurouni Kenshin is still well worth watching. It's not life-changing, but it is potentially thought-provoking, (mostly) tightly paced, and all kinds of fun, and maybe that's all it needs to be. I'd love to see the rumours of a possible series come to fruition; the duel between Kenshin and Shishi-o could be amazing in live action, and it would be nice to see the manga's ending in moving form. If that ever happens, I'll be right on board.

Thermae Romae mini-review

I watched Thermae Romae on the plane, and I certainly wouldn't spend money on it.

The reasonably ridiculous premise is that an ancient Roman architect (and bath connoisseur) finds himself periodically transported to modern-day Japan, via a time-space vortex that seemingly appears anytime he touches the bottom of a body of water. There, he find a culture that takes bathing just as seriously as does his own, and soon starts to develop a friendship with a young girl he meets over several chance encounters.

To its credit, the film takes the well-trodden gag routine of “man from the past enthralled/confounded by modern technology” and puts a fresh spin on it with the bath focus, a place you wouldn't generally think to go. It's at its best during the mildly amusing comedy moments of protagonist Lucius getting to grips with the many conveniences the Japanese have contrived, ideas which he then takes back with him and introduces to his home. This catches the attention of Emperor Hadrian and he quickly finds himself a well-respected celebrity.

Sadly, despite the absurd premise Thermae Romae somehow can't manage to create anything truly interesting. Some of the little things are genuinely comedic, like Lucius taking a bathrobe and trying to use it as a toga, his frequent nudity, and his tendency to refer to Japanese as “the Flat-Face People” and continually remark on their supposed status as slaves. However, these bits of charm are only found piecemeal throughout, a handful of bright spots accenting a general feeling of going through the motions.

More tragic still, its two stars, both of whom I actually quite like, are completely wasted. Abe Hiroshi spends a lot of time wandering around and being surprised, but is never quite given a chance to showcase all the quirks and details that make him such an entertaining character actor. He's also so aggressively Japanese it's difficult to believe him as a Roman. For her part, Ueto Aya could easily have been replaced by basically anyone at all without much difference.

In the third act Thermae Romae seems to realise that it needs to develop a plot in order to actually be a movie, so it goes on a jarring extended sequence where Ueto's character travels back to Ancient Rome in order to help Lucius do...something that involves fighting, I think, and whose neglect will change the course of history. Actually, what? She's worried that if one character, who dislikes Hadrian, becomes emperor instead of another one, who does, Hadrian will not be exalted in later times. How does that change history? We would have ended up with Nero's Wall or what? It kind of doesn't matter, as the whole thing really falls apart at this point.

Thermae Romae has a lot of potential but quietly fails to live up to it. It's not even bad, it's just kind of dull. It's kind of a bummer that it was the only Japanese film available on the plane, and if I'd been able to pick something else I'd have gone with that one instead.