Kung Fu Panda and Starship Troopers
I have a friend who likes to call me out of the blue, wanting to go see a movie with me. I generally say, 'Sure!' I've seen some movies I don't normally see this way. On Friday I saw Kung Fu Panda in this manner. I liked it more than I thought I would. I only recognized two voice actors, but there were a lot of noteworthy actors playing small roles. (It must be hard to find work for voice actors anymore, since regular actors get all their work!) Actually I was impressed with the unintrusiveness of the celebrity voice actors. Even Jack Black who I knew was in it, coming in, didn't overbear his character. The action was fun and fairly inventive. The animation and art style were fairly good -- the doddering old turtle was just hilarious to look at even when he wasn't doing anything, but in contrast the generic background pigs were ugly as hell. It was a kid's movie so it was riddled with cliches, but nothing too brazen. A good fun kid flick, but nothing that'll go down as an all-time classic.
After I got home I watched Starship Troopers. This is a weird movie that doesn't appeal too much to a lot of people I've talked to. It made a lot more sense after I read up on it and realized what the novel it was based on was about (another book to put on my need-to-buy list) and that the director had done Robocop -- the resemblance is strong between the two movies with really excessive violence and a tongue-in-cheek attitude and tv bits interspersed along the way.
I think of it having three layers: a fairly cool sci-fi action movie with good effects and cool action sequences; a pretty mediocre drama with campy acting; and a social commentary. Of those three things, the social commentary is the most worthy of commentary, though it is the least blatant. I don't know how much of it comes from the book, which I believe was a full-on allegory, with the humans representing the Nazis and the aliens representing the Allies -- I think... At any rate it doesn't follow the book much at all, from what I've heard.
There is a lot of little stuff that is used as a throwaway and never really addressed. For instance you are rewarded for joining the military with citizenship. Among the rewards are it being easier to get permission from the government to have children. Propoganda that demonizes the aliens and promotes the military and the Earth's aggression are everywhere, even among schoolteachers. Anyone who suggests that war with the aliens isn't a great idea is basically laughed down. Rio de Janeiro appears to be mostly populated with white Americans. The main characters are capable of superhuman feats and psychic powers are emerging, but we never get any hint of their source; perhaps there are breeding programs or genetic modification at work. All of these hint at a fascist regime, though we never see the face of any such thing -- the entire movie always promotes sympathy with even the most negative of these things. The resemblance of Neil Patrick Harris's uniform to a Nazi SS uniform is the thing most people notice.
Grades are very important to the futures of the characters. The main character has poor grades and goes through a brutal boot camp with a very physically abusive drill instructor, who breaks bones or stabs hands with nonchalance. Meanwhile the leading female has good grades and goes to the friendly and quiet flight school, with these scenes intercut between those of the male lead. The aliens are dismissed as unintelligent early on, but when they strike a devestating blow (hinted to be the second such successful attack), creating an attitude of blood-for-blood and making the male lead become mainly concerned with revenge.
Several times I was reminded of Ender's Game (which I think must have been partly inspired by the Starship Troopers novel; I must look into this) and Wing Commander. Too bad the Wing Commander movie was such a dog. Anyways, many dismiss this movie as a silly action movie, and on the surface it is: however, just below the surface are hints of many intriguing things. It would be very interesting for me to listen to a commentary on this movie...
After I got home I watched Starship Troopers. This is a weird movie that doesn't appeal too much to a lot of people I've talked to. It made a lot more sense after I read up on it and realized what the novel it was based on was about (another book to put on my need-to-buy list) and that the director had done Robocop -- the resemblance is strong between the two movies with really excessive violence and a tongue-in-cheek attitude and tv bits interspersed along the way.
I think of it having three layers: a fairly cool sci-fi action movie with good effects and cool action sequences; a pretty mediocre drama with campy acting; and a social commentary. Of those three things, the social commentary is the most worthy of commentary, though it is the least blatant. I don't know how much of it comes from the book, which I believe was a full-on allegory, with the humans representing the Nazis and the aliens representing the Allies -- I think... At any rate it doesn't follow the book much at all, from what I've heard.
There is a lot of little stuff that is used as a throwaway and never really addressed. For instance you are rewarded for joining the military with citizenship. Among the rewards are it being easier to get permission from the government to have children. Propoganda that demonizes the aliens and promotes the military and the Earth's aggression are everywhere, even among schoolteachers. Anyone who suggests that war with the aliens isn't a great idea is basically laughed down. Rio de Janeiro appears to be mostly populated with white Americans. The main characters are capable of superhuman feats and psychic powers are emerging, but we never get any hint of their source; perhaps there are breeding programs or genetic modification at work. All of these hint at a fascist regime, though we never see the face of any such thing -- the entire movie always promotes sympathy with even the most negative of these things. The resemblance of Neil Patrick Harris's uniform to a Nazi SS uniform is the thing most people notice.
Grades are very important to the futures of the characters. The main character has poor grades and goes through a brutal boot camp with a very physically abusive drill instructor, who breaks bones or stabs hands with nonchalance. Meanwhile the leading female has good grades and goes to the friendly and quiet flight school, with these scenes intercut between those of the male lead. The aliens are dismissed as unintelligent early on, but when they strike a devestating blow (hinted to be the second such successful attack), creating an attitude of blood-for-blood and making the male lead become mainly concerned with revenge.
Several times I was reminded of Ender's Game (which I think must have been partly inspired by the Starship Troopers novel; I must look into this) and Wing Commander. Too bad the Wing Commander movie was such a dog. Anyways, many dismiss this movie as a silly action movie, and on the surface it is: however, just below the surface are hints of many intriguing things. It would be very interesting for me to listen to a commentary on this movie...