Adieu, Adieu, Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow.

Hello readers and friends.

It has been a long time, I figure the last thing you want to hear from someone who hasn’t spoken to you in a while is ‘goodbye’ but here’s the thing, I haven’t had anything to say.

I know crazy right? Someone actually admitting they don’t have anything worthwhile to say so they don’t, and I haven’t. I could tell you the reason why I haven’t said anything in over a year, about how I expect to be let down when I go to the movies, but I won’t.  I could tell you about how I fully embraced the memes and discontent with ‘Cape Crap,’ because honestly how many times can you watch the same movie with different characters,  but I won’t.

And speaking of, I know you all know about the upcoming Avengers Infinity Wars and then Avengers 4 slated to come out in 2019 where they are rumored to kill off a good deal of the current cast sending flurries of excitement through the ranks of fangirls and boys alike…(groan…sigh).

I will not be one of those people, because I don’t care. These characters are two dimensional at best, their deaths like their arrival will be met with raucous fan fair and tears shed by many, but in a few months will anyone remember? Or care? I don’t think so.

So, in honor of the coming demise of this generation’s …heroes… I take a look back at some famous deaths and goodbyes to some of my favorite characters and heroes. Some you will most certainly remember, others might be a bit more obscure, but these on-screen deaths still resonate with me and you can see their influence in a lot of the movies you watch today and you may see shadows of them in the coming years.

So sit back, grab a box of tissues and get ready to relive some of my favorite deaths and goodbyes of heroes and characters.

 

Terminator 2 Judgement day: T-800

I mean what can you say? After all these years it still gets me. It has it all, the reconciliation between the machine and the human. Sarah finds a respect for the machine that has haunted her and plagued her nightmares for years. The sacrifice of the hero to ensure a future where there is no war, giving hope to Sarah and John. Even the thumbs up at the end, it has been parodied and laughed at for the cheesiness of it. But here, it’s solemn and genuine. The music is great and the moment has stayed with me for all this time.

For all you Marvel and DC fans out there, this is how you do it. 😉 Feel free to take notes from what was once one of the great movie makers of all time.

 

Equilibrium: Partridge

This is an archetypal scene where a future hero kills his best friend in the name of honor and duty to an evil State or lord that he’s sworn fealty to. If you haven’t seen Equilibrium, it really is a good movie though some might find it a bit heavy handed on “symbolism”. I say it’s still better than a lot of movies that have covered the same subject matter.

Christian Bale who is using an emotional inhibitor drug called “Prozium” doesn’t feel anything, all he knows is that he is executing an enemy of the state and a criminal “sense offender”. This act will haunt John throughout the film and it is the catalyst for the greater story. A great death scene, one of many for Sean Bean.

Sean Bean really carries this scene. His quotation of Yeats and his attitude and body language. Sean Bean has done a lot of death scenes. I chose this one because of the poem and the solemn nature of the scene itself. It’s no accident that it takes place in a church. “But I being poor, I’ve only my dreams… tread softly for you tread on my dreams.” It’s a friend, asking another to not let the dream of freedom (in the context of the story it also means the freedom to feel and live as feeling human beings as they were meant to) die with him.

 

In Bruges: Ken

The first time I saw this movie this scene got to me so bad I must have replayed it over and over again at least five or six times. A lot of it had to do with the song “On Raglan Road”, by Luke Kelly. I had never heard it before this film and it just seems to fit so perfectly here.

For those of you who haven’t seen the film, Ken, played by Brendan Gleeson is climbing the bell tower so he can warn his friend Ray (Colin Farrell) that their boss is on his way to kill him. He grabs the gun and climbs the steps so he can beat his boss to Ray. he knows the fall will kill him but its the only way to get to Ray first and warn him.

This is a strange movie with its mood shifts and ups and downs maybe that’s why this scene has stayed with me for as long as it has. Its a strangely triumphant moment of ultimate defiance against death itself, giving one life to save another. Giving us one hell of a heroic death.

 

John Wick: Daisy

OK, we ALL know the story of the death of John Wick’s dog. One of the last things his dead wife was able to give him after she died from her illness. That’s why this messed John up so badly, not that it was just a dog, but because it was a piece of his dead wife, a lasting reminder of how much she loved him. This is a theme through out the movie and ultimately making this one of the saddest animal deaths in film (yes, even over Old Yeller for those of you who remember that movie).

The thing that makes it so sad is that Daisy does not have a quick death. We hear her get hit, but after the fade to black we see a blood trail on the floor leading to Daisy as she died in front of John. She suffered before she died. Old Yeller just got shot once and he died off screen, Daisy’s death is front and center for the audience.

 

Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan: Spock

One of the greatest friendships in the science fiction realm, Kirk, and Mr. Spock. It has been parodied, copied, and homaged. This is one of the great deaths in cinema history.

Spock has just sacrificed himself, exposing himself to lethal doses of radiation to save the Enterprise from the Genesis torpedo self-destruct detonation. What makes this scene so powerful is that Spock is one of the big three, the trinity of Star Trek, without Spock Star Trek doesn’t work. And audiences had to watch and live through him dying.

Fun fact, Paramount wasn’t planning on making another Star Trek, this was going to be the end of the franchise. Imagine if your favorite franchise ended on such a huge downer of a note. There would be internet rage the likes of which well..honestly I don’t know, but I can imagine it would be pretty bad. Like when Mass Effect 3 was first released with the crap ending, something like that only much bigger.

This was averted at the very end as the audience is treated to the famous opening lines from the Star Trek TV show, “Space, the final frontier…” voiced by Leonard Nimoy.

This is scene is so iconic that the hack job that calls itself a movie, Star Trek Into Darkness,  shamelessly copied this scene almost verbatim in order to tap into those nostalgic and powerful memories among the fans. Afterward, you can watch Family Guy’s parody of Spock’s funeral, with Stewie sending Ruppert off in the torpedo tube, to wash the taste out of your mouth. It’s funny and tastefully done, at least as tastefully as a parody can be done.

 

Flight of Dragons: Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe

Here is an animated death scene that belongs up there with the great hero sacrifices of all time.

The knight, Sir Orrin looks around him and see’s his fallen comrades. He is alone at last, looking up at a powerful dragon that has been magically augmented by his owner Ommadon. Sir Orrin knows he’s going to die but in the face of hopelessness he takes his sword and swears an oath to his sword that they will kill one last time before he dies. He faces a blast of dragon fire and sends his sword into Bryagh’s heart and the evil dragon is consumed by his own dragon’s fire and dies.

This is courage. Knowing that you are going to die before you even start but doing what must be done anyway. Also a very archetypal death, the heroe’s sacrifice. And that’s why it still strikes achordd with me, also his oath just sounds so bad ass, “Blade with whom I have lived, blade with whom I now die…” Who doesn’t feel a surge of emotion hearing something like that. Especially since he meant every word and fulfills his promise.

 

Star Wars: Obi Wan

Maybe a bit overdone perhaps, but this death started it all for a lot of children of the 70’s and 80’s. Obi Wan sacrificing himself because he knows he can’t defeat Vader. So he lets Vader kill him in cold blood and he becomes one with the force so he can continue to mentor Luke.

In the EU and I use that term carefully, this would be the book universe before The New Jedi Order. The last book written in this particular epoch would have been the two book series by Timothy Zahn, “Specter of the Past”, and “Visions of the Future”. In one book called, “The New Rebellion” Luke faces a similar situation as Obi Wan. He is facing a former student who has turned to the dark side.

During the fight, Luke feels all the guilt, the sorrow, and fear that millions of people have died because he failed his student. Because of this, during the fight, Luke grows weaker, and his dark side infused former student grows stronger. Luke was on the verge of sacrificing himself in a similar vein to Obi Wan, but was saved and his former student was defeated.

No such luck for Obi Wan though as he is cut down by Vader, only to live on through the force and make appearances in the next two films in the original and really only Star Wars Trilogy worth mentioning.

 

Superman: Lois Lane

Let’s face it, there have been a lot of deaths in the DC and Marvel comics universes over the years, Barry Allen, Bruce Wayne, hell, even Superman himself gets taken out by Doomsday, an event that sent shock waves through the comic fandom for months. Of course, DC couldn’t keep Superman dead for long but when “The Death of Superman” came out it disturbed a lot of people.

But here a decade and a half before Superman’s comic book death, we got the immortal Richard Donner film. And we see here another example of “all those things I can do, all those powers, and I couldn’t even save him”.

You see how hurt Superman is, the pain and anguish but that all turns to rage and a bone chilling roar before he flies off.

There have been a number of times a hero has to bury a loved one, there have been very good performances, and some pretty bad ones. But this one doesn’t feel like I’m watching a performance.  Lois Lane is dead and this is Superman really reacting to that loss, its not acting, this is a reality. And that’s why this scene stands head and shoulder’s above a lot of similar scenes in other movies.

 

The Thing: MacReady

I have only included this particular death scene out of a number of horror movies. MacReady has just blown up the Thing with a stick of Dynamite and now their Antarctica Camp site has been blown to hell as well. There’s no shelter from the oncoming cold.

MacReady simply sits down and see’s that he’s not the only survivor. Childs (Keith David) walks up and tells him that they’re pretty much screwed because there’s no shelter and the fire from the various explosions wont last. He assures MacReady that he hasn’t been changed by the Thing. MacReady just smiles and says, “Why don’t we just sit here awhile…see what happens.”

This is another one of those hero moments. He knows he doesn’t have anything left. If Childs is part of the Thing he can’t do anything about it, but he’s done everything he can, he’s got nothing left. I choose to believe that the Thing was killed even though both MacReady and Childs dies, at least they saved the planet from an alien takeover/ infection.

Of course if you were a fan of Spoony (Noah Antwiler) then you know they made a video game that I suppose is canon and (Spoiler Alert) when you beat the game MacReady fly’s you out of Antarctica in his helicopter. I choose not to buy that crap though. MacReady died a hero’s death defeating the evil that had to be killed, even though in doing so he created the circumstances for his own death.

 

Top Gun: Goose

This is a popular motif in a lot of movies. We see a similar thing in Days of Thunder except then the friend doesn’t die he’s just sick and can’t race anymore.

But here we see the tragic death of a friend in what is essentially a training accident. The military is hard, and accidents happen. The fact that Top Gun is willing to add that to its story and make this a defining moment for Maverick must have struck a deep chord with a lot of military people.

Top Gun is a seminal film and I believe that this death and the scene that shows it is a big reason for it’s success and longevity.

 

Braveheart: Father

I could have shown a hundred different scenes of parental character’s deaths. I mean Bambi’s mom is practically a internet meme, the mention of her is synonymous with dying. Who didn’t shed a tear a two when Littlefoot’s mom died after her battle with Sharptooth, in The Land Before Time? Johnathan Kent from Superman was a very poignant death as I explained above.

But here its not just the death, it the final goodbye from his kinsmen and fellow Scotsmen. “Playing outlawed tunes, on outlawed pipes”. He died in a fight for Scottish freedom from the tyrannical control of England. This is such a powerful moment. That even in death he has inspired his countrymen to defy the law and hold to their values and traditions.

This is something not a whole lot of people are willing to do, a sign of courage in itself. That and the music itself is so powerful and moving on its own.

So, I know some heavy stuff. Death isn’t something that most people like to think about. It reminds us of our own frailty and mortality, the only guarantee in life is death. It’s something we all must face in the end. I do believe that when you die it reflects upon you as a person of how you have lived. I don’t intend to die alone and when it’s my time, I hope that I can show as much courage as some of these characters were able to convey in their final moments.

Till next time

 

 

The Force Awakening

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
© Disney 2015

Well, the time has finally arrived!

Yes friends and readers the day when the newest edition in the Star Wars franchise has been carted out. This time “Under New Management,” namely the corporate banner of Disney and the directorial reigns have been given to J.J. Abrams.  Its been out for about two weeks now and still going strong, to date it has grossed over 1 billion world-wide. Not too shabby for Disney, and this is after the “tyrannical” rule of Michael Eisner (but that is for another post).

Since I am a former Star Wars buff and nerd extraordinaire I will give you my full take on this film. As always spoilers will abound in this lengthy post so for those who have not seen the film read at your own discretion.

First off lets talk about the film from a plot standpoint.

This film follows two of the seven basic plot lines, the Overcoming the Monster plot with a dash of, The Quest plot line.  In other words this Star Wars film follows A New Hope almost to the letter.

The movie is very formulaic and it reuses themes and scenes from the other Star Wars movies extensively. The plot arc concerning the map the BB-8 unit carries mirrors R2-D2’s almost exactly. The capture of Poe Dameron and his subsequent torture at the hands of the Sith Kylo Ren is pretty much Princess Leia’s story as well.  The First Order, which is simply a new moniker for the Empire, is still fighting for dominance with the Rebel Alliance… I mean the Resistance…. And there’s a Death Star present but its different now because its bigger.

Literally.

For the sake of brevity I won’t list ALL of the plot points that are mirrored in The Force Awakens because frankly that would be summarizing the entire movie.

However, as I was watching this film there was enough new stuff and interesting characters that held my attention and kept this movie from being a total rehash in the same vein that Superman Returns was a rehash of the first two Superman films.  Some of the new characters that were introduced breathe a bit of life into the franchise.

John Boyega as Finn.

John Boyega as Finn.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
© Disney 2015.

I like this character. John Boyega plays it very well. The confusion that he feels after seeing death for the first time is conveyed very well through his actions and body language. His fear towards the First Order is understandable and he wants to do nothing but run. But he finds a kinship with Poe and with Rey and sticks around going so far as to fight his former comrades with Anakin’s light saber.

He is immediately interesting as this is our first window in to what the inner workings of the Empire and the people who live within its borders are like. He’s self-effacing and down to earth without being boring or overly comical. Finn gives us a human face to the faceless cannon fodder that was once the Storm Troopers.

I really want this guy to stick around. Even though he has been the target of really stupid and ignorant internet trash talking about Star Wars becoming “PC” now because there’s a black man in it who isn’t Lando Calrissian.

I hope he’s not dead, but being wrapped in white robes on that slab of a table at the end of the film does not give me hope.

Daisy Ridley as Rey.

Daisy Ridley as Rey.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
© Disney 2016

This character does not infuriate me. She isn’t Bella Swan, thank God. But she’s no Ellen Ripley either.

Rey suffers from the same problems that most protagonists in a story like Star Wars tend to. Compared to the supporting cast she is incredibly boring and she suffers the most when she’s up against Finn and Han Solo. I found myself more interested in Finn’s story and where he was going than her’s.  It didn’t help that at many times Finn’s story overlapped with Rey’s thematically. I believe this was supposed to be a red herring from the writer/director. You are lead to believe that the hero of the story might be Finn at times so that Rey’s emergence at the end would come as a surprise.

Except that since Finn is a better written character it ends up feeling like a more interesting story was canned just so we could go back to faffing about with Jedis and have more light saber duels.

Ultimately the biggest problem with Rey, the one that really undermines her as a character, is that she is extremely OPed.

As of right now she is an expert mechanic, pilot, and one of the most powerful nascent Jedi in existence capable of taking on and beating a Sith who is years ahead of her.  And no the “he was wounded” hand wave doesn’t work because it only seemed to be a problem when the plot called for it to be a problem. In truth, Finn and Rey should have been Force choked to death minutes into the final fight at the end.

She knows mechanics from her being a scavenger I get that. But she’s a scavenger when does she have time to be pilot? In A New Hope we know Luke is a good pilot because he actually has a goddamn plane. He has a T-16 back home that he used to bulls eye Wamp rats in. What ship did Rey use to practice and hone her skills? Is there a Beggar’s Canyon somewhere in the desert that I missed?

She seems to spend all her time combing the junk yards bringing in valuable parts in exchange for food, not exactly the kind of environment that lends itself to practicing piloting skills. She vouches for herself as being a pilot but it seems more like a plot contrivance than something the story actually supports.

And even if she is a pilot, what makes anyone think that she would just automatically know how to pilot the Millennium Falcon? Especially when she lampshades it by remarking at the end of that particular chase scene that she doesn’t know how she did it. Are the writers and directors implying that the Force somehow did it???

Also her immediate and total control of the Force with NO training was troublesome.

Her being able to resist Ren’s mind dives made sense. Leia was resistant to Darth Vader’s interrogations as well. But when Rey was able to pull stuff out of Ren’s mind is where the movie dove once again into serious “Mary Sue” territory.

She could also perform the Jedi Mind trick with only a little difficulty. The scene telling the Storm Trooper to release her played out a bit like Jessica using the Voice on her captors in Dune.  In The Force Awakens the scene was played for laughs but this is a girl who 30 minutes before thought that Luke Skywalker and the Jedi were just myths. How did she even know she could influence the weak-minded through the Force, much less how to actually do it? Luke wasn’t able to perform that until the third film.

The light saber fight with Kylo Ren was especially atrocious and frankly the worst out of the all the other examples listed. You almost can see the writers pulling the Force out of their butts to justify the outcome.  There is no way that any of the movies, both the sequels and the horrid prequels, support an untrained padawan beating anyone who is actually trained in the Force let alone a Sith apprentice ( or whatever Kylo Ren’s rank is supposed to be).

Ever.

It didn’t help that 20 minutes before Han Solo smacked Finn with, “That’s not how the Force works!”

Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma.

Captain Phasma.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
© Disney 2015.

As far as side character go she is awesome! She is by far my favorite side character in the film. She carries herself really well in her armor and she was self-possessed and in control at all times. Her response when being questioned about FN-2187’s insurrection, “It was his first offense,” was delivered with just a touch of irritability. As if to say she knows how to do her job.

She cuts an impressive and imposing figure and that chrome finish is just way too cool. Everything you’d want from a Field Commander. I hope she isn’t dead. Although that would not be the first time a really cool character would be killed off unceremoniously in a Star Wars trilogy (Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Maul come to mind. What is up with this franchise doing stuff like that?).

Harrison Ford as Han Solo.

Harrison Ford as Han Solo.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
© Disney 2015.

For the first time in a long time I was actually glad to see Harrison Ford in a movie and I enjoyed watching his performance.

I saw Ender’s Game and I saw Anchor Man 2 and for the last decade or so Harrison Ford’s performances have felt really stale to me. This time it seems that he has remembered how to act and emote, I felt like I was watching Han Solo, not just Harrison Ford.

I don’t know how I feel about Han getting killed. I wasn’t outraged, nor was I terribly surprised. I didn’t gasp when it happened either. Looking back I felt like there should have been a little more rage from Chewie as this means his Life Debt would never be fulfilled. I think that if Chewie had thrown himself at Ren and gotten killed also that would have made more sense thematically to me at least.

I will chalk it up to just one more body in the list of bodies that Ren has on his resume and one more regret that Luke will have to deal with in the later films.

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren.

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren.
Star Wars: The Force Awaken.
© Disney 2015.

Honestly I don’t think much of our new baddie. We see him lose his temper several times and destroy things. He comes off more as child throwing a tantrum than anything else, a very angry and somewhat intimidating child, but a child nonetheless.

He is mired in self-doubt and weakness. He even goes so far as to invoke his dead grandfather. In a very dramatic shot of the twisted remains of Darth Vader’s helmet. A stirring but completely useless shot that was seen in just about every trailer approaching the release of the movie.

Kylo Ren is not fully trained yet he can rip information out of people’s heads and cause unconsciousness in the case of Rey when he meets her that first time.

On a tangent:

I don’t think he should have unmasked himself until Han confronted him on that catwalk. It would have made the reveal a bit more climactic and meaningful, but since he had already taken off his helmet before Han confronted him, taking it off then didn’t really mean anything.

All the rest of them.

I liked seeing Admiral Akbar again and seeing Nien Nunb in the seat of an X-wing was pretty cool. I was left wondering where Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles were though. Maybe they’ll make an appearance in the later films? I mean you brought back just about everyone else why not Lando and Wedge especially Wedge, Commander of Rogue Squadron? It doesn’t seem to me like he would be a guy that would be waiting on the side lines when there are battles to fight and a perfectly good X-wing to pilot.

The problems with the movie largely stem from the lack luster abilities of the director. J.J. Abrams is just not a very good director in my opinion. He wiped his ass with the Star Trek franchise largely, and his original material was always meh. His movies have largely been disposable entertainment. His amateurish understanding of film technique and cinematic tension is glaringly obvious in many places.

Having Ren unmask himself to Rey in the interrogation room should not have happened. Like I said before it would have had much more cinematic punch to hold off on that until he met Han on that catwalk.

Using the Force as a Deus ex Machina multiple times, using the Jedi Mind Trick as a gag, having a completely untrained individual be able to defeat a dark Jedi is just lazy writing to me. Especially if you’re going to have a chasm open up to split them apart at the end anyway.

I don’t have to remind you that even with a few months of training from Yoda, Luke got his ass handed to him by Vader. Vader was toying with Luke the whole time in Cloud City. And he had his reasons for keeping Luke alive. Here there is no reason for Ren to want to keep Rey alive and therefore no reason why Rey should be able to win this fight. But she, “used the Force” and was able to win.

I didn’t notice any annoying blur to focus shots that were so prevalent in Man of Steel. And there was no lens flare abuse, thank God! I think there was one or two quick zoom shots but they didn’t bother me. I did love seeing the tie fighters flying toward the camera with the sun setting behind them. That was a really beautiful shot.

Since this movie showed Ren to be a fairly weak and lukewarm character I have to wonder where the trilogy is going to go from here. Rey is already stronger than Ren at this point. Why does she even need training. Is this trilogy going to shift gears and focus more on Ren and his descent into the dark side? And if so is Rey really the ultimate prize for Ren?

Ren is afraid of Rey, why I don’t know. We know Ren needs more training because Snoke (what is it with this franchise and dumb names for important characters?) said that at the end of the movie. But what cinematic value is there when the hero, I assume that to be Rey, already has all the power and control that she could possibly need to defeat the bad guy at the beginning of the story?

Unfortunately, I have a sinking feeling that this is the best J.J. Abrams can do. I don’t think he can  improve upon what he’s done here because I simply don’t believe he has the talent for it. Unless his writers can find a way to weave around some of the glaring flaws of The Force Awakens the best I can hope for is another film of similar quality to this one.

On a final note: WTF is up the music? It was largely shit with no exception. It reused sections of John Williams score from the original trilogy and shoe horned them into scenes without any rhyme or reason. Was this arrogance or just that these cheap bastards didn’t want to pay John Williams to make an original score? Which is a damn shame considering even the prequels had Duel of the Fates.

BEHOLD!

This movie made a lot more sense than Episode I: The Phantom Menace ever did. Its strength lies with its simplistic story and well-defined good and bad guys. It’s easy to follow. Where the trilogy goes from here is anyone’s guess. I just hope the First Order doesn’t have another one of these mega super weapons hanging around somewhere. If they do maybe the Ewoks can come back and save the day again in the third film just like they did way back in 1983.

 

Yaaaaaaayyyy. -_-