anna_wing

This time of the Gothic classic "The Crow", first released in 1994 after the accidental death on set of its leading man Brandon Lee (son of Bruce, of holy memory). Having looked at the trailer, I am not convinced that it can remotely approach the OTT glory of the original.

I still remember watching it, in London in 1994, on a day when I didn't have anything in particular to do (I was on holiday). It was memorable in itself, but also because immediately after that I went and watched "Thirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould". They were both splendid in their different ways, and then I had a very good salt beef sandwich at a little cafe down the road. It was a nice day.

This was in the days when there was a whole string of cinemas in the Leicester Square, Charing Cross Road, Piccadilly Circus area, and also I was young and cognitively flexible....

It has occurred to me more than once that the insistance that characters of X minority can only be acted in film or TV etc by members of X-minority could very easily lead to actors and actresses of X-minority not being considered for parts other than characters of X-minority (or occasional fantasy superheroes, I suppose).

I was certainly not happy with the Fu Manchu-lite portrayal of Dr Wellington Yueh in the recent 'Dune' remake and I liked the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in Dr Strange", which nicely avoided the whole 'Asian Mystical Master' stereotype (which would have been even worse in this case with any kind of Asian actor or actress, since all Asian nations have their own religious/magical practices and traditions already, which do not resemble the Marvel Universe one in the slightest...).

This would apply anywhere in the world. There is something to be said for the opera/ballet/theatre practice of race etc-blind casting.

I went to see this with a friend on the night of Christmas Day, after dinner out. The cinemas are operating here, but with strict limits on their numbers and with careful staggering of seats, so that no-one is sitting directly in front of anyone else.

We enjoyed it, though my friend did remark at the end, "That was a serious movie disguised as a superhero story!" That may be why so many people apparently didn't like it. I did, though. It was great that there was no real villain; this was very obviously a story about the struggle against Mara, the power of lies - in this case illusion and self-delusion, as well as a version of the Monkey's Paw. It was hammered in pretty hard, but I suppose that was necessary in order to make sure that an audience expecting another Marvel Movie got the point.

Other thoughts:

1 Gal Gadot and the soundtrack were both excellent.

2 Given how daft everyone's wishes were, it is clear that the reading of fairy tales has gone dramatically out of fashion. This is particularly the case for the spectacularly ill-named Dr Minerva, who has no excuse for her last one, since it was made when she already knew that her wish would be granted (come on, "I wish to be an apex predator"?). The first one wasn't her fault, since she had no idea that she wasn't just wishing to be cool, confident and well-dressed by current fashion standards. I wondered at the start if she was supposed to be a goddess in disguise, but I suppose her name was reference to the importance of wisdom in making choices (and wishes). Also, while kicking your would-be rapist to death is actually not something I would particularly disapprove, there is in fact a spectrum of behaviour between insecure doormat and psychotic bimbo. I hope that after the ending of the film she gets a therapist and a makeover (perhaps get her colours done?) and joins a decent wing chun school.

3 Also, what is this idea that avant-garde fashion choices are associated with a tendency towards ultra-violence and bad decision-making? This is unfair stereotyping of the fashion forward and also shoulder-pads. Though thankfully 1984 was a little early for the puffball/bubble skirt.

4 I liked the way that while the direct results of the wishes (walls, deaths, sudden increases in nuclear weapon stocks) disappeared when the wishes were renounced, the collateral mess remained and had to be cleaned up. This isn't going to be a "it was all a dream" total reset, and I expect Maxwell Lord is going to jail for fraud, even if they can't get him for anything else.

5 I'm glad that Steve Trevor remained a hero, though it was a bit hard on the poor chap to be forced to do the heroic self-sacrifice thing twice. An ethical issue that didn't need to be addressec due to the wider one of "you must renounce your wish and give me up so that the world doesn't end" was that he was living in someone"lse's body and taking over someone else's life without their consent, which obviously is very bad. Hopefully he and Diana will meet again in the Elysian Fields one day. It was nice at the end that WW got to say hello to the real chap and then move on like a sensible woman.

6 The Amazon Olympics at the start were spectacularly fabulous, and it was lovely to see Robin Wright as General Antiope again.

7 The Lynda Carter cameo was also lovely. Though I might have missed the bit where Wonder Woman stopped off at home to pick up Asteria's armour before flying off to confront Lord with the power of Truth.

8 The plane sequence made No Sense At All From Start To Finish except to have a pretty firework sequence. That's even leaving aside the invisibility. I suppose that had to happen as a nod to the canon, but really, borrowing Hermes' winged sandals would have worked just as well.

9 The costume never made any sense either (I forget what the justification was in the first film). She could just as well have performed all her heroic feats dressed in a nice trouser-suit with convenient pockets for the diadem and the lasso. James Bond managed, after all. The 1980s had the best trouser-suits. Chanel, Escada, Montana, Nicole Farhi, Thierry Mugler, Yves St Laurent, Yohji Yamamoto....

10 Rocks that glow should always be avoided.