Of three new features, the one major studio release this week is "Traitor," which is usually the kind of movie that earns a prize spot during the summer movie season. A political thriller in the vein of the Jason Bourne adventures, its themes of FBI thuggery, Muslim duplicity and a turncoat American are rich lodes for storytelling and audience involvement.
But somewhere along the line, someone in Hollywood got cold feet and decided the film would be dumped at the end of August. Truth be told, it's a messy movie, but still one would have expected a little more respect for it, considering the success of films like the Bourne efforts.
In "Traitor," Don Cheadle stars as Samir Horn, a Sudanese-born American involved with shadowy terrorist groups. He's caught by Yemeni authorities and visited by two FBI agents (Guy Pearce and Neal McDonough), one of whom plays good cop while the other plays bad cop. There's concern in Washington, D.C., especially as shown by a mystery official played by Jeff Daniels, that Horn may be something other than what he appears. Is he one of ours, a rogue without portfolio, or an actual terrorist working to stage a headline-grabbing attack?
Too often, the movie is a kind of travelogue of skullduggery (Marseilles, London, Los Angeles, Toronto, etc.). One major hole in the plot is this: Although everyone seems to know who Horn is, he travels by air at will without a care in the world.
The movie seems truncated from something longer, and screenwriter-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff clogs up the proceedings with excessive dialogue to prove there are good and bad Muslims, good and bad American bureaucrats, and good and bad ways to cross the U.S.-Canadian border.
The movie fails the glitch test when it jumps from British Columbia to Mexico. This sharp-eyed moviegoer noticed the truck being driven from Mexico to the United States was a B.C. vehicle. Look for the lettering on the door before it quickly goes out of frame. I guess Nachmanoff figured that if you shoot one day in Canada, you can have the same border do double-duty when you want to pretend you're in Mexico.
There's also a rather pointed bit of plagiarism when the movie has terrorists sending e-mails without actually sending an e-mail. That's a clever device about which I read a couple years ago in a bestselling political thriller by Brad Thor. Or was it by Vince Flynn? Either way, it's theft no matter how you look at it.
By the time "Traitor," which is based on a story idea by comedian Steve Martin, rolls along to its less-than-stellar ending, moviegoers may be the ones who end up feeling betrayed. Ultimately, it's less confusing than it is pointless.
If every time you see, read, or hear something about "High School Musical," you cringe, then "Hamlet 2" is for you. It's a hilarious assault on those teenage drama classes and all-school plays that is sure to offend any number of people.
At the start of the utterly insane comedy, we are told that Tucson, Ariz., is the place where "dreams go to die." No wonder they wouldn't let the movie be shot there. Steve Coogan stars as high school drama teacher Dana Marschz. He's a failed actor and has found himself in an odd marriage to Catherine Keener, surrounded by two sycophantic students and fighting to keep the school's drama program alive.
In order to do this, he hopes to attract attention by staging a sequel to "Hamlet," hell-be-damned if all of the important characters died at the end of the play. Marschz's idea? A musical with songs like "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus" and "Raped in the Face."
What ensues is a breathless exercise in excess as the school board goes nuts, bikers act as security, the ACLU goes ga-ga for publicity (in the guise of Amy Poehler), and the son of God shows up on stage, thanks to a time machine.
Marschz's bad taste proves that the adage "once a hack, always a hack" actually means little when his awful musical might end up a hit on Broadway, which in its contemporary form is a true haven for bad taste and bad acting.
Coogan is wonderful to watch, as is the rest of the eager cast. A buff David Arquette is a third wheel in a marital triangle, and in case you've wondered what happened to actress Elisabeth Shue, well ... she shows up as herself, a frustrated actress now happily working as a nurse.
"Hamlet 2" is the Marx Brothers with an R rating.
"Man on Wire" is a terrific documentary about French tightrope walker Philippe Petit, the celebrated daredevil who dared to walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
The engaging movie spends a lot of interesting time examining the planning for the airborne stroll. Petit's band of merry pranksters includes his former girlfriend Annie Allix, a group of French, American, and Australian accomplices, and an unwitting WTC staff.
Director James Marsh turns his work into a kind of heist film, and a pleasurable one at that. It's fascinating to watch the buildup to the event that startled New Yorkers and got Petit arrested. There are a number of interviews that offer wonderful insights into the adventure, but the best are with the colorful and expressive Petit himself. Why tightrope walking as a career? Why not.
The daredevil is a superb guide to his bizarre life and breathtaking stunt. He began his "working life" as a street performer and then completed first high-profile high-wire act: a pleasant stroll between the spires of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971. Then he conquered the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia in 1973. Then it was off to New York.
Petit and his pals are a delightfully strange bunch, outlaws of a sort, but of the Robin Hood variety. You watch enthralled as Petit and company come up with various ways to get on the roofs of both buildings, string a wire between the two towers (the clue's in the Robin Hood reference), and outwit the swirling wind.
In addition to being both dramatic and whimsical, "Man on Wire" is exceptionally beautiful and quite moving. It's certainly well worth seeing.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 2 2008 |