Oz the movie is as colorful as the land it comes from. Oz the story is as dull black and white as the performances at its center.
Franco is Oz, a shyster prestidigitator peddling his tricks in 19th century Kansas. When he gets caught for his chicanery, he escapes in a hot air balloon, which gets snagged by a tornado. He lands in Oz, a mystical world that’s been waiting for a great wizard like him to lead it out of darkness. He meets three witches: Kunis, Weisz and Williams.
Much effects credit must be given to director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Darkman, the first Spiderman trilogy). The look is impeccable, from the grey-toned prairies to the Technicolor miracles of Oz. The structure of the film apes The Wizard of Oz. We know basically how this ends, so the question is how we get there. With no song or dance, Raimi instead utilizes visual aplomb.
Too bad Raimi couldn’t have gotten a better performance from Franco. (Rumors were that Robert Downey, Jr., gave up this role.) Franco never exhibits much charm, real remorse, or genuine interest in the Ozians. In fact, even talented Williams and Weisz monologue about their motivations more than they show them. Kunis is left with a character that travels deeper and deeper into parody.
To the eye, this is great and powerful. To the heart, Oz’s balloon never leaves the ground.
How do you take a potentially fascinating historical moment and make it lifeless? Emperor has the answer to that, if nothing else.
It’s one of the great mysteries of the 20th century, how involved Emperor Hirohito was in the attack on Pearl Harbor. General Bonner Fellers (Fox) was assigned to ascertain whether the emperor should be held on trial for war crimes.
General Douglas McArthur (Jones) was his commanding officer – an imposing legend who transitioned from leading Pacific forces to rebuilding Japan after the war. In 1946, McArthur attempted to wrangle more political clout while keeping his promise to put the Empire of the Rising Sun back on its feet.
Audiences probably need to know that investigator General Fellers was a Japanese expert who had an affair with a Japanese woman. We also should know he tried to protect her hometown from bombing. However, the plot is overtaken by drippy Nicholas Sparks-style schmaltz.
Though visually memorable, very little of this flick is shows culture – though they talk about it endlessly. The delicate world politic of the time is skimmed over. Fox’s character is boringly uncomplicated. Worse, General MacArthur is comic relief! Too much focus is given to pretty romance – lovers running through bamboo – instead of to the Emperor, the title of the freaking film!
Only watch this if there’s nothing new on the History Channel. I personally want to declare war on the filmmakers for glossing over a great historical mystery.
A hero has arrived, just when we thought fairy tale movies would always disappoint – Red Riding Hood, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman, and recently, Hansel and Gretel, isn’t great, but it’s good enough.
Jack (Hoult) is the legendary farm boy. (In fact, everything from the original is here, if slightly modified or made grander.) The magic beans caused a massive war centuries ago. A crown was forged to control the giants, and a long peace was brokered. Now, a greedy courtier (Tucci) plans to take over the kingdom, using giants to do his dirty work. He’s promised marriage to the princess (Tomlinson), but that isn’t enough. All is going to his plan until the princess gets stranded in giant land. King McShane sends Hoult, Tucci, McGregor up the beanstalk to get his daughter back.
What’s refreshing here is there is no self-parody, and, until the end, the film refuses to wink at us. It’s a brainless, battle-filled, fantasy meant to inspire.
Sure, it copies Lord of the Rings. Characters are two dimensional, and some – like poor McGregor – have almost no purpose.
Director Bryan Singer, though, needed this. After The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, and the first two X–Men films, he looked unstoppable. Then he flopped Superman and turned in the lackluster Valkyrie. Singer’s sound, epic approach and deft pacing are just what we need to enjoy this movie happily ever enough.
