WEEK 62
Roman J. Israel, Esq. - Run and Kill
#306 - ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ.
2017; dir. Dan Gilroy; starring Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo
Denzel Washington is likely my favorite screen actor, and his work here is essential. He plays the title role, a stubborn, likely autistic lawyer who clings to rules and structures as the deciders of moral acceptance, even when the world around him throws away these rules at a moment’s notice if it means an iota of personal comfort. One key motif sees him calling an LA complaint hotline over a noise complaint. He cites an obscure penal code as proof he’s “right.” He’s always “right,” and he’s rarely “right.” I relate to this character so much lol.
The film around him, which had some public revelations about its retooling (which may have led subconsciously to its not-so-great critical reception), plays with the ideas of responsibility and social justice within a legal thriller framework. It’s also a morality play and a tragedy, with Colin Farrell representing a kind of “devil” that tempts Washington into a world of sin, everything exploding to allow the phoenix-like catharsis to emerge from the ashes.
All of these elements, combined with the near-perfect character study at its center, make it a movie just for me. And maybe for you, too!
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
#307 - RONIN
1998; dir. John Frankenheimer; starring Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone
Really wanted to love this one, fam! It’s competent, even slickly made. It’s got nicely lived-in performances. The screenplay, featuring contributions from David Mamet, seems to think it’s appealingly gritty and entertaining.
I just didn’t think there was any heart underneath the hood! Kinda felt like watching a used Honda sedan as a movie. Sure, it got me where I needed to go, but I didn’t think about it while I was watching it. Is that an acceptable metaphor? Don’t answer, fam.
VERDICT: GOES AWAY
#308 - ROPE
1948; dir. Alfred Hitchcock; starring John Dall, Farley Granger, James Stewart
One of the most captivating movies I ever did see. Felt like I could do nothing but hold my breath and lean forward as it sprinted through its 80-minute runtime.
There are things in this movie that come as close to depicting “pure evil” as I’ve ever seen. It’s also, very obviously, though the two main characters never explicitly say it, an essential text to queer cinema generally and queer horror cinema specifically. I’m astonished at what they “got away with” in 1948.
It’s presented in a series of long, long takes, stuck in one apartment during a fateful party where a murder has taken place, and the body is under all their noses. The main characters represent a stunning debate between intellectual sociopathy and unstable empathy. Jimmy Stewart rocks in the joint around halfway through and takes the last 10 minutes or so to just fuckin’ shred an acting guitar solo so hard my face melted.
This movie is absolutely stunning!
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
BONUS FEATURE: THE REDHEAD CUT
Sometimes I watch these blu-rays with friends and family members. Here, to present her thoughts in the Redhead Cut, is my talented screenwriter wife, Annabel Seymour:
“rope was so good my mom stayed awake for the whole movie”
#309 - RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
2000; dir. William Friedkin; starring Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Guy Pearce
A near miss for moi! It’s from one of my guys, William Friedkin. It’s a legal thriller willing to plumb some heavy depths of morality, hypocrisy, the military industrial complex, and being “right” versus “right.” It has some of the most genuinely upsetting sequences of warfare I’ve ever seen, and some of the most fastball-right-down-the-middle legal jargon sequences I’ve ever seen (complementary).
What makes it a miss? As it moves along, instead of tightening its various interests into one statement, it gets more and more episodic, frayed, and thus broader with each avenue so it can cut through the other. It became hard to stay invested in and pay attention to. In other words, I wish “Rules of Engagement” had followed more of the “Rules of Screenwriting”! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
VERDICT: GOES AWAY
#310 - RUN AND KILL
1993; dir. Billy Tang; starring Kent Cheng, Danny Lee, Esther Kwan
Through this project, it’s been a joy discovering how much I love and find interesting Hong Kong genre cinema, especially of the 1980s-2000s. Run and Kill, an intriguing and relatively acclaimed title released by Error 4444, seemed right in that mold, and its promised emphasis on exploitation horror intrigued me all the more.
Well, Run and Kill is not as well-made as the other Hong Kong genre flicks I’ve loved, even the more prurient Category-III ones. And its tonal disparities, something present in many of these kinds of movies, are nearly impossible to reckon with.
Parts of it (most of the first chunk?) play like a goofy, family-friendly slapstick comedy that just relentlessly hates its fat lead character. And when it shifts into its revenge-gore interests, it feels copied and pasted in rather than living as an inherent part of the preceding text.
There’s still something about this one’s central premise that I think could merit a remake, but as the flick itself, it just don’t work.
VERDICT: GOES AWAY
THE RUNNING TIME SO FAR
Total Watched: 310
Stays And Plays: 204
Goes Away: 106
Thanks for checking out Greg’s Blu-Rays A-To-Z! Next week: a bloodbath.