"The Iron Giant" is a movie interpretation of
Ted Hughes short story "The Iron Man". Not haven't
read Hughes' story I watched the film and have
to say it is quite simply fantastic. More on
"Iron Giant" shortly.
A week before seeing "Iron Giant",
for want of a brain-dead, wind-down
experience, I saw the movie "End of Days".
The premise is intriguing. The Devil must, how
do we say - take - a certain attractive woman
on the hour before midnight 30 Dec 99 New York
time. (Hmmm). A bereaved cop must stop him.
How do you stop the Devil?? Should be fun to
find out.
"End of Days" certainly had its piquant
moments but its direction was
verisimilitudinal to its "star" Arnold
Schwarzenegger: good in places but
too often lacklustre. Sadly, the likeable giant
man was nowhere near up to the task of acting.
His role demanded that he connect with the audience's
emotions and empathies. But regardless of having
extremely emotive scenes he was about as engaging
as a rainy day in Birmingham (England) (or a
sunny day in Birmingham for that matter.) "End
of Days" is yet another example of the
corporate Hollywood studios' penchant for using
"Stars" to sell - and tarnish - potentially
fantastic movies. A superior actor would have
had a field day with Arnie's role in "End
of Days", and indeed the Devil, played
by Gabriel Byrne, dutifully chewed up the scenery
(almost literally) with satisfying élan.
In contrast to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the robot
in "The Iron Giant" took acting to
artistic heights. The giant was the more alive
than most of the real movie actors' performances
in "End Of Days. Not bad for an animated
Robot. At times it was so delicately touching,
so poignantly moving, that the filmmakers deserve
serious kudos.
Set during the late fifties when the paranoia
about the Reds was driven to
hysteria by their launch of Sputnik, the story
is about a fantastical robot
that fell out of the vacuum of earth orbit into
the vacuum of the United
States. Despite befriending a kid and a beatnik
he is generally not a
welcome presence and the government are hell-bent
on doing their worst...
This film works on a plethora of levels. In
adult mode "The Iron Giant"
was stunning and when I was a toddler I'm sure
I would have been thrilled by it too, but for
slightly different reasons. One reason was seeing
the robot in fighting mode: it was the wackiest
piece of military hardware he ever saw on the
screen. On top of all that the story brushes
with philosophical, ethical and metaphysical
aspects of life and yet is perfect as pure entertainment.
The score was successful too, perfectly enhancing
the moods of the story. Emotions vacillated
with ease from exciting to funny to astonishingly
poignant with flawless timing, but never descended
into cheap Spielberg-schmaltz or empty sentimentality.
I only heard of this film through word and mouth!
The Americans only seem to market their bad
stuff. Long live the Iron Giant!
for
"The Iron Giant": the
ending was perfectly satisfying.
Jim's scarier ending for "End
of Days":The Devil lights a
fat cigar, chummily slaps Arnie on the back,
and mutters 'sign here, lad!' Arnie winks
at the camera and mutters, 'he's my agent,
I'll be back!' and signs a pact to inflict
upon us a million more films that require him
to act.
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