Al's Omniflick: Central Intelligence

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Central Intelligence

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber/Starring: Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet and Aaron Paul

Central Intelligence has Hollywood mass market, factory product written all over it, which means the movie will be more about star power than quality movie-making. But in spite of the movie-from-a-mold look and feel, director Rawson Marshall Thurber's comedy isn't a drag. It actually goes down smoothly but I wished the creative minds behind the project had gotten more out of the pairing of its two very likeable stars: Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson. Thurber and company are very aware of their glaring, physical differences (how could one not be?) and they do employ role-reversal--Johnson plays the character with self-esteem issues while Hart's is the former high-school star. But the shortcomings of these films are always the same: lack of creative reach and formulaic characters though Central Intelligence also encumbers itself with a clunky, CIA plot. If not for both actor's charm, Thurber's film would be disposable on arrival.

Beginning twenty-years in the past, we see Robbie Weirdicht--(Dwayne Johnson); a grossly overweight high school kid (Johnson's face CGI'd onto a real body), taking a shower in the school locker room. Seemingly alone, Robbie dances merrily, unashamed of his beefy frame. Unbeknownst to him, a group of bullies watch from around a wall. They approach Robbie shortly thereafter, looking to make his life miserable. Meanwhile, in the school gymnasium, the school's track star and most popular kid; Calvin "The Jet" Joyner (Kevin Hart) enjoys the enthusiastic applause of the student body. While he addresses the gathering, the gym doors burst open. The bullies then hurl Robbie's naked, large body onto the gym floor. Humiliated before his peers, the one person who offers him help is Calvin, who removes his letterman jacket to provide Robbie the means to cover his nakedness. We know the events in the school gym will he a key moment in the character's lives. (question: why would Robbie be taking a shower during a school assembly?)

Twenty-years later, in the present, we see Calvin at his job at an accounting firm and at home with his beautiful wife, Maggie (Danielle Nicolet). Feeling acute disappointment that his life has failed to build on his success in high school and is less than exciting, his anxiety is made more acute when he receives an invitation to his high school reunion. Calvin is determined not to go, in spite of his wife's urging,
A perplexing Facebook invitation from a Bob Stone turns out to be none other than Robbie Weirdicht. Robbie's invitation to have a drink leaves Calvin uneasy but he accepts nevertheless. Expecting to see an older version of Robbie, Calvin is flabbergasted to see Robbie has transformed himself into a towering mass of muscle. As the two sit for a drink, the pretty blonde waitress can't help throwing herself at Robbie while she looks dismissively at Calvin. It is particularly funny to see Robbie wearing a corny, unicorn t-shirt; which the waitress loves but looks utterly ridiculous on a muscle-bound man. Robbie showers Calvin with compliments and reminds him that he was the only one who helped him during his degrading ordeal in high school. Robbie is honest with Calvin and forthcoming about his unhappiness and boredom with his life. When a group of bar toughs challenge Robbie to a fight, Calvin tries desperately to defuse the situation until he watches Robbie give all three men a sound beating.

Calvin soon discovers his friend is into something fishy when Robbie asks him to look into some accounting records that contain alarming lists of sizeable payments. The next day, a CIA agent named Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) finds Calvin at his house and questions him as to what he knows about Robbie. Harris tells Calvin that Robbie is a rogue CIA agent and is in possession of top secret information concerning satellite codes. Before long, Calvin is drawn into Robbie's cat and mouse game with Harris and the CIA, who believe him to be The Black Badger; a terrorist intent on selling the codes to the highest bidder.

The CIA stuff is less interesting than Calvin and Robbie's relationship, which develops in spite of the espionage nonsense the movie takes too seriously. Robbie's quest to regain his self-esteem, which still bears scars from his high school years, and Calvin's search for a more interesting life, are the real stories within the over-cooked plot.

We know how this will play out. The characters will work out their problems and Robbie will get even with the high school bully (a cameo appearance by a well-known actor) at the high school reunion (where another well-known actor makes an appearance). And of course we know the real Black Badger will eventually emerge.

As stated earlier, I found the CIA angle boring and cliched. If only they had made Harris a funny parody of a CIA agent, it would have expanded the comedy quotient. At least they played with Dwayne Johnson's onscreen tough-guy persona by giving him body-image issues and making more unsure of himself. Hart's character and performance was more on a default setting. We've seen him play this character before and it's wearing thin. Time for something new.

When I first heard Hart and Johnson were to star in a movie together, the idea had great appeal. The very sight of a Goliath like Johnson and a diminutive actor like Hart playing anything onscreen together seemed like a can't fail enterprise. As I mentioned earlier, they could have done much more with the story but Hollywood seldom thinks past casting in movies of this ilk. The movie manages not to be dull, which is due largely to both actors, who have a lot of screen presence and charm.

I'm trying to recall particular moments in the movie but they are quickly eluding me as the days pass. If you see the film, you may suffer the same movie-goers dementia as I have. See the movie if you can't resist Kevin Hart or Dwayne Johnson. Otherwise; wait for something better.

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On DVD

Fury (1936)

Director: Fritz Lang

Though we might normally think of the films M and Metropolis when director Fritz Lang becomes the topic of conversation, less known is the legendary director's work in Hollywood. Having fled the ever-growing menace of Nazi Germany for America in the early 1930s', Lang eventually found himself under contract for MGM.

Though his work in Hollywood is very uneven, one standout is Fury, from 1936. Starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney, the film's condemnation of mob justice seems spectacularly daring now, considering lynching was still a reality in Depression-era America. We don't see one black person in the film entire but we know precisely for whom Lang film is sympathetic.

Spencer Tracy plays Joe Wilson, who is arrested in a small town while en route to meet his fiance, Katherine (Sylvia Sydney). Suspected of being part of a kidnapping of a little girl, Wilson is arrested on the flimsiest evidence. While he sits in cell; angry and indignant, Katherine is puzzled as to why her fiance hasn't arrived at their prearranged meeting place.

But Wilson's fortunes take a darker and more dangerous turn when a mob--already on edge--is roused to anger. Egging one another on, the mob moves on the jailhouse where Wilson is being held. As the angry gathering becomes a mass, drawing citizens of the town into their swelling numbers, a lynch-mob begins to form. The sheriff, determined to see due process take its course, refuses their forceful demands. Becoming angrier and angrier and bolder and bolder, the crowd storms the jail, overwhelming the sheriff and his deputies. Unable to unlock the cell doors to reach Wilson, the mob sets the jailhouse ablaze as an alternate method of lynching.

Katherine, having arrived on the scene, faints when she sees flames engulf the cell where her fiance is held.

In spite of the mob acting as a faceless entity, its principle members are brought to trial though the town and the defendants maintain a conspiracy of silence, hoping to escape convictions and censure.

A sure acquittal seems imminent until damning evidence assures their guilt. When the majority of the members receive death sentences, Wilson turns up at his brothers, having survived the fire. Knowing the public is unaware of his survival, he vows to stay in hiding to ensure the mob conspirators are executed.

The scene where Katherine, nearly insane from grief, comes face to face with Joe is a powerful moment in the film. As she slowly recovers from her state, she realizes Joe's vindictive determination to see the mob hang is in itself a great injustice.

The story climaxes during a stirring courtroom scene that brings the fascinating story to a close.

I would have never expected Hollywood to make a statement as powerful as Fury made in 1936. Given the fact that lynchings in America at the time went unpunished, the movie railed bravely, in spite of the main character being white rather than black, against what was then the status quo. The Oxbow Incident would make a similar and commensurately powerful statement seven years later.

The film's willingness to peer into the darker side of American life could be partly attributed to Lang, who co-wrote the story and who was no stranger to exploring the darker side of humanity. Having seen evil flower in his home country, it makes sense Lang would choose to tell this story.

Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney give wonderful, emotionally layered performances. Katherine's near descent into madness is depicted touchingly by Sydney. To see Tracy's mild-mannered Wilson become angry and vengeful is heartbreaking.

Even watching Lang's film on a small screen does little to diminish its power. Weeks after the viewing, I still can't shake its indelible images or its angry indictment of one of America's great crimes. One couldn't devise a better title than one it was given eighty years ago. Fury indeed.