That Was The Summer That Was
A look back on the summer just gone - in amongst the sequels we've dug up five of our favourites.
With summer over and the sun once again down to half-days, the time is prime for a look back at the blockbuster season that was. From June to August we have had robots fighting robots, cowboys fighting aliens and humans losing to chimpanzees. We have had Norse Gods throwing hammers, decorative American heroes throwing shields, and a Green Lantern throwing blanks. There have been sequels, prequels, reboots and throw-backs; thrills, spills and post-modern romance. For every box office box ticked with workmanlike efficiency, however, there have been a surprising wealth of quality genre fare vying for your attention. In a summer that - in all honestly - differed little from every other, here are our top five films that dared to buck the trend:
Thor
Ah, the humble superhero movie; a summer staple since Batman shunted Robin and Blade planted Marvel Studios firmly on the cinematic map. Since the late nineties, there have been more superhero movies gracing screens that you could shake a block of kryptonite at. For while we've had Spider-men, Bat-men and about twelve generations of X-men, the genre has become more than a little repetitive. While it has been de-constructed (Kick-Ass), inverted (Megamind), and re-imagined (Batman Begins), we are still trading on secret identities, origin stories and flimsy love interests. While Thor may have had traces of such formula, however, it was a wholly original beast - not least through Marvel's utterly inspired choice of Kenneth Branagh as director.
With its basis Norse mythology - namely the belief in Thor, God of Thunder - Thor found itself straddling genres; allowing Branagh to bring his Shakespearean sensibilities and appreciation of high drama to what basically amounted to Just Another Superhero Movie, and instead revelled in the stupidity of the construct - particularly in the scenes set on Earth. With the Avengers destined to assemble, it is nice to see Marvel taking the time to craft such a wholly entertaining and intelligent film, when really they could have just made Iron Man 2 again and still turned a profit. Instead, Thor boasts a lovingly constructed central character, both in his own right and as a potential foil to his fellow Avengers; a series of perfectly portrayed relationships with brother Loki, father Odin and his designated love interest (portrayed by a delightfully game Natalie Portman) Jane Foster.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
My God prequels have earnt themselves a bad reputation; one man dared to deliver the movies he had always envisioned and not the film his devotees had been fervently waiting for, and the word lands itself connotations akin to the sweariest of swear words. This summer delivered us two prequels, neither of them living up to such controversy, as we were taken back in time to the earliest days of Xavier's school for gifted youngsters and to the creation of the planet of the apes. It is this latter movie, however, that sticks in the mind: no small feat for a film boasting a title as ungainly as Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Had you asked me earlier this year which films I was most looking forward to, I would never have offered Rupert Wyatt's film as a contender. Heck, I wouldn't even have considered it for the least anticipated category, so uninterested was I in its existence. Not even the trailer, let alone the atmospheric poster, awakened any real sense of anticipation. Bigger fool me, then, for it was not only one of the most exciting films released this summer, but one of the most intelligent and emotionally fulfilling films released all year. Once again exhibiting the undeniable talents of Andy Serkis for all the world to see, Rise of the Planet of the Apes boasted a cast that rivalled even its technological innovation for impact.
Troll Hunter
Has a genre ever run its course quicker than the found footage method? Following The Blair Witch Project (and even earlier examples such as Cannibal Holocaust), we have in recent years been subjected - with disaffecting frequency - to the likes of Cloverfield, Rec, Quarantine, Diary of the Dead, The Last Exorcism, Apollo 18, and (as of next month) three Paranormal Activities; each of which requiring its audience to imagine that what follows is, in actual fact, 'real'. While filmmakers plunder increasingly contrived means of facilitating this suspension of disbelief - and audiences resume their positions, enduring an hour of clinking pots and creaking doors for ten minutes of ambiguously out-of-focus mayhem - the format had seemingly settled into complacency, content to lose an arm in darkness here and threaten to run out of batteries there. Enter André Øvredal.
Never mind the suggestion that the Norwegian government would dub their leaked footage for our own entertainment, Troll Hunter isn't a movie that could be conceivably charged of taking itself too seriously. It introduces us to a world where trolls exit in fairy tale form, right down to their most ridiculous characteristics and behaviours, and in which one man is tasked with hunting any specimens found to have escaped from captivity. It is fun, subversive and more than happy to show off its resident evil in all their three-headed glory. It really is a treat to watch a filmmaker so resourceful, a cast so delightfully dry-witted and effects so phenomenally jaw-dropping as the found-footage format signs a new lease of life with such winningly irreverent gusto.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II
It might surprise you that a sequel has made it into this list - with the list of notable sequels proving famously short (The Godfather: Part II, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), it is perhaps even more surprising as this constitutes not a second but eighth instalment - but then the Harry Potter series is not your average franchise. Boasting largely the same cast that it started with ten years ago, the story of The Boy Who Lived has demanded (and warranted) almost unprecedented emotional investment from its fervently dedicated audience. Not a series of standalone stories like the Bond series, or condemned to the bargain basement like most slasher franchises, Harry Potter has matured with its cast and - almost miraculously - refrained from producing a dud instalment yet.
Dubbed 'The Motion Picture Event Of A Generation' by an uncharacteristically understated marketing campaign, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II concluded the saga with truly devastating aplomb. With the final chapters of J. K. Rowling's book acting as its source, David Yates has reached a climax so moving, so spectacular, so satisfying that he in the process set the bar impossibly high for the rest of the summer season to follow. That is was so faithful to the book, that it did so much business at the box office and that it rated so highly among critics are feats that are each impressive on their own (it is, after all, a children's story about wizards), but that it achieved all simultaneously is a true signal of how exceptionally all involved did at ending this once in a life-time phenomenon.
Super 8
For 112 minutes this summer it wasn't 2011 anymore. There was no eye-popping 3D, no Pirates of the Caribbean, and Michael Bay had yet to make his first movie. The year was 1979, and Joe Lamb is applying zombie make-up. I've missed it, haven't you: family entertainment? Movies that deal not in dick-jokes and torture porn, but good old fashioned celebration. While the proceeding years have thrown up some outstanding movies, they really don't make blockbusters like they used to. Like he used to. J.J. Abrams has paid glorious homage to the early work of original block-buster Steven Spielberg, while injecting his own brand of storytelling prowess, resulting in my favourite movie of summer, 2011.
Super 8 is everything you could possibly want from a summer blockbuster: it's accessible without being limp; it's tender without being trite; spectacular without being show-offy. It's fun, scary and moving. Equally as enjoyable when taken as a film about childhood as it is as a film about a misunderstood alien, Abrams has crafted a movie full of three dimensional characters and loaded with heart-felt relationships; packed with emotion and brimming excitement; and one that works both as a tribute and as a contemporary masterpiece in its own right - complete with lens flares.
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