Saturday 12 November 2016

Take Your Political Correctness Elsewhere


Many months have passed since I watched 'The Hateful 8' at the cinema, and got to bask in all it's violent glory. It's a film I had been looking forward to when I heard about it's script being leaked. I never bothered reading the script, instead I wanted to remain surprised, and I am so glad I held out from taking a sneak peak of what was to come. I saw 'The Hateful 8' with my four best friends and my partner, who are all open minded when it comes to film, and will usually give most things ago no matter how awful they are. These people were the best kind of people to watch 'The Hateful 8' with, because I knew once the film was over, the discussion would be full of praise, happiness, and our nostalgic buttons would be pressed. Is it bad when that button is pressed? Hell no. I know you elitist film snobs out there don't like to let yourself enjoy films which pander to your childhood or a period in your life where you were more impressionable. It seems we cannot like a film just because it pays homage to a genre or style of film, as well as being fun, which for people can be extremely engaging. It's becoming increasingly aware that we have to like films that have a message, as well as appeal to subcultures that were once ostracised. We are meant to be equals when it comes to film, we are meant to make sure that our films are politically correct with the right amount of diversity. This is how we are meant to engage with our audiences now as we are apparently more 'socially aware'. Well I call bullshit on that.

After watching 'The Hateful 8', I decided to peruse the message boards on IMDB as well as reading articles and essays on the film; opinions were very divided. 'The Hateful 8' is a film with no middle ground, you either loved it for it's creativity to incorporate themes from the film The Thing and melt that with the Exploitation and Spaghetti Western genres, or you hated it for it's lack of strong female lead, over-the-top violence and time length. I read an article on the film which stated how women didn't like the way Jennifer Jason Leigh's character was constantly battered around, whether it was an elbow to the face or her graphic demise. Firstly let's get this straight, her character was in a gang, she murdered people, she was caught, she had a freakin' bounty on her head which is explained pretty early on in the film, so why the problem? Is it because she's a woman? Would you have the same reaction if it was a white man? No you wouldn't.

The more threads and articles that I read on 'The Hateful 8', the more I was aware that people are really trying to 'police' what we can and can't watch by deeming what is socially acceptable, and what isn't. I am not saying important real life issues should not be brought to us through film. I thought 'Spotlight' was a magnificent film which brought forward an issue that NEEDED to be addressed. Yes we do need films like 'Spotlight', but what ever happened to us being in a fantasy. Why can't we just go to the cinema and watch a film because we like the genre or a specific actor that is appearing in the film? Why does it always have to be about a social justice theme? Why is everything so political, and why are film fans like myself forced to feel bad for not wanting to continuously bask in depression on-screen? I suffer from depression and anxiety and have done so for many years. I don't watch or read the news, you may think I am uneducated but to be honest I am depressed as it is already without having constant updates on why the human race is so shitty.

I love exploitation films which push the envelope and hold up a mirror to society and show everyone for what they really are in a grotesque and vile manner; I will never deny that. However I am deemed someone with a low standard of film taste because I love films like 'I Spit on Your Grave', which has just as much an important message to give as 'The Accused' - another film depicting the effects of gang rape. But why is one film deemed a respectable piece of cinema with stunning and real portrayals that are worthy of Academy Awards, and the other depicted as dirt not worthy of a proper cinematic release? Why the double standards? Oh you want diversity, you want to tackle 'tough' issues Hollywood, just as long as you get to pick and choose right?

Violence in films is an issue that is brought up a lot on the IMDB message boards, Twitter and Facebook. I cannot count the amount of articles I have read where people are disgusted with violence, depravity or anything with a tiny whiff of a film being gratuitous. I understand that violence is not everyone's cup of tea, that I have no problem with. But when I see the same kind of people that post those articles and shrieking "WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN" and then posting comments about how much they 'adored' the pretentious arthouse violence that we see in films like 'Salo' and 'Neon Demon', it makes me realise just how many hypocrites there are.

The Great Depression was a time when people needed that fantasy of a film. People would save every dollar they could to actually go to the cinema, and forget what real life bestowed upon them for a couple of hours. We are living in a time now where we are dealing with religious bigots, over-saturation of political rallies, high-school shootings, terrorists, global warming, third-wave feminism, Catholic church abuse cover-ups. And the last thing I want to see on screen is the exact same tripe which is blasted all over the news or social media.

Thursday 14 January 2016

First Blood

Before mass hysteria within the pop culture realm decided it was a great idea to make fun at Sylvester Stallone's expense, he was a respected actor, and as an audience we saw torture within his eyes and his trembling voice. In 'Rocky' we saw an underdog fighting for his one shot to prove he was strong enough emotionally and physically to go the distance with Apollo Creed. The world saw Stallone as a man with depth, character and integrity. And it's those gifts that he portrayed in the tortured soul of John Rambo in 1982's 'First Blood'. While the 3 sequels of the original 'First Blood' are very violent and very much action films, 'First Blood' will forever be a drama with elements of thriller and action. John Rambo is a young man who has been through so much in such a short amount of time, and has had to do a lot of growing up because of the horrors that he has seen in Vietnam. This is truly a sad story of a man who is just misunderstood, a man who is unfairly treated by narrow minded simpletons.

Here is the run down. John Rambo who is trying to track down his friend from the Vietnam War only to discover he died of Cancer. Clearly devastated he walks into the local town and gets picked up by Sheriff Teasle who warns him that people like him don't belong in his quiet, boring town, so he drives him out of town and leaves him there, yet Rambo just immediately walks back in the direction he just came. Infuriated, Teasle then arrests him. Once at the police station it is pretty damn evident, that these depraved cops have nothing better to do than humiliate, and degrade Rambo which is giving him flashbacks of what he went through in Vietnam. And then finally Rambo snaps, kicking the absolute shit out of the cops in sight and escaping the station and stealing some random guy's motorbike with pure style. Rambo then lures Sheriff Teasle and his cop squad into the forest and then the real hunt begins. 

Sylvester Stallone is just perfection as John Rambo. No one could breath life into this character. He is so raw, gritty, broken, and all he wants is some peace in his life. He endured hell on earth while serving in Vietnam, and it's those hellish experiences which have stayed buried deep within his psyche and boiled over into his whole being. The character of John Rambo doesn't talk much for majority of the film, he doesn't need to. Those sad eyes tell a tale of pure sadness and horror, what he has seen, he can never unseen, those horrors don't just live in his nightmares when he sleeps, they are there with him every day, never leaving his mind; all it takes is a trigger. You can see that Stallone definitely can understand the character of John Rambo, and what he is really about. Stallone is definitely one of the most underrated actors out there. He has the ability to make the viewer experience a roller-coaster of emotions, he wants you to live and breathe the character with him, and that explains why I am always a blubbering like a baby whenever I watch 'First Blood'. It physically hurts my chest when I see him reliving all the awful experiences over and over again, 'First Blood' is just way more than any other action movie.


Brian Dennehy portrays the arrogant, narrow minded Sheriff Teasle, who would rather hunt, and kill a Vietnam war Hero than admitting he was wrong in the first place for even approaching him in the beginning and assuming John Rambo was up to no good. You can't help but love Brian Dennehy because you just love to hate Teasle. He is such a scumbag who abuses his power, and no one has ever kicked him off his self appointed pedestal until now. Dennehy was really on the money with this portrayal and he just makes you despise his character regardless of any emotional journey he may go through during the film. If all you want to do is slice his throat open with Rambo's knife whenever you see Teasle on screen, I think he did his job.

Jerry Goldsmith did a magnificent job of producing the musical score for 'First Blood'. The opening music just sets the tone for the film, it conveys the sorrow and bad memories that lie within John Rambo and how how they continue to affect his life on a daily basis. The musical score spoke volumes, and really added raw emotion to the film. Jerry Goldsmith composed a perfect musical score which also proves he was also in tune with the character of John Rambo. Goldsmith brought out Rambo's hell, his experiences, his flashbacks out through the music, and I believe that was a lot of the glue that held the film together.


My favourite scene would have to be the ending, it is just pure honesty and tragedy; a fallen hero struggling to come to terms with what his life is after his hellish ordeal. It is the first time throughout the film, where we learn how he really feels, what he thinks and what stays in his mind. The things people have put him through during and after the Vietnam war have shaped him, and therefore he is having trouble adjusting to normal life. He feels he is still stuck in the war, people will not let him forget what they thought that war was about, and instead of been treated a hero who endured so much pain for his country, he was cast aside, spit on, and banished by society. John Rambo lost his friends to a war which didn't need to happen, and he feels he is going to be paying for it for the rest of his life. When he breaks down crying and falls to the floor, it is incredibly hard to watch, because you feel the pain, you feel like your heart is going to burst out of your chest, it just hurts. It is heartbreaking to see a man so broken up inside, he doesn't know who he is, what his purpose is, so when he does break down you can see that is years of bottled up suppression of frustration, sorrow and anger. John Rambo is just a man, and all he wanted when he walked into that town was something to eat, and they took away a basic right of any human being away from him, just because of the assumption made about what kind of person he was. 

'First Blood' is a tragic story of a man trying to get a grip on reality with close minded people standing in his way. Sylvester Stallone is an absolute treat to watch in this, and his portrayal of John Rambo is timeless, and it is this role which will go down as one of cinema's most iconic roles of all times. If you haven't seen 'First Blood', you have been living under a rock, so you need to finish reading this review, grab several Cherry Coke's and you need to buy this film and watch it ASAP. I have found 'First Blood' to be one of those kind of films that I need to watch to have a good cry, now I know majority of women would do that with trash like 'The Notebook', but since I have more male chromosomes than most women, I think it's perfectly acceptable. Now forget what the haters of action films say about Stallone and his portrayal of Rambo, because all they see are the muscles and the explosions. But since the readers of my articles are intelligent life forms you should watch 'First Blood' for the brutality, the depth, the horror and the dark beauty surrounding John Rambo.