Reviews
Coffy (1973)
CoffyUSA 1973
Director: Jack Hill
In the 1970s, in the days before political correctness sanitised everything for our protection, there was a very popular, very violent subgenre nicknamed blaxploitation, literally black exploitation. Started by films such as Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and Shaft (both from 1971), blaxploitation pictures featured heavy doses of stylised sex and violence, usually set in gritty urban centres, with strong black leading characters. Coffy represents one of the most popular blaxploitation films and helped to establish Pam Grier as the queen of the genre.
This film is violent, misogynistic, and racist (some would argue). In our current culture of political correctness, Coffy represents a guilty pleasure, a look back at a time when films weren’t worried about offending anyone (though I imagine Coffy would offend many people, even in the 1970s). Pam Grier as Coffy kicks a lot of ass and kills a lot of drug dealers in her pursuit of revenge on the pushers who hooked her sister on junk.
Granted, this film isn’t a masterpiece. The acting is bad (Pam Grier’s Jamaican accent is laughable) and there are gaping plot holes, but Coffy is a lot of fun. Grier’s charisma and presence carry the film; it’s no wonder she went on to have a long and successful career. Sid Haig, most recently seen in Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects, is very effective as a creepy thug, an archetype he returns to several times in the blaxploitation cycle.
Though exploitative and sensational, Coffy is an entertaining action film, worth seeing for Pam Grier’s performance alone.
Colin Le SueurCrank (2006)
CrankUK/USA 2006
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Jason Statham is carving out quite the little niche for himself in action films. Though he started his career in British gangster films, he’s recently starred in a number of high action spectacles that showcased his physical strength and charisma. There is a good actor under all of the action, though buried under physicality and aggression. Crank, the latest in Statham’s action résumé, is loud, violent, misogynistic, but also a lot of fun.
Almost literally a video game come to life, Crank feels more like an adaptation of Grand Theft Auto than another entry in the Transporter series. Beginning with a POV sequence straight out of a first-person shooter, Crank rarely lets the action stop, littering the screen with sex, explosions, and drug use. The film is almost surreal in its imagery and content, with a kinetic and dynamic visual style mixed with genuinely strange characters and situations.
For the most part the acting is good, though almost everyone is over-the-top. Statham plays his role well, though neither his acting nor his stunts are as impressive as his earlier work. Amy Smart seems like she should be in another movie, but that disengage works well with the surrealist tones of the film.
With its mix of weirdness, sex, and violence, I have a feeling this film will go on to grow a decent cult following. While nothing special, Crank is an entertaining way to spend 87 minutes, though I think I’d have more fun playing Grand Theft Auto.
Colin Le SueurCreep (2004)
CreepUK/Germany 2004
Director: Christopher Smith
Horror is created through the establishment and maintenance of tension and dread. Some of the most interesting horror films are those with the simplest of setups: a group of teenagers stumble across a murderous backwoods family; the recently dead arise and attack the living; a videotape will kill you seven days after viewing it. By setting the film in a familiar context, the viewer more easily identifies with the characters and therefore more acutely shares their terror. For the first half of the film, Creep is eerie, claustrophobic and frightening. Unfortunately, this tense mood is broken and the film never quite recovers.
Writer/director Christopher Smith does a good job creating a genuinely frightening situation, drawing on many common modern nightmares. Hinting rather than showing, the first half of the film is all innuendo, menacing shadows and unfocused movement. Smith also chooses the unusual practise of showing the actions of all characters, not just the protagonist. Usually a horror film would leave a character to his or her hidden fate, to be revealed later for maximum shock; Smith shows what happens when a group splits up. This makes for a refreshing change of perspective and helps the film stand apart from the rest of the genre.
However, almost all of the suspense and tension is replaced by gore and depravity in the latter half of the film. Creep stumbles into the common trap of horror films: removing the horror from the viewer’s mind and putting it onscreen. By revealing too much, the film loses much of its effectiveness.
A good effort, but fails to completely deliver on the setup.
Colin Le SueurCursed (2005)
CursedUSA/Germany 2005
Director: Wes Craven
Some say that Wes Craven’s come a long way since his breakthrough film A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. However, after seeing Cursed, it’s clear Craven still has far to go before guaranteeing his position in the horror pantheon.
Cursed seems like an attempt by director Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson to re-create the success of their Scream formula, this time with a werewolf theme. Unfortunately, this film seems neither as fresh nor as revolutionary as the earlier effort. The characters and situations are stereotypical and tired; do we really need to see another bullied teenager sequence? Also, as the characters are eager to point out, werewolf films have a long history in the horror genre. Cursed doesn’t really bring anything new, simply re-working a familiar slasher/mystery framework into a werewolf ‘thriller.’
The werewolf itself is mostly unimpressive and underused, low-rent CGI replacing more expensive physical effects. Apparently the film was shot twice, with half the cast replaced due to scheduling problems; maybe if they didn’t need to hire twice as many actors Craven could’ve afforded a better werewolf (and script).
What had the potential to become the beginning of a new and interesting franchise falls flat on almost every level.
Colin Le Sueur