Tony Scott Top Ten

 1) Spy Game - I've never forgotten this especially the ending

2) Revenge - ditto - flawed but memorable

3) Domino - another spectacular Scott ending

4) Crimson Tide - a great macho movie

5) The Last Boy Scout - always thought this was terrific

6) Enemy of the State - feels forgotten now but very slick very fun

7) True Romance - the best Tarantino film not made by QT (I know that's not a big category)

8) Top Gun - too campy and well done not to include

9) Unstoppable - silly fun

10) Man on Fire

Compare with with a Ridley Scott top ten

1) Alien

2) The Duellists

3) Blade Runner

4) Thelma and Louise

5) Black Rain

6) Gladiator

7) Black Hawk Down

8) House of Gucci

9) The Martian

10) American Ganster 

Script review - "Deja Vu" by Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii

This film kind of came and went - no one seems to talk about it much these days - but it's really fantastic script - fast paced, full of twists and turns, the logic totally held.

Two things maybe a bit yuck - the stalker aspect (falling in love with the girl who likes kittens and Cary Grant movies) and the violence of the crimes (fingers cut off and bits severed... though this is done via dialogue more than shown anything). But it works as a love story. No wonder Rossio was upset when Tony Scott agreed to direct - Scott wasn't great with love stories.

It feels very different to the scripts Rossio wrote with Ted Elliot - Marsilii brought out a different side to him. A great read.

Movie review - "Days of Thunder" (1989) **

For the first half hour of watching this I thought "this holds up well" - with it's montages, and luscious photography and Tony Scott stylistics - plus the dramatic heavyweights of Robert Duvall and Randy Quaid acting away, and the camp factor of Tom Cruise arriving on his motorcycle being Cole Trickle, clashing with Michael Rooker (remember when he was the up and comer in Hollywood) and so on.

A lot of this has been mocked over the years but the things that are normally held up for ridicule are actually charming: John C Reilly appearing in a support part (when he'd later send up the film in Talledega Nights), Nicole Kidman as a hilariously young neurosurgeon, Don Simpson playing a race driver, all the late 80s excess (big hair, sunglasses). There are plenty of memorable bits, like zooming around the race track to 'Gimme Some Lovin', the rental car race between Rooker and Cruise, the meet cute between Kidman and Cruise.

The big problem with it is the story, which is hopelessly murky. In Top Gun the dramatic lines were clear - Maverick was haunted by the ghost of his father's reputation, he had a best friend who died which causes him a crisis that he had to get though, he struggled to be a team player but learned in the end, he had a competition with Ice Man which was resolved, he learned to let love into his life.

Here it's more confusing. Cole Trickle is basically a good kid who wants to be liked, there's something in his past with his dad but nothing really; he has an at times difficult relationship with Duvall but not really; he becomes mates with Michael Rooker who can't recover from an accident and so Cole drives his car but Duvall says he shouldn't or something and Rooker doesn't die; Cary Elwes comes in as a villain but never does anything that villainous, does he - he's aggressive on the track, sure, but no more than Rooker or Cruise/Cole, but we're supposed to hiss at him because...? His girlfriend has short hair whereas Rooker and Cruise have girlfriends with long hair? Randy Quaid seems set up to become villainous by preferring Elwes to Cruise but then at the end helps Cruise compete in the race, so you wonder what point he has in the whole movie?

It's like a whole bunch of script decisions were made because of fear of being too close to Top Gun - "oh we don't want Rooker to die because that's too close to Top Gun", "we don't want Cruise to be haunted by his past because that's too close to Top Gun", "we dont want him to go on an egomaniac to team player journey because that's too close to Top Gun" - but they haven't replaced it with anything as interesting/compelling. Cruise is a danger on the track at the beginning and by the end of the film hasn't really learned his lesson (at one stage he even takes off after a taxi driver with a terrified Kidman as a passenger.... she dumps him because of his, understandably... but then just all of a sudden forgives him and there's no problem).

Still, it's hard not to feel affection for this movie, with Simpson and Bruckheimer running loose, and Robert Towne selling out, and Nickers and Tom having little on screen chemistry despite hooking up in real life. I think when you mention it's name most movie fans smile, and that's worth something.

Movie review – “The Taking of Pellham One Two Three” (2010) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Once I got over the fact this wasn’t as good as the original, this was enjoyable on its own terms – like a dance version of a classic rock song or something. The new script (deliberately I assume) turns famous bits from the original on its head: the traitorous railway man is killed early on, the transit hero is no longer an ordinary cop but a man who accepted bribes (presumably this was done to give Denzel Washington some acting to do), the villain is no longer a greedy mercenary but a brilliant Wall Street guy turned super villain (again, presumably this was done to attract John Travolta), the undercover cop who is a hostage is killed straight away, the baddies kill a few hostages, the mayor is less of an idiot, Travolta knows Washington is lying when he says the money has arrived and it hasn’t. I still enjoyed the original which was funnier and felt more believable. 

 

NB Why does everyone think Washington is telling the truth about him accepting bribes when Travolta tells him to confess or he'll kill someone? Don't they assume he'll tell Travolta what he wants to hear? Also they give all these close ups to a handsome coworker of Washington's - you keep expecting him to do something but he doesn't.

Script review- “The Last Boy Scout” by Shane Black

If it worked before why not again – so here is another buddy action film with two guys who hate each other but become friends, one is older, one is more of a killer, one is a family man; there are baddies – an evil overlord and his brilliant henchman, many quips. 

 The second half changed a lot when filmed – here there is a big boat chase scene, the senator is actually killed, there is no football game scene, the big baddy is revealed to be the senator’s son who was the reason why Hallenbeck was kicked out of the secret service (I liked this), rescuing his wife at the end from being killed in a snuff film (this was silly). From memory I preferred the film version.

Movie review – “Unstoppable” (2010) **1/2

They used to make train movies all the time in the old days, even for B pictures, because audiences were most accepting of back projection. They don’t so much now – too expensive - so it’s a pleasure to see the genre back in action. This is based on a true story – the rather convoluted set up about how the train became runaway all actually happened.

 

It might have been a better movie if Tony Scott’s handling had lent towards the accuracy angle i.e. this actually happened, ordinary people thrust into an extraordinary situation. But instead of allowing suspense to build and characters to breathe it’s been given the Michael Bay treatment – hyperactive editing, swooping camera work, frenetic commentating (on Fox news, who seem very efficient here). 

 

There’s lousy character work: dud back story, Denzel Washington’s daughters who work at Hooters, Chris Pine’s wife has taken out a restraining order but she’s going to learn the error of her ways. 

 

Look, it still works – the action pumps along, it looks gorgeous, there are some great stunts and Tony Scott’s films generally have good casts – I just think it could have been better had they taken an approach more in line with the realism of the material.

Moview review - "Man on Fire" (2003) ***

Tony Scott returns to Mexico for another Revenge type film about, well, revenge. Denzell Washington is a boozy former special ops soldier who becomes bodyguard for Dakota Fanning, then goes on to kick serious arse when she's kidnapped. The first half is bonding with Fanning, the second half is arse kicking. Tough guys, lots of smoking, interesting visuals, some nuns. Denzel isn't entirely well cast but Chris Walken and Mickey Rourke are in the support cast and they are spot on. 

There is always a worrying sort of aspect to these sort of films, with its superhuman hero who can bring down organised crime, but an undeniably appealing aspect to the myth as well. You know I didn't quite believe Denzel as an alkie (there's always something inherently decent about him as an actor). Tony Scott's flashy directing suits the story. I always find his films majorly flawed in some way but they always stick with me for along time afterwards. 

NB Apparently a romance sub plot between Denzel and Radha Mitchell was cut because audiences didn't like Denzel kissing a white woman - but I think the cut was a good one more on the grounds the real love story is between Denzel and Fanning, and throwing mom into the mix confuses it.

Movie review – “Domino” (2005) ***

You’ve got to hand it to Tony Scott, although best known for his Bruckheimer epics like Top Gun he likes to march to the swing of his own beat and he’s done that with this tale of Domino Harvey, daughter of actor Laurence Harvey who became a bounty hunter. It’s a bizarre tale on one level – on another, I guess she’s just another rich kid seeking thrills on the dark side of life. Keira Knightley isn’t much of an actor and doesn’t really give a great sense of what makes Domino tick (the film doesn’t mention the real Domino’s 15 year drug habit, for instance, which I think explains a lot about her) but she is a star and you certainly watch her; she’s certainly better than Laurence Harvey was in his movies.

For a while this film seems like an exercise in stylistics rather than an attempt to create a story with characters we care about – Scott is mega-hyped up on visual pyrotechnics for this one, with far out camera angles, vision stock, sound, etc – but once it settles down into the “missing $10 million” story it is fine.

Great supporting cast, with Mickey Rourke terrific as the gnarled bounty hunter who basically hires Domino because she’s hot and will make him look cool, and nice work from Edgar thingy who plays the love interest. Two Beverly Hills 90210 stars, Ian Zering and Brian Astin Green, are good sports playing themselves – the scene where Domino punches Green in the nose is very satisfying for all those who couldn’t stand David Silver on the show. The ending is spectacular and unexpectedly moving. Nice touch with the end credits listing the actors only by their first names.