For better or worse, all people change over time. First dates and break-ups, new homes and old friends, transcendent professors and speeding tickets, road trips and concerts, missed opportunities and second chances: There are few events in life that happen without influencing the participants.
There’s just no way around it; we’re a result of our experiences, and as things change around us we change as well.
But movie characters don’t always play by these rules. To maintain a semblance of narrative over a necessarily limited time frame, a script must constrain itself to focusing on a few key characters. The lives and feelings of more minor characters, however intriguing, are largely ignored except as they apply to the leads.
Although it might be tempting to delve into the inner workings and motivations of “girl with backpack at bus stop” or “sleeping man on subway train #2,” their stories will always be pushed aside in the interests of time and coherence.
Even for those select few, though, two or three hours is hardly enough time to tell a life story, unless it’s a story about a backward-aging baby-man. It’s no small task to convince viewers to emotionally invest in a fictionalized character inhabiting a fictionalized world, but one of the easiest ways to do so is to demonstrate that stuff happening in the plot is impacting that character’s mental state, causing him or her to change.
“Red” gets a lot of things right, but that particular trick isn’t one of them. Its plot follows lonely, retired special agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis, “Cop Out”) as he tries to outrun a deep-reaching plot against his life and the lives of a few of his friends. “Red” (which stands for “Retired extremely dangerous”) starts slowly and then moves to a nearly frantic pace as Frank saves himself via kidnapping a woman he knows only through their phone conversations about his pension checks (Mary Louise Parker, of the TV show “Weeds”).
The two dash around the country escaping assassination attempts, visiting Frank’s old work acquaintances and slowly falling in love.
Though it’s well-shot and well-directed throughout, “Red” creates a major roadblock for itself when screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber (“Whiteout”) attempt to pitch Frank as a dynamic character.
The start of the film shows Frank living a retired bachelor’s life. He wakes up early, makes himself breakfast, works out, watches television, waves to his neighbors, takes out the trash and waters his pathetic-looking avocado plant. But it’s clear from the get-go that Frank is a hopeless romantic despite the fact that his, um, job requirements have thus far prevented him from forming any relationship of that sort.
So at the climax of the movie, when Jack is faced with the sort of choice only ever seen by male leads in action-romantic comedies – you know, the one about taking the most efficient route to his own safety or accepting that someone else has become important enough to scramble his plans – the moment rings hollow. Strangely, the script almost appears to acknowledge this fact when an old MI6 buddy (Helen Mirren, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hool”) jokingly chides Jack that he’s always been a little “gooey” inside. It’s as if, sensing the false premise they’ve asked the audience to accept, the Hoebers decided to retroactively dash any pretense of Jack’s capacity to change from the entire endeavor.
“Red” falls short in its portrayal of characters, but excels in several other areas. In particular, the camerawork in the first half of the movie is creatively done. Unique transition shots and poignant close-ups are frequent but not distractingly so.
In addition, the pacing of the movie almost perfectly mirrors the action and emotion onscreen.
A second recent release, “Secretariat” reverses that formula, struggling with pacing and artistry, but excelling in its portrayal of protagonist Penny Tweedy (Diane Lane, “Killshot”).
“Secretariat” ostensibly tells the story of its namesake racehorse that, in 1973, became the first triple crown winner in 25 years, shattering records along the way. But the film is really much more about its heroine Penny and her struggle to assert her independence and vision in an environment where women were still often shuttled into the housewife role.
After her mother’s death, Penny takes over the family breeding stable. Against all odds, and the condescending financial judgment of her male peers, Penny finds the right trainer, jockey and horse to (quite literally) save the farm.
As the movie progresses, Penny’s character strengthens into a powerful force. Although consistently assertive, Lane portrays the woman (who is still alive at age 88 in real life) as somewhat hesitant, even deferent, during expositional scenes. Soon thereafter, Penny proves she’s unwilling to back down, eviscerating her seasoned jockey (Otto Thorwarth, in his film debut) after a disappointing finish. Though her trainer (John Malkovich, “Red”) assures her that the jockey wasn’t at fault, Penny’s anger barely subsides.
In other words, though she’s a strong character throughout, Penny Tweedy has room for growth just like everyone else. And by the time Secretariat arrives on the scene at Churchill Downs, Lane plays Penny with a detached calm, the type of assuredness that comes from not only knowing you’re right, but knowing you’ve done things the right way.
“Red” four stars; “Secretariat” four stars out of five
Lin Weeks is a junior majoring in Finance and Marketing. Upset with his omission of the DVD you were most looking forward to renting this week? Don’t think “Red” could possibly be equivalent to “Secretariat”? Vent at [email protected].
