Weekend Box Office (04/01/12): The Hunger Games powers on, Wrath of the Titans falls into the "Tomb Raider trap", Mirror Mirror underwhelms.

As expected, The Hunger Games (review/trailer) again topped the box office this weekend, but its relatively strong hold suggests that it may be a bit mightier than a conventional Twilight/Harry Potter sequel.  With $58 million in weekend two (the ninth-biggest non-opening weekend ever, ahead of all the respective Harry Potter and Twilight Saga films), the film dropped 61% and ended day ten with a whopping $248 million.  That's the biggest ten-day total for a non-sequel ever, and the fifth-biggest ever.  It came in above the $240 million ten-day total of Spider-Man 3, and it is that film which its performance most resembles.  Spider-Man 3 opened with $151 million in May of 2007 before dropping 61% for a $58 million weekend.  Spidey took a drop on weekend two despite having no new releases to compete against because it wasn't exclaimed critically-acclaimed among the fanbase.  The Hunger Games had two big releases this weekend, plus the loss of its IMAX screens which represented about 7% of its theaters and 10% of its gross last weekend.  No other mega-opener on this level that benefited from IMAX has had to deal with the immediate loss of those premium screens, so it bares mention when comparing it to the respective second weekends of The Dark Knight ($75 million off a $158 million debut) or Alice In Wonderland ($62 million off a $116 million debut).  Spider-Man 3 ended its domestic run with $336 million, and its ten day total represented 71% of the gross.  Giving The Hunger Games a similar pattern would give this franchise-starter a final domestic cume of $349 million.  We'll see how it weathers the 3D reissue of Titanic next weekend.  Oh, and it's up to $362 million worldwide, all on a mere $90 million budget.

Review: Wrath of the Titans (2012) mostly delivers the big-scale, cheesy matinee goods, in genuinely glorious 3D to boot.

Wrath of the Titans

2012
99 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

Jonathan Liebesman's Wrath of the Titans is arguably about as 'good' as a movie called Wrath of the Titans can be expected to be.  It is convincingly acted by its principals, has a story that mostly makes sense, and has at least a few scenes of genuine visual enchantment.  I could complain that I wish it had more of what it does right (epic battles of humans versus gods, some wonderful set designs, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes having a full-blown 'camp-out') and less of what it does wrong (an almost beside-the-point narrative, a relatively blank-slate supporting cast, generally useless attempts at character development), and clever readers will notice that I just did in an offhand fashion.  But the picture delivers the goods in ways that the Louis Leterrier original did not two years ago.  It is also clear that Warner Bros learned its lesson regarding cheap 3D-conversions.  While Clash of the Titans became the poster child for the evils of 3D-cash ins, Wrath of the Titans features some of the most impressive live-action 3D seen to date.  If you're actually going to spend money on something called Wrath of the Titans, it is honestly worth seeing in its 3D glory.  Of course, there is irony in me recommending something that works best as a cheap Saturday matinee in a format that makes it noticeably less cheap, but that's your conundrum.

Fool me once... Ironically, the Wrath of the Titans trailer looks spectacular in 3D.

As you may recall, the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans became the whipping boy for lousy 3D-conversions after Warner Bros. hastily converted the 2D feature in order to cash in on the success of Avatar.  The film opened with over $60 million (mostly due to some terrific trailers) and eventually grossed nearly $500 million worldwide.  Alas, the picture was critically-slammed and took it extra-hard on the chin for some truly terrible 3D-conversion work, which was barely in evidence and served to only make the film so dark as to be occasionally unwatchable.  The Jonathan Liebesman-directed sequel, Wrath of the Titans, is being released March 30th.  Judging by the 3D version of the trailer, Warner Bros. doesn't plan on making the same mistake twice.

Go big or go home. Why, in an era when mainstream films are stuck in limited release, the relative successes of The Debt and Our Idiot Brother matter.

Normally I would not spend a column championing a small $5 million comedy that is on track to gross over $30 million as anything other than a 'gee, I like when that happens'.  And while there are many reasons to praise the $14 million six-day opening of The Debt, the most surprising thing about it is that Focus Features debuted the film wide enough to achieve that kind of opening in the first place.  In a movie-going world where any number of seemingly mainstream pictures die in the art-house, peaking at 500 screens and unable to capitalize on mainstream buzz or word of mouth, kudos to the Weinstein Company and Focus Features for just opening these movies the old fashioned way.  They may have sensibilities that differ from the most popular versions of their respective genre.  Our Idiot Brother is (allegedly) a bit more painful and quirky than a Judd Apatow film, while The Debt is closer to John le Carré than Jason Bourne.  But they are both damn-well mainstream entertainments, and both films will be quite profitable because their respective studios treated them as such.  

Review: Terminator Salvation (2009)

Terminator Salvation
2009
115 minutes
Rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

Terminator Salvation is arguably the closest thing to non-stop action since The Mummy Returns. It opens in the thick of a military operation and barely slows down for its 115 minutes. Character development is almost non-existent and the picture relies on our prior knowledge of the previous Terminator pictures. The characters are paper thin and the film has obvious signs of tinkering. Ironically, for a film that constantly opines about the strength of the human heart, the film lacks the very heart and soul that brought humanity to the first three pictures. It is occasionally a first-rate action spectacle, but it is only the spectacle that merits recommendation.

A token amount of plot: Judgment Day has come and gone, and in the year 2018 the human resistance continues to press on against the machines that turned against them and killed most of the planet. While the leader of the fighting force (Michael Ironside) clashes with the beloved John Conner (Christian Bale), a new weapon is discovered that may turn the tide for the humans. Meanwhile, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) awakens in this apocalyptic future with no idea why he is still alive, as his last memory was of being put to death in 2003. As he teams with a young Kyle Reese, the paths of these would-be heroes will soon cross in a way that will determine the fate of all humanity.

Oddly enough, the legendary John Conner is more or less a supporting role this time around. Despite the casting of Christian Bale and said actor's top billing, he spends much of the film as a second banana to the mysterious Marcus Wright. Alas, Worthington's performance does not merit the spotlight, as he spends much of the film in stock-action hero mode, with an Australian accent that comes and goes at random intervals. As for Bale, he inexplicably chooses to use his infamous McGruff: The Crime Bat voice for several major sequences. Aside from action set pieces in the opening and the climax, Bale has little to do but bark orders, give inspirational radio addresses, and fued with Michael Ironside. Ironside is tragically relegated to the role of 'wrong-headed authority figure', as his primary job is to be wrong at every interval, for the sake of dramatic conflict.

None of the other characters are fleshed out in the least, although Anton Yelchin does the best with what he is given as a young Kyle Reese. Between this and his broad comic turn as Chekov in Star Trek, it's obvious this chameleon-like young actor is going to be around for awhile. The women come off exceptionally poorly here. Bryce Dallas Howard is given nothing to do as Dr. Kate Conner (Claire Danes in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). It's painfully obvious that her entire role ended up on the cutting room floor as she has almost no dialogue and plays no real role in the story. Worse yet is Moon Bloodgood (Blair Williams), who's primary jobs are to look hot, get rescued by a strong handsome man, then risk all of humanity in order to save said stud whom she barely knows.

Aside from lack of character development, we never get a true sense of what it feels like to live in this post-Judgment Day world. There is no sense of the day to day life for the resistance, or for the other survivors. All jokes about 'Reign of Fire with robots aside', that picture gave you a true feeling of what it was like to live in a post-apocalyptic world where humans are primarily dragon food (in the end, the two pictures end up being surprisingly similar in plot). It is no secret that the eventual DVD/Blu Ray will contain 40 minutes of deleted scenes, and I'm guessing much of that will contain the missing character beats. It again brings up a troubling question... if we know full well that the film we are about to see is a studio or producer-mandated 'theatrical cut', what exactly is the point of going to the theaters to see what appears to be an arbitrary version of a given film?

The film also suffers from a screenplay that feels like it was intended to be a children's picture. While the movie is loud, dark, and violent, the character beats and dialogue sometimes resemble the simplicity and over-exposition found in afternoon cartoons. There are countless instances of obvious ADR dialogue which state obvious points ('It worked!' or 'We need to get out of here!'), and climactic voice over makes a point to explicitly spell out the moral of the story. Say what you will about John and Sarah Conner's moralizing in Terminator 2, or the somewhat campy robot antics in Terminator 3, but those still felt like adult pictures made with adult sensibilities. Even though the film isn't any less violent or grim as a result of its PG-13, it still feels like a less mature, more kid-friendly Terminator film.

Having said all that, the film primarily exists as an action picture, and on that note it barely merits recommendation. While the opening act has only perfunctory action beats, there is an extended chase scene about 40-minutes in that is truly eye-popping. The Terminator pictures have always been known for their first-act-climax vehicle pursuits and this one does not disappoint. Although the big second act action beat is unexciting because it's relatively pointless (it's a character who can't die or hurt others, being chased by another character who can't die or hurt others), the climax of the film is genuinely exciting and suspenseful. Since we don't know how slavishly this sequel follows the time-traveling continuity of the previous films, there is genuine tension as most of the characters involved could very well be killed.

So, does the film merit viewing? That's up to you. The characters aren't the least bit interesting and the dialogue borders on childish (I'm particularly partial to Bale's climactic radio address where he speaks in broad platitudes rather than explaining why the resistance should take the contrary action he is suggesting). But the technical aspects are often breathtaking and the action beats satisfy more often than not. The film is rich in atmosphere and genuinely feels a part of the Terminator mythos. It's not required viewing and the Terminator Salvation is a deeply flawed picture, and easily the least of the Terminator pictures. But wow, that first-act chase is a knockout.

Grade: C