CHINA MOON

Madeleine Stowe and Ed Harris 

CHINA MOON (1994). Director: John Bailey. 

Kyle Bodine (Ed Harris of National Treasure: Book of Secrets) is a detective working with a younger partner, Lamar (Benicio Del Toro of The Wolfman), and sort of showing him the ropes. Kyle meets an attractive woman named Rachel (Madeleine Stowe of Blink) and is at first unaware that she's married to an abusive and controlling husband, Rupert (Charles Dance of Alien 3). Kyle and Rachel begin a relationship, but there's a serious speedbump when Rupert winds up dead. Kyle risks his career by going to bat for Rachel without disclosing the affair to his superiors, but he doesn't realize that he is being seriously played by someone close to him.

Harris, Charles Dance, Del Toro

It's a wonder that China Moon ever got made. Its plot is over-familiar and whatever surprises it contains are not that jolting. The characters are one-dimensional, and the dialogue is flat. Although Charles Dance and Benicio Del Toro give effective and committed performances, I'm not certain what to make of the leads. I can be polite and say that Harris underplays, or was simply uninspired by the script -- no wonder -- but he's mediocre, as is Stowe. I'm not surprised that Stowe never had a major theatrical career as her presence is strictly small-scale, and works much better on television (in the TV series Revenge, for instance). If you're going to play a femme fatale, then play it for all it's worth, but Stowe never pulls out the stops. Her too-deep, unfeminine voice is no asset, either, although some people might have found it sexy. 

Verdict: Some films should never get beyond script stage. *1/2.  

TRAFFIC (2000)

Michael Douglas as Judge Wakefield

TRAFFIC (2000). Director: Steven Soderbergh.

Compressing a long BBC mini-series [Traffik] into a two and a half hour movie, this feature deals with different aspects of the drug traffic, from Mexican cops and dealers, to American drug lords and narcs, to a Judge or "drug czar," investigating the problem who discovers his own daughter is an addict. Michael Douglas is the judge; Steven Bauer is the businessman who turns out to run a drug cartel, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is his initially unknowing wife who ultimately proves as ruthless as he is, wanting to take out a witness played by Miguel Ferrer. Others in the cast include James Brolin [The Car], Albert Finney [Tom Jones], Dennis Quaid [Legion], Benicio Del Toro [The Wolfman/2010] , and Don Cheadle [Iron Man 2] as a cop. The acting is okay and sometimes better than that, but the movie is disjointed [you get a sense that an awful lot was left on the cutting room floor] and badly directed. The movie holds the attention but it should be riveting and it isn't. Worse, some of the developments stretch credulity; certainly there is enough drama in the subject without contriving improbable sequences, such as the judge hitting the streets instead of calling the cops to find his daughter? This is not great movie-making by any stretch of the imagination.

Verdict: A movie on this subject shouldn't be so blah. **.

LICENCE TO KILL

LICENCE TO KILL (1989) Director: John Glen. Written by Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum. 

This is perhaps the grittiest and, for lack of a better word, most “realistic” of the Bond films. Bond (Timothy Dalton) is in Florida for the wedding of his old friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison), who nearly misses his wedding to go after his number one target, drug lord Sanchez (Robert Davi, pictured). Sanchez, unfortunately, escapes -- with the aid of a traitorous colleague of Leiter's -- and takes revenge on Leiter by murdering his bride and feeding Leiter to a Great White. [This scene is actually taken from Ian Fleming's novel Live and Let Die. As in the book, Leiter does not die but loses a couple of limbs, and is delivered back home with a note that reads He disagreed with something that ate him.] Bond makes up his mind to take down Sanchez, but both American drug agents and M himself order him to back off. Enraged, Bond resigns and goes AWOL, teaming up with drug agent Pam Bouvier (Cary Lowell), who also has an interest in Sanchez. In Isthmus City in Panama, Bond and Pam are up to their necks in Sanchez' associates, Japanese drug merchants, counter-agents who are out to get Sanchez, and even Q (Desmond Llewelyn), who comes to Isthmus City with gadgets for Bond and plays a larger role than he does in most Bond movies. Although Llewelyn plays Q, M and Miss Moneypenny are essayed by different actors than those in the earlier films. Licence to Kill is romantic, darkly amusing, and quite exciting for the most part. Dalton plays Bond like a heroic human being and not a Superman. Lowell's character is feisty, independent and liberated; only her jealousy of Bond's “relationship” with Sanchez' girlfriend. Lupe, is stereotypical and silly. Lowell is perfect as Pam, but Talisa Soto betrays very little acting skill as Lupe. Robert Davi is a major Bond villain with equal parts charm and menace, and Benicio Del Toro is slithering, sociopathic, almost sexy prime evil as Sanchez' lead assassin. Anthony Starke scores as Sanchez' fresh-scrubbed Wall Street-type associate, Truman-Lodge, and Wayne Newton is amusing and inspired casting as an evangelist who helps Sanchez distribute his drugs. Don Stroud, Anthony Zerbe, David Hedison, Priscilla Barnes and others also turn in solid performances. The film has superior production design and good photography from Alec Mills. The title song is a snappy one, although not particularly well sung by Gladys Knight. Michael Kamen's score is functional, but doesn't compare with John Barry's romantic music, which may have been considered unsuitable for this grittier approach to 007. Licence to Kill was filmed on location in Mexico and Florida. Although this is a very good Bond adventure, there are – surprisingly – no particular scenes that one can point to and pronounce a “knock-out.” The film works on a cumulative level. This is not to say that there aren't memorable sequences, such as when Bond takes over the small plane being piloted by drug runners or the ironic death of the traitor at the teeth of the Great White. But some of the scenes are not edited as tightly as they should have been. The climax is marred because they keep cutting away from the main action too often, and the fight to the death between Bond and Sanchez, while clever, is much too brief. Dalton really had a handle on the character – too bad he wasn't allowed to play Bond for a few more films. 

Verdict: While flawed, this is a highly satisfying and entertaining 007 outing. ***.

HERE'S THE NEW WOLF MAN

BOO!

Benicio Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot -- the role originally essayed by Lon Chaney (Jr.) in the original The Wolf Man (1941) -- and Anthony Hopkins plays Sir John Talbot in this remake due out in 2009 and directed by Joe Johnston. Special Makeup Effects are by Rick Baker.

Looks like a pretty scary fellow, eh?