2 + 2= Violence

It's one of the most commonly heard phrases in the English language. "Violence is never the answer." But in film it seems, violence is always the answer. So I hope to get a new phrase out into the world. One that will catch on and become a part of the lexicon. With any luck you will someday buy a t-shirt that says this and I will receive a royalty check of 18 cents for it. A t-shirt that reads "2+2= Violence." ("2+2= Violence" is an official trademark of BobCorp. and cannot be copied or reproduced without the express written consent of Major League Baseball.) The last three films I've gone to have all shown very different sides of violence. So here we go. Let's get our violence on.

This is England- Shaun (newcomer Thomas Turgoose) is a 12 year old boy in 1983 England. His father was recently killed in the Falklands and it's just he and his mother now. Bullied at school and clearly overwhelmed, Shaun is rough around the edges but not a bad kid. On his way home from the final day of school, having been picked on yet again, a forlorn Shaun crosses paths with a group of older kids. Unlike his own peers however, these strangers are nice to him. Woody (Joseph Gilgun- remember that name) in particular takes a real shine to Shaun and makes him a part of his little gang. Instead of committing violent crime these kids take out their frustrations by doing damage to an abandoned house. In this early scene writer-director Shane Meadows shows the therapeutic nature of just bashing an inanimate object (one that doesn't clearly belong to anyone) as hard as you can. It's a far cry from what is to come.
Sitting around at a party one night, the group of friends are interrupted by a large angry bald man with a weapon. Turns out he's just messing with them. He's brought his cell mate Combo (Stephen Graham) with him. Combo and Woody are old friends, but they've gone down considerably different paths. Like his old cell mate, Combo's got a shaved scalp and a head full of rage. When he rants about England's involvement in the Falklands Shaun takes offense and lashes out. Combo can't help but be impressed by little Shaun's bravery and takes him into his gang, one that Shaun can't really understand. Woody and most of the others know what Combo is up to and want no part of it.
What follows is a stark and genuinely unflinching look at what true hate based on nothing can reduce people to. Watching 12 year old Shaun take part in these violent and senseless crimes makes it all the more powerful. It shows that these movements really do "get 'em when they're young." I'd only seen one Meadows film prior to this, "Once Upon a Time in the Midlands." This is a huge step up. I wouldn't have known it was the same filmmaker. The young cast of unknowns are all terrific in this, particularly Turgoose and Graham. You may remember Graham as Tommy in "Snatch," proving that this is a man with incredible range. He's my early contender for Best Supporting Actor. This is an often difficult film to watch and one that genuinely left Justin and I speechless. What can you say after a movie like this? "This is England" is currently playing at the Varsity Theater in Seattle. 9/10.

3:10 to Yuma- Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a broken man. Left with a bad leg from his service in the Civil War, he is a humiliated rancher. His oldest son William (Logan Lerman) is enraged by his father's lack of action when their barn is burned down by members of Ben Wade's gang. Evans has a family to look after and wants no part of a fight. But it becomes clear to him that that is what he must do to protect them. After Evans and his posse capture Wade (Russell Crowe) they have to get him on the 3:10 train to Yuma so he can be hanged. What follows is the study of these two very different men discovering what it is that makes them different and what they are surprised to learn they have in common. Crowe and Bale are both great and play off of each other very well. As Crowe's right hand man trying to catch up to the posse, Ben Foster does a fine job as well.
James Mangold's re-make (I've never seen the original) is pretty well put together, there are some very good sequences and the acting is very good all around. So it's a shame then that "3:10 to Yuma" just didn't quite grab me the way I hoped it would. It just feels like a lot of very good elements that almost come together to make a good film. I think part of the problem is that I could never figure out over the course of the movie why Wade never makes a real attempt to escape when it's made clear throughout the film that he easily could. Is he biding his time? It never really makes sense. Not a bad movie by any means, but not the movie it had the potential to be either. 6.5/10.

Shoot 'Em Up- I grew up on Looney Toons. Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Elmer Fudd, and most especially Daffy Duck. My brother and I would sit and watch them for hours on end and he's still the one person I can say "Well now I wouldn't say that..." to and get the proper reaction. Maybe that's why I loved "Shoot 'Em Up" so much. It reminded me of those old cartoons and afternoons with Mike.
"Shoot 'Em Up" really is, for all intents and purposes, a live-action, bullet-ridden Bugs Bunny cartoon, right down to the way that Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) chews on a carrot in the opening shot. He does a lot of carrot chewing over the film's brief running time. He also does a lot of killing.
The film opens with him sitting on a bench, eating his carrot in peace, when a woman in labor runs down the street, trying to flee a man with a gun. Rolling his eyes, Smith takes care of business, and when one gunman becomes twenty he REALLY takes care of business. This opening action sequence sets the tone for what is to come. After giving birth, the mother is killed and Smith is left to look after the baby. With Mr. Hertz (a wonderfully evil Paul Giamatti) and his enormous gang of thugs coming after him, Smith takes the child to the one woman he knows, Donna Quintano (Monica Bellucci). The rest of the film is one cartoon-like shoot out and action spectacular after another, with Smith trying to keep Donna, baby, and himself alive.
The sequences imagined by writer-director Michael Davis are elaborate, inventive, and executed brilliantly. Like last year's "Crank," "Shoot 'Em Up" doesn't spend one moment taking itself seriously and relishes in over the top action. Unlike "Crank," this is a movie that has a point or two to make (along with a few choice rants from Smith- "You know what I hate?"), but it's really all about the gun play. I had an absolute blast watching this one. Twice. If you love Looney Toons (which I still do), lots of guns, and AC/DC during a skydiving sequence (and who doesn't?) then you must go see "Shoot 'Em Up." "Besides," as Mr. Hertz puts it, "violence is one of the most fun things to watch." 9/10.