Review - 'Behold the Man' by Michael Moorcock

I am slowly working my way through all of Gollancz’s SF Masterworks series, in no particular order (much as the books are numbered and were published in no particular order, I was told by the Gollancz team). I picked Behold the Man up earlier than many of the other masterworks due to its short length, because it was about time travel and because it looked like it had a very interesting take on both time travel and on religion. This is the first Moorcock book that I have ever read (there’s another in the SF Masterworks series and another in the Fantasy Masterworks series that I’m yet to tackle) and I’ve come away considerably impressed.

Behold the Man uses what has since become a well known and perhaps clichéd time-travel plot of a man going back in time to witness a particular event and then it ending up that he plays a major role in bringing about that event through his actions in the past; a self-fulfilling paradox. Here, this is exercised to the fullest, with the novel’s protagonist Karl Glogauer going back to 29AD in order to witness Jesus and his crucifixion and the narrative working out so that he eventually becomes the Jesus that Christianity reveres (which the book’s blurb makes no attempt to hide, so I do not feel like I am spoiling anything here).

What I was expecting, then, was a neatly constructed time-travel narrative, of the kind we are now used to, but Moorcock delivers so much more. The book is both a psychological portrait of a broken and troubled man, and it also delves into what lies at the core of religion and comes out with some interesting things to say. Glogauer is both a compelling character who we can sympathise with and yet at the same time incredibly unlikable – a difficult trick to pull off. The flashbacks of his life before time travel are full of instances of homosexuality, strange lusts intertwined with religion, and many occasions of him driving women away due to his self-diagnosed neurosis and self-loathing.

The frequent debates about the nature of religion that occur between him and one woman, Monica, are stimulating, and as the novel nears its end some interesting conclusions are drawn by Glogauer. It debunks religion in general, in a way, and shows often how it is simply the product of people hearing what they want to hear and seeing what they want to see.

Throughout the text are scattered extracts from the bible which serve to highlight the exact role that Glogauer knows he must play. Knowing that Glogauer is Jesus, the placement and choice of these extracts also cleverly forces us to look at them in a new and different way; in light of Glogauer’s knowledge of the future and his strong will to fulfil Jesus’s role, the often riddle-like phrases Jesus speaks in the bible seem to make so much more sense here.

One aim of the SF Masterworks series is to bring people’s attention to certain science fiction masterpieces that have been forgotten over time by many and subsequently overlooked. This text is certainly one of those; when you think of Michael Moorcock, most think of certain of his other works and are completely unaware of this book. This is the best book about time-travel that I have read so far, and one from a very talented writer. I realise that this is a book unlike typical Moorcock, but it has made me look forward to reading more of his work nonetheless.

8/10

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Chapters 4 & 5 (out of 11)

Chapter Four.
DISPERSION

All these three beings were conceived at the same time by different groups of scientists across the world in order to compare the development between them. Breeding was encouraged amongst them but strictly controlled. Within thirty years of creation their overall number had increased from the initial 90 to 146, and their number grew exponentially from then on. They were each fully aware of each other but were kept strictly apart until adulthood had been reached. After much deliberation, it was decided by normal man that each race should be given its own land to live on, and would be ruled over in no way by normal man except in his laws. They would be allowed to appoint their own leaders among themselves (which in truth they had already done) and live as they pleased, with some normal men living among them constantly so as to study them and maintain a solid relationship. With respect to their own wishes Spiritual Men were given several Northern continents to occupy, Physical Men several continents about the equator (in that their athletic nature demanded a hot climate) and Intellectual Men several in the South, all separated sufficiently by their creators so as not to cause strife between the races.

Chapter Five.
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NEW SPECIES

The relations that existed between these new races were few and far between due to extreme diversities. Intellectual Men and Spiritual Men looked upon each other primarily with respect, for they were able to see in each other an advanced species of a different kind they could converse with, at least to an extent. Secondly they looked upon each other with contempt, for both thought themselves superior to the other; and thirdly with a jealous eye, for although each thought their area of advancement the better one that would bring them closer to the ultimate goal, each looked upon the other’s with wonder. Spiritual Men wished to be able to achieve such a high level of intellect as to not rely on Intellectual Man’s experiments, and Intellectual Men wished they had the capability to connect fully with the wondrous plane which could give them clarity in their thinking and thus their work, which could possibly be the link they needed to the creator.

If the Intellectual Men and Spiritual Men looked down upon each other then they both did doubly so upon Physical Man. He were handled with care, for all the other men knew well enough how dangerous he was, but he was generally excluded from meetings among the races, especially regarding intellectual pursuits and the ultimate goal. Physical men despised the way they were looked upon as lesser beings. They desired to achieve the ultimate goal as much as any of the races, but did not care for the means, purely the result. All that concerned these men were the more simple pleasures of life, relaxing and enjoying what they were given. Among them existed the notion of romantic love, as well as monogamy. Adultery was greatly frowned upon in their community. What they were interested in most though of course, was personal advancement in all physical aspects. Fierce, highly regular athletic games existed, as well as showcases of many different individual ‘powers’ (as physical man named them) for entertainment’s sake, such as magnificent displays of telekinetic ability and amazing displays of super strength. All individuals were encouraged and aided in developing their power to its maximum potential, and through this astonishing things were achieved.

Regarding the factions that existed among man, each new race took on the train of thought they found most plausible and joined the respective faction. Intellectual Man took to the side of the believers, but to the faction that viewed the creator as an enemy who had perpetrated a great sin upon man kind in his carelessness that should be punished.

Physical Man on the other hand, due to his low level of intelligence, initially took the view that there was an all caring and loving God watching over him, and with whom he could share a mutual appreciation; but upon revealing this to the other races he was greeted with shock and anger that such a barbaric and ancient view could have re-formed in this day and age. He was shown the ‘error’ of his ways and taught to appreciate all three of the existing factions first, then told to choose which one suited him best. This led to Physical Men each choosing different factions to one another, causing (beneficially) their nation to become a very diverse one in terms of belief.

Spiritual Men were unified in their beliefs like Intellectual Man, yet did not share the same opinion. They believed that the plane they were able to connect with was not the creator himself but something definitely deeply linked to him. It was debated continuously as to its true nature and purpose but most believed it was the creator’s method of travel and of observing his experiments. There were times in this state, perhaps once every two decades or so, that a huge disruption occurred causing Spiritual Men to become mentally inept for however long the period of time lasted, resigning themselves to their homes, not being able to communicate or do anything accept sit in solitary meditation in awe of this wondrous increase in their perception and state of mind. It was said by many to be the presence of the creator when he came to make his observations on mankind. Within this time of resignation Spiritual Man claimed there was nothing but goodness and bliss in the world he perceived, which logically meant the creator was not an evil being. They all therefore took to the faction that believed in a God but held no hatred for him, believing him to be an essentially good if neglecting being, and looked upon him with the same indifference with which he looked upon mankind. Atheism then, was completely non-existent among the new races; it only remained with normal man. When this was realised by normal man, the atheists reasoned that if these higher beings they had created all believed in God then logically God had to exist and what they were doing was folly. From that day of realisation onwards, Atheism was forever dead among mankind.

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The Charlie Jade rewatch: Episode 2, 'Sand'

“Back then, I could tell he was even more lost than I was” - Reena

The second episode of Charlie Jade is predominantly a character introduction piece, as well as the set-up of the protagonist’s main goal that will drive him throughout the show; to get home to his universe and to be with Jasmine again.

The episode starts with a heavy focus on the small blue stones that the little girl collects, the importance laid on these stones would of course become something that the show never got a chance to explain, due to its cancellation (and that Sawyer won’t even reveal the meaning of now, since he is hopeful that the show will return at some point).

Odd, askew (often diagonal) camera angels are here even more prominently used; I believe as a symbol (and subconscious effect) that everything in the Betaverse is not quite right for Charlie, and as he expected it to be (him of course expecting the Alphaverse and not knowing there was anything but). Again we have various hues of blue, importantly clearly distinguishing the Betaverse from the other universes by simple colour separation.

Several main players to the show are introduced here properly; 01 Boxer is shown to not only be a rapist, but also (possibly) a killer, Reena a complete innocent thrown into what she perceives as hell (reinforced by the flashback of her dead friend reading a biblical-like passage about these alternate universes), Essa and her hate filled relationship with 01 (Essa: “You’re a self indulgent sociopath who should be imprisoned”), Galt and his willingness to let 01 treat him in demeaning ways (often sexually playful; to add further degradation?), Lubinsky as the kind and unappreciated helping hand and guide to Charlie’s struggle.

Here, Charlie is shown to have a more vulnerable side to him than we saw in the pilot; at the loss of Jasmine, when he finds their empty and changed apartment, he breaks down on the spot and cries out for her. He is a little too persistent and un-accepting in the way he probes and asks questions of people – the man at what was Papa Louie’s house, the other Jasmine (Paula) at the bar – but then, just when would you drop all inhibitions about believing something ‘crazy’ and accept that you must be in a parallel universe, only marginally different from your own? Surely many would think it a Truman Show-esque trick that everyone around them was playing on him before they would believe the former?

By the end of the episode we have Charlie standing, panting (after having had Reena outrun him), with the effects of what he has seen and lost in this place alien to him showing vividly on his face.



A very different episode to the pilot, in that it focused far more on character development than action and cool set pieces. The ever beautiful soundtrack playing in the background (surely beginning to become addictive to fresh viewers and ears at about this point?) adds to the elegance of it all. An important and well-established character episode.

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20 SF&F books that I intend to tackle as preparation for my dissertation, and that I will subsequently be reviewing on here...

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Chapters 2 & 3 (out of 11)

Chapter Two.
THE COMMON GOAL

It was upon reaching this peaceful age that unrest began to show again. A great divide formed between those who believed in an indifferent and unjust God. There were those that looked upon this being with anger and hatred at his experimental and careless attitude toward mankind, and those who looked upon him without animosity, but with the same indifference with which he regarded them. This divide was worsened still by young radicals who wanted to see each other’s faction marginalized or completely obliterated. Action was taken in order before any real hostility could arise. A meeting was arranged between the factions, which would not end until their differences were settled. After much debate it was concluded that though their views conflicted, their goals were effectively the same. Both had long dreamed (and such had been the dream of all man) that they could one day find this being and make contact with it, for whatever purpose. It was believed that man had now definitely reached the technological stage where such a goal could be achieved: all that was left now was for man to reach the stage within himself where he would be ready to do so. They devised how he would achieve this level through his now unequivocal mastery of genetic modification. A new, improved man, worthy of contact with God, would be created.

With the abolishment of nationalism, the Earth was now run by a World State, which contained equal members of all three factions; the two forms of believers and the atheists. This was a state that, up until now, imposed very strict restrictions on both genetic engineering and space exploration. Both of these were practised, but in moderation. This was the case with genetic engineering because the believers within the state feared within themselves the capability of becoming like the creator himself, bringing into existence a new species of man purely for the sake of scientific experimentation that would not be loved or nurtured. It was the case with space travel because believer and atheist alike feared the individual colonisation by any single faction on a separate planet or moon where it could not be monitored, thus having the capability of starting a rebellion. After the landmark meeting of the factions however, it was decided that man was ready to be given total freedom in both these fields (though with guidance), to aid him in reaching his single goal. Philosophers gave assurances through their own reasoning, that by God having created life from physical matter once, and that physical connection having once existed, he must be reachable, and it must be possible for that connection to be re-established. It was realised that the new form of man to be created must excel in many ways that they did not.

For many years it was debated whether the creator could be reached through a predominantly spiritual, physical or intellectual being, based on speculation of the creator’s own make-up. Some argued that since the universe was created of physical matter, then the creator would logically himself have to be a physical being and exist somewhere out there in the universe. Others argued that religion, in both its old and new form has always been rooted thoroughly in the spiritual side of things, and they argued that it was only through the soul, and through man’s oneness with existence that God could be reached. Others still, argued that God must be a being of unfathomable intellect to have created such a wonderfully complex thing as the universe and that the only way to make contact with him would be to advance man’s intellect to the highest stage possible, upon which the means of contact would become clear. It was then rationalised that by covering all angles they could not fail, and it was eventually decided that they would make one species of man excelling in each attribute: for if they tried to make one that embodied all, the combination of factors would result in a confusion of aims and principles that would result only on failure.

The moral implications that previously placed restrictions on genetic engineering were brought up again. It was suggested that this could be solved by treating these new beings purely as equals, not as inventions of man. This would (in man’s eyes) shift any blame that could be cast from man onto the very creator he was aspiring to find. Regarding deep space exploration, a theory was put forth which it became extremely important to prove. Man’s previous, restricted exploration had discovered life, but only miniscule and bacterial. No intelligent life had ever been discovered. It was reasoned among man that if any intelligence was discovered then it would prove God’s experimental attitude towards his living creations. The thinking behind this was that if another intelligent species existed in the vastness of space then it was only logical to assume there were many more to be found. Man figured that the more numerous God’s creations, the less he cared for any one specific race. It was also thought that if evidence could be found that an intelligent species had once existed and been wiped out to the point of extinction, then this would prove that God had not intervened when one of his creations was threatened and thus cared even less about their fate. Lastly, if such a race was found, it was hoped that they would have the same aspiration as man and be able to help him with his quest.
Of course, not all were in full support of mankind’s new united goal. The atheist factions that still existed among them viewed man’s new quest primarily with amusement, in that they thought it a futile mission to search for something that wasn’t there; over time this turned to anger as the vast majority of man’s attention and resources was being put into these efforts. They thought there was many a better way in which such resources could be spent. This did not mean to say they didn’t relish in the findings acquired through space exploration, being themselves men of science.
So man took on the first step in the journey, creating three completely new species of man.

Chapter Three.
THREE NEW MEN

Intellectual Man

Initially it was designated that thirty humans of each species would be created: fifteen male and fifteen female. Intellectual Man was the firstborn. His brain was designed to be precisely two and a half times the size of a normal man’s. He was thus given an enlarged skull to compensate. The sheer weight of this new man’s head demanded that his body be designed to have an extremely large and muscular neck and shoulders, not to mention legs stout and sturdy to hold the excessive weight. In order to accommodate the huge muscles necessary for all of this, Intellectual Man’s average height was brought up to around 7 foot, making him an extremely powerful and intimidating creature. The high levels of intellect were instigated through certain parts of the brain being injected with a substance that could increase activity in that region. This was administered to the parts of the human brain that normal man knew would benefit from such increases.
The way these men were brought up and educated throughout their youth, it was realised, would play a great part in how their intellects would evolve. They were subsequently given the best education available, by normal man’s finest, from a very young age. These beings (to the delight of their engineers) responded positively to this and showed a hunger for knowledge and personal advancement in a way that would be considered abnormal among ordinary men. Upon having described to them man’s aspirations to reach God, and the role they were to play in what was to come, Intellectual Man seemed to find the prospect intriguing and took pride in the importance of their species. By the age of sixteen these beings had taken in everything normal man had to offer them intellectually, they were thus encouraged to create their own experiments in many fields and to continue to pursue their advancement of intellect. Intellectual Men relished this sudden change and worked exclusively with each other in these experiments, relegating normal man’s role to that of mere helpers. After a while even normal man’s top intellects, assigned to the demeaning role of observation, started to lose understanding of what was being explored due to their inferior intellect. Thus was normal man reduced to funding experiments they knew nothing about, and although they were angry at their complete lack of comprehension, they trusted that whatever these new men were undertaking was very necessary and beneficial towards their goal. In truth Intellectual Men’s work was progressing at an exponential rate, as indeed was their intellect, and though appreciative of their creators they looked upon them as pathetic, feeble minded creatures.

Physical Man

Physical man was designed to possess all the abilities of normal man’s best athletes multiplied tenfold. This supreme athletic skill was engineered to be achieved naturally through growth from childhood to adulthood, rather than having to be achieved through strict repetitive training. This amazing skill obviously required a strong, large physical stature, even larger than that of Intellectual Man, placing the average height of this race at 8 ½ foot. This similarity in size and stature made Intellectual Man’s overly large head and brain the only way to tell each race apart visibly. Normal man was technologically able at this time even to manipulate evolution itself and thus encouraged in Physical Man a rapid progression of such by rearing them in specific environments to develop within each of them an astonishing abnormal ability. There was a vast range of environments used in order to acquire diversity, the result of this being that each Physical Man developed a power unto his own. Among them lay the gifts of abnormally great strength, astonishingly developed agility and speed, the ability of some to breathe and thus survive under water and even in some cases the power of partial flight, though not sustainable for very long. They paid a price though for what has been described; their mental state suffered heavily and they were barely able to achieve intelligence at the level of the average normal man. They were however shown great love and affection, making them kind and loving yet very powerful beings. Some argued that this was a race close to the old image of God from the time when religion was rife; an innocent, all-powerful yet loving and caring being.

Spiritual Man

Spiritual Man was a far greater challenge for normal men to devise than the previous two, for spirituality had been something strongly linked throughout the past with religion. These men were raised then with very idealistic values. It was reasoned by normal man that even though it had been established that God was not the creator, or at least the nurturer of all that was good in the universe, goodness still existed in some absolute form and was an important thing to connect with. During the time of religion long ago, many men had claimed to be able to achieve a state of mind on a different level to that of the average man through various methods including meditation, the use of drugs and religious experiences. Over the years man had discovered that this higher state of mind was no delusion and that there did indeed exist something all around us with which we could mentally connect. Much debate at the time included the argument that this very thing was God himself. A method was devised to give easier access than before to this plane of thought: a very complex and expensive to produce drug named Tribathiew B. At the time this was only affordable by the very rich, or was given freely to men of great intellect with the aim of advancing mankind in their fields. The drug itself only enabled a very short period of time in this state as it was found to be often fatally dangerous otherwise. Thus not much was discovered. Gradually, with the progression of science, man had devised a way to genetically engineer his senses to the point where new ones could be created. Much inspiration was taken from the study of the wide range of senses various animals hold and the way they use them. Thus man learnt that a sense could be engineered within a being which automatically connected them to this strange frequency which existed everywhere, without the need of any drugs at all. This was tested and re-tested with minor beings until it was perfected in theory and thus put into effect with Spiritual Man.

Here then was a being that could tune itself in and out of this state of clarity at will. Of course no new knowledge could be discovered if these creatures suffered from low levels of intelligence, so from childhood they were given the best education available and encouraged to develop their own experiments much in the way of the Intellectual Men, though at nowhere near the same level due to their brains being of an average size. So although not as intelligent as the Intellectual Men, through this higher state they could achieve a form of understanding beyond the reach of Intellectual men (at least for a long enough time to gain anything from it) and were potentially already closer to God than mankind had ever been before.

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Short story: 'Babel's Tower', Introduction and Chapter 1 (out of 11)

An old short story of mine in the vein of Olaf Stapledon. I will be uploading two chapters at a time from now on, every once and a while, until the entire story is on here.

Babel's Tower
By Chris J. Hart

Introduction.
LOOKING BACK

This is a historical account, written to document how the occurrences of the past 19,000 years, of man’s folly, over-ambition and blind arrogance has led to destruction for the majority of our race: and something far worse for the rest. I have decided to create this account, for both my own benefit and the benefit of others. It is my hope that you will learn from the mistakes we have made so that you may not commit such crimes yourselves.

Chapter One.
THE MOVEMENT

It is the year 3411 that marks the true start of what was to come. A spiritual movement was conceived that allowed man to delve far deeper than before into the pit of arrogance and ignorance in which he already wandered. Up until the year 3000, man’s constant struggle with religious wars and terrorism hampered his development greatly and suppressed any change for the better that could possibly have taken place. After many wars, and the constant cyclical progression of hate breeding hate, it was concluded that the only way to defeat the problem was to attack it at its core; to attempt to change religion thoroughly. By this stage in man’s existence, he had developed the intellectual capacity to conceive in mass that religion, though laudable in its ideals, was fundamentally illogical. How could there be a God, all loving and caring like the most popular religions claimed, who was willing to let limitless pain and suffering occur amongst man and not intervene in the least? How could he let entire species, whether intelligent or not, become extinct as though they never existed? How could any of the worshipped Gods of the time be real if, when looked back over history, a vastness of different incarnations had been given by each religion, and each had held their God to be the only true one? It was therefore deduced by many that if indeed a God did exist at all, it was most likely that he was indifferent to his creations and cared not in the least about any of them. This led man into a period of agnosticism and what became known as nihilistic theism, led by many great philosophers and intellectuals who previously held these dispositions. This was aptly named the Movement of Spiritual Clarity. Through a realisation of this lack of love, love itself did not fail on Earth as one might think, but instead it grew exponentially. Man became less divided through his abolition of orthodox religions and united as one with pride in his own species, much as many unwanted children would band together in the absence of their parents and look out for each other.

One might wonder how this Movement of Spiritual Clarity was brought about, and how people so fixed in their beliefs that they were willing to die for them could be made to change their ways. The truth is that by this time man’s intellect had evolved and grown to the point where it was a natural thought to abandon these naive ideas of an all caring deity. Many religious wars were still being fought; more to protect and conserve nationalism and the religious traditions of those before them than because they really believed in their God. All that was needed was one major movement such as this to unite everyone in this new way of thinking.

For four thousand years man was at one with his new outlook on religion. His lack of animosity allowed him to focus instead on more important things such as developing science as far as possible and in this time vast developments were indeed made. The problems the planet faced, such as the ever dwindling fuels and the effects of global warming, were able to be given full attention and were, over time, solved completely. Population levels were now under strict control, meaning that mankind was free to give his attention to what it considered the two scientific fields most worth pursuing; deep space exploration and genetic engineering.
The planet was secured as a safe home for mankind. At least until a new danger arose.

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Review - Watchmen

Review - Watchmen (an old review of mine that I'm pulling across from my university magazine website)



After many a failed attempt from far more accomplished directors than himself, Zack Snyder has taken his shot at bringing Watchmen, the masterpiece of popular fiction created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, to the big screen. Such huge talents as Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass have all tried and failed to adapt the graphic novel in the past, suffering various problems pre-production. Even Alan Moore himself claims his work to be ‘inherently unfilmable’, though his view of the film industry is not exactly bias-free, with previous works of having been butchered on screen in various ways (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, V for Vendetta). In spite of the odds being piled against him, Snyder took the risk to adapt the comic he and many others adore, treating it with much care in the process. I am glad to say; the final product is a marvel.

Not to mislead – the graphic novel this certainly isn’t – yet it is such an admirable and well realised effort that it is deserving of much praise. Hot off of his highly successful (if a little juvenile) 300, Snyder has proved himself a major talent worth watching, even if his repertoire is currently a little lacking in originality.

Key to the film’s success is Snyder’s faithful approach to the material. The only major difference is the film’s ending; altered from that of the comic to something that provides the same effect, but through a different means. With this smart change, much screen time that would have been used up for explanation if the original ending had been retained has been saved. The level of depth and substance in the comic is quite monumental as anyone who has read it will know. What Snyder has managed to fit into his 160 minute theatrical release is really quite impressive.

The majority of the characters are excellently realised, near perfect representations of their comic counterparts. Certainly the most effective are Jackie Earle Haley’s Rorschach, Patrick Wilson’s Night Owl II and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s The Comedian. Dr. Manhattan is for the most part successful. It is only Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias that occasionally fall a little short of the bar, delivering the odd weak line and failing to be fully believable at times.

What some claim to be the film’s biggest flaw is that it is quite an inaccessible film to those who have not read the graphic novel (more in terms of its appreciation than comprehension). If Snyder’s faithful approach would had to have been sacrificed for this to be otherwise then I say what does it matter? This, as can be imagined, is more a film for the fans rather than the speculative viewer and I believe it is all the better for it.

Bringing a slick and stylised visual approach (suffused with lots of necessary head strong violence) to an intelligent and complex piece of popular fiction, Snyder has managed to create something quite special. This is a remarkable and wonderful effort to bring Moore’s complex and groundbreaking masterpiece to cinema.

4/5

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Review - Appaloosa/Westerns in Hollywood

Review - Appaloosa/Westerns in Hollywood (an old review of mine that I'm pulling across from my university magazine website)



The Western is something that has only occasionally been tackled by Hollywood of late. When it has been however, some great works of cinema have been produced. Adhering in various degrees to the sub-genre of the modern or revisionist Western, there have been released some highly distinctive, dark and wonderful masterpieces; The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men and the 3:10 to Yuma remake to name a few.

The revisionist Western is a genre that favours realism over the romanticism of many older, traditional Westerns, updating the genre in the same way that many franchises (such as Batman and James Bond) are doing today and altogether delivering far darker, more realistic and arguably better films than their predecessors. This is not a new thing; the revisionist genre dates back even to the early 50s and can be applied to such classic Westerns as The Magnificent Seven, The Wild Bunch and The Unforgiven. One could argue that the forming of this sub-genre was an essential and highly necessary step that the Western had to take after its ‘golden age’ in order for it to survive successfully in modern cinema.

To deviate from that genre today then could either be looked upon as a very foolish and unnecessary foray into old territory, or perhaps a brave trend-breaking effort. Ed Harris’ Western effort Appaloosa does not apply to the revisionist genre at all. Visually it looks the part, but in story this is very much an old-school Western, more paying tribute to the John Ford style of Westerns than attempting the revisionist approach. I believe this is the foundation of its downfall (upon which many other flaws are laid) for it is trying to reproduce a type of film that cinema has wholly exhausted and moved on from.

Based on the novel of the same name by Robert B. Parker, Appaloosa is actor Ed Harris’ (The Truman Show, A History of Violence, Gone Baby Gone) second directorial outing after his 2000 debut Pollock. Also co-starring alongside Viggo Mortensen and having co-written the script, this is very much Ed Harris’ film.

The story concerns two lawmen, Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Mortensen) getting hired by elders to take back their town from villain Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his men. The matter turns more complicated with the arrival of Alison French (Renee Zellwegger) who attempts to come between the lawmen. This is a story obviously very heavily influenced by the tale of Wyatt Earp; with Cole representing Wyatt Earp and Hitch representing Doc Holiday. The characters are so sparsely pruned in fact that it is hard to see this as anything other than a direct rip-off of the classic tale.

With an excellent cast, it is a film of great performances placed among a flawed and uninteresting plot. The three male roles in this film are all considered great actors in Hollywood at the moment and here they do an excellent job as usual. Renee Zellwegger gives a highly convincing performance as the fickle widow who will attach herself to whichever man holds the biggest gun. These performances alone though are unfortunately not enough to save the film.

Humour within in the film is certainly one of its biggest problems. We are constantly bombarded with lame quips, most often from Harris, which leave you confused regarding the seriousness of the piece. It is quite a contradictory film in this regard; from the offset we are presented with a hard visual exterior, leading us to believe it will be a film serious in tone (if fanciful and romanticised), yet to fill the gaps in a struggling plot we are dealt small doses of humour throughout (even in the most serious of instances) which ultimately ruin the tone and prevent any suspense from building.

A second thing seriously hampering the character of Virgil Cole is his constant struggle with vocabulary, causing him every ten minutes to shamefully look towards Everett and ask ‘What word am I looking for?’ Is he significantly under-educated? Does he merely have an atrocious memory? The matter is never cleared up. All this suffices to do is make our hero look like an idiot. Would we ever see Kurt Russell or Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp shamefully begging Doc Holiday to finish his sentence for him? Certainly not.

One thing expected of most westerns, regardless of sub-genre, is a significant and entertaining gun fight/showdown towards the end of the film. In this the film also disappoints. The showdown lacks in tension or a suspenseful build-up, much like the rest of the film, and is over far too quickly, giving more time instead to the cheesy and unbelievable final scene concerning the two friend’s apparently unshakable friendship.

If you want to watch a tale of lawmen restoring order to a town harassed by villains watch one of the Wyatt Earp classics; either the fantastic Tombstone, or its slightly lesser companion Wyatt Earp. If you want to see an excellent, dark and original Western of late watch one of the many masterful revisionist Westerns spawned in recent years. If you want to watch a romanticist Western then you would be far better off watching a classic of old. There is simply no place for this film today. In a time when the Western is just starting to get its foothold back in cinema and regain some recognition, it is flawed and confused pieces like this that do not help its cause.

2/5

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Review: Lost Season 4 on Blu-Ray/DVD

Review: Lost Season 4 on Blu-Ray/DVD (an old review of mine that I'm pulling across from my university magazine website)



Season 4 of Lost sees the show return with a fresh new angle. The all too limiting flashbacks of previous seasons are now, for the most part, gone. Instead we have the genuinely intriguing flash-forward, showing what becomes of the six people who leave the island and revealing to us gradually how the present and future narratives ultimately converge.

This season’s plot focuses mainly on the arrival of the freighter crew and the question of whether their intentions are to rescue our survivors or to do them harm. As the ‘freighter’ Daniel Faraday reveals early on though; ‘Rescuing you and your people, I can’t really say it’s our primary objective’, it is clear that the newcomers have ulterior motives.

We are introduced early on to a group of new main characters from the freighter, all expertly established from the off and all of whom are highly interesting, great new additions to the show. From anthropologist Charlotte Lewis (who the show claims attended our very University), paranormal specialist Miles Straum, pilot Frank Lapidus and, most certainly the best new addition, the forgetful but highly likable physicist Daniel Faraday (played by Jeremy Davies of Saving Private Ryan fame). I believe here the show has managed to pull off the rare feat of creating an immediate classic character. It is often his words and actions that give us the best glimpses to the answers of the island we are so dying to find out.

The one thing the show (gladly) pushes even further this season is the science fiction boundaries. It is time-travel and experimentation in both time and space that this season revolves around in relation to understanding the island’s extraordinary capabilities. Arguably the best episode of the season (Episode 5 – ‘The Constant’) sees Desmond Hume repeatedly jump back and forth in time through his consciousness (i.e. to an earlier point in his life) where he must find a younger Daniel Faraday who is a professor at Oxford University to help him re-stick himself in time, in the present.

Benjamin Linus is revealed to have more up his sleeve than even the most suspicious of us perhaps assumed. The game, as it were, and who is playing it is laid out bare in front of us this season; it is the rivalry between Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore (for it is his freighter) that is at the core of the show and the ultimate fate of everyone seems to lie in the outcome of this conflict.

Another considerably major change is that the show’s narrative has become more refined (this season only holds 14 episodes compared to the usual average of 24), as the writers seem to have realised that the show relishes in a more limited construct, i.e. that a season does not need to be dragged out for 24 episodes when it can be more concisely and better realised in half that amount. They have in fact committed to a date and amount of episodes for the end of the show (there will be 6 seasons in total, ending in 2010; the last three all being 16 episodes each in length – this season was cut to 14 due to the writer’s strike).

All the brave new approaches the writers have taken this season have paid off tremendously. These, plus the excellent new characters, some significant deaths and a captivatingly tense plot throughout make this quite possibly the best season of the show yet. It is consistently brilliant from start to finish, as opposed to some of the earlier seasons having their high and low points. The only thing that perhaps requires a little further leap of your faith than usual is how the season ends regarding what happens to the island, but this holds within it enough interesting questions and amazing spectacle to mean you should not find it that difficult to make the jump. A near flawless season, this is a staggering achievement for one of the best shows around. 5/5

Extras: Very extensive and very thorough; commentaries, deleted scenes, flash-forwards in linear form and much more. There is certainly enough here to satisfy. 4/5

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Review - Changeling

Review - Changeling (an old review of mine that I'm pulling across from my university magazine website)



Having taken his first shot at directing in 1971, Clint Eastwood is a director who seems to be growing better and better with age. Arguably hitting his peak with the fantastic Mystic River in 2003, Eastwood has astonishingly managed since then, not only to continue releasing films of a high calibre, but also to deliver more excellent efforts each time. From Million Dollar Baby to his WWII companion pieces Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, we are seeing the man who conquered the acting world finally start to truly conquer the directing world also (and at the astonishing age of 78). Eastwood has always been an excellent director (Play Misty for Me, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Unforgiven) but only now are we seeing him reach the true peak of his directing career.

The question I and many others were dying to find out the answer to then was does Changeling continue the trend? Very gladly; yes. This is almost certainly Clint’s best, most accomplished film to date, and perhaps the one he will be remembered for when he’s gone. It is no overstatement when critics call this film a masterpiece, for it is certainly nothing less.

This is the true story of a mother going to every length necessary to get back her child, whilst being severely oppressed by a corrupt Los Angeles Police Department in the process. Angelina Jolie stars as Christine Collins (the mother) and John Malkovich as Reverend Gustav Briegleb who aids Collin’s fight against the police. One of the most notable things about this film is Jolie’s performance. She delivers what is most certainly the performance of her career as the grieved but confident and eternally persistent mother. After turning down the role primarily due to its distressing nature involving the loss of a child (as she has children of her own) it is a good thing that she finally gave in, as we identify so closely with her character here as an audience, due to her delivery, that I doubt anyone else could have pulled it off with the same effect and intensity. John Malkovich as his usual intellectual self gives a sturdy performance as the man pushing the buttons to get Christine’s plight noticed. Certainly worth a mention is the absolutely fantastic accompanying cast that lines the film (Jeffrey Donovon, Michael Kelly and Jason Butler Harner). To talk of their characters would be to ruin the film for those who haven’t seen it but it is these performances, coupled with those of the main stars that make this film a triumph in acting alone.

Centrally sharing a similar theme with Mystic River concerning a community suffering at the loss of a child this is a film that also delves into corruption, the judicial system, female independence and much more. It is a film that portrays the 1920s to perfection; there is no stone unturned in creating the illusion. Eastwood thankfully chooses to portray a realistic 1920s over the usual romanticised impression that many films give of a more innocent period. Los Angeles is a city in which the government, police force and medical establishment are all steeped in sadistic corruption. Perhaps the best example of realism in the film is a scene that Eastwood intended to make extremely difficult to watch; great attention to detail is paid where a man receives the death penalty by hanging. There are certainly some brutal elements to this film (hence its 15 certificate), they all however add to its overall effect. Eastwood himself describes stories concerning children in danger as “the highest form of drama you can have”. Brutality is therefore essential here in exercising this fear within the audience.

Fans of Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential or David Fincher’s Zodiac will adore what this film has to offer; I personally found it reminding me on many occasions of them both. It achieves more however than either of those excellent films do, which should tell you right there just how great Eastwood’s latest effort truly is.

5/5

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The Charlie Jade rewatch: Episode 1, 'The Big Bang'

To get my blog underway, I’ve decided to start by re-watching and dissecting, one episode at a time, one of my favourite SF shows, Charlie Jade. This is only the second viewing of this show for me, which with a show as complex and layered as Charlie Jade is sure to mean I’ll uncover many hidden gems and insights that I missed picking up on the first time around.

The pilot introduces us to a man who seems to have it all – an interesting job with no one to answer to but himself, and most importantly, he quite clearly already has the girl of his dreams. Yet he is haunted continually by ‘visions’ of things that seemingly aren’t there, and also quite clearly by things that are under the surface too – hardened by the street, by his job and by what he perceives as ‘this rat hole’ he is living in, we can clearly see that Charlie quite the loner. He is a man stood apart from the system and authority (even if he is notably tied to Vexcor in one respect: through the shares Jasmine persuaded him to buy).

Charlie’s deeper vices are left unexplored beyond the surface though, giving way to the plot of major and greedy corporation Vexcor, who are ‘prepared to gamble it all away’ in their experiment to link the universes and move natural resources between them, and a girl who has crossed over after having suffered at the hands of 01 Boxer, the spoilt son of Vexcor’s owner. It is clear that Charlie will at some point have to both do battle with Vexcor and catch up with 01 Boxer, and these scenarios are something I personally couldn’t wait to occur on my first viewing, due to these villains being so well realised and painted as so venomous from the off.

This is a pilot deftly handled and a great start to what we can tell will be a series aiming to turn SF conventions on their head. The likeness to Blade Runner, in the sense that we are presented with a run down, neon-infused dystopia and a wandering, slick soul investigating throughout the city is striking, yet it is clear this is a completely different and unique story being told.

It sets up far more than a crime story that crosses parallel universes and a protagonist cooler than any I’ve ever seen, and makes clear that we are going to be addressing such questions as how ethical it is for a superpower (Vexcor) to take advantage of a less powerful people and place (the Gammaverse) for its own gain (and even more topically, later on – as we shall see – under the pretence that it is doing it for the good of the people of the Alphaverse; sound familiar?).

Other things I noticed:

•The use of mirrors and reflections is something done several times throughout the episode, as a symbolic and subconscious hint at the parallel worlds we are soon to explore and perhaps the dual Charlies that wait in them? We are not only shown mirrors with multiple reflections of Charlie (note in the pictures below that we see three Charlies in each - signifying the three universes that the show deals with), but in these shots Charlie seems to be directly assessing his reflection, with that usual saddened yet curious look on his face. Should this be read into that Charlie is confronting his own vices momentarily?





•There are other nods to there being multiple copies of everything, such as Papa Louie’s “one of a kind” plant.

•Alongside the Blade Runner-like aesthetic of the show are also some astonishing shots at many fantastical angles, one ‘what might happen’-scenario scene (another hint at the many worlds theory and parallel universes, in the respect that a decision can take you down a different path?), and a wonderfully addictive and continually flowing score/soundtrack. Such things, especially nailed perfectly so early on, lend clear evidence towards this being a show of classic and genius calibre.

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Short story: 'The Roads Not Taken'

The Roads Not Taken
By Chris J. Hart

"By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes."
— Aldous Huxley


Detective Investigator Myles Vexlynd crouched beside the body, watching the blood flow gracefully along the smooth warehouse floor.
After a while he glanced up at his apprentice partner, Hal Stapp. The poor guy had been assigned to one hell of a first job.
“Not a pretty sight” he observed.
“Indeed not” replied Stapp.
He donned a pair of white gloves and crouched among the remains, careful to hold his coat away from the pools of blood.
“So, the many-worlds interpretation states that each possible outcome of this suicide attempt is played out in a different universe. And therefore what we are experiencing is merely one in which he died?” Stapp pondered.
“Exactly” said Myles, impressed.
“Most of us experience life linearly. Like this” – he traced a single, straight line through the more clotted blood on the floor with one gloved finger – “But this is an illusion, because everyday life presents us with a myriad of choices. As a result, life should look more like this” – he traced two further lines off-shooting in separate directions from the end of the first, then paused and gazed up at Stapp for a moment to check that he was following.
“Each choice leads to a new path,” he explained, tracing more and more off-shooting lines at the end of each of the previous ones.
“And each choice we take creates a new reality,” finished Stapp. “A succession of roads not taken.”
“Precisely” said Myles.
He stood up, stripped the gloves off and placed them on a table. “What our friend here was trying to prove is something called quantum immortality. It dictates that with every life or death situation, there will always be at least a small chance – however minuscule – that we will survive.”
“And thus an alternative reality exists to accommodate that survival” chimed in Stapp.
“Exactly. And they say that our consciousness will always follow this route, no matter what. For example, the odds of this guy surviving these many lethal devices that he rigged for himself is extremely slim, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I would” nodded Stapp.
He walked around the victim slowly as he talked. “Yet quantum immortality dictates that in at least one universe he has somehow miraculously beaten the odds and managed to survive. If the theory is true, then that is the one in which he exists now, having narrowly escaped death. We just happen to be perceiving one of those many universes in which he did not.”
“According to this theory,” he said, “each of us, by our own perception, will outlive all of those around us and live forever. We will live to see civilisation fall, and even to see the end of the world itself. And after all life around us has ended, we will each of us be alone in our own universe, existing in whatever strange state of being that allows consciousness to continue.”
“Each in our own private Hell” concluded Stapp.
“Indeed” said Myles, bitterly.
“An extremely depressing theory” figured Stapp, joining him in scanning for clues. “So why try to prove it to yourself? Why not just believe in the science?”
“If there was a chance that you could be immortal, wouldn’t you rather know for sure? I imagine that realisation is very liberating, not to mention dangerous to those around you – to know with absolute certainty that no matter what you do, you cannot die. The world would be your playground.”
Stapp’s attention was caught by something across the room, and Myles watched his partner walk over to an air vent on the wall and begin to remove its cover.
“Are we looking for anything in particular?” Stapp asked.
“In almost every case so far, the victims have not left suicide notes behind. I suppose they don’t care about leaving one family behind, in clueless grief, when they have another one to welcome them in their alternative universe.”
He walked among the technical gadgets, timers and weaponry that surrounded the corpse. “If you ask me, this guy seems somewhat cleverer than the rest. If you are going to try to prove to yourself that you are immortal, by miraculously beating the odds of death, then it is best to choose a method of suicide that has an extremely high probability rate of killing you good and proper. That way you ‘awake’ in the other reality having witnessed what was seemingly an impossible miracle before your eyes; allowing you to know you are immortal.”
“Serge” called Stapp. “I think I’ve found something.”
He looked over to see Stapp probing into the ventilation shaft with one arm, to the shoulder. With a jolt, Stapp pulled his arm free to reveal a small piece of paper in his hand.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a note,” Stapp said, glancing up at Myles briefly. “It says;
Good luck getting out of this warehouse alive. I wish you a particularly improbable and miraculous escape. This paper you just pulled started a mechanism that will detonate the explosive charges at the base of this building in a few seconds time. Enjoy immortality – my gift to you. A.”

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