Movie Reviews # 84…
[Note from Steve: All my movie reviews are archived in – you guessed it – “Movie Reviews.” Considering many of you subscribe to some streaming video service like Netflix, etc., you probably have access to every movie I’ve reviewed. Maybe you’ll want to check out my review to save some time – five minutes reading vs. two hours of potential drivel. Consider me your guinea pig or canary in the coal mine. Like the following movie, I tend to see only recent movies. I don’t have streaming video!]
Call of the Wild. Chris Sanders, dir. I read Jack London’s 1903 novel in the eighth grade. Our old English prof had us read London’s “To Build a Fire.” I was impressed, so I asked for more London to read. I think we were doing American authors that year because I wrote my final paper on Samuel Clemens, which I titled “His Pen Name was Mark Twain” (not my shortest or worst poem, by the way).
To the review of this movie then: Because I read the book so long ago, I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell whether Hollywood’s take destroyed it, yet it seemed to be less gritty and survivalist than the book. I had that impression, but I’m willing to concede that what I consider gritty and survivalist has changed a lot since I was in the eighth grade!
Harrison Ford his usual rugged, suffering bastard role (made famous in Blade Runner but probably over the top in The Fugitive), and [spoiler alert maybe] keeps the Deep Throat-like voiceover going even after he dies (maybe Han Solo doing an Obi-Wan Kenobi trick here?). I don’t think critics have ever given Ford enough credit. He’s a damn good actor. Omar Sy impressed me as the black carrier of the Yukon mail too. I hope to see more of him; he almost steals the show.
The dog Buck is the real star, of course. I didn’t much mind that he and the bear were computer generated creatures. I did mind that Buck looked a bit too human at times. You almost expect him to speak to the old man and curse the villains (there are many). I’ve seen dogs that are expressive, though, so all this is pure nitpicking.
And, just for fun, I’ll play the race card (a little dig at Hollywood for the Oscars’ lack of diversity): Why was the wolf-spirit calling Buck to the wild and leading him astray black and the real white wolf Buck’s love interest? Maybe that call to the wild was good for Buck, but the wolf-spirit doing it certainly looked bad. (Yeah, I know, a weird reaction on my part!)
This was an all-around good movie, though, with beautiful scenery (hopefully not computer generated), good acting, and London’s great story defining the plot. Hollywood can still turn a good book into a good movie once and a while…and should do it more often.
The whole experience got off to a bad start for me, though. Someone put that silly Sponge Bob movie in the previews. Are you kidding? It almost ruined my enjoyment of Call of the Wild! And I clocked twenty-five minutes of previews, all of them cartoons. AMC bludgeons viewers too often.
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Comments are always welcome.
The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. What will the US government do in the future with its agents and other employees who know too many secrets? Find out in this tale about a frightening government conspiracy. While fiction, you might ask yourself, “Could this really happen?” I wrote it, so you already know my answer! Available in .mobi (Kindle) ebook format at Amazon, and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardners, etc.).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
