September 2001 Volume 82 Number 9 "serving the protectors"
Edited by John Ballantyne

Planet of the Apes

Critics are unanimous in praising the excellent special effects of this action-packed film. But even the latest Hollywood technical wizardry cannot save a film if other important ingredients are missing.

The original 1968 film of the same name had Charlton Heston as an astronaut whose spacecraft crash-landed on the planet of the apes. It employed an original concept: White man loses the top-dog status he takes for granted here on Earth, and is thrown into an alien world where he is kicked and despised as a slave and outcast.

The clever underlying moral, which contributed much to the original film’s appeal, is not explored fully in this re-make, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter.

The film kicks off with some stunning visuals. The ape characters, who took three hours to be made up before each day’s shooting, look convincing. Tim Roth’s bad ape character, in particular - the grim General Thade - is a scene-stealer. Helena Bonham Carter provides an interesting contrast as a bleeding-heart ape.

The film is certainly a fun romp that will keep audiences entertained, but is let down by a rather lame ending.

Down to Earth

A young black stand-up comedian (Chris Rock) accidentally dies before his time when he is hit by a truck. With no room for him in Heaven, he’s sent back to earth inside another person’s body. The comedian chooses as his new habitation the body of a rich older white businessman.

But this white man is reviled by the people around him, and his wife and mistress are out to kill him.

The story is, of course, a loose rehash of the 1941 film Here Comes Mr Jordan, with Robert Montgomery as a boxer, and the 1978 film Heaven Can Wait, with Warren Beatty as a football player.

In Down to Earth, Chris Rock is probably at his best in his familiar guise as a stand-up comic, and he pulls quite a few laughs. The inevitable racial humour gags are watered down and fairly inoffensive. But although Rock is strong in the comedy department, he does not seem to have what it takes to be a strong film lead.

The supporting cast is quite good, and the story has a certain whimsical charm. But somehow it misses the mark.

Bridget Jones’s Diary

A bright and breezy adaptation of Helen Fielding’s best-selling novel of the same name.

Renée Zellweger (Nurse Betty, Jerry Maguire) stars in the title role as the dynamic, irrepressible and outrageously original Bridget Jones.

At the start of the New Year, 32-year-old hopelessly single Bridget decides that it’s time for her to seize the day - and start keeping a diary. From this point in her life, the most scandalous, outrageous and hilarious book on her bedside table is the one she’s writing.

In true modern style, Bridget’s character is into self-improvement and developing inner-poise. She has opinions on everything from food and exercise to the men in her life.

Hugh Grant (Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill) and Colin Firth (The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love) provide the romantic interest.

The Animal

This comedy has a certain creepy topicality, given people’s alarm about bio-technology and the possible side effects of genetically-modified “Frankenstein” foods.

A man, in the course of undergoing life-saving surgery, receives animal organ transplants. Then he starts behaving like the animals.

The storyline lends itself to some predictable animal gags, with Rob Schneider (of Saturday Night Live fame) exercising his diverse comic talents.

He barfs up hairballs, shakes himself like a dog, and impersonates Flipper the Dolphin.

Blow

In a few short years during the 1970s, powder cocaine turned from a relatively obscure illegal drug to a multi-billion dollar international business with the power to make or break nations.

Blow is based on Bruce Porter’s non-fiction book of the same name. Porter revealed not only how powder cocaine came to be America’s biggest drug problem, but also traced the extraordinary life of George Jung, who started out his adult life as a happy-go-lucky Californian hippy and ended up as right-hand man to Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The film reveals the dark underside of the false glamour associated with the drugs culture. It looks at the smuggling rackets, the ruthless negotiations, the trail of murders and money-laundering.

Through the life of George Jung (Johnny Depp) it tells a parable of the American Dream gone terribly wrong.

Says director/producer Ted Demme: “A lot of people can relate to what George wanted, which was basically never to be told by anyone - not his parents or politicians or the law - what he could or couldn’t do.”

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