goingplacesmagazine.com
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80
| August 2019WANT HELP WITH WHAT TO
WATCH THIS MONTH?
FILMMAKER AND DIRECTOR
KAM RASLAN MAKES THE CASE
FOR THESE MOVIES.
FILM REVIEWS
Tolkien, Shazam! and Avengers: Endgame are
playing onboard. Check your in-flight entertainment
system for channel information.AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Since 2008’s Iron Man, there have been 22
movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU) that have made a combined gross of
over USD20 billion (RM83 billion) at the global
box office. To put that figure in perspective,
it’s not even nearly the GDP of Wakanda. But
that’s not including toys and merchandise
(from which the Star Wars franchise had
already made USD30 billion [RM124 billion] by
2012), and product endorsements. Avengers:
Endgame looks set to be the most successful
Marvel movie yet – at over USD2 billion (RM8
billion) – possibly beating Avatar to become
the most successful movie of all time, and it
brings to an end MCU’s third phase (sort of,
there’s still a Spider-Man movie to come).
With Avengers: Endgame, we tie up storylines
that have been bubbling away since Captain
America: Civil War (2016) and beyond, we
see characters die (oops, spoiler alert) and
we witness an epic rematch with the most
powerful evil villain in cinema history: Thanos.
In fact, so much is brought to a head in this
movie that I wouldn’t have been surprised if
Luke Skywalker turned up.
The MCU is a dazzling achievement. Never
before has it been attempted to make movies
that satisfy individually and also play their
part in telling a much wider multi-movie
story arc. Time will tell if they can successfully
continue these cycles or if Avengers: Endgame
will become remembered as the highpoint. It’s
an amazing end, and it might be an amazing
new beginning.
SHAZAM!
The greatest superhero war is the one
being waged between Marvel and DC. DC
movies have made a mere USD3 billion
(RM12.4 billion) worldwide, but it is finally
finding its mojo.
Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC
Extended Universe has made some missteps
over the years. The mood of 2016’s Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice was far too dark,
completely forgetting the original appeal that
movies inspired by comic books should be
fun. Instead, we were suddenly shown that
the wholesome Superman is so powerful that
he can destroy us all, and that Batman wants
to kill him. I mean, what?! DC movies were
becoming humourless, violent, way too male
and way too dark.
Wonder Woman has successfully introduced
a female dimension (it even feels like Marvel
has been playing catch-up with Captain
Marvel) but it’s really with Aquaman and now
with Shazam! that DC has decided that comic
book movies can be fun, even silly.
Shazam! is about troubled foster-child Billy
Batson trying to find and always rejecting
a home and a family. Oh, and he becomes
a superhero with an adult’s body along the
way. Shazam! succeeds because it doesn’t
labour to overly explain the bizarre new
dimension in which Batson finds himself; it
just happens because of sheer desperation
and now he has to find out what it means for
him. Eventually he has to save the world, but
first, he’s just a kid. So, what does he do with
his newfound powers? With his hands that
shoot lightning, he goes busking for pocket
money. Shazam! is fun.
TOLKIEN
Have you ever wondered where authors
find their inspiration? How did the Oxford
professor J.R.R. Tolkien create the legends
of Middle Earth with its Hobbits, elves, men,
Orcs, walking trees, dragons, Sauron, Mount
Doom and so much more? How did an
orphaned English boy with a German name
grow up to create the entire fantasy genre
with his epic book The Lord of the Rings that
has inspired generations of nerdy teenagers,
rock bands like Led Zeppelin, and Peter
Jackson who made the hugely successful
movie adaptations? If you’ve ever wondered
where authors find their inspiration, then
Tolkien holds the answer. It is through the
experiences of tragedy, friendship, a quest for
knowledge, love and war. You know, regular
everyday stuff.
Tolkien is a rare film these days. It is
thoughtful, intelligent, understatedly moving
and visually beautiful. And, incredibly, it’s
about an author who was born in 1892.
Orphaned at an early age, Tolkien became
suddenly poor and was torn away from the
English countryside idyll that remained an
inspiration throughout his life. But thanks
to his beautiful mind, he found his way to a
good school where he forged a fellowship
with three friends who were determined to
change the world. You could call it their
quest. Then the First World War intervenes,
and it is in the blood-filled trenches that
Tolkien meets the Orc-like enemy armed with
flame-throwers like dragons. But throughout
his life on the knife-edge of poverty, through
school, at Oxford and at war, he never could
forget his quietly burning love for fellow
foster-child Edith.
Obviously, Tolkien is a movie, so it contracts,
compresses and fictionalises, but the essence
is believable and moving, and Nicholas Hoult
is excellent as the young author. I really
enjoyed Tolkien. I hope you do too.
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