Ready for launch
This week marks the release of the Incredibles on DVD. My 7-11 was selling it a day early and so, of course, I had to buy it. The film is an absolute gem. If you were to simply take away the character development and the humor, the film would have still been in the top 10 of last year on the strength of it’s action scenes. It’s not just that the characters have amazing powers, it’s that the scenes which they use them in are overflowing with imagination.
Examples:
Elastigirl is sneaking through the enemy base and gets caught in a door. She then follows a man to get his key to open the door her leg is stuck in, only to… get her torso stuck in another door.
Dash is evading the saw-choppers (or whatever you would call the flying devices on the island) and even before he makes his daring escape on water, he runs through a mass of flies and has to suffer through swallowing a few of them and wiping them off his face.
Even when there are traditional nods to super’s needing certain elements to be effective (a la how Silver Surfer rarely faced a situation where his powers couldn’t help or Aquaman always found water to help in the direst of moments) like Frozone needing a drink of water, they still manage to seem natural and not forced.
Even Syndrome’s island, while merely a set piece, is an absolute marvel or creativity. Much of it seems like a James Bond movie taken to the extreme with a rail system, splitting water- and lava- falls, to the Spartan interiors of the compound. Wondrous conceptions litter the landscape so that no corner of film is left unnoticed in conception in a way that A New Hope and Empire seemed to do.
But the characters! In it’s basic sense it is essentially a struggle of growing old on a supercharged scale, with the struggles of attempting to regain the lost adventures of youth and the innately forced mediocrity of routine and rhythm as driving forces. The motives of the older supers arcs are not those of Old School where the boys want the simple pleasures, they are broadened to levels where Mr. Incredible and Frozone are forced to subsume their gifts given for the greater good of the population (the sub theme of the chosen vs. the normal is a thesis in it’s own). The characters are not based on their powers, they exist because they struggle with the notion of acting in the greater good with their talents, and they have to face the reality of power vs. freedom, notoriety over restraint, happiness and a sense of selfishness vs. the freedom of others.
The thing is the thing though, and motivations and back-stories mean squat if the person on screen isn’t an entity of it’s own. There are 7 central characters, and most of them are formidably developed and explored. We as viewers get Dash and Violet as kids. We can buy Frozone as an ancillary/bonus creation, and a gem of one even if the race card is heavily played. The government official has a sense of normalcy and abruptness in a bureaucratic way, but one can tell he is going against his better judgment.
The big three deserve their own parts.
Elastigirl is a basic character resigned to a foil/wife/wet blanket role. But she is one who overcomes the trappings of the role in both a plot sense and in a literal way. She begins as a simple woman who has become to preoccupied with her other responsibilities, and crucially, as a woman who refuses to retain her “identity.”
Syndrome is a typical bad guy hell bent from honest intentions, and instead moves to terror for a selfish endgame. Deep down, he is a child that wants to be special (nicely balanced with Dash’s wishes to not withhold his given rights) and below the need for an approval from the masses, there is the superficial drive to be the only super around and then to diminish the whole mystique when he is done. If this movie was (more deliberately) a critique of class, he would be a champion of mass rights, and more of a likeable character. He is a villain because his methods are awful, but his motivations are not terrible.
And then there is Mr. Incredible. He is a good guy to the core, and one who is unabashedly sympathetic. He cheers when he can do the right thing, he wants to be special, but because of the changes in society, he is relegated to an equal. One could make a thesis on how he represents the modern role of the male in society, required to be functional, rarely appreciated, and restrained from taking joy in what he is best at. I make that assertion because the movie, despite being a “kids movie” is above and beyond the normal film, no pretense, that is in the cinema today. But I am not going to go further with the notion of his role as a reflection on modernity, because it’s a hollow argument, one that may be right but one that is essentially pointless. He is though, above all, a hero. And in an era where the term is tossed around way too lightly, it is nice to see an honest depiction of the ideal and the definition of the word.
These 7 characters existence in a movie is a reason to celebrate in itself. But the joy of the movie is not seeing them in action, it is watching them move.
The great stroke of Brad Bird in this movie is one of teasing, one that I can only compare to A New Hope. In both movies, we learn of the back-story of the heroes (Jedis and Supers) in terms of character development. We are teased with flashes of their skills, but its not until the second half of the movie we are fully exposed what they are truly capable of. In the Incredibles, we are given scenes like Mr. I and Frozone saving people in a fire; in a New Hope we see Obi-Wan dismissing storm troopers with mind tricks (these aren’t the droids you’re looking for).
When the family is on the island and finally begins to use their powers, it’s a release that has been building but one we never could have expected. It’s like a fireworks show, with Dash running over water, Violet sneaking, and Elastigirl and Mr. I fighting together. Luke took down the Death Star by simply letting go. That is why I use the analogy.
But above all the critical reasons why this film is a masterpiece, there is still the one reason that is hardest to put into words, the joy of the film itself. It is the hardest notion to capture, whether one is trying to praise the movie or dismiss it. But this film, in it’s universal acceptance really taps into one pulse that almost everyone can relate to.
Finally, the four are reunited and in the explosion of an attacking ship, we see Mr. I and Elastigirl look at each other and say I love you. Not only have those two been dying for the moment to use their powers, we as the audience have been reminded of what these characters really can do. It’s a perfect line for a moment, because both the characters on screen and the audience are relishing the same moment, the holding back of the movie before it has been lifted, and we are reminded why we are attracted to these type of characters.
We love heroes. Link
Examples:
Elastigirl is sneaking through the enemy base and gets caught in a door. She then follows a man to get his key to open the door her leg is stuck in, only to… get her torso stuck in another door.
Dash is evading the saw-choppers (or whatever you would call the flying devices on the island) and even before he makes his daring escape on water, he runs through a mass of flies and has to suffer through swallowing a few of them and wiping them off his face.
Even when there are traditional nods to super’s needing certain elements to be effective (a la how Silver Surfer rarely faced a situation where his powers couldn’t help or Aquaman always found water to help in the direst of moments) like Frozone needing a drink of water, they still manage to seem natural and not forced.
Even Syndrome’s island, while merely a set piece, is an absolute marvel or creativity. Much of it seems like a James Bond movie taken to the extreme with a rail system, splitting water- and lava- falls, to the Spartan interiors of the compound. Wondrous conceptions litter the landscape so that no corner of film is left unnoticed in conception in a way that A New Hope and Empire seemed to do.
But the characters! In it’s basic sense it is essentially a struggle of growing old on a supercharged scale, with the struggles of attempting to regain the lost adventures of youth and the innately forced mediocrity of routine and rhythm as driving forces. The motives of the older supers arcs are not those of Old School where the boys want the simple pleasures, they are broadened to levels where Mr. Incredible and Frozone are forced to subsume their gifts given for the greater good of the population (the sub theme of the chosen vs. the normal is a thesis in it’s own). The characters are not based on their powers, they exist because they struggle with the notion of acting in the greater good with their talents, and they have to face the reality of power vs. freedom, notoriety over restraint, happiness and a sense of selfishness vs. the freedom of others.
The thing is the thing though, and motivations and back-stories mean squat if the person on screen isn’t an entity of it’s own. There are 7 central characters, and most of them are formidably developed and explored. We as viewers get Dash and Violet as kids. We can buy Frozone as an ancillary/bonus creation, and a gem of one even if the race card is heavily played. The government official has a sense of normalcy and abruptness in a bureaucratic way, but one can tell he is going against his better judgment.
The big three deserve their own parts.
Elastigirl is a basic character resigned to a foil/wife/wet blanket role. But she is one who overcomes the trappings of the role in both a plot sense and in a literal way. She begins as a simple woman who has become to preoccupied with her other responsibilities, and crucially, as a woman who refuses to retain her “identity.”
Syndrome is a typical bad guy hell bent from honest intentions, and instead moves to terror for a selfish endgame. Deep down, he is a child that wants to be special (nicely balanced with Dash’s wishes to not withhold his given rights) and below the need for an approval from the masses, there is the superficial drive to be the only super around and then to diminish the whole mystique when he is done. If this movie was (more deliberately) a critique of class, he would be a champion of mass rights, and more of a likeable character. He is a villain because his methods are awful, but his motivations are not terrible.
And then there is Mr. Incredible. He is a good guy to the core, and one who is unabashedly sympathetic. He cheers when he can do the right thing, he wants to be special, but because of the changes in society, he is relegated to an equal. One could make a thesis on how he represents the modern role of the male in society, required to be functional, rarely appreciated, and restrained from taking joy in what he is best at. I make that assertion because the movie, despite being a “kids movie” is above and beyond the normal film, no pretense, that is in the cinema today. But I am not going to go further with the notion of his role as a reflection on modernity, because it’s a hollow argument, one that may be right but one that is essentially pointless. He is though, above all, a hero. And in an era where the term is tossed around way too lightly, it is nice to see an honest depiction of the ideal and the definition of the word.
These 7 characters existence in a movie is a reason to celebrate in itself. But the joy of the movie is not seeing them in action, it is watching them move.
The great stroke of Brad Bird in this movie is one of teasing, one that I can only compare to A New Hope. In both movies, we learn of the back-story of the heroes (Jedis and Supers) in terms of character development. We are teased with flashes of their skills, but its not until the second half of the movie we are fully exposed what they are truly capable of. In the Incredibles, we are given scenes like Mr. I and Frozone saving people in a fire; in a New Hope we see Obi-Wan dismissing storm troopers with mind tricks (these aren’t the droids you’re looking for).
When the family is on the island and finally begins to use their powers, it’s a release that has been building but one we never could have expected. It’s like a fireworks show, with Dash running over water, Violet sneaking, and Elastigirl and Mr. I fighting together. Luke took down the Death Star by simply letting go. That is why I use the analogy.
But above all the critical reasons why this film is a masterpiece, there is still the one reason that is hardest to put into words, the joy of the film itself. It is the hardest notion to capture, whether one is trying to praise the movie or dismiss it. But this film, in it’s universal acceptance really taps into one pulse that almost everyone can relate to.
Finally, the four are reunited and in the explosion of an attacking ship, we see Mr. I and Elastigirl look at each other and say I love you. Not only have those two been dying for the moment to use their powers, we as the audience have been reminded of what these characters really can do. It’s a perfect line for a moment, because both the characters on screen and the audience are relishing the same moment, the holding back of the movie before it has been lifted, and we are reminded why we are attracted to these type of characters.
We love heroes. Link
posted by Indiana at
1:50 AM
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