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Sunday, Jul 13, 2008
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A supersonic superhero, a wannabe-warrior….

ZIYA US SALAM

Are you game? : “Hancock” (left), story of a not-so-superb superhero, and “Kung Fu Panda,” tale of an overweight warrior panda, are the new movies this week.

Are you game? : “Hancock” (left), story of a not-so-superb superhero, and “Kung Fu Panda,” tale of an overweight warrior panda, are the new movies this week.

HANCOCK

(At Delite Diamond and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

Big W comes to Big B territory. And delivers a film that is so unusually Bollywood-like that it could as well have been made for a certain Hrithik Roshan by someone called Rakesh Roshan! Here the Hollywood superhero can fling and fly, travel across Universe at supersonic speed, palm off bullets, break through walls, and lift cars with his fingernails! Come on, it might as well have been a Rajnikanth film the connoisseurs are so fond of running down. But not many will dare to do that: part of the reason is it is a Will Smith film. That brings with it a certain dignity, a certain self-contained expression not easy to ridicule. And also part of the reason is the hero himself: he is so cool that he makes incredible seem not only possible but also plausible.

Hey, this is a Will Smith film, the guy who has recently shown hitherto unsuspected interest in India – hey, we even have a Sardarji in a walk-on part here in this film! So the movie comes riding on lots of hype and initial craze. A few minutes inside the auditorium, and everything seems worth it.

Will’s Hancock is not exactly a goofball though he is often just a sentence away from the next gab. All along, he maintains a serious, almost deadpan expression that only makes the viewer’s smile linger. And a little into the second half, we get to see the human side of the indestructible crime buster, a man who has lived on this earth for almost eternity but refuses to age. He is 80 – time stood still then! – looks less than 40. He has seen tragedies down the centuries, and come out unscathed.

What’s the story of director Peter Berg’s film? Well, does it need one? For academic purposes, our hero is strong and powerful and flings himself into crisis situations with monotonous regularity. He saves people in distress. His Superman-style leaps though are not without consequences and collateral damage: he is, as Jason Bateman delightfully explains it, an angel to some and a criminal for cops.

He gets into the swing of things by saving the car of PR man Ray – played with ease by Bateman – stuck on a railway crossing in the nick of time in front of a speeding train. The grateful guy, on his part, decides to give him a make-over. He is no longer to be an oddball, a guy who does good and comes across as bad! And takes him home to the consternation of his wife – played with surprising relish by Charlize Theron.

That is where the catch lies: are we to see a superhero finally finding his match? Or is there a twist in the tale? Is he one of a kind, a man for whom the clock stopped ticking? A guy whose breed is facing extinction? Or is he just a normal man with superpowers?

Let’s save that for those who shell out money from their pocket for the film. Suffice to say, despite its generosity with cuss words, it is not a bad bargain. Yes, the Hindi version on view at several theatres across Delhi is even more delightful with the constant insertion of one-liners set to appeal to the masses. All across, there is taut editing, good pace, focused narration. And, of course, Will Smith makes it worth your while.

KUNG FU PANDA

(At Satyam, Nehru Place and other theatres)

Jackie Chan meets Pixar, oops, DreamWorks. Martial art embraces animation in probably the first of such attempts. It is brave without being reckless; it is novel without wearing you down with its novelties. A nice idea attains fruition.

All this thanks to the amusing lead character, Po the Panda, who gets you to smile often. His body language,his eye expression, the tenor of his speech all add to his appeal. To add to his computer-generated wizardry is some wonderful make-over work by artists as adept and varied as Jackie Chan, Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie. Some like Chan don’t get as much screen time to bring their full-scale action persona to animation. Others, like Black and Hoffman, have a field day. The result? The film works. For kids, who are the target audience, and for adults, who enjoy the spin-off for being generous with their time.

Directors Stevenson and Mark Osborne’s “Kung Fu Panda” has little kung fu, lots of panda.

Nobody is complaining, though, simply because the cuddly bear is more than just loveable. He is, in fact, gorgeous, with the heart of a kid, and the body, well, of an overgrown kid!

The little panda who stumbles and rolls through life is a waiter wannabe kung fu master. The panda is blessed with the spirit of a warrior but saddled with a body which does not quite lend itself to such arduous tasks as to demolish opponents with even a punch, or a cut.

In his child-like fantasies, Po the panda regularly makes mincemeat of his formidable opponents. In reality, he is not quite in the league. Yet he is chosen as the dragon warrior who must defend good, overcome evil.

It all gives rise to a lot of clean laughs as the panda struggles to find his feet. The pace never slows, the camaraderie between the animal characters is more than passably good. Some of the animation work is top class and some voice-overs add more than just a bonus.

So, this weekend, if you have kids at home and in heart, just get out of home. Catch up with “Kung Fu Panda.” Not quite “Monsters, Inc,” but it is still enjoyable stuff. Good show, good fun.

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