The Order

Nicholas Hoult

Justin Kurzel's The Order is a decent, if not particularly interesting crime drama. Jude Law plays an FBI agent investigating a series of major crimes in the Pacific Northwest during the early 1980s. In the course of his investigation, the agent discovers the perpetrators are white supremacists, the titular order, who have splintered off the Aryan Nation. The order is led by the charismatic Bob Matthews, brilliantly portrayed by Nicholas Hoult in a so good he's quite scary performance. Law's character enlists a Coeur d'Alene deputy (Tye Sheridan) to help flush out the evildoers while putting up with the usual barbs from his superior (an underused Jurnee Smollett). Though this is compelling, mostly true to life tale, Kurzel's lack of intensity as a director causes this film to rarely rise above the routine.

Matthews was a real life character, but the identities of almost all of the law enforcement officers have been changed. Some people may have heard of this case because, among his many felonies, Matthews masterminded the murder of Denver talk show host Alan Berg (a perfectly cast Marc Maron); a crime which was the basis of Oliver Stone's Talk Radio. Zach Baylin's screenplay, adapted from the non-fiction The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, offers a firm foundation for a film. Events and their repercussions are clearly and logically laid out. I appreciated how Baylin presents a contrast, or lack thereof, between the families of Matthews and the deputy; both seemingly idyllic and well-adjusted. Sheridan's character is married to a Native American woman (an underused Morgan Holmstrom) who fears her his husband is being led to his doom by the reckless Law; and if you've ever seen a movie, like the one with Bambi and Thumper, you know this will prove true.

Matthews seems to have his wife firmly under his thumb, but she (the underused Alison Oliver) is beginning to have misgivings when Bob starts giving their son lessons in automatic weaponry and, especially, when he impregnates another woman. The big contrast is actually between the two family men and the bereft Law whose wife has dumped him and stopped returning his calls. Law's character is supposed to be an adrenaline junkie whose rash nature jeopardizes those around him, like Al Pacino's character in Heat. Law's performance is adequate, but he never captures his character's fury. The only miscasting in the film, but it's a fatal one. Likewise, Kurzel's direction is merely serviceable. Some of his duds seem preordained, especially Assassin's Creed, but even when gifted with promising material, here and with Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, he has yet to deliver a satisfying film.            

La Otra

Agustín Irusta and Delores del Río

Roberto Gavaldón's La Otra (The Other) is a pretty good melodrama from 1946 that features Dolores del Río in a dual role. Gavaldón and his collaborators repurposed a Warners Brothers script written by Rian James that had been meant to star Bette Davis. Interestingly, Davis did star in a later redo of the script, 1964's Dead Ringers which was directed by Paul Henreid. Ms. del Rio plays twins Maria and Magdalena Méndez who we meet at the funeral of Magdalena's wealthy husband. Maria is a downtrodden and bespectacled manicurist who toils at a barber shop. She ekes out a living from this while fending off the unwanted advances of her clients. She has a virtuous boyfriend, Roberto (Agustin Irusta), who is such a model of rectitude that he doesn't even take off his trench coat when bussing Maria. 

In contrast to Maria, Magdalena is a bitch on wheels who lives in palatial splendor. Ms. del Río is introduced in a mirror shot as Magdalena, emphasizing her vanity, and has great fun wallowing in her character's wickedness. Maria has numerous issues with her sister, not least of which was landing that rich husband, and plots to rub her out and take her place. She lures Magdalena to her humble flat, shoots her, plants a suicide note, changes clothes and goes to Magdalena's mansion disguised as her. Of course, the transition into her sister's life does not go altogether smoothly. Magdalena's pet mastiff knows Maria is an imposter from the get go. Maria also has problems functioning without her glasses. More problematic is the sudden appearance of Magdalena's sleazy lover Fernando (Victor Junco in the Zachary Scott role) whose machinations seal Maria's doom.

Gavaldón shoots the film in a lurid expressionistic style, with the aid of cinematographer Alex Phillips, in a manner appropriate to the material. He uses mirrors not only to indicate Magdalena's vanity, but also to signal Maria's loss of actual identity amidst a multiplicity of identities. The chessboard pattern in the foyer of Magdalena's mansion is doubled by the same pattern at Maria's workplace, contrasting starkly the lifestyles of the two. The murder takes place at Christmas time and Gavaldón contrasts the Yuletide joy of children with Maria's perfidy. As in his later film Macario, Gavaldón's affection for the folk rituals and pageantry of Mexican life is evident. Composer Raul Lavista use of the theremin in the score adds a spooky note to the proceedings. 

The final third of La Otra does bog down in overwrought speeches and needless contrivances. Maria's decision to brand one of her hands with a hot poker seems a bit of an overreaction given the circumstances. However, from the first shot of a coffin being lowered into the earth to a final shot of iron bars obscuring del Río's face, Gavaldón's masterly control of the medium is in evidence. The print I saw was pretty dire, but even in a crappy print the director's vision shines like a beacon.      

Gladiator 2

Paul Mescal

What a dull film Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2 is despite its many bloody fracases, Roman decadence, wicked twin Emperors, and an entertainingly grandstanding Denzel Washington. The aura of Scott's gift for spectacle dims because the film feels like a retread instead of a reinvention. Everything about the new film is a pale facsimile of the first one starting with leading man Paul Mescal. Russell Crowe is a bloated and self-parodying shadow of his former self these days having become drunk on his own grunts, but during the era of Gladiator he was one of our finest film actors. Mescal is a pretty good pick for a sensitive sort, but lacks the machismo of  a Crowe. Even in a bulked up form, Mescal looks like he would last thirty seconds with the MMA and WWF rejects Scott has assembled as his gladiators.

The battles royales of Gladiator 2 seem less vivid and imaginative this time. I thought the feral CGI monkeys looked particularly fake. I remember seeing the trailer for the first film, mostly shots of a tiger assaulting Mr. Crowe as a Kid Rock song blared, and thinking that it was brilliant marketing. At last, a sword and sandal epic was jettisoning the Victorian conventions employed by Hollywood and exemplified by Cecil B. DeMille. The film was a hit because it pandered to a young male audience's thirst for violence, not because it had an interesting plot or clever dialogue. I thought it was OK. Master thespians like Crowe, Richard Harris, Joaquin Phoenix, and Oliver Reed helped paper over the plot holes. Because of the high body count of the first film, the only actors we have left for 2 are Derek Jacobi and Connie Nielsen, and, unfortunately, only one of these people can act.

Nielsen is married in the film to Pedro Pascal, who plays a General involved in a conspiracy against the evil twin Emperors. I cared not a whit. Like most of Ridley Scott's films, Gladiator 2 is lovely to look at, but ridiculous in its predictability. Scott once again draws parallels between imperial Rome and modern fascism, but to what end if one is inclined nod off at the ninety minute mark. Scott has had a long career of hits and misses. For every Alien or Thelma and Louise there is a Legend or a Robin Hood. Of all the films in his oeuvre, Gladiator 2 most reminds me of Kingdom of Heaven, a similarly empty epic with one very good supporting performance: Edward Norton as a leprous King. Denzel Washington's performance is similarly skilled, but can't mitigate the overall tedium of Gladiator 2.