Mubi Monday: Malcolm X (1992)

The more films I watch, or rewatch, from Spike Lee, the more I am inclined to shout at everyone around me about him being one of the most sadly under-appreciated master directors of modern cinema. I'm not saying that every film he does works, and there are many elements that you can dissect and argue over in even his best films, but, more often than not, the man knows how to make his points. That sometimes means bringing the film to an end with a number of people addressing the viewer directly in a plea for them to understand the point, to empathise with long-held grievances against social injustices and racism that are, despite being given some modern alterations, just as painful today as they have been decades ago.

Malcolm X is a biopic of the titular figure, but it's also so much more than that. It's a celebration of a man who had his fair share of problems, and it's another scorching statement from Lee on the need to accept human flaws when those humans end up working hard to embolden and progress people who have spent too many years abused and held down.

Denzel Washington takes on the title role, and he delivers a performance that may well be the best he's ever delivered. If you're at all familiar with his work then you'll know that is no slight compliment. Malcolm X is shown from the earliest scenes to be a charming and magnetic presence. He's also shown to be a bit of a criminal, and quite fearless about it. This puts him in the orbit of West Indian Archie (Delroy Lindo), but also eventually puts him in prison. That's when his life starts to change, eventually, and he grows more fully into the man that would make such an impact on the African American community, and a major impact on the life of Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett).

It’s hard to be even-handed in praising Malcolm X, as it is hard to be even-handed with so many other Lee films that feel unfairly forgotten or neglected nowadays. Is this his masterpiece? Maybe. It’s definitely a strong contender, and the only reason I cannot rate it here and now as his very best is due to the quality of his output throughout his career. It’s certainly not perfect, but that feels nicely in alignment with the imperfect figure at the centre of it.

Everyone onscreen is doing great work, which is to be expected when you read through the cast list, but even the brilliant Lindo and Bassett are overshadowed by the brilliance of Washington here. It doesn’t unbalance the film though, and is no criticism of their performances. It is exactly how it should be, considering the power this man had over so many others, and the energy he could pass along to motivate others.

The pacing is the only main issue I have with this, but it’s easy to see why Arnold Perl and Lee would have a problem deciding what to leave out of any screenplay adaptation of the autobiography of Malcolm X. I am happy that they tried to give us too much as opposed to not nearly enough.

Like so many other Lee features, this is riveting, passionate, angry, intelligent, and quick to underline major problems that continue to affect people every single day. I am sure that it’s not a coincidence that the same words could be used to describe Malcolm X himself.

9/10

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Netflix And Chill: Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)

I reviewed Beverly Hills Cop quite a few years ago now. I rewatched Beverly Hills Cop II a few times, but kept forgetting to do anything more than a capsule review for it. But the time was right to finally revisit the undercooked Beverly Hills Cop III, a film that I hadn't been brave enough to revisit since it first hit the home rental market back in the mid-'90s.

The plot is quite simple. Eddie Murphy is back in the role of Axel Foley. The death of Foley’s boss leads him to investigate a crime ring that he believes is operating out of a Los Angeles amusement park. He reunites with Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), and quickly gets himself into a whole heap of trouble while trying to gather evidence that will lead to the prosecution of a bad guy that he KNOWS is the bad guy (Timothy Carhart).

This should have been another great entry in a series that was already two for two. Heroes & villains confronting one another against the backdrop of various  amusement park rides. Writer Steven E. de Souza is someone who has delivered some great action movies, but he’s also written some that were not so great. This falls into the latter category. The action isn’t good enough, the comedy not funny enough, which just leaves the whole thing as another fairly limp star vehicle for Murphy at a time when every Murphy film inevitably felt like that.

Putting John Landis in the director’s chair just have seemed like a very good idea, considering his past glories with Murphy in a leading role, but he ultimately doesn’t have a handle on the tone and what is truly needed for the series. There are the expected cameos you expect from a Landis movie, but not enough care is given to the plot (and let’s not pretend that Foley does any decent detective work here).

Murphy is still good enough in this role to make it watchable, and Reinhold is fun (although he doesn’t get any of the interplay he previously had with John Ashton’s character, notably absent here and sorely missed). Hector Elizondo is okay, but not really good enough as a replacement for Ashton’s character, and Stephen McHattie gets to come along every once in a while to lay down the law as an angry Fed. Carhart is a bit of a weak villain, commanding a small army of bland henchmen, John Saxon is someone you know must be involved somehow (due to being John Saxon), and Theresa Randle tries her best in a role that makes her a potential love interest/damsel in distress. Oh, and it’s fun to see Bronson Pinchot return for a scene or two, having moved from the world of art to the world of heavy-duty self defence.

The cast help make this more fun than it otherwise would be. It’s a bad film, but it’s a bad film that remains watchable, for the most part, if you don’t mind spending time with a likable main character on one of his lesser adventures. And it would have been even better if it had felt more in line with the previous two movies.

5/10

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The Guardian (1990)

Throughout the history of the horror genre, there haven't ever been too many terrifying trees. Oh, there have been some (that nasty bunch of pervy perennials in The Evil Dead movies and that twisted old thing in Poltergeist to name the only two I can think of off the top of my head), but by and large, trees don't instil a sense of fear and dread. Unless you're a huge Marc Bolan fan.

The Guardian is a story all about a deadly tree. Jenny Seagrove plays Camilla, a beautiful young woman who ends up being employed by Phil (Dwier Brown) and Kate (Carey Lowell) to look after their new-born son. What the new parents don't know, however, is that Camilla is a bit of a spooky Druid witchy woooooo type and she seeks out new-born children to sacrifice to a big tree. Yes, it's a standard "wolf in sheep's clothing" thriller wearing a cloak of magic.

Just what those involved were thinking is beyond me. Based on a novel by Dan Greenburg, Stephen Volk was the poor guy who tried to turn the laughable premise (which may have worked much better in the book, I don't know) into a decent horror film. With William Friedkin in the director's chair I'm sure that there was always some hope, however slim, of it all turning out well. Sadly, that wasn't the case.

It remains an entertaining movie, but for all the wrong reasons. Viewers can laugh as someone gets decapitated by a deadly branch or ogle the attractive Jenny Seagrove in the many scenes involving her not wearing that much clothing, if any. Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell (who obviously wanted a hit after Licence To Kill to save her from the fate of being "just another Bond girl) try their best, but by the time everything starts getting out of control it's hard to believe that both didn't have any earlier suspicions about the new, perfect nanny. Brad Hall is that thriller staple - the friendly face who stumbles on to the bad secret before the leads - and he's treated pretty badly by the script. Miguel Ferrer has a small role, Xander Berkeley pops up in the last reel in a small role and Theresa Randle has, you guessed it, a small role as one of the potential nanny candidates before Seagrove ensures her own placement in that position.

It's not dull, though it's not very lively either, and none of the set-pieces have the impact that they were obviously supposed to have, but it's not without its charm and I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I had any right to. I recommend that others give it a try, if only to allow me to continue maintaining the fantasy that I'm not the only one who sometimes enjoys such nonsense.

5/10

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