Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)

Also the name of an underground, fetish porno.

There is not a single genre of film out there that results in more abysmal failures than the spoof. For every Shaun of the Dead, there are a dozen movies, Epic Movie, Date Movie and Meet the Spartans to name a few, to offset it. For every Airplane!, you get at least five Scary Movie sequels. Especially recently, the spoof has become an easy way for filmmakers and producers to make a quick buck. With this in mind, it's hard for me to approach any spoof film with an open mind, but Tucker and Dale vs Evil seemed to have the right ingredients in place for something worth watching. While it isn't exactly a slam-dunk success, Tucker and Dale vs Evil is certainly a better movie than it's title, premise or the people involved would imply.

While not a direct spoof of any particular movie, Tucker and Dale vs Evil follows a pretty familiar premise. A group of college kids is camping in the woods when they startsuddenly dying and disappearing in gruesome ways. The difference here is that the creepy hillbillies aren't to blame. Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are simply vacationing in their brand new, but slightly dilapidated, vacation home when they get caught up in a gruesome and hilarious set of accidents. After rescuing one of the college students from drowning, Tucker and Dale are assaulted by the kids, who believe that they have kidnapped their friend for devious purposes, and things go from bad to worse as the kids seem to discover their true talent; killing themselves by accident. Ultimately, the two friends must confront the real evil lurking in the woods to save themselves and their new friend Allison (Katrina Bowden), the college student they rescued. Ultimately the clever premise goes a long way in making the movie enjoyable, but where the movie truly succeeds in it's genuineness.

In a lot of ways Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a stupid movie. Most of the college students are blank stereotypes, which is fine in this kind of movie, but Allison, the one college student you're supposed to like, is so woefully acted by Bowden that it's hard to really want to see anymore of her. Each time she got knocked out, I secretly applauded that I wouldn't have to see her terribly bland performance for at least a little while. Luckily, both Tudyk and Labine are stellar in their respective rolls. There is some real chemistry between the two and both their characters are wonderfully well written. Both actors handle the comic and the serious with an easiness that suggests the years of friendship between them and it really helps that I can buy into them since the stuff that happens to them is so ludicrous. There is a particularly touching moment with the two of them towards the end that really shows off the actor's and writer's skill and crafting and demonstrating history. It's unexpectedly top notch work in a movie of this sort. This being said, the sheer lunacy of the movie and the generally lackluster supporting cast keep the movie from reaching anything really special.

The trick to a good spoof is that the movie stands on it's own even if it owes it's existence to other films. Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a quirky horror comedy that spoofs the genre conventions, but would remain a decent movie even without the references and the clever genre twists. It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it's certainly good for a few laughs. If you give it a chance, Tucker and Dale vs Evil just might surprise you the same way it surprised me.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Welcome to Sweden, rape capitol of the world.

In a move that is probably more cliche than simply reviewing the most recent film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's immensely popular novel, I've taken a step back in time to catch up on the original Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I'm not entirely unfamiliar with the movies and their source material, but I have never read the books. What's great about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is that you don't need to be familiar with the source material to enjoy the film. As a stand alone product, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an intense journey into some of the darkest places in the human experience and one that is thrilling and fantastically captivating.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows the initially separate narratives of investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), whose life was turned upside-down by his recent conviction for libel, and hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) who takes a job doing a background investigation of Mikael for a potential employer. Mikael is subsequently hired as a private investigator to solve the cold-case murder of a young girl and Lisbeth secretly aids his search by hacking his computer and leaving clues. As their lives become entangled, they unravel the mysteries of a thirty year old murder and discover the dark secrets that have kept the crime from being solved while dealing with their own personal demons. Mikael struggles with his obsession to solve the murder as Lisbeth battles internal and external forces, particularly her sadistic legal guardian, that assault her from every angle. The resulting labyrinth-like plot is full of surprises and moments of pure violent realism that ground the characters and story in a way that greatly increases the film's realism.

What helps The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo stand above so many murder mystery thrillers just like it is the believability of the characters and the intense moments they experience. Both the actors and the director deserve heaps of credit for this. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo certainly doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the sadistic violence that is perpetrated against it's characters and the actor's go further to sell that violence and, more importantly, the lasting effects of it. Rape and sexual assault are extremely hard to put on camera successfully and immensely disturbing when done correctly. The film walks the razor edge of disturbing and exploitative masterfully primarily because of Rapace's ability to sell the after effects of what happens to her. Each and every sexual assault she is the victim of is shot with just enough imagery to make it clear what is transpiring, but it's really the following scenes of her trying to deal with the trauma that leave the lasting impression. It's these moments that truly help the audience buy into her as a believable character and make her subsequent revenge actions, which are wonderfully sadistic, more believable.

While the blunt force of the violence in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo leaves the greatest lasting impression, so much can be about the general mood of foreboding director Niels Arden Oplev creates for the entire movie. From the general shot selection to the music to the settings chosen, everything about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo screams of dark secrets hidden just underneath the surface. Shots are wider and held for longer than normal and the music seems to blend seamlessly instead of pounding beats of score that some thrillers utilize. Combine this with the vast emptiness of rural Sweden and you have a seemingly empty, but somehow troubling atmosphere. Ultimately this creates a slow, almost plodding, feeling that is magnificently punctuated by intense violence that is expected, but still shocking. Every moment of the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo seems filled to the brim with dread and suspense. This speaks to a unity of vision that for the film that is truly remarkable.

Ironically, if someone were asking me about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I would tell them that it had a feeling similar to a David Fincher thriller. It's slow, almost too slow at points, but all the elements of the film work to build an intensity that really supports the film's narrative. Sprinkle in some great performances and you have a movie that's sure to appeal to a lot of diverse tastes. If you're at all squeamish about violence against women, I'd probably stay away from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but few thrillers are as intense or leave this kind of lasting impression.

8/10