The Shape of Water & Atomic Blonde

*****

The Shape of Water

(2017 Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Story by Guillermo del Toro.  

Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor.

119 minutes.

Cast: Sally Hawkins (Elisa Esposito), Richard Jenkins (Giles), Michael Shannon (Richard Strickland), Octavia Spencer (Zelda Fuller), Doug Jones (Amphibian Man), David Hewlett (Fleming), Nick Searcy (General Hoyt).

This film is one that I had been looking forward to for some time.  When I read about Guillermo del Toro working on it my hope was that it would be as good as I knew it could be.  As you may be able to tell from some of the other content on F&TVReview, I was a fan of the Universal horror films.  The Creature from the Black Lagoon was always a favorite of mine.  I think it was because it was a step away from the more familiar gothic horror like Dracula and the Wolfman that we were more common then.  It was so different and the underwater photography was incredible.

In a year of offbeat films, this one was far and away the most unusual (Colossal was a close second in the offbeat category–but both of them are poignant, each in their own way).  The writer/director‘s love for the source material is evident in every frame of The Shape of Water.  The casting is astonishingly good.  In short, the film rocketed beyond my wildest hopes for it.  It earned every word of praise that it has received and every award.  It exceeded my expectations in ways that I didn’t even suspect were possible.  He visulized the creature in a way that is more realistic as well as more fantastic.  He imagined the unimaginable and made it work with dignity and grace.  The alien is not always so far away that the distance cannot be breached with love and understanding.

Sally Hawkins is perfect as the woman that falls in love with the creature.  Her empathy is apparent from the moment that she realizes how the creature is being treated.  Richard Jenkins’ Giles is a faithful friend who understands her plight.  They know that they have to free the poor creature and don’t care that the task is impossible.  They push beyond all reasonable odds.  It is good to see justice, even if it’s fantasy justice. The photography is lush and beautifully sea colored throughout this Valentine to a bygone Hollywood and an unfinished beauty and the beast story.   At a time when Universal is attempting to reboot it’s golden age of horror, maybe they should take a look at The Shape of Water to find the shape of things to come.

*****

Atomic Blonde (2017 Focus Features)

Directed by David Leitch.  Screenplay by Kurt Johnstad.  Based on Oni Press graphic novel series, The Coldest City.

Cast: Charlize Theron (Lorraine Broughton), James McAvoy (David Percival), Sofia Boutella (Delphine Lasalle), Eddie Marsan (Spyglass), John Goodman (Emmett Kurzfeld), Toby Jones (Eric Gray), James Faulkner (Chief ‘C’).

115 minutes.

You will not find an action film with more well executed action and mayhem anywhere.   Charlize Theron has topped Gina Carano in Haywire (2012), but that’s unfair because Carano had it in her but her director just wasn’t up to it.  David Leitch unleashes a typhoon of action in the form of Lorraine Broughton played with a fervor that will have you ducking in your seat by Charlize Theron.  This is a full tilt spy story that moves fast and brutally takes you down with it.  You feel every blow and even anticipate what’s coming.  In a particularly violent fight scene when Lorraine suddenly grabs a corkscrew you will be thinking, “Oh no–don–” but that’s as far as you will get.  Yes. It’s a long vicious ride through the dark of neon nights of spy vs counterspy backstabbing and gunfire.

Charlize is unstoppable as an actress and as a spy.  The supporting cast is deep under the cover of the parts they play.  The story unfolds in flashbacks as Lorraine is being debriefed.  This works well for Leitch because it adds to the suspense by adding an element of uncertainty.  Who’s telling the truth?  James McAvoy is an agent in Berlin in 1989 and an MI6 agent has been murdered.  The agent was carrying a list of agent identities when he was killed.  You know how that goes–everybody wants the list!  The McGuffin is typical spy stuff, but the opulent visuals, incredible action, and the sensual scenes between Lorraine (Theron) and Delphine (Sofia Boutella) keep you from thinking too hard about how you’ve seen this plot before.

What you focus on is up to you, as far as I’m concerned–they had me with the title.