Superhero movies are big box office. They make a huge amount
of money worldwide no matter the quality of the film (Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: The Last Stand and Spider-Man 3 all come to mind), and
often the stars take up a good share of media attention. Of course, this wasn’t
always the case in the early days, as despite the popularity of the Superman and Batman films, they ended up being ridiculed by the end of their
runs and the main stars beginning to falter – unless you’re George Clooney. An example of this is
with 1989/1992 Batman Michael Keaton,
whose career began to falter after leaving the role and has only recently had a
career high again thanks to Toy Story 3,
and across 2014 featured in a number of roles. But Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is the film that
has garnered him the most attention due to its subject matter – shown at a time
where superhero films couldn’t be any more popular – as it bares parallels to Keaton’s own experiences as a former
superhero (no matter how many times he denies it)
The biggest thing that’s selling the film however is the
idea that the whole film is practically done in one shot with cuts hidden very
well across the film except when absolutely necessary, which also adds to the
feel of the story seeing as it’s set in the theatre which of course doesn’t
have any cuts at all. As gimmicky as it may sound, it is actually done
extremely well, thanks to the superb direction of Alejandro
González Iñárritu. Granted, there are some standard methods of ensuring that no cuts are
done with pans up to the sky to bring about a new day, but other times it’s
done ingeniously thanks to the strong editing and choices by Iñárritu, and as such allows each
transition to come across as smoothly as possible. Unlike fellow critical
darling Boyhood, where its age
transitions weren’t as apparent despite how crucial they were, each change is
obvious and done so well that you both notice and not care about how it was
achieved. And thanks to this method, it seems improbable that Iñárritu won’t win the Best Director Oscar this year.
While
the plot is a good one, which discusses an important topic in modern culture
and in part ridicules it, there are a number of elements which are brought in
and quickly forgotten about. Whether it be the relationship between Edward Norton and one of the theatre
workers, Emma Stone’s drug issues or
how excited Naomi Watts is about
getting her big break, a number of these plot points do disappear to remain
focus on Riggan Thomson, and even there a small handful of issues are left untouched.
They get brought up, get a bit of screen time, and then quickly go away aside
from perhaps the odd mention of it, and as such it is Birdman’s biggest flaw. There’s also a large statement about what
audiences want these days – less talk and more explosions. Many have complained
about it, and in all honesty I would too if it weren’t for the box office
numbers (*cough* Transformers: Age of Extinction
*cough*). Perhaps if it wasn’t so forward in its message it would come
across a lot more positively, but instead it featured a small bit of humour
during the sequence thanks to the presence of a Man of Steel poster.
Speaking
of humour, there aren’t as many laughs as you make expect from a black comedy.
There is a good amount, mostly thanks to the titular hero’s taunts inside
Thomson’s head, but it does appear as more of a sidelined genre for this
otherwise very dramatic tale. And once you get past the aforementioned sidelined
storylines it is a great one, going through each step of the days counting down
to a theatre premiere whilst Riggan slowly begins to deteriorate mentally and
his alter ego gains more and more control over his thoughts. It’s awfully
engaging and the performances only make it all the more engaging. Michael Keaton deserves the praise he receives
not only in the film but for the film;
Edward Norton is at his most
hilarious as the talented method actor Mike; Emma Stone is very charming throughout her scenes with both Keaton and Norton; Amy Ryan has a
small but nevertheless prominent role as Riggan’s ex-wife – adding more context
and filling the gaps to what went wrong in his life; and Zach Galifianakis finally proves that he can actually act outside
of playing a slacker in The Hangover series,
let alone act brilliantly. Watts and
Andrea Riseborough also have strong
if not fleeting performances as fellow actors and apparent close friends, and Lindsey Duncan does very well as the
quiet but menacing Tabitha Dickinson despite her few appearances.
While
there are clear flaws in this Unexpected
Virtue of Ignorance, you can’t help but severely enjoy what Alejandro González Iñárritu and Michael Keaton have to offer. It never
bores, it never fails to excite, and it’s a journey that you can’t help loving.
Add a strong jazz score to give the film a certain edge and some strong
supporting performances, and you have a film which deserves the large fanbase
that Birdman has in the film. It soars above its competition and earns an 8/10.
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