A Super-Villain Faces an Existential Crisis in Megamind

Last year saw the release of two computer-animated films about not-so-evil villains struggling to determine whether their dastardly ambitions can ever bring them true fulfillment. I had hoped to catch both Despicable Me and Megamind in theaters, but I ended up settling for DVD. The former rose to the top of my Netflix queue in early March, and I found it thoroughly charming. This month, I got to check out Megamind, and I found it equally satisfying.

Despicable Me aims at a younger audience, with more slapstick, a lead with a silly accent and three young girls as the major secondary characters. The pull of parenthood causes hunched, hook-nosed Gru to deviate from his plans, and the theme of longing for a family makes it relatable viewing for young and old alike. Megamind, on the other hand, is clearly designed more for adults. Megamind is a bald, scrawny blue humanoid who was launched toward Earth as an infant with an unknown destiny heavy upon him.  Barreling toward Earth right alongside him was the baby who would grow up to become Metro Man, who looks like a typical human, only burlier, more classically perfect.  He had the privilege of a pampered upbringing, while Megamind was raised in prison.  All their lives, these two aliens have been dodging each other, with Metro Man, adored hero of Metro City, always just one step ahead.  Until now.

Megamind (Will Ferrell) has grown used to the routine of baiting Metro Man (Brad Pitt) by kidnapping saucy reporter Roxanne (Tina Fey). None of his predictable scare tactics faze her, and when the inevitable confrontation comes, the nemeses’ quick banter conveys a sense that the two are rather enjoying themselves. This is all little more than a game, albeit a tired one. It’s a game Megamind gleefully schemes to win – but when the dust from his latest encounter settles and he finds himself the victor for a change, he realizes just how empty his life is without his destructive goal to fall back on.

Megamind is a story demonstrating the way that love can combat inhumane impulses, with Roxanne filling a previously unnoticed void in the blue villain’s life in much the same way as the orphans in Despicable Me. I often found myself reminded of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog as I watched. The obvious hero is narcissistic and more concerned with adulation than the improvement of the city whose residents worship him. The villain is cunning but clearly doesn’t have a strong taste for violence. Compassion stirs within him at inconvenient times. In a guileless guise, he befriends Roxanne and begins to wonder if his life might be more worthwhile if he considered a different path. What is a man to do when his purpose has been realized and the years stretch out before him, full of terrifying possibility? It’s an existential quandary.

Jonah Hill brings a slightly skeezy slacker vibe to the role of Hal, Roxanne’s cameraman. At first he just seems like a lovable chump who can’t get the girl embroiled in a world of supernatural powers, but by the time Megamind decides to involve him in his next big scheme, it’s apparent that this young man has a little something extra, an indefinable quality that will make him stand out. But will he play into the plan that Megamind has groomed him for, or will he veer off-course? Other fairly major characters include bland museum guard Bernard (Ben Stiller); the crusty prison warden (J. K. Simmons) who knows Megamind all too well; and Minion (David Cross), an extraterrestrial fish who was sent to be Megamind’s caretaker. Much of the film’s comedy comes from these side characters.

The film has a rather dark and foreboding quality to it, with many scenes of ruination and cold technology. At times, the atmosphere almost reminded me of The Dark Knight, though the tone is never that oppressive. Nonetheless, this is a movie that broods, so while I’m not sure I would deem it inappropriate for children, I think adults will get the most out of it. In addition to the somber reflections on finding meaning in a confusing world, the movie offers homages to superhero and espionage conventions that will probably be best appreciated by those with more extensive viewing experience. For family film night, then, I would first recommend Despicable Me. But if you’re in the mood for something a little bit more adult-oriented, why not wrap your mind around Megamind?

Quentin Tarantino Re-Writes History With Some Help From Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz

Last week, my family and I arrived home from our Christmas travels and were soon greeted with a large box of goodies from my brother Benjamin in Japan. Among the items specifically addressed to me were some Japanese chocolate, Pocky (long cracker sticks dipped in chocolate or, my favorite, strawberry icing), a kimono and Quentin Tarantino’s latest flick. Though I claim to be a movie buff, my exposure to Tarantino thus far has been pretty much limited to his guest appearances on American Idol; I suspect that Benjamin wanted to help me close a rather glaring gap in my cinematic experience.

My other brother, Nathan, had caught the movie in the theater and given it a glowing recommendation, as well as a genteel pseudonym: Inglourious Fellows. Not being one to indulge in vulgarities myself, even of the curiously misspelled kind, I’ve followed his lead; you need only glance up at the product listing to see the word I’m replacing. Considering the rather startling title, I must say I expected more pervasive profanity; to be sure, there’s enough of it to merit an R rating purely on the grounds of language, but most of it comes from one character - the same character responsible for a majority of the violence we see on-screen.

That would be Lt. Aldo Raine, played with a hefty helping of John Wayne-style swagger by Brad Pitt. A Tennessee-raised vigilante, he has gathered an elite team of Jewish-American soldiers, along with a German who had taken to killing his fellow soldiers on his own before being recruited. Their task? Killing Nazis. And, in a nod to Aldo’s Apache heritage, scalping them. They descend upon Nazi encampments with swift brutality, leaving behind a horrific trail of carnage, as well as a scarred survivor to spread news of their exploits. There were about half a dozen scenes in the film that inspired in me a sudden desire to sneak out to the kitchen for a snack; just the audio was enough to tell me how violent those sequences became.

Pitt plays a larger-than-life character whose bravado and outrageous twang serve to make him a comical figure, even as he leads bloodthirsty offenses against his targets. Most of his dialogue renders his scenes parodies of the old spaghetti westerns, an impression amplified by the terrific score and Robert Richardson’s sun-drenched cinematography. This is a movie that is often beautiful to behold, when somebody isn’t getting bashed with a baseball bat or riddled with bullets. And at times, it’s goofily idiosyncratic, as when Samuel L. Jackson randomly provides expository narration in two scenes. The over-the-top quality extends to Adolf Hitler (Martin Wuttke), who spends most of his scenes in some degree of panicked hysterics over the Fellows’ grisly accomplishments, and each of the British officials who appears in a scene featuring Mike Myers as a general.

Elsewhere in the film, however, the tone is much more dramatic. A parallel storyline involves a lovely young woman named Emmanuelle (Melanie Laurent), who we know to be Shosanna, the sole survivor of a vicious attack on her Jewish family, who had been in hiding. Now the proprietress of a Parisian cinema, she attracts the affections of Pvt. Fredrick Zoller, a young hero of the Third Reich who, in a three-day span, killed nearly three hundred Allies from his vantage point in a bell tower and now is the star of a movie chronicling the event. In everyday life, he doesn’t seem much like a killing machine, just a kid with a powerful crush. Despite the dangers of failing to comply with Nazi desires, Shosanna makes little secret of her contempt for this man. Nonetheless, when he entreats his boss - Hitler’s right-hand man, Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) - to hold the film premiere at her theater, she plays along, sensing a rare opportunity. Laurent brings the character to life with poise, spirit and her own brand of bitterness brewed into revenge.

The most impressive performance of the film, however, belongs to Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa, the Nazi official known as “the Jew Hunter”. While probably ninety percent of his dialogue throughout the film is courteous, soft-spoken and altogether charming, it’s evident from the instant we meet him that this is a very dangerous man. Tension fills any room the moment he enters, and I wouldn’t be surprised if his riveting screen presence earned him a spot among the Best Supporting Actor nominees this year. I compare him to LOST‘s Michael Emerson, and anyone who has read my reviews of the past four seasons will know what a high compliment I’m paying to Waltz. He is truly terrifying. I was also extremely impressed with Denis Menochet as the French farmer with whom he shares the beautifully shot opening scene, which is as intense as it is lengthy. With a sparseness of dialogue comparable to what Jude Law had to work with in Cold Mountain, Menochet conveys volumes about his situation and the nature of the man who has come to pay him a visit.

Tarantino seems to have carved out a niche for himself when it comes to graphic movie violence. There are those who get a charge out of that sort of thing; I am not among them. Nonetheless, while I bemoan the brutality on both sides, I can’t deny that this is a film that is exceptionally well-produced, with outstanding acting and a plot that is strangely compelling despite the total departure from historical accuracy. I probably won’t go out of my way to seek out Tarantino’s other movies, but Inglourious Fellows can join Hot Fuzz, No Country For Old Men and In Bruges on the list of Movies Erin Probably Shouldn’t Have Liked But Mostly Did. Not a bad way to kick off another movie-watching year.