Tag Archives: Mel Gibson

Movies

Random musings…

After finishing that last Mad Max picture, I was thinking about Mel Gibson’s career and the movies featuring him.

As should be obvious, my favorite Mel Gibson role is certainly Mad Max and my favorite film featuring Mr. Gibson is The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2.

Easy peasy.

But then I thought: With The Road Warrior my favorite Mel Gibson starring feature, what would I consider my second favorite?

I thought about that for a while.  The original Lethal Weapon was a damned good movie, even if it felt like director Richard Donner and company threw the script away soon after starting filming (I always chuckle at the grim tone of the movie in its opening minutes and then how quickly it becomes a slapstick action/comedy!).  There are plenty of others to consider, from Braveheart to The Year of Living Dangerously to (yeah, I liked it) Maverick, etc. etc.

But the one that seemed to come back to my mind over and over again was the 1999 film Payback.  Now, to be very clear, I saw the film when it was original released to theaters and hated that version.  But a few years later director Brian Helgeland’s version of the film, Payback: Straight Up, The Director’s Cut, was released and that, my friends, was a whole different animal.  (The below trailer is from the theatrical cut)

Based on The Hunter, the first of the Parker novels by Donald E. Westlake (writing under the pen name Richard Stark), this version of Payback was a lot closer to said novel and a hell of a lot better overall as a movie.

As good as that film was, and bear in mind I’ve already stated it is my second favorite Mel Gibson film, it isn’t nearly as clever and strong, IMHO, as the original movie version of the same novel, this one released in 1967 and starring Lee Marvin.  I’m referring, of course, to Point Blank…

Point Blank was, if memory serves, not terribly well received upon its initial release but, over the years, it has attained a cult following and is considered by many today among Lee Marvin’s best works.

The plot of these movies are essentially the same: Lee Marvin, like Mel Gibson, plays a version of the character of Parker (in Marvin’s case he’s named Walker, in Gibson’s its Porter).  He is involved in a heist along with his wife/girlfriend and best friend and the two betray him and leave him for dead.

Parker/Walker/Porter come back, seeking their fair share of the money and revenge… though one can’t help but wonder if the character’s interest is more in getting that money versus getting that revenge.

Here’s the thing though, and the reason why I like Point Blank more than Payback: Director John Boorman and his screenwriters crafted a fascinating new addition/wrinkle to the story, one that, IMHO, elevates the material into the stratosphere.

What they have done is taken this tale of criminals, revenge, and stolen loot… and made it a ghost story.

Yeah, you read that right: Point Blank is a ghost story.

We have in the opening minutes of the film the heist and the betrayal and Walker is shot.  He collapses to the ground and, his best friend and wife/girlfriend believe, is dead.

In Payback, he’s clearly not.  In Point Blank, though, if you pay close attention to you come to realize that Walker is no longer among the living, but that he’s a vengeful ghost.

First thing to note: His hair is dark during the heist.  After the heist and after “recovering”, his hair is (ghost) white.  As the movie progresses and he goes after the people who betrayed him and demands his money back, you notice a second thing: Walker does not kill anyone in the course of the film.

Yeah, he roughs people up, but the ones that die -and there are several that do- do so either by other’s hands or their own.  Further, Walker’s obsession with getting his money appears to be so all consuming that it seems to be the only reason for anything he does.

And, BIG SPOILERS, by the end of the movie, after he’s run down the Outfit to the point where those that remain in it finally decide to give him his damned money, the movie ends on an extremely curious note.

We return to the scene of the original crime, Alcatraz (this location is not featured at all in Payback), where Walker and his partners did the original crime and where he was betrayed and “died”.  The money he’s sought all this time is delivered by a Mob boss.  The exhausted mobster yells out that the money is there for Walker to take.

Walker, hiding in the shadows, watches the delivery and the mobster but doesn’t leave his hiding place.  The audience, feeling there is another betrayal coming, understand Walker’s hesitation.

But…

After a while, the mobster shrugs.  He leaves the package with what we assume is indeed the money where it is and gets back into his helicopter and departs.  Silence follows.  The money remains where it is and there are no other people around and, we realize, there is no chance of another betrayal.

Still Walker remains in the shadows, not saying anything nor going to get the money.  Instead, he retreats further back into the darkness, until he’s completely swallowed by it.

Fin.

My take?

Walker’s ghost has gotten what he wanted and can now rest in peace.  The irony is that a ghost -of course!- doesn’t need the money.  But by going through all he has and delivering revenge to those who deserved it while getting his proper cut of the loot, he can now rest in peace and does so when he disappears into the shadows that final time.

As someone who fashions himself a writer, that ending, and that ingenuity of writing, absolutely floors me.

The upshot of all this is that a) If you haven’t already, you should see Payback: Straight Up, The Director’s Cut.  Even more importantly b) you should see Point Blank.

It’s worth the trip(s).

E. R. Torre Art

Sketchin’ 33

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A few days back I did a Mel Gibson Mad Max -from The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2– sketch and…

…doing that one illustration didn’t scratch the itch.  Not entirely.

So…I know many people today can’t stomach Mel Gibson and, frankly, I can’t argue the point.  What he did, though it was an awful long time ago, was nonetheless nasty as hell.  Clearly Mr. Gibson was in a dark place fueled by what appears to be heavy drinking and his actions and statements are both hard to comprehend and even harder to forgive.

For me, I knew and loved much of Mr. Gibson’s work prior to his melt-down and the work he did before that moment, especially in The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2, was terrific stuff.

I suppose this is a case where I’ve divorced the work from the artist themselves, because even I have a hard time comprehending the things he did.

E. R. Torre Art

Sketchin’ 31

When I was much younger (way back in the stone age, natch), I very clearly remember the release of the subject of my latest sketch, Mel Gibson’s Mad Max from the incredible Mad Max 2 or, as it was known in the United States, The Road Warrior.

Back when the film was released, I was too young to see this “R” rated film without *ahem* adult supervision.  I nonetheless managed to see the film twice upon its initial release and was turned away a third time.

Ah well.

I still consider Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior one of the very best action films ever made, regardless of people’s current opinions -sadly, understandable- against Mr. Gibson.  I felt the latest Mad Max film, Mad Max Fury Road, would have been better served with Mr. Gibson, though please don’t take that as a slight against Tom Hardy, who took over the role.

It’s just that to me, Gibson is Mad Max and I personally feel he would have done better in the lead role… but that’s crying over spilled milk at this point.

So here he is, in all his glory, a very young Mel Gibson in the role that made him a star…

Movies

The Continuing Story of Mel Gibson

Yesterday the rather shocking news of Mel Gibson being considered for director of Suicide Squad 2 was released.  Some, like Megan Reynolds at Jezebel.com, reacted…quite negatively:

Great, Mel Gibson is in talks to direct a Suicide Squad sequel

Today comes an article on comicbook.com and written by Jay Jayson notes that Mel Gibson himself has confirmed during a screening of his film Hacksaw Ridge that he was in consideration for the movie’s director.  While Warner Brothers is in contact with other potential directors, Mr. Jayson’s article states that the job is his “if he wants it”:

Mel Gibson confirms he is in talks with WB to direct Suicide Squad 2

Now I’m slowly, inevitably, becoming an old fart.  I know it, my body reminds me of it constantly (damn it!), and the greys in my hair and the wrinkles I see in the mirror reinforce this fact.

I point this out because unlike others, I’m old enough to have lived through Mel Gibson’s entire career arc.

My first big exposure to him was in local theaters via what I consider one of the all time best action films ever made, the 1981 flick The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2)…

So impressed was I with Mel Gibson that I eagerly sought out the first Mad Max film, released in 1979 and found it a great first stab at the world of Max.  I caught him in some other films, most notably the now forgotten Attack Force Z (also released in 1981)…

I point out Attack Force Z because this film was essentially an Australian version of The Dirty Dozen, the film which I strongly suspect was on the mind of John Ostrander, the writer who co-created the modern super-villain version of The Suicide Squad…

Fast forward many years and I watch as Mel Gibson becomes a box office behemoth.  His Lethal Weapon films are incredibly successful while he expands his career between action/adventure films and more “serious” dramatic roles such as those in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Mrs. Soffel (1984) and Hamlet (1990).  Then, in 1993, Mr. Gibson acts in and directs his first film, The Man Without a Face.  While that film isn’t particularly well remembered today, his follow up certainly is, 1995’s Braveheart.

Since then, Mr. Gibson’s directed The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto, and, most recently, Hacksaw Ridge.  While The Passion of the Christ was not without its controversy, almost every one of Mr. Gibson’s directorial films, whether they feature him in the lead role of not, has been met with considerable critical acclaim, even his most recent films.

This despite what is clearly on everyone’s mind when they think of Mr. Gibson: The meltdown he experienced back in 2006.

Let’s be damn blunt here: Mr. Gibson’s actions back then were vile.  While Mr. Gibson has repeatedly apologized for his grotesque behavior and racist rants and noted they were made at a time he abused alcohol and was in the throes of emotional problems, the fact is that when most people today see or hear about Mr. Gibson, that’s what they think about.

So its not all that surprising there’s already a negative reaction to the idea that he might be involved in Suicide Squad 2.

Me?

Perhaps because I’ve followed his career for so long I’m a little more forgiving.

Anyone who’s been around here any length of time knows I enjoyed Batman v Superman.  Suicide Squad, on the other hand, is a much harder film to defend.  From a story standpoint, the film was a complete mess.  What made it tolerable was the fact that it had considerable energy, humor, as well as fun acting by Will Smith and Margot Robbie.

Yet one can’t help but feel this was a missed opportunity.  Looking at The Dirty Dozen (or, indeed, Attack Force Z), there is a way to make a Suicide Squad film that is gripping, humorous, blunt, and, once it finishes, leaves audiences satisfied.

Given Mel Gibson’s career, both as actor and director, I’m inclined to think he easily has the skills to make a Suicide Squad film that works.

The question is whether Warner Brothers can take the critical heat from the public while the film is being worked on…and whether they can do this while allowing Mr. Gibson a free hand at making the type of film he will surely want to make.

Assuming all this is possible and Mr. Gibson releases a *gasp* good Suicide Squad film, is it possible Mr. Gibson, the person, can be redeemed in the eyes of the public?

That most certainly remains to be seen.