BARBIE : Tuesday 1st August 2023

I saw the much hyped PG Rated fantasy comedy 'BARBIE' this week that is Co-Written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach and Directed by Greta Gerwig, and is based on the Barbie fashion dolls by the world's second largest toy maker, Mattel. The film is the first live-action Barbie film after many computer-animated direct-to-video and streaming TV films. Greta Gerwig's previous feature film making credits are her debut with Joe Swanberg on 'Nights and Weekends' in 2008, before her breakout 'Lady Bird' in 2017, and then 'Little Women' in 2019. This film saw its World Premier screening in Los Angeles in early July before its wide release in most territories from 21st July, cost in the region of US$135M to produce, has so far raked in US$824M at the global Box Office and has garnered mostly positive critical reviews.

The film opens up with a riff on Stanley Kubricks's '2001 : A Space Odyssey' in which a bunch of young girls are seen playing with their baby dolls in the desert. The narrator (Helen Mirren) tells us that for a very long time girls have always played at being mother to their baby dolls . . . until one day when Barbie (Margot Robbie, who also Co-Produces here) stands tall amongst them and everything changed. At that the young girls start smashing their baby dolls into the ground, kicking them and destroying them wantonly, together with their tea sets, little prams and all the paraphernalia that goes with the innocent childrens playtime. 

We next encounter Barbie, named Stereotypical Barbie, and a whole host of other Barbie's all living in the perfect world of Barbieland - a matriarchal society where women are confident, successful and hold the power base. Their Ken counterparts spend their days at the beach while the Barbie's hold down all the important jobs - there is a President Barbie (Issa Rae), a Physicist Barbie (Emma Mackey), a Lawyer Barbie (Sharon Rooney), a Judge Barbie (Ana Cruze Kayne) and a Writer Barbie (Alexandra Shipp) amongst others. Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) is happiest when he is close to Stereotypical Barbie and seeks more from their relationship, but doesn't altogether know why, and is rebuffed anyhow by Barbie who wishes to maintain her independence and her close friendships with all the other Barbie's. 

That night at a dance party at her house, when all the Barbie's are dancing and the Ken's are all stood on the sidelines watching on, Barbie suddenly blurts out if anyone has ever thought about dying. At that the music comes to a grinding halt, all the Barbie's stop dancing and are motionless, and no one utters a word, except they all have horrified expressions on their faces. Embarrassed, Barbie says that she's just dying to dance, in an effort to cover up her question, at which point normality is resumed. The next morning, she wakes up and senses that something is not quite right in her world. She can no longer complete her usual routines, discovers that she now has flat feet and she has cellulite on her thighs. 

Revealing all of this to the other Barbie's, she pays a visit to Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) - a wise but disfigured Barbie who has been outcast by the others, who advises her that she must travel to the Real World in order to cure her hardship and locate the child playing with her. Initially very hesitant to leave Barbieland behind she is told that she has no choice, and so sets off alone in her car, only to find Ken stowed away on the back seat. Reluctantly Barbie allows Ken to stay and join her . . . as long as he's brought his rollerblades along!

The pair eventually arrive at Venice Beach having travelled by bicycle, rocket ship and boat and stand out wearing their very '80's roller skating gear in neon pinks, blues and yellows attracting the undue attention of the locals who for the most part mock them. Deciding they need a change of attire, they head into a clothing store and emerge with Barbie wearing a bright pink all in one suit and Ken dressed as a cowboy, only to be chased down the street for not paying. They end up getting arrested, finger prints and mug shots taken and released. 

Their antics are eventually brought to the attention of the Mattel CEO (Will Ferrell) who immediately orders for them to be captured. Meanwhile, Barbie is able to track down her owner, a young somewhat rebellious teenager named Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) who upon their meeting at school criticises Barbie for promoting unrealistic beauty standards and calls her a fascist. Upset by this outburst, Barbie discovers that Gloria (America Ferrera), a Mattel employee and Sasha's mother, is the reason behind her inner conflicts and crisis of confidence over her personal identity. Gloria had started to play with Sasha's old Barbie toys which were to be discarded while experiencing her own identity crisis, unwittingly transferring her own issues on to Barbie. 

Barbie, winds up at the Mattel Corporate Offices in Los Angeles where the CEO and his all male corporate executives attempt to put Barbie back in the box for remanufacturing. Barbie initially keen to step back inside the box has a change of heart and makes a dash for it, resulting in the CEO and his executive team all giving chase. Barbie escapes with the help of Gloria and Sasha and together the three head to Barbieland. In the meantime Ken has been walking the streets of LA and has had his eyes opened wide to the male dominated society present at almost every turn. Realising that the patriarchal system is the way to go, he feels empowered, respected and accepted for the first time in his hitherto female lead life. 

Ken returns to Barbieland where he persuades the other Kens (Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, John Cena and Rob Brydon amongst others) to take control, as the Barbies are indoctrinated into subordinate roles, including maids, housewives, and attentive girlfriends. Barbie arrives and tries to convince Ken and the Barbies to return to the way things were, only for her arguments to fall on deaf ears. Barbie's house is quickly converted into Ken's 'mojo dojo casa' and she falls into a state of depression and anxiety, winding up laying prone on the floor face down in Weird Barbie's house. However, Barbie has her confidence restored when Gloria gives an inspiring speech about society's conflicting expectations towards women. 

With the help of Sasha, Weird Barbie, Allan (Michael Cera), and other discontinued dolls, Gloria uses her inspirational messages on all the Barbies to bring them out of their subservient roles. The restored Barbies then coerce the Kens into arguing and fighting amongst themselves and as such are distracted from altering the constitution to enshrine male superiority, while the Barbies retake their former positions of power. In the process, they also come to the realisation of the failings of their previous ways of life, and decide to make a number of changes in Barbieland, including the better treatment for the Kens and all outcast dolls. 

Barbie and Ken apologise to each other and acknowledge their shortcomings. Ken complains that he has no identity or purpose without Barbie, to which she encourages him to find his own identity. Barbie, who remains unsure of her own purpose and identity, meets with the spirit of Mattel Co-Founder Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman) who states that Barbie's story has no defined ending and her ever-evolving history transcends that of her more humble beginnings. Barbie decides to become human and return to the Real World, and after the Barbies, Kens, and Mattel executives all bid her goodbye and good luck, some time later, Gloria, her husband (Ryan Piers Williams), and Sasha take Barbie, now going by the name of Barbara Handler, to her first appointment to meet with her gynecologist.

'Barbie' is like a big serving of pink sugar coated fairy floss that after a while you've simply had enough of that stuff and are compelled to ditch half of it in the bin. Greta Gerwig has here crafted a film that has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek while at the same time relaying a strong message about Barbieland matriarchy, Real World patriarchy, gender equality, female empowerment and social commentary. And in Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling we have a pair of expertly cast Actors who go all in to embody the spirit of Barbie and Ken, and who look like they had a real blast bringing those characters to life on the big screen. The production values on show at Barbieland are top notch; the musical song and dance routines which are kept mercifully infrequent are well placed and well choreographed; and the performances by the principle cast are whacky and engaging. All of that said, for a film that is ostensibly a comedy much of the humour failed to land for me, with the opening sequence only raising the slightest chuckle, and this movie's Box Office success is clearly down to the power of marketing over the sum of the films parts.

'Barbie' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

65 : Tuesday 14th March 2023.

I saw the M Rated '65' earlier this week, and this American Sci-Fi action thriller film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods in their third feature film pairing that has previously brought us 'Nightlight' in 2015 and 'Haunt' in 2019. The pair also penned the script for 2018's multi-award winning and nominated 'A Quiet Place'. With a budget of US$91M this film was released Stateside too last week, and has so far grossed US$24.5M, having garnered mixed or average Reviews along the way. The film was originally slated for release at the end of April last year, before being moved several times to its current release window. 

The film opens up on the planet Somaris, and there we find pilot Mills (Adam Driver), his wife Alya (Nika King) and their young daughter Nevine (Chloe Coleman) discussing a two year deep space expedition that Mills has been offered. While he is reluctant to be away from his family for such an extended period of time, he feels compelled to take the job in order to pay for Nevine's treatment for her much needed life threatening illness. We then fast forward to sometime in to that two year journey, and while Mills is sleeping his spacecraft hits an uncharted asteroid belt and ultimately crashes on an uncharted planet, with his ship split in two. He comes round, ventures outside and finds that the atmosphere is breathable, but also finds signs of 'alien' life.

However, his thirty-five passengers on board who were all in cryo-sleep have perished in the crash landing. After surveying his surrounds and deducing that all is lost, he contemplates suicide, until a beacon reveals that there is in fact one solitary survivor - a young nine year old girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt). Mills instantly decides to care for Koa and get her back home, but the pair have trouble communicating because they speak different languages. 

Mills soon discovers that the other half of the ship contains a functioning escape shuttle and sends several distress messages for rescue. Mills tells Koa that they're going to the mountain where the shuttle is located, which is about 12kms away. He lies though about her parents being alive to encourage her to go with him. As they steadily make their way across the terrain, they bond, while Mills protects Koa from attacking dinosaurs, having deduced that they are on Earth some 65 million years ago. 

The pair hunker down near a cave opening to rest up for the night protected by motion sensors dotted around them. Koa watches a number of video replays of Nevine, who died mid-way through Mills journey, before the pair fall asleep. Mills is woken by the motion sensors to find a giant T-Rex sniffing around the cave's entrance in the pouring rain. Mills shoots at the T-Rex injuring it, and then they retreat further inside the cave. A rockfall separates the pair, leading the two to fend for themselves before reuniting outside, with Koa going forward and Mills having to retrace his steps. Mills also discovers that an asteroid, whose debris caused his ship to crash, will strike Earth in about twelve hours, resulting in a catastrophic extinction event.

The two reach the ship, but Koa is angry and upset when she discovers that Mills lied to her about her parents still being alive. Mills opens up to Koa about losing Nevine and promises to protect her. In the escape pod they learn that rescue is on the way, and they are given the coordinates to aim for. The two board the escape shuttle, but the asteroid's debris which is now raining down all around them causes it to fall down the mountain, and land the wrong side up. Mills and Koa manage to fend off two large T-Rex, but the predator that they injured prior starts attacking them in the ship eventually righting it for take-off. Mills runs across the terrain to distract the T-Rex which follows him into a steaming geyser field, where the pair manage to kill it in a hot geyser blast. The two quickly return to the ship and blast off towards rescue as the asteroid collides with Earth, causing a catastrophic shockwave across the planet.

'65' can hardly be described as redefining the creature feature or the dinosaur movie in the way that 'Jurassic Park' and then 'Jurassic World' did. It's not great, but it's also not bad either despite a number of plot holes and lack of dialogue between the two protagonists, which leave Directors Woods and Beck with little option but to throw action set pieces at Mills and Koa - some of which land while others feel like they serve as fillers to move the story along. Adam Driver is convincing enough, but Ariana Greenblatt plays second fiddle here with next to no dialogue and to run around scared for her life, only to pull something out of the bag when you least expect it. And of course when the ending comes it is predictable and you always knew that they were gonna get the hell outta Dodge by the skin of their teeth. At a brisk running time of ninety-three minutes the film at least doesn't outstay its welcome.

'65' warrants two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-