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-

'SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS' : Tuesday 12th October 2021

Finally, Greater Sydney has come out of three months+ of COVID-19 enforced lockdown on Monday 11th October, and with it movie theatres have reopened. As such, a whole slew of films released elsewhere in Australia and across the world are now available for the avid moviegoer to play catch-up on some of those more recent cinematic releases. The first film that I saw post-lockdown at my local multiplex earlier this week is 'SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS' - the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Destin Daniel Cretton, whose previous film making credits take in 'Short Term 12' with Brie Larson and Rami Malek in 2013, 'The Glass Castle' in 2017 with Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson and 'Just Mercy' in 2019 with Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson. This film has so far grossed worldwide US$404M off the back of a circa US$180M production budget and has generated positive Critical acclaim. 

And so the film opens up setting the scene for how the ten rings came about. It seems that one thousand years ago (plus or minus a few years) Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) discovers the mystical ten rings which grant the owner of said rings immortality and other worldly powers. He forms the Ten Rings organisation, over throwing kingdoms and toppling governments throughout history to accumulate wealth and power. Fast forward to 1996, and Wenwu searches for Ta Lo, a village that exists in a different dimension and reportedly harbours mythical creatures. He travels through a magical thick bamboo forest to the village entrance but is stopped by guardian Ying Li (Fala Chen). After an initial (sort of) fight between the pair, the two fall in love, and Wenwu foregoes the Ten Rings for a life of normalcy with his new wife and children Shang-Chi (Jayden Zhang) and Xialing (Elodie Fong). When Shang-Chi is seven years old, Li is murdered by Wenwu's enemies, the Iron Gang. Wenwu goes in search of the Iron Gang with the young Shang-Chi and massacres them all except for the leader who was not present at the time. Wenwu then resumes leadership of his organisation again. He makes Shang-Chi undergo brutal martial arts training, but does not allow Xialing to train so she teaches herself in secret, having observed Shang-Chi's training techniques and replicating them, only better! When Shang-Chi is fourteen (Arnold Sun), Wenwu sends him to assassinate the Iron Gang's leader. After fulfilling his mission, a disheartened Shang-Chi runs away to San Francisco and takes on the name of 'Shaun'.

And so we fast fast forward to the present day and Shaun (Simu Liu) is working as a hotel valet car parking attendant with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), who knows nothing of his past life. Travelling on a bus together, the pair are attacked by members of the Ten Rings organisation, with Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu) who has a machete blade for his right hand, stealing a pendant that Li gave to Shang-Chi when he was a young boy that gives him access to Ta Lo. Wenwu anonymously provides Shang-Chi with the location of Xialing in Macau and, fearing that the Ten Rings will go after Xialing's matching pendant from Li, Shang-Chi decides to go in search of her. Katy, not wanting to be left out and having survived the vicious attack on the bus, imposes herself on Shang-Chi, who reveals his past to her on the flight over to Macau. They find Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) at an underground fight club in Macau, which she formed after escaping from Wenwu. The Ten Rings attack the fight club with Wenwu arriving to capture Shang-Chi, Xialing and Katy. Wenwu takes his daughters pendant.

The three are helicoptered into the Ten Rings compound, where Wenwu uses the pendants to reveal a magical water map leading to Ta Lo. Wenwu explains that he has heard his wife, Li, calling to him and believes she has been held captive in Ta Lo behind a vast sealed gate. He plans to destroy the village by burning it to the ground, unless they agree to release her. When Shang-Chi and Xialing object saying that he must accept that their mother and his wife is dead, he imprisons them with Katy. In an ante-room to the cell where they are locked up, the three meet former actor Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) who previously took on the guise of the Mandarin and was abducted by the Ten Rings for impersonating Wenwu, now becoming a 'court jester' or Shakespearean fool for Wenwu. They also meet his hundun (a legendary faceless furry animal the size of a wombat with wings from Ta Lo) that Slattery has named Morris, who offers to guide them back to his village.

The group escapes in Razor Fist's souped up 4WD and drive through the bamboo forest with the trees rapidly closing in behind them en route to Ta Lo. They drive through a portal hidden within a water fall which sees them exit in a separate dimension and into Ta Lo, with a myriad of Chinese mythological creatures all around them. There they meet Ying Nan (Michelle Yeoh), Li's sister, and aunt to Shnag-Chi and Xialing. Nan explains the history of Ta Lo, saying that thousands of years ago, the village was attacked by the soul-eating Dweller-in-Darkness and its guardians, but was saved by a Chinese dragon called the Great Protector who helped seal the Dark Gate to the Dweller's world. Nan further states that the Dweller-in-Darkness has been influencing Wenwu to believe Li is still alive so that he will open the Dark Gate. Shang-Chi, Xialing, and Katy join the villagers in training and preparing for Wenwu's imminent arrival, using weapons they have fashioned from dragon scales. 

Wenwu and the Ten Rings heavies arrive and attack the villagers. Wenwu overpowers Shang-Chi and forces him into the nearby lake where he slowly sinks to the bottom unconscious. Wenwu then attacks the Gate with the rings. This gives some of the Dweller's guardians the chance to escape, and through the onslaught the Ten Rings heavies, now abandoned by Wenwu, join forces with the villagers to fight them off. Shang-Chi is revived by the Great Protector, which flies out of the lake to battle the marauding guardians. Wenwu and Shang-Chi come head to head once again and Shang-Chi gains the upper hand, but chooses to spare Wenwu. The Dweller-in-Darkness bursts out of the weakened Gate and attacks Shang-Chi. Wenwu saves Shang-Chi, bequeathing him the rings before being killed by the Dweller-in-Darkness. Shang-Chi, the Great Protector, Xialing, and Katy battle and kill the Dweller-in-Darkness. Afterwards, Shang-Chi and Katy return to San Francisco where they are summoned by the sorcerer Wong (Benedict Wong) to the Sanctum Sanctorum, with more divulged in the mid-credits scene. 

With nods to 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' in some of the fight sequences, the return of Trevor Slattery apologising for the misstep of the racial stereotypes of his impersonation of The Mandarin in 'Iron Man 3', and the reference to the Sanctum Sanctorum in the final mid-credits scene, together with the well crafted action set pieces, the usual dose of MCU humour, emotion and a smattering of pathos all make for an enjoyable Asian-centric addition to the MCU canon. The performances by Leung especially as the antagonist with heart is the stand out role for me, with Liu, Zhang and Awkwafina all giving solid enough performances but still clearly finding their way, which will undoubtedly come in subsequent Shang-Chi instalments, and cross-over films within the ever expanding MCU. And in the Director's chair, Cretton here makes effective use of flashbacks to move the story arc forward in a way that most other Marvel films have not, while keeping this origin story grounded and relatable. The ending when it comes however, feels protracted and over the top with too heavy a reliance on CGI dragons, mythical creatures, and a battle in which not a drop of blood is shed and everyone who dies does so off screen. The film does not reach the dizzy heights that 'Black Panther' did in 2018, but nonetheless, as your first visit to the cinema post-lockdown you could do a lot worse. 

'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-