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Security: A Movie Review
I’m not a film aficionado. The fact that John Wick didn’t win an Oscar was scandalous. But last night, tired, sore, and frustrated (reasons for which will be in my next Group Writing submission, I think on November 5), I needed an excuse to drink as much as I required to be able to get some sleep. I fired up Netflix and hit whatever came up first in the “we recommend for you” category.
The movie was Security, it was outstanding. Classic scrappy, outgunned underdogs fight to keep the MacGuffin away from totally well-trained, well-equipped, thoroughly evil antagonists. A great set up for any storyline. As I’ve read and believed repeatedly, all good stories are basically conservative. So I got ready to watch a rote, pro forma guns ‘n’ explosive fireballs movie. Security was that, and much, much more.
“C’mon, it’s a shoot ’em up, how great could it be?” asks the philistine who thinks it fitting that John Wick didn’t win an Academy Award. They did three things making this movie that put it over the top.
First, they did a great job with the raw material that Antonio Banderas brings to the table. Banderas plays a former Special Operator/International Man of Mystery who has fallen on hard times and will take any job, even a minimum wage rent-a-cop job (I know, Ricochetti are shocked, shocked that I’d find this storyline compelling). But they did something brilliant: Instead of playing the high-strung pretty boy that gave Banderas his stardom (see Desperado or Assassins), they took the same power but changed the frequency. Banderas’ frequency is dropped so low, the brother is broadcasting on earth waves.
He does extraordinarily well as the beat-down father, frustrated that he cannot provide for his family, and is dealing with his own demons. He also portrays a guy that needs to work. Given the skills that he evinces as the plot progresses, there are plenty of ways he could make money, most of them illegal. He needs money, but he needs to work for it.
Second, the relationship between Banderas and the MacGuffin is sound and appealing. It’s hard to play that trope right, without going straight to cliche. They do it well. Pinky swear.
Finally, the mall Banderas is securing has a night crew of five. They are typically diverse with the smart-aleck Asian, the strung out white/latina/Italian chick, the self-important, glib, self-impressed white kid crew boss, and the anxiety-ridden white dude that is too smart/good/well-bred for the job; it’s an interim stopgap.
Great, I thought. They just crammed 19 stereotypes and jammed them into a five-man crew. Watching this is going to be such a slog. It’s not. It’s friggin’ awesome. They did it right, though. (I keep saying “they” because I don’t know from directors, writers, or producers; if I had any idea what I was talking about, I’d be swanning around in an ascot, like @titustechera.) They let your brain fill in the blanks on the obvious stereotypes they’ve presented, and then let the American nature of the characters blow all those stereotypes apart.
Want to know why Americans form a human chain to rescue a family in a car trapped in floodwaters? Want to know why Americans drop everything to haul their flat boats down to Houston and help out? Ye can’t know. It’s that indescribable, totally awesome aspect of the American character that impels people to perform these incredibly heroic acts.
Want to know why a ragtag group of unarmed, ill-trained rent-a-cops would stand against a slick, hyper-violent Big Bad* to protect a wee, innocent MacGuffin? Ye can’t know. But you can watch, and it’s well worth your time.
If you might be inclined or swayed to watch this movie, don’t watch the trailer. Wrong vibe, wrong perspective.
*Ben Kingsley plays the leader of the Big Bad, so if your internal radar is going off saying “Mongo’s taste sucks! He thought John Wick should get an Academy Award,” stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
Published in Entertainment
My dad and I howl out loud whenever we see a vehicle burst into flame whenever it is hit with plain ol’ vanilla bullets. But then Dad can do a five minute diatribe on Stone “Boom Boom” Phillips and his GM “firetruck.”
For me, it’s people shooting nearabouts other people’s heads. Stop that. That’s not going to work!
Center of mass, baby!
Sorry, I meant to say, from nearabouts. People in close contact or proximity, fighting together, firing powerful guns near each other’s eyes & ears. Sure, sparky, you do that!
Reminds me of the scene in Last Action Hero where Jack Slater is perplexed when the car he shoots at fails to explode.
That’s a remarkable movie–directed by the best action director, John McTiernan, written initially by the best action writer Shane Black–& it’s full of commentary on the genre they epitomized.
A lot of movies get the various Christian denominations wrong too.
Yeah, I remember the day my father came home with an eye patch (temporary) and hearing loss (permanent) from having a guy shoot a shotgun right next to his head.
Titus, true but
The body does weird stuff in combat, under the influence of the hormonal cocktail that the body starts spritzing out in combat. Someone can fire out a burst of auto with no ear-pro on, and wind up with his ears ringing and hearing impaired for days. Same guy can get in a similar fight on a different day with no ill aftereffects at all.
@titustechera, I haven’t seen Spartan, didn’t watch many movies ‘o4-’06/7. I did see Basic, though. Awful. The training scenes were terrible, and Samuel Jackson was trying so hard to be butch, but he just came across as campy, sashaying around in that poncho.
I’ll let you know whenever I get to Spartan.
From the synopsis at IMBD.com: “In the US-government’s special ops, Scott is a shooter, not a planner, doing the job without regard to quaint or obsolete convention.”
Disbelief will need to be suspended, yes?
It’s a thriller full of secrets & conspiracies. I think so, yes.
By the way, ‘shooter, not planner’ doesn’t mean he gets sent to do evil.
My point is: Spec Ops shooters know the plan.
Usually. Such as it is.
So, too, in the movie–they know the plan. The point is, they don’t make the plan-
Not so sure about this in real life. . . Boss?
I’m not putting down the film. I mean, lots of suspending disbelief in Security!
No plan survives contact with the enemy. So, they always have to make a new plan on the fly.
Goodness, people, stop it. I’m just trying to explain what the tagline / line from the movie meant.
Boss Mongo doesn’t need a plan. He just has to show up and stand there glowering.
Thanks, Judge. But those candygrams are a b–they can be a little distracting.
The strategic plan? The operational plan? Shooters might get some input. The tactical, actions-on-the-objective plan? Shooters own that.
Saw Security last night. Great flick. Thanks for the recommendation, Boss.
I saw “John Wick” last night. Some stupid stuff in there:
Yeah, but if he kills Wick, the movie ends. Duh.
ALSO, Ya might wanna mention SPOILERS before posting stuff like that.
Beauty, Larry my dahling, is in the eye of the beholder.
They had their first engagement in the Continental. Perkins violated the rules of the Continental (it is ultimately her demise), Wick follows the rules. So, even though he certainly would’ve gotten a waiver for offing her, his “catch and release” built Continental good will. Smart move.
Well, they certainly try to kill him later in the warehouse. But I know what you mean: after they slammed Wick with the SUV, they–Viggo and crew–should’ve put two in his head right there. Then empty the mags into the body. But, does Viggo not strike you as the kind of guy that needs to lord it over the vanquished Wick? Do you think he would pass on grandiosity for mere effectiveness?
One interpretation, and it’s fair. How bout, though: Viggo departed because the guy left was pure badass. If you remember, he’s the guy that did the most damage to Wick at the Red Circle, breaking his assault. He’s also the guy that captured Wick in the Church shootout. So, it’s not like he was leaving him in some witless boob’s hands.
Also, at that point, Viggo had to be suspicious. Maybe he thought that by departing, master assassin and sniper Willem DaFoe would have to choose between shooting Viggo or saving Wick. Viggo didn’t know for sure, but he certainly had suspicions that there was a certain Dues ex Machina sniper hooking Wick up. Smart move.
And also, he had a lot of respect and maybe love for Wick, and didn’t want to watch him die.
Even though he put a contract out on him? Watching isn’t a problem for this guy.
(Sorry about not giving a spoiler alert.)