6A - Monday, October 3, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Owen 'Elite' in thriller
COiURTESY OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CIRCUIT
Heather Courtney's "Where Soldiers Come From" follows U.P. National Guardsmen who are deployed to Afghanistan.
'Soldiers' fromU
Director Courtney
brings war home
to rural America
By EMILY BOUDREAU
DailyArts Writer
Distant both culturally and
geographically from the rest of
the state, the Upper Peninsula is
a part of Michigan that's easily
forgotten. However, documenta-
ry filmmaker Heather Courtney
("Letters From the Other Side")
calls this place home. In her
new film "Where Soldiers Come
From," she does her best to make
sure it's not forgotten as she fol-
lowsthe lives ofagroup of friends
from the Upper Peninsula to
Afghanistan and back again.
"The original idea was to go
back to the place I was from and
do a story about rural America
because it's a place that's not very
well represented in mainstream
film and television," Courtney
said. "So that was my motivation
in the beginning."
She started to get a better idea
of the film's narrative as she began
to flip through her local paper for
story ideas and found an article
about the National Guard. She
went to watch the training and
met Dominic and Cole, the two
young men whose story she would
capture on film.
"Being from there actually
made it easier for me because
when you're doing a documenta-
ry, half the battle is getting access
to the people you want to film,"
Courtney said. "You really have to
become part of the community."
She thought it would be inter-
esting to focus on a group of
friends in the National Guard
when they were 19 years old
and trying to figure out what
to do with their lives. Though
the friends were in the National
Guard, the film would primarily
be a coming-of-age story.
"Then, a year and a half into
shooting, they were deployed
to Afghanistan," Courtney said.
"Then - well, it was still a com-
ing-of-age film, but in the context
of war."
once the young men in the film
were deployed, the story changed.
Courtney had just been film-
ing their lives as they happened
and wasn't planning on going to
Afghanistan, but suddenly the
film wasn't about a small town
in rural America. The narrative
became much larger and Court-
ney found herself following these
young soldiers through the moun-
tains of Afghanistan.
"You have to sort of trust that
you're following these people
and that they're people with lives
worth telling, worth showing
because they represent most peo-
ple in America. These are univer-
sal stories and there's a lot of value
to it," Courtney said.
She also made sure to capture
the difficulties of the young men's
return to complete the story,
focusing on issues of assimilation
and how they dealt with things
like post-traumatic stress disor-
der.
"With the National Guard,
you're not coming back to a mili-
tary base, you're not a soldier full
time so you go from teenager to
soldier to being a hardened com-
bat veteran and you're trying to
live a normal life again," Court-
ney said.
Courtney spent four years
working on the film, traveling
back and forth between the U.P.,
Afghanistan and her home in
Austin, Tex. She ended up with
650 hours of footage and edited it
down to 90 minutes.
"I feel much more connected
to the place I'm from because of
it," Courtney said. "I hadn't really
spentmuch time there since going
off to college. It's really beautiful
up there, and natural beauty is a
big part of the film."
The loveliness of the setting
does not take away from harsh
reality. According to Courtney,
places like the U.P. are dispro-
portionally represented in wars
because they send more of their
sons and daughters off to combat
than urban or suburban America
despite the fact that rural Ameri-
ca is soeasily overlooked.
"For me, it's a film about friend-
ship and family and a portrait of
a town and a town that's very
easy to forget about," Courtney
said. "Most Americans are very
removed from the wars because
they don't know anyone who has
gone. I think the film because it's
such a human story ... can help
people feel they do know people
who've gone off to war so it makes
it harder to forget."
"Where Soldiers Come From"
showed at the Michigan Theater
on Saturday and will be broad-
casted on PBS's POV documen-
tary series on Thursday, Nov. t0.
ByKAVI SHEKHAR PANDEY
Senior Arts Editor
The very presence of Messrs.
Statham ("The Transporter"),
Owen ("The International")
and De Niro
("Heat")
together in a
motion pit- Killer Elite
ture strongly
indicates an At Quality 16
action-packed, and Rave
kaboom-riffic
bonanza - in Open Road
fact, that's pre-
cisely what the trailers imply
with their sequences of Statham
and Owen beating the holy hell
out of each other, set to "Rock
You Like a Hurricane." Well,
watching "Killer Elite" is ask-
ing for Kung Pao Chicken and
getting a California Roll instead:
not exactly what was ordered
and satisfies a completely differ-
ent craving, but it's still totally
delicious.
There's a special rung in hell
reserved for marketing teams
that grossly misrepresent their
movies. "Killer Elite" is nothing
like the retread of Every Jason
Statham Movie Ever Made that
it's presented as - in reality, the
narrative closely mimics Spiel-
berg's modern classic "Munich,"
a taut, stirring, espionage drama
inundated with political under-
tones.
Forget cat-and-mouse, the
movie is more aptly described as
a nonstop cat-and-cat hunt. Sta-
tham would be the first feline,
tracking down and assassinating
former SAS officers in order to tone of the film and displace it
rescue his friend and mentor (De into campiness.
Niro) from Omani royals (there's Still, there are enough acting
a true-to-history backstory legs on the "Killer Elite" table
about all that). But he can't just to make up for the one broken
straight-up murder the louts; off by Statham. Robert De Niro
he has to make the deaths look is shockingly decent, wielding
like accidents, bolstering the weapons with convincing com-
film with even more delectable mand and momentarily allowing
tension. Opposing him is Clive audiences to forget the travesty
Owen, a former SAS officer who that is his career over the past
is furious that his bros are being decade ("Little Fockers," for
picked off and thus tries to stop a reminder). Dominic Purcell
Statham from killing the rest of (TV's "Prison Break") plays the
his bros. point man on Statham's crew,
owning his role with the charm
and poise reminiscent of Tom
M ustachioed Hardy's character in "Inception."
But the man of the hour,
m h mthe toast of the town, the belle
iC iO i'nan of the ball is none other than
protcts ros. Clive Owen, who plays the
protects bros. least-despisable antagonist in
memory. Although his character
is despicably underdeveloped,
Even with this promis- Owen dons a marvelous mus-
ing premise, "Killer Elite" is tache (add "can pull off facial
a shrewd dramatic thriller hair" to the list of reasons why
trapped in a Jason Statham Clive is God incarnate), and
action vehicle. The bald, Brit- growls through his role as a
ish badass's requisites are all in warrior of virtue, fed up with
place: a stupid backstory, stupid the system but trying to protect
dialogue, a stupid love inter- his brotherhood. Owen appears
est and a stupid scene where he to be the only actor aware of the
chooses to give up his merce- gravity of the situation, creating
nary career after killing a man in a strange juxtaposition to Sta-
front of his daughter (complete tham's stupid antics.
with a shot of Statham staring Sans Statham and with a more
at his blood-stained hands, gag). serious tone, "Killer Elite" could
Also crammed in are extrava- have been something special -
gant shootouts, Statham doing the rest of the cast was ready
parkour and an intensely bru- and waiting. There's nothing
tal brawl between Statham and elite about this movie, but it still
Owen that, despite being well has all the elements of a killer
choreographed, don't match the thriller.
Renegade Ops' a wild ride
By SHIN HIEFTJE
Daily Arts Writer
When it comes to entertain-
ment, sometimes you want to
see a serious
piece that is ***.i*
intellectually
stimulating, Renegade Ops
while other
times you Sega
just want to Xbox, Playstation,
turn off your PCdownload
brain and see
RELEASE DATE- Monday, October 3, 2011
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something explode. "Renegade
Ops," a new digital release from
Sega and Avalanche Studios, def-
initely falls into the latter cate-
gory, as it's essentially the video
game equivalent of a cheesy
action movie from the '80s. Its
ridiculous paper-thin story is
only a means to an end, and that
end is nonstop chaotic action.
"Renegade Ops" is easy to
pick up and play. You control a
jeep from a top-down perspec-
tive, meaning you're looking
at it from a bird's eye view
at all times. The left control
stick moves the jeep, and the
right control stick shoots the
machine gun turret of your
jeep in any direction.
The story in "Renegade Ops"
is perhaps even simpler than
its control scheme. There is a
major terrorist named inferno
causing chaos in South Ameri-
ca, and as a member of an elite
commando unit, it is your job
to take him down. What is
Inferno's motivation, you may
ask? Stop asking questions
and start blowing shit up, the
game responds. While initially
it may seem like the whole of
"Renegade Ops" takes place in
a South American jungle, later
stages have you globetrotting
from Africa to Eastern Europe
to track down inferno. The
premise is ludicrous in a comic
book kind of way, but it's ser-
viceable in giving you context
for destroying everything in
your path.
That's basically what the
game is about. Over the course
of nine stages, you'll dump your
machine guns into all sorts of
enemy vehicles, from small,
nimble jeeps to massive, power-
ful tanks. This has the potential
to get repetitive, but "Renegade
Ops" does a good job of mix-
ing up the action and keeping
things fun. Occasional pow-
er-ups will let you fire rocket
launchers or rail guns along
with your machine guns. Some-
times the game will let you pilot
a helicopter, while other times
it will pit you against mortars
or vehicles with flamethrow-
ers. Everything is destruc-
tible, which factors into the
gameplay nicely. For example,
sometimes there will be enemy
watchtowers that harass you
with their turrets. Runninginto
their wooden structures with
your jeep destroys their struc-
tural support and takes them
out quickly. Causing wonton
destruction so easily is a lot of
fun, especially since the explo-
sions look really nice.
While playing "Renegade
Ops" may sound like a simplistic
destructive romp, Avalanche Stu-
dios has admirably put in place a
deeper system that lets you cus-
tomize how you play. Before you
start each mission, the game asks
you to choose from four different
characters, each with a special
ability. One equips a shield for
temporary invincibility, another
has the ability to call airstrikes,
and so forth. Each class has its
merits, so it's fun to experiment
with each of them to see which
one matches your style. Along
with the class differentiations,
there is also a leveling system in
which experience is gained for
completing objectives or killing
enemies. With enough experi-
ence you gain levels, and with
more levels you can spend points
on upgrading your health, ammo
or effectiveness of your special
ability.
The video game
equivalent of
'80s flicks.
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This system of player progres-
sion is a nice touch, but it also
has its downsides. Whenever you
level, all your points go into the
class you were playing with. So
even if you had all the upgrades
for the airstrike class, none of
those upgrades transfers over
if you were to play with anoth-
er class. It would be a lot more
enjoyable if the leveling applied
to all classes, and not just one. A
related gripe with progression
is the lack of checkpoints. Each
mission lasts anywhere from
20 to 40 minutes and you start
out with a set number of lives.
If those lives run out, you have
to start the mission over, which
can be really frustrating espe-
cially on harder levels.
Despite these annoyances,
"Renegade Ops" is still one hell
of a good time. Careening reck-
lessly over cliffs taking out
everything as a one-man army
is as fun as it sounds. It's a little
on the short side for $15, but the
levels are designed to be enjoy-
able time and again. Don't let
the generic, forgettable name of
"Renegade Ops" turn you away.
Anyone interested in fast-paced
action should give it a shot.