The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 5A
Marky Mark with his new Funky Bunch.
'Survivor' tells
explosive true tale
"Matthew McConaughey's son is named Mr. Stone."
True Detective defies
crime drama tropes
War film recreates
doomed Operation
Red Wings
By KARSTEN SMOLINSKI
DailyArts Writer
For those moviegoers just
craving a bit of action, "Lone
Survivor" 's fearsome bat-
tles should
more than
meet your
needs, but Lone Survivor
for the more
demanding State Theater
viewer, theU
true story of Universal
"Lone Survi-
vor" also delivers a good dose of
humanity. Based on the book of
the same name by Navy SEAL
Marcus Luttrell and novelist
Patrick Robinson, the movie
follows the events of Operation
Red Wings, when four SEALs
came under attack from Taliban
forces in the midst of enemy ter-
ritory in Afghanistan.
The film introduces the four
main characters, HMI Marcus
Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg, "The
Fighter"), Lt. Michael P. Mur-
phy (Taylor Kitsch, "John Cart-
er"), GM2 Danny Dietz (Emile
Hirsch, "Killer Joe") and STG2
Matthew Axelson (Ben Fos-
ter, "Contraband"), quickly
establishing their rich family
lives and the strength of their
bonds as brothers-in-arms.
Soon thereafter, Lt. Cmdr.
Erik S. Kristensen (Eric Bana,
"Hanna") sends them into the
Afghan mountains on a mission
to capture or kill a notorious
Taliban leader.
After making a difficult
moral decision over whether to
release or kill a few goatherds
who accidentally stumble upon
the four SEALs' hiding place,
the heroes of the movie rapidly
find themselves under attack
by the local Taliban militia.
Stranded in the middle of the
Afghan wilderness with only
limited radio contact with
American forces, the soldiers
are left with no choice but to
fight for survival.
The intense and lengthy-.
action sequence that follows
excellently portrays a sense of
desperation as well the Navy
SEALs' astounding ability to
endure massive punishment.
This echoes the film's open-
ing where actual footage of the
Navy SEALs' extreme training
establishes the theme of will-
power and a tone of realism.
During the combat, a highly
subjective and frenetic camera
conveys the hysteria that ensues
as the Taliban militia forces
them to retreat further and fur-
ther down the mountain. The
sound effects induce flinching
with every impact. Audiences
also receive close-ups of the
SEALs' gruesome wounds.
Initially, the film comes off
like any other film with an
excess of shooting and explo-
sions, but a dearth of unique
emotionality. "Lone Survivor"
glorifies the heroes and their
deaths while unceremoniously
dispatching a number of name-
less, faceless "bad guys." How-
ever, the film takes a surprising
turn, in a moment that human-
izes the Afghanis and imparts
to the audience a wonderful
sense of hope for the prevalence
of human kindness.
Possibly the film's stron-
gest asset is the accuracy with
which it depicts the story based
off of the accounts of the lone
survivor himself, Marcus Lut-
trell. Though Hollywood does
of course fudge some of the
more minor details, the events
that resonate most with the
audience stay fairly true to real
world events. In this regard,
"Lone Survivor" inspires and
entertains without turning the
phrase "based on a true story"
into a meaningless marketing
gimmick.
While "Lone Survivor" may
recycle the familiar themes of
patriotism, honor in war and
personal sacrifice, its dedica-
tion to the real-life heroes of
Operation Red Wings reminds
viewers of the true value of
these principles.
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By CHLOE GILKE a man and a friendship broken
DailyArts Writer by the hopelessness of human-
ity than solving another case of
don't sleep, I dream." the week. In fact, when Martin
is hardly the most shock- and Rust are introduced, their
omment that mysterious, case is already closed. A new set
-weary of detectives (and the viewers)
tive must accompany the estranged
Cohle Martin and Rust as they recount
hew True the events of 1995 and navigate
- Detecte their dark memories of the case
hey, that tore apart their friendship
as Buy- Sundays at and their sanity.
Club") 9 p.m. And man, is this show dark.
es to The episode is entirely humor-
bewil- HBO less, and every loaded remark
part- Rust makes to Martin is increas-
Martin ingly cringe-worthy. (When
(Woody Harrelson, "Hun- Rust describes a ghost town as
ames: Catching Fire"), but resembling "someone's memo-
rssibly the most affecting. ry," Martin responds with just a
at moment, Hart realizes hint of terror that his partner's
here is more to his part- candor is troubling and unpro-
ran meets the 'ye, and that fessional.) In this episode, all
ver dar'=-. .n lies beneath the discomfort builds to a din-
rrface is probaly best left ner scene between Martin,
turbed, Rust and Martin's wife, Mag-
.e the character of Rust, gie (Michelle Monaghan, "Gone
Detective" is bleaker Baby Gone"), that is pitch-black
the sum of its elements grim. Rust arrives to Martin's
suggest. The unbalanced home with his hard-earned
co-dependent friendship, sobriety blown and his careful
ritualistic murder mys- censor gone. He provides lovely
he devolution of the main dinner conversation by describ-
cter into a boozing, smok- ing his experience of killing a
ness: if this all sounds man to Martin's young daugh-
iar, well, it is. Down to the ters and recalls to Maggie that
equence (featuring South- le also used to be a married
othic music playing over father (that is, until his child
s of brooding men and the passed away and his wife left
y Louisiana landscape), him). But for these characters,
Detective" appears to be who deal with death, destruc-
er derivative of the popu- tion and the worst of humanity
nti-hero and procedural every day on the job, the pessi-
rama series. mism is appropriate.
what sets "True Detec- Martin and Rust themselves,
apart from the glut of brilliantly written by novel-
ar series flooding cable ist Nic Pizzolatto, are dynamic
eels is that it is not really enough to carry this character-
the serial killer. "True driven drama. Gone are the days
tive" is refreshingly more of McConaughey's surfer-dude
sted in telling the story of and rom-com charmer roles:
his performance is intense and
terrifying. Harrelson also holds
his own as family man Martin.
And although she is not around
much in the first episode, Mag-
gie seems curious, tenacious
and interesting.
While the character drama
is top-notch, the case itself is
lacking in intrigue. Dora Lang
is introduced as a dead prosti-
tute used in a satanic ritualistic
murder, but without more infor-
mation about who she was when
she was alive, it is difficult for
viewers to care as much about
her case as Rust and Martin do.
Since "True Detective" will be
an anthology drama, following
the same characters and case for
one season before switching to a
new set of detectives and mur-
der, the foundation for a good
case is an absolute must. So far,
the investigation is the weakest
plot line in "True Detective,"
which is pretty problematic for
a show about, you know, detec-
tives solving a murder.
Puts the
"character"
in character
drama.
Despite these shortcomings,
the successes of "True Detec-
tive" 's pilot episode are rea-
son enough to make it required
viewing this winter. Uncov-
ering the motivations of such
interesting characters is reason
enough to reopen the case and
revisit the twisted darkness of
"True Detective" for another
installment.
Loo sely spun Helix' falters
By ALEX INTNER
Daily Arts Writer
When the names of certain
showrunners are attached to a
series, there are expectations
that natu-
rally follow.
Ron Moore
("Battle- Helix
star Galac-
tica") is one Season One
of those Premiere
names.
Bringing Friday ati10 p.m.
him in as SyFy
a producer
adds a cer-
tain ethos to "Helix." While
he will probably never be
involved with another show as
great as "Battlestar," his name
still means something in the
science-fiction community.
"Helix" follows what hap-
pens after a virus breaks out
in a research facility in the
Arctic. A team from the Cen-
ter for Disease Control arrives
and finds themselves facing
a type of virus they've never
seen before. Over the course
of the first three hours, the
show introduces the outbreak
and adds some major details
about how this virus works. It
spends these hours assembling
a chessboard, setting the board
by introducing the characters
and moving the pieces around.
The major issue is that the
movements around the board
are slight. The show doesn't
create a huge amount of for-
ward momentum in its sto-
rytelling. The second hour
especially made it clear that
the show is stalling as it tries
to fill 13 episodes of story. If
this season were six or even 10
episodes, the story would be
less redundant. It spends a sig-
nificant amount of time on the
effects of the virus, especially
the transformation of certain
people into zombie-like crea-
tures called "Vectors." After
introducing that idea, it con-
tinues to discuss it without
giving new information. It
starts to be repetitive, rather
than pushing the plot forward.
It doesn't help that "Helix"
's characters are a mixed bag
as well. Only the two main
characters, Dr. Alan Farragut
(Billy Campbell, "The Kill-
ing"), who is the head of the
CDC's team and Dr. Hiroshi
Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada,
"Lost"), who is the head of the
research facility, seem com-
plex. They are the only char-
acters who show any signs of
change or emotion over the
course of the first few hours.
Given that the show actually
has a decent sized ensemble,
that's a problem. This is some-
thing that can change over the
course of the season, but as
of right now, it's a huge mark
against the show.
The most effective element
of "Helix" is the setting. The
research facility is in the Arc-
tic, completely separated from
the rest of the world. (They
only can contact the outside
world for an hour a day.) This
creates a claustrophobic feel-
ing that makes the virus out-
break seem even more real.
When the Vectors are loose
and attacking people in the
facility, it creates some genu-
inely scary moments. The
show uses its setting to put
the viewers in the characters'
First episodes
don't show
strong vital
signs.
minds, allowing them to feel
the same fear.
"Helix" appears to be anoth-
er mediocre serialized sci-
ence-fiction series. Its setting
allows it to create some strong
moments, but it's limited by
its weak group of supporting
characters and lack of narra-
tive momentum. Ron Moore is
a quality writer; if there's any-
one who can correct the show's
direction, it's him. However,
the first few episodes don't
show strong vital signs.
3