“PAUL W.S. ANDERSON”
The name Paul W.S. Anderson is one that seems to strike fear in fanboys, almost as bad as the name Uwe Boll does. But is he really as bad of a director as he’s now known as? In my humble opinion, no he isn’t. In fact I actually rather like Paul W.S. Anderson and the film’s he has given us. I stand by my opinion that 1995’s Mortal Kombat is possibly one of the best film adaptations of a video game. Sure he isn’t the perfect director, but he manages to entertain me and give me some cool and fun films. No one is perfect, and I think Mr. Anderson gets unfair treatment from people. I am proud to say I am a fan, and I will gladly watch anything he does with an open mind.
BEST WORK
Without a doubt in my mind I can safely say that Event Horizon is the best film Paul W.S. Anderson has directed. I would put Death Race at a close second, both are entirely different films and I enjoyed them immensely. Before I dive straight into Event Horizon I would like to give Death Race some love. I actually went into this film almost expecting to hate it. It is a remake, it’s set in the future and its plot isn’t anything all that new. As it turned out Death Race is a lot of fun and pretty well made considering. Jason Statham is perfect for this film and the role; he injected everything there needed to be to make his character likable and a bad ass. Anderson knew exactly what he was making, he doesn’t take things too seriously and the action is over the top where it needs to be. Amazingly there aren’t any performances which are hammy, and Joan Allen’s character as the prison’s warden could have easily been and it worked because it wasn’t. Death Race felt like a lot of films rolled into one yet some how managed to stay fresh.
From one future to another, we have Event Horizon. The best and easiest way to describe this one is calling it a crossed between Alien and Hellraiser. Now really how could that not be awesome? The film is about the spaceship the Lewis and Clark with its crew on a mission to recover another ship called the Event Horizon. As they arrive at its location around Neptune, the crew discovers a strange object and as they investigate further strange things begin to happen and all is definitely not what it seems. I am a sucker for sci-fi, especially when horror is added to the mix. This film for me was not a let down, upon my initially viewing (a year or so after it’s release) it scared me and I actually had nightmares for a few weeks. It really did leave a lasting impression, and with each viewing the film just seems better. It is too bad this film isn’t 20 minutes longer, because with it being a little more fleshed out I wouldn’t hesitate to call it a masterpiece of the genre. The acting for the most part is great, some awesome performances by Lawrence Fishbourne and Sam Neill (with the oddest Australian accent I’ve heard), and some nice support from the likes of Jason Isaacs, Katheleen Quinlan, Sean Pertwee, Jack Nosworthy, Joely Richardson and Richard T. Jones.
The strange and horror filled imagery is fantastic, it certainly freaked me out and the effects were pretty rockin for 15 years ago. I thought Anderson did a great job with this, even managing to cut just the right amount out for the studio, yet still having a great film. The only weakness it really has (aside from a few silly script issues, which most films tend to have) is the CG doesn’t quite hold up, it looked good back then but it has dated. It doesn’t make it a bad viewing experience by any means, perhaps if the film had a bigger budget it would have held up there. I really enjoy this film a great deal, I can’t recommend it enough.
WORST WORK
Just like it was a no brainer to pick Anderson’s best work, it is a no brainer as to which of his films is the worst. Alien vs. Predator is awful, and despite what my friend Bede has to say it is not something that can be enjoyed on a guilty pleasure level. So much potential and so much disappointment, to be fair though I don’t think it would have mattered whose hands this film landed in, it wouldn’t have lived up to Alien, Aliens or Predator. This whole merging of the universes of these films came when Predator 2 featured an Alien skull on the Predator’s ship. We saw video games and comics, and a film took a damn long time to get made. It is sad that this is the end result, what went wrong? Well I could see that they had all the right intentions to make a good film, they wanted to keep some continuity with Weyland and Lance Henriksen.
There’s no character development, the characters we do have are not any kind of bad ass and worst of all we are to believe this worst character in the film is that good that she can manage to team up with a Predator. Erm no! The Aliens didn’t look as threatening as they did way back when, the Predator’s looked like football players in bad costumes and their fight scenes were not anything spectacular. I didn’t mind that they went with the Erich Von Daniken mythology of alien beings being around thousands of years ago and were worshipped as Gods. But that might have been one of the only good things in the film. The pyramid setting was okay, but where were my marines? Why didn’t these people go there without being armed, considering a strange pyramid just appeared it doesn’t make sense. The film being a PG-13 affair didn’t help, if you have aliens and or predators you need to have blood and this film lacked that. There was not much to like here, laughable effort but it really is something so bad it is bad.
TRADEMARKS
Paul W.S. Anderson has quite a few trademarks; we all know he has several video game adaptations under his belt with Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. Just about all of his films are set in the future, or at least a different reality. I really enjoy that aspect in his films, what he gives us on where the future could go for mankind. He definitely mixes genres too, he’s done sci-fi/horror, sci-fi/action, fantasy/sci-fi/martial arts; you name it he could probably pull it off. His films usually boast some unqiue and interesting costume design; it isn’t boring to look at. He makes the most out of a small budget; while sometimes his films might look cheap he tries his best to hide it. Like so many directors he likes to use the same actors in his films, there are at least three that tend to come up quite often. The most well known would be his beautiful wife Milla Jovovich, Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee. Personally I can’t complain about seeing either one of those people in a film, a nice trademark I just say.
HIDDEN GEM
This wasn’t so easy to decide on, his films are generally well known. I did however discover two films that I enjoyed, one isn’t so well known and the other I think has been forgotten about. I speak about Shopping and Soldier, both films I consider to be worth a look. Shopping is his debut film; often Mortal Kombat is mistaken as his debut for some reason. The film stars Jude Law and his now ex wife Sadie Frost, set in the not so distant future. It contains equal amounts of violence as it does juvenile delinquents. You’ve got fast cars, as well as gangs, I didn’t mind this one bit.
This is a sorely under seen film that certainly is worth a watch. Then we have Soldier, starring an almost mute Kurt Russell. Part Universal Solider, part The Road Warrior, Soldier is a good little film. I only recently discovered this one, and I have no idea why but I expected to hate it. The film does have its issue’s but there is a lot to really like and admire. Another one set in the future, supposedly in the same universe as Blade Runner. It almost borderlines on guilty pleasure fun, I had a good time with this. Kurt Russell made his character work; he made this in his mid 40’s and he got ripped big time! Props to Russell and Anderson for this film, something I can recommend seeing with an open mind.
NEXT PROJECT
Anderson is taking a step into new waters with his adaptation of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Instead of looking to the future, he is going back in time to bring this story to life once again for the big screen. Having already dipped his feet in the world of 3D with Resident Evil: Afterlife, he is bringing us this one in 3D as well. Shooting it with the same technology he’s already used, we can at least assume this will be nice to look at. He’s got a pretty solid cast on board with the likes of Milla Jovovich (who else would he use?), Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Logan Lerman, Matthew Mcfayden, Ray Stevenson and Til Schweiger. I am looking forward to checking this one out, it is set for a release this coming October.
OVERALL
Say what you will about Paul W.S. Anderson, I do think he is a solid director. Out of all of his films I have only thought one was truly horrible and in my book that is a pretty sweet achievement. I’ve never really understood all the hate he gets, sure he isn’t making Oscar contenders but his films are at the very least solid entertainment. His work is often a good pick me up after a bad day, certainly there is nothing wrong with that. I applaud this director or his efforts and I look forward to what he brings.