Word: face-off
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...Sept. 2 skirmish marked the worst political violence to hit the Thai capital since 1992, when protesters were gunned down by security forces. But the tense face-off around Government House is about far more than the bloody airing of grievances. At stake is nothing less than Thailand's political future. Will it continue as a fragile democracy attempting, in however flawed a manner, to allow voters to choose their leaders through the ballot box? Or will it return to a past where the upper class took it upon itself to decide what is best for Thailand? "This...
...terracotta warriors, once they are revived, move with the balletic precision of armored Rockettes. There's a decent chase scene through Shanghai streets with Art Deco buildings draped in chinoiserie. The whole production is handsome, and the second-unit work first-rate. Finally Li and Yeoh have their big face-off, and the movie rekindles old Hong Kong glories while offering some new ones...
...Actually, they're just diversions from the epochal face-off of Bruce and the Joker. For a good part of the film, when the two embrace in a free fall of souls - one doomed, the other imperiled - you may think you're in the grip of a mordant masterpiece. That feeling will pass, as the film spends too many of its final moments setting up the series' third installment. The chill will linger, though. The Dark Knight is bound to haunt you long after you've told yourself, Aah, it's only a comic-book movie...
...sophisticated thrill machines. Raiders and its progeny were fun without being facetious; they moved with the speed and power of an Indy right hook, relentlessly piling one cool action trope on another. And at their heart was a hero who wore his machismo lightly, whether he was ending a face-off with a saber-wielding villain by shooting him or coping with his mortal fear of snakes...
...resistance is a sanctified political strategy, but as the key to Act Three of a comic-book movie, it kinda sucks. For Stark, his cool new gadget is both a fun toy (he can fly inside it, attracting the attention of military planes) and a weapon (for the climactic face-off with Iron Monger, a larger version of Iron Man). These are the episodes, executed with plenty of technical panache, which will keep young eyes stuck on the screen this weekend. Kids will see themselves in that kewl flight suit, and image that they are manipulating the Man and Monger...