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Evolution (starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore, Dan Aykroyd; story by Don Jakoby, screenplay by David Diamond, David Weissman and Don Jakoby; co-produced and directed by Ivan Reitman; rated PG-13)
It’s been 17 years since Ivan Reitman brought us Ghostbusters, whose rallying cry of “Who ya gonna call?” send theatre-goers rushing to learn just who was “coming to save the world this summer.” That movie touched our funny bones and won a respected place in the hearts and imaginations of millions. So it must have seemed like a great idea to Reitman and his writing team to do a Ghostbusters Redux and call it Evolution, change the ghosts to alien critters, and voila! Box office magic… maybe.
The original Ghostbusters was from Columbia Pictures; Evolution is from DreamWorks. Aside from that, there is very little difference. Even the film’s tag line, “coming to wipe that silly smile off your planet,” is a send-up of the first film’s advertising copy, and there are numerous scenes that have been updated, given better special effects, and redone with younger actors (except for Aykroyd, alum of the original film, seen as the Governor of Arizona, presumably in a Hull-less future).
Setting is our very own home state of AZ. Plot: a meteor from space strikes near Page, oozes DNA, begins to evolve into cells, worms, fish, dinos, and so on up the evolutionary scale, eventually giving rise to a primate-like creature. It’s up to the Ghostbusters – er, make that Evolutionbusters – Duchovny, Jones and Scott, along with Moore for sex appeal, to destroy them before they take over (gasp!) Arizona and then the rest of the country. There is some humor in this, and it’s fun to watch the stages of evolution in this parallel universe, but there’s an over-abundance of scatological humor this summer for some unknown reason, and this picture doesn’t pass up that opportunity. It should have. The ending is truly gross; kids under 12 will love this! Oh wait – it’s PG-13.
Mensans may get a kick out of the humor, but it’s definitely not a film to challenge your intellect. Rating 2 ½ out of five.
Pearl Harbor (starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jon Voight, Alec Baldwin, Peter Firth, Dan Aykroyd); written by Randall Wallace; directed by Michael Bay; rated PG-13) No doubt by now you’ve heard that Pearl Harbor is a waste of three hours, replete with a shallow, Titanic-ripoff love story and uninvolving characters. This may be true. Yet, despite the critical trashing Pearl Harbor has received in the press, there are some good things about this film that make it worth seeing.
Plan to arrive at the theatre a bit late – the good stuff doesn’t get cranking until about 45 minutes into the movie. That’s when the attack begins, and it’s a doozie. Don’t think about waiting until this appears on video, unless you happen to have a home theatre with Dolby Digital surround sound. The battle sequences are spine-chilling and frighteningly realistic. I found myself crouching down in my seat and ducking a few times. This is state-of-the-art special effects; I promise you, you have never experienced this sort of realism in the cinema before.
Once the battle ends, the film continues its downward spiral. The triangle in the lame love story is resolved (I wouldn’t have cared if all three had died, since I didn’t bond with any of the characters.) In order to have an upbeat finale, director Bay obviously couldn’t end with the sinking of all those battleships, so he tacked on the much later “30 seconds over Tokyo” bombing raid. It’s anti-climactic. Most other critics have paid scant attention to the ubiquitous Jon Voight, perfect in his role as FDR. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a Best Supporting Actor nomination. His makeup, vocal inflections and mannerisms are impeccable, as are the nuances of the “day that will live in infamy” speech. Rating 3 out of 5.