Revisiting Rango (2011, Gore Verbinski) (second viewing), I didn't get the same tequila-shot-esque buzz that I felt after seeing it the first time, but it wouldn't be just to lower my letter-grade rating of it. That's because only one element--writer John Logan's (The Aviator) ornate, Coen Brothers-influenced dialogue--actually felt weaker this time out on an objective level. (There's still no denying that Logan has done some clever work here--you gotta admire an animated movie that correctly and wittily uses the phrase "paradigm shift"--but it lacks the precision and detail that makes the Coens' dialogue surprising even on repeat viewings.) This is really just a case of being subjectively delighted by a mainstream, ostensibly child-targeted entertainment's loopy weirdness on initial viewing in a way that can't be duplicated in a DVD rewatching down the line.
Objectively, that loopy weirdness didn't go anywhere, and that's a very good thing. A Western riff that foregrounds its lizard protagonist's existential woes is a strange thing in and of itself, but director Verbinski and Logan don't stop there. They merrily inject some of Chinatown into the movie's DNA (and what makes it odd is that they don't just name-check the film noir classic in the lazy manner typical of DreamWorks Animation's lesser fare; they weave the Polanski film's portrait of water-industry corruption into the narrative and even make Ned Beatty's turtle villain a dead ringer for John Huston's Noah Cross) and pay homage to Clint Eastwood in the most surreal way imaginable.
Seeming to enjoy his freedom from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (only the second entry, Dead Man's Chest, felt fully liberated and goofy to me--yeah, I know I'm in the minority there), Verbinski does arguably his best visual work here; the deep-focus compositions successfully evoke obvious influence Sergio Leone. Verbinski's Pirates cohort Johnny Depp, who voices the heroic lizard, also responds well to the departure from Captain Jack Sparrow. His manic, rapid-fire verbal energy and occasional massive shifts in pitch (for example, when the lizard is play-acting different roles in his terrarium in the movie's opening scene) make this a voice-over performance worthy of comparison to his great, imaginative in-the-flesh work.
But, alas, my main quibble from first viewing still stands: the movie is overlong and narratively repetitive even at the normally-far-from-indulgent running time of 107 minutes. This is a problem that has reared its head in even Verbinski's good movies. I remember joking with a friend and colleague that studios should make it part of Verbinski's contract to never exceed 100 minutes.
Still, while Rango offers too much of a good thing, it's the rare animated movie that takes advantage of the form's potential to appeal to grown-ups, and at considerable commercial risk too. I recall the movie getting a "C+" CinemaScore grade from audiences, which is pretty dire considering that any animated movie that holds kids' attention scores in the "A"-range. Who can blame parents for walking into a movie expecting a Disney-esque diversion and then being angry when they walk out of it having to explain to tykes what ol' Noah Cross was up to in Chinatown? Grade: B+
If you've seen and enjoyed the shrewd '90s hitman comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, then there's really no reason to bother with the countless lame rip-offs that followed in its wake. Wild Target (2010, Jonathan Lynn) is one of those disposable carbon copies of Grosse Pointe, arriving nearly 15 years after that John Cusack vehicle, and with all the freshness of a bowl of mothball soup.
Too bad, because a good movie could've been built around the central trio of actors here. Extraordinary, deadpan British character actor Bill Nighy (who voices Rattlesnake Jake in Rango!) is perfectly cast as Victor, a hitman lacking any kind of social life, and sharp, lovely Emily Blunt is just as well-suited to the role of Rose, a woman whose anger at being targeted by Victor overwhelms her gratefulness over his decision not to kill her. It's impressive that Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series) is able to score laughs while pitted against two veteran co-stars, but he is indeed quite funny playing Tony, a stoner who becomes Victor's protege through a series of events too labored to be worth getting into.
In smaller roles, Martin Freeman (from the original BBC The Office), as a cartoonishly dentured killer, and Eileen Atkins, as Victor's ruthless mother, also register strongly.
But no amount of good acting can save a movie that stands around wanting to be hip and irreverent without any idea of how to go about accomplishing that goal. A subplot in which Victor can't figure out if he's attracted to Rose or Tony because his monk-like existence has caused some sexual confusion is inorganically tacked on and timidly executed. I'd be more forgiving of a movie in which the protagonist casually hooked up with both Blunt and Grint; they're both lookers, if Grint less conventionally so. But I suppose certain prospective ticket buyers would be scared away by such a movie, and not alienating ticket buyers is one of this pointless film's few discernible reasons for existence. Grade: C
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