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| Directed by Jake Scott; Starring Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Liv Tyler, Ken Stott, Alan Cumming, Michael Gambon, Iain Robertson, Tommy Flanagan, Stephen Walters, James Thornton, Terece Rigby, Christian Camargo, Karel Polisensky, and Neve McIntosh |
There are actually only a few directorial families that I truly respect. There are of course those that commonly work together like Joel and Ethan Coen and Andy and Larry Wachowski, as well as those that are so different in style that when it is learned they are family, it comes as quite a surprise. Actors may have great lineage (Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, anyone?) but directors do not normally work that way. There is of course Angelica Huston (The Dead, Bastard Out of Carolina) from father John (Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Man Who Would Be King) but one modern day family that stands out in my head is the less than obvious Scott brothers. The two are notable as each having nominees for the best action films of the eighties and nineties. Ridley Scott is of course the better known of the two with fame coming off of his directing of Alien and Blade Runner, as well as Thelma & Louise and The Duelists. With the former two, he proved himself to an unsuspecting audience that he was a modern great of sci-fi filmmaking, an entrance that would stand better toady if he had not made 1492: Conquest of Paradise and White Squall. The other side of the Scott brothers is the underappreciated Tony Scott. I have actually been a fan of Tony for quite a while, admitting that his direction was one of the pluses to lackluster Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer films like Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, and Days of Thunder. It was with 1993’s True Romance that he finally made somewhat of a mark in the more artistic film industry. Working with a Quentin Tarantino script, Scott had a chance to finally do a film free of the Simpson/Bruckheimer touches. Then when he returned to Simpson and Bruckheimer, he began to have more control and has made great tense action thrillers like Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State ever sense.
With brothers that have that much artistic ability in their blood, it would be expected that a son might fare well too, if only that were true. Ridley’s son Jake Scott has made a film that suffers a problem I continually complain about: being too catchy. I can enjoy films that are catchy like Pulp Fiction and Run Lola Run, when that is part of the story, but when the story seems made simply to meet the chances to play with the camera, then I can be a little annoyed. Such was the case with Detroit Rock City, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, The Astronaut’s Wife, and now Plunkett & Macleane.
Not to say that the film is terribly directed, just too much direction, not enough story. The uncontrollable camera often scared me at times, at other times enthralling me (maybe a bit of an overstatement). The film is the slight-action packed story of two men that went around at night stealing from the rich while cavorting with their victims during the day. Macleane (Miller) is friendly with many of the well-to-do in 18th century England. When he is in dire need of cash, he and a prison pal named Plunkett (Carlyle) set out to make him a proper gentleman so that he can listen in on the conversations of the rich, making them able to plan the perfect time to steal from them. Meanwhile a despicable police captain sets out to catch the robber dubbed “The Gentleman Highwayman” and a past victim attempts to get Macleane as her love.
The film is drawn out and hard to swallow, quite sad considering that the screenwriters are The Ruling Class’ Peter Barnes and Brazil’s Charles McKeown. I did not think that the two leads did their part, giving only half the performance they gave for the far superior (and just as catchily filmed) Trainspotting. I think that given some time and extra work, Scott might actually prove to be an important part of the English directorial community, just not right now.
