"Duck is a magical word. Both a noun and a verb".
Boy, this is one strange film. It's so off-color that I wasn't even sure I wanted to write a review of it. That said, I took the time to rent it, the time to watch it, and the time to give it some thought -- so I guess it's only fair I take the time to write about it.
Duck is basically the amalgamation of Boy and his Dog and About Schmidt -- if you can imagine that. It's the story of an old, lovable grandpa-type fella who's lost everyone dear to him that's set to a backdrop of a dystopian future where he befriends a trusty animal companion -- his duck. We watch as they travel together, meet heroes and villains, experince trials and tribulations, and effectively discover the meaning of life. No ... seriously.
The amazing thing is that most of the time, it seems to work. I found, to my surprise, I really wanted the old man and the duck to make it. When they stumble into a drunken Halloween party, I kept getting that "oh no" feeling in my throat. It also does a pretty good job of forcing to viewer to ask themselves questions about loneliness, love, attachment, and ... the environment.
At the end of the day though, this movie is trying way too hard. And come on -- a duck? There had to be an animal that inspires more empathy than a duck. And to say that the ending (not to mention some of the preposterous situations along the way) was less than compelling is gross underestimate.
I've seen better films. I've seen worse movies. Take the 10 awards wreaths adorning the dvd cover with a grain of salt -- I think that's where I went wrong. Why am I such a sucker for indie films? I'm thinking next time i should just -- wait for it -- duck the cover.
I watched Iron Man after I watched Dark Night -- which to say the least -- sets the bar extremely high for comic book derivative feature films. And even with knowing this, this is one really great movie. In fact, I think it even did better in some arenas.
First, allow me to rattle on about what I didn't like. Now, never being an avid comic fan, there are some things I'll just never get. If Howard Stark (Is that an allusion to Howard Hughes, Howard Roark and Philippe Starck blended into one?) is such a genius, how is it possible he is the only one in the entire world with all that sophistication? The level of technology is not only implausible, it's borderline Star Trek -- right down to the quick-witted English-accented AI computer. And from a non-comic-fan, distanced perspective, it only goes to discredit the entire movie as a whole. I just kind of had to settle on the fact that this guy is a super-human genius and keeps all his stuff to himself. Riiight -- like he couldn't sell some of that to Intel.
Anyhow, from what I've been able to gather thanks to Wikipedia, the movie, for the most part, sticks to the original story line of the orginial comic, which is nice, I guess. And the special effects are certainly fun to watch. And who doesn't love watching non-descript Islamic extremists getting blown up, along with all their third-world accoutrements? Quote: "Technology. That's always been your Achilles heel in this part of the world." This part of the world? Hmm.
I'm digressing. The real reason to watch this movie (and the only reason to rent - I said RENT - Tropic Thunder) is to watch Robert Downey Jr in action. He is so hot right now. Seriously, he really was perfect for the role, and maybe that is just because initially, I was thinking how it should have been a simply awful role for him to play - but man -- he nailed it.
I think it is even fair to say that Robert Downey Jr played the cocky business man turned superhero far and away better than Christian Bale played Bruce Wayne slash Batman. It's probably because Robert Downey Jr actually was a coke-obsessed, alcoholic ladies man in real life at one point when Christian Bale was busy trying to lose 80 pounds of body weight method acting (Personal Note: Christian Bale is in fact one of my favorite actors).
He really is very good in this movie -- even with all the crazy space-age insanity existing transparently next to his trusty Audi -- he makes it all believable somehow. I rented it, but I really wished I would have seen this one in the theater. It seems like all that CG gold titanium alloy would have had more "pop" on the big screen.
I agree, RDJ is the perfect role for Iron Man, he played it off wonderfully. Tropic Thunder was funny as well, though not as high quality of a movie as Iron Man.