'The Belko Experiment' Review

In The Belko Experiment, Belko Industries has established an international foothold and encourages many of their American employees to transfer to their foreign offices. One day, the office in Bogotá, Colombia becomes heavily fortified as the employees are locked inside and informed over the intercom that two workers must die in the next thirty minutes or grave consequences will follow.

The Belko Experiment is comparable to a sick mash-up of Battle Royale and Office Space or The Hunger Games within The Office's Dunder Mifflin establishment but unfortunately lacks the satirical wit and intrigue the aforementioned inspiration brought to the table. The Belko Experiment is directed by Greg McLean and written by Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn but neither truly deliver in execution. McLean's direction is dull and uninspired while Gunn's screenplay doesn't offer enough character expansion or take them in remotely interesting directions. Ultimately, what drew me to check out The Belko Experiment was Gunn's involvement and the idea behind it all. 

The underlying concept has lots of potential but never measured up to be as twisted as I was expecting. Gunn's screenplay reasons through the situation as any normal person would by ensuring the employees consider all their alternatives before taking any course of action but the bloodbath doesn't ensue quite as I hoped. It should go without saying that The Belko Experiment is bloody bonkers but the "twists" are predictable and even the most grotesque of character demises felt conventional so the clichés undercut the film's cruel nature. 

For one, the script doesn't offer enough detail on the corresponding characters for the viewer to form any attachment before the staff are butchered. When someone dies, you won't care in the slightest. Secondly, the characters don't really change over the course of the story. Everyone stands firmly in place whether they be conflicted, set for slaughter, intent on hiding out, or prone on peace. The characters don't question the immorality of their actions if they decide to kill and persuasions for peace hardly scrape the surface of some interesting idealogical conflict. 

Gunn had an opportunity to lend some insightful social commentary had he gone the more satirically morbid route but instead everything's fairly straightforward. The ensemble amassed largely portray their characters as the thinly-sketched workspace stereotypes they're written out to be. John Gallagher Jr. portrays the everyman Mike, Adria Arjona's the other side of Mike's workplace romance as Leandra, Tony Goldwyn's the controlling boss, John C. McGinley's a creep, Melonie Diaz is the new girl, Sean Gunn is the conspiracy theorist, and Michael Rooker and David Dastmalchian are the mechanically inclined workmen. I could keep going but none of these characters serve a greater purpose than being pawns in a perverse turn of events and the actors portraying them don't lend anything beyond that. 

When it comes down to it, I can't quite recommend The Belko Experiment unless a sickening social experiment where violence occurs for the sake of violence sounds fun to you. The Belko Experiment is unabashedly brutal, so much so that it mutilated a fascinatingly disturbing premise.

Film Assessment: C-

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Tarzan'

This review is a tad late since I didn't have time to write this review yesterday, given I was watching and reviewing two films for Throwback Thursday Reviews this week. This week I will be publishing two Throwback Thursday Reviews of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and, of course, Disney's Tarzan to coincide with the dual wide release of The BFG and The Legend of Tarzan this weekend. For the next two consecutive Throwback Thursday Reviews, I will be reviewing Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 to tie into the new female lead Ghostbusters, I'm unsure if the tag line "Answer The Call" is a subtitle or not. Following that I will finish off my series of reviews on the J.J. Abrams' directed Star Trek films with my Throwback Thursday Review of Star Trek Into Darkness.

'Tarzan' Review

Nominated For: Best Original Song "You'll Be In My Heart" (written by Phil Collins).
Won: Best Original Song "You'll Be In My Heart" (written by Phil Collins).

Tarzan, a 1999 Walt Disney animated adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' story Tarzan of the Apes, tells the coming of age story of Tarzan. Tarzan is an orphan raised by gorillas and once he reaches manhood, he comes into contact with humanity and must face the struggle of loyalty to his kind or those who raised him.

I have a special place in my heart for Tarzan because it was one of the first films I ever saw in a cinema (I believe the first was either Tarzan or Dinosaur, both Disney productions) and remains to be one of my favorite animated films, so it was interesting to watch it with a different perspective.

Chris Buck and Kevin Lima co-direct, and the collaboration works out as their vision certainly embodies the heart of the character with adventure and sentiment. The animation blends two-dimensional cartoonish character design with three-dimensional photorealistic backdrops that's just stunning to look at and makes for an interesting aesthetic. Tarzan has plenty of heartfelt and heartbreaking moments, but the best of these are sequences with no dialogue that are propped up by the gorgeous animation that brings an incredible amount of emotion to subtle movements and expressions for the characters and the film's terrific score from composer Mark Mancina.

While I do enjoy the film's underlying score, the accompanying soundtrack of Phil Collin's hits is phenomenal and unfortunately upstages the great work done to accompany the feature, my favorite of the bunch being the Oscar winning "You'll Be In My Heart." The film's narrative effectively tells Tarzan's origin while ensuring a sense of adventure is maintained throughout thanks to the screenplay penned by Tad Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, and Noni White.

The characters are all engaging with a great voice cast behind the scenes. Tarzan is a compelling protagonist given his dual nature of being human yet ape at the same time, and the conflict between those parts of his personality make for an interesting character arc. Tony Goldwyn voices the ape man and brings a rugged physicality through his voice that feels extremely true to character. Minnie Driver articulates the British scientist Jane Porter and makes for a engaging female character that doesn't fall into either the damsel-in-distress trope or the basic love interest.

Glenn Close lends her voice to Kala, Tarzan's gorilla mother figure, an emotional cornerstone for the film when focusing on the parental child relationship. Lance Henriksen portrays the leader of the gorilla pack and Kala's spouse Kerchak and brings a tough demeanor with him that allows for an interesting dynamic between him and Tarzan.

The villain of the piece is the hauntingly realistic poacher Clayton, a man incentivized by riches and actor Brian Blessed makes for a dastardly foe opposing Goldwyn's Tarzan.

There's supporting comedic relief found in the form of Rosie O'Donnell's charismatic simian Terk and Wayne Knight's germaphobic geeky elephant Tantor who make for a unique contrasting duo. The work from the vocal ensemble is all around great and further supported by not only great animation but fantastic filmmaking.

Tarzan is a terrific animated film that boasts wonderful animation, incredible music, and terrific characters voiced by an equally great voice cast, culminating in what I believe to be one of Disney's finest animated features.

Film Assessment: A+