Do It! Try!

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) 90 mins.

"I didn't read Dune."

Imagine a comic book by Jodorowsky, drawn by Moebius, with designs by Giger and Foss. Imagine a comic strip. A storyboard. A movie. A miniseries. By the guy who wrote, directed and starred in El Topo. Starring his son, the kid from El Topo. With Salvador Dali, Orson Welles and Mick Jagger.

Like Stanislaw Lem's fictional book reviews of books that don't (yet) exist, the legend may be better than the artifact. But it's one hell of a legend. And that's one hell of a comic book. Definitely the kind of thing I'd like to see IDW publish in their Artist's Edition series.

I've written before about the huge legacy of concepts from Dune that can be found in Star Wars; many visual examples are shown here as well. Jodorowsky's take on Dune is interesting. He considers it a work of the kind of stature of the Bible or Shakespeare, an epic or mythological saga or oeuvre to be reinterpreted many times by various auteurs. Certainly it has been, influencing not only Star Wars but Warhammer 40K, as well.

I've included Jodorowsky's Dune in Category One: Seventies Monster Flashback. The film and the project, as well as most (if not all) attempts to adapt the novel, can all be considered as monsters. All have proved to be. The "graphic novel" shown in Jodorowsky's lap in the film and the above photo, would be the monstrous mother of all comic books for me, Heavy Metal-meets-Savage Sword-meets-Prince Valiant-meets-Holy Mountain. The ultimate midnight movie that never got made.

Also, I had a monster of a flashback. I read Frank Herbert's 1973 introduction to the new anthology of his short fiction that just came out, put a Tangerine Dream station on my Pandora, ordered Jodorowsky's The Borgias from the public library (collab with Manara!), and moved Metabarons closer to the top of the "To Read" pile. I'll have to get The Incal and look for a Chris Foss retrospective.

Jodorowsky himself was like a drug. I don't know if I've encountered anybody quite like that since the Seventies. I'd like to have partied with that guy, Leary and Robert Anton Wilson. I may not run out and read Dune right this minute (for the seventh time), but he did inspire me to go work on my own stuff. What Harlan Ellison would call batshit crazy, but in a good way.

To my friends who recommended this: You were so right. See it.

Five Stars: Great, if only for the semi-legendary surrealistic aura.

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Seventy-Two Minutes

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015) 72 mins.

Almost Lovecraftian in its visual homages to eldritch lore.

Throne of Atlantis is a surprising movie. It covers a lot of ground in its 72 minutes. Old Boomer that I am, some of the "New 52" material leaves me forgetting to forget all that I already know about these characters, and try to see them anew, as if I was ten or twelve all over again. Once I remember to unload that continuity baggage, it makes it easier for me to enjoy their latest material.

Easier, but of course I still have some critiques. The dialogue again has a sort of anime-influenced info-dump feel at times. At times the plot is both epic High Opera and just a little too pat (as is the dialogue). The dialogue tries a bit too hard to my ears to be "edgy" and "hip" and "adult" but I guess that makes it the perfect PG-13 movie, huh? Because what is a PG-13 rating if not an advertisement for ten- to twelve-year-olds?

Based on the time limit and the intended audience (fifty-three-year-old twelve-year-olds) I'll give them a bit of a pass on most of my quibbles. I don't know if anybody really learns anything, but Aquaman undergoes a little character arc. Of course, because of the time restriction (80 minutes is the target), Acts Two A and Two B are combined, but then that's just how these things are done. Welcome to the Upside-Down World, and Hey Look Out! both happen at the same time, closely followed by Dirty Deeds Done with Dastardly Delight, coupled with All Is (Seemingly) Lost.

In the end, it's a bit of a fairy tale, a bit of a coming of age movie, a bit of a buddy film and a bit of a love story. The war story provides the backdrop. The action, once it really gets going, is not only just what you'd expect, it has some slightly interesting takes on the usual tropes. I'm really going to have to start a body count for the dead parents in these movies. They're positively Disney-esque in their commitment to the Monomyth.

I've been a bit remiss on this blog so far in not giving any fractional ratings, but this movie really brings out the schoolboy in me. They succeeded in (almost) making Aquaman cool again. For that alone it gets the passing grade, if nothing else. The language and the ultra-violence seemed to serve the plot and the style in the final analysis, jarring as it seems during the early scenes. These ain't Daddy's DC Comics movies, kids. Not anymore.

Can't give it an F (three stars is kind of a failing grade). Can't give it a B (four stars is too strong of a recommendation). Somewhere between B minus and C plus. Better than Not Bad. Right on the edge of Good. Three-and-three-quarters? Somewhere around a 79.

Three Stars Plus: Better Than Not Bad.

 

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