Review: Pineapple Express
It had to happen sometime. As much as I had hoped to stave it off for as long as possible, the day had to come when I would leave a Judd Apatow production utterly dissatisfied. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” nearly did me in, but further rumination on the film showed a real maturation happening in the cabal of dirty little boys that surround the Hollywood comedy magnate. Too bad that the progression toward a better kind of toilet humor didn’t make it’s way into the teams latest, and arguably most anticipated, “Pineapple Express”.
Read on…
A skyline, a seething film score, and an explosion in a window set the pace for the thrill ride that is “The Dark Knight”. As has become the norm for epic blockbusters, Christopher Nolan’s latest re-visioning of the Batman saga forgoes opening credits in an effort to throw us right into the madness of a deteriorating Gotham City. As I sat there in a darkened theater listening to the low growl of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s score, my heart ached in anticipation for whatever would come next as I repositioned squarely to the edge of my seat. Good thing, because nothing prepared me for what I would go through for the next 160 minutes.
The world of fiction is neither lacking disenfranchised anti-heroes nor tongue-in-cheek smashiness, yet “Hancock” stands in sharp relief against the backdrop of love affair with all-powerful beings. For one, it gracefully shies away from taking itself too seriously without losing it’s footing in reality, a feat that was muddled on opposite ends of the spectrum in recent blockbusters such as “Spiderman” and “The Incredible Hulk”. Even more impressive is the fact that international superstar Will Smith is kept at bay, fitting into the story nicely rather than having it built around him. No doubt, he steals the show delivering his trademark wit with a new-found bitter aftertaste, but the real star here is the steady hand of director Peter Berg. 