Force Watch: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Training Day

Jmac:

Well Silly Silly Bang Bang was not as bad a I thought it would be... if you watch it like we did and fast forwarded through all the atrocious singing numbers. Man do I loath musicals.

While I know that it is written by Ian Fleming (creator of 007) and produced by Albert Broccoli (producer of the 007 movies, which is family took over after his death), I still don't care for song and dance movies, even if they are associated with this pair that brought my favorite series to the big screen. Another issue I have with it is Dick Van Dyke, man does he just have one of those faces that you know you want to smack, and you can just tell he's really the smuggest person you would ever run into. We thought about entitling this Force Watch the smackable faces Force Watch because Ethan Hawke in Training Day has one of those faces as well.

The movie supposedly follows this magical car, called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, named because its constantly back firing, and the family of the man (Dick Van Dyke) that retooled it. They have some Benny Hill esque adventures of running around and falling down, which makes sense as Benny Hill is the Toymaker in the movie. The main driving action of the movie is in a dream or story sequence when Van Dyke tells a story about an evil Baron of Vulgaria, because they are vulgar... get it, who wants the flying car contraption. The Baron (who is the same actor as Gold Finger in the 007 movie) plays the evil, but very inept and childish Baron, who has outlawed children in his kingdom, because presumably they cause trouble... but I think it has more to do with the notion that he is the biggest child of them all and wants all the attention for himself. Well Grandpa is captured in his outhouse by the Baron and flown back to Vulgaria to create another flying car, which is the reason Van Dyke, kids, and new beau go after the Baron. When they get their they have to hide from the exteme pedofile of the Child Catcher, that probably should have been put down at the end, but the movie doesn't address it, as once Grandpa and the children (having been captured by the Child Catcher) are rescued, they all fly home...... typical British imperial attitude, once you stir up some trouble and gather you people, the new country that has just gone through major upheaval is left on its own.

One thing I could help but notice is that the car is only in about 10% of the movie, even though it is the name of the movie, and while Fleming was a British agent fighting the Nazis, the film has an extremely xenophobia towards Germanic peoples.

I give it 2.2 pedofillia acts out of 5..... Kmac who suggested the movie, even wanted to fast forward through several sections! **Kmac: In my defense I may have fudged the length of the movie to get it under the two hour Force Watch limit. When I got caught I had to trim the fat somewhere. Plus any lover of musicals know there is at least one song per film that drags. Truly Scrumptious has a lovely voice but her solo is not essential. The fair scene and the Old Bamboo has some spectacular dancing but would be lost on Jmac. I also cut the physical comedy section that is the police chase, it was time for that car to fly. I was ready to get to Vulgaria.

Kmac:

So far Jmac is giving me movies to watch that I know going in I probably won’t tear apart in my review. I knew Denzel won an Oscar for this role and while cop drama isn’t my go to genre, I can usually watch, if half heartedly. That ended up being my ultimate take on this movie. If you are a fan of the genre it is certainly good but if not the movie is not so captivating as to suck you in. For an example of a cop drama that did make you watch it  you can find my End of Watch review a few entries down.

This movie follows a day in the life of a cop, Ethan Hawke, as he seeks to join the LAPD’s narcotics unit. He is shown around by the head of the unit, Denzel Washington, who spends the day trying to show him what life is like in this unit and on the streets. The contrast between the rookie eager to do good and the veteran who embraced the gray areas of life provides the central contrast. I did enjoy Hawke’s struggle as his character dealt repeatedly with just how far he was willing to go in the line of duty and where the moral line is that if you cross it you go from one of the good guys to one of the bad. Denzel also does a good job of showing the charm and charisma of his character while slowly revealing the egotism and entitlement that has created by the end a very unlikable character. It makes you wonder when he crossed that moral line.

    Violence is almost always my first concern when Jmac picks a movie. I usually want to know on a scale of just a little eye squint to the full hands on face eye cover how gratuitous the violence will be. Thankfully this movie relies more on talking than violence to establish the story. Maybe we are too desensitized to gun violence in movies but I can handle a few shotgun blasts. The violence was necessary to the story and not just there to appease trigger happy viewers. As the movie is set in LA, where a lack of violence would have rang false, I think it was deployed well and effectively when they chose to use it.

   

    The suspense in the movie was well played. I was never sure exactly what was coming and it wasn’t as formulaic as some cop dramas. On to the negatives. I just wasn’t that engrossed by the story. Maybe it was the subject matter, maybe it was that I was still humming Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but I found myself checking the internet, checking my phone, and in general checking out of this movie. If you like this genre you will like this movie, though there is lots of cursing so heads up if that bothers you, and if your date wants to watch it the movie is pleasant enough.

I give this movie 3 out 5 rookie mistakes.