Flashback: Summer 1997

Here we are in the height of Summer silly season and its been one of the worst (not to mention wettest) in many a moon. There has been nothing spectacular to make me go oooh so far and a lot of disappointment. We have had some enjoyable lightweight stuff but also some crushingly disappointing trilogy closer's, not bad films as such they just fell short under the weight of expectation. We still have one or two promising titles to get through but it seems that Summer 07 really will go down as one of the worst in history.

All this bitterness got me thinking about Summer's past. Back in the 1970's Jaws was the first ever summer blockbuster, as in it was released in the summer and people queued round the block for it. I watched it on TV recently and it still holds up pretty well. I was actually shocked by how scary and gory it was. Blood and severed limbs are included in what was a PG rated movie. Jaws was followed by the likes of Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and ET. Not just great Summer entertainment but classic movies. Thinking about the Summer blockbusters from my childhood there were a great many that could be considered classic movies right up until after the original Jurassic Park. Films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Back to the Future, Die Hard, Robocop, Terminator 2, Batman. After that the quality seems to drop dramatically in favor of quantity and explosions. How many Summer films from years past can you honestly say are classic movies? I cant think of many, three maybe at a push.

I have decided to look back ten years ago to the long hot summer of 1997 when I had no responsibilities and saw many of these films more than once. What I have realised with a cold shiver down my spine is that arguably we were worse off then than we are now! None of these films were among the best films of the year (those were LA Confidential and Boogie Nights) except perhaps one. What's interesting though is back then it seems like studio's were more willing to take a chance as opposed to banking solely on sequels and comic book based sure-things. Nine of the titles below are not sequels which is unbelievable. Look at the amount of films that were released back then and look at the amount released this summer. Maybe because of the failure of some of these costly bombs studios have gradually scaled back production. Its only on reflection though that we have noticed. For Summer 1997, the schedule was so crowded that dueling Volcano flicks (Dante's Peak and er Volcano) had their release brought forward to March and April. Disaster/Heist film The Flood ( later released as Hard Rain) was pushed back by nearly an entire year. Enjoy…………

Con Air

Released: June 1997. Directed by: Simon West. Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, John Cusack. Worldwide Box-Office: $223 million

I didn't think much of Con Air when I first saw it in the cinema during an afternoon when I should have been in college, but its really grown on me since. When it came out on VHS sell through a year or so later I must have watched it 30 times during the course of 1998, Yes I had lots of free time. Its hardly high-art but it is high-concept, sweaty, violent fun and great for fans of WWE. Nicolas Cage proved his action chops with The Rock the year before and here looks plain ludicrous with his mullet and wife beater combo along with his Forrest Gump drawl. Any film with characters named Cyrus the Virus and the Marietta Mangler and a US Marshal who wears sandals with white socks clearly isn't aiming for the arthouse crowd. Taken on its own terms this is perfect summer movie trash. Director Simon West is clearly trying to imitate Michael Bay, who himself tries to imitate Tony Scott hence the lack of directorial flair. West went on to direct the godawful likes of Tomb Raider and recently When a Stranger Calls. This film rocks and I'm not ashamed to say it, its the perfect movie to put on on a sweaty summer evening with a few beers. ****

Best Moment: "Put the bunny back in the box……."

The Fifth Element

Released: June 1997. Directed by: Luc Besson. Starring: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm and Chris Tucker. Worldwide Box Office: $249 million

Before this came out the plot was kept completely secret which was very rare back then and even rarer now. Luckily I had a friend whose dad worked on it at Pinewood studios and provided glass for the windscreen of Zorg's shuttle so I at least new it involved space etc. I remember clearly seeing the trailer for this on Entertainment Tonight about a month before it came out and being really excited by the futuristic New York cityscape, the singing blue alien and the costumes. Then I read the review that appeared in Starburst magazine which gave it a 10+ rating and I had no doubt that I was going to see a classic on a par with the original Star Wars. Then I saw the final product, I have mixed feelings about this film. The set-up is great but the tone is all over the place. The film lurches from high action to high camp within minutes and then back again. The best moments belong to the aforementioned opera singing blue alien and the flying taxi/police car chase through the canyons of New York city. Some films are ruined by their endings (ala Mr and Mrs Smith), this is the first film I remember being assassinated by an annoying character. Chris Tuckers screeching camp DJ Ruby Rhod turns up and you think 'Ah amusing character cameo' but then he outstays his welcome right until the end of the film completely ruining any chance the film had of being a memorable summer blast of sci-fi. This was two years before Jar Jar Binks and you would have thought George Lucas would learn a thing or two from this film. There was talk of a sequel called Mr Shadow but so far this has failed to turn up. This remains an entertaining curio which is one of those films that falls into the could have been a classic category. ***

Best Moment: Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis)drives through futuristic flying car traffic with Leeloo (Mila Jovovich) in the back of his Taxi. The police give chase and we get to see what a drive through McDonalds of the future looks like.

Batman and Robin

Released: June 1997. Directed by: Joel Schumacher. Starring: George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thurman, Chris O'Donnell and Alicia Silverstone. Worldwide Box Office: $237 million

Has there ever been a film more reviled and scorned in geek circles? Not only is this the worst comic adaptation of all time it is also one of the worst films ever made.Sending the Dark Knight back to the camp of the 60's TV show, it would be 8 years before Batman was seen on screen again and George Clooney had to go all indie to recover from this debacle.  The sick thing is someone in a studio boardroom thought this was a good idea. Picture this: A Warner Bros conference room with all the main players and an ambitious young exec pointing at a flip chart where he has written in felt pen, Bat ice skates + Bat Credit card  + Schwarzenegger one liners = $$$ and runaway hit of the summer. Reading details like the Bat Credit Card in the script surprisingly never set off the alarm bells and 100 million was blown making this piece of shit. When they die Akiva Goldsman and Joel Schumacher should be forced to watch this on a constant loop in hell whilst the devil makes loud throwing up sounds in their ears. Worth buying on DVD just for the experience of throwing it away.(no stars)

Best Moment: When it ends…..

Speed 2: Cruise Control

Released: June 1997. Directed by: Jan De Bont. Starring: Jason Patric, Sandra Bullock and Willem Dafoe. Worldwide Box Office: $164 million

When original Speed star Keanu Reeves turned this down it really should have sent the studio back to drawing board but they decided to press on with charisma vacuum Jason Patric teaming up with Sandra Bullock. Her character Annie was once spunky and now is an annoying nagging girlfriend to Patric's risk taking swat cop. The problem isn't that this is a terrible film, its entertaining enough but the film is called Speed and a cruise liner really doesn't go that fast. The crew and the hero go through the disaster movie motions and you don't really care.Your mind wanders and you start to wonder if you left the gas on and what you are going to have for dinner. Apart from a pretty cool scene where the ship crashes into a harbor it's a bit of a waste of 100 million dollars. Speed 3 set aboard a road-sweeper was canceled due to the relative box office failure of this. **

Best Moment: Jason Patric is dragged under the water by the rotor of the ship and nearly cut to ribbons, Nearly…….Dang.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Released: May 1997. Directed by: Steven Spielberg. Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughan. Worldwide Box Office: $615 million

I dragged my brother to see this with me hoping to get the same rush I got from the original when it came out in cinema's back in 93. I loved the original so much I saw it 3 times in the cinema. Whilst the dinosaurs still rock the story is basically a re-tread of the first movie even down to the Velociraptor climax just with added hunters on the menu. Spielberg always stages a good set piece though and here we get some great scenes. The double T-rex attack on the trailer and the scene where Peter Stormare is eaten by lots of little dinosaurs are the stand-outs. We had to wait until part 3 for Pterodactyls and a Spinosaurus. The T-rex loose in San-Diego scene also feels a little tacked on and could have been the basis for a better part 3 with the dinosaurs from the InGen park getting loose in the city. This is hardly vintage Spielberg but still entertaining enough. ***

Best Moment: Julianne Moore is balancing on a cracking sheet of glass that hangs over a cliff. Very Tense.

Face/Off

Released: June 1997. Directed by: John Woo. Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Travolta, Joan Allen and Alessandro Nivola. Worldwide Box Office: $245 million

The best film of Summer 1997 and to date the only film I have seen at the cinema twice in one day. It was third time lucky for John Woo in Hollywood after the underrated Hard Target and the average Broken Arrow. The plot is ludicrous but is played completely straight with Travolta and Cage giving great performances as each other and Woo's operatic mayhem amped up to eleven. The original script had more sci-fi elements but these were thankfully toned down to avoid descending into farce. John Woo has never bettered this movie in the Hollywood system and it remains one of the best action movies ever made alongside Die Hard and the original Speed. *****

Best Moment: The police raid terrorist hideout lead by Castor Troy disguised as Sean Archer. Carnage ensues to the tones of Somewhere over the Rainbow.

Conspiracy Theory

Released: August 1997. Directed by: Richard Donner. Starring: Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts and Patrick Stewart. Worldwide Box Office: $133 million

This is actually a pretty decent paranoid thriller which would have worked better as a low budget movie and without the baggage that box-office draws Gibson and Roberts bring to the table. Gibson plays against type as a bit of a nutter who is actually a brain washed super assassin. Its too long to enjoy over and over but if I saw it on TV late one night I probably wouldn't turn over.***

Best Moment: Gibson is kidnapped and interrogated. He escapes by biting Patrick Stewart's nose.

Contact

Released: July 1997. Directed by: Robert Zemeckis. Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey and James Woods. Worldwide Box Office: $171 million.

At the time Contact was released people praised it for being the first science fiction film in a long while that concentrated on the science as opposed to blowing things up. It wasn't quite the awards winning behemoth people hoped for but is a darn good film that actually makes you think, with a good use of effects to match the core human drama. A lot of people slated the ambiguous ending as they waited two hours to see an alien and didn't get what they were expecting. These people have missed the point though and if they were paying attention they would have realised that the ending makes perfect sense within the context of the story. Contact seems to have been forgotten through the mists of time which is unfortunate as its definitely better than all of Zemeckis's work in this century so far. ****

Best Moment: The mind blowing opening shot with the camera panning back from Earth to deep space and finally out of a child's eye.

Air Force One

Released: July 1997. Directed by: Wolfgang Peterson. Starring: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Glenn Close. Worldwide Box Office: $302 Million

This was one of the last films to star Harrison Ford when he was a genuine box-office draw. When I saw it I was with a group of people from my college, one of whom was a girl I desperately wanted to get with. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more under different circumstances but I know the whiff of cheese when I smell it. This movies is a quarter-pounder with not just a slice but a whole wheel of cheese on top. We are supposed to swallow the president of the US single handedly getting pesky Russian terrorists off his plane one by one and then finally chucking the leader out the back whilst growling 'Get off my plane'. Con-Air was a stretch but this I mean come on! I probably will see this again on TV at some point and formulate a completely different opinion but for right now I don't like this movie one bit. I lost faith in Wolfgang Peterson after this movie. In the Line of Fire and Outbreak were cheesy but enjoyable popcorn movies, he has yet to recover in my opinion and we should be grateful he didn't do Batman vs Superman and moved on to the disappointing Troy. Hey, I'm probably alone here though as the movie made a boat load of cash. *

Best Moment: Unbelievably, "Get off my plaaaaane"

Men in Black

Released: July 1997. Directed by: Barry Sonnenfield. Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Fiorentino. Worldwide Box Office: $576 million

One of the biggest hits of 1997 was also one of the most enjoyable. Based on an obscure Malibu comics title this was the second of Will Smith's big box office hits during the time when he could do no wrong. The film is witty and action packed but its not without its frustrations. Its frustrating as its not long enough and also because this franchise has been wasted. Although it took in tons of money it took them five years to make a sequel and when it eventually came out it was basically the same plot and even shorter! Its a really great central premise that hasn't really been explored the way it should have been. The possibilities for cool stories are infinite within the central set up, alas however I think they probably set the bar too high due to the amount of money this made and it was too important to try anything different with. Due to its length its one of those films you can watch repeatedly and always enjoy. ****

Best Moment: The Bug in his flying saucer crashlands in front of J and K who do not move guns at the ready.

Spawn

Released: August 1997. Directed by: Mark AZ Dippe. Starring: Michael Jai White, Martin Sheen and John Leguizamo. Worldwide Box Office: $69 million

During the dark, dark days of the comic book adaptation after Batman in the 90's Todd McFarlane started Image comics and Spawn was one of their most popular titles. In the summer of 1997 we got the film version which was directed by first timer and effects artist Mark AZ Dippe. That Dippe has never again directed a film is a mercy we should all be thankful for. The original comic is dark and cinematic as hell and wasn't difficult to get right. What we have here us basically several ex ILM employees in a pissing contest to see who can morph something badly next. As the film goes on it looks more and more like a computer being sick with the effects slipping between the semi-decent ( Spawns armor) and the so bad an 80's arcade machine would be embarrassed (the devil). All this is bad enough before you take into account the acting with Jai White so wooden and overwhelmed by the effects and make up,and the usually dependable Leguizamo and Sheen giving doing it for the money performances. Leguizamo in particular is terrible as the Clown with most of his dialogue being unintelligible. Avoid at all costs even its on TV. McFarlane has been talking up a darker less effects driven version for years but this has so far failed to materialise. Its a shame as given the right levels of talent this could be a good film. *

Best Moment: The Clown transforms into the Violator, The effects were crap but the intentions were good.

Event Horizon

Released: August 1997. Directed by: Paul WS Anderson. Starring: Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill. Worldwide Box Office: $47 million.

When this was released late in the summer of 1997, Paul Anderson had yet to release the likes of Soldier, Resident Evil and Aliens Vs Predator. He had only made the daft but enjoyable Mortal Kombat and Brit flick Shopping. As such geek audiences were still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. What we got was a perfectly enjoyable and suitably disturbing sci-fi horror film with great production design and special effects, but it felt like something was missing. The film felt too short and the tension was not balanced by an appropriate level of character development. Supposedly there was something like forty minutes cut prior to release which added to the characters, a directors cut has yet to make its debut on DVD. As it is its another frustrating film which like the fifth element feels like it really could have been a contender. ***

Best Moment: The chilling final transmission of the original crew of the Event Horizon.

Mimic

Released: August 1997. Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro. Starring: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam and Charles S Dutton. Worldwide Box Office: $27 million.

This was Guillermo Del Toro's first English language film within the Hollywood system and from what he says it was a miserable experience. His original vision was crushed in favor of a studio-approved cut of the film. This is quite surprising as Mimic remains one of the films I watch most from 1997, its a hugely enjoyable big bug film with cool cinematography, good characters and some great moments. It also has what many films of the season lacked, genuine tension. I was shocked that they actually show a couple of kids being killed by the bugs in this film and that's maybe what made the studio nervous. If this is the compromised version then the version Del Toro originally intended to release could have been a masterpiece. This is a great monster movie that has been unfairly overlooked.  Hopefully one day we will get some kind of directors cut or something and everyone will regard it as the great film it is. ****

Best Moment: Mira Sorvino comes face to face with a giant cockroach on a deserted train platform.