The Family.

When I recently ‘blogged’ Kenneth Branagh’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2013) I stated that complete nonsense can be fun and that Branagh’s film committed the greatest sin in the action genre in that it was tediousness! Now I can give you another example of an action drama that the critics hated, but in this case it was, at least for me, a great deal of fun which in turn made it a very diverting watch. 

Luc Besson is a prolific movie director capable of making some very watchable movies from the seriousness of The Lady (2011) to the quirkiness of his comic book adaptation of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (2010) and the Cinema du look of Subway (2010), The Big Blue (1988) and Nikita (1990) and The Family (2013) or to give it its French title Malavita, is certainly no exception. Described as a dark action drama it involves an ex-Mafia boss, Robert De Niro, and his wife, the still very attractive Michelle Pfeiffer, and their two teenage children Dianna Agron and John D’Leo who are relocated to a small Normandy village in France under a Witness Protection Program after ‘grassing up’ their Mafia connections. Assigned to keep the Manzoni family in line is FBI agent Tommy Lee Jones. Most of the ‘humour’ comes from the fact all four members of our ‘family under cover’ have problems forgetting their old Brooklyn way’s. We witness mum blowing up the local Supermarché when a shop assistant insults her; dad has his own unique way of dealing with the problem of brown water and the two kids are not long making them selves known at the local school. But as you would expect it’s not long before their former Mafia cronies’ track them down and all hell breaks loose.   

 

Making a 'bang' at the local supermarche!

Made as a tongue in cheek tribute to the gangster movies of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola this English language French film is based on the novel Malavita by the award winning French crime fiction writer Tonino Benacquista, and has been adapted as a screenplay by Besson and Michael Caleo. The real strength of this film is in its splendid cast who along with Besson’s direction really highlight’s the clash of comedic cultures between the Americans and the parochial villagers. The chemistry between De Niro and Pfeiffer is well worth the cost of a DVD on its own. Prime entertainment for politically incorrect people.

Dark Shadows.

An American T.V. gothic soap opera created by Dan Curtis, that run from June 1966 to April 1971, became a childhood obsession for a certain John Christopher Depp the Second and it was this same gentleman that persuaded Tim Burton, a man who has made a very successful career out of dark eccentric movies, to direct the 2012 film version of Dark Shadows.

One rather dysfunctional family.

Seth Grahame-Smith’s screenplay starts in 1750 at the Port of Liverpool where Joshua and Naomi Collins along with their young son Barnabas set sail to start a new life in America. It’s here that they build a fishing business and a town called Collinsport. We move on twenty years and find that Barnabas Collins is a very rich and well to do young man who falls in love with the beautiful Josette DuPres. This upsets the powerful witch Angelique Bouchard who has fallen for the good-looking Barnabas. She casts an evil curse that forces Josette to jump off a cliff and turns Barnabas into a vampire and then buries him alive.

Angelique Bouchard.

We are still in Collinsport but two centuries later, its 1972 and workmen are extending the Angel Bay Fisheries when they displace a tomb from which emerges Barnabas Collins: Vampire!!!!!!! After a quick snack Collins returns to his ancestral home where he finds that his once grand estate has fallen into disrepair and is occupied by the dysfunctional remnants of his once proud family and a live-in psychiatrist. Our rejuvenated vampire decides to restore his families fortunes but discovers that the fisheries business, and the town is know run by a certain Ms Angelique Bouchard.

More families should have a live-in psychiatrist?

Tim Burtons tongue in cheek gothic comedy, which brings to mind Edward Scissorhands (1990) and HBO’s True Blood, stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard the family matriarch, Helena Bonham Carter as the previously mentioned live-in psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman, the ever more beautiful Eva Green plays the vengeful witch Angelique Bouchard and Chloe Grace Moretz plays Elizabeth’s rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn. Both Christopher Lee and Alice Cooper, who plays himself, have cameo roles.

Fooling in love with a vampire is not always easy.

As well as a score composed by four time Oscar nominee and regular Burton collaborator Danny Elfman the soundtrack also includes several great rock and pop anthems from the likes of The Moody Blues, The Carpenters, T.Rex and Black Sabbath, with Depp chipping in on the Steve Miller track The Joker. The whole ‘look’ of the film is brilliant with some great sets from Rick Heinrich (Sleepy Hollow) and costume designs from Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland). It was filmed entirely in England at the Pinewood Studios and on location. Depp’s performance as the wronged vampire is pure class and he is provided with some first rate dialog that is at the same time extremely funny and charming. In fact, although the critics reportedly said that this was not the greatest Burton/Depp collaboration, I found this wonderfully hammy nonsense to be a very agreeable evenings entertainment and can highly recommend it for a couple of hours pure escapism.