It’s Only a Movie – a Column By Jordan Royce

Written by Jordan Royce Saturday, 12 November 2011

It's Only A Movie - by Jordan Royce

‘Logan’s Run’ is not a great sci-fi movie..

I thought it best to just come right out and say it at the outset, and then duck to avoid the abuse. ‘Logan’s Run’ originated from a very poorly written source novel (again, ducking for cover), that really only had the cool idea of society re-birthing itself at the tender age of thirty, to elevate it above the rest of the forgotten sci-fi novels of the late sixties. I do however really love ‘Logan’s Run’ the movie, in a way that contradicts common sense. It is just part of that 70’s sci-fi family of movies. You can lump it right in with ‘Silent Running’, ‘Dark Star’, ‘Westworld’, and all of the usual suspects. It just fits right in and delivers the sci-fi nostalgia boost to perfection. There is also the Jenny Agutter dress that kicked in thousands of dormant teenage hormones. There is indeed much to be thankful for! I could sit here all day and pick apart the imperfections, but ‘Logan’s Run’ is an entertaining fantasy film, it's just not stunning sci-fi. It is important to also accept that it is attempting to be a ‘High Concept’ sci-fi movie, which could never be delivered based upon such an ambitious premise. Society living under a dome due to a nuclear war, then having to control resources by a culling at the age of thirty. Big ideas that need intellectual writing on a level rarely achieved. I will go so far as to argue that maybe only ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ ever managed to pull off ‘High Concept’. Compared to the skilfully delivery of ‘2001’, ‘Logan’s Run’ only ever gives broad brush strokes. It never attempts to fully explore the concepts it introduces. As a result, you just have to sit back, accept blindly, and be entertained. I can accept this, and have a certain amount of affection for it. Obviously, the parallels between ‘Logan’s Run’ and the current release,  ‘In Time’, are completely in your face. The marketing guys at 20th Century Fox have played up this angle massively. As a consequence the movie has opened with a certain preconception hovering over it. It seems that Fox were happy for the film to succeed if only as a thinly veiled remake of a perceived sci-fi classic.

Stop pursing your lips Silly-One. It's not clever!

Now I had a lot of differing thoughts going into this movie. I like director Andrew Niccol. I really appreciated both ‘Gattaca’, and ‘The Truman Show’. Justin Trousersnake I used to dislike. Especially after the chaotic results of ‘Southland Tales’ (not his fault. I know), but ‘The Social Network’ made me warm to him more. Amanda Seyfried was in ‘Mamma Mia’, and has the word ‘minge’ tattooed on her left foot, so she is dead to me. Silly-One Murphy can act, I like him, but he appears in lots of crap movies. Talk about a mixed bag. The basic premise of ‘In Time’ (I think I preferred the original title, ‘Now'), is absolutely as 'High Concept’ as it gets. Obviously thirty is ancient in modern cinema terms, and so life begins to end at 25, at which point you have a year that begins to count down. This can be spent in exchange for goods and services. Or it can be added to by all of the usual methods of obtaining currency of value. Will Salas (Mr Trousersnake) simply gets left a century by a guy he helps out, who promptly tops himself. Seemingly, being wealthy (thereby immortal), gets old after a while. Raymond Leon (Silly-One Murphy) then begins to chase him down for having a dead man’s lifespan. A chase that dominates the movie. Soon after, Salas meets one of the guys who props this 'Timesploitation' system up, Philippe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser / Angel Junior), and promptly buggers off with his daughter Sylvia. Shortly afterwards they join forces to bring down the system.

This is Amanda Seyfried's left foot - I wonder where she has tattooed the word 'foot'?

So was this movie a thematic or ‘spiritual’ (I have to be careful here. I think our News Editor may have copyrighted this term, due to the amount of times he uses it) sequel to ‘Logan’s Run’? Was it actually any good? I have to say that I did enjoy this movie, and it was only afterwards that certain niggles started to bite. They are pretty much the usual problems with developing the high concept. A relative lack of detail. They do explain some of the side effects of this new economy very well. Rich people live bland lives, as they can live forever, and continually buy their future. Extreme sports are definitely off the agenda. The gap between rich and poor has massively increased, and it is explained that travel is pretty much localised for normal people. But these broad statements are not backed up with much substance. The Time Kitchen (Soup Kitchen that dishes out free time to homeless people) is a prime example of introducing some background to this new future society, but we only have a fleeting couple of scenes which show it in operation. It also mentions the economy, all throughout the film, yet not once do we have any reference to the gaping flaw in the whole premise - Tax. How is this entire superstructure of society now paid for? Unless I missed a key piece of dialogue, it is not mentioned. I am not being pedantic. It literally only takes a few sentences of dialogue to address this. It is what screenwriters are supposed to do. Yet another one of these tremendous leaps of faith that you are required to make throughout the entire duration of the movie. By far the biggest leap is required for the digital ‘arm clock’.

Everyone carries a reducing clock in lovely neon green lcd. This is genetic. A living tattoo that keeps track of your life as the time left fluctuates. It looks particularly lovely in underwater scenes, where it helps with the lighting levels for the camera work. Now to nick someone’s time, you just touch them on their arm clock. How rubbish is that. Someone running past can slap you on the arm and nick 10 minutes. This little device does hamper the tenuous credibility of the film in many key sequences. The bank raid sequence was equally preposterous, as it seems that two people can now do a ram raid on a ‘Time Bank’, and find their vaults open. Even though we are supposed to believe that these time deposits are the only currency that anyone uses. This brings me to the subject of banks themselves. Why on earth is everyone carrying centuries of time around with them? It is established that the Banks hold little containers of time that you can load up like a usb memory stick. Why then would you carry it around? It is the equivalent of a rich guy carrying around two billion dollars in cash. It would never happen. And why is Trousersnake’s character so damn hard. He fights like a character straight out of the ‘Mission Impossible’ franchise. Yet there is not one line of dialogue to explain these fighting skills. Again, an easy task to explain for a screenwriter. By far the most ludicrous situation is the unnecessary inclusion of the drug dealer played abysmally by Alex Pettyfer. A terrible actor. Dreadful. This character appears just like the Shopkeeper from 'Mr Benn'. He turns up everywhere for no good reason. It really is absurd. It disrupts the movie every time his annoying face appears on screen. I can only assume that the character was added during the later stages of the script development, as I cannot understand what happened here. Pettyfer has got to be related to someone very high up in 20th Century Fox. It is the only reason I can formulate for the weirdness of this character being included.

These gangster types pop up everywhere!

These are just some of the ludicrous oversights that you have to deliberately overlook. Because it is actually fun. Scenes like the final run home of Salas’s mother show you how different this movie could have been. I only lament the fact that with more exposition and planning, this could have been a classic. With regards to the ‘Logan’s Run’ similarities, I actually found it to be a straightforward reworking of ‘Les Miserable’. The character of Raymond Leon is Javert and this central story arc with its revolutionary plot are lifted straight from that novel. So at least the source material is of a good pedigree. Sadly, one of the co-authors of the ‘Logan’s Run’ novel, Mr George Clayton Johnson, is still attempting to write the sequel. As I always say in these circumstances, it is kinder for everyone concerned, that nature takes its course before this tragedy occurs. I have already sat through one old codger’s indulgence this year with ‘The Wicker Tree’. I don’t have the stomach for any more.

A fun romp with Airships in 3D!

Just to finish off this month. There is one movie that I can totally recommend. It is the remake of ‘The Three Musketeers’ in 3D. It is low concept, ‘Assassins Creed’ inspired, lots of fun, and has lots of Airships. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this romp. Did I mention it had Airships in it? 3D Airships!

Jordan Royce can be contacted at  jordan.royce@starburstmagazine.com
and Co-Hosts the Starburst Radio Show with News Editor Kris Heys,
every Sunday 9pm until 12 GMT
on Manchester Radio Online – www.manchesterradioonline.com
also available from iTunes as a Podcast