Minions (3D) (2015, Dirs. Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, USA) (Cert: U/PG) ***

Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm

Since the dawn of time, the tiny yellow race of Minions (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) has roamed the Earth, serving the duties of whatever evil master they can find until they were forced to flee into the Arctic, making a home for themselves there. Without anyone to serve, the Minions grew listless until three such Minions; Bob, Kevin and Stuart went in search of a new boss, eventually ending up in 60’s America and serving superstar super-villain, Scarlett Overkill (Bullock).

Although Despicable Me (2010) was expected to be a success upon its initial release, few probably would’ve expected quite the phenomenon that the franchise would become, having come from a young animation studio, Illumination, Despicable Me deserved its success as an intelligent, humorous and surprisingly heartfelt family film with an equally-surprisingly high-profile cast of actors (Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig and so on…) but another factor has to have been the Minions, the playful and mischievous henchmen to the “villainous” Gru. Few were probably shocked that the extremely popular creatures would spawn their own effort and few will be shocked about what the film delivers. It knows its audience and it caters to it, wholesale.

In equal ways a prequel and a spin-off to Despicable Me, Minions delivers a little less in the way of sentiment or the heartfelt even with the Minions being as easy to love as they are, and focuses much more on the comedy. Practically every time a gag finishes, a new one is set up and even though the film is short on belly-laughs, few of the jokes fail to be at least amusing. The Minions are funniest as a group, scurrying about and crying out in unison but our three lead Minions are distinct enough to sustain interest. Kevin is the leader and straight-man, Stuart has the least definition but still has some clowning and musical moments whilst Bob is the most child-like and the most endearing. Director Pierre Coffin voices all of the Minions, but performs them with enough variety to make individuals stand out even with the similar voices.

There are prominent names in the supporting cast but most of them seem rather unnecessary. Often  the voices of the actors aren’t distinctive enough (Jon Hamm) or they’re unrecognisable (Michael Keaton). That isn’t to say that they do a bad job, but it feels like casting well-known actors purely for the sake of publicity. Sandra Bullock, however, does make for a great villainess in Scarlett Overkill and regularly steals the show (not an easy feat in a movie with Minions) and Jennifer Saunders also works well in a supporting role as Queen Elizabeth II.

The plot itself is pleasingly straight-forward and seems to serve more as a vessel for providing the most gags rather than any real investment in the characters. The 1960’s setting could have come off as arbitrary but the bright, colourful and often angular animation style does compliment nicely with the period even if many of the younger ones in the audience wouldn’t be able to pick out the references to a pre-Disney Orlando or a brief musical rendition of Hair. As expected the soundtrack is top-notch, with music by The Doors, The Beatles and The Kinks (although a brief snippet of Van Halen seems rather strange). Visually, the film is available in a 3D format, but beyond the occasional insignificant effect, it’s a completely pointless addition to the film, even one as action-packed and kinetic as Minions is, even to its detriment with a finale that’s way too long.

There are seeds if some very interesting ideas in Minions. The narration of Geoffrey Rush in the trailers and sporadically in the film, gave hints of a nature mockumentary, whilst a montage during the film also showed Minions traversing the globe, both of which would’ve been interesting concepts for a feature film. As is, we get a sci-fi adventure comedy, faithful to the franchise that spawned it but being very tentative and not taking any risks beyond what works. All in all, the major pros and cons of Minions both fall on the same thing. It sticks to what people know and love.

RERELEASE: The Misfits (1961, Dir. John Huston, USA) (Cert: PG/Approved) ***

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Eli Wallach

Recently divorced Roslyn (Monroe) is on a night out at a restaurant when her path crosses with an older charming cowboy named Gay Langland (Gable). Instantly taken with Roslyn, Gay invites her to spend time out in the Nevada wilderness with him. However, their stay is also alongside two friends of Gay’s; Guido (Wallach) a widowed mechanic and Perce (Montgomery Clift) a self-destructive rodeo rider and all three start vying for Rosalyn’s attention whilst she struggles with their way of life.

Sometimes a film’s historical significance behind the scenes can over-shadow the artistic reputation of what has been produced, such is the case with John Huston’s occasionally perplexing pseudo-Western melodrama, The Misfits, that has found notoriety for being the final film of two of the brightest stars ever two shine in Hollywood; Clark Gable (who would suffer a fatal heart attack just two days after filming) and Marilyn Monroe (who would go on to work on George Cukor’s unfinished Something’s Got To Give before being fired and dying a couple of months after her dismissal). As a final testament to the two stars, it works interestingly. Gable, who will probably always be remembered as the charming yet unreliable Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind (1939), still has the charm but his character is also an uncaring and selfish individual with a pretty prominent dark streak. Monroe is still the blonde bombshell that made her an icon and the plot of three men each wanting her is not an unusual set-up for a Monroe movie, but here it’s darker and her character is befitted with more intelligence and depth than the stereotypical Marilyn Monroe part.

This could be attributed to screenwriter Arthur Miller. Primarily famous for his plays such as The Crucible and Death Of A Salesman, Miller also became a well-known figure as the unlikely third husband of Monroe, with jokes being had about the bookish and nerdy Miller marrying a sex symbol like Monroe. Nowadays, it’s well known that Marilyn was in fact far smarter and well-informed than the parts she tended to play and it was probably Miller’s knowledge of this that lead to a more rounded and interesting character than just the beautiful blonde bimbo. The part of Rosalyn is most definitely tied to Monroe portraying her and some of it works (a scene in which she’s ogled in a bar plays much as a scene in one of her earlier films, but given a slightly sinister edge) and some of it doesn’t such as when Eli Wallach spies a number of iconic photos of Monroe which are never again referenced in the plot.

Neither Monroe or Gable look their best here. Being who they are, they’re still attractive looking people but Gable’s age, Monroe’s drug problems and their failing health in both cases make them seem more haggard. Gable is wrinkled and sagging, Monroe is often washed-out and her looks are starting to fade. It may not have been the intention of the film-makers but it adds to the wearying and at times a-romantic nature of the film. Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach turn up in the supporting roles and whilst Clift’s performance is rather inconsistent (he had his own demons and their toll on him is pretty visible here), Eli Wallach provides some great moments, even if the idea of the noticeably less photogenic actor who made his career often playing rogues and bad guys makes for a slightly left-of-field casting choice. Thelma Ritter plays Monroe’s older friend and confident and makes for a likable performance early on in the film but quickly all but disappears once the main plot points start to line up.  

The central problem with The Misfits is that whilst it knows it doesn’t want to be one of those light and breezy romantic comedies that made Marilyn Monroe such a titan on the silver screen, and aside from a nugget of the premise it avoids that like the plague, it doesn’t really seem to be struck on what it wants to be; a deconstruction of the older Monroe image, a revisionist twentieth-century Western that dispels cowboy heroism or even just a really strange experience taking an audience to somewhere unusual. It tries all three in turn, but never settles on one or in a neat balance. The Misfits is a strange film, that owes less to the likes Some Like It Hot (1959) and more to the unnerving civilised-person-far-from-civilised-society themes of the recently-rediscovered and brilliant Wake In Fright (1971) meets Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd. A strange beast of a film, not without being troublingly uneven but also with occasional beauty and often something interesting to offer.