20th Century Fox
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Welcome back to This Week in Blockbuster History, the column that celebrates some of our favorite movies that were released at this time a few years ago. It’s a retrospective series that won’t run all the time, but it will take a look back at some of our favorite blockbusters and examine their impact then, now, and more. I know it’s August already, but these movies were released during the fifth week of July (which technically began this week), so we’ll being talking about films that premiered during the last few days of the month in previous years. Read on for some analysis and (mostly) fond memories of Planet of the Apes (2001), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life (2003), The Village (2004), and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004). Let the nostalgic trip begin!
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When Tim Burton decided to remake the iconic Planet of the Apes, hardcore fans of the series weren’t thrilled. The director had made a name for himself by crafting dark and twisted worlds in films like Edward Scissorhands and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, but was he the right fit to bring Charlton Heston’s 1968 classic to modern audiences? Weirdly enough, it turns out that Burton’s movie is arguably the most “studio” film he’s ever done. There’s very little of his persona embedded into this movie (which is a staple in his other works), and even his incarnation of Batman and its follow-up Batman Returns had enough of his visual flair to make it known Burton was behind it. Not really the case this time, as Burton seems to be just going through the motions with Mark Wahlberg and the rest of the cast, including the completely forgotten hottie Estella Warren.
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Props must be given, though, to special effects guru Rick Baker’s prosthetic ape costumes (which looked stunning) and Tim Roth’s (“Lie to Me”) performance, which was snarling and evil in all the right ways. The film was once set to star Arnold Schwarzenegger (!?), and I’m sure this version turned out better than THAT one would have, but the questionable ending – which tried to replicate the shocking ending of the original, but with a weird twist – left a bad taste in many fans’ mouths. Luckily, ten years later, 20th Century Fox decided to create a prequel to the series called Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which turned out to be one of the best films of the year thanks to Andy Serkis’ fantastic motion-capture performance as Caesar, the ape who ends up leading the revolution against humanity.
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Paramount Pictures
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Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is notable for a few reasons. First, it was the sequel to the first Tomb Raider film, which was one of the first major action roles for Angelina Jolie, who has since fallen in love with the genre and made films like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wanted, and Salt. Second, it reunited Jolie with Gerard Butler, who was just an up-and-comer back then before he really broke out with Zack Snyder’s 300. And finally, many critics hailed this movie as being better than the first film in the franchise. The Expendables 2 director Simon West handled the first movie, but was replaced here with Speed helmer Jan de Bont, who seems a bit better suited for the globetrotting action that this series requires.
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Sure, claims that this movie is essentially a female version of Indiana Jones abounded at the time, and still continue to this day (when the movie is mentioned, which isn’t often), but what’s wrong with that? A lot of these action movies share similar elements, and giving the lead role to an empowered, kick-ass female is a step in the right direction that Hollywood barely remembers. Movies like Haywire and Hanna have come close recently, but it’s sort of sad that many of today’s superhero hotties have to play second fiddle to the dudes in movies like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. Maybe now that ScarJo and Anne Hathaway have reinvigorated the notion, we’ll finally get a decent female-led superhero movie. And who better than Angelina Jolie to suit up for it?
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Touchstone Pictures
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M. Night Shyamalan has fallen out of favor with a lot of people (this writer included), but he had such a promising start to his career. His first film, The Sixth Sense is inarguably his best film, but I’d say that my favorite of Night’s movies is 2004’s The Village. A career-making turn from Bryce Dallas Howard (playing a blind person!) and terrific performances from Joaquin Phoenix, Brendan Gleeson, and William Hurt. It’s a movie about adults and the decisions they make to insure safety of their children, but it’s the moving love story that really provides the emotional core of the film. The twisty script bounces back and forth wonderfully, dishing out tiny pieces of information at just the right times to keep you guessing, and the climactic moment when (spoiler alert!) Ivy discovers a creature in the woods had my heart racing in the theater and still gets my pulse racing now, even though I know exactly how the scene is going to play out.
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Many of my friends claimed that they saw the ending coming from a mile away, but even if you know how it ends, it’s still an effective story told by a filmmaker with a true vision and passion for his material. It’s too bad that THIS version of M. Night Shyamalan just doesn’t seem to be making movies anymore. We’ll find out if he can climb back into the public’s good graces with his next project, a sci-fi movie with Will Smith called After Earth. (Bonus: The Village features a young Jesse Eisenberg hidden in a tiny role, so it’s fun to look back on that knowing in just a few years time, he’d be a household name.)
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New Line Cinema
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And finally, there’s Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle. Aside from inspiring loads of college kids to visit their local White Castle in an effort to recreate the events of the film, this movie was a hilarious and a much-needed stoner comedy that wasn’t too inaccessible for the mainstream. A lot of stoner comedies take things a little TOO far and rely a bit too much on the drugs for the humor, but this film uses the drugs as a sort of jumping off point and all sorts of zany things happen along the way. How could anyone forget the iconic NPH scene, which brought Neil Patrick Harris back into the spotlight before “How I Met Your Mother” made him a star again? Immediately after I got home from this movie, I downloaded Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On” and I still rock the eff out to that song every time it comes on, just like the guys did in the movie.
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Pretty much every scene is memorable, and unfortunately, the film’s two sequels could never quite capture the same exact magic that they did this first time around. That being said, I actually enjoyed both sequels for different reasons: Escape from Guantanamo Bay took everything funny about the first movie and upped the ante, while A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas was a surprisingly effective look at the nature of friendship and how relationships evolve over time. But for the biggest laughs and the most consistent comedy, look no further than Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle.
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That’s all for this week. Sound off with your memories of Planet of the Apes, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, The Village, and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle in the comments below!
