Zen video games in the air
Pushing Tin A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1999 By Michael Redman
*** (Out Of ****)
Competition is one of the almighty forces in the universe. In the course of human affairs it ranks up there with gravity, nuclear fission and sex.
When I was a kid, we were told that competition was the main difference between communism and capitalism. We had it, they didn't and because of that, their economic system was doomed to failure. Plus they were godless which was almost, but not quite as bad.
Competition is what drives wars. For 50 years the Soviet Union wanted to be King Of The World as did the United States. Oddly enough for a non-competitive country they were as aggressive as we were.
Competition causes men and women to do weird stuff. It's behind the macho and catty attitudes. It's why people can be remarkably stupid in the presence of the opposite sex. It causes individuals to cheat, lie and steal to get ahead in their careers.
It's also one of the reasons that some perform at their peak and do extraordinary work.
Nick "The Zone" Falzone (John Cusack) is a competitive guy. And he's the best. An air traffic controller at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, he guides planes at three major airports with rapid fire commands.
It's a frantic job. The facility controls 7,000 flights a day. Controllers are responsible for thousands of lives a day. Sitting at radar scopes, they are one with the electronic images. They stare through the screen into a virtual 3-D world with the same concentration that teenage video game players possess.
After work, they play with the same intensity. Drinking, flirting in cafes, shooting hoops, catching a quickie with their wives: everything is fast and furious.
Nick's life is good. In the small town of Controllerville, he's top dog. Until, that is, a new gun moves in. Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) shoves aside the chair on rollers, pulls up his own folding chair, sticks a feather in his hair and gazes into the scope with a Zen-like serenity.
Russell is a wonder, stacking up planes like no one has seen before. He shows up Nick. Even worse, he does it without breaking a sweat. He effortlessly bests Nick's free throw record at a barbecue. All the wives are agog in the presence of the mysterious stranger. Nick is fueled by caffeine and adrenaline. Russell is a smooth as silk.
Nick can't stand it and begins his search for a way to win the rivalry. Soon his paranoia takes over and he starts to lose it. Is Russell playing the one-upmanship game or is he just who he is?
The actors are first rate. Cusack masters his quirky obsessed character and makes it seem as easy as rolling off a log. Thornton retains his impressive presence he's shown in other films and captivates the screen.
The women are equally skilled although they don't get as much screen time. Cate Blanchett is Nick's wife Connie, a middle class floosie with a look of intelligence behind her eyes. There isn't a second you don't believe that's who she is. Her performance is particularly impressive when you realize this is the same woman who played a completely different role in "Elizabeth".
Angelina Jolie, as Russell's child bride Mary, is the film's hot babe. When she struts through a backyard party, leather-clad, pouty-lipped and exhibiting abundant cleavage, the men are speechless. She and Nick have dinner in an Italian restaurant after he chances upon her crying in a supermarket. While they are talking, she slowly tastes one of her fingers and his fidelity is a lost cause.
Mary is the woman that every man would like to meet - until they discover the foundation of her personal food pyramid is vodka.
The film has dozens of sub-plots maneuvered like the tiny blips on radar, lining up one after another. Although most glide to smooth landings, some meander around and eventually crash into the Atlantic. The individual scenes are well crafted, but a few don't work together.
The story's weakness is the ending. Not completely unsatisfying, it still feels out of synch with the rest of the movie. Like many films recently, it could have ended about ten minutes earlier.
(Michael Redman has written film columns since before the invention of moveable type and thinks he's going to take the train on his next trip. Email tales of air adventure to Redman@indepen.com.)
[This appeared in the 4/26/99 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at Redman@indepen.com.]
-- mailto:redman@indepen.com This week's film review: http://www.indepen.com/ Film reviews archive: http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman Y2K articles: http://www.indepen.com/
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