TOMORROWLAND (2015 - ACTION / SCI-FI / ADVENTURE) **** out of ***** OR 8 out of 10
('Tomorrow' looks like it sucks...)
CAST: George Clooney, Brittany Robertson, Hugh Laurie, Raffrey Cassidy, Pierce Gagnon, Thomas Robinson, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan Michael-Key, Tim McGraw.
DIRECTOR: Brad Bird
(WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some rather byzantine premises - straight ahead)
IT'S LIKE THIS: Every other summer there's sometimes one movie that is kind of positioned as the oddball among all the superhero sequels, disaster flicks, horror movies, animated family adventures, and raunchy comedies jockeying with one another for your multiplex business. The "Oddball Summer Flick", as I like to call it, is a summer release that is usually a little (sometimes a lot) smarter than the rest of the pack and has a premise that doesn't easily lend itself to pithy descriptions. Or sometimes the premise is as dumb and simple as a bag of rocks, but it is so different from everything around it that it actually almost seems smart and complex.
In 2010, the Oddball Summer Flick was INCEPTION, a brainy thriller that combined action and a trickily-twisty plot that barrelled through multiple "dream worlds" and layers of intrigue in such a surreal yet confident way that you went back into the sunlight wondering if everything around you was just a dream within a dream. In 2012, the Oddball Summer Flick was MAGIC MIKE, a "drama" about male strippers and, well, that's about it. When I talked earlier about a premise that is as dumb as a bag of rocks but is so different from everything around it that it actually starts to almost seem smart and complex, I was talking about MAGIC MIKE.
In MAGIC MIKE's case, though, it eventually misses the "Smart and Complex" platform and belly-flops back into the pool of "Dumb As A Bag of Rocks" beneath it. That didn't stop it from raking in the bucks, though. Never underestimate the power of desperate women in large numbers. And blame them for the sequel, MAGIC MIKE XXL, which is set to pollute movie theaters this summer.
In 2013, the Oddball Summer Flick was THIS IS THE END, a certifiably insane apocalyptic comedy that showcased James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Emma Watson, Channing Tatum, and Michael Cera - all playing themselves in the middle of the End-Of-The-World. Like MAGIC MIKE, this flick's premise was as dumb as bag of rocks but was so different from everything arouind it at the time that it actually started to seem smart and complex. Unlike MAGIC MIKE, though, THIS IS THE END actually managed to make the leap onto the "Smart and Complex" platform, instead of belly-flopping back into the "Dumb as a Bag of Rocks" pool beneath it - and ended up being a surprisingly sharp examination of friendship, courage, and sacrifice (albeit in a totally fucked-up and hilarious way).
Then in 2014, the Oddball Summer Flick was EDGE OF TOMORROW, which was basically what you would get if you put GROUNDHOG DAY, INDEPENDENCE DAY, and Tom Cruise into a blender. Basically, Tommy C. played a futuristic soldier deep in the middle of battle against invading aliens - and finds himself in a time loop where he lives the same day over and over again with the same result - he dies horribly. Which is kind of like being forced to watch MAGIC MIKE back-to-back for a month. Meow.
And for the summer of 2015 (this summer, in case you are hungover), the Oddball Summer Flick is none other than our next review... TOMORROWLAND. Which is surprising, because TOMORROWLAND is based on the Disney World attraction of the same name, which is very well-known. The fact remains, though, that this is one weird movie (for a summer flick). As we mentioned above, Summer Movie usually have premises that can be described in about the same time it takes to burp. In other words, pretty fast.
Just try it out:
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON: "The Avengers battle an artifical intelligence that becomes sentient and threatens to destroy the world." BAM!
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: "In a post-apocalyptic future, a loner named Max and a tough female warrior named Furiosa battle a formidable war lord for control of his land and water supply." BAM!
SAN ANDREAS: "A Los Angeles search-and-rescue chopper pilot and his ex-wife find themselves caught in the middle of a catastrophic California-wide earthquake while trying to reach their daughter in San Francisco." BAM!
JURASSIC WORLD: "It's twenty years after the disastrous mistakes at JURASSIC PARK and the park is now open. But when park management introduces a dangerous new dinosaur attraction, all hell breaks loose." BAM!
ALOHA: "An intensely driven civilian contractor tasked with launching a new USAF satellite system in Hawaii is torn between two women: a feisty, energetic USAF captain who is assigned to babysit him, and his ex-girlfriend who still loves him. BAM!
TERMINATOR GENISYS: "Arnie is BACK, baby!" BAM!
See? Summer Movies are fairly simple to describe.
Now, let's try the same thing with TOMORROWLAND:
"A girl who is kind of a hippie liberal protester finds a button with a "T" on it that transports her to some parallel universe where people are building the future. She attempts to figure out where the strange button came from and discovers a conspiracy involving a grumpy retired scientist who used to visit that same parallel universe when he was a kid. Oh, and then some assassins from that parallel universe want to kill them both for knowing too much and then there's the girl's little brother who also-- Wait, I should also mention the girl's father who used to be a NASA scientist but NASA lost funding due to Congress being dickheads. Wait, did I also mention that the End of World is apparently also around the corner, according to some of the scientists running Tomorrowland? According to them, it's because we have been fucking up the Earth, and it's too late now. And then the girl and the grumpy scientist decide to track down the--"
BAM? Uh, no. Not exactly. More like: WTF!?
And that's the thing about TOMORROWLAND: it's too smart for a season wherein movie-goers want to use as little brain cells as possible. I kept looking at the date on my watch to make sure I hadn't accidentally teleported to November. Yup, TOMORROWLAND feels more like a flick that should've been released around Thanksgiving or Christmas, when more intellectually-challenging flicks debut. I bet at least a hundred people got an aneurysm trying to parse the plot of this movie on opening night. Sorry, folks: this is not 21 JUMP STREET. Morons need not apply...
So... will the hippie liberal protester/activist named Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) be able to figure out what the hell is up with those weird buttons that teleport her to Tomorrowland? Will she be able to figure out what the hell is up with Tomorrowland, itself? And will that grumpy scientist Frank Walker (George Clooney), who claimed to toggle between this world and Tomorrowland as a kid, be able to help her? Or will the Tomorrowland assassins (Kathryn Hahn, Keegan Michael-Key) track them down first? Will Casey's dad and brother (Tim McGraw, Pierce Gagnon) be endangered? Should the studio create a "TOMORROWLAND for Dummies" guide?
BAM!
BUT SERIOUSLY: Probably a little too smart for the typical summer movie crowd, TOMORROWLAND is refreshingly layered and complex. For its entire first and second acts, and some of the third, this movie keeps its cards close to its chest, parsing out secrets little by little. This is a brave choice for a summer film, which is often forced to throw subtlety and a methodical build up to the wind in order to keep viewers engaged. Indeed, there may be some folks who might grow impatient with how TOMORROWLAND plays out, and may give up on it. If so, that's their loss.
I haven't been to the Tomorrowland attraction at Disney World so I can't say how faithful this movie's narrative and images are to it. However, the movie itself is an exciting roller-coaster ride that constantly keeps you wondering where it is going. And then the reveal is made well into the third act, it proves to be surprisingly thoughtful, profound, resonant, and - here's the most interesting thing - timely. I won't reveal more. Suffice it to say, TOMORROWLAND's brave final plot twists and denouement lift it above the rest of the summer movie entries for 2015. It may not technically be the "best" film this summer, but it is probably the most provocative and intriguing.
Time will tell whether the moviegoing public will embrace TOMORROWLAND and be won over by its ultimate message - or if they retreat from its cerebral underpinnings and go for less intellectually challenging fare like JURASSIC WORLD, SAN ANDREAS, and pretty much everything else that is coming out this summer. However, whether or not audiences make it a hit, TOMORROWLAND is a very good film.
The publicity heralds George Clooney as the ostensible lead of this film, largely because of his marquee stature. Indeed, he is his usual solid, magnetic self. However, he actually doesn't enter the action until well into the second act of the story, about halfway through. The true lead of this film is Britt Robertson as Casey Newton, the socially-conscious young activist who gets plunged into adventure after finding one of those mysterious buttons with a "T" on it. In a summer full of strong and interesting female leads like Furiosa (Charlize Theron) from MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) from JURASSIC WORLD, Captain Allison Ng (Emma Stone) & Tracy Woodside (Rachel McAdams) from ALOHA, Emma Gaines (Carla Gugino) from SAN ANDREAS, and pretty much the entire female cast of SPY, Casey Newton is a welcome addition and Robertson nails the role with likability and backbone.
The supporting cast of Hugh Laurie, Pierce Gagnon, Kathryn Hahn, Thomas Robinson, and Keegan Michael Keeley are fine, but Robertson owns this film, with Clooney graciously ceding center stage to her repeatedly. Hopefully, Robertson's work here will lead to similarly-high profile roles. She is a talent to watch.
In the end, TOMORROWLAND is the thinking-person's summer movie. Whether that helps or hurts its box-office chances remains to be seen. However, let's remember that it worked for INCEPTION, another summer movie that was defied description and easy pigeon-holing. There's always hope.
