Movie Review: Pig

10/10

A tour de force performance by Nicolas Cage and a contemplative narrative about loss, love, friendship, and materialism in modern society.

Pig is the first 2021 film I watched that left a strong imprint on my mind afterwards. The remarkable debut film by writer/director Michael Sarnoski tells the story of Rob Feld, an outsider living in what seems like self-imposed exile in the wilderness outside Portland with his pet trotter pig. He gets mugged and his pig gets stolen, and he embarks on a quest into the city to find her.

The story reveals Feld’s backstory layer by layer, and as we follow him we learn that he was once a renowned chef; we also learn of a loss that sent him away from the city. Actor Nicolas Cage is the perfect choice for Feld. Cage, an enigmatic actor whose career has spanned the full spectrum of artistic quality, delivers a masterpiece here. He is utterly believable, and our heart breaks with his through the course of this story.

Also impressive is actor Alex Wolff as Amir, the closest thing Feld has to a friend on his quest into the city. Amir needs the trotter pig for his own aspiring entrepreneurial endeavors. A genuine and believable friendship develops between the two of them.

Slow and deliberate in pace, the film is more meditative than a typical thriller that one might expect from such a narrative. Instead the film lets its themes shine over any action set pieces, with subjects including the contrast of nature and civilization, the things we give up in our quest for materialism, love, and loss.

The Pacific Northwest has a stunning and majestic natural landscape and the cinematography deftly captures its beauty.

This is a film that will sit in my mind for a long time. For me, it’s 2021’s best surprise.

Movie Review: Army of the Dead

6/10

Another overlong Zack Snyder film inundated with slo-mo, but with some solid action sequences and decent performances.

Clocking in at 148 minutes, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead clearly aims for an epic scope. The opening sequence presents an origin for the zombie apocalypse, as well as an origin for its ill-fated protagonists. A military vehicle containing something sinister crashes with a reckless driver just outside Las Vegas (sound familiar?), unleashing the imprisoned zombie within. This original zombie is very “Snyderized”: he’s well-muscled, intelligent, and a capable fighter. One would argue he’s essentially the Henry Cavill version of Superman, but in zombie form.

Las Vegas quickly gets sealed off by the government, and we are greeted by a montage of the film’s human warriors as they fend for themselves in the carnage. The main protagonist, Scott Ward (played convincingly by former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista), evokes elements of protagonists from most standard heist and zombie films. He killed a lot of zombies but lost his wife and now regrets a strained relationship with his daughter. But he’s dragged into “one last mission” to venture back into the walled-off Vegas and retrieve a millionaire’s fortune from a well-secured bank vault. And of course, he needs to assemble his old team to do so. They have to hurry because the US government plans to bomb the city in order to permanently destroy the zombie threat!

The supporting characters are mostly forgettable and of course the Vegas mission goes awry quickly. The film has elements of Ocean’s 11: the millionaire may not be telling them everything they need to know, double crossings ensue, and of course a master thief is needed to decode the vault.

There are some nice changes to the typical zombie tropes. The zombies form a sort of hierarchy within the walled-off Vegas, with the original zombie acting as “king” and showing emotion for his impregnated zombie queen. The further removed from the original zombie an infected person is, the less intelligent and more primal that person seems to become.

The film is a perfectly fine Saturday diversion, but it doesn’t break any new ground. It’s Dawn of the Dead meets Oceans 11 with a bit less intelligence than either. I found myself checking my watch a few times during the final thirty minutes, perhaps because I’ve seen so many of these films. Of course the film ends with a helicopter escape and a big explosion. Of course.

That said, if you haven’t seen many zombie or heist films, this is a perfectly acceptable introduction. Some of the action sequences are stunning and the film does provide a good sense of fun, even when its human characters are getting chomped up.