Not even the fleeting appearance of Deep Throat can lift the level of excitement of this rather uninspired and lazy episode which not only is pretty unoriginal (an AI computer killing humans… we haven’t seen that before… ) but actually it has very little to do with the paranormal. Mulder takes centre stage here (so to speak) while Scully does pretty much nothing throughout. It’s not really boring but it’s so predictable and devoid of any surprise that it feels like like like a bit of a letdown. There are some interesting ideas here, but it’s all played by numbers. It also feels like it’s been written by somebody who doesn’t really know much about computers and the flimsy ending clearly shows that. One to forget and possibly the worst episode so far.
“Firebird” may be based on a true story in an unusual place (Estonia) in the 70s, but the story of a forbidden love in the military settings feels like going through well-trodden paths (it was only last year that Moffie, a much superior film, was released). Aside from its Estonian settings, very little of what I saw felt new or original and if you sat down for a moment and could probably map out the whole story from beginning to end. However none of that takes away from fact that by the end of the film I was completely invested in the story and I won’t deny that I even got a bit moved… old softie that I am. Having said that, let’s be honest, the script is pretty basic with virtually no nuances and people speak their thoughts more often than one would like among a series of cliches out of a stock-book of characters.
The direction is functional but rather uninspired, often veering towards the big melodrama.
Tom Prior (from the Kingsman: The Secret Service) has definitely got the right face for the main role, though in the second part of the film, when he’s supposed to have aged a few years, he’s forced to wear a terrible wig, which not only looks fake from miles away, but also makes him look even younger. Wigs aside, he’s likeable and believable. Interestingly he’s also the co-writer, co-producer and the music supervisor for the film: clearly this must have been a project close to him.What works a little bit less, is the most of the cast around him: most of the secondary characters are 2-dimensional and at times a bit cartoony (the KGB “bad guy” for example): their acting also felt a bit forced at times, though that might have been because of the various Russian accents which I found very distracting throughout.
I wish I could have liked it more than I did, I feel its intentions are good, but aside from some good location, some nicely filmed moments and its moving ending, it all felt rather average.
The film has just had its world premiere at the BFI Flare Film Festival
I have to confess, I have a very big soft spot for this one, but I’m also aware that it’s the film that for some reasons gets shunned by some critics (bunch of weirdos in my view!) when compared to the likes of Rear Windows or Vertigo. Well, that’s an unfair comparison. Just because Rear Window is a film beyond perfect, doesn’t mean that this one isn’t a cut above most of the thrillers out there (both from the time and from today). I never have problem with the pacing of this film (like some people suggest) or the various red herrings, in fact I think it’s the slow build up and the clues dropped throughout that really make it all work so well.There are so many memorable moments in this film (most t of which have been copied over and over since 1956 when it was first release), but obviously the sequence that always gets pointed out is the one at the Albert Hall: twelve minutes (124 shots, for the nerds out there) without a single word of dialogue which lift up the tension to unbearable levels. Hitchcock once again uses every trick in the book to heighten the tension not just at the end, but throughout the film: whether it’s through the sound of echoing footsteps as James Stewart walks along the pavement on a goose chase to see a taxidermist or whether it’s through tight close-ups his fingers flipping through the pages of a directory, to show how tense he is, who through quick tracking shots to the face of the killer to be, to make him even more terrifying and suspicious than he already is and the high angle zooming down at the couple as they talk to their kidnapped son. I loved the murder of the man in Morocco, the scene in the church as Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart sing along with the choir while actually moving in on the priest who they believe guilty of the kidnapping, the moment James Stewart tells her their so has been taken, but also the comical bits, the fight at the taxidermist, the guests left waiting for hours, the (slightly racist today, but who cares?) dinner scene… and I could go on for hours. And of course once again James Stewart, the most likeable man on earth and Doris Day here not just singing the ever-famous “Que sera sera” but actually acting her socks off. I was 12 when I first watched this film and I have not stopped loving since, so yes, 5 stars for this too! Not at the level of Rear Window, but hardly anything is, but way better than most films out there.
Here’s another generic episode which feels more like a bit of a filler rather that actually having anything substantial to say.By this time the X-Files seemed to be in constant search of its own identity as it was ticking off all the possible paranormal tropes, almost as if they were trying to see which one would work best: aliens, creepy killer, monster in a forest, poltergeist and now a ghost. The story, inspired by films like “The Entity” is pretty traditional and rather predictable. The audience is well ahead of the game right from the start, so it’s just a question of when will Mulder and Scully catch up with it? What the episode does right is to give Gillian Anderson an opportunity to be slightly more playful (her references to movies like Poltergeist and Carrie) and less of a party-pooper, however at this stage she’s still a side-kick to Mulder and hasn’t yet got the space to show her acting chops. Just like the previous episode, it’s still watchable but if you gave this a pass the only thing you’d miss if a funny line from Mulder when he asks Scully: “Do you know how difficult it is to fake your own death? Only one man has pulled it off: Elvis.”
This is possibly the weakest of the series so far: the mystery is not as interesting, or scary as it should be. The script is full with exposition. The “big twists” that it’s a woman monster and not a man, doesn’t really change anything at all within the story. And the resolution at the ending comes up quite abruptly leaving the audience with more of a “so-what?” taste in their mouth. However the episode helped defining the series as not just a story of “government conspiracies” but more of an anthology of mysteries and unexplained phenomena: one week an alien, the next a monster.It also gave us a little bit more insight into Mulder and Scully and actually some intriguing glimpses into Scully’s private life which will be developed further in future episodes. So, it’s not a complete car crash of course and on the whole it’s fairly watchable and never boring, but as far as I’m concerned you could skip this one and not miss a lot
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