One of the great things about guilty pleasures is the ease in which one can defend them. The mere statement that something is a guilty pleasure is typically all that is necessary, though the drawback is that people then automatically assume that the film is awful without ever watching it. Now in the case of something like Punisher: War Zone it most certainly is an awful movie, but I loved it anyways.
Normally Anna would never agree to pay money to go see something like Punisher: War Zone. By her own admission she refuses to believe in the concept of the guilty pleasure unless one is discussing Journey or Whitesnake, she will fist pump to Here I Go Again until the end of time I tell you, but I had a few things going in my favor on this particular day. We hadn’t been to a mainstream theater in a few weeks, which meant that she would be powerless to resist the opportunity for me to buy her her favorite fast food, that being a burrito from Pancheros which just so happens to be next door to the theater. And since there hadn’t been even a passable new release in weeks, Punisher: War Zone was the only film left that she would agree to watch and thereby receive her burrito. This left me in the enviable position of watching the film I wanted to and Anna annoyed at having to suffer the same fate.
Now as a connoisseur of 80′s action films, it is easy to see why I would like Punisher: War Zone as the plot isn’t far removed from being Commando. And with oodles of awful dialog, wooden acting and absurd violence, it was as if I had traveled back in time to a simpler, more violently beautiful place.
So you might ask me, just what was my favorite Punisher: War Zone moment? Was it …
… when less then ten minutes into the film the Punisher decapitates a decrepit, wheelchair bound old man only to then break his slightly less feeble wife’s neck not once, not twice but thrice?
… when the Punisher punched some guy’s face off?
… when Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison) eats through a man’s belly and into his stomach because he wants his apple sauce back?
… when the Punisher opens a chest of items from his previous non-vigilante life, only for it to be inexplicably lit from the inside as if it contained Marsellus Wallace’s immortal soul?
… when Jigsaw (Dominic West) and Loony Bin Jim attempt to recruit rival gangs to help kill the punisher by speaking in front of an America flag that is used as a backdrop, all while America the Beautiful accompanies the entire ordeal, and as an added bonus they goose step from one meeting to the next?
The answer is, of course, all of the above. Sure the film never veers anywhere near the vicinity of good taste, but that’s what I liked about it. I mean, he punches a guy’s face off. Completely! But besides that this is the third attempt by Marvel to finally come up with a decent adaptation of The Punisher and they finally have come at least somewhat close to the trashy exploitation that is the comic at its best.
But I am not here today to talk Punisher: War Zone, no matter how much I want to. No, today I want to exult a guilty pleasure that I feel not the slightest guilt about loving. It is a film built specifically to push its soundtrack, and its story is essentially a remaking of the classic Mary Shelley tale Frankenstein. But while a mere two years later Short Circuit with its Johnny 5 and El Debarge would hog all the pop culture glory of such a high concept, Electric Dreams was not only on the scene first, but the far superior film.
Miles Harding (Lenny von Dohlen) is a simple architect who struggles to stay organized. When a co-worker recommends he picks up a personal electronic organizer Miles is curiously up-sold into purchasing a personal computer that can help him finally finish his dream project of building an earthquake resistant brick. But when Miles accidentally hacks into his work’s computer mainframe and then proceeds to download the entirety of the world’s electronic information onto his computer he finds himself with a computer that surprisingly shows signs of having a mind of its own, literally. But while this wacky development initially seems like a boon to Miles’ work, when his computer, now named Edgar (Bud Cort), starts to compete with Miles for the affections of their neighbor Madeline (Virgina Madsen) who lives upstairs, all hell breaks loose.
It’s ok, you can admit it. The premise sounds awesome and I am here to tell you it is so much better then you can even imagine it. But don’t take my word for it, Electric Dreams was nominated for a BAFTA award for goodness sakes. It’s that level of greatness.
Oh alright, it was nominated for best original song (Together in Electric Dreams) but considering the film was created specifically to showcase the songs in the film I think that means the songs must be pretty decent. Considering contributers to the soundtrack included The Human League, Culture Club, Jeff Lynne and various members for the bands previously listed it stands to reason that these blatant pop tunes are still surprisingly catchy.
Now I must admit I am a huge fan of crazy camera work in films, and as such I have never been particularly adverse to music video directors being given the opportunity to try their hand at shooting feature films. The cinematography tends to be especially frantic through the use of absurdly wide angle lenses, strange camera placement and a failure to rely on ever allowing the camera to sit still long enough for a standard static take. Director Steve Barron, who is perhaps best known for the music video he directed for the song Take On Me by the group a-ha, refuses to break from this impressionistic mold, allowing the camera to swirl around the sets as if it is a fly on the 4th wall.
But most fascinating is how without fail the film suddenly morphs into a music video every ten minutes and this is when the cinematography and editing truly shines. Shots through fish bowls carefully slide through the depth of the frame to highlight whichever bit of minutia Barron wishes the audience to focus on. The camera whip pans from room to room to the beat of the music, daring the audience to keep pace as the film seemingly veers out of control, mercifully coming to a comfortable conclusion by the time the tow tapping number ends.
And while the early music numbers rely heavily on camera tricks and rapid editing, as Edgar becomes more and more aggressive and petulant the film slowly transforms into a working video game, with pixelated Pac-Men running wild, voraciously attempting to eliminate Miles so that Edgar might win his maiden fair. This would seem somewhat odd if one didn’t realize that besides working with a-ha, Barron also created the legendary Dire Straits music video for their hit song Money for Nothing and he was quite comfortable illustrating through computer animation. While Hollywood has failed in recent years to translate video games into feature films, Barron has duped the studios by turning a feature film into a video game, and an entertaining one at that.
But there is far more to witness in Electric Dreams then fancy camera work and innovative story telling, for the true genius of Electric Dreams is in the inspired casting of Bud Cort as the misanthropic computer Edgar. While von Dohlen does his best to channel Jack Tripper and Madsen sits around making doe eyes as only she can, it is Cort who gives a truly monster performance. Rather then the everyman hero of Johnny 5, Edgar is a fascinatingly complex and flawed character that grows and develops as the story progresses. Not possessed with wide eyed optimism of his robotic counterpart, Edgar is both wary and angry at Miles for taking credit for the music he wrote. But being stationary, he is utterly reliant on Miles for any sort of contact and interaction. It creates a fascinating dynamic between the two, initially resembling a father to his son but it quickly turns into out and out rivalry. With each passing scene Edgar becomes a more interesting, humerus and tragic figure and thanks to Cort’s transcendent performance Edgar steals every single frame he appears in, whether it be by repeatedly mispronouncing Miles’ name or throwing a temper tantrum when he discovers Miles is dating Madeline. Edgar may be a spoiled brat, but he is only because he has no idea what emotions are, let alone been able to develop proper coping mechanisms for such frustrating and frivolous permutations.
But while I would love for you to watch this film, the true tragedy is that Electric Dreams has yet to be released on DVD, a gross oversight which I am perfectly sincere in claiming is a crime against humanity, and tracking down a DVD copy is nigh impossible. The only way to currently watch this underrated gem is to download it. To which I say, go ahead, steal this movie, you will be a better, more enriched, person for doing so.
