I'm a huge Thunderbirds fan. I took my daughter, my wife and my friend to see this on Saturday. We brought with us the new Bandai TB1, TB2 and FAB-1. Yes, that's how big a TBgeek I am.
I had read the reviews and seen the leaked script synopsis from a couple years ago. I watched development of the film as it happened. I was excited when I saw who was cast as Lady Penelope and Parker. I was disappointed when I saw who was cast as Jeff Tracy and when I saw the picture of the Thunderbird pilots I thought they looked like garbagemen. (More on that later.)
I had read reviews that said it was "like Spy Kids without the fun" and others that just trashed the film. Most liked to make comparisons between the wooden acting and the original wooden puppets.
But I went because I'm a Thunderbirds fan. I expected to love the machines and hate the cast and script (with the aforementioned exceptions of Lady Penelope and Parker.)
It all started with the opening credits. Countdown - Barry Gray theme music, and an opening that was sort of a cross between the Partridge Family and South Park. I laughed when it showed the five boys, four of whom launched, and the other got into a school bus. I thought this set a mood that suddenly had my hopes up. If the film kept this kind of tongue-in-cheek mood it may not suck as much as I was led to believe.
Without dissecting the film scene-by-scene let me say what I disliked about it:
1) Brains should have been Fermat, not Brains. It doesnt' fit the story.
2) The stuttering was far overdone. Almost an embarrassment. In the series Brains
stuttered, but it was never used as a foil for humor and it was never called
attention to. It was just a fact of his quirky character.
3) Tin Tin. Could she please stop grinning for two minutes? Peoples' lives are
in danger!
4) The new Firefly looks like a landfill garbage tractor.
5) They made Lady Penelope a helpless whelp in the end. Why? She's an amazingly
resourceful secret agent who always has a plan. She should not have been so
easily defeated.
Just about everything else!
I actually liked the fact that Alan insulted Fermat on his stutter. It showed just how much of a jerk he could be and in one sentence revealed why Jeff Tracy didn't think he was ready to be a Thunderbird. (Ok, that was another bone of contention. Never at any point in the series were the pilots referred to as Thunderbirds. That's the name given the ships.) I liked that the maturity Alan gains throughout the film is punctuated by this heartless remark towards Fermat. It shows just how far he's come.
I liked the fact that Tin Tin was a strong character who got them out of several jams. I took my 8-year-old daughter, and I'm glad she saw that Tin Tin, far from being the Secretary and Dictation-Taker with the Advanced Degree in Electrical Engineering as she was in the series, was actually an important part of the story.
The new ships' designs are works of genius. It is quite obvious that the designers of these updated machines has a true love of the old series.
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The new TB1 with its clear canopy and rotating
rear hover-jets is gorgeous. If you look closely all the old features
are there. The point-sharp red nosecone, the silver body, the scissor-wings,
the four rear split foils, and most importantly, yes, the heat sink rings
are still there.
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The new TB2 is - please don't hurt me - even more
gorgeous than the original. Bandai sent me their larger eleven-inch TB2
toy to review, as well as the six-inch TB4 and FAB-1. This TB2 maintains
the beloved character nose-cone with its interesting curves and sweeps
the whole thing back into subtle shoulders and ends in a nice engine section.
The wings are pushed back to allow for a smooth curved design and the
new spoiler looks far more integrated into the design than the original.
The three pods that drop out from underneath (but do not detach) are a
stroke of genius. I never ever thought TB2 needed improvement, and indeed
thought no improvement could be made, but I was wrong. This new TB2 is
beautiful.
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TB3. I have never liked TB3. In fact a few years
ago I took it upon myself to update the design for my own sanity. I redesigned
it based closely on the original design but took away all of the straight
lines in favor of gentle curves. I liked my own redesign. This new film
version, however, is not bad. One thing I really liked about it was the
landing gear. It took me by surprise. I still consider it a fairly useless
rescue vehicle, its only true purpose being to resupply TB5, but who knows?
It managed a few rescues in outerspace in the series, so let's say the
jury is still out on this one.
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TB4. Yes! TB4 looks like a genuine undersea exploration
vehicle and I couldn't be happier. The much more functional gripping arms
are a huge improvement over the old TB4 which seemed to have an ever-so-useful
floodlight out front... rather than manipulator arms that can actually
be used to rescue people.
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TB5. This one looked more like a modern space station
but I didn't like the way-too-large solar collector. Didn't love the orignal.
Don't love this one. But its design made sense.
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The Jet Mole. Nice redesign. The original is a
cultural icon but knowing what we know today about tunnel-digging machines
the nose-bit of this one looked far more realistic and actually useable.
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The Firefly. The original design of this vehicle
didn't need touching. It's near-perfect. Its function, to act as a vehicle
to deliver chemical retardant to the center of a well-fire, one of the
hottest things imagineable on Earth, was well contrived. The frontal blade
acted both as a heat deflector and bulldozer to remove rubble. Its only
flaw was the hole in the blade for the fire hose which could have been
mounted on top. Its sleek nose is very attractive. And the pilot is carefully
protected inside the cockpit. This new redesign is just stupid. Not only
does it look like a landfill tractor, the cockpit (from which Tin Tin
operates the chemical retardant cannons) is open... open to what would
be the hottest place on earth? This is completely impractical. So it has
the front blade... that's the only element of the original design that
was maintained and I'm highly disappointed with its redesign. This is
the only place I'll say "What were they thinking????"
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The Thunderizer. I believe the original vehicle's intent
was to knock down obstacles using a pulse force or a cannon. This one
looks like it's designed to deliver a shockwave. Yet what it does is seemingly
shoot a matrix of lasers to make openings in walls. Even the name Thunderizer
makes it sound big and powerful, yet the tiny lasers almost looked silly
coming from that huge barrel.
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FAB-1. I still maintain that the original never needed
redesigning. The original Rolls Royce was excellent. It's obvious Ford
paid huge to get not only the FAB-1 in the new movie but a pink version
of its current model of a Thunderbird as well as several concept cars
- and as a cute surprise a vintage red antique Thunderbird in the vehicle
hangar on Tracy Island.
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Tracy Island. Now that I mention it... I really love the redesigned Tracy Compound and I like the fact that the small volcano-shaped island was actually just one part of a larger island. It still makes no sense that this secret organization can't be easily tracked back to this island in the Pacific. Never made sense and still doesn't. But if you accept that (which you have to for the whole series to work) this new version is a nice update. I loved all the interiors of the Tracy complex.
I was slightly disappointed I didn't see the entry system into the Thunderbirds. That's one of the things that had us kids watching way back. When Virgil grips those lamps he flips over, and enters a bizarre Rube Goldberg system that eventually takes him to TB2. Likewise for the other boys. But at least we got to see the TB2 loading arm even if out of context.
The pilots. The four Tracy brothers weren't actually featured in the show. I didn't even get to match a face to a name and I don't recall Gordon ever being named (though he probably was in passing) I liked that this was Alan's movie and the other brothers were de-emphasized for now. (In sequels once Alan is a full pilot I expect to see those characters explored more.)
I liked Jeff Tracy. Bill Paxton as Jeff really brought a seriousness to what is otherwise a fairly tongue-in-cheek film. His stern talking-to to Alan was well-placed and shows how seriously Jeff takes his work and the family business.
I liked the fact that Jeff Tracy went on the rescue missions but I would have preferred he did his commanding from TB1 not TB2. After all, TB1's main mission is to get to the rescue zone fast and act as mobile control, right?
I liked the revelations about Mrs. Tracy. Never once mentioned in the series I always assumed she died in a tragic accident that made Jeff Tracy want to aim his billions of dollars towards never letting the same thing happen to another human again. And that's exactly how Mrs. Tracy's absense is explained here. And it's obvious the death of Mrs. Tracy is still close to Jeff Tracy's mind and the minds of his sons. Which is probably why Jeff hasn't made the moves on Lady Penelope yet.
Lady Penelope. Wow. What gorgeous casting. Sophia Myles was the perfect Lady Penelope. Her opening scene was a bit much, though. But the rest of her part in the film was almost perfect. The bath scene with the homage to the old tea-pot was excellent. She and Parker talking about her day shows how carefully she balances her social life cover with her actual work helping International Rescue was well done. I really dug Lady Penelope here. I've always been a huge fan of Lady Penelope (hey, my daughter's second name is Penelope) and Sophia Myles did not let me down. In fact she impressed me. It's just too bad they made her out to be so helpless at the London Bank when throughout the rest of the film they were busy showing how resourceful she could be. (And for those guy fans - have a gander during the freezer scene! She gives Mary Jane Watson a run for her money!) Her character set the mood for this film. "Put me down, this dress is Couture!" She and Parker were near-perfect representations of their original characters. But please... NEVER let me hear her called "Lady Pee" again! It doesn't exactly bring up elegant images.
Nosy Parker. Wow. What excellent casting. I doubt a person alive on this planet could have done better than Ron Cook. I can't say enough about how perfectly Cook nailed this role. His love and devotion (a very fatherly love and devotion) to Lady Penelope was well portrayed and his usefulness as a brawler and slightly shady character were obvious in this film. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about him.
Was I the only one during the initial fight with the villains that watched Penny and Parker and thought: "John Steed and Emma Peel"? Their fight looked like a scene out of a later "Avengers" episode.
Quite literally taking a chapter from the original series episode Atlantic Inferno the Tracy family rescues workers on a burning oil rig. While at first looking gorgeous, fast-paced and exciting, when it was over I said... "was that all?" They go through this huge scene only to find six oil workers all within ten feet of each other and anyone could have dropped a line to get them away. I was hoping for some complications that only International Rescue could deal with. This was slightly disappointing only in its brevity.
The villains show up rather suddenly here. I don't buy for a second (after it being well established in the series that the Thunderbird vehicles take security very seriously) that anyone could have attached a tracking device to TB1 without its alarms going off. But I guess as a prequel it could be that as yet International Rescue hasn't learned all there is to know about seciruty and later uses this experience to fix things.
The Hood's submarine was highly reminiscent of the Skydiver submarine from Anderson's later series, UFO. I thought it was far too easy to track TB1 back to base, but I already excused that as being a lapse in security that Jeff Tracy did not anticpate. Also since the tracking solution wasn't an electronic device but a nano-technology it can be accepted as possible I suppose.
But Ben Kingsly as the Hood was perfectly cast. Except... perhaps they should have cast someone who was actually Asian like Kyrano was.
The eye effect was pretty good and his back-story does explain his animosity towards both his brother and International Rescue. Once again it left an opening to teach us about the tragic history of Jeff Tracy. The lesson learned "You just can't save everyone" was something that wasn't dealt with very well in the original series but is a fact of life. The fact that this very real problem came up for Jeff Tracy shows us more about his character.
As for the Hood his two-fold plan (to steal Jeff's life from him by trapping him and his family in space and then discrediting his work by using the Thunderbirds to rob banks) is a perfect villainous plot for this, the first film. I liked his henchmen and half-expected Transom to betray the Hood in the end for his treatment of Brains (who she obviously loves and admires) and rescue Brains thereby redeeming herself and making way for a romance with Brains. But alas it was not to be.
With all his talk about Jeff Tracy leaving him in his collapsed illegal diamond mine leaving his body broken but his mind even more powerful you'd think he would hobble around or even use some kind of conveyance to get around. I half-expected to see robotics under his robes. But it makes sense. He was using his powerful mind not only to achieve his evil plan, but to also keep his very body upright and moving normally. In the end we see him being carried out by his henchman, Mullion, because he's so mentally spent he can no longer stay upright or move.
As a prequel it is obvious he hasn't yet discovered his psychic link with Kyrano, though I expect to see more made of that in sequels.
I liked it that Tin Tin inherited this power. I can see that becoming very useful in later films.
Can you imagine a scene in the original where the Hood and Kyrano are facing each other down in front of Tin Tin? I can see it in my mind:
The Hood: And now, my brother, I am done with you. It is time for you to die. (We see the Hood's eyes glow, and Kyrano sink to his knees in pain.)
Tin Tin: No! Leave him alone! He's done nothing to you!
Kyrano: Tin Tin, please go away. Save yourself! I will defeat you, brother! You have harmed my family and now it is time for you to stop. (We see Kyrano's eyes glow as well and we see an obviously epic psychic struggle going on. For a moment, Kyrano has the upper hand, but soon he weakens and sinks lower to the ground.)
The Hood: We now see, Brother, that my powers are stronger than yours. Your time is over.
Kyrano: But there is something you are forgetting!
The Hood: And what may that be?
Tin Tin: THIS! (We see her eyes glowing, and the Hood looks up in shock. His struggle shifts from Kyrano to Tin Tin, but her power is too much. His eyes dim, and he runs away.)
That's a scene I would have loved to see in the original series.
Sure, there's lots of room to nitpick here. But nitpicking seems so petty. Hell, I'll do it anyway.
Brains has created this skull-cap device that allows small things to levitate. And unbeknownst to him (and Fermat) he's actually lifting the Jet Mole. So when it drops to the floor of the hangar with a huge bang why is there absolutely no reaction from either Brains or Fermat??? They glance that way once and then look back at the cel phone.
The International Rescue badge has colored bars reminiscent of the original design. These five strokes are intended to represent an outstretched helping hand. But the colrors are wrong. The colors are Blue, Red, Green, Yellow and Bronze. Obviously this is supposed to represent the colors of the five Thunderbird vehicles. But the order is wrong. As is, the badges represent TB1, 3, 2, 4 and 5. Those colors should be blue, green, red, yellow and bronze to correctly represent TB1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the right order.
As I said, I went in expecting very little and walked out having seen a film that not only brings new concepts and ideas to the old Thunderbirds series, but actually does it with the proper amount of respect for the original series. There were plenty of homages to the original and the original's spirit remained intact.
Like many others I prejudged the film by a lousy trailer. There's even one shot in the trailer that made me cringe. Alan Tracy pushes a button and says "Time to Thunderize"... oh lord I cringed! I thought that this was going to be the theme of this film - taking something good and adding stupid catch-phrases that seem to be the law among kids' movies these days. But what they don't show you in the film is that he is at that time operating the Thunderizer, which is an actual rescue vehicle from the original series, which makes that comment completely appropriate. And the phrase is not used elsewhere. Whew!
In fact, I would say that this was an excellent prequel to the series and I hope that we see more films from this newly revived franchise. It sets up an early International Rescue that will only get better as Alan joins the fold and Tin Tin gets her education and becomes part of the team.
One fan report I read was disappointed that the boys' roles had changed. The pilots weren't in their right craft. Well that may be. But remember. At this time, Jeff Tracy is piloting TB2 and going on missions and Alan has not yet become a full-fledged pilot for International Rescue. As a prequel we can assume their established piloting roles have not in fact yet been solidified. But they will be.
I have high hopes for sequels.
Visit www.rottentomatoes.com and read the reviews for Thunderbirds. I did. These reviewers just don't seem to get it. And I believe many of them are simply lying. There is no way you could walk out of this film and still say some of the things these reviewers were saying. This seems to be a trend this summer. The reviews of I, Robot were similarly dismal, seeming to grasp one common idea - that this wasn't the original I, Robot, in order to belittle and trash what was, in actuality, quite a good film. They did it with Thunderbirds too. They took the premise (and perhaps the trailer) and prejudged the film based on that and didn't actually see the movie. I mean they may have watched the movie but there is no way they actually saw the movie.
The critics have been extremely disingenuous over this film. They have misled me, they have misled Thunderbirds fans and they have misled kids. The film that is currently playing is not the film they are portraying.
Every now and then a film comes along that allows critics to use clever puns to denegrate, and this is one such film. And it's too bad that they concentrated so hard on making their little puns and so little on seeing the film. Because they're wrong on this one.
People seem to be staying away from this film in droves, under false pretenses.
