Last Action Hero
As part of the Contrarianism Blog-A-Thon conducted by Jim Emerson at his Scanners site, I offer this piece about an action hero contrary to our general idea of one. It may be stretching the parameters of contrarianism, but I wanted to share it nonetheless. One of the many amazing things Alfonso Cuarón’s Children Of Men does is hang its story on the acts of an antihero . Not antihero in the classic Bogart sense—although Theo Faron seems to fit that mold: rumpled trench coat, hangdog expression, “I stick my neck out for nobody” attitude. No, this character is something different, a new breed. He goes against the grain of the common action hero; he is a passive hero. Children Of Men is a classic narrative. It presents an unlikely hero given a quest. It establishes its setting and spends the second half of its running time on a flight, a chase, and a race against the clock. What distinguishes the film is the setting itself. The film is subversive. It creates a world twenty years from no...