Terminal is a weird one, to say the least. All but ignored at the box office, despite the presence of star Margot Robbie (who also co-produced the film), then-hot off her Oscar-nominated turn in the excellent biopic I, Tonya, it went straight to home video after making a measly $626, 245 in theaters.
Granted, reviews were reportedly mixed, but the film isn't that bad. Trust me, I've seen a lot worse. Hell, I've seen worse over the last couple of weeks, as I prepare my Best of 2018 list. As a critic, you learn to take the good with the bad, and- speaking for myself, at least- I've always been one to try and find a few good things about a given film, even if it's something like solid camerawork or a unique soundtrack.
Terminal, while nowhere near the best film I've seen from 2018 thus far in my quest to come up with a decent-sized list, does have quite a bit going for it. In addition to a fine turn from leading lady Robbie, there's also solid turns from a cast-against-type Simon Pegg (the Star Trek and Mission Impossible series), Max Irons (who I just watched in two entertaining TV series: Condor and The Little Drummer Girl) and former SNL funnyman Mike Myers, here making his first feature film appearance since a small role in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds back in 2009.
Myers made a bit of a comeback last year, between this, a tongue-in-cheek turn in Bohemian Rhapsody and a near unrecognizable hosting gig on the resurrected Gong Show on TV. He's also in disguise in this one as well, keeping up the theme that seemed to be his thing last year, perhaps in a bid to be cast more on talent than his name. Granted, he did quite a bit of that sort of thing in the past, but it's only last year that he did so in service of more dramatic roles than silly ones.
Here, Myers plays a janitor at the titular terminal, which is purposely shadowy and located in an unnamed city, but which is clearly somewhere in England, given all the accents on display. As with many service workers, he keeps his head down and does his job, but he also keeps his eyes and ears open. One quickly gets the sense that he is someone who pretty much always knows what is going on at any given time.
Enter a host of colorful characters. Among them is Annie (Robbie), who is aiming to become a hit woman for the omnipresent Mr. Franklyn (whose face is intentionally kept hidden), and isn't above eliminating the competition to do so. In exchange for becoming his sole contract killer on the scene, she wants him to find someone for her. He agrees and she goes about her business, seemingly working as a waitress in a local diner.
Or is she a stripper at a local club? Or a prostitute in the area? She's all of the above and then some, as it turns out- hence her ability to move quietly between worlds- all the better to stalk and kill her prey. But might she have a hidden agenda? Of course, or we wouldn't have a movie.
As you might suspect, that motive is almost ridiculously convoluted and complicated, and her methods more than a little ludicrous. Not so much the reason why she does what she does, which is completely understandable, but the wacky lengths she goes to in order to succeed in her overall task.
The end result is a bit bonkers, but ultimately not that hard to follow if you know your Noir and crime-thrillers, a la Kiss Me Deadly, Blade Runner, Pulp Fiction, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Usual Suspects, Atomic Blonde, et al. Indeed, two of the cast members, Dexter Fletcher and Nick Moran, are vets of Lock Stock and I don't think that's a coincidence.
Clearly, writer/director Vaughn Stein, making his feature film debut here, knows his Noir stuff, but like many a first-time director before him, he does admittedly bite off a little more than he can chew. One certainly can't fault him for ambition, even if the end results are a bit dodgy. It is, however, easy to see how he was able to recruit such a high level of talent for his first film.
Robbie, in particular, is able to add another wild card to her ever-impressive resume, this one firmly a cousin to her much-beloved turn as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, another film in which her work as an actress rose above iffy material. (So much so that they opted to spin her character off into another movie, rather than doing a Suicide Squad 2.)
Though not nearly as over-the-top as Harley Quinn, Robbie's work here definitely tows the line between crazy and sly as a fox. There's a method to her character's madness here, and it's much more subtle than her work as Harley, but then, it's meant to be. Here, it's more about how past damage can manifest itself as present psychosis, but minus all the manic theatrics of Harley.
To be sure, Annie is very theatrical, what with all the costume changes and different personas she adopts, and there is a clever reason for that, which those familiar with this sort of thing will probably see coming. She's not the only one, either, given Myers' role.
So, once again, Robbie absolutely rises above the admittedly sub-par material- although, to be fair, even if you see the twists coming, it's still a relatively fun ride and the ending is gratifyingly nuts. But the cast is nothing if not game, and if there isn't much in the way of likable characters to root for, at least Robbie's inherent relatability grounds the often-surreal events somewhat.
Speaking of which, if there's one thing that I can wholeheartedly recommend the film for beyond the solid cast, it's undeniably the gorgeous cinematography, which is as colorful as the original Argento version of Suspiria, albeit used to decidedly different ends.
Although, if there's one thing this film does have in common with that one thematically, it's the fairy tale-like inspiration. If Suspiria is Little Red Riding Hood gone horribly awry, then Terminal is clearly Alice in Wonderland gone Noir.
If that sounds appealing to you, you'll probably like this, though keep in mind, those elements only reveal themselves slowly and are not as overt as they are in Suspiria. But they're definitely present, especially in that bent ending.
Hats off to cinematographer Christopher Ross, who- wouldn't you know it- also did the honors on the film Malice in Wonderland, as well as such films as Eden Lake, Black Sea, Detour and the recent TV show Trust. His work here is nothing short of stellar, as is the production design by Richard Bullock (Frank, TV's Peaky Blinders and Les Misérables).
Granted, one never loses sight of the fact that a lot of what we see is highly stylized within an inch of its life and doesn't look like anything you'd see IRL outside of maybe Las Vegas, but it does add to the effect of it being isolated from the rest of the world and kind of its own thing, giving the film an almost sci-fi quality in the process.
I suppose whether or not you normally like this sort of thing will be a large factor in how much you like it- see the above list of films I referenced, and judge accordingly, while knowing it's nowhere near as good as any of those classics, to say the least.
Think of it as being more akin to the flood of post-Tarantino flicks that came out in the wake of his success. Some of them were crap, some were surprisingly effective. This one is sort of like Dark City fused with The Usual Suspects, with a heavy dollop of Streets of Fire, in terms of visual style. And neon. LOTS of neon.
So, it's colorful, it's heavily stylized, and the plot is pretty nuts. Robbie is sexy as always, all the characters are pretty vile- even the normally amusing Pegg- and things eventually go a bit off the rails, which is fitting, given the title. You will probably be able to readily figure out at least a few of the twists, maybe not some of the others. Even if you do, it's still reasonably entertaining, IMHO.
Pegg fans might be taken aback by how serious he is here, on a side note, so also take that into consideration, if you're watching it for him. Likewise, Myers isn't particularly playing it for laughs, either, so don't expect much in the way of comic relief from either of them- it's not that kind of movie.
What it is, is a demented crime-noir thriller with lots of striking imagery and twists and turns and all the expected back-stabbing and double-crosses one might expect from such a film, just done in a more colorful, almost graphic novel/comic book-style, but minus much in the way of camp.
But if that sounds like your cup of tea, it probably is. Just don't expect anything on the level of a Blade Runner- or even the belated sequel. It's more like a second-tier 80's Noir that might get some love years down the line, but which didn't get much in the way of love at the box office. It happens.
But I dug it, overall, for whatever that's worth, and any movie in which Robbie gets her crazy on in full force can't be all bad. 😍
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