Kath and I saw “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” over the weekend (I also saw “Shark Boy and Lava Girl” along with Ariel. Ariel loved it. As for me, well, I’m not exactly the target audience, so let’s just say that Ariel loved it and leave it there.)
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” basically “True Lies” meets “War of the Roses,” centers on two accomplished married assassins whose every day lives are drenched in boredom because neither of them knows about the other’s true calling. As with any marriage based upon a foundation of lies, it’s crumbling, until crossed paths reveals their secrets to each other and a shooting war breaks out that makes Donald and Ivana Trump look like the Clampetts.
The celebrated real-life chemistry of Jolie and Pitt translates to the screen and surmounts the real problem that always faces an audience dealing with a film where everyone is fundamentally amoral–who the hëll do you root for? Because the two of them are clearly, deep down, obviously truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, you root for love to conquer all…even when all consists of a virtual army of assassins.
And yet, I came away from this film with the same reaction I had to the two “Lara Croft” films: Angelina Jolie is simply getting herself in shape for the part she is absolutely born to play–
Modesty Blaise.
Modesty deserves better than the ghastly 1960s film, and the marginally better but staggeringly on-the-cheap “My Name is Modesty” that was shot in two weeks’ time in Romania (I even recognized one of the actors from when he was in one of my “Trancers” films). Given a good script, Jolie has the perfect combination of exoticness (is that a word?) and kick-ášš fearlessness that Modesty Blaise requires. As for Willie Garvin? Hugh Laurie. Laurie’s tall, British, has rugged good looks, and the range to bring the role more gravity than just some standard issue British pretty-boy.
Angelina Jolie for Modesty, Hugh Laurie as Willie. Oh, and Michael Caine as Tarrant. Somebody. Please. Make this movie. Let Peter O’Donnell see one decent dramatization of his heroine before he shuffles off.
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