Dad's Army - directed by Oliver Parker
Starring: Toby Jones, Bill Nighy, MIchael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Blake Harrison, Catherine Zeta Jones, Sarah Lancashire, Daniel Mays, Ian Lavender, Bill Paterson, Alison Steadman, Mark Gatiss, Holli Dempsey, Emily Atack, Frank Williams, Felicity Montagu, Julia Foster, Annette Crosbie, Martin Savage, Oliver Tobias, Mark Tandy, Russell Balogh, Michael Heath
Screenplay: Hamish McColl
Music Score by: Charlie Mole
Cinematography: Christopher Ross
Edited by: Guy Bensley
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rated: PG - One scene with bare buttocks- nothing else of note
Maybe a new variation of the animation term 'The Uncanny Valley' is required for movies like this one.
This phrase is defined as - 'A hypothesis in the field of aesthetics which holds that when features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some observers'
(For a visual demonstration this video does a pretty good job - link)
In relation to "Dad's Army" and indeed any movie that is a remake of a well known, much loved property the phrase explains the feeling in watching different actors play roles from the ones that you know so well playing them.
And I do stress right off the bat that the casting was what brought me round to wanting to see this movie.
Toby Jones as Mainwaring, Bill Nighy as Wilson, Tom Courtenay as Jones, Bill Paterson as Frazer and Michael Gambon as Godfrey are as damned near perfect selections as I could have dreamed of making.
And therein lies the uncanny valley problem.
All of these men do such good almost-but-not-quite variations of iconic characters that I could never quite shake the feeling that I was watching a... well - fake.
Ultimately the real issue of course isn't the very good performances - it is a shortage of genuinely funny moments.
The whole point of Dad's Army and the thing that the comedy stems from is that the home guard platoon at the centre is incompetent.
Lead by Captain Mainwaring- a man with self esteem well out of whack with his achievements and skills, the group is made of up geriatric civilians and a couple of medically unfit for the draft younger men.
The characters were always the strongest feature of the tv show.
Legendary actors like Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, John Laurie and Clive Dunn created eccentric, well meaning buffoons and made lines like "They don't like it up 'em!", "Stupid Boy!", Don't Panic" and "We're Doomed!" instantly identifiable to the characters and to the show.
In trying to copy everything (including all of those lines) the movie fails to find its own style and becomes a facsimile of the original.
It seems the hardest trick in remaking something is to find the balance in staying true to the original and creating something that works in its own right.
This movie has finally convinced me that the best bet is to use only the vaguest framework of the original work.
Recent remakes like "Robocop" and "Point Break" would have benefitted greatly by starting from scratch instead of occasionally dropping scenes and references to further remind us that we would be better off at home watching blu-ray copies of the originals.
The concept with "Dad's Army" the movie is not bad.
They don't go too much bigger than the tv show in terms of scope - at least not as much as I feared they would.
This is a fairly simple story of the Home Guard trying to flush out a German spy operating in their town who is charged with obtaining details about the upcoming D-Day invasion force.
It is no spoiler to say that Catherine Zeta Jones plays the spy.
It is blatantly obvious in the trailer and the the movie itself reveals this very soon after she arrives on screen.
The plot uses the viewer's knowledge of this to build comedic moments around her seducing the entire platoon into inadvertently aiding her spying efforts.
I am no fan of Catherine Zeta Jones - I felt hat at her peak she was given roles that better actresses would have eaten up.
The cynic in me thinks that her marriage to the Hollywood royalty that is the Douglas family was a shrewd career move.
Regardless, she is actually very good in this movie.
Her still remarkable physical appeal is utilised well and I really enjoyed her comedic, often subtle performance.
Again- there is nothing at all wrong with the casting.
Jones, Nighy, Gambon, Courtenay.... everyone in fact is excellent.
Sarah Lancashire who is probably most famous for a long stretch on "Coronation Street" is also very, very good and gets my vote for the standout work.
The effort is wasted as I found myself cringing at scene after scene of Mainwaring and Wilson acting like prize fools oblivious to a character who couldn't have looked and acted more like a German spy if she had a swastika on her arm and an enigma machine code book in her top pocket.
Again- it is so, so hard to pull off this sort of comedy.
"The Office" is a great example of it working and of course the original "Dad's Army" tv series.
Incompetence in a comedic character is a tightrope walk where the tipping point of cringe is very, very fine.
Mainwaring is a pompous ass but Arthur Lowe's portrayal and the amazing work of writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft produces comedy gold and a character that was beloved despite his many, many flaws.
This movie doesn't generate the same balance of scorn and admiration and Toby Jones' Mainwaring is really just a fool.
The never seen wife from the tv show is presented for the first time here in what is almost certainly an attempt to humanise the man but it too does nothing to endear him to the audience.
The whole thing culminates in an action scene that is pointless and only further drew me further away from the intention and feel of the original episodes.
It's a sequence that requires many, many rounds of ammunition be fired without any consequence and it further reduces the stakes for the Home Guard.
The whole plot os set up as turning point of the war stuff and more than once a high ranking officer or MI-5 man says words to the effect of 'If this doesn't work we've lost the war'.
It's a shame that so much doesn't work here because the performances are (no pun intended) uniformly so good.
Gambon steals every scene that he is allowed a piece of, the ever reliable Nighy is spot on as Wilson and each and every supporting player steps up also.
Interesting fact: Ian Lavender who played Pike (the 'Stupid boy!') in the tv show has a role as an angry Brigadier in the movie.
Oliver Parker who interestingly played Peloquin in Clive Barker's great "Nightbreed" does a workmanlike job in directing but there isn't much to be done once a mediocre script is delivered.
My initial response at hearing of this remake turns out to be my final one- why?
Why take something so iconic and just carbon copy it?
Why assemble such a great troupe of performers and give them so little to do?
I don't know who this movie was targeted towards and I cannot see it doing very well beyond an initial curious group like myself.
This is a very, very average movie remake and is basically completely pointless I am sad to say.
RATING: 68/ 100
CONCLUSION: Great casting and performances aside not a lot works in this ill advised remake. Not particularly funny and often cringe inducing this one falls flat.
Screenplay: Hamish McColl
Music Score by: Charlie Mole
Cinematography: Christopher Ross
Edited by: Guy Bensley
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rated: PG - One scene with bare buttocks- nothing else of note
Maybe a new variation of the animation term 'The Uncanny Valley' is required for movies like this one.
This phrase is defined as - 'A hypothesis in the field of aesthetics which holds that when features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some observers'
(For a visual demonstration this video does a pretty good job - link)
In relation to "Dad's Army" and indeed any movie that is a remake of a well known, much loved property the phrase explains the feeling in watching different actors play roles from the ones that you know so well playing them.
And I do stress right off the bat that the casting was what brought me round to wanting to see this movie.
Toby Jones as Mainwaring, Bill Nighy as Wilson, Tom Courtenay as Jones, Bill Paterson as Frazer and Michael Gambon as Godfrey are as damned near perfect selections as I could have dreamed of making.
And therein lies the uncanny valley problem.
All of these men do such good almost-but-not-quite variations of iconic characters that I could never quite shake the feeling that I was watching a... well - fake.
 |
| Casting is excellent |
The whole point of Dad's Army and the thing that the comedy stems from is that the home guard platoon at the centre is incompetent.
Lead by Captain Mainwaring- a man with self esteem well out of whack with his achievements and skills, the group is made of up geriatric civilians and a couple of medically unfit for the draft younger men.
The characters were always the strongest feature of the tv show.
Legendary actors like Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, John Laurie and Clive Dunn created eccentric, well meaning buffoons and made lines like "They don't like it up 'em!", "Stupid Boy!", Don't Panic" and "We're Doomed!" instantly identifiable to the characters and to the show.
In trying to copy everything (including all of those lines) the movie fails to find its own style and becomes a facsimile of the original.
It seems the hardest trick in remaking something is to find the balance in staying true to the original and creating something that works in its own right.
This movie has finally convinced me that the best bet is to use only the vaguest framework of the original work.
Recent remakes like "Robocop" and "Point Break" would have benefitted greatly by starting from scratch instead of occasionally dropping scenes and references to further remind us that we would be better off at home watching blu-ray copies of the originals.
The concept with "Dad's Army" the movie is not bad.
They don't go too much bigger than the tv show in terms of scope - at least not as much as I feared they would.
This is a fairly simple story of the Home Guard trying to flush out a German spy operating in their town who is charged with obtaining details about the upcoming D-Day invasion force.
It is no spoiler to say that Catherine Zeta Jones plays the spy.
It is blatantly obvious in the trailer and the the movie itself reveals this very soon after she arrives on screen.
 |
| Catherine Zeta Jones & Tom Courtenay |
I am no fan of Catherine Zeta Jones - I felt hat at her peak she was given roles that better actresses would have eaten up.
The cynic in me thinks that her marriage to the Hollywood royalty that is the Douglas family was a shrewd career move.
Regardless, she is actually very good in this movie.
Her still remarkable physical appeal is utilised well and I really enjoyed her comedic, often subtle performance.
Again- there is nothing at all wrong with the casting.
Jones, Nighy, Gambon, Courtenay.... everyone in fact is excellent.
Sarah Lancashire who is probably most famous for a long stretch on "Coronation Street" is also very, very good and gets my vote for the standout work.
The effort is wasted as I found myself cringing at scene after scene of Mainwaring and Wilson acting like prize fools oblivious to a character who couldn't have looked and acted more like a German spy if she had a swastika on her arm and an enigma machine code book in her top pocket.
Again- it is so, so hard to pull off this sort of comedy.
"The Office" is a great example of it working and of course the original "Dad's Army" tv series.
Incompetence in a comedic character is a tightrope walk where the tipping point of cringe is very, very fine.
Mainwaring is a pompous ass but Arthur Lowe's portrayal and the amazing work of writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft produces comedy gold and a character that was beloved despite his many, many flaws.
This movie doesn't generate the same balance of scorn and admiration and Toby Jones' Mainwaring is really just a fool.
The never seen wife from the tv show is presented for the first time here in what is almost certainly an attempt to humanise the man but it too does nothing to endear him to the audience.
The whole thing culminates in an action scene that is pointless and only further drew me further away from the intention and feel of the original episodes.
It's a sequence that requires many, many rounds of ammunition be fired without any consequence and it further reduces the stakes for the Home Guard.
The whole plot os set up as turning point of the war stuff and more than once a high ranking officer or MI-5 man says words to the effect of 'If this doesn't work we've lost the war'.
 |
| Contrasts - (l-r) Arthur Lowe as tv show Mainwaring / Jones as movie one, Ian Lavender now and as Pike in the show |
Gambon steals every scene that he is allowed a piece of, the ever reliable Nighy is spot on as Wilson and each and every supporting player steps up also.
Interesting fact: Ian Lavender who played Pike (the 'Stupid boy!') in the tv show has a role as an angry Brigadier in the movie.
Oliver Parker who interestingly played Peloquin in Clive Barker's great "Nightbreed" does a workmanlike job in directing but there isn't much to be done once a mediocre script is delivered.
My initial response at hearing of this remake turns out to be my final one- why?
Why take something so iconic and just carbon copy it?
Why assemble such a great troupe of performers and give them so little to do?
I don't know who this movie was targeted towards and I cannot see it doing very well beyond an initial curious group like myself.
This is a very, very average movie remake and is basically completely pointless I am sad to say.
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