Tony Scott

Well, I’m sure we’ve all heard the shitty news by now. (I heard it here first, from Fred.) Director Tony Scott took his own life today.

I’m afraid I’ve written some not-nice things about Mr. Scott’s movies during my time here. DOMINO was one of my most hot-headed reviews ever, and after that I sort of used him as a symbol of directors who get carried away with the show-offy editing and lose all sense of filmatism. I don’t fool myself that Mr. Scott ever read that review or knew who I was, so I got nothing to feel guilty about there. But I just want to say that I certainly never meant anything against the man personally and I’m sorry that whatever he was going through pushed him to do what he did. Obviously a talented man who we all thought would be around longer and get more chances to win us back.

In fact, even in the trivial area of what-I-think-about-his-movies, Scott was turning things around. I had pretty much disowned him as a filmatist and skipped his movies after DOMINO, but somebody convinced me to watch UNSTOPPABLE and I thought it was pretty entertaining.

With TOP GUN and BEVERLY HILLS COP 2 Scott was instrumental in creating the look and feel of the slick ’80s and ’90s studio action movie. He basically invented Michael Bay movies before Michael Bay ruined them. Then he messed with the formula when he did a compromised but still very distinctive Shane Black/Bruce joint, THE LAST BOY SCOUT. For whatever that movie’s flaws are it’s still one that introduces Bruce passed out with a dead squirrel on his head. (Bummer that one of its most memorable scenes is the opening public suicide.)

Coincidentally I was just getting interested in Tony Scott again, because after I did all that NATURAL BORN KILLERS analysis a week ago I knew I had to watch TRUE ROMANCE again. I’ve been sitting on that review until after the EXPENDABLES related business, so I’ll post that after this. That’s easily my favorite of his movies, but I know different people have other ones they love. Seeing that again made me want to go back to CRIMSON TIDE, another Tony Scott I liked that fit in with the minor-Tarantino-works thread I was following. And my most-Tony-Scott-loving buddy convinced me a long time ago I gotta watch REVENGE (theatrical cut) but I haven’t gotten to it yet. So that’s in my future.

So consider this me pouring one on the curb for Tony Scott. He was a part of this genre we love, for better or worse. He did some good ones. Shit, I’ll even miss the bad ones. Sorry to see you go, bud.

obituaries Tony Scott

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139 Responses to “Tony Scott”

tuukka
August 20th, 2012 at 1:20 am

I hope it was a permanent illness that caused him to do it, not depression and self-hatred. He was 68 years old, and sometimes old people kill themselves because they don’t want to spend their last 5 years in a hospital bed being fed by tubes. It would be really sad if the guy deemed himself worthless after achieving so much in his life, and bringing so much pleasure for millions of people.

Anyway, to Vern’s list I would also add that Enemy Of The State is a smart, extremely well made thrill ride. I really dug that film. And Man Of Fire is very good as well, despite some over-worked visuals.
ShootMcKay
August 20th, 2012 at 1:26 am

The directors cut of REVENGE is 15 minutes or so shorter. A lot of character moments get lost in the cut that are quite pivotal for the movie as a whole.I don´t really understand why Tony would do such a thing. He actually made it worse.
tuukka
August 20th, 2012 at 1:34 am

BTW Vern, Deja Vu and Taking Of Pelham don’t have any video farts. Both are solid films too, worth checking out. Tony got that over-stylished stuff out of his system with Domino.
GQtaste
August 20th, 2012 at 1:48 am

Madeline Stowe had to been one of the most beautiful women on the planet around the time of that film.

I mentioned it in the expendables thread but I just recently saw “The Hunger” for the first time. What a sexy film that was too. Susan Sarandon gets seduced by Catherine Deneuve, who btw happens to be another one in a million beauty. Plus, David Bowie as a aging vampire and Deneuve’s companion. It certainly beats this current crop of teenie bopper Vampire films these days.

Anyway, I think it was Tony’s first film and it’s a good one for anybody who hasn’t seen it.
CJ Holden
August 20th, 2012 at 2:12 am

Well, PELHAM has some avid farts, but they all take place during the opening credits, so it’s no big deal (although it is one of Scott’s weaker movies anyway).

Man, that’s so weird. I’m not going to pretend that I’m suddenly a Tony Scott FAN (and I’m not accusing anybody here of pretending it either. I know you guys really mean it), but every few years he made a seriously good movie. LAST BOY SCOUT (which features the coolest looking man-falls-into-propeller scene ever!), ENEMY OF THE STATE, I remember likeing TRUE ROMANCE a lot, BEVERLY HILLS COP 2, DEJA VU takes maybe 40 or so minutes before it gets interesting, but DAMN, then it starts kicking ass.

I really don’t wanna think about what drove him to suicide. As someone who suffers from depressions himself, I know how you sometimes start thinking about spontaneously jumping in front of a train or shit like that, but at least I always found a reason to not do it. (Most of the time it was: “Nah, then ‘they’ would win.”) Because of this I don’t have a high opinion on suicide victims, but I aknowledge that there are good reasons to do it.

Oh well, anyway, RIP, man. Sad to see you go.
Broddie
August 20th, 2012 at 2:54 am

This is sad. I wasn’t the biggest fan but I’ll be damned if I said that THE LAST BOYSCOUT, TRUE ROMANCE and CRIMSON TIDE aren’t all proudly displayed on my DVD shelf. I liked MAN ON FIRE too.
Amazing Larry
August 20th, 2012 at 3:12 am

Perhaps what led him to it was the realization of what many movie geeks have known all along: that he was only ever going to be Shemp to his brother’s Curly. These things happen.
onthewall2983
August 20th, 2012 at 3:39 am

Many a weekend was spent in front of my dad’s customized home theater system, listening to the VHS version of TOP GUN at full volume. Say what you will about it’s reputation as either Navy bait or it’s homoerotic undertones, that is an awesome way to start a movie. And I’m pretty damn sure Scorsese used one scene from that movie as a template for a scene in THE DEPARTED.

Richard Kelly, Joe Carnahan, David Krumholtz and others are sharing some pretty cool tributes and stories about him on Twitter now.
parker
August 20th, 2012 at 3:58 am

At least the guy had an actual voice, unlike the Ratner’s and Wiseman’s of the world.
BR Baraka
August 20th, 2012 at 4:03 am

It tells you what suicide is all about. Most of us schlep through life with money problems and 1/100,000th of the success of Tony Scott, but we don’t choose suicide. Suicide is never the correct answer. So the man must have had some unaddressed mental problems. A shame they weren’t addressed because I can say with certainty that myself and others posting here, that if the man kept working, there’s a few more films we’d see of his and leave the theatre satisfied.

We’ve seen Denzel on a runaway train, we’ve seen Denzel blow kidnappers up in Mexico, we’ve seen Denzel mix it up with Hackman in a metal tube: Tony, we wanted to see Denzel kill a saboteur in a Siberian mine with a blowtorch, we wanted to see Denzel go mano-a-mano with Cruise on a sinking Yacht, Tony: what the fuck about the one where Denzel uses the cutting board in the kitchen like a frisbee to take out the assassin in the next room? We’ll never see it now! They won’t exist!

Why suicide? Did the work get to be drudgery for you? Do you want to see the bullshit drudgery us unknown paycheck-to-check schlubs deal with? Maybe it was relationship related. Maybe health related. I don’t understand. Sad.
Griff
August 20th, 2012 at 4:16 am

WHAT!? oh my fucking God, this is unreal, I’m literally in shock right now
onthewall2983
August 20th, 2012 at 4:18 am

I really don’t want to speculate, but I’m hearing a little that he had a brain tumor. If that’s the case, and he didn’t want to wind up stuck in a hospital bed, one can see (maybe not understand necessarily) his reasoning for the way out he took. Keep in mind that Tony and Ridley had an older brother who died of cancer in the 80’s. That could have been something of a catalyst for this.
HT
August 20th, 2012 at 4:46 am

Well… shit. Sure, he had some directorial misfires, but who hasn’t? The man had three decades of films under his belt, many of them genre classics.

My top pick list from his work:

BEVERLY HILLS COP 2
TOP GUN
TRUE ROMANCE
CRIMSON TIDE
ENEMY OF THE STATE
SPY GAME
THE LAST BOYSCOUT
MAN ON FIRE

That’s one hell of a body of work in my books. And I don’t think even his lesser films were bad either. PELHAM, DEJA VU, UNSTOPPABLE and such, all pretty solid flicks, if nothing remarkable. The only thing I truly didn’t like was DOMINO. That’s *one* film. Pretty impressive from a man who directed 24 films.

Damn.
BR Baraka
August 20th, 2012 at 4:46 am

onthewall2983:

euthanasia is the answer, not a bridge. i believe the correct mantra is: sound mind, unsound body, suicide ok; unsound mind, sound body: suicide not ok

what you do is gather friends and family discreetly, those who will support the decision without drama, put your affairs in order, prepare yourself to go with a smile, and go out privately and peacefully with a cocktail injection surrounded by your loved ones who can deal with it and support you. the choice of a bridge speaks of a certain level of psychological and emotional tumult, a certain jagged suddenness. think of what this does to your loved ones. i don’t know, maybe he was all alone in the world

i’m not judging

god knows what i would do with a brutal health prognosis, i’m just speaking to the obvious tragedy here

that something could have been done better, not that it is easy to do something better

sad
karlos
August 20th, 2012 at 4:59 am

Very sad and shocking news to wake up to.

Whatever the reasons he did what he did, I sincerely hope he is at peace now.

Thanks for some great films, Mr Scott.
onthewall2983
August 20th, 2012 at 5:10 am

BR: I can’t argue with that. A rational person would prefer to go that way. It’s entirely possible he was in a state of shock or extreme duress about it, and then did it. In that particular condition, rationale is something that doesn’t survive very long I would imagine.
Mr. Majestyk
August 20th, 2012 at 5:29 am

Wow. This is quite a shock. THE LAST BOY SCOUT is one of my absolute favorite movies, and perhaps even a major influence on my habit of meeting everything in life, tragedy or triumph, with a wisecrack. That and TRUE ROMANCE are what I’ll remember him for, though I never even hated his Avidelic work like MAN ON FIRE or DOMINO. Like NATURAL BORN KILLERS, I just watched them like weird, violent lava lamps, and on that level they were quite entertaining. Please remember my earlier comment about meeting tragedy with a wisecrack when I say that they even make more sense now that we know they’re the work of a man with a brain tumor.

You’ll be missed, Tony. You always kept it interesting.
Griff
August 20th, 2012 at 5:46 am

I was never a huge Tony Scott fan, but I did like him and I’m very saddened and shocked to see him go like this, it’s a real shame
RBatty024
August 20th, 2012 at 6:11 am

A couple of friends and I once played a drinking game to The Last Boy Scout. There were only two rules: 1) drink every time a character says “fuck” and 2) drink every time a character lights up a cigarette. Needless to say, we were plastered by the end.
Forrest Taft
August 20th, 2012 at 6:16 am

Might as well re-post this from the UNSTOPPABLE thread, where this tragic news was first dicussed.
Tony Scott, Ranked:
1: Deja Vu
2: Enemy of the State
3: Spy Game
4: One of the Missing (Short)
5: The Taking of Pelham 123
6: Revenge (never had any real attatchment to the original cut, so I’m fine with the DC)
7: Unstoppable
8: Crimson Tide
9: True Romance
10: The Hunger
11: Man on Fire
12: Loving Memory
13: Domino
14: The Last Boy Scout
15: The Fan
16: Top Gun
17: Beverly Hills Cop II
18: Days of Thunder

Although Tony Scott never directed his ALIEN or BLADE RUNNER (i.e. a masterpiece) I still think he was the most talented of the two Scott brothers. None of his contemporaries are even half the bold stylists that Tony Scott is. Comparing him to other “shakycam” directors is misgiving, since Bay, Greengrass, Ridley Scott etc all work within the classical tradition, meaning they use continuity editing, even if they do so in a sloppy, boring manner. Tony Scott did away with that some time ago, and is the only major Hollywood filmmaker I can think of to extensively experiment with discontinuity. Also worth noting is that I can’t

GQtaste: Many cite THE HUNGER as Scott’s debut, but his first (albeit only 57 minutes long) feature came 12 years prior to THE HUNGER, and is called LOVING MEMORY. It’s out on a beautiful, regionfree (and cheap) blu-ray from the British Film Institue. As an extra you also get Scott’s 1969 short ONE OF THE MISSING, one of my absolute favourite works of his. The blu-ray is very much worth picking up, in other words.

In 1976 Tony Scott also directed an adaptation of a Henry James short story for television. I wish someone would release it.
Forrest Taft
August 20th, 2012 at 6:19 am

That final sentence in the third to last paragraph should read: Also worth noting is that I can’t think any noticeably poor performances in any of his films. There are many memorable though.
DirkD13
August 20th, 2012 at 7:40 am

No film-maker in the world could shoot a car flipping over better than Tony Scott. His influence, visually, on action movies of the last 25 years, is more than that of any of his peers. A legend.
Broddie
August 20th, 2012 at 7:59 am

You know which one I was really looking forward to? that remake of THE WARRIORS that he had been envisioning for years. Just the concept of real and fictional gangs wreaking chaos all over L.A. while trying to take down one gang in particular sounded like something the man would’ve gone to town with. A damn shame it’s not happening now. It’s one of the only remakes that I felt made any sense to go forward with.
Forrest Taft
August 20th, 2012 at 8:12 am

I read somewhere that the bridge he jumped from was a location he scouted for THE WARRIORS. I’m gonna do a Tony Scott double bill tonight: TRUE ROMANCE and REVENGE. Looking forward to it!
Jareth Cutestory
August 20th, 2012 at 8:23 am

I’ll second tuukka’s recommendation of ENEMY OF THE STATE. Such a compulsively watchable film, largely due to Scott directing the shit out of some tired old thriller tropes. For a director who was so fond of bold, loud gestures and surface gloss, the way he used THE CONVERSATION as an intertext was deftly handled, drawing just enough from the material to lend weight to the rather flimsy material without being insulting.
Inspector Li
August 20th, 2012 at 8:25 am

This sucks. A friend who interacts professionally with filmmakers on a light but often adversarial manner always uses Scott as the most agreeable guy, someone she’d expect to be another monster-ego diva but was a regular bloke to her. He didn’t make my favorite films, but was apparently a class act.
Grim Grinning Chris
August 20th, 2012 at 9:25 am

Sucks that the first time I post in ages has to be on something like this. Sucks even more that I really have nothing to add. This really is sad and shocking. Yes, we’ve ALL taken him to task in the last decade for stuff like Domino, but as others have said, he did have his own voice (whether we always liked it or not) and did offer up several great great movies along with the misfires.
Man, this is fucking sad.
Dan Prestwich
August 20th, 2012 at 9:33 am

I’ve never seen THE HUNGER and was thinking about including it in my annual horror movie marathon this October. Now it seems like a must.

Although I didn’t necessarily agree with his take, I was tickled to find out a few years ago that cinephile extraordinaire David Bordwell was something of an admirer of Scott’s, and he wrote this wonderful appreciation:

“I have cautiously championed Tony Scott’s recent work because at least he’s willing to go all the way, however misguided the direction. From Spy Games on, he has stuck to the credo that too much is never enough. His technique is swaggering and undisciplined, mannered to the nth degree. Yet I find his fevered visuals more genuinely arresting than the safe noodlings of most of today’s mainstream cinema. Man on Fire and Déja Vu reheat their genre leftovers into something spicy, if not nourishing, while Domino, the cinematic equivalent of hophead graffiti, wraps its sleazy characters in a visual design apparently inspired by the glowing interior of a peepshow booth.”
Mr. Subtlety
August 20th, 2012 at 9:36 am

Boy, I gotta say that reviewing his filmography, I don’t think there’s a single film that I can enthusiastically get behind. The best I can do is say I enjoyed TRUE ROMANCE, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, and THE HUNGER *despite* their obvious and sometime serious flaws. THE HUNGER, at least, is a genuinely unique and weird film with some genuinely great things about it (mostly Bowie).

But you know what, he was a human being and it’s pretty heartbreaking to imagine anyone feeling that low. Poor Tony Scott. That’s rough. A good reminder to be kind to people out there in the world. I heard an interview with him this morning where he said that he made movies because it makes him happiest to be working and making film. Which means that even though I’m not too hot on the finished products, I’m glad he spent his sadly shortened life doing what he loved. I’m glad the films got made by someone who was genuinely happy making them. I’m glad they brought some happiness into this world.
onthewall2983
August 20th, 2012 at 10:00 am

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/top-gun-director-tony-scott-inoprable-brain-cancer/story?id=17039434#.UDJs592PUSZ
Skani
August 20th, 2012 at 10:11 am

I was actually going to speculate that he had some terminal disease, but thought that would be in poor taste. He seemed like a very active guy and not particularly dark or existential. And the fact that he was an adventure-seeking kind of guy. Just going out on his terms vs. wasting away.
Skani
August 20th, 2012 at 10:13 am

The thing about Tony Scott, is I think he was just more of a technician and an executor than a visionary. He doesn’t have these grand visionary narrative ideas or worlds. I just don’t think that was how his brain worked. As Vern said, he was a kind of forerunner to Bay but without the grandiosity or pretension that makes Bay and his movies insufferable.
Stu
August 20th, 2012 at 10:20 am

Very sad news. RIP.
onthewall2983
August 20th, 2012 at 10:24 am

And in his capacity as producer of late, has been turning out some interesting films. THE GREY is my favorite of 2012 thus far, and THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD is possibly the best post-UNFORGIVEN western.
Skani
August 20th, 2012 at 10:26 am

Still have not seen The Grey, but I really like Robert Ford.
Cassidy
August 20th, 2012 at 11:06 am

I wonder how long he had. And seeing how cancer took his older brother, it probably led him to doing it on his own terms…

As a comment on his filmography, I think most are well-known enough that people mention them, either as something they liked or hated. One I rarely hear about that is probably right in the middle is The Fan, which I must be one of the few to pay to watch in the cinema. I believe it flopped hard and died quickly when it came out. I actually wonder how it would hold up if I went to watch it back again because it had an intriguing premise: Robert DeNiro plays against type at the time, and was probably his biggest flop in his 90s career that was a list of an incredibly good run of films. He plays a crazed stalker of Wesley Snipes’ baseball player and I would describe it as a 90s hollywood-ized OTT version of Big Fan.

I think it would make an interesting case study for Vern to take a look at.
Broddie
August 20th, 2012 at 11:10 am

I haven’t seen THE FAN since it first came out on VHS but I do remember it being a huge disappointment. CAPE FEAR WITH SPORTS it most certainly was not.
Forrest Taft
August 20th, 2012 at 11:44 am

Don’t know how well THE FAN did in the theatres, but I remember how agressively they pimped the VHS release. The trailer started just about every VHS tape I bought or rented for the better part of a year. NO DO YOU CARE!? was the catch-phrase. I saw the trailer so much, I didn’t bother with the movie till a few years ago. It’s an enjoyable divertissement in “slick” Tony Scott style, but not much more. The two leads are enjoyable, De Niro in particular, as I know a couple of sport fans that remind me of his character.
Ace Mac Ashbrook
August 20th, 2012 at 12:17 pm

The Last Boy Scout was one of the movies that got me smoking Marlboro cigarettes. Ah happy days.
Skani
August 20th, 2012 at 12:48 pm

I really dig the Last Boy Scout.

I think the Fan was a box office disappointment. As I recall, it was just a bit too formulaic, and the end was not satifying. Wesley Snipes as a cocky ballplayer and Robert DeNiro as a nutbag. How does something that sounds so right go so wrong?
Knox Harrington
August 20th, 2012 at 1:19 pm

I don’t blame Tony Scott at all for going out the way he did. I made up my mind a long time ago that I’d do the same thing if ever faced with something like that (hoping I have the same courage). It’s incredibly sad, but I don’t think he left this world with any agony, hatred or misery in his heart. Sounds to me like he made his peace and did what he thought was right. Something almost noble about that.

He left his mark on the world of filmmaking. Even his failures were glorious, go-for-broke ones. I’m disappointed I won’t get to see him turn Mark Millar’s Nemesis into a manic comic book action movie, but at the end of the day we film fans merely lost someone who entertained us. The real loss is only truly felt by his loved ones.
Forrest Taft
August 20th, 2012 at 2:02 pm

Have now just watched REVENGE, and the featurette on the disc ends with these words from Tony Scott:
“Hopefully I’ll be viewed as an extreme character when I pass on. They might say ‘he was out there’, ‘he was a fucking lunatic’. I’d like to be viewed that way.”
Pacman2.0
August 20th, 2012 at 2:24 pm

I guess the pimping worked as when I did work experience for a library (in the UK) I saw/served multiple people renting THE FAN, even though it was six years old by then. Admittedly this place didn’t have the biggest movie selection. Anyway, I saw it a few years later, and really enjoyed it TBH. I don’t think DeNiro’s been as good since, and I’m someone who thinks people are often a little too hard on him these days.
tawdryhepburn
August 20th, 2012 at 2:45 pm

I’ve long been a Tony Scott apologist on these pages. I think that the Man on Fire, Domino and Deja Vu back-to-back-to-back might have been the most interesting stylistic trilogy (outside of Korea) of the modern filmmaking era. I’m very sad that Scott is gone. He was a hero to me because he kept experimenting and inventing and pushing the medium, and he was able to do it with great big budgets and studio backing. The man is one of the few artists I can name who had an interesting second act to his career. When I wrote my first action spec, his name was the first from my lips as a dream director. I honestly don’t think I’ve been this sad about the passing of a man I never met since the death of Kurt Vonnegut.
tawdryhepburn
August 20th, 2012 at 2:52 pm

Since we’re doing the whole list thing:

Man on Fire
True Romance
The Last Boy Scout
Domino
Enemy of the State
Deja Vu
Top Gun
The Fan
Revenge
Taking of Pelham 123
Unstoppable
Spy Game

I haven’t seen: Crimson Tide, Days of Thunder, Beverly Hills Cop 2 or The Hunger
tawdryhepburn
August 20th, 2012 at 2:59 pm

@CJ,

when was the last time Tony Scott made a seriously good film? Unstoppable. Before that? Taking of Pelham 123 (which went way deeper into the character stuff than I ever expected it to and got a great performance out of Travolta).

The man’s work in the 00’s WAS his best stuff. He reeled it in a bit for his last two, unfortunately if you ask me, but he was ramping back up to go weird as fuck on Narco Sub, The Wild Bunch (which was already a hyperstylized film) and The Warriors.

Of course, you can check my posting history and see that I’ve been raving about the man’s work since day one on this site. I’m a total fanboy for Tony Scott. He saw so much further.
Jimbolo
August 20th, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Pretty shocking news, probably because the poor guy didn’t have the tortured artist vibe. He seemed quite a down to Earth guy.

His film Spy Game was one of the first sets I ever got to be on and Scott was rocking the trademark look: Combat shorts, Hawaiian shirt, baseball cap and mega (unlit) cigar.

Up til Enemy of the state, his filmography was full of evergreen films, as in films I could watch all year round. and like Ace above, my smoking was greatly influenced by Boy Scout’s showcase of Bruce’s excellent skills.

Also, The Hunger (an early favourite in my younger years due to tits and ladies kissing) had an amazing look, and Vampire Bowie had better old age make up than Guy Pearce in brother Ridley’s Prometheus, thirty years earlier.
Knox Harrington
August 20th, 2012 at 4:05 pm

Been trying to post on here for hours, but for some reason my post won’t go through. Let’s try again:

I don’t blame Tony Scott at all for going out the way he did. I think that I’d do the same thing if ever faced with something like that (hoping I have the same courage). It’s incredibly sad, but I don’t think he left this world with any agony, hatred or misery in his heart. Sounds to me like he made his peace and did what he thought was right. Something almost noble about that.

He left his mark on the world of filmmaking. Even his failures were glorious, go-for-broke ones. I’m disappointed I won’t get to see him turn Mark Millar’s Nemesis into a manic comic book action movie, but at the end of the day we film fans merely lost someone who entertained us. The real loss is only truly felt by his loved ones.
Broddie
August 20th, 2012 at 4:30 pm

He was location scouting for TOP GUN 2 recently. I think they should just can that project out of respect and also cause I feel TOP GUN sucked but you know they’ll probably want to move forward with it now more than ever. Pass it off as a tribute to the vision of Tony Scott and bla bla bla to cash in on tragedy for capital. Good ol Hollywood. Or maybe I’m just too cynical.
Mattman Begins
August 20th, 2012 at 8:35 pm

Is it disrespectful to say that I think the second-best thing Tony Scott ever did (first now and always being TRUE ROMANCE, which was kind of a case of Scott winning the zeitgeist lottery) was inspire Vern’s DOMINO review? I’m not sucking up here: everyone I’ve ever read that to (using my “Vern voice”; an act of character interpretation which is undoubtedly miles from the real thing) or passed it along to has cracked up and found some truths about cinematic excess that they’ve enjoyed agreeing with. It’s always spawned a lively conversation afterward.

That review is good because of Vern, but it took Tony Scott’s unique application of his talents in that film to drive Vern to write it. I am thankful for good cinematic art. I am thankful for artists who make wretched or flawed art, too, not just for giving others a higher standard to shoot for, but for entertaining us with something that is distinctly theirs. Ed Wood and probably more than half of the people who made movies featured on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 aren’t alive to tell us how they feel about their works only having a following from people laughing at them, but I’m honestly grateful that those filmmakers ever tried.

Tony Scott was no Ed Wood. I look at that resumé and I see a real craftsman, albeit a craftsman whose taste sometimes went at right angles to a genre I appreciate. Very fucking respectable, and very fucking influential (for better and worse) body of work. Some directors strive their whole lives to fit that first category alone. If Tony Scott took his own life because he was scared of his future…well, I want to say for the record that, even being the director of DOMINO, he had no reason to be scared of his past.
ANoniMouse
August 20th, 2012 at 8:35 pm

Dear Tony Scott,

Thank you for the volleyball scene in Top Gun.

Sincerely,
Women

(And a whole lotta Men, I’m sure.)
Vern
August 21st, 2012 at 12:53 am

Ah, damn, now they’re saying the brain tumor story was bullshit. It was giving me comfort.
Knox Harrington
August 21st, 2012 at 1:41 am

Been trying to post on here since yesterday. For some reason they just won’t go through.

Yeah, the brain tumor thing was a comfort. It makes his decision seem almost brave and noble. If he did do it because of some incurable condition, then I don’t blame the guy at all for going out the way he did. I almost admire him for it. I don’t think he left this world with any anger or misery. Seems like he just made his peace with it and did what he thought was best. I guess none of us will ever know unless we find ourselves in the same headspace some day.

I do think he left a very noticeable mark on the world of action cinema. Even his failures were unique, sometimes glorious, go-for-broke failures. It’s sad we won’t get to see him turn Mark Millar’s Nemesis into a manic comic book action movie or see his take on The Warriors, but at the end of the day we movie fans have merely lost someone who entertained us. The real loss is only truly felt by his loved ones.
Amazing Larry
August 21st, 2012 at 5:45 am

So, it turned out the brain tumor thing was a smokescreen, eh? I still maintain my original theory that it was a case of sibling rivalry brought to a tragic conclusion (Prometheus being the last nail in the Curly Shuffle Coffin, so to speak).

Still, I can’t quite forgive him for directing Top Gun. It raised moviemaking artifice to an absurd level (even for the 80’s), and you damn well know that back in 1986, a then 21-year old Michael Bay sat in rapt attention as he marveled at the slick, empty display in front of him, knowing he had found his true calling. I doubt Tony Scott ever intended to be a modern day Dr. Frankenstein, but way it goes [went].
Skani
August 21st, 2012 at 5:46 am

Well, that sucks. I much prefer the “courageous individualist ending things on his own terms” narrative. My prayers go out to his family.
Griff
August 21st, 2012 at 6:08 am

so he was depressed or something?
karlos
August 21st, 2012 at 6:13 am

Call me naive, but it never occured to me that sibling rivalry was a factor in the Scott’s relationship. They always seemed so tight and appreciative of each other. But then, who knows what goes inside someone else’s mind? Plus, I’m an only child so have no clue.

I hope it isn’t that.

Yes, I too wanted to see the Nemesis film he was supposedly still working on. I say “supposedly” as the story goes that Scott binned ina while back but Mark Millar has kept shilling it as happening on the net.
onthewall2983
August 21st, 2012 at 6:28 am

Sibling rivalry is a fact of life if you have them. In my experience it cools off with age. In their case it’s probably true because they eventually became producing partners with Scott Free. In the TRUE ROMANCE comments I referenced an interview where Ridley said it was his favorite of his brother’s movies, but he also said Tony tended never to take his advice when it came to his own work. I did often wonder what a Scott Brothers movie would look like. It would likely have been a mess but an interesting one.

People are really jumping to conclusions about the brain cancer thing. I highly doubt that the autopsy is done already. Just sit and wait.
Griff
August 21st, 2012 at 6:38 am

I’m an only child as well, but I can imagine how intense sibling rivalry could be
karlos
August 21st, 2012 at 6:38 am

Onthewall2983 – Last night on the news was a tiny clip of Ridley’s first short film, A Boy on a Bicycle. The “boy” was Tony. It was actually very moving to see that, from the very beginning, they were working together.

I suppose, thinking about it, there must’ve been some degree of sibling rivalry but as you say, surely now, it would have mostly faded away.

Also on the clip were snippets of TOP GUN. I know, I know, but for a few seconds there it made me feel 12 years old again. There was a rush of energy about that film I’ve always liked.
Broddie
August 21st, 2012 at 6:56 am

Joe Carnahan is now attached to NEMESIS.
Skani
August 21st, 2012 at 7:01 am

So, will Michael Bay take the reins on TG2. Perish the thought.
onthewall2983
August 21st, 2012 at 7:09 am

There’s a reason it’s called “rivalry”, not “hatred”. I can only speak to my relationship with my brother, but there were times we often have hated each other and loved each other. Sometimes even in the same day. It’s not like having a mortal enemy, or a passionate romance with someone. It’s not even like a relationship with one’s parents. But a bond is still formed, something that’s beyond me to explain. My brother and I have different views and passions, but we do have a common ground and a mutual understanding and respect. Especially now that we don’t live with each other lol.

I don’t think it’s much different for brothers who have an equal passion for the same thing. I read Gregg Allman’s book, and he painted a pretty honest picture of brotherhood with Duane. He wrote about the ugly side of their relationship with the same honesty as he did about their mutual love of the blues, and his love of Duane’s playing. It didn’t strike me as overly nostalgic or sentimental at all, which for someone dead for over 40 years is surprising.
Skani
August 21st, 2012 at 7:26 am

Well, these guys were partners in Scott Free productions, so unless there is any clear reason to assume rivalry (other than our collective opinion as to the comparative quality/impact of their filmographies), I say we assume these two were chums and it was something else altogether.
tuukka
August 21st, 2012 at 7:53 am

Ridley and Tony formed their advertising company RSA in 1968, and worked together through the 70’s. They formed Scott Free Productions in 1995 and worked together until the day Tony died.

Tony produced Prometheus, and was supposed to produce Prometheus 2. Tony and Ridley were producers together on dozens of film and TV projects, recently including The Grey, A-Team and The Good Wife. Not to even mention their advertisement work.

Obviously they had a good relationship.
tawdryhepburn
August 21st, 2012 at 10:00 am

Whether or not Scott had an incurable ailment, I think we should respect the decision of those of sound mind to end their lives. In America we have a perception that the longest life is the best life, I disagree. At some point you reach a point of diminishing returns. Things are never going to be as good as they were and the cons begin to outweigh the pros. I can completely understand why an individual looking down the barrel of a long and crippling disease might choose to go out on his or her own terms. I’ve thought about this long and hard in the past. I would make the same choice. I don’t think that’s selfish or crazy.

Of course, I don’t have a wife and young children. That would certainly change the equation.
Knox Harrington
August 21st, 2012 at 10:12 am

Shit, sorry about all the re-posts, guys. Looks like they’ve been de-spammed.

Yeah, these sibling rivalry speculations are bullshit, I think. People only think it’s a possible reason for his suicide because for the last 24 hours the media’s done nothing but remind us that he’s Ridley’s brother. Anyway, it’s none of our business.

Carnahan for Nemesis, huh? I can see that happening. If he can’t do Daredevil, Nemesis is a good alternative.
Griff
August 21st, 2012 at 10:42 am

onthewall2983 – that kind of reminds me of my dad’s relationship with my uncle, my dad often gets pissed off at my uncle after talking to him on the phone and sometimes even says he’s gonna start ignoring him, but always inevitably after a few days calls him again and they’re chums again
ANoniMouse
August 21st, 2012 at 1:08 pm

Whatever the reason for the decision, suicide is always hardest on those they leave behind.
onthewall2983
August 21st, 2012 at 5:36 pm

Absolutely. At least he left a note, which hopefully explains his reasoning. I don’t care if it gets out why, it’s not really anybody’s business but the family. Fuckin’ media.
Fred Topel
August 22nd, 2012 at 3:14 am

You know, just the fact that the director of TOP GUN and DAYS OF THUNDER is dead gives me pause. Those movies were pretty much always around when I was growing up?

My fav is CRIMSON TIDE.
asimovlives
August 22nd, 2012 at 7:23 am

First of all, i’d like to say that i love the new look you gave to your site, Mr Vern. I quite like it very much. Looks very professional while still mantaining the ol’ Vern mood magic. Good stuff.

Moving to a lesser happy subject, the tragedy of Tony Scott’s death. From what i read, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. It was still in the earlier stages. If i had to venture a guess to his actions, i suspect he wanted to prevent his family and loved ones to see him deteorate to the desease. Brain cancer is a very ugly desease, it’s extremely painful and harsh to it’s sufferers, and it’s ddeply traumatic to those who see their loved ones go through it to the bitter end. So, it could be just that instead of a selfish act, his suicide was in fact the reverse, an atempt to spare his loved ones from the sight and pain of seeing him degenerate into somebody even those who knew him would fail to recognize.

I’m also reminded that Tony scott’s oldest brother, Frank Scott, had also died of cancer in 1980. So, this is the second of the Scott brothers to die from that awful desease. And as such, i can’t help but to have my thoughs always for Sir Ridley Scott. It’s his second brother to die. But there is one thing that makes this feel personal to me and that is, besides the fact that Ridpley is one of my top favorite directors and responsible for my all time favorite movie, BLADE RUNNER, but also for this small coincidence: Ridley’s age from his brother Tony distances the same as mine from my own brother, seven years. Allow me to explain why i’m going personal in the subject of Tony Scott’s suicide below.

My brother Jorge was born in 1978, so he’s 7 years younger them me. This year was his 34th birthday. But despite his age, i still see him as “the kid”. Whenever i think of my brother, or he is mentioned, my very first mental image is of him either as an infant or as an early teen. I can’t shake this image of have of him, and i doubt i ever will. Goodness willing i’ll one day be 75 and my brother 68 and i’ll still think of him as a kid, that 6 years old kid he once was. It might be pedantic of me to think like that, but he is my kid brother, i knew him since a baby, and i just can’t shake that image. And i winder, did Ridley Scott though of his younger brother like that? As still his young punk kid he always knew all his life? I suspect what i feel for my brother is a similiar sentiment to all older brothers.

And this subject brings me what is for sure a concept nightmare to all older brothers: that a younger brother would die before them. They say that it’s not natural and it’s tragic when sons die before their parents. but i would add that this is also true to when younger siblings die before their elder ones. i have had nightmares about that, of my own younger brother dying before me. It’s just not right. It shouldn’t be like that. I can’t even imagine what i would feel like of that ever happened to me. When my mother died, it was a very sad thing, but one can say it is to be expected, sooner or later, your parents will die on you. But a younger brother, it shouldn’t happen. Nor accident or desease can truly convince ours hearts that this is things of life.

So, risking sounding like i’m daring to compare myself to sir Ridley Scott, i can’t help but to feel a bit projected into his pain and sadness for this tragic event. The man who made some of my all time favorite movies, the man who gave me so much satisfaction watching movies, lost his kid brother. I can’t help but to think of him amd i wish i could, in some way, say something, or at least show sympathy for his lost. I think you guys know what i mean.

About Tony scott himself, what can i say about him that i havne’t before? I’m not going to pretent i holded his career in higher recard then i used to before his passing. If i started saying he was a great filmmaker, i would be lying. I don’t like to lie about the dead as i do the living. Tony Scott made some movies i truly hated. For a long time, TOP GUN was my most hated movie, until those two upstarts Michael Bay and JJ Abrams showed on the scene.

but here’s one thing i always though and knew about Tony Scott: He was talented. I would even say, he was more talented then most his movies would make one believe. And no, Tony Scott’s talent was not shown on such movies as TOP GUN, BEVERLY HILLS COP 2 or LAST BOY SCOUT. But evne on his lesser movies, Scott always mannaged to put one or two things that made us suspect that a better filmmaker was at work. Were either a stylistic turn, an inventive editing moment, an unexpected sophisticated turn of story or dialogue, or good acting, there was always one or a few good things in his movies that made one just wish he would stop waiting his time making this type of dreck. And lo and behold, sometimes he did do just that. Sometimes he raised his game.

And oh boy, was it a joy to behold! Tony Scott made good movies. Let me rephrase: Tony Scott made some fantastic movies. Movies like REVENGE, TRUE ROMANCE, or movies which are pretty good with moments of great inspiration like CRIMSON TIDE and MAN ON FIRE. But his best is THE HUNGER, his very first movie.

People who know his movies from his blockbusters of the 80s or 90s or 2000s will think of THE HUNGER as his odd movie out. It’s so different from the rest of his filmmography. But the thing is, and i have absolute conviction about this, THE HUNGER is the REAL Tony Scott movie, while the rest of his career is the odd movies out. THE HUNGER is where you will find the real Tony Scott. THE HUNGER was made when had no previous film history besides the commercials he made for his and his brother’s Ridley advertizement firm. THE HUNGER is Tony Scott as his purest. And it’s great. A movie that can rival with the best his older brother made. Unfortunatly, the movie flopped, and his career took a different turn, thanks to the sucess brough by TOP GUN. It lead him to a path of being a studio jorneyman, making dumb, silly (and many time exacrable) studio fare. And he seemed quite contented with that. It certainly made him a rich man, even known. It made him a player in the Holywood system, and for quite a while it made him a much more powerful and sucessful figure then his own brother Ridley, who linguered in the 80s and 90s from commercial flops to mild sucesses.

But if one pays attention, one cna tell that despite Tony’s claim that he was an happy studio man making disposable entertaiment, one can see hiddens dephts to him thanks to to some interesting choices in his career. I think Tony was not entirely honest when he said his business was just making disposable entertaiment. He did took film projects, he worked on abandoned projects which would had not been considered obvious Holywood blockbuster products. And he made movies like REVENGE and TRUE ROMANCE, which, for all those who have watched them, know are not obvious Holywood products. The Tony Scott who made THE HUNGER never died out, he just lingered on, hidden or obscured, but never out. And sometimes, Tony scott sure felt the stings to make better fare then what was then dubbed the “Tony Scott Movie”. Tony Scott wanted to be more then “Tony Scott”, he wanted to be TONY SCOTT. Not just a maker of disposable entertaiment movie, but A FILMMAKER, a true filmmaker in all that it means to be one.

And it was because of that urge he had, because he would sometimes try and experiment new things, that he would tried to change his style or create a new style or a new cinematic grammar to call his own, that i could never truly dismiss him, evne if could frustrate me like few others could. I’m highly critical of some of his choice,s liek whenhe seemed to have started to fall in love with such trickeries change-frame-rate-speed editing or weird hyper-saturated or hyper-desaturated colour cinematography, or even the infamous SHOUTING SUBTITLES!!. But he was willing to experiment, and for that one cna’t help but respect him. If he was sucessful with his choices is another matter, but that he wanted to experiment and make something new is to respected.

THE HUNGER is by far my favorite Tony Scott movie. It is his best in all regards. A more thoughful movie, more ambitious while at the same time mannaging to be more subtle and circunspect. In it, as with some ocasional later few movies of his, you can tell that Tony Scott was actually very good with actors. It’s one of his few comented talents in that he was actually quite good working with actors. That the acting could sometimes the acting would be overshadowed by Tony’s visuals was a side effect of Tony Scott’s own aestetic choices. So, in the middle of all that film filter smoke, you can find some consistent fine acting.

And if anybody has doubts Tony Scott was a smart, intelligent and cultured man, i advise anybody to listen to his comentary tracks. Informative and entertaining in their own right.

Whenever a filmmaker pass away, it’s natural that people would go watch some of his movies as a remember by. And i know many will chose TOP GUN or some of his flashy blockbusters because they are the better know or because they saw them in their teenhood and it’s memory lane trip time. Some might chose TRUE ROMANCE because it’s truly a damn good movie and because it’s obvious proof of his talent. Me naming his first and best film THE HUNGER would seem like an obvious choice from me.

But i’d like to name a different movie althogether. It’s not even one directed by him, but by his own brother Ridley Scott. The movie is called A BOY AND HIS BICYCLE. It is Ridley Scott’s true first film, a short film he made while in his late teenhood/early adulthood in 1965, and it stars Tony sCott as the lead and the facto only character. It’s the story of a kid in his early teens who decides to skip school and go on a small adventure with his bicycle, riding the streets and then going to the fields and finally ending in the seaside moors. It’s instropective while also beautiful to look at. The only dialogue is the internal monologues by the main character, instropective thoughs about his life and what he like and dislikes, the thoughs of a young man growing up. All narrated by Tony Scott’s own voice. Watching it, one wonders if Tony Scott ever stoped being that boy who would ocasionally skip school and his duties to do find newer things and have adventures. And if you ask me, i don’t think he ever did.

In Memory of Tony Scott.
onthewall2983
August 22nd, 2012 at 7:08 pm

Jeff Goldsmith announced on Twitter he’s doing a Q&A with Quentin Tarantino and Richard Kelly Friday after a screening of both TRUE ROMANCE and DOMINO. He said for those who won’t be attending, it will be made available as a podcast on iTunes.
Pike Bishop
August 26th, 2012 at 3:07 am

R.I.P Tony Scott.
In Europe and the U.S.A Critics just begin to respect his Films more and more.
I have to admit,that i never was his greatest Fan,but True Romance,The Last Boy Scout and Man on Fire are great.
@asimovlives
Brave,well trained wannabe Cinephile.Loves The Hunger.
Go watch youre Nolan and Fincher Crap instead.
Pike Bishop
August 26th, 2012 at 3:45 am

asimovlives cant even hold his Shit,now that poor Tony is dead.
Instead of asimovs Selfrighteous,longwinded crap read this brilliant Piece:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/smearing-the-senses-tony-scott-action-painter
Pike Bishop
August 26th, 2012 at 5:08 am

B.T.W. The Last Boy Scout is one of the greatest Movies of the 90th.
One of the greatest Bruce Willis Movies and Shane Black´s best Script ever.
Remembering that Intro alone(Friday Night Football)makes me want to see it right now.
It is the only one of Joel Silver´s BLAM´s,that made it in my Top 50 List.
Skani
August 26th, 2012 at 5:38 am

Word. Last Boy Scout. We don’t get enough of the broken down bum iteration of Bruce these days.
asimovlives
August 26th, 2012 at 5:50 am

Pike Bishop, you’re a pathetic little insect. I’m glad i’m not you. You could had posted an eulogy post about this director you obviously love without any of that crap, you know, showing proper respect, you know? Sad little boy!
Pike Bishop
August 26th, 2012 at 6:22 am

I use to ate creeps like you,and shit them against the Wall when i was a little Boy assholelive.
And now stop boring me.

For all others: http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2012/08/20/the-great-tony-scott/
Mr. Majestyk
August 26th, 2012 at 6:50 am

Pike, we all know that asimov is controversial, obsessive, unreasonable, didactic, self-righteous, kind of insane, and, on occasion, a bit of a prick. But he’s OUR prick. We wouldn’t want him any other way. Speaking for the community, let’s try to keep it civil, shall we? Attack the viewpoints, not the man.

Thanks for the links, though. They were pretty great. If you got more, keep ’em coming.
Pike Bishop
August 26th, 2012 at 7:22 am

I did not now that Assimov is a holy Man around here.
But i heard ,that in some Culturs,they worship those who are Insane.
Anyway,he is YOURS.
You must be very proud of him.
i am sure that he dont call someone “Little Insect” face to face.
Otherwise they will kick his naughty little Ass all over the Place.

Cheers
Mr. Majestyk
August 26th, 2012 at 7:42 am

I know he stepped over the line, too. That was uncalled for, and he probably knows it. He’s not a bad guy, just impassioned. Me and him have had it out before and I’m happy to say we cleared the air and found a place of mutual respect.

We don’t worship asimov by any means, but he is one of our regulars. Nine times out of ten all any of us do with him is argue. But he’s just another color in the rainbow of opinions we got going around here, and that’s what keeps it interesting. We try not to resort to name-calling if we can help it, out of respect for our host, who frowns on that kind of thing. For instance, I think asimov is off-base on a lot of Tony Scott’s movies, as I think it’s possible for an artist’s soul to come out even when he’s doing so-called hackwork. But I’d just tell him that and take the inevitable Baybrams Trekformers comment that would follow. I wouldn’t make it personal because that benefits no one.

But again, thanks for the links. Got anymore?
Pike Bishop
August 26th, 2012 at 8:52 am

@ Mr.Majestyk

I am sorry if i went to far.
I dont want to make any trouble.
You Guys have a great Site here.
Reading Vern is a great alternative,to all these Highbrow Snobs who forget that Movies can be fun too.
I dont go to the Movies very often anymore.The last Films i moved my lazy Ass in a Cinema for were Drive and Unstoppable.Now i am waiting for Killing them Softly and Killer Joe
With Tony Scott we lost one of the last great Genre Filmmakers,with an absolute unique Style.
Sorry again,and keep up the good Work.
Charles
August 26th, 2012 at 9:14 am

This thread is part of why I love this sight. We are all drawn to this sight because of our passion for cinema and as passionate coinsures sometimes we are going to step on each other’s toes, yet at the end of the day despite our disagreements with each other we respect each other’s passion for cinema.
Mr. Majestyk
August 26th, 2012 at 10:24 am

Pike: No problem, man. I know it can be a culture shock coming here from the rest of the internet, like walking into an honorable duel between mutually respectful samurai after wandering the post-apocalyptic wastes, battling cannibalistic mutants for scraps of food. I hope you come back soon. Us regulars tend to monopolize the comments so it’s always good to hear new voices.
Jam
August 26th, 2012 at 10:46 am

“… like walking into an honorable duel between mutually respectful samurai after wandering the post-apocalyptic wastes, battling cannibalistic mutants for scraps of food…”

Nice one, Majestyk. Vern should stick that on the header one of these days.
asimovlives
August 26th, 2012 at 11:25 am

Pike Bishop, you really don’t understand what you did wrong? Really? Here’s a clue: this post was created for us to show our respects for the late Tony Scott. Not for you to show your infantille disagreements with anybody else’s opinions, and certainly not to show then in such childish way. You understand that now, little boy? There is only one person in the wrong here, and it’s you. Shame on you. Good job ruining what was a until your post a classy and heartfelt forum. Good job, you egotistical stupid child! You must be so proud of yourself.
asimovlives
August 26th, 2012 at 11:39 am

Mr. Majestyk , i see nothwre in my post above in memory of Tony scott where my coments could be consituted as disrexpec tul to the man in any way whatsoever. And so what if i vastly prefer movies he made like THE HUNGER or REVENGE above fan favorites like TOP GUN or LAST BOY SCOUT? So what of it? I’d like to know where, by thinking like that, i’m diminishing in any way the various praises i did give him, like pointing out his talent, which he had. I even comented on hisa talent with directing actors, which, as far i can tell, i’m the only one here who did so. Something not even his professed fans have comented about.

Tony Scott made THE HUNGER, for which i am profoundly thankful for. I love that movie since i first saw it. It is by far my favorite movie of his. Tony Scott also counted as mone his own favorite movies he made, and in the audio comentary ou can listen to how proud he is of it. As he well should.

So, i can’t understand why that should be the target of infantille trollish remarks (which in the end just end up showing a lot of disrespect to the good intention of this particular forum, and oportunity for us to show our due to a dearly departed) and why my justified indignation should be cause to be labelled a madman. I resent that, but more important of all, i resent the disrespect that troll showed to the person hommaged in here. Unbelievable behavior.
Mr. Majestyk
August 26th, 2012 at 11:54 am

Your remarks about Scott were totally respectful and honest, As. I was just talking about the name-calling, which I think is uncalled for no matter what provoked it. I’m not picking sides, I’m just trying to help you guys make the peace, that’s all.
asimovlives
August 26th, 2012 at 11:58 am

Mr. Majestyk, i do not make peace with trolls. I would, however, accept his appologies. Though the person who should be appologised is not me but is Vern, because that troll breached his site’s code of conduct, and Tony Scott for having his obituary ruined and disrespected with petty childisness.
asimovlives
August 26th, 2012 at 12:03 pm

Mr. Majestyk, i do not make peace with trolls, but I would, however, accept his appologies if sincere. Though the person who should really be appologised to is not me but is Vern, because that troll breached this site’s code of conduct, and Tony Scott for having his obituary ruined and disrespected with his petty childishness. Me, i’m out of this Tony Scott forum as of now, as respect for it’s intentions. I just hope this continues as originally intended, and not as a show off to some troll’s ego as it became. This type of disrespect upsets and irritates me to no end. Absolutly shameful.
Vern
August 26th, 2012 at 1:18 pm

Okay Asimov, Pike already cooled off way up the thread, now you gotta let it go. Let’s all be samurai here.
Charles
August 26th, 2012 at 1:43 pm

Vern, I know you already have too much on your plate so please take this as less of a suggestion and more of a neat idea, but it would be cool if you created some sort official bushido code of film review and talk back etiquette.
asimovlives
August 26th, 2012 at 2:36 pm

Charles, i think it could boil down to “be excelent to each other”. Sorry for the gratitious Bill & Ted reference.

Vern, i’m already out of that subject.
Charles
August 26th, 2012 at 3:01 pm

Asimov, you are right, “be excellent to each other” are words to live by.
Broddie
August 26th, 2012 at 5:10 pm

It’s the realest shit Abe Lincoln ever spoke.
Vern
August 26th, 2012 at 6:56 pm

Charles, I don’t know if I’m qualified to do that, but I really like the idea.
Vern
August 27th, 2012 at 12:09 am

Pike, I deleted your message because this is not the kind of place where people call each other names and measure each other’s dicks and shit. This is for grown people. I welcome you as a new poster talking about movies but if you’re just gonna complain about Asimov (like we don’t know the guy is a nut anyway) go somewhere else. And I will hold him to the same standard. Don’t make me babysit you motherfuckers.
pegsman
August 27th, 2012 at 1:55 am

Speaking as someone who’s fucked up a couple of times on this site, I second Charles’ suggestion. Like a Japanese Bushido Master Vern should force the disrespectful among us to spend a weekend in our underwear, knee deep in mud, carrying huge tree trunks around until we know the Code of Vern by heart.

In the words of the real Pike Bishop; When you side with a man, you stay with him. And if you can’t do that, you’re nothing but an animal!
Pike Bishop
August 27th, 2012 at 2:01 am

You now,its kind of strange that i am getting so emotional about Scott.
To be honest,i pretty much did not care for his Movies after True Romance. Unstoppable was the first i saw in a Cinema,after True Romance.
Dont get me wrong.I was no Hater ,just somewhat lukewarm about them.
Then i caught Man on Fire on TV,and while i never was a Friend of over the top Visuell Overkill,it was Love on first Sight.The Flashy Visuals aside,it is an absolute Classic Story.Reminds me a lot on Shane.
I think,always when Scott´s Visual Style, met a great Script,it became as good as contemporary cinema could get.
About the Suicide.I know there are People who say that Suicide is an Act of Cowardice,but that is bullshit.
I dont now why the Man jumped of that Bridge,but killing yourself is pretty much the toughes Act,one can perform.
And while it realy makes me deeply sad when someone takes his own Life,i cant help to respect their Decision.
asimovlives
August 27th, 2012 at 2:28 am

Pike, one gets emotional about the deaths of people which, for all purposes are strangers to us, if there is something we can connect with. We being human beings and all that.

Tony Scott was one director i didn’t liked much, execept for his rather excelent THE HUNGER. But there are circunstances in his death which did made me feel emotional about and in some way i felt it connected to my own life. Tony Scott is a younger brother of my favorite director, Sir Ridley Scott, and theiy have a 7 years age gap between them that exactly mirrors the age difference between me and my brother. i can’t help but wonder how ridley Scott must be feeling, with his baby brother now dead, and it makes me think how i would react if that had been the case with me. Me, i would be beyond devastaded, i can’t imagine of a life where my baby brother would not be here. And i always wonder what would had been of Tony’s career if THE HUNGER had been a big sucess and his career would had mirrored more his older brother’s career then the one he ended up with. I know that many of you love so many of the movies he made, specially his oldies goldies like TOP GUN and LAST BOY SCOUT. I wish his career had been more balanced, instead of so tipped toward empty popcorn spectacle. The exceptions in his career were so few, but it was those exceptions that proved he was a director above so much of the material he worked with. You know what i mean?

Us feeling emotional about the deaths of this strangers is nothing that strange, really. They impacted us in some way, so it’s natural we would feel something about it. Like i felt when Stanley Kubrick died or Carl Sagan. they were absolute strangers to me, and yet their work made an impact on my life, they influenced me. It’s perfectly natural, and otherwise would be strange.
Pike Bishop
August 27th, 2012 at 3:24 am

You now,not even now,i would be able to sit through “Top Gun”.
And you are right about him stuck with those Blockbusters all the Time.
I also wished he would have done some Movies on a smaller,more intimate Scale.
But he sure did those Blockbusters in his own personal Style.For better or for worse.
And sure,while sometimes he had overdone it with his Visual Gimmicks,inbetween all the Popcorn there was a bleeding,
pumping Heart.
For instance,his last Movie “Unstoppable”was not the Masterpiece some want to make out of it,but it was fun.
Beautiful to look at,and very symphathetic.
I used to take that for granted.But in these Days,it is not.

@pegsman
No Affront.But i dont get it.Who should stay on what Side ? And Why ?
I mean,i got it when Holden said it.But in this Situation…don get it.
Pike Bishop
August 27th, 2012 at 3:32 am

@assimovlives

I think you guessed it already.
But i can be a pretty stubborn Dickhead sometimes.
asimovlives
August 27th, 2012 at 4:24 am

Pike Bishop, sturbonness you say? I could write a whole book about it, due to years of practice, so i know all about being one such. I could even sell it.

If you do not mind, i’d like to ask you to be careful in writing my nick. The nick is my hommage to the great SF writer and all around genious Isaac Asimov. So forgive me if i’m picky with it, but it hurts me to see “ass” in his hallowed name. It’s AsimovLives, if you will. You do not need to respect me, but you could to the memory of Asimov, of which is the intent of my nick. Can you do that for me, please?
Knox Harrington
August 27th, 2012 at 4:29 am

You guys are so cute.
Pike Bishop
August 27th, 2012 at 5:37 am

@asimovlives

Sorry about the Ass.That was not intended.

@Knox Harrington

NOW THAT HURTS !
asimovlives
August 27th, 2012 at 5:42 am

Knox Harrington: cute as kittens.
Pike Bishop
August 28th, 2012 at 12:23 am

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/tarantino-kelly-tribute-tony-scott-with-double-feature-of-true-romance-and-domino
asimovlives
August 28th, 2012 at 1:02 am

The best way to describe Tony Scott’s DOMINO to to borrow a phrase from the british TV show TOP GEAR: “ambitious but rubbish”.
Pike Bishop
August 28th, 2012 at 1:46 am

Well,I have not see it.
Perhaps never will.
Keira as a Bountyhunter ?
No way.
But anyway,it was a nice Tribute.
Thanks God i could read it,and dont had to listen to Tarantino.
As much as i love some of the Man´s Movies,when i hear him speak,my Toenails are rolling up.
asimovlives
August 28th, 2012 at 3:10 am

Pike Bishop, well, the thing is, the real Domino Harvey was also a waif-like pretty woman, so Keira Knightley was not too far off to play her. This is one of those circunstances where life is stranger then fiction. And to make things even weirder, she was the daughter of actor Laurence Harvey, best known as the brainwasher operative in the original 1962 movie of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.

If Tony Scott’s DOMINO has a problem is that, by trying to turn her biopic into an action movie, it made it too conventional, because her real life story is way more strange and absurd then the movie portaits. They try to get away with it in the movie with the caption that reads “based on real events… sort of”. Yeah, well, like, nice try.
asimovlives
August 28th, 2012 at 3:11 am

brainwasher = brainwashed
Pike Bishop
August 28th, 2012 at 5:40 am

@asimovlives
I now that about Domino Harvey.But she must have been a tough Chic,and most of the Time on Drugs.
And you are a different Person,when on Drugs.
People think you are tough,but in reality you just dont care anymore.
Not about yourself,and not about Others.
I lived that Madness for about 15 Years.And i dont now if i can buy this from Keira.
But maybe i am wrong, and she gave a brilliant Performance.
After all she was mad enough in “A Dangerous Method”.
asimovlives
August 28th, 2012 at 6:33 am

Pike Bishop, sorry to hear about your past problems. I hope you are out of it.

Well, Keira sure gets the attitude down very well. And she does this trick she often does when he plays more determined or mature characters: he says her dialogue with a more lower tone of voice. It’s suprisingly effective.

The problem with the movie is not the cast, and certainly not the believability of Miss Keira in the role, but the script itself, but probably the worst culprit is Tony Scott’s aestetics decisions. Were the movie a complete work of fiction, it would be fair game, but the movie is a biopic, so all the editing and cinematic fireworks feel unconfortably misplaced, almost to the point of disrespectful. And the real Domino was a personal friend of Tony, which makes it so puzzling.

It’s my personal experience that far more often it’s the waif type women who are the thoughests, more combative, more resiliant and more courageous, while the bigger girls tend to be more passive and submiss. Fancy that. The moral being, never piss off a small bird.
asimovlives
August 28th, 2012 at 6:34 am

ops, i called Keira a “he” above. My mistake. She’s a she, of course.
Pike Bishop
August 28th, 2012 at 6:58 am

I read somewhere,he shot the Film this way,to stimulate a Drug Trip.
But from all what i heard,he went far over the Top.
It seems to be one of those Love or Hate Movies.But Most People tend to the Hate Side.
I guess i will have to watsch it anytime soon, but i dont feel a real pressure to do so.
asimovlives
August 28th, 2012 at 7:21 am

Pike Bishop, i do not hate the movie, but i do feel a bit like i wasted my time on an empty useless exercise.

The simulated drug trip thing makes sense when one watch the movie, but IN STORY it makes no sense at all because, if memory serves, there is not one single instance in the movie that portaits Domino taking drugs. Which i think was done so to prevent the movie being used by the prossecution in Domino’s drug charges. The prossecution could come to the very logical conclusion that if such drug taking occured in the movie it also occured in real life, and people involved in the movie or referenced there could be called as witnesses and a whole lot of trouble for everybody involved.
tawdryhepburn
August 28th, 2012 at 10:32 am

The movie is DEFINITELY meant to be a mescaline trip. Domino is high on mescaline the entire time she’s being interrogated by Lucy Lui because she was drugged shortly before her arrest. But you don’t find that out until two-thirds of the way through the film, and even then it’s in the background. I loved that detail.

Also, your theory about the drug charges is insane and not based in any law that is effect in anywhere in America.
tawdryhepburn
August 28th, 2012 at 10:37 am

Pike Bishop…are you trying to riff on Bukowski in all your posts? I cannot figure out their structuring.
The Original... Paul
August 28th, 2012 at 2:57 pm

RIP Tony Scott. I love “Spy Game”, and “Beverly Hills Cop 2” was one of my teenage pleasures. Thank you for those.

I’d also like to thank Asimov for his heartfelt tribute. To me, at least, it felt genuine and honest; and as somebody who doesn’t really have strong feelings about Tony Scott either way, left me with a better idea of his work than I’d previously had. The greatest compliment I can pay right now is I hope more people who care about filmd, and the people who make them, see it.
onthewall2983
August 28th, 2012 at 4:06 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-corrigan/tony-scott_b_1833670.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Nice piece on Tony from Kevin Corrigan.
asimovlives
August 28th, 2012 at 4:06 pm

tawdryhepburn, nopt that implasible. you make a biopi ofa living person and it shows thatperson taking drugs, it would be foolish of the persecution to not use it at lest as a clue that the perso suspeted with drug consuption and traffiking was heavy into it. The movie itsel would nt amissible as evidence, bt the fimmakers would be called to testemuny. Otherwise, it would be a movie making character asassination.
tawdryhepburn
August 28th, 2012 at 4:12 pm

Not how the first amendment works. Otherwise every single gangsta rapper ever would be in jail.
tawdryhepburn
August 28th, 2012 at 4:14 pm

It is understood that even a biopic is a work of fiction. Works of fiction are not admissible as evidence in any court in America. That is why OJ Simpson could legally write something like, “If I did It.”
tawdryhepburn
August 28th, 2012 at 5:39 pm

Think about it this way, if biographical or autobiographical information were admissible in a court of law, do you really think that the FBI wouldn’t have found a woman to press charges for assault and battery against any and all members of NWA using tracks like, “A Bitch is a Bitch” or Snoop Dogg for “Bitches Ain’t Shit” as evidence? And I’m sure that there are plenty of Republican watchdogs who would love to send Jay-Z to jail using lyrics like, “I used to sell rocks by the Oh-Oz” as evidence.

If this type of material were admissible in court in any way, these guys would be in the Penn right now since the songs would qualify as a signed confession.
Pike Bishop
August 29th, 2012 at 12:38 am

tawdryhepburn

I dont think that much about structuring,and my grammar is not that good too.
English is not my main Language,but i do my best to make it halfway understandable.
If that is an unreasonable demand,feel free to ignore my posts.
asimovlives
August 29th, 2012 at 1:09 am

“Otherwise every single gangsta rapper ever would be in jail.”

And that would be a bad thing why?
Mouth
September 15th, 2012 at 4:53 am

Of course, I didn’t know the man personally, but if he doesn’t mind I’d like to honor Tony Scott by reflecting on his extremely successful directational career. It has brought me much joy — the joy of being entertained.

But there’s more to it than that. The last several years I’ve come to notice that he’s been making serious statements on the nature of the medium of film and the notions of time & perspective. He’d become more than a technician, more than a professional guiding hand, more than a major figure in mainstream action movies & BADASS CINEMA; he’s now certainly an auteur worthy of his own chapter or 2 in the textbook on the Films of Cinema.

THE HUNGER
Very good movie, excellent opening sequence, sexy Susan Sarandon & Catherine Deneuve & Deneuve body double, wild ending that I imagine Tobe Hooper would love

BEVERLY HILLS COP II
Funny shit. I’m for it.

REVENGE
A movie that belongs to no time, no genre, & no movie stars. It will continue to be well received by serious cinephiles for generations to come.

DAYS OF THUNDER
I have NASCAR-loving relatives who would visit twice annually when I was a kid to stay with my family around Memorial Day for the Coca-Cola 600 and in October for what became the UAW-GM 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (No, “Lowe’s” Motor Speedway doesn’t exist, dagnabbit.) So this was a landmark movie for us – “Yay, Tom Cruise is into NASCAR, too!”

I can’t count the number of times I’ve yelled, “I’m dropping the hammer, Harry!”
&
“Now. Take him on the OUTSIDE. The OUTSIDE!”

The wheelchair race is also a great scene.

And, yes, I’ve played with girls in bed and referred to their vaginas as “victory lane.”

THE LAST BOY SCOUT
Who the fuck doesn’t like this movie?

TRUE ROMANCE
Who the fuck doesn’t love this movie?

CRIMSON TIDE
Now here’s where we start to notice what makes, sorry, *made* Tony Scott tick. (I’m as sloppy with my verb tenses as later-career Mr. Scott was experimental with his.) As a director, he seemed to gravitate toward scripts that didn’t include a clear-cut bad guy. If there was an obvious bad guy, he or they possessed various traits that tempered their badness. And the good guy could be a prick, could make mistakes, too.

Here we have a submarine captain who not only follows orders, but is commissioned to give orders to his subordinates. He’s a great American. We are queasy at his trigger-happiness, but really how can he be the bad guy?

And we have a lieutenant commander who poses as the inquisitive hero, who wins over the audience, but — and this is big fucking Sir Mix-a-Lot *but* — stages a fucking mutiny on his captain. How can he be the good guy?

Look at the totality of Tony Scott’s career, and you’ll see that, though we consider him responsible for the archetypal modern American action film, for better or worse, he was consistently ambiguous — ambitiously ambiguous I would argue — in his refusal to present the audience with a black-&-white good vs. bad scenario in any of his films. (A certain 2006 Denzel movie with a French name would appear to be based on a simplistic good guy vs. bad guy set-up, but there are plenty of ambiguous twists in that one.) This is remarkable to me. You can’t say that about most action directors.

ENEMY OF THE STATE
Very good movie. I’m due for a rewatch soon, because there is a lot going on in this movie —
presaging the odious PATRIOT Act;
unofficially sequelizing THE CONVERSATION;
establishing the essential elements that define late period Tony Scott, in which he manipulates high technology for the purpose of focusing from several perspectives on tiny points within a humongous, [rightly] paranoid world.

ENEMY OF THE STATE is his filmatistic career dissertation’s abstract & outline. A certain 2006 Denzel movie with a French name would be his thesis, his FEMME FATALE, his VERTIGO, his ON DEADLY GROUND.

MAN ON FIRE
Lot of ownage in this movie. Seriously, Denzel *is* the MAN ON motherfucking FIRE.
I enjoyed this the first time I saw it because I’m unfamiliar with the book on which it’s based, so I was interested in the mystery component and the narrative’s outcome. Also, great subtitles. I admit, though, I don’t wanna rewatch this headache. A lot of shouting, shaking, ugly hairy men with bombs in their rectum, etc.. It’s a successful movie, but not enjoyable once you’ve been through it, in my opinion.

Again, note that, if you were to quickly explain this movie to someone or read its synopsis, there seems to be a clear good guy vs. bad set-up, but we know that’s not the case. The kidnapper organization includes a lot of helpless wives & clingers-on and men who state, in a way that I actually believe, “I’m just a professional.” The bad guys don’t know they’re evil. It’s just business. And Creasy’s primarily pursuing a the finality of a transaction, not revenge. He’s a professional. He doesn’t become a Christ figure until the end, or maybe until after the girl’s swimming lessons pay off, and any earlier notions that he’s a virtuous, totally good guy should be dispelled by his alcoholism & suicidal thoughts. A lot of ambiguity.

DOMINO
Well, this movie *would* be Tony Scott’s big statement on what film means to him if it were more watchable. I agree with a lot of Vern’s takedown, but I more readily acknowledge that Scott was trying to do something unique here. Very interesting movie if you look at it through the prism of an academic curriculum’s offering of Film Studies 202: Tony Scott Late Period.

This is essentially ENEMY OF THE STATE sans the overt techno hook, and also lacking any kind of fun action plot. More psychological, more eyeball-centric and less based on satellite imagery. Different means, but similar ends — to explore the manipulation of perspective and the subjectivity & inescapable [faux-]malleability of matter, or the perception of matter, in space & time.

DÉJÀ VU
Vern needs to review or re-review this one, because it’s the closest thing to a Tony Scott masterpiece, non-Tarantino-scripted division. All his tics, all his motivations, all his filmatic & thematic interests, all his weakness for superfluous car chase carnage, all his experimentation with time, all his obsession with the placement of cameras and the notion that filming something (especially if you film it from multiple angles) changes it — it’s all right here. Some of the characters even explicitly articulate this stuff in the dialogue.

This is his equivalent of Brian de Palma’s FEMME FATALE, John Woo’s BULLET IN THE HEAD, Hitchcock’s VERTIGO (with which it shares a lot of themes & beats, by the way — put that in your Brit pipe and smoke it, BFI Sight & Sound), or Seagal’s ON DEADLY GROUND.

Tony Scott is making a serious statement about his principles… and Tony Scott is having fun with it! It’s a bleak, violent, aggressively pessimistic movie filled with death and sacrifice and impossibilities that make humans seem weaker than we already know we are, yet somehow it’s a joy to watch.

Watching Val Kilmer call the paramedics after a nasty collision on the highway is hilarious; like, he’s not concerned with the people who’ve been needlessly injured or killed in the accident. No one in action movies cares about that. It’s more like, he’s disappointed that the director of the movie just *had* to have a car chase in his movie and now ole Iceman’s gotta be the one to call someone to clean up the mess. He’s sighing in quiet resignation for the audience and reluctantly calling for the ambulances. “Oh, Tony, you and your violent car chases, you rascal.”

DÉJÀ VU is Godardian. It’s Heisenbergian. It’s Hitchcockian. It’s self-reflectively (but not over-winkingly) early Tony Scott-ian.

It has a brilliant Polanski homage in one of the most touching scenes of Denzel’s amazing career.

It has naked Paula Patton.

It casts James “Jesus Passion Christ” Caviezel as a terrorist (!) who confesses and philosophizes on destiny & sacrifice! Then the movie (spoiler) turns Denzel into the resurrected Christ figure!

Tarantino couldn’t make this movie, but he should enjoy it. The Coen brothers couldn’t make this movie; they should envy it. More people need to watch & like this movie, and they should like it, but they don’t realize the level of cerebral stimulation & satisfaction one can get from it.

Anyway, the point is, DÉJÀ VU will surprise you if you give it a chance.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3
Okay movie. To my shame, I’ve yet to see the original.

UNSTOPPABLE
Tony Scott’s “live news television” style & whooshing camera technique mercifully works perfectly for this story. Good movie. And it’s good for society that we’ve had so many interesting roles for a leading black man. He can be a hero while playing middle class blue collar professionals, not just hunks & cops & blind killers & bodyguards.

Whatever else you think of Tony Scott, you have to concede that if he had this kind of trust & long time connection with the best film actor of the last 2 generations, he must have been doing something right.
Pike Bishop
September 15th, 2012 at 8:34 am

Mouth,i just saw Deja Vu for the first time about two Weeks ago.I was blown away.You are absolutly right about it.
This is maybe Scott´s Masterpiece,and one of the greatest Time Travel Films ever.
Knox Harrington
September 15th, 2012 at 2:00 pm

Sorry, guys, but I can’t condone all this Deja Vu love. I thought it was horrible.

Haven’t seen it in years, and only saw it once, so I’m afraid I can’t debate it with you in detail unless I watch it again (which I don’t think will happen anytime soon), but I remember laughing and cringing at the shoddy, undisciplined filmmaking, the dumb premise and all the painful pseudo-profundity.

I hope my comments don’t seem too mean, but I really didn’t like it. Good for you if you like it, though. We all have our things. Hell, I find Speed Racer deeply moving.
Mouth
September 15th, 2012 at 2:18 pm

It is dumb, there is pseudo-profundity, neither the science nor the science fiction makes much sense, and the high speed time travel-car chase scenes are absurd.

But if you watch it through the prism of Tony Scott filmatistic studies, and if you embrace the stupidity simultaneously with the self-awareness of the stupidity, and if you allow that it’s a statement on movie-watching within a movie, it’s a phenomenal movie experience.

And the time travel clues & loops are just clever enough that I gotta respect the script & all the clever, intriguing visual callbacks. In this respect, DÉJÀ VU is tighter than, say, INCEPTION or MEMENTO, and its ending is quite similar to that of THE PRESTIGE, except it’s happy instead of shockingly self-clone genocidal.
Mouth
September 15th, 2012 at 2:19 pm

^^ (spoilery) ^^
Knox Harrington
September 15th, 2012 at 2:59 pm

I’ll try to keep that in mind if ever I see it again.

My big problem is that I’m not a fan of Scott’s filmmaking aesthetic over the past 10-15 years. I’ll never blame a filmmaker for experimenting, but his movies reached a point where he wasn’t experimenting anymore, and really just using that acid-flashback style as a crutch, I think.

I can’t remember what Spy Game looked like. Was it also seizure-inducing? I remember liking that one.
Griff
September 15th, 2012 at 3:10 pm

I actually saw DÉJÀ VU in theaters and while I remember liking it, I don’t remember a whole lot about it (other than Denzel’s cool time Hummer), you’ve inspired me to watch it again one day Mouth
The Original... Paul
September 15th, 2012 at 3:20 pm

Knox – Spy Game was good. I mean REALLY good. Of all Tony Scott’s films that I’ve seen, it’s probably the one that I would consider the “best”.

It also has a score that I went out and bought the moment I’d seen the film. Excellent scoring there. (I know this probably doesn’t mean much from the guy who has a collection of what must by now be several hundred different film soundtracks, or at least specific tracks from them; but still… this was a good one. Trust me.)

Haven’t seen Deja Vu, but I’ll check it out.
onthewall2983
September 15th, 2012 at 6:08 pm

I watched SPY GAME again, and I agree it’s one of Tony’s best. And one of Harry Gregson-Williams’ better scores as well. You wouldn’t think an old pro like Redford would be able to fit in that style Tony made his own, but he held his ground on screen well enough. His scenes with Brad and in that meeting room probably hold up as some of the best acting in any of Tony’s movies. It was a decent hit for him as I recall, and the story was quite timely post 9/11.
Pike Bishop
September 16th, 2012 at 1:00 am

I think,the opening Montage of Deja Vu,is one of the greatest things Scott ever shot.
Mouth
September 16th, 2012 at 1:57 am

Feeling you, Pike. Glad you’re on my side on this.

That damn opening sequence. It’s not show-offy in my opinion, but it’s very effective, revealing, melancholic, foreboding, and poetic. In fact, it’s good that it’s not show-offy, because that would make it hokey (like WAR HORSE or some shit) or melodramatic (like Sarah Connor’s nuclear blast nightmares in T2: JUDGMENT DAY) or out of control (like DOMINO). And of course it needs to be a little prolonged & substantial because it sets up the ending (the actual “deja vu” bookending/subversion aspect of the film).

The opening of DÉJÀ VU is several minutes of poignant wordless imagery (I think there’s one perfunctory utterance from a ferry operator.), establishing the setting (post-Katrina New Orleans) and introducing us to the stakes of the mystery of the terrorist’s bomb and the tragedy of the death of dozens of innocent American civilians & Navy sailors. But are we looking at/into
-the past?
-the future?
-*a* past?
-*a* version of the future?
-another dimension?
-inevitability?
-a successful terrorist attack?
-or a template for a foiled attack?

It’s also important that we’re able to recall this opening sequence in the *middle* of the film when Denzel breaks down and pleadingly insists that for once he wants to stop someone from doing something bad instead of merely catching the bad guy after the crime. One Denzel is helpless & weak, but if there were 2 Denzels… that might constitute 1 transformative figure, one history-altering god. Most of the film holds the viewers hand well enough, so it’s easy to follow, but it also throws out a *lot* of information and expects you to keep up. Great stuff.

I have several more gushing paragraphs I could post about DÉJÀ VU, but I’ll try to save it for the official review, assuming Vern’s our huckleberry.
Pike Bishop
September 16th, 2012 at 4:37 am

Being a Beach Boys Fan(especialy Brian and poor Dennis),i also loved the idea of using “Dont worry Baby”
as a Deja Vu.
The whole “U can safe her” Stuff,and the Idea with the Laser Pointer,mad of course but loved it.

Hey bud, thanks for reading.
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Tony Scott

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139 Responses to “Tony Scott”

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