Athena (2022)
All this powder keg needs is a spark.
When you scroll Netflix and see a title that’s a word you recognize, so you open the description up and go “alright, sounds not bad” and add it to your watch list, you get a bunch of movies you have no clue what to expect. Yep, another Netflix Presents movie - one that only got my attention thanks to sharing it’s name with the Greek goddess warrior - although the name is somewhat where that dies out and then the description has to pick it up for the interest. It’s a foreign flick, but the absolute mad level of captioning and dubbing available means that even with my desire to not read a movie tonight, I could still tune in for watch. Tonight we spark a keg waiting to blow as we watch Athena.
Simple simple story here, very to the point and better suited for the folks that like to dig into things intellectually than those just waiting for a big action movie. After a young kid is killed by a bunch of cops, the local apartment district erupts in youth-filled anger as the local youths go full on hoodlum anarchists, breaking into the police station and stealing all their gear and fortifying their home front in an effort to draw out the names of those who killed the young boy. Leading this effort is the next youngest brother, who isn’t exactly seeing eye to eye with his older brother’s desire to see things out peacefully. Saddle in even older brother whose a bit wrapped up in drugs and guns, and the powder keg of a situation quickly blows up into an isolated war that quickly spins out of control and spreads.
The actors do a good job here. I can’t attest to line delivery in the native tongue on account of not knowing French and instead choosing some British English to listen too. The dubbing isn’t bad, with only a few parts where it seems like a line was perhaps added in or mistimed with someone not saying anything. That said, I do have a large tolerance for dubs - I’m the kind of dude that loved those horribly dubbed old Godzilla movies - so dub appreciation mileage may vary. Emotion-wise, I feel the actors do a good job getting their characters state of mind and heart across the screen, even if you as a watch don’t necessarily agree with a sudden action flip or just the general choices being made as a whole to begin with. Then again, I’m a bit distanced from the renegade youths on display here in both age and energy levels, so perhaps a younger generation wouldn’t find themselves quite as at odds with the character decisions these actors are doing such a nice job of portraying.
The characters - at least the brothers - all seem to have some level of motivation for their actions, despite not seeing eye to eye in how things should be handled. The eldest brother seems to the most out of place, but largely only to how much more over-acting the character does - and I’m not holding it against the actor as I don’t ever think it isn’t intentional that he’s some high-strung loud aggressor of a bad element. The middle brother is the more peace-desiring one, trying to talk the youngest out of his hot-headed ambitions of launching a war against the cops to get revenge for their dead brother, but it’s not all entirely as it seems as he’s also the one character who has the hardest flip between action states in the movie. Understandable, considering the amount of stress and duress leading up to it - but I can see some maybe just feeling off-put by it as opposed to feeling that uncomfortable reality of just how sound it is in that social commentary way.
Day party with the hoodlums…
Costumes gets to have a good amount of fun here thanks to the cops, but largely it’s a modern-type movie with modern-type wardrobe. The characters are recognizable enough that you don’t really get them confused all that much, so even with similar outfits it’s still pretty easy on the eyes. The setting provides a bunch of interior and exterior shots, so a good selection of rooms and areas that don’t look too identical. Of course, as mentioned, the cops get involved in full riot gear, which is where the costumes get to expand out a bit more - granted, it’s still realistic cop riot gear, so it’s not like it some super science fiction crazy, but it looks good and provides some variety.
Effects involve a lot of fireworks. I mean, a lot of fireworks - it’s the primary ranged weapon of the rioters. Second only to the fireworks comes the smoke, which is frequently getting used by the cops as their primary ranged attack against the rioters. That said, there is a few fiery explosions thanks to molotovs, and at least one full-burn stunt as well. There’s some skirmishes in here as well, although it’s largely some pushing followed by some mace-spray and more pushing. For all the action that’s actually going on, it falls far more into the thriller and drama realms of tense chaos than it does focused fist fights and martial arts. If one caters their expectations more towards that side of things, they won’t be disappointed - but if you go in expecting a straight action movie with gun fights and explosions and kung fu, you’ll be left disappointed.
Audio is balanced well. As mentioned, line deliveries are well done as far as the dubbing track that I had chosen. Scenes feel lively, frequently filled with muffled explosions and pops and shouts in the background, helping you feel immersed in the chaos surrounding the scenes. There’s a bit of music at the front end, and most of the music during the rest of the movie I didn’t even notice - so it’s much more akin to adding to the atmosphere and emotions of the scene then it is about playing the next big licensed hit from the radio. Of course, the thinkers will love all the commentary they’ll be able to pull about situations with misinformation, extremists, police corruption and brutality, youthful anger, and all of that sort of thing. I’ll see it’s there, but my goal in life is to experience things while hiding under my rock, not to understand the crippling danger and abuse in the world surrounding me by deep-diving on the socio-political commentary a movie provides. We’ll leave that for someone smarter than me, yeah?
…Tiring night for the cops!
This movie wasn’t bad. It was a pretty tense time throughout, although largely had less action than I had anticipated. Also could have swore free-running was supposed to come into play somewhere, but I think that might have been me mixing two movies in my queue together in my memory as opposed to actually reading it in a description for this one. Still, it seems pretty well acted, and the folks who like to think about the deeper topics provided by it’s chaos will have a hoot for sure. Violence levels are pretty low as far as graphic nature, but there is still a body count for sure.