Gog
(1954)/The Magnetic Monster
(1953/MGM Limited Edition Collection DVDs)/In
Time (2011/Fox Blu-ray w/DVD)/Metal
Shifters (2010/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)
Picture: C+/C+/B-
& C+/B- Sound: C+/C+/B &
B-/B- Extras: D/C-/C/C Films: C+/B-/C/C
PLEASE NOTE: Gog and Magnetic Monster
are MGM Limited Edition DVDs available exclusively from Amazon through the
right-hand sidebar of this site.
Science
Fiction is one of the only genres where you can still enjoy watching it even
when it becomes dated or does not work because of the changing nature of
technology and the world we could or could not live in. It is also one genre where more risks are
taken than most. Here are four films with
mixed results that show us how this works.
Ivan Tors
would eventually make his name with underwater work in movies and on TV, but he
was also a producer, writer and director who embraced Science Fiction and even
Horror as both Gog (1954) and The Magnetic Monster (1953)
demonstrate. He wrote and produced these
films just before his work on TV’s Science Fiction Theater and they are now
being issued as part of MGM’s on-line Limited Edition Collection DVD series as
originally distributed by United Artists.
The
better of the two films is Curt Sidomak’s The
Magnetic Monster (1953) in which a radioactive government experiment
unleashes a force that only wants to grow in size and eat as much energy as
possible. Despite a limited budget,
Sidomak makes this work well in a tight 76 minutes that is always interesting,
sometimes amusing and fun. The stock
footage is well chosen, the way this is shot is always interesting and despite
the age of the various sets, they are convincing enough to imagine this could
have happened in its time. Though no
masterpiece, it is an influential work and the screenplay is well thought out. Almost 50 years old, this shames most similar
films being made today. Richard Carlson,
King Donovan. Jarma Lewis and Jean Byron head the cast.
Herbert
J. Strock’s Gog (1954) added color
and also takes us to a hidden lab, this time where some kind of sabotage is
going on. Turns out the lab also has
built two “advanced” robots named Gog and Magog, but their Biblical references
are very loose. Though not as good as
the previous film, it is still fun and a little more hilarious since it has not
dated as well, but it is fun and MGM managed to include a trailer this
time. Richard Egan, Constance Dowling
and Herbert Marshall head the cast.
Fast
forward to new releases in the genre and you can see that too many new tales have
not only turned out bad, but worse.
Andrew
Niccol has tried to make a name for himself on the Science Fiction genre, but
not as well as say, Alex Proyas. The
results have ranged from the overrated Gattica
to the horrid, obnoxious and hideous Simone,
yet here he is again with In Time
(2011) which imagines a future where somehow time is the only currency. Forget money, a time clock has been attached
to everyone’s arm and when it runs out, you get a heart attack. Time can be earned, added and subtracted in
all kinds of ways.
The idea
is somewhat metaphoric at least, but when compared to the runners in Logan’s Run (1976) or replicants in Blade Runner (1982), it becomes more of
a gimmick and plot device with all of its possibilities unrealized as this becomes
more interested in its action storyline.
Amanda Seyfried is the rich girl whose father is a major banker of time
and Justin Timberlake (forced to give an acting performance that is not awful)
is the young man living in a time ghetto who crosses paths with a man he met
who has so much time that he has lived over a century and wants to die.
Just when
the film might get good, it gets sidetracked by its somewhat predictable plot,
though it is not as jokey as so many such films have been lately, yet the overall
result is generic (like Spielberg’s Minority
Report), not very memorable and is only amusing at best when you
watch. Too bad Niccol cannot find a
breakthrough, because this is not it.
Cillian Murphy Alex Pettyfer and Olivia Wilde are among those who make
up the decent supporting cast.
Extras
include Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, BD Live interactive
functions, Deleted/Extended Scenes and featurette The Minutes.
Finally
we have Paul Ziller’s amusing Canadian production Metal Shifters (2010) which I knew was going to be different when
its opening shot was of a quiet satellite (which we have seen floating in space
around earth in endless Sci-fi shows) suddenly broken up by an unknown object,
then a piece makes it to earth. Turns
out it has some green alien goo on it that can bring inanimate metal objects to
life and like The Magnetic Monster
can wreck havoc anywhere it goes.
This
force too grows in power and a local scrap man (Donnelly Rhodes, best known for
his work on the hit TV classic Soap)
has made a faux robot that suddenly comes to life in the worst ways, but the
carnage goes beyond that. Of course,
this is silly schlock, but the makers actually know this and are having fun. This could have had more suspense and been
even better, but it at least achieves cheesy B-movie status and those looking
for such product will not be disappointed.
It is not great by any means, but can be interesting and the Canadian
sensibility makes it more watchable than most new schlock we have seen lately,
but you’ve still seen most of this before.
A behind the scenes featurette is the only extras.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image on Gog and
anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 color image on Magnetic have disclaimers that they are from the best sources
available, but both prints are not in bad shape at all, especially for their
age. I like the look of both and the
color on Metal is EastmanColor credited to the Color Corporation of America. I even liked its use of color.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 AVC @ 34 MBPS digital High Definition image transfer on Time is an all digital HD shoot in the
hands of Director of Photography Roger Deakins, A.S.C., B.S.C., and though he
tries to give it a look and character, it does not totally work out and he is
one of the best in the business. There
are more soft spots here than expected and the anamorphically enhanced DVD
version is as weak as the MGM DVDs of films released nearly 60 years ago. The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition
image on Metal was shot on film and though
it has some cheesy digital visual effects, it actually looks as good in overall
playback.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the MGM DVDs are pretty good for their age, but show
their age, yet they do not have as many flaws as expected. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix
on Time is enhanced with D-BOX
motion bass and it is a good mix and as well is the best mix here. Too bad despite the consistent soundfield,
there is not much more to it, but at least the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD
version is lively if not as good. The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 mix on Metal is warmer
than any of the Dolby Digital mixes on any title here, but its low budget shows
and dialogue can be too much in the front of the mix.
- Nicholas Sheffo
