Julien Faddoul
Incredibles 2 ***
Elastigirl springs into action to save the day, while Mr. Incredible faces his greatest challenge yet – taking care of his three children.
Brad Bird tropes are in full force: Superb actions sequences that make
sublime use of the animation art, reliance on physical humour, obsessions with
high-technology as both wish fulfilment and dangerous vice, and a liberal
political agenda, with the female characters taking centre stage. There is very
little modulation here; it’s high-adrenaline constantly, with a thousand things
happening at once. In the first film, the point was an observation on how life
contains both the mundane and the fantastic in concurrent servings. Here, those
two points are made again but in separate stories, which is a bit
disillusioning. It also can’t quite combat plot hurdles when countered against
inconsequentiality, in an age when superhero fatigue is at a high. But as an action-thriller, it could scarcely be better.
wd – Brad Bird
ph – Erik Smitt, Mahyar Abousaeedi
pd – Ralph Eggleston
m – Michael Giacchino
ed – Stephen Schaffer
p – John Walker, Nicole Paradis Grindle
Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson,
Brad Bird, Huck Milner, John Ratzenberger, Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks,
Isabella Rossellini, Catherine Keener, Sophia Bush, Phil LaMarr
