Slingshot, 2024.

Directed by Mikael Håfström.
Starring Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, Emily Beecham, Tomer Capone, David Morrissey, Nikolett Barabas, Charlotta Lövgren, Mark Ebulue, and Harry Szovik.

SYNOPSIS:

An astronaut struggles to maintain his grip on reality aboard a possibly fatally compromised mission to Saturn’s moon, Titan.

On the surface, Mikael Håfström’s Slingshot is about a space mission to Saturn’s moon containing methane, which can be collected and used for a healthier Earth. None of that actually matters, as this is more of a setup for psychological games that not only revel in clichés but come in so much quantity that they instantly telegraph themselves from one to the next. The result is less having fun with the insanity and more laughing at it for falling in line to the next predictable swerve.

The script from R. Scott Adams and Nathan Parker immediately reveals Casey Affleck’s astronaut John as an unreliable perspective for this story, emerging from a hibernation pod aboard a spaceship with an automated voice reminding him of the symptoms. The primary one to pay attention to here is confusion. This is a character device relied on to such an annoying effect that it mostly feels like cheating. Beyond a certain point, there is no reason to take anything we see here seriously; it’s all face-value BS, and our brains are hardwired into not believing any of it or assuming the opposite.

Working with Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne giving a stern and stellar performance that is unquestionably the best aspect of the movie) and a data/technological specialist named Nash (Tomer Capone, frequently overplaying his increasing paranoia that develops), their strategy to get near Saturn is to attempt a slingshot boost maneuver from Jupiter. The reasoning behind this is never explained, but presumably, it simply concerns Saturn being farther away from Earth. The details, or lack thereof, are the least of this film’s problems, and the title mostly feels like a metaphor for what it’s trying and failing to do to the audience with its mind games.

It turns out that during one of the hibernation phases, the spacecraft collided with an unidentified object and suffered some structural damage that technically could be fatal. Contradicting this, the computer systems still report that everything is intact and safe. However, the crew loses communications with mission overseers back in Houston.

From there, a difference of opinion breaks out with John (played with despondency and disorientation by Casey Affleck, which sometimes is taken too far and doesn’t feel right for the role) caught up in the middle of Nash, essentially encouraging a mutiny, paranoid that the ship is not stable enough to sustain a boost at such a speed, covering an extraordinary amount of distance between planets within minutes. Meanwhile, Captain Franks has the standard cold “complete the mission at any cost” tone. This film also wants viewers to know there is something else off about Captain Franks based on his behavior, which includes occasionally singing the lyrics “Please don’t let me be misunderstood.” As a result, much of the film becomes a waiting game for the first major twist to drop. It interjects a nightmare sequence and a body mutation hallucination bit, both feeling out of place and desperate attempts at keeping up engagement.

John also regularly hallucinates seeing his NASA program love interest, Zoe (Emily Beecham), on the ship, which the filmmakers use as opportunities to toss viewers into flashbacks depicting how they became close, various aspects of John’s backstory, and the one-sided nature of the relationship. He is infatuated with Zoe, upfront that his work will always come first, and seemingly closed off from relationship commitment and reciprocating love. 

It is undeniably clear that through all of the psychological mind games, Slingshot wants to say something about paranoia and anxiety not only concerning the mission but also what we project onto others regarding how they see us. There are also questions of duty and when it’s time to prioritize safety and, even more courageously, standing up to a shortsighted leader who could get everyone killed.

However, that is all artificial; the narrative gets lost in that series of twists without the self-awareness that Slingshot has long stopped feeling suspenseful. There are moments of intended clever dark humor, paling in comparison to the amount of unintentional hilarity. Put it this way: it’s practically impossible not to see the final rug-pull coming right before it happens. The anticipation is there for the wrong reasons; it elicits snickering.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist

from the natural-stupidity dept

I’ll admit, when I’ve been able to witness some of the fuckery around the use of artificial intelligence in stupid ways, some part of me has always gotten some amusement at those being fooled. I’ve gotten to witness most of this from afar, after all. It feels a bit different when you write about a situation where you were among those fooled by the bullshit.

At some point in the last week or so, I personally recall seeing the following trailer for Megalopolis, the forthcoming film from Francis Ford Coppola.

Now, the reason I recall seeing that trailer is due to those opening quotes from movie reviews of previous Coppola films. See, I’m a fan of many of his movies, as are millions of others. I recall laughing at those quotes, wondering just how in the hell reviewers could have gotten it so completely wrong when it comes to films like The Godfather and Apocolypse Now. I even thought briefly about googling those critics’ names and seeing if I could find the full reviews, just to laugh at how hilariously wrong they were.

Well, someone else did exactly that. And they found that those are AI-generated quotes from fake reviews that those reviewers never wrote.

Lionsgate has parted ways with Eddie Egan, the marketing consultant who came up with the “Megalopolis” trailer that included fake quotes from famous film critics. The studio pulled the trailer on Wednesday, after it was pointed out that the quotes trashing Francis Ford Coppola’s previous work did not actually appear in the critics’ reviews, and were in fact made up.

Sources tell Variety it was not Lionsgate or Egan’s intention to fabricate quotes, but was an error in properly vetting and fact-checking the phrases provided by the consultant. The intention of the trailer was to demonstrate that Coppola’s revered work, much like “Megalopolis,” has been met with criticism. It appears that AI was used to generate the false quotes from the critics.

That’s being far too kind. Some of these critics supposedly trashing Coppola’s work absolutely loved the films they were supposed to have denigrated. Variety was able to generate similar quotes with some trial and error prompting using ChatGPT, which is likely where this all came from. Misattributing the words and reviews of a film critic merely to drum up fake outrage as an interest multiplier for Coppola’s new film is both a complete violation of the actual work those critics did and an abdication of trust the public will have in the studio.

Now, to be fair, it appears Lionsgate had no idea that the quotes in the trailer were fakes, and worked fairly quickly to pull the trailer once it found out.

“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for ‘Megalopolis,’” the company said Wednesday. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”

Still, at a time when both the public and every SAG member out there is concerned about how AI is going to start filtering into creative work in negative ways, this is a fairly terrible look for the industry.

Or, if Lionsgate would like ChatGPT’s take on this:

Lionsgate’s use of fake quotes generated by AI for the trailer of “Megalopolis” was a significant misstep and attracted considerable criticism. Using AI-generated quotes can undermine the authenticity and credibility of marketing materials, especially when presented as genuine endorsements from critics.

For many, the inclusion of these artificial quotes not only misleads potential viewers but also raises ethical concerns about transparency and trust in advertising. When audiences or critics discover such manipulations, it can damage the studio’s reputation and affect the film’s reception.

In the case of “Megalopolis,” this controversy highlighted the broader issue of how AI can be misused in promotional contexts. It underscores the importance of maintaining integrity in marketing practices and being transparent about the sources and nature of endorsements.

And on that, you can quote me.

Filed Under: ai, francis ford coppola, marketing, megalopolis, trailer

Companies: lionsgate

In any case, I would certainly love to have the confidence of the series’ producer, Ng Kin-hung, who started shooting this third film – reuniting with The Brotherhood of Rebel’s director, screenwriters and lead actors and even recycling its narrative framework – before the latter was released in cinemas.

As in that film, The Unwavering Brotherhood tells the story of three mid-level gangsters – Wah (Bosco Wong Chung-chak), Fei (Louis Cheung Kai-chung) and Kwok (Carlos Chan Ka-lok) – who make some very bad decisions for themselves and inadvertently bring about the downfall of their beloved triad faction leader.

Returning director Terry Ng Ka-wai’s engaging, if familiar movie again boils down to a test of loyalty for the trio, this time after they are ambushed on a money transfer assignment; the conflicts here stem primarily from Fei’s need to pay for surgery for his severely ill sister (Angel Lam Chin-ting) and Kwok’s gambling in the stock market.

Next to the leading trio of blood brothers it is, surprisingly, their boss, the honourable Fa Kam, and his fiercest rival for leadership inside the syndicate, Kwan (played respectively by Mark Cheng Ho-nam and Michael Tao Dai-yu in eye-catching supporting roles), who prove the most watchable.

Cheng, who was in both Young and Dangerous 5 (1998) and Election 2 (2006), is hugely charismatic as the endlessly amiable father figure to the protagonists. Meanwhile Tao, who is not at all known for nuanced acting in spite of his range of TV drama leading roles, is suitably despicable as the villain.

The Unwavering Brotherhood offers the kind of comfort watch that long-time aficionados of Hong Kong gangster movies should readily seek out. Instead of wasting time reinventing the wheel, the film simply adopts the same old genre formula and briskly shuffles its tragic heroes to their predictably bitter end.