Movie Review: King Kong (2005)

A mega monster adventure movie about a giant ape tangling with pesky humans, King Kong is both brilliant and bloated.

In New York City of 1933, discredited film director Carl Denham (Jack Black) plans an audacious ending to his latest cinematic project. He wants his cast and crew to sail to the uncharted Skull Island and capture unique footage. Carl ropes star Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler) and celebrated writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) into the project, and plucks struggling vaudevillian Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) out of poverty to play the female lead.

They set sail on the Venture with German Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann) in charge. Once on Skull Island, violent natives immediately seize Ann and offer her as a sacrifice to King Kong (Andy Serkis, motion captured), a huge ape and the dominant beast on the island. Kong takes a liking to the feisty Ann and does not harm her, but has to engage in vicious battles with dinosaur rivals to keep her safe. Meanwhile Carl, Bruce, Jack and Englehorn need to rescue their leading lady, while Carl starts considering the financial rewards of capturing King Kong and bringing him back to New York.

Essentially the same story told in 100 minutes in the classic original is here expanded into a disorienting 188 minutes. Directed by Peter Jackson, this version of King Kong is a technological marvel, and subdues its length with engrossing visuals, a distinct sense of place, and enough scurrying people and rampaging monsters to maintain momentum. The island is a breathtaking and foreboding place, its natural balance contaminated by the arrogant new arrivals, and King Kong is a beautifully rendered beast, Andy Serkis bringing the monster to life and ever so gradually allowing emotions to surface.

King Kong achieves some stupendous and overwhelming action highlights. Rational editing seamlessly stitches the actors into the CGI-enhanced environment, even during the wildest sequences. Jackson (who also co-wrote the screenplay) injects the best shriek-inducing scenes with a mean streak of sly humour. A Brontosaurus stampede walks the thin line between plain silly and ridiculous fun, and later Kong's battle with multiple Tyrannosaurus rex is vicious and viciously funny.

For better or for worse, Jackson goes big and never goes home. His main command must have been "more", every scene and every sequence extended beyond what is necessary, computers whirring and pixels crashing onto the screen in a race to impress. The insistence on adding by addition means the monsters just keep on coming, effectiveness and shock value eroded with every new species. 

In a thankless role confined for long periods in an ape's hand, Naomi Watts manages to provide Ann with spirit and personality. The rest of the cast members trundle through the jungle with good intentions to battle mortal but virtual hazards.

The final 45 minutes take place back in New York, the 1930s lovingly recreated with romantic details as King Kong makes his final stand atop the Empire State Building. His howl is nature's fury at human hubris, loud, large, and often unheeded.



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Movie Review: Tropic Thunder (2008)

A satire about actors and their rampant self-admiration, Tropic Thunder is vulgar, bloody and hilarious.

Five actors are part of an expensive crew on location to shoot Tropic Thunder, a Vietnam war epic based on the memoirs of veteran Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte).

• Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) is a fading action movie star with one last chance to salvage a career. 
• Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) is a low-brow comedian and heroin addict looking for respect. 
• Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) is an award-winning method actor who has undergone revolutionary skin darkening surgery to play a black soldier. 
• Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) is a rapper and energy drink promoter attempting to launch an acting career.  
• Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) is a relatively new actor, and the only one who has bothered to read the book or the script.

The director is Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), and he has trouble keeping all the egos in check. Cody (Danny McBride) is the explosives expert, and thanks to Cockburn incompetence detonates a massive explosion when the cameras are not rolling. Back in Hollywood, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey) is Tugg's agent, keen to ensure his star has what he needs to survive the jungle ordeal, while studio boss Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) is worried about his investment.

To toughen up the actors Cockburn agrees with Tayback's suggestion to drop them deep in the jungle with no support and film with hidden cameras. But the chosen location is in the Golden Triangle, where the vicious Flaming Gang runs a heroine operation. As the actors wander into the danger zone, Tugg still believes they are filming a movie, but Kirk starts to suspect something is very wrong.

An almost miraculous combination of action, comedy, gore and satire, Tropic Thunder grabs a movie-within-a-movie premise and squeezes hard. Director Ben Stiller wrote the screenplay with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen, and they take direct aim at directors, producers and agents within their own industry, but skewer actors with particular venom.

And the film is a spectacular spoof made successful thanks to relatively sharp writing and a terrific cast in top form. Robert Downey Jr. stands out and deserves credit for taking a potentially disastrous blackface construct and selling it as the epitome of method acting. His Kirk Lazarus stays in characters no matter what is happening in the jungle, spouting inane lines about performance art and scoring the film's biggest laughs.

The other unforgettable role is Tom Cruise as producer Les Grossman, screaming scatalogical threats down phone lines and then pulling off legendary dance movies while concocting an evil plan to turn a turkey into a monetary windfall.

Tropic Thunder also features surprisingly effective action scenes, and in classic war movie fashion these are interspersed with character interactions to build up depth. The conversations are often debates as to whether the stranded actors are in a real or make-believe conflict zone, and the surreal topic provides a suitably ridiculous basis to tease out the various personalities, often wracked with deep-seated insecurities or on the verge of full-out panic.

The humour is a combination of lewd, cringy and disgusting with a large dollop of severed body parts, and remarkably, most of it works.

Equal parts obnoxious and fearless, Tropic Thunder is a preposterous explosion.

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Movie Review: High Fidelity (2000)

A romantic comedy with some dramatic elements, High Fidelity goes for a grubby tone in both aesthetics and emotions.

In Chicago, Rob Gordon (John Cusack) runs a vinyl record store in a seedy part of town. Gordon's latest girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) has just walked out on him, accusing him of failing to grow up and not having enough ambition. Rob recollects his previous most memorable break-ups, including glamorous ex-girlfriend Charlie (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

Rob's co-workers are music geeks Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black). Dick is a timid introvert while Barry is an over-talkative amateur band member. As Rob works through his emotions, including conversing with his sister Liz (Joan Cusack), he meets budding singer Marie DeSalle (Lisa Bonet) and they develop a mutual but superficial attraction. Meanwhile Laura starts a new affair with ex-neighbour Ian Raymond (Tim Robbins) but she also stays in touch with Rob, providing him with hope that their relationship may be salvageable.

Directed by Stephen Frears, High Fidelity aims for an edgy, knowing vibe but veers too far away from its own essence. While the search for an original angle within the romantic comedy genre is welcome, too much of the film is obsessed with music minutiae and the competitive bickering of Dick and Barry at the record store. Initially funny, this side quest into the juvenile antics of two socially awkward friends invades most of the film, and the endless music trivia banter becomes a cause onto itself.

Meanwhile, Rob Gordon is an unfortunately unlikeable character to place in the middle of a film. A prototypical immature man, Rob does little to deserve any sympathy as he wonders why all his relationships fail. His journey to self-awareness is both trite and tedious. Frears' decision to have Rob break the fourth wall and narrate directly to the cameras throughout the whole film does not help, as despite John Cusack's best efforts Rob comes across as filled with an obnoxious combination of smugness and self-pity.

Laura holds more promise as an interesting character open to the opportunity of rescuing a long-term relationship, but the speed with which she takes up with Ian undermines her apparent continued investment in Rob.

What remains is a film soundtrack filled with a mixtape of obscure and lesser known songs, High Fidelity proudly displaying its high hip quotient, but forgetting to add the necessary substance to actually be relevant.

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The Movies Of Jack Black

All movies starring Jack Black and reviewed on The Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Demolition Man (1993)

Waterworld (1995)

Dead Man Walking (1995)

The Cable Guy (1996)

The Fan (1996)

The Jackal (1997)

Enemy Of The State (1998)

High Fidelity (2000)

School Of Rock (2003)

Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)

King Kong (2005)

The Holiday (2006)

Tropic Thunder (2008)

The Muppets (2011, uncredited)

Sex Tape (2014, uncredited)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: The Holiday (2006)

A Christmastime romantic comedy with two love stories unfolding simultaneously in London and Los Angeles, The Holiday offers soothing vanilla entertainment and achieves all its objectives in an attractive, star-filled package.

In London, the emotionally fragile Irene (Kate Winslet) works for the Telegraph newspaper and harbours a hopeless crush on work colleague Jasper (Rufus Sewell). He keeps her hanging as a side-interest while pursuing romance and marriage with another woman. In Los Angeles, the independent and confident but emotionally cold Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is a producer of movie trailers; she kicks out her live-in boyfriend Ethan (Edward Burns) once she discovers his infidelity. With Christmas approaching, both Irene and Amanda decide on a break. They connect online and agree to a two week house exchange.

Amanda is quickly lonely at Irene's small and quaint cottage in the English countryside, but her mood brightens considerably when the half-drunk Graham (Jude Law), Irene's brother, unexpectedly stumbles through the door. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles Irene meets her next door neighbour, the elderly Hollywood screenwriter Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach). She also connects with Miles (Jack Black), a film score composer. Amanda and Graham jump into a physical relationship before settling down to get to know each other, while Irene is more circumspect. She helps Arthur rediscover his passion while he helps to rebuild her self-esteem, and she starts to befriend the jovial Miles.

Directed and co-written by Nancy Meyers, The Holiday is an inoffensive and high quality double romantic comedy. Within the confines of the genre, the premise is reasonably fresh, the humour understated, the performances generally excellent, and the film oozes a rich syrup of distinction.

Meyers gains the bonus of two stories in one movie, and avoids many of the cringe inducing cliches that often plague romantic comedies. The Holiday has are no contrived misunderstandings and no sudden conflicts between the lovers that need to be resolved before the end credits. Instead the romance progressions are remarkably calm, and the film offers four mature, life-tested adults (and one older gentleman) grappling with disappointments, opportunities and affairs of the heart.

The film finds a few highlight gems. When Amanda decides to track down Graham at his house and uncovers his backstory, what she finds is a perfectly imperfect set-up. Graham is at once made more real and more complicated, offering much more than Amanda bargained for and redefining her parameters of what love can mean. The comedy highlight is a three-way overseas phone call with Iris discovering the hazards of call waiting while trying to simultaneously communicate with her brother and Amanda.

Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law deliver accomplished and committed performances, with Diaz perhaps emerging with the best glow and impeccable comic timing. Jack Black suffers in comparison and is often out his league, not helped by an underwritten role. Eli Wallach adds a potent shot of veteran talent, as his Arthur Abbott takes on the task of educating Irene about the power that resides within women through Hollywood's back catalogue.

At 15 minutes over two hours, the film is overlong, and suffers from a gloss that may be too shiny, situations and locales a little too perfect, and characters too likeable. But The Holiday is a greeting card of a film, the type that warms the heart and induces a smile when delivered with care and genuine affection.

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Movie Review: School Of Rock (2003)

A comedy with plenty of rock music, School Of Rock is about daring to be different. Jack Black shines as an aging rocker who surreptitiously takes over an elementary school classroom and molds the kids into a rock band.

Dewey Finn (Black) is a relatively useless rock singer and guitarist, well into adulthood but refusing to give up on his musical dream. Broke and fired from his own garage band, Dewey is at a dead-end in life and fully leaching off his only friend Ned Schneebly (Mike White), a substitute teacher. Ned's girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman) wants Dewey out of their apartment for failing to pay rent.

Desperate for money, Dewey pretends to be Ned and accepts a temporary teaching assignment at a prestigious private elementary school where Roz Mullins (Joan Cusack) is the principal. Initially Dewey is happy to do nothing and cash a cheque, but when he realizes that the kids have musical talent, he is inspired to try and form a rock band. Maintaining secrecy, Dewey introduces the kids to rock 'n' roll, and soon they are rocking out, revealing hidden talents, learning about life and aiming to participate in a local battle of the bands contest.

Directed by Richard Linklater and written by White, School Of Rock is a lighthearted and feel-good comedy musical. The film is inherently goofy in a good way, and bounces off the energy of its lead character, with Dewey Finn's refusal to adhere to the rules of growing up fueling his quest to solve the world's problems one riff at a time. Linklater injects plenty of laughs in scenes of Dewey being Dewey, from diving into the crowd and being caught by no one, to sarcastically locking horns with conformists like Patty and Roz.

If School Of Rock does suffer from an ailment, it's too much of a good thing, and in particular too much of Jack Black. Good as he is in the role, tip toeing along the enjoyable line of overstatement, there are just too many scenes of Dewey working himself into a frenzy and rocking out the tune of his own legend. While the kids are cute and enjoy individual personalities, the film does not boast much of a fleshed-out secondary cast, and beyond Black there is little talent to admire. So it's either Black or nought, and his overexcited demeanor does get laborious.

As Dewey works with the kids and gets to know them, there are hints of interesting sub-plots that would have benefited from more exploration. Guitarist Zack (Joey Gaydos) is suffering under the regime of a strict father; keyboardist Lawrence (Robert Tsai) has no friends, drummer Freddy (Kevin Clark) starts to get seduced by the dark side of the rock 'n' roll life, and singer Tomika (Maryam Hassan) suffers from body image problems. Dewey also never seems to get along with Billy (Brian Falduto), the band stylist. The kids get snippets of scenes hinting at what is going on their personal lives, but none move beyond the sketched-in stage before everyone arrives at the rousing finale.

School Of Rock overcomes its shortcomings with an attitude of unabated fun and enough sly commentary to keep both kids and their parents fully engaged. The soundtrack of riff-heavy hard rock and heavy metal classics from the 1970s and 1980s keeps the momentum hopping, and the theme of believing in dreams and pursuing wild passions gets the pragmatic treatment that it deserves: life is less about winning and losing and more about rocking out at the right shows.

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Movie Review: The Cable Guy (1996)

A stalker comic drama, The Cable Guy is part laugh-out funny and part creep-out serious. Jim Carrey stretches his persona into new territory, but ultimately the story occasionally trips on the gap between silly and tense.

Steve (Matthew Broderick) needs to install cable television service in his new apartment, having been kicked out of his old place by girlfriend Robin (Leslie Mann). The cable guy Chip (Jim Carrey) arrives, appears quite strange, but quickly installs the cable while also rearranging Steve's furniture. Acting on a tip from his buddy Rick (Jack Black), Steve offers Chip a bribe in return for turning on pay-TV channels. Chip agrees, labels Steve a preferred customer, and pretends that they are now close friends.

Chip takes Steve on tour of a gigantic satellite dish that feeds the cable service. Afterwards, Chip starts to stalk Steve, interfering with his basketball game, installing unwanted high-grade audio and video equipment in his living room, throwing a wild party and insisting on going out for dinner together. Every time Steve tries to end the friendship, Chip ups the stakes with threats or pleas for pity. Finally, Chip starts to interfere in the relationship between Steve and Robin, as well as within Steve's family.

Directed by Ben Stiller, The Cable Guy generally works but with some static and distortion. Mostly played for laughs, Chip's more threatening behaviour inserts dark tones that can appear out of place. Carrey and Broderick maintain balance and a generally light mood, often overcoming the film's uneven moments with pure charisma.

The Lou Holtz Jr. script does struggle with the dosage between fun and fear, and runs out of good ideas fairly early. Once the premise is set, there is little of substance to build upon lonely and strange guy stalking normal dude with a combination of gifts, victim cards and life meddling. With the dynamic between the two characters mostly static, Stiller is forced into prolonging some pretty mediocre scenes well past their sell-by date, a medieval-style battle between Steve and Chip in a knight-themed restaurant serving as a particularly tedious example.

A real-crime courtroom drama runs in the background on numerous television channels within the film, featuring Stiller as a murderous twin who was a former sitcom child star. The parallel story seems intended as a representation of the new low for television culture, but Stiller the director treats it as an odd distraction, leaving lingering doubts as to whether the idea was ever fully baked.

Better is the overarching theme of the film. Chip is a victim of a childhood spent in front of the television as babysitter, his growth stunted, and his mind atrophied into an inability to conduct normal social interactions. The Cable Guy effectively plays with the cascading consequences of one wrong move, Steve's problems stemming from his singular request for Chip to illegally enable channels in return for a bribe.

Carrey is excellent in the title role, combining comedy and menace to good effect and frequently letting loose with his unique brand of physical comedy, but this time with sinister undertones. Broderick's laid-back attitude similarly works well, Steve a relatively predictable canvass for Chip to paint his plot on. George Segal and Diane Baker have small turns as Steve's parents, while Owen Wilson appears as Robin' new suitor.

The Cable Guy provides a good picture, but can't avoid some crossed wires.

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Movie Review: Enemy Of The State (1998)

A classy techno-thriller, Enemy Of The State finds a groove where political conspiracy meets sleek action and rides it all the way to excellence.

At a secluded park, Washington DC National Security Agency official Thomas Brian Reynolds (Jon Voight) arranges for the murder of Congressman Phil Hammersley (Jason Robards), who is opposed to the passage of legislation that would give security agencies expanded powers of surveillance. The murder is captured by a hidden camera deployed to film wildlife. The digital file of the assassination ends up with corporate lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith), who is grappling with an ugly case involving mafia corruption. Dean gets help on his court cases from old flame Rachel Banks (Lisa Bonet), a go-between with a mysterious investigator known only as Brill.

To recover the incriminating file Reynolds activates an illicit operation to track Dean's movements, infiltrate his life, and destroy his credit, marriage and reputation. By using satellites, commandeering surveillance networks and deploying the latest spy bugs and tracking devices, Reynolds' team force Dean into a life on the run. An attempt to frame Dean for murder forces him to seek help from the reclusive Brill (Gene Hackman), an ex-NSA agent. Together Dean and Brill have to find a way to end Reynolds' reign of terror.

One of director Tony Scott's more intelligent outings, Enemy Of The State was perceptive in 1998 but became a frightful predictor of reality 15 years later when whistleblower Edward Snowden lifted the lid on the actual surveillance reach of intelligence agencies. If Enemy Of The State was exaggerated by the imagination of screenwriter David Marconi, it ironically became a template for agencies to strive for in the Patriot Act era.

Intersections with reality aside, the film is a slick thrill ride. Scott creates an almost plausible narrative to hang the action on, and the story of an innocent but smart victim getting snagged into a sprawling conspiracy is a modern interpretation of a classic Hitchcock theme, but with a better MacGuffin in the digital assassination file.

The pacing is brisk, and the visual style is consumed with all that satellite, camera, computer and snooping technology has to offer. The opening 30 minutes set up the premise with professional care, allowing the hectic middle third to launch with breathless precision as the technology is unleashed to turn Dean's life into a living nightmare. The final act is clever, as Marconi finds a blood-soaked but satisfying climax, Dean arranging for his problems old and new to meet in a greasy kitchen filled with hidden weapons and short tempers.

Enemy Of The State was the first serious role that Will Smith tackled after achieving superstardom, and he demonstrates plenty of charisma and control to channel his energy away from comedy and towards the rollercoaster man-on-the-run structure. Smith still gets to unleash some funny ad-libbed lines, but for the most part Dean is a man hunted by much greater forces, and has to deploy wit and desperate physicality rather than humour to stay alive.

Two veterans provide distinguished support, Jon Voight and Gene Hackman carrying their well-earned battle scars into a final confrontation between political expediency and lone wolf ideology. The film also gets the demographics of the techno-wizards right, a young and dishevelled group including Jack Black, Scott Caan, Jake Busey and Loren Dean tapping away at the array of keyboards to deploy surveillance technology as a weapon of mass intimidation. In addition to Robards as the world-weary Senator, Gabriel Byrne shows up in a small role as the frantic Dean tries to track down Brill.

Prescient and pointy, Enemy Of The State is a frightful vision of what could happen when glitzy tools fall into the grubby hands of the paranoid and power hungry.

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Movie Review: The Muppets (2011)

A wafer thin exercise in nostalgia, The Muppets celebrates the frantically positive attitude of the 1970s critters, but fails to add anything new or worthwhile to remember.

Walter, a muppet, and Gary (Jason Segel) are brothers growing up in Smalltown. When Gary and his long-term fiancée Mary (Amy Adams) invite Walter along for a trip to Los Angeles, he is thrilled to finally have a chance to visit the Muppet Theater. But when they get there, they find the place abandoned and decrepit, and Walter overhears a plan by evil developer Mr. Richman (Chris Cooper) to buy the place, raze it to the ground, and drill for oil.

Walter races to find Kermit and convinces him to reunite the old gang, put on a Muppet Show telethon, and raise the required $10 Million to buy back the Muppet Theater. A road trip follows, and Kermit tracks down the likes of Fozzie Bear in a Reno dive struggling as a stand-up comic, Gonzo as a successful plumbing tycoon, drummer Animal undergoing anger management therapy in a group that includes Jack Black, and Miss Piggy as a fashion magazine editor in Paris.

The reunited muppets convince television executive Veronica (Rashida Jones) to broadcast the telethon. As preparations for the show get underway, Kermit and Miss Piggy try to sort out their feelings for each other, Walter struggles with his destiny, Gary has to decide if The Muppets or Mary are more important in his life, and The Muppets have to overcome Mr. Richman's attempts to disrupt their efforts.

While it's always great to enjoy time with Kermit and the gang, the generally forgettable songs and production numbers are directed at the very young, and the script (co-written by Segel) is utterly predictable and lacking in anything that can be construed as wit or genuine laughs. There are some self-depreciating moments, but they smack more of desperation than confidence.

Jason Segel channels Dick Van Dyke at his least convincing, an actor not able to move beyond portraying the role as anything more than entertainment at a party for six year olds. Amy Adams goes through The Muppets almost openly wondering what on earth she is doing.

A long list of names make cameo appearances, including Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Arkin, Emily Blunt, Neil Patrick Harris, Selena Gomez, Mickey Rooney and Judd Hirsch, in a case of too many well-wishers suffocating the party.

The Muppets is a reunion with long-lost friends: some warm memories are shared, but ultimately the experience does emphasize that yes, the world has firmly moved on.

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Movie Review: Dead Man Walking (1995)

A death penalty drama, Dead Man Walking is a powerful examination of the rights and wrongs of penalizing killers by killing them. Written and directed by Tim Robbins and based on a true story, the film strives for clear-sighted balance, and Robbins draws an Academy Award-winning performances from his partner Susan Sarandon.

In Louisiana, social worker Sister Helen Prejean (Sarandon) receives a letter from convicted rapist and murderer Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), requesting her help. Found guilty in the rape and murder of two teens, he is about to be executed, and would like her to lead efforts to secure a pardon.

Helen has never assisted a death row convict before, and starts a series of meetings with Matthew at the State Penitentiary. Matthew is both physically imposing and emotionally dominating; Helen quickly finds herself believing his claims of innocence. The community turns against her, outraged that she is helping a brutal convict and ignoring the victims' families. Helen resets, establishes contact with the parents of the dead teens, gains a more balanced perspective, and starts to help Matthew spiritually come to terms with his life and actions as his legal appeals are exhausted and he heads for a final date with death by legal injection.

An intense study of two characters, Sarandon and Penn carry the film and soar with it. Much of Dead Man Walking consists of compelling one-on-one dialogue scenes, Sarandon and Penn portraying characters from different worlds sitting inches apart separated only by thick glass. The arc starts with Helen tentative but eager to help, making every possible mistake as she falls under Matthew's spell and forgets about the victims. Gradually she regains her composure, and recognizes her mission: saving Matthew from himself, since no one else will do it. In a race against time, Sarandon's triumph is to keep Helen tentative, vulnerable, and unsure as she finally guides Matthew to a confrontation with who he is.

In an Academy Award nominated performance, Sean Penn is just as intriguing. His Matthew Poncelet is arrogantly in denial, fully aware that his poverty and upbringing placed him at a huge societal disadvantage, and willing to embrace the fringes of behaviours and attitudes to compensate.

Robbins does not shy away from both sides of the death penalty argument. The brutality of Matthew's crime is slowly revealed throughout the film: the more Matthew is humanized through his encounters with Helen, the more his vicious past is brought into focus. And once Helen turns her attention to the parents of the slain victims, she finds their pain raw and their lust for justice unwavering.

Dead Man Walking proudly occupies the grey zone, where most of life takes places and there are no easy answers: just people who are the product of their circumstances dealing with the consequences of their actions.

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