‘The Wraith’: Skank and Gutterboy Got Lunched Out at the Warehouse
The Wraith probably isn’t the quintessential ’80s movie, but it does have Charlie Sheen magically exacting revenge on some murderous punks. Hey, it works!
What exactly is “The Wraith” in Mike Marvin’s The Wraith? Well, the character isn’t the villain of the piece, yet it almost is. It is a spiritual force driven by vengeance, sort of like a mirror image of the bad guys. It is another spiritual vigilante character. It also seems to be a metaphor for a dark mass that overtakes man, devouring the vast majority of humanity into inhumanity, and bringing it a new word that sums it up: Anarchy. Yes, that big, scary “A word,” embodied in the spirit of punk rock style, ethos, and chaos. That’s because, quite often in 1980s and ’90s movies, punks were scary, scary dudes. Either that or the bad guy was a wealthy playboy-type, willing to shoot someone dead for some dumb reason.
That’s not the case here, though. Our bad guy is a punk-ish bully named Packard Walsh (Nick Cassavetes), His ragtag gang of misfits contains colorfully named characters like the mohawk-sporting Skank (David Sherrill), Gutterboy (Jamie Bozian), and the nerdy Rughead (Clint Howard). Their opponent? In addition to opposing law and good manners in general, they must deal with a high-powered Charlie Sheen. That’s right. He might actually play a character in The Wraith, including The Wraith itself, but he’s still just goddamn Charlie Sheen. The Wraith comes equipped with a bad-ass car, which Wikipedia tells me is a Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor (I don’t know jack shit about cars, but I do know it looks cool).
“She’s My Girl”
While Skank and Gutterboy often deliver some sill-billy lines, the movie does have a few serious themes throughout. These mostly involve Packard Walsh, the tough guy who thinks he owns the drive-in restaurant waitress named Keri Johnson (Sherilyn Fenn). We’re not given a list of criteria about why he’s so drawn to her. He just is, and he will not take “No” for an answer. There is a vague sense that Packard and his crew are their own “family,” being rejected by society at large. They are, in many ways, the rebels without causes or clues. They just bully people because they think it’s cool.
That might not be an accurate representation of punk rock or anarchism, but that’s just the 1980s pop culture framework here, take it or leave it! It’s ridiculous. Ultimately, Packard’s lifestyle is as devastating as his ill-conceived promise to make Keri his at all costs. The Wraith ends up picking them all off, and it’s bizarrely supernatural. There’s also a cop character called Sheriff Loomis (Randy Quaid), but he mostly just stands aside and comments while The Wraith does its thing. There comes a time to shrug when some supernatual entity picks off bullies and gutterpunks. Why interfere? It’s nature’s way.
Will the real Charlie Sheen please stand up?
Technically, Charlie Sheen’s character is named James “Jamie” Hankins. He had previously been a victim of murder, but somehow rolls back into town in various formats: One is as Charlie Sheen, the other is as The Wraith (apparently the school janitor job was taken). We learn very early on that Packard was Hankins’ murderer, and is ultimately the source of the movies’ mayhem. Keri suffers from nightmares, particularly of Jamie’s death and his killer. There’s a sense that Packard has nothing against committing a similar crime. He’s an a-hole.
It’s not all serious stuff, though. Keri and Charlie Sheen hang out a bunch, and when she rides on his dirt bike, she might as well say, “This is the coolest bike I’ve ever ridden!” Also, when he drives off, you get the sense that she sees him as the stupid-ass bad-boy stereotype. Indeed, he is a bit of a bad boy. At the end of the day, he’ll look to Packard’s gang and say, “Yep, everybody died. That’s the best feeling I’ve had in my life. Do you want a ride with me?” He and Keri also get it on at one point, and there are a few T&A moments scattered throughout, earning some extra 1980s points.
The Wraith is a bit confusing, though, because Sheen’s character is also named Jacob “Jake” Kesey. So, basically, he has three apparently distinct identities. In any case, it gives him options. He’ll drive around in the Wraith-mobile, or maybe race through the Arizona desert at the end of a dirt road on the bike. Even without seeing it on screen, we can easily imagine Jake on his Enduro, as comfortable as possible, tearing through switchbacks. As the sun goes down and the desert gets dark, Jake — the righteous, vengeful specter bad boy — gets the girl. Talk about bi-winning with some tiger blood dipping sauce!
What are your thoughts on The Wraith! Get vengeful in the comments!
Episode two of Wheel of Time felt like the beginning of a long journey. Stories are unfolding, lives are changing, and blood is spilling.
Let’s discuss.
The story
We begin this episode in the past with Elayne’s mother, Queen Morgase. It turns out her rise to the throne was a bit, shall we say, cutthroat. So when she shows up at the White Tower, Siuan is concerned.
She might have reason to be, too.
Meanwhile, Rand, Egwene, Moiraine, Lan and Aviendha are in the Spine of The World. As they travel through some of the most breathtaking lands I have ever seen on a TV show, Egwene is plagued with nightmares. We think at first that’s just her trauma working itself through her system. But we soon find out that it might not be that straightforward.
Finally, Perrin returns home to heal after his hand is almost cut in half. But when he gets there he finds the town has been infested by Children of The Light. And they’re looking for him.
What worked
There was something heartwarming in this episode about political espionage and choking religious persecution. And that is Elayne’s relationship with her family.
I have consumed a lot of fantasy content with royal families. And I have never once heard a princess call her mother ‘Mum’. I’ve never seen royal siblings get along. And I have sure as hell never seen a princess have a good relationship with her step-parent.
This was refreshing. Even though Queen Morgase is kind of a horrible person she seems like a good mother. And that’s an unexpected delight.
Of course, this is just one storyline among many. And while this can sometimes be overwhelming, in this case it wasn’t.
I’ll be honest, some of these storylines are going to drag for me. I know this because I’ve read some of the Wheel of Time books and I have an idea that not all the characters exactly pique my interest.
No one likes all the characters. No one likes all the storylines. While I am here for the political espionage between Queen Morgase and Siuan, not everyone likes it. While others might be fascinated with Selene trying to win Rand back, I couldn’t care less.
Having multiple storylines keeps everyone’s attention better. So long as things don’t get out of hand. Things can easily get out of hand. But this seems to be managed well.
So far.
What didn’t work
As I mentioned above, I’m not thrilled with Rand’s story at this point. And while it’s fine to not like a storyline when there are this many to choose from, it’s not fantastic that the one I like the least is the one involving our two main characters. And anytime we were with the team at the Spine of The World, the only thing that brought me joy was Moirain’s hat. It reminded me of Stockard Channing’s hat in Practical Magic.
The problem is that Rand is Charlie Brown with controversial magical powers. He is boring, serious, and pessimistic.
And yes, I understand that he has a heavy emotional burden and he’s the Dragon Reborn and that’s quite taxing and all. But let’s be fair, there isn’t a single person in this show that doesn’t have a heavy burden. And most of them manage to be fun occasionally.
All that being said, this episode of Wheel of Time did exactly what it needed to do. It set up conflicts at each of the three locations. It established emotional ties between the characters and the events. And it established goals for everyone.
This was, in short, a solid episode. Not groundbreaking, not mind-blowing or life changing. It was simply good. It was entertaining and moved the plot forward.
Well done.
(3.5 / 5)
Wheel of Time is back for season three. There are mixed feelings regarding this. Last season, there were some serious pacing issues. And some serious sticking to the book’s storyline issues. But we’re two seasons in, and we don’t give up so easily. So let’s dive into episode one, To Race the Shadow.
By the way, I highly recommend watching this episode with the subtitles on. You’ll see why.
The story
We begin this episode with Liandrin facing a trial of sorts for her rampant betrayal. She does her best to gaslight her Aes Sedai sisters into thinking that Siuan Sanche is the real traitor.
When that doesn’t work, she reveals how many Black Aes Sedai have actually infiltrated the tower.
Spoiler, it’s a lot.
In the aftermath, our whole team gathers to drink and enjoy one night of relaxation before they head out to the Tear to form an army for Rand. All is going well until they’re attacked by myriad creatures and a sentient axe.
What worked
This episode was long. It had a run time of an hour and eleven minutes. And a lot of that run time was spent in heavy dialog scenes.
Fortunately, these were well-done scenes.
If you’re going to have a lot of talking scenes, there are good ways and bad ways to do it. Last season, we saw lots of examples of the bad way to do it. But this episode did it well. For one thing, other things were going on while conversations were taking place. The characters are drinking, playing games, walking through an interesting city. And the scenes themselves didn’t stretch out. They weren’t repetitive. We heard what the character had to say, then we moved on.
It was also nice that the point of these scenes wasn’t just info dumps. We had character development. We had romantic interactions. We had plot development and foreshadowing.
Overall, this episode felt like what it was. A moment of calm before a storm.
Taking a step back, I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the fight scene at the start of the episode. Because it was epic.
The magic looked amazing. The martial arts that went along with it looked fantastic. The costumes were beautiful. It was just incredibly fun to watch.
More than that, it was emotional. We lost some characters in that fight that were important. And it was clearly emotionally shattering for many of our characters, who found themselves betrayed by people they trusted.
So many of them.
It was a great way to open the season.
What didn’t work
Despite that, this episode wasn’t without its flaws.
First off, there were a lot of dialog scenes. And they were good scenes, as I’ve already discussed. But it was one after another after another. And when your episode is, again, an hour and eleven minutes, it’s maybe a little much to have so much chit-chat. Couldn’t some of these conversations, important as they were, have been moved to maybe another episode?
Finally, I want to talk about Egwene’s travel through the arches.
I feel like maybe there were some deleted scenes here. Because there must have been more to that visit than what we saw, right?
We could have seen Egwene battle Rand. That would have been badass and emotionally devastating. We could have seen her with a quiet life with Rand back home at the Two Rivers. We could have seen anything except for the quick clip of Rand in a bloody river, followed by Egwene being shoved back out in a bloody shift.
Bad job. But at least it wasn’t an extended scene of Moiraine collecting bathwater, and then taking a bath while looking sad. If we’d started this season with another scene like that, it might have broken my brain.
Amazon dropped the first three episodes at once. So we’ll be back soon to talk about episode two. See you then.
(4 / 5)
Early 2000s is a special era for the industry. It accepts the cheesiness and corniness of movie making, in turn producing some gems in their own right. Eight Legged Freaks starring David Arquette and young Scarlet Johanson is a horror comedy about giant spiders who overtake a small town. As crazy as that premise sounds, the movie surprisingly has a ton of heart and is super entertaining. Let’s review, shall we?
Plot
We start Eight Legged Freaks with a shot of toxic waste spilling into the water supply of Joshua, a spider farm owner. He is friends with Mike, one of our protagonists, who is a science geek and a spider enthusiast. Mike notices something quite right upon visiting Joshua, but no one takes him seriously. We are then introduced to the rest of the crew. Mike’s mother Samantha, the town sheriff, is too busy chasing Ashley, his sister, who is dating the town mayor’s son Bret (something Samantha does not approve of). We also have Chris, who returns to the town to save his father’s legacy in the town mines. He has opposition from Wade, Bret’s father, who wants to use the mines for his business ventures. Lots of drama going on that will only get juicier once the spiders get loose.
The creepy crawlies quickly dispose of Joshua and make their grand appearance after Ashley rejects Bret’s advances, abandoning him in the middle of a desert. A glorious chase sequence ensues as the spiders make their way towards the town, wreaking havoc on its residents. In a true horror fashion (which the movie acknowledges), it takes some convincing from Mike and then from Samantha for the town to take the threat seriously. The tongue-in-cheek style of narrative adds the comedy aspect to a movie that would otherwise burn out fairly quickly.
The remaining characters hide out in a shopping mall as it’s the only somewhat sturdy building in the area. This doesn’t last long as the spiders break in, forcing them to run through the mines. Their resources to fight the creepy crawlies off are limited as the methane gas doesn’t allow them to use firearms. Such conditions require resourceful thinking from Chris, who uses perfume to fend off the leader of the spider group and save himself during the climax of the movie.
Character dynamics are not forgotten once the action kicks in. We have Chris confessing his long-term feelings for Samantha which she knew all along, which provided some comedic relief. Bret also reunites with Ashley and apologises for being an asshole. Mike finally gets the appreciation he deserves as his knowledge saves the townsfolk more than once during the whole ordeal.
We end the movie with the town’s radio show person telling the story as an urban legend during his segment. This brings it into question – how much of it happened the way he said it did? We can only guess…
Overall thoughts
Eight Legged Freaks is a fun creature feature with some self-aware commentary on genre tropes that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The acting is good, the pacing fitting and the characters are likeable enough for you to want them to make it through. Definitely a must watch, if you don’t suffer from arachnophobia, that is.
(5 / 5)