Tag: Matt Adler

Fear Case (2021) #3

Fear case 3

Wait, Fear Case only runs four issues? I thought it ran five.

Unfortunately, having one less issue and doing a double-decker bridge issue with the penultimate one is even worse than doing a double-decker bridge issue in the middle of a five issue series.

There’s some fine art. Tyler Jenkins gets to do… well, he gets to do some apartment buildings, a bar, some desert. A warehouse. Nothing particularly exciting or heavy lifting, but it’s always good art.

The story has one of the Secret Service agents losing track of the other Secret Service agent on the last day they’re supposed to do the “Fear Case” case. They went out and got drunk the night before because it’s easier to get drunk than do work (the “cops getting shitfaced and bemoaning their lack of progress” trope doesn’t age well in the Internet-era because it just means they don’t know how to do their job).

After a talky opening, writer Matt Kindt decides he’s not going to really do dialogue the rest of the issue, having the not missing agent literally have a one-sided conversation to avoid him getting any closer in his investigation, while the missing agent has an almost one sided conversation for effect. It’s one of those “well, you’re three issues in already, what are you going to do” bridging issues—Kindt splits the narrative between the two agents so he can get two cliffhangers in two different storylines, despite the series only having the joint agent perspective until now—and it undoubtedly will read better in the trade.

And the art’s nice.

Flight of the Navigator (1986, Randal Kleiser)

Flight of the Navigator works on a principal of delayed charm; eventually, it’s got to be charming, right? No, no, it doesn’t. The film’s a series of false starts. The only thing approaching a pay-off is Paul Reubens–voicing an alien spaceship–going into a riff on his “Pee-Wee” routine. It’s not even a good routine. Worse, the film wastes kid lead Joey Cramer’s substantial likability. He’s not great, but he’s not annoying. He’s always sympathetic. Well, until the idiotic conclusion.

Navigator runs ninety minutes. Almost the first hour is about Cramer, missing for eight years, returning to his family. Only Cramer’s the same age; what happened in those missing eight years. For some reason, Howard Hesseman’s NASA scientist thinks it’s got to be linked to the alien spaceship they just discovered. Flight of the Navigator takes place over like three days. The film does a weak job establishing the characters, even weaker after it jumps forward eight years, so it’s hard to sympathize with anyone. You’re not supposed to sympathize with Hesseman, who’s just a jerk. He’s incredibly miscast.

Most of the acting is fine. Cliff De Young and Veronica Cartwright have thin parts as Cramer’s parents, but they’re both fine. Matt Adler’s kind of weak as his now older brother, but with the script, it’s not like Adler was going to be able to do anything with it. Same goes for Sarah Jessica Parker, who’s basically just around to gently flirt with twelve-year-old Cramer and explain the eighties to him.

Technically, the film approaches competent. Director Kleiser tries for grandiose with the first half and fails, but has more success once the spaceship comes into it. Alan Silvestri’s music is lacking. Nothing else stands out. I mean, James Glennon’s photography is boring, but it isn’t bad.

While Flight of the Navigator is still about Cramer reappearing after eight years, it has a far amount of potential. Even during some of the last third’s special effects sequence, it has some left. It’s dwindling, but it’s still there. Until the lame finish, which lacks any dramatic heft. The film’s not long enough and the script’s not good enough to make Cramer’s adventure resonate. Flight of the Navigator could have run fifteen minutes and had the same dramatic impact. It’s slight and not diverting enough.

0/4ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Directed by Randal Kleiser; screenplay by Michael Burton and Matt MacManus, based on a story by Mark H. Baker; director of photography, James Glennon; edited by Jeff Gourson; music by Alan Silvestri; production designer, William J. Creber; produced by Robert Wald and Dimitri Villard; released by Walt Disney Pictures.

Starring Joey Cramer (David Freeman), Cliff De Young (Bill Freeman), Veronica Cartwright (Helen Freeman), Matt Adler (Jeff), Sarah Jessica Parker (Carolyn McAdams), Howard Hesseman (Dr. Louis Faraday) and Paul Reubens (Max).

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