“Tomorrowland” surprised me.
Movies

I did not predict the brilliance of “Tomorrowland”

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“Tomorrowland” isn’t a futuristic utopia, as I expected, but rather a place existing firmly in the present. Yes it’s a place where the future is devised, shaped and created; a place not exactly on Earth though not in space, either; a place created and populated by geniuses; but it’s a very present-day location, nonetheless, and I loved it.

As a young inventor, Frank Walker (George Clooney) is invited to join the Tomorrowland society, a society of geniuses with dreams too big for the regular world. Frank is mesmerized by the creative possibilities of the place, but more-so by the girl who invited him there; the captivating Athena (Raffey Cassidy).

Athena is a character who constantly surprised me. From scene to scene, her actions and reactions, personality and motivations would change so that I never knew what to expect. Actually, ‘change’ is the wrong word; ‘deepen’ is better. Her character deepened in unpredictable ways with each scene, and that unpredictability was brilliant, especially when she interacts with old Frank (Clooney) who is absolutely brilliant in his role as a cynical exiled dreamer forced to fight his way back to a place of unresolved fear, guilt, and love.

“Tomorrowland” is fronted by a trio, however, and Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) filled the third leading role. And while her overly annoying optimism at the start of the film bugged me, it became an endearing character trait within minutes, and then deepened into a vital aspect of her personality and the entire plot of the movie.

Though it became a wonderful quality, optimism was nowhere near Newton’s best quality in the film. That honor goes to her banter with Frank and Athena. She was entirely real in her reaction to the craziness that becomes her life, and that largely includes interacting with the Clooney and Raffey characters in reaction to said craziness – and she does it well.

Casey played a third-wheel role perfectly. Frank and Athena had a 25-year-long history and Casey is tossed right into that. But she’s very aware of her third wheel status and is confident and optimistic enough to not get in the way of their relationship. Instead, she interacts with them, fights with them, and empathizes with their world until, without anyone really saying anything, she’s one of them. I found it uplifting and emotionally satisfying to see how well these three characters interacted.

I mentioned fighting twice in that last paragraph, and I want to mention it more. The fighting was incredible, and completely unexpected. Within each fight scene I was constantly thrown off guard by their tactics, the way they moved, the punches and kicks delivered, the weapons and even the real identity of the characters involved. I have seen a lot of action movies, and for the most part, the fights look like I expect fights to look like. I enjoy those fights immensely, but they aren’t surprising in any way: “Tomorrowland” surprised me.

Really the only disappointment was Hugh Laurie in the role of Nix, the villain. It actually wasn’t clear that he was the villain until the very end (spoiler). That wasn’t the problem, though. The problem was that, after over an hour and a half of brilliant originality, Nix monologues his plan very poorly and the plan itself is so terribly, awfully, ridiculously cliché and boring that I lost all interest in him.

Thankfully, Laurie is only in the movie for about 10 minutes. But hey, in a horrible way, even the villain was unexpected and surprising, which is really the best description of what makes “Tomorrowland” so great.

Thanks to Fat Cats in Rexburg for providing screenings for movie reviews on EastIdahoNews.com.

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