A new distinct shadow is emerging within contemporary American film. This new other does not have a proper face so it cannot be furnished with appropriate make up, accent and other character tropes.
C. Scott Jordan
This is the age of superheroes. Hardly a month goes by without a new superhero flick. If cinema is the engine of empire, as Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies tell us in American Terminator, then a declining empire indicates that the engine itself is in serious trouble.
The Revenant at face value is a story of a man who survives a brutal bear attack to then seek revenge on those who killed his son and left him for dead. Could a story be more appealing to American audiences?
Once you’ve seen one American war-in-the-Middle-East movie, you’ve seen them all. That’s what I thought. But the controversy surrounding American Sniper somehow persuaded me to pay a visit to my local multiplex.