The Great Summer Movies of 2017
This was a pretty unremarkable summer for film. It wasn’t the worst, recent years like 2013 and 2016 probably had less to offer, but the hits were sparing and the bad was plentiful. The biggest problem was the same one with a lot of modern films, is that a lot of said movies fell into a milquetoast middle. There was a lot that just came and went. There were a few gems, however.
Wonder Woman – With how the DCEU had been going prior to Wonder Woman, it was hard to imagine a good movie coming out of this system. Director Patty Jenkins delves into the source material with an authentic earnestness that doesn’t come often. Jenkins’ choice to focus on the multifaceted nature of humans, including the struggles of her not-as-human protagonist, lend a depth that allows the viewer to become invested in what could have easily been an outlandish, silly plot.
Baby Driver – Edgar Wright’s latest, and his first film to be based off of an original script that was not part of the Cornetto Trilogy, is likely his best. Shaun of the Dead is still a masterstroke and Hot Fuzz is incomparable, but Baby Driver has a certain addictive quality to it. This’ll be a movie that gets quoted a lot in the years to come, because of a certain energy to its craft that demands rewatch upon rewatch. Baby Driver establishes Wright as a voice who will stick around for years to come.
Detroit – The part of Detroit that kills me is how relevant a lot of this still is. It would be easy for Kathryn Bigelow’s latest effort to turn into a preachy political lecture and venture into territory that would render it unwatchable, but Bigelow is too meticulous. Every aspect of the institutions that created the Detroit riots is explored with Bigelow never neglecting the human element. She displays the same talent she showed in The Hurt Locker with how she manages and maintains steady tension. The interrogation in this movie is lengthy, but there’s a sense of uneasiness and nervousness and nauseousness throughout that is just grotesque but nevertheless engaging.
Rough Night – Rough Night is not a great movie, it is too obedient to conventions, but its one that got slammed by critics on its mid-June release, which is sad and baffling because its consistently funny and quite enjoyable. What works here is the timing, there are a lot of dumb jokes being delivered smartly with credit to be given to its strong cast. Director Lucia Aniello also is able to aptly deviate from dark humor back to tamer material with ease. Something this movie does that works with dark humor is that the actual inciting incident is treated with gravity and taken seriously. The humor thereafter then serves as a critique of the characters and how they handle the events afterwards. While Aniello cannot find an apt way to end it and it is a pastiche of other films, Rough Night is a passable rental.
Written by Jeff Turner
