Treasure Island (1990)

When: 1990, Bale's sixth film

Age: 16

Genre/Director: Action/Adventure; Charlton Heston's son, Fraser Clarke Heston

Mike says my only real thought while watching the film is how ADHD modern adventure films are with fast cuts, shaky cam, and elaborate action sequences.

This film, however, is charmingly simple in comparison: mild even.  This mildness pervades every scene, to the point that suspenseful scenes have a way of sneaking up and past without much warning, and come as a surprise, well, MILD surprise.  Such as when the row boat is leaving the ship with cannon fire hitting all around.  The tone of the scene is so consistent with the rest of the movie, that it was with, again, mild shock that I watched the boat get hit and sink.  Oh, I guess there was danger. Cool.

I'm not sure what it was exactly, whether it was the limited soundtrack, or the rather calm narration by Bale that made the film feel very passive . . . as if these things are happening, and we'll film them, but in a rather calm way.

Despite this description, I don't think it's a bad movie; rather I think the modern movie goer, such as myself, is used to far more stimulus than the standard story needs, which often results in films being far overdone to appease an overstimulated audience.

The sheer economy of this film is impressive.  Not cost, so much as the restraint used to communicate only what the story needs.  The film is actually very faithful to the novel, featuring scenes straight out of my memories of the original story.

Bale as Jim seems to be one of those "well duh" decisions.  You have a very talented, well-reviewed, British child actor about the right age to portray a classic hero from literature.  The young actor seems to like challenging and serious roles.  In fact, one wonders if Bale saw this as a break, or "fun role" after a string of very serious dramatic roles.

As I mentioned, the narration isn't very moving, or even useful, but his performance throughout the film is fairly good, although somewhat mellow.  The only real spark of mania in the film is Heston's Long John, a cheerfully enthusiastic performance that seems almost out of place in the film's otherwise calm and steady pace.

That truly sad part of all this is that the American audience has chosen Michael Bay films over this type of storytelling.  Loud explosions every few seconds, lense flairs and dramatic poses wash the thoughts out of a viewer's mind.  Treasure Island, on the other hand, seems to rely on the viewer's interaction and involvement as much as the novel did.

Now, could someone point me to the nearest explosion?

Kate says the one thing I really like about this film is that the pirates are complete thugs. They aren't romantic figures at all. Despite my enjoyment of Johnny Depp as "the worst pirate ever," I've never really understood the attraction of the pirating-life. Or why Disney Land would even have a pirates "ride."

But Treasure Island's pirates are greedy, selfish thieves. The clever cool-headedness of Israel Hands and Long John Silver is off-set by superstitious, short-sighted brutes. A few generations later, the latter pirates would be snorting their own drug supply.

In comparison, Long John Silver's amorality looks almost meritorious. But it is still an absence of moral thought or reasoning. Jim correctly identifies the squire, doctor, and Captain Smollett as more worthy of his loyalty despite their rather English, unimaginative stolidness.

It's a good story! And Turner Entertainment does a respectable job telling the story. Realizing that Charlton Heston's son directed the movie explained a lot to me, however. There have dozens of Treasure Island movies (including one from 2012!). Why this one at this time with these actors? I'm guessing it was a personal project.

And Charlton Heston does an excellent job as the scoundrel Long John who is both likable and detestable at the same time. And I get a kick out of Clive Wood as the captain. James Cosmos (of Highlander) shows up again to do his dying Scottish thing. In fact, the minor parts are quite well-played.

I wince to say it, but the remaining characters come off as rather more wooden (this was not my reaction as a youth, by the way)--at least in terms of dialog. Christian Bale's strength throughout the film does NOT lie in his verbal delivery of lines. Rather, his strength is in the sheer physical energy of his scenes. In general, the action scenes are the best part of the movie and are often quite evocative. Bale forcing Hands to move the ship is a particularly good one (though I do like the swivel cannon blowing things to smithereens; it reminds me of the Buffy episode "Innocence" when Buffy pulls out the rocket launcher).

I hadn't really realized--until beginning this list--how much Bale is in fact a physical actor. Amid the pigeon-holes of my brain, Bale was slotted into the "cerebral/artsy movies" hole despite a great deal of evidence to the contrary.

Not that Bale doesn't DO cerebral/artsy movies but, like Keanu Reeves, he tends towards physical action. Reeves--who is perhaps one of the most dreadful drama actors in existence (though I did like him in The Lake House)--is a magnificent physical actor. It never occurred to me until now that Bale--who is not usually a dreadful drama actor--belonged in the same category.

It seems Bale has been preparing for Batman for much longer than I realized!