Spielberg doesn't need saving - why I love his 21st century career

The Rec Show sent me a nice article written by Chris talking about his love for Steven Spielberg, although he doesn't talk about the director's 21st century career. He has directed six movies in six years don't ya know and has a seventh movie coming out in March, which might be a big deal ya know. Some people hate Spielberg's post-2000 career. Hell, some people hated his post-1993 career. Yes, I would say his work this millennium is of a different tone, I am going to argue that he is a better film-maker now than he was 30 years ago and his awe and wonder has been replaced by a maturity which leaves us with some fascinating movies.

I'm always hesitant to talk about A.I. when it involves Spielberg. It's the only film on his filmography that isn't really is. It's like Tim Burton's version of Planet of the Apes, it's not his movie and circumstance got him the job and little else. It's so blatantly Stanley Kubrick's vision with Spielberg's camera trying to imitate someone else's style. We will let Spielberg off over that one and I'm not going to try and convince you that there is much good to take from the film because I really don't believe there is. It fails on nearly every avenue from where I sit but it wouldn't be long until Spielberg would knock one out of the ball park...

Then came Minority Report, a big sci-fi summer blockbuster movie that felt more like the Spielberg of old. It had the wonder, it had the imagination and scope and I believe it to probably be the director's most under-rated movie. It's a film that drives you to think alongside it as it depicts a near future where criminals are guilty before they have even committed a crime. You question your own morals along the way and wonder whether man is guilty even for just thinking about committing a horrendous act, even if they don't go through with it. This movie felt like Spielberg's first of the new millennium and it showed us great storytelling alongside a director who could use special effects to enhance his story. Minority Report is almost like The Bourne Identity but with a clever science fiction twist which truly fascinates me on every single watch. A great movie.

Then came Catch Me If You Can just a year later, a great homage to a by-gone era of cinema and film-making. A fascinating cat and mouse game where Spielberg has so much fun dotting around with various locations, genre's and set designs. The movie is one of the most entertaining that Spielberg has ever made but it also has those great moments from Leonardo DiCaprio where we are allowed to reflect on a deeper meaning.

What does it mean to live the life of a lie? What does it mean to put your whole weight behind an idea only to find out that who your fighting for doesn't feel the same? What does it mean to be alone? What does it mean to watch your mother lead a new life with a new family? Is a 9 to 5 job the real prison in society? Is it better to run away from your problems? Does confidence and appearance get you anywhere in life? I mean for example, for all you guys know I'm a 7 year old kid with a pc trying my thoughts on movies. You would never question it because of the setup of the site and the authority that this website gives me. (Note: I'm not really 7). I love Catch Me If You Can for it's nostalgia tone and simple premise that shows a director and his crew having the time of their life.

The Terminal is probably the one you going to question my liking of the most but I think it's truly admirable work. Spielberg has almost took the criticism on board from some that Catch Me If You Can was only fun because of the big sets, locations and costumes so he has decided to deliver us a movie that is set in one location, with very little in terms of costume change.

Most of my problems with The Terminal come in the screenplay. The relationship between Tom Hanks' character and Catherine Zeta Jones feels contrived and a side attraction used to pan out the real story of a guy being stuck in an airport.

As far as direction goes, this is superb work from Spielberg. The lighting, his innovative camera work and the way he disguises the set (yes folks, that really wasn't an airport they filmed that movie in, extraordinary isn't it?) deserves real great praise. I enjoyed The Terminal and the performance from Hanks especially when Zeta Jones wasn't on our screens but the reasons I watched it a second and a third time was because of the director's vision and direction.

You can criticise the movie's story problems, but never what Spielberg did with it..

Boy, back in 2005 there were two movies I was anticipating more than ANYTHING I was in 2004 (which I felt was a rather barren year for film). They were Batman Begins and War of the Worlds, the latter coming a few weeks before The Dark Knight's return. For sixty minutes, War of the Worlds was as exciting as Minority Report but just not quite as clever. What it lacked in imagination though it gained by being set in a real world environment which as the movie was shot almost in real time for most of the second act, allowed us to relate move to the invasion.

Sure it would have been better set in the late 1800's. Sure it would have been better if we had seen the action that was going on over that damn hill when Cruises' son goes to fight in the army. Sure, it would have been SO much better if Tim Robbins' character had been cut. But still, the movie's action set pieces are as masterful as any in Spielberg's filmograghy. The Tom Cruise character here is a complete reverse of Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind is interesting and I enjoyed it.

It was entertaining, at times looked incredible and was a little meaner than many of Spielberg's movies in the past. That might not have been a bad thing. Not the masterpiece it could have been, but it was so much better than a Michael Bay blockbuster.

In terms of direction. Munich is one of Spielberg's best films. It's intense, deeply thoughtful and deals with one of movie's most prominent issues... vengeance and the consequences of taking revenge. Spielberg is almost invisible here and that's much to his credit. He forgets his usual film-making style and brings us a honest but fictional account of events at the 1972 Olympics and the aftermath which is not comforting for those wanting to get away from the current troubles we have in the world today.

Munich is a significant film that you almost feel guilty enjoying on basically a thriller level but Spielberg is so good at what he does, you can't help it. A certain scene with the telephone which Alfred Hitchcock himself would have been extremely proud of was one of the highlights of 2006 for me.

Munich is cold but deeply satisfying and terrifically well made.

To sum up...

I like this new millennium version of Steven Spielberg. His films feel more grown-up and at times more sophisticated than what he brought us before. They may not be the classics of the 70's and 80's but in terms of film-making style they show a director who is confident to try out new things, styles and techniques. His ambition for movies is still there, which is remarkable when so many of his era have faded out or burned away and he is still one of the most exciting directors working in Hollywood today.

He's got another Indiana Jones movie on the horizon which will be a nostalgic and emotional ride I'm sure. This is a real test for not just Harrison Ford but Spielberg also, to to see if he still has the old fashioned adventurous fun left in him. The movie will be quite unlike anything he has done since the last Indy movie wrapped nearly twenty years ago and I guess it will be a real indicator for us all to see if Spielberg really does still have that wonder, imagination and the ability to wow us again.

He's been entertaining me over the last six years when for many of you he has turned you off. Can he win you all back in March?