Menu Search

Clooney & Co. on a better 'Tomorrow'...

20th May 2015

Nowadays blockbusters seem to be more angst than action. John Mosby meets the men of 'Tomorrowland' and a more optimistic approach...

Tomorrowland - ReviewWhen the worldy-wise Casey (Britt Robertson) finds herself transported to another world every time she touches a strange badge/ping, she at first thinks she's going mad, but it soon becomes clear that the frustrated teen is getting a glimpse in to one of the world's greatest and hidden secrets - an experiment and initiative that dates back decades... a prototype community of tomorrow that didn't quite make it to today.

But as Casey begins to learn some of those secrets, she also becomes the target for 'people' who want her to find out how she got hold of the badge and to permanently stop her asking any more questions. With the news getting worse every day - wars, famine, disease, weather, corruption - the idea of science and innovation leading us to a better tomorrow seems a long-gone pipe-dream, but can Casey be part of the solution? She locates Frank Walker (George Clooney) who,as a young boy, was whisked away to 'Tomorrowland' and believed he could be part of the plan to help the world. It ended badly, but Casey's persistence may be his reluctant redemption and together they try to find a way back to the mysterious world and a final chance to stop a doomsday clock that destiny says cannot be altered...

Nowadays, you can't move for death, destruction, apocalyptic armageddons and so-called heroes acting as badly as the villains. In the 21st Century, Superman snaps necks, Tony Stark should be facing war crimes and even teenage girls are taking up bows and arrows against outrageous misfortunes and fascistic governments. 

So at first glance a film that says it would a super idea if we were all just a little bit nicer to each other and more inspired to reach for the stars sounds like some sort of doe-eyed testimonial for the God channels that hover in the middle-numbers of the satellite network or a chapter from the Green Party's manifesto on harnessing the power of lentils. It certainly doesn't sound like the mandate for a dramatic seasonal blockbuster and one that could see off many of the other stablemates chomping at the bit in the race for summer supremacy.

Tomorrowland badgeAnd yet. Tomorrowland (or Tomorrowland: A World Beyond to give it its needlessly longer name for UK release) could well be just the movie to do that. If audiences swimming in a sea of cynicism can put away that sh*t-creek paddle for a while and go with the flow of this latest Disney release, they will find a diamond in the rough: a film finely tuned for an all-age audience but full to the brim with ideas that should engage anyone who was ever a child or misses those days when everything was a little less dark.

"I don't think any of us set out to turn up our noses at those films - we love those films. I’m the first in line for Hunger Games,I'm going to see Mad Max tonight when we're finished here. But I also feel that we're not seeing the alternative. I think that so many of those films while entertaining to watch... I don't want to live in those realities. I don't want robots trying to kill me or zombies trying to eat me," explains co-writer Damon Lindelof, the screenwriter behind the likes of cult hit LOST, epic zombie-fest World War Z and the problematic Prometheus. "I think Walt Disney lived in just as turbulent a time as the one we live in now, if not more so. Instead he was able to not just imagine but to believe in our capabilities as a species to  transcend all that. I kinda feel like we we sat around complaining about the fact our future didn't exist and that it's very hard to make an original film, something that's not a sequel or a superhero movie - but we weren't doing anything to make one. This was about what we could do rather than about what everyone else was doing."

There's something Spielbergian about the film - it's the kind of timeless movie that such a director would (and probably could, in principle,) have made in the years after ET, but which benefits from the latest technology to fully realise its visual potential. But though there's a group of directors that might feature more prominently on the so-called A-List of popular directors, it's hard to think of any one in the current grouping other than Brad Bird who could have pulled it off as well. This is the man who imbued The Iron Giant with real pathos and made The Incredibles one of the best superhero movies of the last decade (and, yes, that includes beating out a raft of not unimpressive Marvel entries). 

I asked Brad if there was a formula or secret to finding that delicate balance for a true 'all-ages' outing, one that has something for everyone...

"If there is, I wish I knew it because I have no idea," Bird shrugs. "I'm just 'THAT seems like a good idea!' It's not a very intellectual process. I think movies are tough because you are trying to connect with people whose lives are very different than yours and it's several years from now. I think that if you think about it logically, there's no way you would ever try to do the job. The only way that's ever made any sense to me is 'Make a movie that I'd want to see' and just hope that other people connect with that."

The film's star, George Clooney, has balanced a career of comedy and drama and his personal interests have led him to take on controversial subjects in the likes of Syriana and Michael Clayton as well as being a spokesperson for several prominent global causes. So it's not hugely surprising he'd want to be involved in a film that celebrates the positive power of the individual in small and global ways...

George Clooney in Tomorrowland"Brad and I tried to work on another film earlier and I really wanted to work with him. They brought me a script and funnily enough said that they'd written it with me in mind. Then I read the description: '55 year old, angry, bitter, has-been'. I thought 'Really... 'formally handsome'?' (laughs). But, no, the minute I got the script I wanted to do it. I wanted to work with them, I loved the idea of doing an original film. I thought ti was very brave. I loved the themes in it. I liked the idea and the argument that... listen, I grew up in and around news and I grew up in a time when the news was as bad, quite honestly. In the 60s there was so much going on  that we thought the world was falling apart... with the assassinations and the civil rights movement and the race-riots, the women's-rights movements and everything. Everything felt like the world was going to fall apart," Clooney explains. "Still... there was also the Apollo mission and us landing on the moon.  There was this version that we all thought would somehow work out. My father, when he did the news, would always try to put things in perspective. 'There's some skinheads down here rioting in Cincinnati, Ohio...' There's seven of them and you cover it because it is a news-story... but then you go to the top of the tower and take a shot of these seven little people in the middle of Fountains Square and you understand the perspective of the real world. I thought that was important.  You spend a lot of time... Yes, I go to the Sudan and Darfur is on fire again and it's a very difficult time in a lot of these places... certainly in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Middle east. You'll see these things and feel completely inundated if you watch the news. And you SHOULD watch the news... but it can't JUST be that, there has to be something positive in it. Understanding the endeavours I've taken up... we know we'll never completely succeed in... I'll be long dead before they will be solved. but participating is part of the game. Getting in and getting involved and so I've always believed in that. Again, that was part of what attracted me to the film."

And that's perhaps Tomorrowland's secret. It's undeniably a 'message' film within in a great adventure, but it delivers it well... for the youngest audiences it's a romp full of invisible worlds, robots, rocket-packs (and seriously... ROCKET-PACKS, people!!! What adult still doesn't secretly thrill to that as well?). For the older audience it has the overt themes of empowerment and voicing the concept that if you don't like something then, rather than revelling in the misery, DO something. Plus... explosions!

Clooney and Robertson are great, Hugh Laurie as Tomorrowland's senior management is more nuanced than you'd expect for the character... add to that a host of supporting character actors including Hugh Laurie and familiar genre faces such as Garry Chalk and a brief appearance by the late Darren Shahlavi) and it's quite the delight. All wrapped up in a nostalgic bow and sprinkled with carefully selected pop-culture references that are unlikely to date, the film is a goodwill ambassador to the future, a love letter to the past and the kind of film you'll likely enjoy for years to come.

It may ultimately be over-stuffed with ideas, but it delivers on many levels and should bring a smile to every self-respecting fantasy fan. 

Disney release Tomorrowland across the UK this week...

Review score: 9 out of 10

Similar To Clooney & Co. on a better 'Tomorrow'...

Cookies: We are required by law to tell you this website uses cookies. We assume by using this site you agree to this. Click here to read more or click here to hide this message.