Avner has gone from being an "ordinary" government agent, trying to be a soldier in the defense of his famiy (and his nation, which he thinks of as his family, as it thinks of him as a son), to being an angry killer bent on revenge. He now lives in a moral nightmare and it's not going to get better. How will he survive his predicament?

( Read more... )

In Act IV of Munich, protagonist Avner strays far from his assignment. He has become a homeless non-person in order to serve his nation and family, and here finds out what happens when given that kind of responsibility, and that kind of freedom.

( Read more... )

Avner is now a father, and has sent his wife and baby away from his homeland to live in the "New World," ie Brooklyn. He's going to carry on with his unpleasant work, traveling Europe assassinating terrorists. In Act III, it doesn't get easier, as the line between evil terrorist and righteous knight becomes increasingly blurred. Avner, who has no relationship with his own father to speak of, will meet a new father in Act III, will meet him and be rejected by him in record time.

( Read more... )

At the end of Act I of Munich, Avner leaves his family behind in Israel (his nation, which, it is implied, is also his family) and ventures out into Europe to track down and kill those rotten terrorists who killed the athletes in Munich.

( Read more... )

WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT? Excellent question! The protagonist of Munich changes his mind about what he wants a number of times during the narrative. He starts out wanting to "protect his family" (and we'll see what a complicated notion that is) but before long he doesn't know what he's doing any more in this, Spielberg's most emotionally complicated movie.

( Read more... )

Ray Ferrier has spent three acts of War of the Worlds fleeing the predations of the unknowable aliens who seem bent on destroying his family -- that is, his action has been, up to now, the act of avoiding action. Now, as Act IV begins, the aliens go one step over the line, forcing Ray into a crisis of action.

( Read more... )

As Act III of War of the Worlds begins, Ray Ferrier, who has just lost his son, seeks refuge from the giant mechanical beasts rampaging across the countryside. He heeds the call of Harlan Ogilvy, who lures him down into the basement of an abandoned house (either that, or it's Harlan's own house -- I'm not sure). Ray only wants to hide, to get out of the way of the horrifying machines, but he will find out that Harlan has much bolder plans in mind -- armed insurrection. (Why Ray should be surprised at Harlan's plans is something of a mystery -- Harlan calls Ray into his basement by holding a shotgun aloft in his clenched fist -- a signal for armed insurrection if ever there was one.)

( Read more... )

At the end of Act I, Ray Ferrier sees his home -- indeed, his town -- destroyed by gigantic machines from another planet. In Act II, the longest of War's acts, he will take his kids on a road trip to find a safe haven. He will seek refuge in his ex-wife's home (in the basement), then, when that home is also destroyed, he will flee toward her parents' house in Boston. Before he reaches Boston, he will lose his son and be forced to take shelter in a third home, this one not his own (in another basement).

( Read more... )

WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT? Ray Ferrier, like Frank Abagnale, has lost his home. Like Viktor Navorski, he has lost his home due to an unexpected war. Like John Anderton, he has a problem with losing his son.

( Read more... )

(Sam, 7, has been keen on Jurassic Park ever since he saw a fleeting image from it in a video store at age 3. He has now seen all three movies several times and owns the soundtrack, the themes of which he can be heard to sing incessantly around the house. His interest in Indiana Jones is more recent -- he first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark less than a year ago -- but is no less strong. The first name in filmmaking he learned was George Lucas, but the second was Steven Spielberg, and it is Spielberg who has had the much greater impact, as we will see.)

SAM. Dad?
DAD. Yeah?
SAM. Is there going to be a Jurassic Park IV?
DAD. I don't know. They've been planning one for a long time, but I don't know if they'll ever make it.
SAM. What do you think it will be about?
DAD. Well, I actually know something about that.
SAM. Really?
DAD. Yeah. I've heard -- now mind you, this is only what I've heard -- that in Jurassic Park IV, a the government breeds raptors to carry out commando raids.
SAM. Really?
DAD. That's what I've heard.
SAM. Could they do that?
DAD. Um, sure, I guess. Velociraptors are pack hunters, they must be about as smart as dogs, you could probably train them if you started from birth.
SAM. What if -- oh! -- What if they train velociraptors to be commandos, and then send them back in time to fight the Nazis?
DAD. Well dude, that sounds like the greatest idea in the history of movies.
SAM. (really rolling now) And, how come there haven't been any water dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park movies?
DAD. I don't know, they should really --
SAM. Because, it could be like, the opening of the movie, there could be the island, right, and there's a T-Rex walking on the shore, and he's hunting somebody, right? And he's just about to strike and suddenly a Megalodon jumps out of the water and grabs the T-Rex off the beach and drags it into the water!
DAD. Wow!
SAM. A giant shark jumps out of the water, grabs the T-Rex, comes completely out of the water and then splashes back down into it!  How many times do you think people have seen that in a movie?
DAD. Most people? Probably never.
(pause)
SAM. Do you think it's too much to have the Megalodon and the Nazis in the same movie, or should we save one of them for Jurassic Park V?

WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT? Viktor Navorski is on his way to New York for reasons that will not become known until the end of Act III.  Due to a strange quirk of fate, finds himself stateless. His fictional country, Krakosia, has experienced a coup while his plane was in the air, his passport is now invalid, and the US does not recognize the new government. The "strange quirk of fate" aspect of the narrative is important, because it marks The Terminal as a comedy. (In Greek terms, a comedy is when the gods mess with your life, a tragedy is when you mess with your own life.) It also marks Viktor as a passive protagonist, a simple soul powerless against large antagonistic forces. Which is acceptable for a comedy -- up to a point. Because Viktor's key problem is a civil war half a world away, he has no choice but to wait in the airport terminal until the war is over. This is a comic situation, so the screenwriter must raise significant dramatic tension, out of nowhere, to keep the narrative balls in the air.

( Read more... )

In Act I of Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale sees his family destroyed by Authority. In Act II, he tries to get his family back again by subverting the very idea of Authority. In Act III, he tries to build a new family, and -- sort of -- "go straight" at the same time. Authority won't let him get away with that, and we will find in Act IV that Frank has no choice but to capitulate to Authority -- join it -- and thus grow into a man.

( Read more... )

In Act I of Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale's family is destroyed by Authority. In Act II, Frank devises what he thinks is a workable solution to repair his family and strike back at Authority at the same time. Unfortunately, his efforts are rejected by his father, and his antagonist is now hot on his trail. In Act III, Frank will try to use his new-found abilities to join a new family, and take a step toward maturity at the same time.

( Read more... )

Act I of Catch Me If You Can tells the story of the dissolution of Frank Abagnale's family. Act II will present to him a unique strategy for putting his family back together. Like many of my favorites acts of Spielberg's work, it is what I call a "process" sequence: we simply observe the process by which a character sets about doing something dynamic and unusual -- getting inside a securely protected government facility, setting up an enamelware factory in wartime Krakow with little money, figuring out how to decode and employ the Headpiece of the Staff of Ra. These are often the most exciting passages in Spielberg's work, as the protagonist is learning to do something new and interesting. It's as new to us as it is to the protagonist, and Spielberg never fails to get that across.

( Read more... )

WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT? Frank Abagnale, like John Anderton in Minority Report, has seen his family shattered. Anderton's family is destroyed by a random child-abductor, but the forces at work on Frank's family are more nebulous. It is "them," the various authorities and gatekeepers that keep the middle class in their place that seem intent on driving Frank's family apart -- specifically, government agencies, banks and big business. In short, "authority," all those people who, when you try to get a leg up in the world, say "No, you can't." Frank, like Anderton, will spend the narrative of Catch Me If You Can trying to put his shattered family back together.

( Read more... )

Despite his best efforts and a complete spiritual re-awakening, at the top of ACT IV of Minority Report John Anderton has fallen victim to the system he once prosecuted and is, once again, on the run from the Precrime police.

( Read more... )

Now that John Anderton can see his world through new eyes, he returns to the scene of the crime, so to speak, to prove his innocence. He nabs Agatha, the precog whom he thinks can save him. (It's complicated.)

( Read more... )

John Anderton has found himself implicated by the same perfect system he helped create. In spite of the fact that he's staked his life and reputation on the infallibility of Precrime, he does not give himself up quietly. The rules of Precrime insist that he is most certainly "guilty" of the crime he's accused of, but the rules of human behavior insist that he respond to the accusation the same way everyone does -- by resisting. Anderton believes everyone who is accused by the precogs is guilty, but everyone who is accused by the precogs believes they are innocent. So Anderton, star pupil and "good son" of the Precrime unit, must now do the only thing he can -- run from the law. What he has forgotten in his ruminations on destiny and fate is one of the oldest rules of all, which is that power corrupts and any system of control will ultimately be manipulated by its creators to serve the needs of the powerful.

( Read more... )

WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT? John Anderton, like many Spielberg protagonists, has seen his family shattered. His son has been missing for many years, and that trauma destroyed his marriage. John is unable to put his family back together, and so he has, again, like many Spielberg protagonists, become obsessed with his work. As it happens, John's work is being a homicide detective in the future, so he catches murderers by sifting through the thoughts of a trio of "precogs" who live in a swimming pool in his office. As a bonus, due to the nature of the precog's thoughts, he is able to catch murderers before they actually murder. This he does to comfort himself about the loss of his son, and to please his "work father" Lamarr Burgess, the man who co-created the "precog" detective program and gave Anderton his job. Anderton is absolutely convinced of the rightness and justice of his job, and so when the precogs "accuse" him of a future murder, Anderton finds he must clear his name for the future murder of a man he's never met.

( Read more... )

At the end of Act III, David and his robot big brother Joe have escaped the Flesh Fair and are back in the woods. David declares his goal: to find the Blue Fairy of Pinocchio. David's search for the Blue Fairy is, of course, the "search for the father" that Joseph Campbell writes about -- in David's case, literally so. He's temporarily replaced his "mother" with a nanny-bot, he's replaced his "evil" brother Martin with his "good" brother Joe, and now he's going to replace his "bad" father Henry with his "good" father Prof Hobby -- although he doesn't know that yet.

( Read more... )