Ron Howard: The '00s

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

A Beautiful Mind

The Missing (November 24/03)

The Missing marks a definite return to form for Ron Howard, whose last two films - the overwhelming How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the sappy A Beautiful Mind - felt more like products geared towards a large audience than anything else. They weren't necessarily bad movies, but they were certainly lacking in both the energy (ie Backdraft) or compelling characters (ie Parenthood) that have come to identify Howard pictures. The film stars Cate Blanchett as Maggie Gilkeson, a fiercely independent frontier woman living with her two daughters and boyfriend. Her estranged father, Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones), arrives on her doorstep, hoping to make amends. After being promptly dismissed, Jones heads on his way - but when Maggie's daughter is kidnapped by a band of rogue Indians, she's forced to ask her long-absent father for help in finding her. Though Howard has worked in the thriller genre before (1996's Ransom), he's never before made a film that's felt this gritty and urgent. There's a definite sense of danger permeating almost every minute of The Missing, a feeling that's supported by Blanchett's fantastic lead performance. Though Maggie is easily the most rugged character she's ever tackled, Blanchett is entirely believable as this tough woman that's willing to do whatever it takes to get her daughter back. As was the case with Ransom, Howard has taken an actor known primarily for middle-of-the-road characterizations and managed to elicit a performance with undertones of ferociousness. That same kind of raw energy can also be felt in the film's visual look, as cinematographer Salvatore Totino brings an uneasy quality to the wide open spaces of the old west. There's a feeling of authenticity going on here; we're never under the impression that certain scenes have been shot on a sound stage somewhere. Howard does a nice job of turning the landscape into a supporting character, rather than just another threat to Maggie's mission. Though there are a lot of effective elements to be found within The Missing, the film is substantially overlong; at a running time of over two hours, the movie could've used some judicious editing. The sequences dealing with the Indian magic spells and potions proves to be the most superfluous aspect of the story, and indeed often borders on outright silliness. A good example comes about halfway through the film, and Maggie's been cursed by the evil Indian that's kidnapped her daughter. As she begins to suffer from food poisoning-like symptoms, Jones begins to perform some kind of ritual to ward off the bad spirits. The whole thing feels like an Indian version of an exorcism, and serves only to stop the movie dead in its tracks. But even such instances of absurd spirituality can't mar the fact that The Missing is an exemplary thriller. It's been designed in such a way as to appeal to folks that ordinarily aren't a fan of this genre, since the relationship between Maggie and her father receives ample screentime. Though it's not quite a great Ron Howard film (somewhere along the lines of Apollo 13), it's certainly a darn good one.

out of

Cinderella Man

The Da Vinci Code (May 18/06)

Though Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code will never be mistaken for high art, the novel was, at the very least, consistently interesting and generally entertaining. And while this adaptation - written by Akiva Goldsman - contains many of the same beats and plot twists as Brown's book, the film never quite becomes anything more than a sporadically engaging but mostly dull murder mystery. Tom Hanks stars as Robert Langdon, a top symbologist who is unwittingly recruited by a grizzled French cop (Jean Reno) to assist in the mysterious death of one of the Louvre's top curators. Along with said curators daughter, Sophie (Audrey Tautou), Robert soon finds himself caught up in a far-reaching conspiracy revolving around a religious coverup of epic proportions. The Da Vinci Code's been directed by Ron Howard, who imbues the movie with an almost maddeningly somber vibe - refusing to allow even a hint of levity to enter the proceedings, despite the fact that Brown's novel was actually rife with humorous asides and genuinely exciting action sequences. Howard - collaborating once again with Cinderella Man cinematographer Salvatore Totino - apes the austere look and feel of that Russell Crowe drama, which immediately proves to be an incongruous match with the source material (the movie sure looks nice, however). The film is, consequently, not nearly as engrossing as one might've expected, and primarily moves at a pace that can most accurately be referred to as deliberate. And although Howard and Goldsman waste absolutely no time in thrusting the viewer into the action, the almost complete lack of character development makes it virtually impossible to actually care about Robert and Sophie's quest. That Hanks delivers an atypically charmless performance doesn't help matters; while the actor certainly isn't bad in the role, he transforms Robert Langdon into a figure that's overly grave and far from engaging. Likewise, Tautou quickly proves to be the absolute wrong choice for the role of Sophie - as the actress is simply unable to convincingly infuse the character with an appropriate mix of confidence and seriousness (her ridiculously thick French accent doesn't do her any favors, either). The only performance that really works here is Paul Bettany's turn as Silas, the killer albino monk hot on Robert and Sophie's trail. Though he's not given a whole lot of screen time, Bettany dominates the proceedings and easily remains the most intriguing and effective aspect of the movie. In terms of the book's supposed "controversial" content, Goldsman has left most of it intact - although he does play it safe by turning Robert into something of a skeptic (an element that certainly wasn't contained within Brown's novel). And ultimately, it's that sort of refusal to take risks - combined with a distinct sense of blandness - that sinks The Da Vinci Code.

out of

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Frost/Nixon (December 16/08)

As slick as one might've expected, Frost/Nixon tells the true-life story of how British talk-show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) managed to land a series of interviews with disgrace ex-President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella). The film, based on Peter Morgan's award-winning play, primarily details the build-up into the interviews among both sides, as Frost prepares by collaborating with a ragtag group of intellectuals (including Sam Rockwell's James Reston Jr and Oliver Platt's Bob Zelnick) and Nixon conspires with trusted aide Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) to turn the hyped conversations to their advantage. Although filmmaker Ron Howard generally does a superb job of satisfying both mainstream viewers and history buffs, there's ultimately little doubt that Frost/Nixon will have a more pronounced impact on the latter - as the movie suffers from a dramatically-inert midsection that often seems consumed with the minutia of Frost and Nixon's preparations. It's subsequently not surprising to note that the film suffers from an undeniable lack of tension as it builds towards the pair's series of encounters, with Howard's lighthearted approach effectively lending the proceedings an air of frivolity that often borders on cute. The entertaining-yet-middling atmosphere eventually does give way to an electrifying and downright moving third act, however, as the title pair's confrontations are fraught with a back-and-forth dynamic that inevitably proves irresistible. Langella and Sheen's stirring work certainly goes a long way towards cementing Frost/Nixon's mild success, while Howard surely deserves credit for infusing the production with a distinctly cinematic quality that generally belies its stage origins.