The Pitch: Do
you know what there aren't enough of? WWII stories...ones that aren't about the
actual war...dramas...about forbidden love...and assassination attempts...set
in the Netherlands.
I often like to
refer to the two ways to make a great or significant movie. The first way is to
be the first. Find a new slant on a familiar story. Introduce a character/actor
that audiences haven't seen before. Master a new camera technique or show off
visual effects that people haven't seen before. A lot imperfect movies become
classics because people say "I haven't seen anything like that
before." That's why sequels are almost never as good as the original.
There's no surprise factor to forgive the other flaws. The other way to be a
great movie is to execute something familiar at a high level. If there is no
room for error, then don't error. It sounds easy, but it's exceptionally hard.
Pretty
immediately, I realized there wasn't anything new about The Exception. I'm
overly aware of all the movies that have done the same things before. To start,
what's been more done than WWII? It's safe to say that more movies have been
made about WWII than any other event, and it's not even close. I won't suggest
that filmmakers shouldn't be allowed to make any more WWII movies, but they
should have to clear some sort of quality bar. Dunkirk and Darkest
Hour won Oscars. I'm fine with that being the bar. Anything less than that
should rethink if they need to be made. Even among WWII stories though, I feel
like every facet of this movie has been covered. There's the assassination plot
of Valkyrie, the powerless former leader coping with his new status of Downfall,
the forbidden Nazi love or Suite Francaise, and the spy romance of Allied.
And I'm sure if I thought about it a little longer or knew more WWII movies, I
could come up with at least a dozen other movies that are functionally the same
as The Exception. So, there's no chance that I can rate the movie highly
for originality.
Since I can't
point to something new that The Exception is doing, I have to hope that
it's handling all these familiar elements really effectively. Sadly, that's not
how it turned out. Christopher Plummer is fine as the deposed Kaiser. Asking
him to play an old man who is used to commanding a room but finds it harder to
do so now is, with all due respect, a role I assume he's familiar with these
days. Ideally, he would give a scene-stealing supporting role that uses his
gravitas to ground the whole movie. He comes close to pulling that off, but
doesn't quite get there. I wish he didn't have to deal with Kaisel Wilhelm II
not being able to use his left arm. Adding that physical element to his
performance forced him to think more about what he was doing. It felt like he
was giving a performance rather than living the role. I'd like to say more
about Janet McTeer, but she didn't stand out much, mainly being used as a
sounding board for Plummer, which is a waste.
To buy into the
spy thriller element of the movie, you first have to believe in the romance
between Lily James and Jai Courtney. That's my single biggest problem with the
movie. Those two have no chemistry, and the movie puts in no work to make me
believe in their romance. I was incredibly confused how it started in the first
place. He just walks into a room she's in and tells her to get undressed. And
she does. Then they start having sex. I thought it felt really rapey when it
happened, but I don't think that was the intent. I think it was supposed to be
an indication of their animal magnetism for each other. Like, he wasn't telling
her to undress because he's a Nazi officer and she's a maid. I think it was
meant to be a dance. He tells her to undress. She does and gives him a
"Now what?" look to let him know that he was in charge, but only
because she's into it. I don't know. The vibe of that whole scene was off. It
doesn't read how it's intended to. I
never believed they cared much for each other. I knew he was attracted to her
because, well, look at her. The same with her to him. But, with the power
dynamic of the situation, it never felt like they were on equal footing. Did
she really have a choice in the matter? Since I wasn't ever convinced that she
actually liked him, I had trouble with her emotional conflict as a spy. Of
course she would choose her mission over him, because she doesn't care for him
very much. Right?
Maybe it's
miscasting. Jai Courtney is one of those guys Hollywood has been trying to make
happen for years. I've found that he works best when he's able to be a bit of a
prick. Even when he's on your side, you kind of want to punch him to wipe that
smirk off his face. There's value in that. I can imagine him being my favorite
part of a movie I like one day. He doesn't fit in an earnest period setting
though. Similarly, Lily James has been good in a lot of things. She's at her
absolute best when she's someone who lights up a room (Cinderella, Baby
Driver, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again), but I wouldn't want to
pigeonhole her into those kinds of roles. She fits in a serious period setting
too. I'm sure she was good in Downton Abbey (although I never watched
the show). I know she's good in Darkest Hour - another WWII drama. The
bridge too far in The Exception is the spy angle. Asking her to sell a
romantic relationship that has no sparks, build a rapport and relationship with
Christopher Plummer's Kaiser, and struggle with her deception as a spy is too
much, especially when the script isn't doing her any favors.
OK, this has
already turned into quite the rant, but I have one more topic I'd like to
address. The nudity in this movie is interesting. First of all, it was
refreshingly balanced. When Lily James got naked early, it felt a little
skeevy. A part of me is always cool with movie nudity because I'm human,
however this felt pretty unnecessary. Then, shortly after, there's some Jai
Courtney full frontal that balanced things out and made it less creepy. When
it's just the female costar getting naked, I immediately start thinking of
leery Harvey Weinstein stuff. When it's the male and female costars, I start
thinking of it more as a director who says things like "We need to break
people of this stigma" and "How can audiences believe sex if
they don't see sex?". At the end of the day, if the performers are
comfortable with it, that's all that really matters. What also threw me is how
all the nudity was early in the movie. I can't say I've ever really tracked
when nudity takes place in movies (That would be an interesting study for
someone else to do). Anecdotally, I'd think early nudity begets nudity throughout.
It's kind of a tone-setter. That's not to say I was "disappointed"
that there wasn't any more in the movie. It just threw off my expectations.
Kind of like how if there's a grisly murder at the beginning of a movie, it's
a little weird if the rest of it is PG. I wish I had a better point that,
"It confused me", but that's all I've got.
To sum it all up, The
Exception is a movie you can skip. It's watchable and covers an aspect of
WWII that I haven't 100% seen before. I saw the movie because I was in a Lily
James mood and I wanted to stop confusing The Exception with The
Promise and Remember. The movie had plenty of Lily James and I'm a
lot closer to not confusing those movies all the time. So, I got what I needed
out of it.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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