Get Smart

First of all, sorry for the slow anime previews. I'm still getting episodes together, picking groups, etc (and I just added another title to the list too). It's rather hectic for the first couple of weeks as I wade through this stuff. I'll likely finish up my Samurai Champloo summaries this coming week, and I plan on doing a review of Kure-nai soon, which I just finished. But for today - we went and saw Get Smart this morning.

Get Smart is (probably loosely) based on a 1960's television show of the same name staring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart/Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. It's sort of a spoof on James Bond, or we can just call it Mel Brooks' James Bond, as he is one of the original creators. There were two previous movie versions, the first in the 80's titled The Nude Bomb, and the second a made for TV movie called Get Smart, Again! (both staring members of the original TV cast). This 2008 film stars Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, and Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) as Agent 23. For you Heroes fans, Masi Oka has a small (and humorous) role as a CONTROL analyst.

Get Smart centers on a secret agent group known as CONTROL, which was publicly disbanded after the cold war, but still operates in a secret base located below the museum for the "original" CONTROL. Maxwell Smart is the agency's top analyst, producing (ridiculously) highly detailed reports that are usually based on "chatter" he listens to via satellite. His basic motto is that villains are people too, and he makes it a point to know everything from their favorite band to their favorite food. Most of the Agents (except for Agent 23) find him dull and useless. Maxwell himself has been trying to make Agent status for years, and he thinks this will finally be his time to shine. Unfortunately the Chief refuses to promote him even though he passes his test because Maxwell is his best analyst and he needs him where he is. But the very next day CONTROL is attacked by their nemesis KAOS, and most of the Agents are put out of commission. Maxwell is immediately bumped up to Agent status as all the other Agents have been compromised, and is partnered up with Agent 99 who recently had facial reconstruction surgery.

Maxwell's intelligence has led them to believe that KAOS is making nuclear weapons, so he and Agent 99 set off for Russia to track down their leader, Siegfried, and get to the bottom of things. The fate of the world now rests in the incompetent hands of Maxwell Smart, who is, as his name says, very smart, but exceptionally clumsy and always getting himself into trouble (from which Agent 99 has to bail him out).

The movie is hilarious, and there's also plenty of action. Explosions, car chases, airplane and car chases, a sky diving fight scene, shoot outs, fist fights. All sorts of secret agent spy gear (cell phone shoes, radiation detecting watches, exploding dental floss). Lots of comedy - the jokes work. A touch of romance (critical to any sort of spy movie). Both Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway do excellent jobs. My fiancee also informs me that Anne Hathaway is "hot." And as a warning, the President in the movie has a lot of Bush...mannerisms. So if you're a fan, prepare to have him mocked, because it's very obvious (or rather, very specific). It's an all around good movie though. It has everything it should have, and it does what it's supposed to do - entertain you.

It was totally worth sitting through commercials I already see on TV, and too many previews for (probably crappy) movies. I miss the days when they played cheesy pop music and ran movie trivia on screen before a film. I hear they showed episodes from the original TV show before the movie at Alamo Draft House. I'm jealous.

Also, and it pains me to say this, I'm sort of interested in seeing The Dark Knight. If Christian Bale wasn't Batman I would be less ashamed of that statement.

On a side note, my wi-fi is getting a really low signal for some reason. The router is on the same desk as my computer, so it's not a distance problem. I don't know what could be interfering with the signal, as there doesn't seem to be a problem at the source (meaning the modem signal is fine); there's just something going on between the router and my PC receiver. If anyone has any ideas...because I sure don't.

ps - Still waiting for a valid, understandable reason why my worthless governor is a keynote speaker at E3 this year. The excuses so far have not been satisfactory.