Pride Watch: The Covenant
Jun. 9th, 2018 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitter_n_goreGod, this movie. . .
Where to begin? It's The Craft, but with dudes. Underworld, but without vampires or werewolves. Supernatural, but not funny. It's also the only chance you'll get to see Gambit fight the Winter Soldier. I have watched this hot mess five times. As a result, this review is probably five times longer than it needs to be.
The story is compelling enough on paper: Four founding families of the Ipswich colony in Massachusetts, plus one that was banished for ~Reasons, are powerful witches who created a covenant of secrecy around their powers so they wouldn't be hunted and burned at the stake. The present day descendants of these founding families all happen to be uniformly good-looking teenage boys all nearing their 18th birthday, after which they will "ascend" to their full powers. This would all be fine except for two things: 1) Magic is highly addictive and takes a physical toll every time they use it, and 2) The descendant of the long-lost banished family is back, and out for revenge.
That sounds fun, right? The problem (rather, *a* problem--there are many) is they accidentally made the villain more interesting, sympathetic, and likable than anyone else in the cast. And I'm not just saying that because it's Sebastian Stan, although I get the feeling he's the only one who understands what kind of movie he's in. He went Full Ham here and it helps a lot. Chase is more motivated, has more to overcome, and is the only one who really worked to accomplish his goals.
Rantasmo's vlog review of this movie--which you should watch, because it's great--described the Ipswich boys this way: “They’re all extremely privileged. In fact I think they might actually be Privilege Elementals. They are rich, white, able-bodied, ostensibly straight young men; they’re the most popular kids at their private school; and to top it off, they have magical goddamn powers.” I couldn't put it better. And here's what strikes me about their numerous advantages: in any other movie, they would be the villains.
In contrast, here's Chase's backstory: part of a magical community, but separated from it his whole life. Raised by adoptive parents who either don't know what he is, or are deliberately hiding it from him. Starts manifesting abilities that he doesn't understand and can't control, and becomes isolated from his peers as a result. Then, someone from that magical community tracks him down, tells him the truth, and that this one group of Bad People are responsible for every hardship he's suffered.
Basically, he's Harry Potter, plus Revenge Plot, and the Ipswich boys are a pack of rich Slytherins who hate half-blood wizards for some reason. I'm not making that up: the fact that Chase was born from an "illegitimate" union is a plot point. Why even bring that up? It's like the script has a preference for "purebloods" as more deserving of a magical legacy, and . . . no.
Throw on a layer of heavy queer coding, and I'm even more firmly on Chase's side. (Again, see Rantasmo's video for specific examples.) There's some debate amongst the Queer Community as to whether coding your bad guy as queer is cool or not, or should count as representation, or not. I'm pretty obviously on the side of, "YAS, give me all of your black eyeliner wearing, long-coat swishing, fabulous Chaotic Evil characters, please!!" I have no interest in explaining why I'm absolutely okay with sticking my identity to monsters and villains in a fictional context. But I recognize that's not everyone's ideal and we need more representation overall. I don't want less of this sort of thing, I want more of ALL the things. Are we clear on that? Okay, good. So Chase being queer is another point in his favor, and another reason I wish this movie was just, I dunno, better.
That's why I keep rewatching this. There are so many ways I can think of to make it better. Shift the protagonist slot to Chase and make him not the villain, but the tragic anti-hero. Make Sarah not just the throwaway love interest who gets plopped into the Damsel In Distress role, but the intrepid researcher who cracks the whole thing open and threatens to expose the Ipswich clan to the public. Hell, make her another lost descendant of the banished Ipswich tribe and have her switch sides in the third act. Show us the detrimental physical effects of magic in real time instead of just vaguely hinting that it's Bad For You. I want to pick this script apart and rearrange it until it works. Because the story is there, and it didn't have to be this bad.
The most intriguing part of this movie is how it ends. I don't mean the CGI-heavy fight scene in the barn with the “How about I make you my wiyatch!” line--fuck that. I mean the fact that Chase escapes. They never find a body. I assume they were angling for a sequel. Since that didn't happen, I'm angling for a fix-it fic. This time with Chase as the main character.
Where to begin? It's The Craft, but with dudes. Underworld, but without vampires or werewolves. Supernatural, but not funny. It's also the only chance you'll get to see Gambit fight the Winter Soldier. I have watched this hot mess five times. As a result, this review is probably five times longer than it needs to be.
The story is compelling enough on paper: Four founding families of the Ipswich colony in Massachusetts, plus one that was banished for ~Reasons, are powerful witches who created a covenant of secrecy around their powers so they wouldn't be hunted and burned at the stake. The present day descendants of these founding families all happen to be uniformly good-looking teenage boys all nearing their 18th birthday, after which they will "ascend" to their full powers. This would all be fine except for two things: 1) Magic is highly addictive and takes a physical toll every time they use it, and 2) The descendant of the long-lost banished family is back, and out for revenge.
That sounds fun, right? The problem (rather, *a* problem--there are many) is they accidentally made the villain more interesting, sympathetic, and likable than anyone else in the cast. And I'm not just saying that because it's Sebastian Stan, although I get the feeling he's the only one who understands what kind of movie he's in. He went Full Ham here and it helps a lot. Chase is more motivated, has more to overcome, and is the only one who really worked to accomplish his goals.
Rantasmo's vlog review of this movie--which you should watch, because it's great--described the Ipswich boys this way: “They’re all extremely privileged. In fact I think they might actually be Privilege Elementals. They are rich, white, able-bodied, ostensibly straight young men; they’re the most popular kids at their private school; and to top it off, they have magical goddamn powers.” I couldn't put it better. And here's what strikes me about their numerous advantages: in any other movie, they would be the villains.
In contrast, here's Chase's backstory: part of a magical community, but separated from it his whole life. Raised by adoptive parents who either don't know what he is, or are deliberately hiding it from him. Starts manifesting abilities that he doesn't understand and can't control, and becomes isolated from his peers as a result. Then, someone from that magical community tracks him down, tells him the truth, and that this one group of Bad People are responsible for every hardship he's suffered.
Basically, he's Harry Potter, plus Revenge Plot, and the Ipswich boys are a pack of rich Slytherins who hate half-blood wizards for some reason. I'm not making that up: the fact that Chase was born from an "illegitimate" union is a plot point. Why even bring that up? It's like the script has a preference for "purebloods" as more deserving of a magical legacy, and . . . no.
Throw on a layer of heavy queer coding, and I'm even more firmly on Chase's side. (Again, see Rantasmo's video for specific examples.) There's some debate amongst the Queer Community as to whether coding your bad guy as queer is cool or not, or should count as representation, or not. I'm pretty obviously on the side of, "YAS, give me all of your black eyeliner wearing, long-coat swishing, fabulous Chaotic Evil characters, please!!" I have no interest in explaining why I'm absolutely okay with sticking my identity to monsters and villains in a fictional context. But I recognize that's not everyone's ideal and we need more representation overall. I don't want less of this sort of thing, I want more of ALL the things. Are we clear on that? Okay, good. So Chase being queer is another point in his favor, and another reason I wish this movie was just, I dunno, better.
That's why I keep rewatching this. There are so many ways I can think of to make it better. Shift the protagonist slot to Chase and make him not the villain, but the tragic anti-hero. Make Sarah not just the throwaway love interest who gets plopped into the Damsel In Distress role, but the intrepid researcher who cracks the whole thing open and threatens to expose the Ipswich clan to the public. Hell, make her another lost descendant of the banished Ipswich tribe and have her switch sides in the third act. Show us the detrimental physical effects of magic in real time instead of just vaguely hinting that it's Bad For You. I want to pick this script apart and rearrange it until it works. Because the story is there, and it didn't have to be this bad.
The most intriguing part of this movie is how it ends. I don't mean the CGI-heavy fight scene in the barn with the “How about I make you my wiyatch!” line--fuck that. I mean the fact that Chase escapes. They never find a body. I assume they were angling for a sequel. Since that didn't happen, I'm angling for a fix-it fic. This time with Chase as the main character.