Review of Raising Arizona (1987) by Steve M — 27 Jun 2011

It took me a few of "Joel & Ethan Coens" films before I finally found myself as an actual Coen's fan. Ive realised that everything they make (atleast from what ive seen) is usually highly original, except for "True Grit" ofcourse. Like prehaps all of there films this is definitely an aquired taste, it's strange like all of there movies and I can only really reccomend it to fans. "Nicolas Cage" has been one of my favourite actors since childhood but as ive got older ive begun to respect him as more then just an action hero because his performence's in films such as "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Matchstick Men" are two of the best performences ive ever seen. So ive allways wanted to see this film because of those reasons, great director and great actor (eventhough Cage is only great sometimes.) This is the bro's second film after the underrated masterpiece "Blood Simple" and after seeing this id say it's a very good film but not exactly a masterpiece. It's defintiely unique and original, however.

So this black comedy written by the Coen's follows the story of "H.I, McDonnough"(Cage), an Ex-con who winds up marrying an ex-cop "Ed"(Holly Hunter), they soon discover that they are unable to have a baby. So as they are desperate for one they decide to kidnap a baby from the set of quins of future tyconn Nathan "Arizona". His convict friends that escape from prison along with his boss and the "Lone Biker Of The Apocalypse" soon become involved in the many plot twists in the quest to own the baby.

The direction by "Joel Coen" was quiet impressive I must say, it's kinda hard to explain exactly what the hell he was doing but it was unique and it completely suited the films odd nature. The camera goes ridiculously fast and zooms in and out randomly and seems extremely over the top at times and makes some scenes seem a bit blurry like the long chase scene which is a great scene but over the top, however within reason fitting the mood of this absolutely random film. The cinematographer defintiely did the film justice too so overall I was mostly imprssed by "Joel's" unqiue and highly skillfull direction, but the bro's defintiely did get better as time went on.

"Cage" made (McDonnough) a very enjoyable character he was funny and extrmemely wacky in it. However, his performence wasn't one of his great ones, it just didn't seem very in-depth but it kinda seems like that was the point afterall it's hard to figure out exactly what the "Coen's" are actually trying to show us alot of the time. I felt the chemistry between him and "Hunter" wasn't overly realistic but prehaps there's no need to take that kind of thing seriously in a black comedy. The whole cast was indeed very good, everyone stood out in a different way and all brought a unique sense of humor which caused them to stick-out and everyone was atleast likeable.

"John Goodman" was defintiely the films next highlight after "Cage" he was hilarious as usual but his best work with the "Coen's" defintiely didn't show up untill "The Big Lebowski". I was also very impressed with "Sam McMurray" he was hilarious he basicly said joke after joke and none of the jokes were funny at all, they were some of the most ridiculously dry jokes you will ever be aware of but that's exactly what was funny about his character and what made him stick-out.

I can't really say much more about this all I can really say is the fact that if you like any of Joel & Ethan's films and still havent seen this I highly reccomend checking it out. The film is a good solid piece of entertainment the realitively simplistic story does continue to elevate into something more then you first think and the entertainment factor doesn't fall off at all. Overall it's defintiely not a masterpiece and is not among there very best work allthough it's actually entered number 5 of my top 5 favourites from them though but ive still gotta see a few more of there films. Anyway that's my take on the Coen's second film, please let me know your thoughts on this one...