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Chris Gore and Alan Ng review “Blitz,” now playing on Apple TV+.
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0:03
let's talk about
0:05
Blitz this film is from Steve
0:08
McQueen which I don't know I don't know
0:12
how I feel about him being named I mean
0:14
I guess his name is Steve McQueen but
0:17
there whenever I think of him I think of
0:19
the actor Steve
0:20
McQueen yeah what's he supposed to do
0:22
change his
0:23
name well there is a rule before we get
0:26
into it you bring the poster up if you
0:28
would um there is a rule in
0:33
Sag a lot of people may not know this
0:35
there's a rule in Sag that you cannot be
0:37
named your professional name cannot also
0:41
be someone else's name who isn't sag so
0:45
for example Michael Keaton's real name
0:49
is Michael Douglas you probably knew
0:51
that right
0:54
yes so Michael Heaton's real name is
0:56
Michael Douglas and he actually wants to
0:58
go back to being that his name Michael
1:00
Douglas so Steve McQueen I don't know
1:03
how he got away with it but he's a
1:05
director he's not an actor he's a
1:07
director true but I still think that's
1:09
such an iconic name I know Ste McQueen
1:12
so all right let's talk about Blitz
1:14
directed by Steve McQueen starring sh
1:18
Ronin
1:20
shouning that wrong uh tell me the story
1:22
of Blitz Alan okay so uh Blitz I'm just
1:26
looking at the date of the actions I
1:28
don't see it here but Blitz takes place
1:30
during World War II uh we are in England
1:33
the Germans are bombing uh London uh
1:36
sersha Ronin uh let me uh get the names
1:41
here sersa plays uh Rita uh she is the
1:44
mother of young George you can see him
1:46
in the poster there uh for safety uh
1:50
Rita decides that she's going to send
1:51
her son off into the country like many
1:54
other families in London did for safety
1:57
uh while uh George is uh is angry at the
2:03
fact that his mother would give him up
2:05
like that uh and so on the train ride
2:07
out uh the train doesn't get that far
2:09
and George escapes the train and heads
2:12
back to London to be with his mother and
2:14
the movie is about uh reuniting finally
2:16
with his mother and we follow down two
2:18
tracks here Rita who doesn't know that
2:20
her son is missing um goes on with the
2:24
war effort and uh she is a Riveter she
2:27
helps build weapons and ships and things
2:29
like that uh and um and she is just kind
2:32
of holding strong to uh to uh you know
2:36
during these tough times George on the
2:38
other hand is a boy on his own uh and
2:42
just trying to figure out how to find
2:43
his mother and for the most part how to
2:45
survive he runs into some to some pretty
2:48
bad company uh that kind of enslaved him
2:50
in a way uh and then he's just faced
2:53
with one danger after the other and so
2:55
can can George finally reunite with Rita
2:58
what are the consequences of his actions
3:00
along the way that is a story of Blitz
3:03
yeah and it's it should be should be
3:05
mentioned I don't know if you made it
3:06
clear it's set during World War II and
3:08
London is being bombed and it's
3:11
dangerous to be there and there there
3:13
was a you know keep a stiff upper lip
3:16
you know the English were very proud
3:18
they were going to stay there and not
3:20
take it but they were always under
3:22
threat of bombs so this giving up her
3:25
son to go off to the countryside to get
3:28
away from the city was a way of kind of
3:30
protecting him and then you also mention
3:32
that George is black well half black
3:35
half black and so therefore there's
3:37
there's all that too in the story
3:40
there's a there's a I mean there is a a
3:43
a sort of racial tension there that
3:46
plays out in a few scenes I think it's a
3:48
very beautiful
3:50
movie the sound design is amazing the uh
3:54
the effects in terms of you know bombed
3:56
out London there are some real tension
3:58
scenes in the Subway when um he's hiding
4:02
out the subway with a lot of other other
4:04
londoners are in the subway and that
4:07
gets bombed and flooded so uh there are
4:11
what would describe some real action
4:13
sequences on the train when he meets up
4:15
with this group of three kids three
4:17
brothers and they're trying to like you
4:19
know get back to London and or or just
4:21
go on an adventure so it is in a way
4:24
it's kind of like um uh you know Empire
4:28
of the Sun it's it's the war through a
4:32
child's
4:33
eyes so I did not I felt like a lot of
4:38
elements of the movie felt kind of
4:41
forced you know like the emotion the
4:44
racial stuff which is like we see so
4:47
often now it's like can you just say
4:50
something else with it yeah I so I I
4:54
don't know I'm sort of bordering on not
4:57
recommending this film it just it's also
4:59
an apple movie and Apple tv plus so it's
5:02
in theaters limited until it's like on
5:04
Apple TV Plus in November so um I was I
5:09
thought it was you know some stuff was
5:10
very beautiful but like it's so it felt
5:13
like it checked boxes uh that's so I
5:17
walked away with that aspect of it I
5:20
felt that like does every movie about
5:23
race tends to say the same thing can I
5:28
get an original thought about this or or
5:31
some life lesson or Insight that is
5:34
different than the same thing over and
5:37
over again so that aspect sort of got a
5:42
little tiresome and I wasn't
5:46
disappointed because there is a lot of
5:48
spectacle and there's a Han Zimmer score
5:51
you've got all this great stuff balanced
5:54
by other stuff that I thought brought
5:56
the film down it's a very mixed review
5:58
from me so so if you're hearing it's
6:00
mixed probably probably a pass for me
6:02
Alan what do you think yeah I'm on the
6:04
same thing uh same line it it just
6:06
borders that recommend line and I'm you
6:11
know if you're if you're into war films
6:14
I guess this is you know go ahead and
6:15
see it um I remember watching this movie
6:19
and thinking to myself that I've seen
6:21
this story before yeah the only element
6:23
of the story that that's not there is
6:25
the fact that uh George is
6:27
biracial um and uh you know that's I
6:33
just felt underwhelmed watching it there
6:35
there's a lot of you know like you say
6:37
it looks good uh suha is very uh very
6:41
good um you know she plays a mother I
6:44
you know you know the the kid is
6:46
actually a good actor too uh well done
6:48
but again I I just didn't feel like the
6:50
story had anything in it that was
6:53
necessarily new yeah he's biracial but
6:55
they it's not like it was it was a thing
6:59
at times but it wasn't a thing at times
7:01
and uh it just kind of felt like when it
7:04
became a thing it it needed it was for
7:06
the sake of the storytelling at the
7:08
moment um you know I bring this up a lot
7:11
when I see films in England around this
7:15
time uh dram you know fictional films uh
7:18
they paint this world of uh of wicked
7:21
little letters is one of them where the
7:23
town is very diverse and everyone gets
7:26
along and that color means nothing but
7:28
then you go to movie like this that
7:30
takes place at relatively the same time
7:32
and there's this racial tension going on
7:34
which kind of undermines both stories
7:37
it's like are you trying to show a
7:39
Utopia of the world then why are you
7:40
showing you know the the harsh realities
7:43
of race in in the world it's it's it's
7:46
really just the disicpline
7:57
[Music]
7:59
well it's it's it's real life that I
8:03
think people think about it a lot less
8:05
than the media would have a say yeah but
8:08
my problem is wicked little letters
8:10
takes place relatively at the same time
8:11
and it paints a very different world
8:12
than this world yeah and and you you
8:16
know that's what I say is if you're
8:18
gonna make a movie that takes place at a
8:20
specific time in a specific location be
8:22
authentic to it don't force diversity
8:24
because then you got this kind of weird
8:27
uh you know weird comparisons going on
8:30
well was it a good time for minorities
8:31
in the in the 1930s or wasn't it and uh
8:35
it's just a stupid conversation that we
8:37
have to have and we have to go through
8:39
this Dei argument uh risking
8:42
cancellation for even bringing up the
8:44
discussion so yeah I I
8:47
just yeah so I'm like very me on the
8:50
film which is sad because uh Han Zimmer
8:53
to the score the sound design is amazing
8:56
they're really ambitious incredibly
8:59
ambitious action sequences in the Subway
9:01
on the trains in the town the
9:04
destruction from World War II the set
9:07
pieces are incredible but I just
9:10
wasn't as emotionally drawn in as I
9:14
believe the filmmakers
9:16
intended and I'm sure I'm racist for
9:19
thinking about that how dare you just
9:21
like I'm think like the whole thing like
9:23
you're not my Asian friend you're my
9:25
you're my friend you're my friend Allen
9:28
I don't think of you by
9:30
your ethnicity or whatever I just I mean
9:33
it's so weird that it feel it feels like
9:36
there's just a weird version of
9:38
diversity that they push that the real
9:41
diversity that exists in real life
9:42
doesn't represent diversity as it's
9:45
shown on screen does that make sense
9:47
yeah exactly I mean you're not my white
9:49
friend Chris you're my friend Chris and
9:52
uh you know and living in a white
9:55
America never mind I I had a bit going
9:58
and I I no do it do it it's all about
10:01
this weird Progressive thought of you
10:04
have to be check a certain box or oh
10:07
yeah here here's here's the punch line
10:08
who in America would have thought that
10:09
I'd have a white friend there you
10:12
go you would grow up and have a white
10:15
friend oh my God so stupid so yeah so I
10:19
it's it's a pass or a bare recommend
10:23
pick which one you want yeah I mean it's
10:24
it's only going to be in theaters for
10:26
the Oscar run uh just to get it
10:28
nominated but uh and then you could
10:30
watch it oh here's the thing though you
10:34
if you're going to watch this movie it
10:35
should be in a theater with an amazing
10:36
soundtrack or sound system uh this is
10:40
It's a gorgeous film to watch it at home
10:43
on your television it kind of dishonors
10:46
the film but it it where it succeeds is
10:49
the war Through The Eyes of a boy that
10:52
succeeds but where where it fails is on
10:55
a lot of on the emotional level yeah and
10:59
then my understanding was that he was
11:00
offered what a lot of filmmakers are
11:02
offered where Apple says look uh if you
11:05
go straight to streaming we'll give you
11:06
this large amount of money to make the
11:08
movie uh but if you want to go to
11:09
theaters we're gonna have to cut your
11:11
budget and I think that's part of why
11:13
it's on Apple Plus or Apple TV
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