Kevin Klawitter
Location: MN
“Cloak and Dagger”
Directed by: David Slade
Written by: James Vanderbilt, based on the characters created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan
Executive Producer: Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito
Produced by: Kevin Feige
Music by: Atticus Ross
Director of Photography: Jo Willems
Editor: Art Jones
Production Designer: Barry Chusid
Cast:
Michael B. Jordan - Tyrone “Ty” Johnson / Cloak
Saorise Ronan - Tandy Bowen / Dagger
Christopher Plummer - Silvio “Silvermane” Manfredi
Mads Mikkelsen - Arthur Parks / The Living Laser
James D’Arcy - Simon Marshall
Kyle Chandler - Agent Paul Provenza
Tagline: The Streets Must Be Made Pure
Plot Summary:
It hasn’t been a good week for Tandy Bowen (Saorise Ronan). Having just moved to New York with dreams of becoming a dancer, she had blown her latest audition, and is heading home after yet another night bartending at a low-rent pub in the inner city. As she passes a dark alley, a young man, Tyrone Johnson, (Michael B. Jordan) emerges, staying behind her in hopes that he might be able to snatch her purse so he can buy some food. But before he can get the chance, another mugger emerges from around the corner, brandishing a billy club and demanding she turn over all of her valuables. Instead, she fights back, but when the mugger seems to have the upper hand, Ty comes to her aid, and ends up scaring off the mugger. Tandy thanks Ty, and invites him to her apartment so she can put some bandages on his injuries.
As the two get to talking, they realize they have a lot in common, but are also quite different. Both came to the city to escape their lives at home, but while Tandy came from an affluent background and was sick of her parents not paying attention to her, Ty left his old home of Boston out of shame when, due to his severe stutter, he couldn’t warn his best friend against accidentally stepping in front of a moving car. Ever since then, he’s been living on the streets in New York. Tandy decides to let Ty stay with her for a while, and the two become fast friends.
In a very different part of the city, wealthy mob boss Silvio “Silvermane” Manfredi (Christopher Plummer) explains to his lieutenants what the next undertaking their organization, the Maggia, will take part in, especially because another, unknown crime lord has been muscling in on their territory. Although the government’s recent focus on the Avengers and the threats they both face and cause has caused street crime such as drugs to become a veritable gold mine for the Maggia, Manfredi wishes to try and manufacture genetically altered humans. As a young man in Mussolini’s army during the second World War, Manfredi was able to catch a brief demonstration of Red Skull and his Tessaract-powered weaponry, and has been obsessed with the paranormal ever since. Also obsessing the elderly crime lord is his own mortality, and he hopes these experiments can find a way to cure or reverse his aging. He has enlisted the help of Arthur Parks (Mads Mikkelsen), a former member of the EXTREMIS project who is determined to pick up where Aldrich Killian left off, and is currently working on a variation of the EXTREMIS virus that adapts itself to the body it in injected into, causing varied results.
Tandy and Ty are hanging out at a rally held by the community organizer Luke Cage, where he lambastes the government for putting such a focus on cosmic threats when there are greater, more immediate dangers on the streets of the cities themselves. After the rally, Ty, Tandy, and many of the other young people who have gathered are approached by Simon Marshall (James D’Arcy), who says by joining him they can help combat street crime as Luke Cage says… all they have to do is volunteer to be test subjects for an experiment designed to give superpowers to the average citizen.
They follow him to an unmarked warehouse, where he introduces them to Arthur Parks. Parks gives each of the runaways a dose of the modified Extremis virus, which causes almost all of them to suffer violent reactions. Parks retreats from the room and seals them in. As he and Marshall watch them through a one-way mirror, the door to the warehouse is kicked in… it’s a raid by SHIELD, led by agent Paul Provenza (Kyle Chandler)! Marshall runs away immediately, but Parks stays to retrieve his data before initiating a self-destruct sequence that reduces the entire building to a pile of rubble.
Later, Ty Frees himself from the fallen rubble. Looking around him, he sees that he and Tandy are the only ones who have survived. Carrying her unconscious body to a nearby alley, he finds a piece of cloth and wraps it around himself and Tandy. She moans, saying she feels cold. Noting how warm she feels, and thinking she has a fever, Ty tries to hold her closer, but discovers with a shock that he arms and legs have become pitch black… in fact, his whole body seems to have turned into a formless void beneath the cloth he placed over his shoulders. Tandy is shocked when she sees is, and when she tries to push away, an enormous blade of light emits from her hands. Rather than being hurt, Ty feels… filled, as if a sort of hunger inside the void is being quenched. Tandy discovers that she can emit blasts of light in the shape of daggers, and she seems to be absorbing her power from the ambient light around her. Terrified by what has happened, but aware they’ve been given great abilities, the two teens decide to try and find out what happened to them.
While investigating the fallout from the warehouse raid, agent Paul Provenza starts to notice strange reports from criminals in the area… drug dealers and enforcers have been reporting ambushes on them by a strange pair of super powered beings. Some are left chilled to the bone and barely alive, while others have suffered severe shocks and burns, almost the point of paralysis. Suspecting Arthur Parks’ experiments may have something to do with it, Provenza decides to investigate this occurrences himself. The attacks were byTy and Tandy, now going by the aliases Cloak and Dagger, who have been targeting local criminal and drug dealers, hoping that some of them might be able to tell them what Parks and Marshall were doing. Eventually, they discover Simon Marshall’s home address and enter his home to confront him. Though terrified, he resists talking until Cloak forces him into his dimension, where he tumbles and thrashes in the zero-gravity blackness. He feels as if the life is being sucked out of him and starts to talk, after which Cloak ejects him. Marshall reveals he was being paid by Silvermane. Right when Dagger is about to finish him off, Paul Provenza breaks in and holds the three of them at gunpoint. Cloak and Dagger try to convince Provenza that they’re all on the same side, and when he rejects this idea, saying they have no right to be Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Cloak engulfs himself and Dagger into his own void, causing them to vanish into thin air. Provenza takes Marshall into custody.
Meanwhile, at Silvermane’s penthouse, the now-bedridden crime lord is being briefed by Arthur Parks on the results of the experiment that he was able to gather before SHIELD started to close in on them. He says the EXTREMIS results were inconclusive, but in the meantime he has started to develop a back-up plan in case Silvermane’s health fails. Just then, he hears the sounds of gunfire. Checking the surveillance footage, he sees Cloak and Dagger battling it out with Silvermane’s guards, with Dagger shocking the weapons out of their hands and Cloak overtaking them as the two vigilantes advance in the hallway (their vitality serving to fill the hunger caused by his void). Eventually, the two of them break in to Silvermane’s bedroom, where Parks recognizes them as two of the teens from his experiment. He is cast aside by Cloak while Dagger sends a massive bolt of energy into Silvermane, which overloads his nervous system, causing him to suffer a massive heart attack. Just when she’s about to turn to Parks, they hear the police break in, and vanish away into Cloak’s void. Parks immediately hits an emergency switch on the wall, and both he and Silvermane’s bed sink into the floor.
After making his escape, Parks retreats to a secret lab funded by a third party (with Silvermane’s bed now encased in a strange, metallic capsule) now feels he has proof of his success with the EXTREMIS virus, but with Cloak and Dagger running wild, he can’t risk them wrecking his plans, so he searches his files for the formula to the virus tested on Dagger, and gives himself a triple dose. He now involuntarily absorbs light from all ambient sources, and can release it in the form of laser beams. He has become, in effect, a Living Laser.
With their revenge seemingly complete, Cloak and Dagger ponder what to do next. Cloak feels guilty over the death of Silvermane, thinking that as a bedridden old man he couldn’t possibly pose that much of a threat. But Dagger wonders why he seems to regret using lethal force. After all, he lives off of the life force of people trapped inside his void, and he can’t live on Dagger’s energy alone. But Cloak still feels remorse, and decides to leave Dagger behind and try and turn himself in to Agent Provenza. As he starts looking for Provenza’s office, he’s taken off guard by a laser blast from Arthur Parks. As Parks continues blasting, Cloak tries to absorb them into his void, but Parks has studied Cloak’s fighting style from the videos and keeps aiming for the most solid parts of his body: his face, limbs, back, etc. When it looks like Cloak is down for the count, Parks is attacked by Dagger, who had been looking for Cloak. She and Parks start firing at each other, but while Parks’ lasers burn and hurt her, her light daggers don’t seem to affect Parks at all, but she keeps fighting nonetheless, trying to keep Parks away from Cloak. As she hurls dagger after dagger at Parks, she notices him begin to glow, and realizes that he, like her, draws his power from ambient light. She ups her pace, throwing more and stronger daggers into him until he collapses… he’s begun to overload. But he drags himself to his feet and grabs Dagger close. The energy overload will cause him to explode, and if nothing else, he’ll take her with him. But a darkness closes around him… Cloak has recovered. He grabs Parks, pushes Dagger away, and forces Parks into his void, lying down on the ground to prevent his escape. The explosion is muffled but massive, creating several large tears in Cloak’s cape, with Parks’ light escaping through. At first Dagger is afraid Cloak died from it, but he slowly gets back up, and the two embrace.
Paul Provenza finds a note in his office. It says that while they know they shouldn’t serve as judge, jury, and executioner, Cloak and Dagger feel there is a need for them on the streets until greater attention is paid to the suffering they have seen there. They need to keep other runaways from suffering similar fates to theirs, and that’s what they’ll do. Provenza can keep looking for them, but he’s not likely to find them, because they’re going to be constantly hidden, in the shadow and in the light.
(Post-Credits Scene)
Silvio Manfredi’s eyes slowly open. He feels… different. Stronger. Looking down, he’s shocked to see his body is now metallic-no-robotic. Most of his head and vital organs have been transferred into a bionic body, but how did this happen? The last thing he remembers was a teenage girl staring at him in rage.
“I suppose you’re wondering who’s been paying for your rehabilitation”
A stocky, but powerful man (Michael Chiklis) emerges from the shadows. He’s well-dressed and carries a cane.
“Hello, Silvermane. My name is Wilson Fisk, but you can call me the Kingpin. I think we should talk.”
Awards Campaign:
Marvel Studios bring two of their lesser-known heroes to the big screen in what is hopefully the first in a series of smaller-scale films dedicated to portraying the superheroes who fight street crime and other problems like that rather than the cosmic-level threats faced by the likes of Iron Man and Thor. Cloak and Dagger fits that purpose well, peripherally connected to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, but creating and filling out a world entirely its own on the inner-city streets of New York City. David Slade’s direction and James Vanderbilt’s script create and atmospheric, gritty environment where people live and hope for the best, but fear the rampant crime that has infested the neighborhood following the Battle of New York.
Michael B. Jordan and Saorise Ronan give fantastic performances in the title roles, with great chemistry and acting that create the perfect sort of balance that is needed in a film like this: two young people from very different worlds, but with a deep emotional connection that really lets you believe they were destined to be tied together in a symbiotic bond. Christopher Plummer steals his scenes as Silvermane, frail but still intimidating, injecting the part with the charisma and evil sure to be inherent in a crime lord. Mads Mikkelsen is also very good as the primary villain. His Arthur Parks is initially cold and scientific, but once it seems as if he has been proven right, a switch seems to go off inside of him, releasing oodles of pent-up excitement, and you can see why he thinks nothing of trying to finish his job by turning himself into the Living Laser. Kyle Chandler offers solid support as the dogged SHIELD agent who is just trying to do the right thing.
While certainly fitting into the category of the science fiction blockbuster realm, there is a greater poignancy to Cloak and Dagger than you often see in the larger superhero epics. From the lonely backgrounds of the main character, to the struggles they see every day on the streets, to the genuine conflict they feel over the use of lethal force when they see no other way, Cloak and Dagger is an entertaining and thoughtful movie that brings a whole new dimension to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one what will hopefully be given more exploration in the future.
FYC:
Best Picture
Best Director - David Slade
Best Adapted Screenplay - James Vanderbilt
Best Actor - Michael B. Jordan
Best Actress - Saorise Ronan
Best Supporting Actor - Mads Mikkelsen
Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer
Location: MN
“Cloak and Dagger”
Directed by: David Slade
Written by: James Vanderbilt, based on the characters created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan
Executive Producer: Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito
Produced by: Kevin Feige
Music by: Atticus Ross
Director of Photography: Jo Willems
Editor: Art Jones
Production Designer: Barry Chusid
Cast:
Michael B. Jordan - Tyrone “Ty” Johnson / Cloak
Saorise Ronan - Tandy Bowen / Dagger
Christopher Plummer - Silvio “Silvermane” Manfredi
Mads Mikkelsen - Arthur Parks / The Living Laser
James D’Arcy - Simon Marshall
Kyle Chandler - Agent Paul Provenza
Tagline: The Streets Must Be Made Pure
Plot Summary:
It hasn’t been a good week for Tandy Bowen (Saorise Ronan). Having just moved to New York with dreams of becoming a dancer, she had blown her latest audition, and is heading home after yet another night bartending at a low-rent pub in the inner city. As she passes a dark alley, a young man, Tyrone Johnson, (Michael B. Jordan) emerges, staying behind her in hopes that he might be able to snatch her purse so he can buy some food. But before he can get the chance, another mugger emerges from around the corner, brandishing a billy club and demanding she turn over all of her valuables. Instead, she fights back, but when the mugger seems to have the upper hand, Ty comes to her aid, and ends up scaring off the mugger. Tandy thanks Ty, and invites him to her apartment so she can put some bandages on his injuries.
As the two get to talking, they realize they have a lot in common, but are also quite different. Both came to the city to escape their lives at home, but while Tandy came from an affluent background and was sick of her parents not paying attention to her, Ty left his old home of Boston out of shame when, due to his severe stutter, he couldn’t warn his best friend against accidentally stepping in front of a moving car. Ever since then, he’s been living on the streets in New York. Tandy decides to let Ty stay with her for a while, and the two become fast friends.
In a very different part of the city, wealthy mob boss Silvio “Silvermane” Manfredi (Christopher Plummer) explains to his lieutenants what the next undertaking their organization, the Maggia, will take part in, especially because another, unknown crime lord has been muscling in on their territory. Although the government’s recent focus on the Avengers and the threats they both face and cause has caused street crime such as drugs to become a veritable gold mine for the Maggia, Manfredi wishes to try and manufacture genetically altered humans. As a young man in Mussolini’s army during the second World War, Manfredi was able to catch a brief demonstration of Red Skull and his Tessaract-powered weaponry, and has been obsessed with the paranormal ever since. Also obsessing the elderly crime lord is his own mortality, and he hopes these experiments can find a way to cure or reverse his aging. He has enlisted the help of Arthur Parks (Mads Mikkelsen), a former member of the EXTREMIS project who is determined to pick up where Aldrich Killian left off, and is currently working on a variation of the EXTREMIS virus that adapts itself to the body it in injected into, causing varied results.
Tandy and Ty are hanging out at a rally held by the community organizer Luke Cage, where he lambastes the government for putting such a focus on cosmic threats when there are greater, more immediate dangers on the streets of the cities themselves. After the rally, Ty, Tandy, and many of the other young people who have gathered are approached by Simon Marshall (James D’Arcy), who says by joining him they can help combat street crime as Luke Cage says… all they have to do is volunteer to be test subjects for an experiment designed to give superpowers to the average citizen.
They follow him to an unmarked warehouse, where he introduces them to Arthur Parks. Parks gives each of the runaways a dose of the modified Extremis virus, which causes almost all of them to suffer violent reactions. Parks retreats from the room and seals them in. As he and Marshall watch them through a one-way mirror, the door to the warehouse is kicked in… it’s a raid by SHIELD, led by agent Paul Provenza (Kyle Chandler)! Marshall runs away immediately, but Parks stays to retrieve his data before initiating a self-destruct sequence that reduces the entire building to a pile of rubble.
Later, Ty Frees himself from the fallen rubble. Looking around him, he sees that he and Tandy are the only ones who have survived. Carrying her unconscious body to a nearby alley, he finds a piece of cloth and wraps it around himself and Tandy. She moans, saying she feels cold. Noting how warm she feels, and thinking she has a fever, Ty tries to hold her closer, but discovers with a shock that he arms and legs have become pitch black… in fact, his whole body seems to have turned into a formless void beneath the cloth he placed over his shoulders. Tandy is shocked when she sees is, and when she tries to push away, an enormous blade of light emits from her hands. Rather than being hurt, Ty feels… filled, as if a sort of hunger inside the void is being quenched. Tandy discovers that she can emit blasts of light in the shape of daggers, and she seems to be absorbing her power from the ambient light around her. Terrified by what has happened, but aware they’ve been given great abilities, the two teens decide to try and find out what happened to them.
While investigating the fallout from the warehouse raid, agent Paul Provenza starts to notice strange reports from criminals in the area… drug dealers and enforcers have been reporting ambushes on them by a strange pair of super powered beings. Some are left chilled to the bone and barely alive, while others have suffered severe shocks and burns, almost the point of paralysis. Suspecting Arthur Parks’ experiments may have something to do with it, Provenza decides to investigate this occurrences himself. The attacks were byTy and Tandy, now going by the aliases Cloak and Dagger, who have been targeting local criminal and drug dealers, hoping that some of them might be able to tell them what Parks and Marshall were doing. Eventually, they discover Simon Marshall’s home address and enter his home to confront him. Though terrified, he resists talking until Cloak forces him into his dimension, where he tumbles and thrashes in the zero-gravity blackness. He feels as if the life is being sucked out of him and starts to talk, after which Cloak ejects him. Marshall reveals he was being paid by Silvermane. Right when Dagger is about to finish him off, Paul Provenza breaks in and holds the three of them at gunpoint. Cloak and Dagger try to convince Provenza that they’re all on the same side, and when he rejects this idea, saying they have no right to be Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Cloak engulfs himself and Dagger into his own void, causing them to vanish into thin air. Provenza takes Marshall into custody.
Meanwhile, at Silvermane’s penthouse, the now-bedridden crime lord is being briefed by Arthur Parks on the results of the experiment that he was able to gather before SHIELD started to close in on them. He says the EXTREMIS results were inconclusive, but in the meantime he has started to develop a back-up plan in case Silvermane’s health fails. Just then, he hears the sounds of gunfire. Checking the surveillance footage, he sees Cloak and Dagger battling it out with Silvermane’s guards, with Dagger shocking the weapons out of their hands and Cloak overtaking them as the two vigilantes advance in the hallway (their vitality serving to fill the hunger caused by his void). Eventually, the two of them break in to Silvermane’s bedroom, where Parks recognizes them as two of the teens from his experiment. He is cast aside by Cloak while Dagger sends a massive bolt of energy into Silvermane, which overloads his nervous system, causing him to suffer a massive heart attack. Just when she’s about to turn to Parks, they hear the police break in, and vanish away into Cloak’s void. Parks immediately hits an emergency switch on the wall, and both he and Silvermane’s bed sink into the floor.
After making his escape, Parks retreats to a secret lab funded by a third party (with Silvermane’s bed now encased in a strange, metallic capsule) now feels he has proof of his success with the EXTREMIS virus, but with Cloak and Dagger running wild, he can’t risk them wrecking his plans, so he searches his files for the formula to the virus tested on Dagger, and gives himself a triple dose. He now involuntarily absorbs light from all ambient sources, and can release it in the form of laser beams. He has become, in effect, a Living Laser.
With their revenge seemingly complete, Cloak and Dagger ponder what to do next. Cloak feels guilty over the death of Silvermane, thinking that as a bedridden old man he couldn’t possibly pose that much of a threat. But Dagger wonders why he seems to regret using lethal force. After all, he lives off of the life force of people trapped inside his void, and he can’t live on Dagger’s energy alone. But Cloak still feels remorse, and decides to leave Dagger behind and try and turn himself in to Agent Provenza. As he starts looking for Provenza’s office, he’s taken off guard by a laser blast from Arthur Parks. As Parks continues blasting, Cloak tries to absorb them into his void, but Parks has studied Cloak’s fighting style from the videos and keeps aiming for the most solid parts of his body: his face, limbs, back, etc. When it looks like Cloak is down for the count, Parks is attacked by Dagger, who had been looking for Cloak. She and Parks start firing at each other, but while Parks’ lasers burn and hurt her, her light daggers don’t seem to affect Parks at all, but she keeps fighting nonetheless, trying to keep Parks away from Cloak. As she hurls dagger after dagger at Parks, she notices him begin to glow, and realizes that he, like her, draws his power from ambient light. She ups her pace, throwing more and stronger daggers into him until he collapses… he’s begun to overload. But he drags himself to his feet and grabs Dagger close. The energy overload will cause him to explode, and if nothing else, he’ll take her with him. But a darkness closes around him… Cloak has recovered. He grabs Parks, pushes Dagger away, and forces Parks into his void, lying down on the ground to prevent his escape. The explosion is muffled but massive, creating several large tears in Cloak’s cape, with Parks’ light escaping through. At first Dagger is afraid Cloak died from it, but he slowly gets back up, and the two embrace.
Paul Provenza finds a note in his office. It says that while they know they shouldn’t serve as judge, jury, and executioner, Cloak and Dagger feel there is a need for them on the streets until greater attention is paid to the suffering they have seen there. They need to keep other runaways from suffering similar fates to theirs, and that’s what they’ll do. Provenza can keep looking for them, but he’s not likely to find them, because they’re going to be constantly hidden, in the shadow and in the light.
(Post-Credits Scene)
Silvio Manfredi’s eyes slowly open. He feels… different. Stronger. Looking down, he’s shocked to see his body is now metallic-no-robotic. Most of his head and vital organs have been transferred into a bionic body, but how did this happen? The last thing he remembers was a teenage girl staring at him in rage.
“I suppose you’re wondering who’s been paying for your rehabilitation”
A stocky, but powerful man (Michael Chiklis) emerges from the shadows. He’s well-dressed and carries a cane.
“Hello, Silvermane. My name is Wilson Fisk, but you can call me the Kingpin. I think we should talk.”
Awards Campaign:
Marvel Studios bring two of their lesser-known heroes to the big screen in what is hopefully the first in a series of smaller-scale films dedicated to portraying the superheroes who fight street crime and other problems like that rather than the cosmic-level threats faced by the likes of Iron Man and Thor. Cloak and Dagger fits that purpose well, peripherally connected to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, but creating and filling out a world entirely its own on the inner-city streets of New York City. David Slade’s direction and James Vanderbilt’s script create and atmospheric, gritty environment where people live and hope for the best, but fear the rampant crime that has infested the neighborhood following the Battle of New York.
Michael B. Jordan and Saorise Ronan give fantastic performances in the title roles, with great chemistry and acting that create the perfect sort of balance that is needed in a film like this: two young people from very different worlds, but with a deep emotional connection that really lets you believe they were destined to be tied together in a symbiotic bond. Christopher Plummer steals his scenes as Silvermane, frail but still intimidating, injecting the part with the charisma and evil sure to be inherent in a crime lord. Mads Mikkelsen is also very good as the primary villain. His Arthur Parks is initially cold and scientific, but once it seems as if he has been proven right, a switch seems to go off inside of him, releasing oodles of pent-up excitement, and you can see why he thinks nothing of trying to finish his job by turning himself into the Living Laser. Kyle Chandler offers solid support as the dogged SHIELD agent who is just trying to do the right thing.
While certainly fitting into the category of the science fiction blockbuster realm, there is a greater poignancy to Cloak and Dagger than you often see in the larger superhero epics. From the lonely backgrounds of the main character, to the struggles they see every day on the streets, to the genuine conflict they feel over the use of lethal force when they see no other way, Cloak and Dagger is an entertaining and thoughtful movie that brings a whole new dimension to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one what will hopefully be given more exploration in the future.
FYC:
Best Picture
Best Director - David Slade
Best Adapted Screenplay - James Vanderbilt
Best Actor - Michael B. Jordan
Best Actress - Saorise Ronan
Best Supporting Actor - Mads Mikkelsen
Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer