'Stranger Things' - The Old Fashioned Sweet Spot

The importance of 'originality', deviation of the norm, and the criticism of anything that hits previously set up plot points too closely, has resulted in a truly mixed bag of films, and mixed criticisms. I'll say the truth which is that as years go by, there's less and less chance you'll devise an idea that's completely, utterly 'original'; almost any story is going to be derivative in some way. Too often, however, I see things which attempt to 'diverge' from the status quo. Sometimes it works in a deconstructive way, like in Seven Psychopaths. Sometimes, it comes across as trying too hard for the sake of 'originality' - Batman vs Superman.

Anyway, as per usual I digress. Having finally caught up with Stranger Things, the miniseries phenomenon that's been sweeping the pop culture world, I once again find another example to prove my point that sometimes, sticking to the original formula, and from that framework finding ways to deviate from it, is the best thing to do. Last year we saw the 'chase movie' paid homage and revitalized by Mad Max: Fury Road, the boxing film brought back to its mighty roots by Creed, and perhaps most notably in line with Stranger Things, the old Hollywood sweet spot hit by Steven Speilberg's Bridge of Spies. I mention it in particular because in some ways, though not all ways, Stranger Things has a very Steven Speilberg-esque vibe, and also because like Bridge of Spies in which seemed like a throwback to the olden day prestige Hollywood biopics with an inspired twist in the form of its 'nemesis' character, Stranger Things too presents a bit of a throwback, this time to the children's adventure films of the 80s like The Goonies, Stand By Me, and E.T. the Extraterrestrial, the twist being that it's certainly a much darker sort of beast.

The general gist of the plot is actually fairly simple to surmise. In the town of Hawkins, Indiana, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) goes missing under mysterious circumstances, which the viewer witnesses, but also has no clue as to what causes it - only that it is, indeed, something very, very strange. . We know, however, that it is more than just an instance of 'runaway child', and the series essentially involves the piecing together of the case by various parties, divided at the start into three groups which gradually begin to overlap: Will's distraught mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) and her son Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and his police force, and Will's best friends Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin). Also set up are the stories of Mike's older sister Nancy (Natalia Dyer), who's also subsequently pulled into the case under some unfortunate circumstances, the mysterious 'Hawkins Department of Energy Facility' led by Dr Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), and most enigmatic of all, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), a young mysterious girl with strange powers who may have the key to solving the mystery of Will's disappearance.

As it's titled Stranger Things, strange things do of course, happen quite frequently throughout the eight episodes with increasing frequency. One of the main strengths of the show is its flow, and this extends to how the way these strange occurences are implemented into the plot. We know something is amiss from the very outset, but the excellence of the writing comes down to how it's gradually unpeeled; the secret workings of the government's scientific experiments, and how it ties into Eleven's traumatic past, are dealt with in a series of very atmospheric flashbacks that only serve to push the plot along, and never feel like a doorstop to it. The gradual unconvering of the 'Upside Down' world which is where Will has been transported to is not immediately shown to us, but shown in brief spurts in a way that kind of reminded me of another Speilberg film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This other world is vividly conveyed through solid visual effects and style, but it never overwhelms the plot, and is maintained with enough intrigue and mystery to keep holding our interest, by resisting the urge to give too much away.

Because for all the discussion about the excellence of its science-fiction and supernatural qualities, the main strength of Stranger Things lies in its characters, and acting. It's testament to the quality of both elements that the somewhat 'standard' plotline of 'rescue adventure to find kid' is rendered consistently engaging, and that we get to know these people in the plot so well we don't even mind the long stretches where technically, nothing 'out of the ordinary' happens. Show creators Matt and Ross Duffer have crafted a compelling narrative that's derived from, and acknowledges, many references from Stephen King to John Carpenter to of course, Speilberg, and delivered a crowd-pleasing thrill-ride and character piece those brilliant writers and filmmakers should be very proud of.

A good place to start with a comparison would be to something like Super 8 a few years ago. Now I did quite like Super 8 as a film in itself, but as a homage to the 80s kid blockbusters of the 80s it left a little bit to be desired. Stranger Things, in a sense, achieves where Super 8 stumbled a bit by painting a rather compelling portrait of kids investigating supernatural occurrences, while also making the other characters, notably the adult authority figures, similarly engaging (which was an aspect I feel Super 8 was notably weak in).

I suppose the best place to start is indeed with the characters who are shown from the point where nothing 'out of the ordinary' has happened to them...yet. The quartet of child actors who play Will, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas are uniformly fantastic. I'll say it now so I won't have to reiterate it later, we seem to be going into a bit of a surge in great child actors lately. Abraham Attah, Jacob Tremblay, Quvenzhané Wallis, etc and now these four chaps, plus another actor I'll get onto in a bit. They have such a naturally engaging dynamic and chemistry with one another that in their first scene, they already leap beyond that often insurmountable first hurdle that is convincing the audience that these kids are friends, and that you should be interested in their stories.

Schnapp does indeed get the least to do due to the nature of his role, but he's very sweet, endearing and charismatic in his opening scene and all the subsequent flashbacks, and his brief appearances in the last few episodes, to make a more than sufficient impression as the sensitive, shy and kind soul Will, we truly feel is worth all the characters' cumulative effort in saving.

As Dustin, the comedic relief of the group, Matarazzo has a pretty tricky role from the outset. He's not only meant to be funny but, at the opening stages of the plot at least, a bit 'annoying' without being 'annoying', if that makes any sense. In that the way Dustin is written is the funny friend you can't help but love, but also can't help but feel annoyed by when he's a bit too lighthearted or comical in the wrong circumstances. Matarazzo nails this challenge perfectly, and I also have to credit the writing behind his jokes. They're never written to be overly precocious, which is a problem behind a lot of children's dialogue in films today, and feel exactly like the sort of wisecracks a bright twelve-year old kid would make. I was abosolutely won over by his performance and felt he never set a foot wrong in his humorous or serious scenes in bringing out the joy of watching Dustin doing Dustin.

McLaughlin's Lucas is a less tricky role but perhaps more problematic, in that the way he's written is fairly one-note, hote-headed figure. Unlike say Teddy in Stand By Me, though, Lucas is certainly a much more intelligent, clear-headed figure, and actually utilizes this slight abrasiveness to make an impact as the 'sensible' one of the group who doubts the supernatural occurrences for the longest. He provides a good balance to the group dynamic, and McLaughlin's performance is impressive and endearing because he never feels like a 'stick in the mud'. He adds to the ensemble very well and manages his character's little arc in an excellent manner, and like Matarazzo I enjoyed every moment he was onscreen.

And as for Wolfhard's Mike, who is most certainly the ostensible lead of the boys, getting his whole Wheeler family - including sisters Nancy and Holly, and his parents (Cara Buono and Joe Chrest) - as significant supporting characters, and also having the most individual focus. The role is certainly inspired greatly from just about every kid's extraordinary adventure film to date, from E.T. to Super 8 in the form of the wide-eyed,brave idealistic kid who's nevertheless pretty normal, all in all. Wolfhard proves himself to be a particularly naturalstic and selfless actor as he allows other actors with somewhat broader roles and portrayals to play off him, and nails every single emotional and heartwarming moment he has at his disposal. The role is deceptively tricky, and Wolfhard nails it in all aspects, especially in one relationship he has with another character I'll get onto in a bit.

Let me reiterate once more what fantastic chemistry these chaps have. Just watching them playing in the basement and chatting is wonderfully entertaining (1:50 onwards in this clip), which is crucial because it forms a way of establishing the themes and contexts of Stranger Things from an early stage, and not only in the way the boys' tight-knit friendship and relative outcast status in school makes the subsequent mystery all the more personally involving. The boys' interest in RPG, notably Dungeons and Dragons, and fantasy/science-fiction, works in an expert two-fold manner. It helps set the film nicely in the 80s with nuance (note the posters to The Thing and The Evil Dead in several scenes), and without ever feeling forced the series immediately captures the science-fiction and horror vibes by our main characters' awareness of the genres, and their devout interest in it which plays into them viewing their quest to save their friend from the forests of 'Mirkwood', from the monstrous 'Demogrogron'.

These aforementioned scenes are what reminded me of those good ol' 80s films the most, but soon there's a bit of a twist to the proceedings, though in a way also a homage to the inspirations. The sweet spot has been hit with these endearing kid actors and characters, and soon another one comes into the fold, the E.T. to this story in the form of Eleven. Millie Bobby Brown is the youngest main actor on the show and also gives the best performance, while barely speaking a word for long stretches at a time as the 'weirdo', as Lucas insensitively puts it, the kids come into while looking for the missing Will.

This sort of character can make or break a series, especially considering the huge backstory and context she has to carry on her shoulders as a mysterious girl who's spent her whole life as a lab experiment for a mysterious government agency. Her assimilation into a normal life with Mike in particular is great, and reminded me in a very good way of the equivalent scenes in Room. Like Jacob Tremblay in that film, Brown carries such weight in her depictions of her past and present traumas, and is extremely moving when those emotions come overtly out; and is utterly joyous in the moments where she finds hope and happiness in her friendship with the boys, with whom she all has great chemistry with, but particularly Wolfhard with who she has some utterly beautiful scenes that build up a tight bond that brings about the finale to a particularly impactful conclusion.

I should also note that the SFX involved in Eleven's scenes, whether it's the flashback or 'present-day' scenes, are all excellently minimalistic and yet very memorable. Her powers never seem 'overpowered' so to speak, as the script wisely makes each unleashing of it strain upon her in the form of at best, a nosebleed, at worst a complete bodily collapse. I thoroughly loved any scene where Brown got to show her powers, which are further enhanced by the reactions of the other kids to them, getting a true sense of magic whenever they are used to save the day, or just for fun. The van scene above, in particular, I loved as a little cheeky nod to a sort of equivalent scene in E.T. .

The young actors are indeed, the heart and soul of the series, and the rest of the cast essentially play off them, whether it be directly or indirectly. The two characters with the biggest roles, Will's mother Joyce and Police Chief Hopper, are played by the biggest names in the cast Winona Ryder and David Harbour. Their characters are perhaps the most intensely devoted to the case and present a much more serious, straightforward and equally well-written side to the storyline.

Ryder's been somewhat off-the-radar in recent years (don't forget A Scanner Darkly though). I think it was great casting to bring in a notable name actress who doesn't distract from the proceedings. To add to that Ryder was a staple in 1980s iconic pop culture films like Beetlejuice, and Heathers, and subruban fairytale masterpiece I shall defend to the death Edward Scissorhands. It's really interesting to see the actress who played such sprightly and luminous young girls (or in the case of Beetlejuice, moody and caustic young girl) play the haggard, overworked and easily anxious single mother of two. I'll admit Ryder perhaps plays the notes of the character's hysteria a bit too hard early on, but it does seem to be the right approach as it establishes her character's presence of mind, as well as why the other townspeople would consider whatever she says a bit crazy.

As the series progressed though, her performance gradually began to win me over to the point I began loving it. Her louder breakdown scenes build to probably the most breathtaking scene in the whole series where she manages to make contact with Will through Christmas lights in her house, which sounds ridiculous the way I phrase it but when you watch it in the context of the series, you'll be absolutely entranced by the heartrending direction and performance of Ryder in these scenes. She also deserves special credit, as her onscreen sons do to, to establish the warmth of the Byers household, and make the search for the youngest son all the more involving to watch unfold onscreen.

Harbour's an actor I haven't seen much of outside of his rather stellar supporting turn as an FBI agent dealing with a crisis in conscience in Black Mass. Here he really knocks his role out of the ballpark as the old-time police chief in town who seems to just not care anymore, and who holds a dark past. The role is wonderfully written but also ripe for cliches, and what I love about Harbour's performance is that he plays into these stereotypes while also gradually developing his character into the hero of the story. The depressed sheriff gradually becoming increasingly determined to solve the various cases placed on his table is a great way of bringing together the various elements of the show, and Harbour is given the tricky task of navigating from lighthearted comedic scenes with his police cohorts, to subtle suggestions of his character's dark past, to his growing suspicion of the higher ups in the government of a grander conspiracy. He's a great hero to follow alongside the story, and  I absolutely loved the dramatic conviction he brought in the later episodes in particular (I won't post any of his clips as most of them are VERY spoiler-y, and work best when just watching the show).

Adult characters in these types of stories tend to be mindless fodder or stupid authority figures, and I liked how they weren't that here, but fully fleshed-out characters in their own right. They never felt like an unwelcome discourse from the kids' storyline, and I particularly liked how the way their scenes were directed had a certain rougher feel to them, particularly in the more gritty scenes. For example, the Wheeler parents, despite being somewhat superfluous to the central plot, never felt unnecessary as both actors did a lot to help suggest a nice if uneventful familt life. and how by the third episode the style had become so seamless that in scenes where the children and adult plot lines coincide, both feel perfectly fitting to the Heroes cover that plays excellently over the soundtrack.

The soundtrack is another great thing about the series. It reminded me of a grander, and even more exhilirating form of Midnight Special's theme tune. It's never overused and helps to create such a vividly haunting atmosphere in moments where it needs it, and a sense of comfort whenever that's required. There's also an eclectic collection of 80s music that much like this year's Sing Street just helps to establish that sense of place and time all the better, and also ties in nicely to the teenager's side of Stranger Things.

Now I found this section to be initially one of the weaker segments. The 'antagonist' characters, like the schoolyard bullies of Mike and his friends, are somewhat one-note and easily hateable. Unlike those characters, whose action did advance the plot and whose characterizations did have a very satisfying payoff, the actions of the high school doofus 'jocks' and 'material girls' rode a bit too close to caricature for my tastes. Add to that the character of the 'nerdy best friend' Barbara 'Barb' Holland (Shannon Purser) being little more than a sacrificial lamb for the supernatural side of things. Of these sorts of 'shallow' characters, only Steve (Joe Keery) gets to make all that much of an impression as the initially somewhat pushy and cocky jock boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler. I really did not take to his character initially, but once again the writing of the series won me over as the character changes from being an obnoxious obstacle to having one particularly rousing moment in the series' climax.

As for Nancy herself, the character is actually of the fairly standard sort of 'good girl turning herself bad' arc, as is the missing Will's brother Jonathan and his 'loner older brother gradually opens up' arc. I was somewhat dubious from the outset about their respective characterizations as it seemed like a lot of it would be just screentime filler, with nothing much to add to the plot. And while the inspiration behind the characters may not be particularly inspired, the performances themselves kind of are. Though I didn't care all that much for most of the standard 'high-school life' scenes (which are directed in perhaps an intentionally shallow manner), Natalia Dyer is quite a nice screen presence in those scenes and makes her character likable enough to follow. In subsequent episodes where circumstances stress a bit more on behalf of her character to take action, she becomes more interesting with each episode as she gets deeper into the plot. I prticularly like how she plays both the emotionally weak side and the 'strong sister' side of the performance without ever letting one half overshadow the other.

And Charlie Heaton's Jonathan could've also been rendered a bit superfluous as he's initially just a second face of grief and worry alongside his mother for his missing brother. Heaton, though, is a remarkably moving presence in these scenes and brings such emotional honesty to his portayal of grief, which culminates in a fantastic scene of a shouting match between him and his mother over whether or not Will is dead. His character, at first seemingly uninspired, becomes a rather effective tool the writing uses to add more dramatic weight to Joyce's character, as shown above in the confrontational scene I've posted here.

Extra credit has to go to these two actors for not only making their characters individually interesting to watch, but when they come together having a very unique sort of chemistry that's not romantic, or not even overtly 'friendly'. It's one of the series' greatest strengths that it never overwhelms the human element of its characters and performances even in scenes like the finale conflict of Jonathan and Nancy against the insidious forces in the Byers household, which is to the directors' credit a rather taut and involving sequence involving bear traps, baseball bats and fire that reminded me a bit of the 'countdown' sequence in Green Room this year.

I haven't yet gone into the most high-concept aspect of the proceedings, which is of course where all the strange and stranger things happening actually come from. This is primarily centered around the central government conspiracy involving some sort of series of experiments on abducted young children, of which Eleven is the latest subject. These scenes I'd say are the most divisive of the series because firstly, though you get a lot of scenes dedicated to what they're doing to Eleven - which seems to be a series of psychological and physical tests on the limits of her powers - you don't really get a specific explanation as to what they're doing. This works for the show as the government agency makes it clear, one of the only things they make clear, that everything they do is of tip-top secrecy. They're generally perfectly serviceable villains and intimidating enough to put fear into the hearts of the kids. The leader, Dr Martin Brenner who's played by Matthew Modine, best known as the lead to Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, is more of a peripheral figure who lingers over the plot, rarely integrating directly with the plot in terms of his direct actions, and thereby limiting the performance a bit.

To the director's credit, though Brenner and the other 'villain's are memorable from an aesthetic standpoint. The attire they wear when in the 'contaminated' areas of the government building stands out as both a homage to the likes of E.T. and for Brenner, the white hair of Modine makes him look a bit like a less-than-inviting Steve Martin meets David Cronenberg, which is really quite a terrifying prospect (speaking of which I'd love to see Martin take on a role like this). And to Modine and the writing's credit, they're both pretty great in the flashback scenes of establishing the fear into Eleven's heart of the 'bad people' she's trying to run away from. As far as the science fiction elements of the series are concerned, it does work best as a minimalist, tension-building piece, but in specific moments like the 'torture' sequences of Eleven and the world-building of the disgusting 'Upside Down' world when you see the ravages of the monsters, it's exceptional use of more overt techniques.

You might notice actually when I've been doing this review of sorts, that I haven't really gotten all that far into the 'plot' of Stranger Things itself, so to speak; its strength lies mostly in its detailed writings of its characters, and how it plays them around the high fantasy, sci-fi and horror themes it brings into the fray. Nor have I looked into anything particularly 'radical' its style does to revitalize, or revolutionize the genres it takes its influences from. Which goes back to my title for this article: it hits the old fashioned sweet spot by giving you the audience-pleasing treats you know you love, but serving them on a different sort of plate, and a certain tinge of some unique spice or condiment than than usual, so to speak. And if the ending of the finale is anything to go by we won't be tasting the last of it.