Keanu Reeves is back on top form in his new movie “The Germinator”. He plays a cyborg gardener fighting evil forces to protect the woman and the plants he loves. One reviewer described the film as like “Rosemary and Thyme on LSD, with guns, meets the Matrix”.
Directed by Martin Calabrese, we see Reeves in one of his most pumped-up, adrenalin fuelled roles for many years. Some critics have argued that the movie is one the most violent mainstream Hollywood films ever – in one 2 minute scene over 1,500 aphids are wiped out by Reeves in a dizzying orgy of spraying. Calabrese defends these charges by arguing that it is all central to the plot; “Reeves’ character is caught in the age old dilemma for all gardeners – organic or chemical? To protect the plants he has nurtured like children he sometimes has to make difficult choices”. Those decisions it seems revolve around the most effective way to annihilate insects, mildew and other terrifying threats.
Where the film differs from many other “shoot-‘em-up” pictures is the love interest in the storyline. The Germinator (Reeves) is infatuated with a woman and has to fight a ruthless gangster (played with extreme menace by George Clooney) for her heart. The object of his desire is real-life TV Gardening presenter Carol Klein. Calabrese says that mixing real-life with cinema brought interesting challenges to his work – “Audiences these days are so used to celebrity that we have deliberately tried to blur the edges between fiction and reality”.
Opinion is divided on whether this has worked and fans at preview screenings were said to be “disturbed” at parts of the film, especially the graphic sex scenes involving Reeves and Klein (played by Scarlett Johansson).
The film is high on energy, action, Latin plant names and explosions. The thrilling final scene sees Clooney and Reeves wrestling in pouring rain in a mixed herbaceous border.
“The Germinator” premières in the US on Monday but one of the central characters won’t be there. Controversially, screenwriter Carol Klein walked out on the movie when she was not cast to play herself. This had been her intention when writing the screenplay, but studio bosses insisted the part went to a more photogenic actor. Casting Director, Bob Beddem, had originally wanted Rachel De Thame for the part, but under pressure from Klein had backed down on this plan. Eventually, producer Carl Linnaeus had to step in and demand that the role be given to Johansson.
