Perry Mason Series 2 (2023)

This Never Happened 
To The Other Della

Perry Mason
Season 2 - 8 episodes
March - April 2023
HBO 
Chinese Blu Ray 

Warning: Some spoilers

So the second and, regrettably, final series of the latest incarnation of the Perry Mason TV show, very loosely based on the novels by Erle Stanley Gardner, sees the return of Matthew Rhys as Perry, his now partner Della Street, played once more by Juliet Rylance and the excellent Chris Chalk as his investigator (and ex-cop from the first series), Paul Drake. 

And it’s all pretty great... perhaps even better than the first season. 

This one involves the murder of the son of the boss of a corrupt, crooked oil man and two young men who are accused of his shooting. Sworn off criminal cases since the outcome of the first season, Perry and the gang go right back into it, defending the two gentlemen but, as we soon find out, through the course of the investigation, the two may not be as innocent as they at first seem. 

And like the first one, the show does some great work looking like a somewhat authentic 1930s milieu. I spotted a drawing of a certain big ape in the background of one of the shots (one of the two accused is a good artist and is accepted into art school... although he only hears about this after he is being held with his brother in a jail cell) dated it for me as being set in 1933 and, yeah, it’s confirmed later when Perry takes his young son to see King Kong (reviewed here) at the cinema. 

It all feels right to the period and, I’d have to say the art direction on this show is absolutely awesome. And, of course, the language and colour of the streets is perhaps more reflective of the times than, say, a movie of the time made contemporary to that period would be allowed to be (much like the use of language, slang and attitudes found in a James Ellroy novel set in, say, the 1940s or 1950s). 

The cast are all terrific and, although Perry’s former ‘friend with benefits’ Lupe, played by Veronica Falcón, returns for the first episode, she’s moved out of the narrative fairly quickly in order to build a new romantic interest for Perry in the shape of his son’s teacher, played by the always watchable Katherine Waterston. Another new actor to this, but only for the first couple of episodes and, used something as a plot device, is Sean Astin as a greedy and expanding store owner. 

Shea Wigham returns as Perry’s former investigator Pete Strickland but, now working for Hamlton Berger (a returning Justin Kirk), he has to balance his friendship with Perry with the fact that he is working against him in the case that Perry is working on and, yeah, the two do come into some pretty heavy conflict which has big repercussions for Perry as he finishes this second season. 

Also on board this time is the great Hope Davis but, her character is used in an interesting way and, though she doesn’t exactly have a huge spotlight in the series, she does have a lasting presence on the proceedings. Della Street also has a new flame in this, with Jen Tullock playing a character who, while not named as such, is based on real life Hollywood screenwriter Anita Loos. And the two of them are pretty good together in the show, it has to be said.

Okay, it looks like this is one of my shorter reviews but, this show really had some bite to it and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Gritty in all the right places and with some really great cliffhangers. The conclusion of the trial is not about the sudden piece of shock evidence which gets everyone off and, though there is some big evidence given, it’s mostly resolved behind closed doors and, well, there are repercussions for Perry due to something which is found hidden in his office when the opposing legal team have broken into it... lets just put it that way. I would love to see where a third season of Perry Mason would go but, alas, this one doesn’t seem to have been renewed, for whatever reason. A pity. Despite rumours to the contrary, we are not yet living in a time of television of great quality so, when a show does come along which does absolutely everything right, you’d like it to keep going.

Perry Mason (2020)

Masonic Disorder

Perry Mason (2020)
Season 1 - 8 episodes
HBO Blu Ray Zone B

Warning: Some mild spoilers

Okay, following my viewing of the original 1930s Perry Mason films, I bypassed the Raymond Burr series (for now) and ended up taking a look at the newest incarnation of Erle Stanley Gardner’s famous literary lawyer. Now, if you’ve read my other Perry Mason reviews, you’ll recall that I haven’t actually read the original source novels... something which stood me in good stead because the movies are, apparently, nothing like the original novels and I have an idea that, despite being touted as being based on the earlier, darker novels of Gardner’s character, quite a lot of this show deviates from its literary source quite a lot too.

What we have here is an eight episode story arc of a case which is particularly dark and we have Perry Mason, played by Matthew Rhys, as a fairly broke private investigator working for a lawyer, EB, played by John Lithgow. It’s set in 1931 and 1932 and it’s pretty much a ‘superhero origin’ story as far as the regular characters from the books go. Della Street, played by Juliet Rylance, is Lithgow’s secretary but any sexual sizzle between the characters like in the books (heck, Perry even married Della in one of the movies) is removed by her also being a lesbian. Ditto, the few appearances of young, future DA Hamilton Burger are notable in that he is also gay.

Then we have Chris Chalk playing a black version of Mason’s future detective Paul Drake. He starts off here as a cop walking the beat and he’s one of the most interesting characters in this, throwing up the whole racial tensions issue. My one slight problem with that is that, as a private detective in the 1930s, I’m not sure the colour of your skin wouldn’t be a major hindrance to gaining access to places as a private investigator but, please chime in down below in the comments section if you know different and it turns out this was a common practice after all. Shea Wiggum is also in this as private investigator Pete Strickland and he also does a really good job here.

The show is bleak from the onset, when a group of kidnappers are paid off but, when the mother and father go and collect the baby boy that was stolen from them after they leave the money, he’s dead with his eyes sewn open. From there on in, the law firm which employs Mason gets involved in what turns out to be a very convoluted case and, well, the inevitable happens in a way I won’t disclose here but, by the fifth episode, Mason fudges his way through a law exam (in much the same way that original novelist Gardner did when he passed the bar to be a lawyer) and inherits the office of the former lawyer, due to the perseverance of Della Street and the impetus of clearing the kidnap victim’s mother of conspiring to set into motion the entire set of events.

And there’s a whole lot of stuff going on involving an evangelical superstar (Tatiana Maslany aka She-Hulk) promising to resurrect the child in her religious fervour, bent cops, whorehouses, morally questionable officials and various other distractions like Perry’s ex-wife and son, his casual lover (played wonderfully by Veronica Falcón) who wants to buy his small ranch out from under him and various other twists to the plot, more than enough to warrant eight episodes of what is, frankly, a quite gripping story arc.

In terms of the literary legacy and straying far from its source, I’d say that the style of the show is much closer to the modern, 1940s and 1950s set hard boiled novels of James Ellroy than anything else. It’s full of foul language and gritty, ugly ideas and scenarios. It definitely gives the central character something to test his mettle against and, although I found the ending of one of the characters in the last episode a little unsatisfying, I found the whole thing to be well thought out, well executed and... well, doing this thing in period with this many extras... it must have been expensive to produce. My understanding is that Robert Downey Jr spent some time developing this series with HBO and was originally going to play the lead but had to drop out of acting duties due to scheduling conflicts. Instead, he’s produced the series and I’m guessing that’s why the budget it attracted was as large as it was... or at least, as large as it seems. Terence Blanchard’s score, which does a very nice thing on the end credits of the last episode, is also pretty good and fits the flavour of the show like a glove.

I liked pretty much everything about the new Perry Mason, to be honest and I’m glad that, by all accounts, another series is going to be forthcoming from the same company. My father, who is a big Perry Mason fan and who I bought this set for, was a bit unsure of the first episode or two, until he realised that this was an arc which transformed the detective into something, well just a little closer to the Perry Mason character as he’s more usually presented. Not a whole lot like him but, still, I think my dad really liked this one too so, for me, that’s a ringing endorsement that I can pass on to other lovers of the character for sure. Can’t wait to buy my dad series two when it gets a blu ray release.

Jungle Cruise

Conquist Adore

Jungle Cruise
Disney USA  2021
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

Well this is a huge slice of fun filled family adventure for cinemagoers, during the illusory 'let up' from the perils of Covid. Jungle Cruise is based on the long standing Disney theme park ride of the same name and was originally started into development after the success of the first of the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies (also based on a Disney ride with a long history). It wasn’t until Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) came along as a producing partner that the film finally got properly off the ground and realised in the form you see it in now. Which is pretty much an action adventure much like the Indiana Jones, Lara Croft or Stephen Sommer’s The Mummy movies.

After a long, historical flash back sequence filling in the audience of a plot device involving the magical, supernaturally charged ‘Petals Of The Moon’ which can cure all ills and can be found with the aid of a specific sacred arrow head, if it happens to be in your possession... the film starts off in “London, England 1916 - Two years into the Great War.” Here we meet adventuress Lily Houghton, played by the always brilliant Emily Blunt and her brother, played by Jack Whitehall, as she manages to ‘acquire’ the arrowhead to enable her, in theory, to track down the Petals Of The Moon. We then get yet another long but very funny sequence set in Brazil (where much of the action takes place), where we are introduced to river cruise skipper Frank Wolff, played by Dwayne Johnson. It’s only after this third, long introduction that we finally get the opening credits.

Then, when Lily turns up in Brazil, she charters Frank’s boat and services on the long expedition into the jungle to find the mysterious petals, being chased and threatened by a real life German villain, Prince Joachim, played by Jesse Plemons, who also wants to harness the petals for his own nefarious purposes. And we also have some other fine actors and actresses rounding off the cast too, like the magnificent Paul Giamatti, the wonderful Veronica Falcón (Perry Mason’s Mexican girlfriend in the first season of the latest TV show about that character) and Edgar Ramírez playing the conquistador Aguirre. And, yes, that’s the same Aguirre who was also portrayed on film by Klaus Kinski in Herzog’s Aguirre - The Wrath Of God.

Also, the movie both honours the Disney theme park attraction it was based on but, furthermore, there are both visual and verbal shout outs to the film that inspired that ride scattered throughout. Namely the brilliant Humphrey Bogart, Katy Hepburn, John Huston movie The African Queen... although the spirit of the movie is somewhat different in its execution here.

And its great... full of spectacular and unlikely action set pieces and comedy which are just the ticket for a wonderful evening’s entertainment... all helped along by a rousing score (sadly not on a CD so I can’t hear it away from the movie) by James Newton-Howard. And if that wasn’t enough, Johnson cracks what have now become known as ‘dad jokes’ all the way through. And when I say ‘dad jokes’ of course, I really mean excruciatingly brilliant puns which endeared me to his character no end. Yep, this film is absolutely puntastic, it has to be said. Lines like “We’re heading into headhunter territory, which is a terrible place to be-headed.” are the best way to this cinema-goer’s heart, for sure and I think every movie should feature more lines like this.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s a beautifully rendered alternative look at the ‘animated lines on a map’ style of giving the audience a geography fix and, about three quarters of the way through, an absolutely brilliant character reveal which ties one of the main characters into the shenanigans at the set up of the movie, going back all those hundreds of years. It’s really great stuff and even has a cute CGI leopard as Frank’s constant companion. Although... about that...

Okay, so there’s usually one thing wrong, at least, with a movie and sadly, like so many other modern film’s Achilles heel, it’s the CGI animals. None of the animals look really very good but, bearing in mind how much training and other tomfoolery you would have had to do with various creatures to satisfy the writing, I think it’s a fair trade off and you just have to suspend your disbelief for that element of the film.

And that’s me done on Jungle Cruise. It’s a short review of a long movie but, honestly, there’s not too much to say about it because it’s an absolutely perfect family fun adventure film which really captivates and entertains from beginning to end. I will absolutely be first in line to grab this when it comes out on Blu Ray so I can show it to my family on Christmas Eve this year. I loved it and would absolutely recommend this one to most people I know.