If you've ever looked up at the giant towers that stretch across the land and reach for the Heavens or the incredibly long bridges that span great rivers or gorges, you may have pondered how they were ever built. Forgoing the engineering and technical feet of constructing such massive structures, you might not have thought about an obvious predicament -- how does one go about painting them?
Exposed to the elements each and every day, they certainly need the occasional touch up and will inevitably require a complete repainting at least several times in their existence. Since giant-sized spray cans don't exist, it's up to individual workers to climb up them, strap themselves in, and start the unenviable task of painting every square inch of them.
That's the premise of "Among Giants," a film that's described in the press kit as "a moving and whimsical romance that takes place one hundred feet in the air as a group of high-wire electrical tower painters cope with a fearless woman in their midst."
While the latter part of that's correct, the film barely registers as whimsical and certainly isn't moving, or for that matter, very interesting despite the unique setting. In fact, had it not been for the success of screenwriter Simon Beaufoy's breakout hit, "The Full Monty," it's doubtful this film -- which was written before that one -- would ever have hit the big screen.
Although the film gets some points for being what's presumably the first to depict a romantic drama on electrical towers, that alone can't propel the weak plot through the picture's duration. In fact, the whole thrust of the premise -- that the team is racing against time to paint all of the towers before the power is turned back on -- is never fully utilized or entirely believable.
After the basic premise has been introduced, for the most part the film turns its back on it. While we understand that other elements had to be introduced to keep the main plot line from quickly becoming boring, it seems odd that the team finds themselves with the time -- or for that matter the energy -- to do some other cliff climbing, country music line dancing, or frolicking buck naked under the cascading waters of a nuclear power plant's cooling towers. And that's while they're supposed to be racing against the clock and the throwing of a switch that will fry them like insects in a bug zapper if they don't complete the job in time.
It's that part that's never quite believable. Since the crew is working from one under-the-table paycheck to the next, why would they be concerned about meeting the deadline and/or worried about the power coming back on? Being the somewhat motley crew that they are, they'd simply do what could be done up to the day of returning power and then simply hit the road looking for the next gig. And it's never explained why the power is off for so long in the first place. What are the people for whom those lines bring electricity doing in the meantime? Watching the paint dry on the towers?
Yet the film near completely drops the whole notion of racing against time or the dangers of the power returning -- at least until a scene near the end that's supposed to be dramatically suspenseful but comes off as anything but since we've long since lost any and all interest in the proceedings.
Thus, and since that aspect of the film isn't that enticing or exciting, the filmmakers decide to drop a romantic subplot into the story. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much to take up the slack. In fact, it, and most of the rest of what occurs during the film, nearly feels as if the performers, tired of waiting for anything resembling a script to be handed to them, simply took it upon themselves to do anything to alleviate their boredom.
Thus the country line dancing, the nude frolicking under the falling waters of the cooling tower (that may indeed produce giants -- albeit mutant ones -- if a sequel, God forbid, is ever made), Gerry's sudden attempt late in the film to climb a cliff, and the May/September romance between Griffiths and Postlethwaite's characters.
That latter element just sort of pops up out of nowhere with no clear reason why she'd pick this older and severely down on his luck older man. While the chemistry between them is marginally believable, their whole love affair seems more of a necessary plot contrivance than a natural occurrence.
Past Oscar nominees Pete Postlethwaite ("In the Name of the Father," "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet") and Rachel Griffiths ("Hilary and Jackie," "Muriel's Wedding") do their best with what they've been given to work with and deliver decent performances, but unfortunately can't overcome their underdeveloped and haphazardly explored/defined characters.
They fare far better than James Thornton, however, who as the "third wheel" character is stuck spinning with nowhere to go. The rest of the performers are even less fortunate as they inherit such interchangeable roles that you'll probably be hard pressed to correctly name each of them, let alone identify any sort of individual characteristics they might possess.
Instead, first-time director Sam Miller seems more interested in using them as comic fodder. While having them sing songs such as "Stand By Me" in unison may have seemed like a surefire way to elicit some charm, little of it makes it to the screen. In fact the most notable thing about the picture is the sweeping, flyby cinematography -- courtesy of Witold Stok -- of the towers, the crews on them, and other such high places.
While the film isn't completely horrible, and its cinematography and attempted whimsical score -- often oddly playing banjo tunes (in, of all places, England) -- make it somewhat easier to sit through, the sheer fact that nothing substantial happens and that it's hard to understand much of what's being said (due to the often thick or unintelligible accents) doesn't help matters.
In the end, the plot never goes anywhere, we don't really care about the characters, and as a result, this grounded film -- which will fall from the box office faster than a bucket of paint from the top of one of those giant towers -- never reaches the lofty heights it tries to reach, and has as much electricity as the dead towers that loom over everything else in the production. We give "Among Giants" a 2.5 out of 10.