Were it not for the vivacious Angelina Jolie, Maleficent would be indistinguishable from the spate of other recent live-action, big-budget, CG-heavy retellings of storybook classics. Jolie enlivens every moment, aided considerably by wardrobe and by her digitally augmented features—spookily irradiated eyes, high and sharp cheekbones, a tall pair of spiraling horns, and most of all a magnificent set of outstretched wings.
Though clear and obvious digital effects, Maleficent’s gorgeous fluttering wings add authority to her every scene (until the villain hacks them off, that is).
In honor of those fine feathered fixtures, here are some recollections of other cinematic characters where man (or woman) takes wing.
Brazil (1985)
To escape the humdrum banality of his unremarkable and meaningless life, Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) daydreams himself as a winged avenger soaring through the clouds far above the cruddy industrial landscape, and occasionally fighting giant samurai and fending off other general harbingers of death as he tries to rescue a mysterious damsel in distress.
His apparatus is a mechanical DaVinci-like contraption strapped onto his back and affixed to his arms.
Condorman (1981)
Second-tier Disney flick about a cartoonist who becomes the winged gadget-aided crime-fighter he created when he’s drawn into a spy caper involving a Russian defector. Trivia tidbit: the guy who plays Condorman (Michael Crawford) is most famous for his Broadway role as the Phantom of the Opera.
Batman Returns (1992)
With a little help from his tool box, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Michael Keaton) sprouts mechanical wings to flee Catwoman and pursue the Penguin. For the first and only time in the original Tim Burton-era Batman universe, the Caped Crusader actually takes flight over the rooftops of Gotham without the help of the Batwing.
Christopher Nolan’s reboot trilogy features a lot more swooping and soaring aerial action—most spectacularly during the Hong Kong rendition sequence in The Dark Knight—but you saw it here first, folks.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
With the addition of a strapping set of military-grade rocket wings, “Falcon” (Anthony Mackie) becomes an intrepid and much-needed ally to Cap, and the latest hero to emerge in the ongoing and ever-sprawling Marvel Comics Universe. We’ll surely be seeing more of him in Cap 3 and he could possibly pop up in an Avengers sequel or two.
Michael (1996)
John Travolta, in the prime of his post-Pulp Fiction career resurgence, portrays an earthbound archangel sought out by a pair of tabloid reporters in this serio-comic trifle from Nora Ephron.
Dogma (1999)
In Kevin Smith’s stoner essay on Catholicism, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck portray Bartleby and Loki, a pair of disgraced angels stuck on earth trying to scheme their way back into Heaven. Their ultimate crisis of faith turns the finale into a Grand Guignol-style bloodbath. Alan Rickman is also on hand as archangel Metatron, who makes up for his lack of genitalia with a mighty and prodigious wingspan.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Angel Second Class Clarence finally earns his wings by saving the life of George Bailey in this beloved Frank Capra classic. The tinkling tolling of the Christmas bell tells us so.
Wings of Desire (1987)
Two angels over Berlin contemplate human existence in this wistful meditation on life and death and the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Hollywood remade this in 1998—pointlessly, and with Nicholas Cage to boot—but nothing approaches the cinematic poetry of the Wim Wenders original (not even his own sequel, the lesser remembered Faraway, So Close!).
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
His name may be Angel, but he flies for the Man/Mutant Division. The hunky birdman with low self-esteem and severe daddy issues remains one of the best parts of the generally despised third X-Men flick.
Barbarella (1968)
A delirious and trippy bit of ’60s Euro sci-fi pop that’s not to be taken seriously for a nanosecond, featuring Jane Fonda in her sexpot prime cooing for Pygar (John Phillip Law), an Aryan looking winged man. The movie’s retro-mod production design, ornate visual effects and outrageous wardrobe are all a precursor to the gaudy delights of such camp and pop classics as Flash Gordon, The Fifth Element and, to a lesser extent, David Lynch’s Dune.
Flash Gordon (1980)
And speaking of Flash, a feathered salute must also go out to Prince Vultan and his flock of flying Hawkmen of Mongo. There’s always been something especially endearing about the clunky puppetry of the Hawkmen wings, as well as the crude old-school matting effects used to layer in armies of them soaring across lava-lamp skies. Die-hard fans with a region-free DVD player should seek out the U.K. Region 2 version containing a rare and jovial commentary track with Voltan himself (Brian Blessed) that has never been released in the U.S.
Black Swan (2010)
Witness Natalie Portman’s bravura Oscar-winning performance as Nina, a competitive ballet dancer having a mental breakdown while undergoing a physical metamorphosis of Kafkaesque proportions.
Hints of her psycho-sexual jealousy and impending madness pop up here and there and we catch subliminal glimpses of feathers coming out of her skin. They are seen more frequently and more lastingly, until finally her fully formed wings are unfurled in a furious rage, fanned out in their horrifying glory as the orchestra swells and the surround sound envelops you in acoustic thunder.
Director Darren Aronofsky’s technical precision has long placed him in the ranks of other master cinematic magicians such as Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, David Cronenberg and Christopher Nolan. His direction is masterful and taut, the camerawork, editing and sound design are riveting and the use of CGI throughout is restrained and gorgeous.
