But then the guns come out. Within the two minute and forty-four second clip, terrorists fire machine guns, grenades explode, and someone pulls a knife – all stuff that seems far outside the scope of a guy who makes movies about sad prep school kids.
Except, it isn’t. Wes Anderson has made an action movie before. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is, certainly, standard Anderson fare, the story of a Jacques Cousteau-type oceanographer trying to get a look at the jaguar shark that devoured his friend and made him a laughing stock, while also reconnecting with his long-lost son (Owen Wilson). Yet, The Life Aquatic is also an action movie, by Anderson’s own admission.
In the director’s commentary for the Criterion release, Anderson talks about how he intentionally tried to borrow from action tropes, especially in a late plot turn in which pirates kidnap Zissou and his men. There’s more than a little of Indiana Jones and Belloc to the conflict between Steve and his nemesis Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), who find themselves drawn together (along with a “bond company stooge” played by Bud Cort) while escaping from the pirates.
Andreson allowed himself a more direct homage for the end of The Life Aquatic, which borrows from the ending of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Set to David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch,” we watch as Zissou walks stridently in front of the camera as the credits roll. Eventually, he’s joined as other members of his team join him. But where Buckaroo Banzai and his team simply stride with no particular direction (and also counted Goldblum’s newcomer New Jersey among the joiners), Zissou leads his group to his ship the Belafonte, an affirmation of life that continues even after completing his adventure.
Zissou’s next adventure never made it to screen, but with The Phoenician Scheme, it appears that Anderson’s has arrived. The trailer alone features just as much violence as The Life Aquatic, suggesting that Anderson intends to outdo his previous dabbling in the genre.
Given the expansion of Anderson’s recent works — the worlds within worlds of Asteroid City, the globetrotting of The French Dispatch, and the layered comedy of The Grand Budapest Hotel — the time is right for a big budget actioner from him. As long as it comes with at least one shot of Bill Murray, looking wistfully off into the distance.
