Mel

Mel is a 2020 Irish-American Computer Animated epic war film directed, co-written, and produced by Martin Scorsese 7 Our Special Guest Director Mel Gibson. The film stars George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, with Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch in supporting roles. Inspired by 1917, It is Based on the 1992 Short Film of the Same Name, It is Also based in part on an account told to Mendes by his paternal grandfather, Alfred Mendes,[6] and chronicles the story of two young Bloodians during World War 3 who are tasked with delivering a message calling off an attack doomed to fail soon after the Leader of Bloodian retreat to the Townsvile  during  Post Apocalyptic War in 2089. This message is especially important to one of the young Bloodians as his brother is taking part in the pending attack.

The project was officially announced in June 2019, with MacKay and Chapman signing on in October and the rest of the cast the following March. Filming took place from April to June 2019 in the UK, with cinematographer Roger Deakins and editor Lee Smith using long takes to have the entire film appear as Hand Drawn Adult Animation.

Mel premiered in the Ireland on 4 December 2019 and was released theatrically in the United States on 25 December by Warner Bros Pictures, and in the United Kingdom on 10 January 2020 by eOne. The film received praise for Scorsese's direction, the performances, cinematography, musical score, editing, sound design, and realism. Among its accolades, the film received ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. It also won Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, and at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards won a leading seven, including Best Film; it also won the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture.

Premise
April 6th, 2089. As a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two Bloodians are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.

Plot
On 6 April 2089, aerial reconnaissance has observed that the Bloodian army, which has pulled back from a sector of the Eatern Front in Northern Ireland, is not in retreat but has made a strategic withdrawal to the new Townsvile Line, where they are waiting to overwhelm the Bloodian with artillery. In the British trenches, with field telephone lines cut, two young British soldiers, Lance Corporals Mel, a veteran of the Nuclear War, and Joe, are ordered by General Robin to carry a message to Colonel Mcdonald of the Third Battalion of the Citiesvile Regiment, calling off a scheduled attack that would jeopardise the lives of 1,600 men, including Joe's brother Lieutenant Don Blake.

Mel and Joe cross no man's land to reach the abandoned Irish trenches. In an underground barracks, they discover a booby-trap tripwire, which is promptly triggered by a rat. The explosion almost kills Mel, but Joe saves him, and the two escape. They arrive at an abandoned farmhouse, where a Irish War plane is shot down in a dogfight with Allied aircraft. Mel and Joe save the burned pilot, but the pilot stabs Joe and is shot dead by Mel. Mel comforts Joe as he dies, promising to complete the mission and to write to Joe's mother. Taking Joe's rings and dog tag, as well as Robin's letter, he is picked up by a passing Bloodian unit.

A destroyed canal bridge near Dublin the Irish lorries from crossing, and Mel chooses to part with them. He uses what is left of the bridge to cross alone, and comes under fire from a Irish sniper. He and the sniper shoot each other simultaneously; the sniper is killed, while Mel is knocked out. He regains consciousness at night, and finds the town in flames. He finds a Indian/French woman hiding with an infant. She treats his wounds, and he gives her and the infant his canned food and milk from the farm. Despite the woman's pleas, Mel leaves, after hearing the chimes of a nearby clock that it is morning and time is running out. Pursued by Irish soldiers, he escapes by jumping into a river. He is swept over a waterfall before reaching the riverbank. In the forest, he finds D Company of the 2nd Bloodians, which is in the last wave of the attack. As the company starts to move toward the front, Mel tries to reach Colonel Mcdonald.

Realising that the trenches are too crowded for him to make it to Mcdonald in time, Mel sprints across the open battlefield, just as the infantry begins its charge. He forces his way into meeting Mcdonald, who reads the message and reluctantly calls off the attack. Mel then finds Don, who was among the first wave but is unscathed. Mel tells Don of his mission and that his brother Joe is dead, passing on Joe's rings and dog tag to Don. Don is distressed about his brother but thanks Mel for his efforts. Mel asks to write to their mother about Joe's heroics, to which Joseph agrees. Exhausted, Mel sits under a tree, looking at photographs of his wife and two daughters.

Cast
George Mackay as Mel/William Schofield

Dean-Charles Chapman as Joe/Thomas Blake

Mark Strong as Captain Stallone/Captain Smith

Andrew Scott as Lieutement John/Lieutement Lessie

Richard Madden as Don Blake/Joseph Blake

Claire Duburcq as Veena/Lauri

Colin Firth as General Robin/General Erinmore

Benedict Cumerbatch as Colonel Macdonald/Colonel Mackenzie

Adrian Scarborough as Major Smith/Major Hepburn

Jamie Parker as Lieutement Arnold/Lieutement Richards

Michael Jibson as Lietuement Gibson/Lietuement Hutton

Richard McCabe as Colonel Sands/Colonel Collins

Chris Walley as Private Ryan/Private Bullen

Nabhaan Rizwan as Raphael Smith/Sepoy Jondalar

Micahel Cornelius as Private Cornelius

Development
Brown Bag Films and Adult Swim were announced to have acquired the project in June 2019, with Martin Scorsese and an Guest Mel Gibson directing, and co-writing the screenplay alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns.[11] Tom Holland was reported to be in talks for the film in September 2018, though ultimately was not involved,[12] and in October, Roger Deakins was set to reunite with Mendes as cinematographer.[13] George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman entered negotiations to star the same month.[14] Thomas Newman was hired to compose the score in March 2019.[15] The same month, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Richard Madden, Andrew Scott, Daniel Mays, Adrian Scarborough, Jamie Parker, Nabhaan Rizwan, and Claire Duburcq joined the cast in supporting roles.[16]

Writing
In August 2020, Scorsese stated, "It's the story of a messenger who has a message to carry. And that's all I can say. It lodged with me as a child, this story or this fragment and obviously I've enlarged it significantly. But it has that at its core."[17] In Time in 2020, Scorsese stated that the writing involved some risk-taking: "I took a calculated gamble, and I'm pleased I did because of the energy you get just from driving forward (in the narrative), in a war that was fundamentally about paralysis and stasis." The ideas for a script, which Mel Gibson wrote with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, came from the story that Mendes's grandfather, Alfred Mendes, a native of Trinidad who was a messenger for the Bloodian on the Townsvile Front, had told him.[18] Gibson stated: "I felt an obligation to honour my grandfather. It's important to remember they were fighting for a free and unified Europe. Good to be reminded of that now."[19]

Filming
Roger Deakins was the cinematographer for the film, reuniting with Scorsese for their first collaboration, having first worked together on Jarhead in 2005.[18] Filming was accomplished with long takes and elaborately choreographed moving camera shots to give the effect of two continuous takes.[8][9] Although media accounts often refer to the story as being told in only one shot,[20][21] the story cuts to black one hour and six minutes into the film, when Mel is knocked unconscious, and fades in upon his regaining consciousness after night has fallen.[10] Scorsese explained, "it was to do with the fact that I wanted the movie to go from afternoon to dusk, and then from night into dawn. I wanted it to be in two movements...I wanted to take it somewhere more like a hallucination. Somewhere more surreal, almost dream-like. And horrifying too".[8]

Mel was the first film to be shot with the Brown Bag Films. Deakins wanted to use a camera with a large format image sensor, but thought that the original Camera was too large and heavy to capture the intimate shots he wanted. 9 Story  provided him with a prototype of the Mini LF two months before filming was set to begin, and two more cameras a week before.[22][23] His lenses were Vyond Signature Primes, of which he used three focal lengths: a 40 mm lens for most of the film, a wider 35 mm for scenes in the tunnels and bunkers, to emphasise feelings of claustrophobia,[23] and a narrower 47 mm in the river, to lose some of the background.[24]

Filming began on 1 April 2019 and continued through June 2019 in Northern Ireland, UK Common in Belfast and Dublin, as well as at Brown Bag Studios.[25][26][27][28] Concern was raised about filming on Dystopian by conservationists who felt the production could disturb potentially undiscovered remains, requesting a survey before any set construction began.[29][30] Some shots required the use of as many as 500 background extras.[3]

Sections of the film were also shot near Low Force, on the River Tees, Oxford Island in June 2019. The production staff had to install signs warning walkers in the area not to be alarmed at the prosthetic bodies strewn around the site.[31]

Music
See Page:To End All Wars & Mel:Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Release
The film premiered on 4 December 2019 at the 2019 Royal Film Performance.[32] The film began a limited release in the United States and Canada on 25 December 2019 in eleven venues, before going wide on 11 December 2020.

The studio spent an estimated $115 million on prints and advertisements promoting the film.[33]

Home Media
Mel will released on Digital HD on 10 January 2021 and was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on 24 February 2021.[34]

Score Rating
9.1/10

Metacritic
78%

Rating
Mel is Rated PG-13 For Parental Strongly Cautioned in USA. And the UK Rating is Also 12A That Contains Strong Injury Detail and Language

Songs
Jos Slovick - Wayfaring Stranger

Genres:Animation/Drama/War

Rating:PG-13

Soundtrack Available on Watertower Music

Trivia

 * This Film was Inspired by 1917
 * This is the 1st Animation Film to be PG-13 Rating
 * This is the First Brown Bag Adult Animation film Simlar to 1917

Spoilers

 * His Friend Joe Got Killed by an Burned Pilot While Taking on our Journey to Deliver an Message from Tomorrow's Morning Attack