04-03-2006, 12:37 PM
Lady Cranefly and I never read the comic either.
Our reaction seems to be about what the rest of you had.
A decent movie, certainly not bad, but not great.
Some of the fight sequences (especially early on) sucked. You know, where the cameraman is 10 feet from the action, and all you get are limbs and bodies flying in and out of frame. Chaos technique, I call it. The naive viewer gets the distinct impression that lots of neat stuff is going on. The seasoned viewer WANTS TO SEE THE NEAT STUFF. Hollywood action directors should be required to take a class where they have to reproduce the fight sequences in Jackie Chan's Project A.
Interestingly, some of the later slow-mo sequences, with light trails behind the blades, worked very well for me. Stylish.
I did have a problem with John Hurt. Actually, not with him. But I'm a big fan of charismatic evil. The really creepy kind that can seduce you, make you rationalize that you're actually doing good (think Washington DC right now). John Hurt was just grotesque and frightening in every possible way. When I brought this up to Lady Cranefly, she pointed out that the movie was all about power through intimidation -- which is true. Charismatic evil would have been a whole different movie.
Anyway, as we were leaving the theater, Lady Cranefly asked me, "What next? Thank You for Smoking? Or are you still hot on Basic Instinct II?"
I responded, "Hmmm, let me see. Satire or vagina, satire or vagina--"
I got punched in the shoulder -- and not for the first time.
We'll see.
Our reaction seems to be about what the rest of you had.
A decent movie, certainly not bad, but not great.
Some of the fight sequences (especially early on) sucked. You know, where the cameraman is 10 feet from the action, and all you get are limbs and bodies flying in and out of frame. Chaos technique, I call it. The naive viewer gets the distinct impression that lots of neat stuff is going on. The seasoned viewer WANTS TO SEE THE NEAT STUFF. Hollywood action directors should be required to take a class where they have to reproduce the fight sequences in Jackie Chan's Project A.
Interestingly, some of the later slow-mo sequences, with light trails behind the blades, worked very well for me. Stylish.
I did have a problem with John Hurt. Actually, not with him. But I'm a big fan of charismatic evil. The really creepy kind that can seduce you, make you rationalize that you're actually doing good (think Washington DC right now). John Hurt was just grotesque and frightening in every possible way. When I brought this up to Lady Cranefly, she pointed out that the movie was all about power through intimidation -- which is true. Charismatic evil would have been a whole different movie.
Anyway, as we were leaving the theater, Lady Cranefly asked me, "What next? Thank You for Smoking? Or are you still hot on Basic Instinct II?"
I responded, "Hmmm, let me see. Satire or vagina, satire or vagina--"
I got punched in the shoulder -- and not for the first time.
We'll see.
I'm nobody's pony.