A quick confession: I'm not a big superhero fan. I don't know why; maybe it has something to do with my dislike of action films (at least the ones where the action doesn't do anything different or interesting--there's only so many exposions and uncommented-on deaths you can take before it gets old). I didn't even like "Superman II," and considering that lots of people seem to love that, you should see why I'm not big on it.
Nonetheless, I did give "Superman Returns" a chance. It's all right, I guess (and if I revisited "Superman II," I'd probably say that about it, too), but it's not a particularly important film. It's got some good set-pieces, but there's not enough substance to it.
So Superman returns from Krypton, and I have to wonder about that: How did he survive being around the remnants of his homeworld if, on Earth, those same remnants rob him of his powers? Did he need a spaceship? And why did he need to go back? Did I miss something? Because really, if your father recorded a message that tells you that it's destroyed, I'm not sure why you'd need to check it out.
Anyway, Superman returns, and strangely, it seems Lex Luthor hasn't been up to much in the 5 years since he left. So he's romanced an old lady to her death--would that really take five years? Actually, on second thought, it could. Still, all that and he's only come up with one evil plan to take over the world? I don't know about you, but if I were taking five years off from trying to take over the world, I'd be brainstorming for all sorts of new ways to do it. Heck, that could have been interesting: Lex has so many different plans being put into consideration that Superman has to deal with all at once.
Alas, his superplan now is kinda odd: Krypto-Land floods over America and he's got prime real estate. Ignoring the strangeness of plotting to go into real estate, you have to wonder why he'd use kryptonite if what results is so ugly. Why doesn't he put in some grass? At least then, people would want to live there instead of drowning in America (today!). And I have to ask why they seem to make such a big deal out of Parker Posey's character seeming to realize how evil Lex's plan is when nothing ever comes of it; the way they showed her reactions, I expected her to turn on Lex, but the film seems to forget it. (And why is a Queen of Indie-Film Land doing superhero films like this and "Blade 3?" Does she just accept every script her agent sends her?)
Maybe I'm being picky here, and there are logical explanations for everything there, and that's why I'm not good at reviewing superhero films. Or maybe it's all just Comic-Book Science, and I shouldn't ask why all this happens, as long as it does. Hell, I don't know.
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
The Prestige
My favorite film critic is Roger Ebert. (I mentioned him in my first post as the kind of writing I aspire to get to with this, so you see what I mean.) One thing he resents is having to rate films by stars: His reviews do a much better job of telling you about a movie than how many stars a film gets. "The Prestige" is a good reason as to why numbers, stars, thumbs, etc., aren't good ways to show what you thought of a movie.
The movie is, taken at face value, well-done. The film gets your interest and it rewards it. But when you think about it, there's a problem. Here, it's the characters, specifically, the main characters, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. (I barely recall their characters' names, which is unfortunate, considering my annoyance at people who see an actor in a movie and say, "Hey, it's that-guy!") Their characters have pretty much no redeeming qualities: They're driven by obsession, revenge, and vengeance for their revenges. They're not likeable at all.
I know main characters don't have to be likeable. There are lots of movies, some of which are good and a few of which are great, where the main character is unlikeable. But the good ones at least give you something to sympathize with. There's nothing underneath the two characters here to give you anything. They do what they do without a single motive with which we can identify. (And before you can say that we've all felt obsessive or vengeful, these guys take it to an extreme you probably haven't felt unless you're in prison.)
So I don't like the main characters. The others are mostly sympathetic: From Michael Caine to Christian Bale's daughter (and no, I can't remember their names, either) to Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie... yes, I remember his name, but mainly because it's how I found out, not to mention it's the only name the movie leaves in your brain), they have some kind of sympathetic characteristic. But you don't really get into their brains. You're stuck with the two main characters.
Not helping matters is that about 3/4 of the way through, the film reveals a plot twist that takes itself from "involving but hateful" to "damn near ridiculous." The spoilers shall be hidden, so don't highlight if you haven't found out for yourself and you care about it: Eventually, it turns out that the two can end up essentially cloning themselves using electricity and Comic Book Science (where science functions in ways unexplainable without saying "the plot requires it"). Not only is this preposterous, especially considering that this story takes place in the 19th century [!!], it sets up an ending where we're nearly cheated out of a resolution because there seem to be just enough versions of the two of them that they're able to get away with everything. It also makes the characters more unlikeable, because really, how can you sympathize with someone who's apparently killed dozens of versions of himself? Sure, it makes for some interesting plot twists, but if you think about it enough, you'll figure out all but one of them. But for the most part, the story is interesting enough to keep you guessing. It's just too bad that it has to end the way it does, to satisfy everyone at the expense of actually resolving everything.
So, could I recommend it to you? Probably not. It's nearly impossible to get on the side of either of the two main characters; otherwise, it's an interesting film that 'works,' but without sympathetic characters, what good is it?
The movie is, taken at face value, well-done. The film gets your interest and it rewards it. But when you think about it, there's a problem. Here, it's the characters, specifically, the main characters, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. (I barely recall their characters' names, which is unfortunate, considering my annoyance at people who see an actor in a movie and say, "Hey, it's that-guy!") Their characters have pretty much no redeeming qualities: They're driven by obsession, revenge, and vengeance for their revenges. They're not likeable at all.
I know main characters don't have to be likeable. There are lots of movies, some of which are good and a few of which are great, where the main character is unlikeable. But the good ones at least give you something to sympathize with. There's nothing underneath the two characters here to give you anything. They do what they do without a single motive with which we can identify. (And before you can say that we've all felt obsessive or vengeful, these guys take it to an extreme you probably haven't felt unless you're in prison.)
So I don't like the main characters. The others are mostly sympathetic: From Michael Caine to Christian Bale's daughter (and no, I can't remember their names, either) to Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie... yes, I remember his name, but mainly because it's how I found out, not to mention it's the only name the movie leaves in your brain), they have some kind of sympathetic characteristic. But you don't really get into their brains. You're stuck with the two main characters.
Not helping matters is that about 3/4 of the way through, the film reveals a plot twist that takes itself from "involving but hateful" to "damn near ridiculous." The spoilers shall be hidden, so don't highlight if you haven't found out for yourself and you care about it: Eventually, it turns out that the two can end up essentially cloning themselves using electricity and Comic Book Science (where science functions in ways unexplainable without saying "the plot requires it"). Not only is this preposterous, especially considering that this story takes place in the 19th century [!!], it sets up an ending where we're nearly cheated out of a resolution because there seem to be just enough versions of the two of them that they're able to get away with everything. It also makes the characters more unlikeable, because really, how can you sympathize with someone who's apparently killed dozens of versions of himself? Sure, it makes for some interesting plot twists, but if you think about it enough, you'll figure out all but one of them. But for the most part, the story is interesting enough to keep you guessing. It's just too bad that it has to end the way it does, to satisfy everyone at the expense of actually resolving everything.
So, could I recommend it to you? Probably not. It's nearly impossible to get on the side of either of the two main characters; otherwise, it's an interesting film that 'works,' but without sympathetic characters, what good is it?
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