So, I put the entirety of this film review in the title above. Simply put, the 2010 horror flick Insidious, directed by James Wan, is one of the worst movies I have seen of late. I'll even dare to say I'd rather watch The Hangover 2 again before watching this film. The only other Wan film I have ever seen is Saw, but if this film is any indication of his work, I wish he had stopped there.
Knowing absolutely nothing about this film, I happened to walk into the theater on a whim one Sunday afternoon. Luckily it was at the local "cheap seats," or second run theater and the two tickets purchased cost a grand total of $3. This is important as I have never walked out of a theater and asked for my money back, a trend that saw a recent spike in popularity with the release of Terrence Malik's The Tree of Life, which I have still yet to see. This film was almost my first.
It certainly doesn't help that in watching this film every one of my sense was attacked. Beyond the poor excuse for a horror film happening in front of me, I was forced to watch a teen couple fondle themselves in the seats in front of me, listen to two crying babies, gag on the dollar store perfume of a lay sitting somewhere in my vicinity, and was afraid to even slip off my flip flops for fear of a sticky floor. Nonetheless, the content of Insidious beyond my terrible movie experience also left me disappointing and annoyed. The story was bleak and predictable, and my intelligence was even insulted when at the end, surprise surprise, Patrick Wilson's character Josh doe world of blacknesssn't return to his body and I am left with a wannabe cliff hanger ending.
The lack of a gripping plot was only heightened by a lack of acting talent and emotionless characters. Not even Rose Byrne was able to give me a believable performance, not to mention the lack of a character ark and emotion from Patrick Wilson. If I had a son in an unexplainable comma and a stay at home wife going insane in a haunted house, I wouldn't sit in a classroom staring at the camera with an emotionless expression for an hour and a half. The simple lack of character expression and connection between each other, and the audience, is enough to turn me off of the movie. Yet, still the worst part is the complete lack of imagination in the story. I knew nothing about astral projection going into this film, and now I have no desire to ever learn anymore because it leads to 103 minute movies of people sitting around talking very unscientifically about walking through a dark "insidious" world of blackness. Not even the imaginary world of astral projection was visually appealing enough to entertain me. I mean Koyaanisqatsi is boring too, but at least it looks good.
Overall, this film offers nothing new to the art of film or world of entertainment. Sadly, the writing team of James Wan and Leigh Whannell seems unable to provide the audience with a visually entertaining or intellectually creative film as they did with the first trend setting Saw. The scariest part of this film is that one day, I may have to sit through it again.
Insidious
Showing posts with label james. Show all posts
Showing posts with label james. Show all posts
Friday, August 5, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Claiming It Over: Quantum of Solace Ends the Bond Franchise
Officially the 22nd film in the EON Productions franchise on the James Bond name, Quantum of Solace continues the decline of dynasty of classic Bond films. For the first time ever in the entire history of James Bond movies, Quantum of Solace begins mere moment after its predecessor, Casino Royale (2006), left off; not only in terms of plot continuity, but also in it’s diminish quality and charm of the traditional Bond flick. Many viewers know James Bond as the suave, handsome, crime-fighting, ladies man who sleeps with every attractive girl he sees, without obtaining an STD, and fights crime, without earning himself a scratch. Similarly, the Bond tradition is one that has stood the test of time with fresh new Bond films coming out every couple of years since Dr. No in 1962, that continues to entertain the audiences of each generation. However, Quantum of Solace defies each of these timeless qualities, dropping almost of Bond film traditions for a quick cut action overload more like an ADD afflicted child’s mind than a well structured spy film.
The decision of EON Productions to hire on Marc Forster as the director may have sounded like a strong choice for his previously proven work on dramatic (and romantic) films like Finding Neverland and Stranger Than Fiction, had they not tried to balance it out by hiring on Dan Bradley of the Bourne series. The potential of these two was seemingly too much of an expectation to be placed on this film. Instead being treated with expertly coordinated, action packed, thrill sequences and dramatically enthralling segments of character interaction, we are forced to watch jarring editing and bland story lines. Forster’s, despite his previous work, does not pull full emotions out of the characters of either Bond (Daniel Craig) or Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Instead the audience is forced to watch Bond pine over dead Bond girl Vespa (Eva Green, not appearing in this film) from Casino Royale, through the constant mentioning of her death. Rather than have the Daniel Craig actually bring out his pain through his acting, Forster relies on the constant reminder of incessant referencing of the death by the other characters. This made it hard to relate to the characters and therefore taking much of the charm and appeal away from James Bond.
On the other end of the spectrum, Dan Bradley, still hot on the popularity and success of the Bourne series attempts to continue his overused style of shaky cameras and quick cuts in an attempt to portray exciting action sequences. This may have worked well for his previous movies, but the implementation of these techniques in a Bond movie is offensive. Part of the impressiveness of a James Bond film is the use of real stunts with little, or even better yet, no special effect (especially CGI) used. The use of the unnecessary, quick cutting distracts from the action on the screen and takes away from the impressiveness of the actual filming of a live car chase along the Italian cliff side roads. Quantum of Solace had the budget, time, and staff to film the action for real, so it is simply an insult to slice up these precious moments caught on film. Each cut takes more of the believability, activeness, and splendor of the action taking place on the screen, both in terms of the actual stunt being performed as well as the event taking place in the story. At some points the cutting becomes so distracting that it is even difficult to tell the difference between blonde haired Daniel Craig and his brown haired pursuit as they run through the medieval passage under Siena, Italy.
From the opening scene of the film, much of this movie is filled with action scene after action scene, after action scene. Even though Bond films tend to be booked as action packed thrillers, the downplay of the story and overuse of action sequences follows a continuing trend in American cinema in the last few years. There has always been an appeal for spectacle on the scene, from car chases, to explosions, to sex; however, Bond films have always maintained strong balance between story and action. Sadly, these past two Bond films with Daniel Craig have broke from this tradition and instead followed the pop trend of the times. In Quantum of Solace more so than Casino Royale, it felt like the story of the film, which has always played an integral part in the Bond franchise, feels less creative and existent only to show the action sequences, despite it’s being adaptation from another Ian Fleming work.
Whether this attempt at making prequels to the previous Bond and Bond films remains to be seen. Daniel Craig is still contracted for three more Bond films before the absolute fate of the Bond franchise is determined. Quantum of Solace (and Casino Royale) are supposed to be set in a time prior to the other 20 Bond films, during a time when Bond is young, messy, and motivated by revenge; a time where he was fallible, full of testosterone infused rage, and loaded with a trigger-happy finger rather than mind. It is yet to be seen as to whether Daniel Craig will mature into the classic James Bond we all knew before, and if EON Productions will revert back to it’s matured state of production rather than fall victim to the trend of the times. It may be premature to say this now, but Quantum of Solace just might be the “jumping the shark” installment of the James Bond series.
Quantum of Solace
The decision of EON Productions to hire on Marc Forster as the director may have sounded like a strong choice for his previously proven work on dramatic (and romantic) films like Finding Neverland and Stranger Than Fiction, had they not tried to balance it out by hiring on Dan Bradley of the Bourne series. The potential of these two was seemingly too much of an expectation to be placed on this film. Instead being treated with expertly coordinated, action packed, thrill sequences and dramatically enthralling segments of character interaction, we are forced to watch jarring editing and bland story lines. Forster’s, despite his previous work, does not pull full emotions out of the characters of either Bond (Daniel Craig) or Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Instead the audience is forced to watch Bond pine over dead Bond girl Vespa (Eva Green, not appearing in this film) from Casino Royale, through the constant mentioning of her death. Rather than have the Daniel Craig actually bring out his pain through his acting, Forster relies on the constant reminder of incessant referencing of the death by the other characters. This made it hard to relate to the characters and therefore taking much of the charm and appeal away from James Bond.
On the other end of the spectrum, Dan Bradley, still hot on the popularity and success of the Bourne series attempts to continue his overused style of shaky cameras and quick cuts in an attempt to portray exciting action sequences. This may have worked well for his previous movies, but the implementation of these techniques in a Bond movie is offensive. Part of the impressiveness of a James Bond film is the use of real stunts with little, or even better yet, no special effect (especially CGI) used. The use of the unnecessary, quick cutting distracts from the action on the screen and takes away from the impressiveness of the actual filming of a live car chase along the Italian cliff side roads. Quantum of Solace had the budget, time, and staff to film the action for real, so it is simply an insult to slice up these precious moments caught on film. Each cut takes more of the believability, activeness, and splendor of the action taking place on the screen, both in terms of the actual stunt being performed as well as the event taking place in the story. At some points the cutting becomes so distracting that it is even difficult to tell the difference between blonde haired Daniel Craig and his brown haired pursuit as they run through the medieval passage under Siena, Italy.
From the opening scene of the film, much of this movie is filled with action scene after action scene, after action scene. Even though Bond films tend to be booked as action packed thrillers, the downplay of the story and overuse of action sequences follows a continuing trend in American cinema in the last few years. There has always been an appeal for spectacle on the scene, from car chases, to explosions, to sex; however, Bond films have always maintained strong balance between story and action. Sadly, these past two Bond films with Daniel Craig have broke from this tradition and instead followed the pop trend of the times. In Quantum of Solace more so than Casino Royale, it felt like the story of the film, which has always played an integral part in the Bond franchise, feels less creative and existent only to show the action sequences, despite it’s being adaptation from another Ian Fleming work.
Whether this attempt at making prequels to the previous Bond and Bond films remains to be seen. Daniel Craig is still contracted for three more Bond films before the absolute fate of the Bond franchise is determined. Quantum of Solace (and Casino Royale) are supposed to be set in a time prior to the other 20 Bond films, during a time when Bond is young, messy, and motivated by revenge; a time where he was fallible, full of testosterone infused rage, and loaded with a trigger-happy finger rather than mind. It is yet to be seen as to whether Daniel Craig will mature into the classic James Bond we all knew before, and if EON Productions will revert back to it’s matured state of production rather than fall victim to the trend of the times. It may be premature to say this now, but Quantum of Solace just might be the “jumping the shark” installment of the James Bond series.
Quantum of Solace
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