Bill-308

How in the world could this film ever have been a commercial success? I cannot believe this one didn't die like "The Avengers" the weekend after it opened. But some people did like it. Unbelievable. I don't want to give away anything here, but I really must ask, "Would you accept a story in which Sherlock Holmes turned out to be Jack the Ripper? Would you accept a story in which James Bond assassinates the Queen?" Well, not me. This movie's plot was full of holes, the main character behaved stupidly, and the special effects showed activities that were outrageously impossible. (A helicopter tethered to a bullet train was actually FLYING in a tunnel! I couldn't even laugh at that, it was so ridiculous.) Some misguided souls say they like a movie that doesn't make them think. The trouble with this one is that you MUSN"T think about it, else you will seek out the producers to demand back the two hours of your life you have wasted.

John Sayles' direction of this film reminded me of Hitchcock in that I was always aware of the director's style and I enjoyed it every bit as much as the acting and the story. Like "Godfather," this is a tale of families and how the sins of the fathers cast their shadows over the generations. To illustrate the connection, Sayles will slowly track his camera from a conversation in one part of a room to another part of the same room where characters who lived 25 years earlier are conversing. The years have passed, we realize, but all the characters, even the dead ones, are in this together. The technique may sound strange, but it works magically. And another thing: I've always thought Kris Kristofferson was a better singer than actor, and a better songwriter than singer. But in this film he turns in an outstanding performance as a very very bad Texas border town sheriff who disappeared years ago and whose bones have just turned up in the desert. At least we think those are his bones, and to solve the puzzle, the current sheriff, son of the man who became sheriff when Kris disappeared, must dig further than he wants into the town's secrets. And once again, knowing how the film ends makes subsequent viewings just as fascinating as the first.

Robert Wise once made an intelligent film about an alien invasion of Earth. It was called "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and it's still an entertaining and enlightening work of science fiction. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is everything that "Independence Day" is not. The former appeals to our adult intellect. The latter appeals to what's left of the 12-year-old inside us. Sometimes that's OK, when it works. I'm looking forward to the new Star Wars movie as much as anyone. But aren't we getting a little tired of "government conspiracy" storylines? I've got news for you: If the U.S. President can't keep a little Oval Office hanky-panky secret, his minions certainly can't hide a bunch of aliens out in the New Mexico desert. The "X-Files," government conspiracy plot has run its course for me. (What's that you say? The whole Monica thing is really a plot by the aliens to put one of their own, Albert Gore, Jr., into the top job?) ) Actually, I'd love to see a film that intelligently explores what might really happen if the aliens landed. But "Independence Day," with it's overwhelming special effects and evil/cute aliens that say "uh-oh" before they're blasted to smithereens, is not that movie.