Figaro14

While I realize that the Arnold Schwarzenegger version drastically departs from the original Steven King (aka Bachman) novel, it was far more fun and creative than this remake. We spend the better amount of the film, with our hero, not fighting off the "hunters," which in the original version is so cleverly the creation of these outlandish characters created to appeal to a dystopian TV audience, but instead spending the better part of this film seeing Ben Richards hold up in hotel rooms, in cars, or on airplanes. I think it was a mistake to make the hunt 30 days. The film simply cannot find ways to keep action going over that stretch of time. I also never had the dislike for our villain Killian like I did for the smarmy Richard Dawson creation, which was a brilliant critique of the over the top TV game show host. In all, this was a lost opportunity. Some aspects simply don't make a great deal of sense either. Somehow Richards ends up on the Canadian border, hijacks a woman in a car -- who represents how the upper class have been brainwashed into believing this dystopian society is great -- but quickly changes her perspective. The script is such a mess and the ending anticlimactic at best. I did have such high hopes for this remake.

Let me premise my review by saying that I am a huge supporter of GLBTQ films, and I do tend to overlook low budgets and amateur actors. This one is almost impossible to forgive. The script is an absolute trainwreck. It consists of two men (hottie model Fabian Arnold and Justin Powell) who get clumsily teamed up to be personal body guards of sorts to this company executive whose wacky (possibly brain damaged) teen daughter has been kidnapped -- but appears to like it. The film goes from bad to worse as we watch repeated scenes of these guys fighting and defeating the same henchmen over and over and over. For those of use who decided to watch because the film has a gay theme, forget it. Nothing happens. There is one very short moment in the middle of the film where Arnold's character alludes to a same-sex relationship but that's about it. All the supporting characters are laughably loathsome and the bad acting just makes us hate them all the more. How or why this script got made is beyond me. It's a mess. The one useful thing this film could serve is to be shown to film students as an example of everything you should not do when you write a screenplay and then try to make it into a film. Big Rage? Yes. That's exactly how you will feel if you endure this trainwreck of a film. I want my 2 hours back!