lazzag
Joined Nov 2015
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Reviews2
lazzag's rating
Walter Hill has had a lot of success with past films like 46 Hours and Another 48 Hours as well as the iconic Warriors. But he has lost the plot. Without being ageist - he is over 80 - maybe it is time to hang up his director's blowhorn.
The first thing that stands out is the sub-par cinematography. It is worse than most TV movies - unnecessary zoom-ins, handheld shots and even the use of a wide angle lens for a landscape shot of the desert, including the accompanying edge screen distortions.
The dialogue is very ordinary and the stakes build almost zero tension. Willem Dafoe is as capable as ever and does what he can with his scenes but Christoph Waltz, a very capable and fine actor, is under-directed and floats through the film.
The editing is childlike at best. The consistent FTBs rather than appropriate cuts are distracting, like Hill is trying to break the film into book chapters. All it achieves is slowing down and often stopping the narrative - it certainly strips any tension or suspense that might have been there.
Overall, this is a monstrous disappointment. You have to wonder why films like this are made because even the story is barely there. The choice of three antagonists muddies the story and their resolution is less than satisfactory, let alone dramatic. The dopey text at the end of the film telling us how the survivors lived out their lives is so unnecessary I almost laughed.
The first thing that stands out is the sub-par cinematography. It is worse than most TV movies - unnecessary zoom-ins, handheld shots and even the use of a wide angle lens for a landscape shot of the desert, including the accompanying edge screen distortions.
The dialogue is very ordinary and the stakes build almost zero tension. Willem Dafoe is as capable as ever and does what he can with his scenes but Christoph Waltz, a very capable and fine actor, is under-directed and floats through the film.
The editing is childlike at best. The consistent FTBs rather than appropriate cuts are distracting, like Hill is trying to break the film into book chapters. All it achieves is slowing down and often stopping the narrative - it certainly strips any tension or suspense that might have been there.
Overall, this is a monstrous disappointment. You have to wonder why films like this are made because even the story is barely there. The choice of three antagonists muddies the story and their resolution is less than satisfactory, let alone dramatic. The dopey text at the end of the film telling us how the survivors lived out their lives is so unnecessary I almost laughed.
I knew what I was in for in the opening blurb which included words that do not exist: "experiement" and "realation".
The filmmaker seriously cannot spell but did not bother to have it proofread or spell checked.
I flicked through this film. It was a total waste of time; low to no budget, dreadful acting and even worse directing, writing and cinematography.
Anson Mount is a bonus but he is no reason for anyone to sit through this dross which cannot make up its mind if it is a documentary, drama or docudrama. The MK Ultra experiments are a well documented part of history - why did the filmmaker not focus on a genuine participant instead of a peripheral (and fictional) character.
You can do better than waste your precious time on this. The warning signs are there in the opening text (OMG, it is like the idiots who do not know when to use an apostrophe so they put it in everything including plurals). I would never release a film that has that sort of glaring mistake. It is like the film was put out in a rush.
The filmmaker seriously cannot spell but did not bother to have it proofread or spell checked.
I flicked through this film. It was a total waste of time; low to no budget, dreadful acting and even worse directing, writing and cinematography.
Anson Mount is a bonus but he is no reason for anyone to sit through this dross which cannot make up its mind if it is a documentary, drama or docudrama. The MK Ultra experiments are a well documented part of history - why did the filmmaker not focus on a genuine participant instead of a peripheral (and fictional) character.
You can do better than waste your precious time on this. The warning signs are there in the opening text (OMG, it is like the idiots who do not know when to use an apostrophe so they put it in everything including plurals). I would never release a film that has that sort of glaring mistake. It is like the film was put out in a rush.