lukas8
Joined May 2006
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Reviews8
lukas8's rating
I had high hopes about this film, but it left me feeling annoyed.
First, the positive. The cinematography is attractive and the scenes are well constructed visually. If you are looking for open-ended existential questions, you will find a few of those. If you are looking for Adrian Brody to do his sad eyebrow face, you will not be disappointed. There are a few cameos by other great actors, if you are in to that sort of thing.
Now, the negative. This film does not offer any valuable insight into any of the problems that it addresses. It gives a sensationalist portrayal of the difficulty of being a teacher in a failing school, the apathy of students and teachers, and the aftermath of childhood abuse. It emphasizes each of these problems without offering any kind of understanding beyond the expression of listless angst. All the vague statements that Adrian Brody says into the camera are certainly less than the sum of their parts.
I don't expect all films to offer insight. When the subject matter are issues that people care deeply about, it is nice, but if a film doesn't offer insight at least it can offer entertainment. Well, not this one. The story is aimless and meandering. The child actors are not believable.
Instead of watching this movie you might consider just sitting in a corner to think about how bad life can be, and then blame it all on parents without really trying to understand the situation. Same effect.
First, the positive. The cinematography is attractive and the scenes are well constructed visually. If you are looking for open-ended existential questions, you will find a few of those. If you are looking for Adrian Brody to do his sad eyebrow face, you will not be disappointed. There are a few cameos by other great actors, if you are in to that sort of thing.
Now, the negative. This film does not offer any valuable insight into any of the problems that it addresses. It gives a sensationalist portrayal of the difficulty of being a teacher in a failing school, the apathy of students and teachers, and the aftermath of childhood abuse. It emphasizes each of these problems without offering any kind of understanding beyond the expression of listless angst. All the vague statements that Adrian Brody says into the camera are certainly less than the sum of their parts.
I don't expect all films to offer insight. When the subject matter are issues that people care deeply about, it is nice, but if a film doesn't offer insight at least it can offer entertainment. Well, not this one. The story is aimless and meandering. The child actors are not believable.
Instead of watching this movie you might consider just sitting in a corner to think about how bad life can be, and then blame it all on parents without really trying to understand the situation. Same effect.
The acting was bad, the characters were stereotypical and cliché, and the story was completely without subtlety.
But the worst part is the message (also not very subtle). The movie is 90 minute straw-man argument against Christianity/religion. Interwoven into the plot are a stack of arguments against religion, with absolutely no attempt to fairly represent the other side. On top of that, the atheist arguments are not even very well thought out, and in the end the verdict seems to rest on the virtues (or lack thereof) of the characters representing both sides. The Christian antagonist is hypocritical, homophobic, and small-minded. The atheist protagonist is heroic and kind. Based on that, let's decide not to pray for our meal.
It wouldn't be so bad if it ended in a way that highlighted the fact that people can do good things or bad things regardless of philosophical orientation. The best that we can do is respect beliefs that are different from our own, and try to see what we have in common instead of what separates us. I enjoy fair-minded and respectful philosophical arguments, but this isn't even close.
But the worst part is the message (also not very subtle). The movie is 90 minute straw-man argument against Christianity/religion. Interwoven into the plot are a stack of arguments against religion, with absolutely no attempt to fairly represent the other side. On top of that, the atheist arguments are not even very well thought out, and in the end the verdict seems to rest on the virtues (or lack thereof) of the characters representing both sides. The Christian antagonist is hypocritical, homophobic, and small-minded. The atheist protagonist is heroic and kind. Based on that, let's decide not to pray for our meal.
It wouldn't be so bad if it ended in a way that highlighted the fact that people can do good things or bad things regardless of philosophical orientation. The best that we can do is respect beliefs that are different from our own, and try to see what we have in common instead of what separates us. I enjoy fair-minded and respectful philosophical arguments, but this isn't even close.
This movie may be remotely enjoyable as long as you can turn your brain off. Unfortunately, I couldn't.
The characters were so unbelievably bad, and the worst was definitely the camera man. He was somewhere between quagmire (without the funny) and dude, where's my car. The writer couldn't have made the characters any more linear and cliché.
The story is exactly what you expect. Even if you haven't seen the movie but have seen the trailer, imagine what it is going to be like and how it is going to end, and you are probably pretty close. For a movie that is supposed to be mysterious, there are no real surprises here, and nothing terribly original.
The first person amateur video gimmick is so tastelessly done. The most annoying part is they feel the need to explain everything that is going on. I am pretty sure they are counting on an audience with a low IQ. Blair Witch broke some ground with this technique, and director Matt Reeves must have decided that they got it right the first time and there was no need to build on it. There are so many similarities that you can pretty much count on hating it if you didn't like The Blair Witch.
Finally, the movie is completely unrealistic. I am not talking about the monsters, I am talking about very simple details that it is not easy to ignore. For example, the beginning clearly states that it is on an SD card, yet the movie keeps cutting back and forth over footage that was supposedly filmed over. Also, apparently helicopter crashes are a lot safer than most people would guess.
Like I said before, the movie might work if you can simultaneously block all of these things. The rating it got here on IMDb absolutely boggles my mind. I can only assume an 8/10 is the new 5/10.
The characters were so unbelievably bad, and the worst was definitely the camera man. He was somewhere between quagmire (without the funny) and dude, where's my car. The writer couldn't have made the characters any more linear and cliché.
The story is exactly what you expect. Even if you haven't seen the movie but have seen the trailer, imagine what it is going to be like and how it is going to end, and you are probably pretty close. For a movie that is supposed to be mysterious, there are no real surprises here, and nothing terribly original.
The first person amateur video gimmick is so tastelessly done. The most annoying part is they feel the need to explain everything that is going on. I am pretty sure they are counting on an audience with a low IQ. Blair Witch broke some ground with this technique, and director Matt Reeves must have decided that they got it right the first time and there was no need to build on it. There are so many similarities that you can pretty much count on hating it if you didn't like The Blair Witch.
Finally, the movie is completely unrealistic. I am not talking about the monsters, I am talking about very simple details that it is not easy to ignore. For example, the beginning clearly states that it is on an SD card, yet the movie keeps cutting back and forth over footage that was supposedly filmed over. Also, apparently helicopter crashes are a lot safer than most people would guess.
Like I said before, the movie might work if you can simultaneously block all of these things. The rating it got here on IMDb absolutely boggles my mind. I can only assume an 8/10 is the new 5/10.