langaer

Just watched the film, and I have very mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it cannot be said that the film is bad. It started out as a clever comedy; it made its point about corrupt governments and general public believing anything they see on television; all hints were clear, all actors seemed okay; dialogs were smart; everything was fine. Closer to the end it felt like the writers got carried away and lost control to a certain extent, becoming more illogical and absurd with each scene; but considering that the film was a comedy, it could be forgiven.

But the ending just completely puzzled me. I sat bewildered for five more minutes staring at the titles. I did not understand what they wanted to say by this.

The first part of the film was a satire, but it was funny. All the inconsistencies, exaggerations, lack of logics, and broad generalizations seen in the first part of the movie could be accepted only if the film posed as a satirical comedy. I hate talking about happy endings, but a (more or less) happy ending could help this movie stay a satirical comedy. But the abrupt and cruel ending suddenly claimed that the film was politically realistic. If so, it rendered the rest of the movie almost totally ridiculous. I do not want to say that a movie cannot or must not be funny AND serious at the same time, but in "Wag the Dog" there is an abyss with a very thin bridge between the two aspects, and it is not very good for style.

I am not going to argue whether Americans or other nations are actually so stupid en masse as to be so ignorant of the outside world and to believe everything their politicians say on TV; maybe, they are, after all (though I personally would like to hope they aren't). "Distract attention" scenarios are quite popular nowadays even on the family scale, to say nothing about politicians and governments manipulating the public opinion. Maybe it IS actually possible to fake a war (only the process would not be as simple as in the movie and would not involve so many people, hundreds of potential "leaks"). So basically, from the viewpoint of credibility, the scheme outlined in the film maybe holds water. But the filmmakers should have been more careful about what they actually wanted. If they wanted a cynical satire, it should not have an ending like this. And vice versa, if they wanted a serious political warning of sorts, all absurdities and inconsistencies in the first part should not stick out that much. The movie and the ending just don't fit with each other, and it leaves the impression of something not very carefully thought out and produced hurriedly with a mere aim of shocking the audience and making money.

But, striking out the ending, the film does give food for thought, even though every idea in it is exaggerated to the point of absurd. It's not the best political satire in history, but not the worst either. Just maybe it would be better to read the book, after all.

The movie is great and is definitely worth watching, if you are not obsessed with idealistic stuff. If you're expecting perfection, then don't watch it; don't watch anything at all – it will only add to your feeling of frustration. But if you simply like anime, then it is a good film.

Actually, the basic rule of any movie-lover is to watch movies before reading any comments or reviews on them. Comments and reviews are actually useless; they make you biased, since they present only personal opinions of people who are complete strangers to you. So why should you listen to them if you are clever enough to form an opinion of your own? I was lucky to watch this series without this extra "educational baggage", and I liked it. If I had read the comments or reviews before, I probably wouldn't have watched it, and I personally think I'd have lost a lot. The plot seemed to me good enough; the characters (all of them taken together) were quite balanced; enough action, enough saliva; some very hard to find values, a lot of big words and actions, and some characters developing through the movie, which is on the whole a rare thing in anime and sure, interesting to watch. Some moments were fantastic, some were so-so, some seemed too short, some felt too long. Just like in any other anime film you care to name.

The basic problem of people who hate this movie (I can't even think how anyone can HATE a movie) is misunderstanding of the plot, or rather, not understanding it at all. And instead of trying to make it out, these people flood forums with negative reviews saying that the plot is awful. I actually never read the novel, and I never saw the manga, but still I had no problems with understanding the plot, the characters, their backgrounds and their complexes. I think anyone with some common sense and a tiny bit of imagination can grasp what is going on in there. 8-) And then again, there are dozens of sources that can help clarify some places.

I'm not arguing with people who dislike the director's work, drawing style, color schemes, or scene arrangement – those are sensei, they probably know better, they're the experts. I'm just a humble TV-rat, these things are beyond me, I never notice them.

And there are people who just were not touched by what they saw. Ye gods, that does not make it a bad movie, guys. There are a lot of films that raise problems we are not interested in – can we call these movies bad and advise others against watching them? This film is not a masterpiece (though I'm sure the criteria are different with each individual person among the audience), but it surely does not deserve to be labeled a failure (though the criteria are different again). The ending did seem a bit abrupt, and I can say I wanted more, looks like it ended two or three episodes earlier than it should. But, considering the circumstances, what can I do about it? Just accept it the way it is. There will be nothing more, alas.

My point is: watch the film, if you feel like doing it. If you're not biased, if you're not taught how to think of the movie, you will most likely find something that will compensate for the time you spend watching it.

P.S. (About people who write reviews) In one of the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children reviews (not on IMDb) some guy wrote that it was so stupid when Cloud jumped with that big sword of his; considering the size of the sword and Cloud's constitution, Cloud shouldn't be able to even raise the sword, let alone jump with it so high in the air… (8-(