abrondz
Joined Dec 2008
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Reviews9
abrondz's rating
This film started off slowly with some dry humor and fancy cutting effects which made it look fast and to the point.
Nicholas Angel is a top cop with the London met police. In fact, he's so good, that the met has to find him a new job so it doesn't appear as if he's running the force (guidelines apparently require everyone to use "police service" instead) alone. That they do, and suddenly Angel finds himself in a small village full of "accidents" and not a single "crime".
The story evolves in a mind-boggling way. Without revealing too much detail, the village is obviously not what Angel expected, and his calm, pacifist ways are pushed to the limit. It's safe to say that Angel is not the same guy he was before he came to the village.
This film just proves that it's possible to make something truly enjoyable out of a simple gallery of characters, none of which are particularly deep, most of them are just stereotypes.
Still, I enjoyed this film and I'd definitely recommend it.
Nicholas Angel is a top cop with the London met police. In fact, he's so good, that the met has to find him a new job so it doesn't appear as if he's running the force (guidelines apparently require everyone to use "police service" instead) alone. That they do, and suddenly Angel finds himself in a small village full of "accidents" and not a single "crime".
The story evolves in a mind-boggling way. Without revealing too much detail, the village is obviously not what Angel expected, and his calm, pacifist ways are pushed to the limit. It's safe to say that Angel is not the same guy he was before he came to the village.
This film just proves that it's possible to make something truly enjoyable out of a simple gallery of characters, none of which are particularly deep, most of them are just stereotypes.
Still, I enjoyed this film and I'd definitely recommend it.
1408 is the story about a writer, Mike Enslin, who travels around the country and stays at every haunted hotel and inn he can find, just to prove they're all hoaxes. His books aren't that popular, but his publisher has faith in him and urges him to go on.
For his last visit in the book, Mike goes to the Dolphin Hotel in New York upon receiving a post card about room 1408 which doesn't sound like any other. When he arrives in New York, he's urged by the hotel's manager, Gerald Olin, not to stay in room 1408. Mike ignores the advice and stays.
What follows next is a psychological thriller where Mike's past is revealed, piece by piece. It begins quietly, but quickly spirals out of Mike's control and he finds himself trapped in his own subconsciousness. No matter what he does, things only get worse, and as the audience learn the real truth behind Mike Enslin, Mike himself completely loses his mind to a point where he's no longer able to distinguish reality from imagination.
I liked the idea of the room being a journey through Mike's personality. The way the story is revealed lets the audience learn piece by piece how he came to travel around the country looking for ghosts. The paranoia in the film is very credible, and the horror only adds to it. It's definitely one of the horror films which has a deeper story under it.
Even though the story is solid, I believe it progressed too fast, especially after Mike came into room 1408. The fact that it took a man who's visited nearly every haunted hotel room in the country a mere ten minutes or so to get that affected by room 1408 only proves that he himself is a hoax.
All in all, this is a true horror film with a story and character development. I'd recommend it to anyone who's not afraid of spooky hotel rooms.
For his last visit in the book, Mike goes to the Dolphin Hotel in New York upon receiving a post card about room 1408 which doesn't sound like any other. When he arrives in New York, he's urged by the hotel's manager, Gerald Olin, not to stay in room 1408. Mike ignores the advice and stays.
What follows next is a psychological thriller where Mike's past is revealed, piece by piece. It begins quietly, but quickly spirals out of Mike's control and he finds himself trapped in his own subconsciousness. No matter what he does, things only get worse, and as the audience learn the real truth behind Mike Enslin, Mike himself completely loses his mind to a point where he's no longer able to distinguish reality from imagination.
I liked the idea of the room being a journey through Mike's personality. The way the story is revealed lets the audience learn piece by piece how he came to travel around the country looking for ghosts. The paranoia in the film is very credible, and the horror only adds to it. It's definitely one of the horror films which has a deeper story under it.
Even though the story is solid, I believe it progressed too fast, especially after Mike came into room 1408. The fact that it took a man who's visited nearly every haunted hotel room in the country a mere ten minutes or so to get that affected by room 1408 only proves that he himself is a hoax.
All in all, this is a true horror film with a story and character development. I'd recommend it to anyone who's not afraid of spooky hotel rooms.
While watching V for Vendetta recently, I couldn't help getting a distinct feeling I'd seen something very similar before. And I had, it was a few months earlier and it was called 1984.
1984 isn't as easy to grasp as V for Vendetta. You need to go into the plot to understand what's going on. V for Vendetta makes that a whole lot easier by adding a villain which anyone can get to know and a main character who goes from being conformist to oppositional through the course of the film. In addition there is an ultimate goal instead of the entire film just being a description of life in an completely authoritarian state.
This is all very nice, unfortunately V for Vendetta fails to impress.
The symbolism of November 5th is at times taken too far. Despite the entire plot being built around Guy Fawkes and the blowing up of the parliament, the reasons behind it are too weak to make an entire film out of it. Having said that, I'm sure films have been built on less. Furthermore, the idea of a villain who's there to save the world, or in this case, Britain, has been severely worn out by now. As always, the villain is hiding behind a mask. Why?
All in all, if you liked and understood "1984", you'll be disappointed.
1984 isn't as easy to grasp as V for Vendetta. You need to go into the plot to understand what's going on. V for Vendetta makes that a whole lot easier by adding a villain which anyone can get to know and a main character who goes from being conformist to oppositional through the course of the film. In addition there is an ultimate goal instead of the entire film just being a description of life in an completely authoritarian state.
This is all very nice, unfortunately V for Vendetta fails to impress.
The symbolism of November 5th is at times taken too far. Despite the entire plot being built around Guy Fawkes and the blowing up of the parliament, the reasons behind it are too weak to make an entire film out of it. Having said that, I'm sure films have been built on less. Furthermore, the idea of a villain who's there to save the world, or in this case, Britain, has been severely worn out by now. As always, the villain is hiding behind a mask. Why?
All in all, if you liked and understood "1984", you'll be disappointed.