early106

The majority of bad reviews based on this movie are present because of it complexity and the attention that the movie deserves is not applied by the everyday movie goer. Not to sound pretentious but this is not a movie for your weekend cinema goer, its a movie for those who want something new, unique and never done before. That in its own appeals heavily to me.

From the get-go the movie begins with a ensemble cast of characters who haven't yet been introduced nor spoken of, this is due to the fact that the movie has three prequel chapters, but I'll get to that later. We are soon brought the first person narration of Private Pilot Abileine (Justin Timberlake) who's dreary, dark voice provides a sign of what is to come in this darkly comedic thriller. As captions reading "Chapter IV" begin to surface, the viewer is confused as to what is happening, but with excess viewing, sense can be made of these. Another character is then "introduced", Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) and Krysta Noww (Sarah Michelle Gellar), from what I have read online, most people believe these characters to be played badly. This is incorrect, the director has stated on numerous accounts that the acting shown by these characters is completely intentional. This movie is a satire people! Not a drama! The comedic, surreal acting is what is to be expected of these comedic, surreal characters. Most situations found within the movie are also quite strange and unnerving, situations that wouldn't normally take place, although this is a SATIRICAL DARK COMEDY. I hope I have made my point clear.

One needs to accept this and empathise with it in order to connect with the rest of the movie. The set design in this movie is absolutely fantastical, one of dreams. The connotations and signs shown throughout the background of this crazy universe are so well placed and make the movie even more appealing, knowing that the next time you watch it, you will see another bit of detail you had'nt already. The attention to detail is beyond marvellous as it isn't hard to see where director Richard Kelly got his aspirations from, the movie "Brazil" by Terry Gilliam was an obvious inspiration. The music, is beyond spectacular, the eerie, melancholic tunes played by Moby suit the dystopian universe so well, its almost like they were made entirely for the movie. The musical sequence with Justin Timberlake is a direct homage to "The Big Lebowski" and works so well, I was dumbfounded at how the movie packs so much and provides the viewer with a plentiful supply of genres and imagery, but yet people look past this and insist on calling it an ugly mess Along with a huge cast of other wacky characters including Officer Roland Taverner (Sean William Scott) this movie may not satisfy the needs of someone who needs a direct answer to every question, but heavily appeals to those who are open to question and give their own meaning without even having read the prequel comics, as I have not.

This movie is plain and simple an "okay" movie. It's nothing special, but nothing terrible, furthermore it succeeds in places, and drastically fails in others. For starters I'll talk about the main character "Jenny". I could easily see from the beginning of the movie, what the desired effect for the character was, it was the clichéd innocent little girl with an evil twist. And to be honest I got bored with it. I can't tell whether the girls acting was terrible or whether it was the character. I felt no emotion towards any other characters and it can be seen that little time was spent on creating them. The character of Jennys tutor, "Tom" was played by a relatively unknown actor and wasn't that bad, just too simplistic. The grandmother was the only good acting in the film to be honest. Don't even get me started on the character of "George". George is a six foot tall monster that follows Jenny as she does her duty. I think George was created to add some form of horror and mystery into an otherwise dull plot. The morals shown by the main protagonist are so corrupt and predictable, it made me ask the question. "If this girl is so intelligent and all knowing why does she succumb to the things she does?" It made no sense, the director obviously just wanted to add some moral value into the flick, trying to get a reaction, which failed. Is this movie a black comedy, well, it tries to be. One good thing Is the placement of the repetitive music, yes some music was played over and over, but they were used brilliantly. The direction wasn't terrible either. It could have been something great with a better lead actor, and better scriptwriting. All in all 6/10.

I actually feel quite sick when I think back at the times before I had seen this movie and I also feel sick at the fact that I had not seen this earlier. I saw this movie in August 2010, nine years after the release date of the movie. I had no idea what it was about, no idea what I was getting into, I simply wrote down a list of moves I had to see and this one happened to be first on the list. I was expecting your simple modern day drama about an upset teen with a love interest. Little did I know what I was about to embark on. This movie has it all. Hallucinations, Time Travel, Comedy, Horror, Romance you name it. The characters are so deep and interesting, it makes me sad that I will never see a better movie. Richard Kelly (director) obviously reviewed every scene thoroughly and did not make one loophole, mistake or anything for the audience to complain about. I watched the directors cut first and I would stress others do so also, but I don't think the ending effect of the movie differs between editions. 6 months onwards from seeing this movie, I must have watched it 12 times, I am constantly quoting this movie subconsciously and thinking about making other similar movies. This truly has inspired me to become a filmmaker and with my commitment to Sparkle Motion let's hope I do so. Ending result : See this movie, if it's the last thing you do I don't care.