Film Reviews Mk 2
Aug. 29th, 2005 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athersgeoIn between watching England so nearly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and joining a gym (look out for a fitter, leaner Rach, coming soon...), I caught up with another two DVDs on my pile. One's an old film, one's a new film.
As ever, beware for spoilers in this reviews :)
So. I've been trying to see "Good Will Hunting" for absolute yonks, largely because I'd heard very good things about it, and I'm a fan of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. I was, however, a little nervous when I put the film on because, after all, it's taken me eight years to get around to seeing this film; what if it didn't live up to its hype?
And, I'll be honest, I don't think it did. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good film with a very interesting story and great performances from all the principles (particularly Matt Damon and Robin Williams), but there were problems. First and foremost, it all seemed to be a bit to easy. Again, don't get me wrong, the session in Williams' office where he provokes Will Hunting into crying was a fantastic piece of acting and writing, but one bout of tears and everything's hunky dory? Secondly, there was the just plain dislikability of virtually all the characters (again, with the exception of Robin Williams'). This seems to be something that I mention more times than I don't with movies, but for me to enjoy a film, I have to at least identify with the central hero, and (for preference) like him. As much as I could understand why Will Hunting was the way he was, it was off putting, and the people he was surrounded by (in particular, Ben Affleck's character and the rest of that little gang) were rather loathsome.
If you haven't seen this film already, it's worth seeing, because it is good, and it DOES have some great pieces of writing, even if there are perhaps one or two holes.
Things to know about "The Interpreter" before you watch it:
1) It's not intended to be a political statement, but it borrows very, very, very heavily on the current situation in Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe.
2) You could also say that it borrows heavily from the Middle East situation
3) Historically, you could equally say that the backstory to the film is cobbled together from Ruwanda, Somalia, The Congo, South Africa in the worst days of Apartheid, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Sudan......
It's a very current and apposite backstory.
Also, "The Interpreter" is the first film to be permitted to use the actual UN headquarters as a location, which does lend the whole film a certain gravitas and legitimacy. At times, it didn't feel like a film so much as a fly on the wall documentary.
With all that said (and deducted), however, what you're left with is a fairly average thriller. Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman are very good, but then you'd expect that - both are excellent actors. The story, though, is lacking. For one thing, the fact that we got to see who the bad guy was about ten minutes after the opening credits completely reduced any sense of tension or mystery. It was also blindingly obvious (from the intro scene) who the bad guys were going to be working for. And then there was the overall twist that (surprise, surprise, not) Silvia (Kidman) wasn't on the flight to Johannesburg, but was, in fact, all set to threaten the genocidal African head of state with his own gun and that said head of state's security advisor was in on the assassination plot.
It wasn't unenjoyable, but with most of the plot 'surprises' flagged in bright neon, it wasn't as good (or as gripping) as it would have liked. It's perhaps one to rent, rather than buy.
As ever, beware for spoilers in this reviews :)
So. I've been trying to see "Good Will Hunting" for absolute yonks, largely because I'd heard very good things about it, and I'm a fan of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. I was, however, a little nervous when I put the film on because, after all, it's taken me eight years to get around to seeing this film; what if it didn't live up to its hype?
And, I'll be honest, I don't think it did. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good film with a very interesting story and great performances from all the principles (particularly Matt Damon and Robin Williams), but there were problems. First and foremost, it all seemed to be a bit to easy. Again, don't get me wrong, the session in Williams' office where he provokes Will Hunting into crying was a fantastic piece of acting and writing, but one bout of tears and everything's hunky dory? Secondly, there was the just plain dislikability of virtually all the characters (again, with the exception of Robin Williams'). This seems to be something that I mention more times than I don't with movies, but for me to enjoy a film, I have to at least identify with the central hero, and (for preference) like him. As much as I could understand why Will Hunting was the way he was, it was off putting, and the people he was surrounded by (in particular, Ben Affleck's character and the rest of that little gang) were rather loathsome.
If you haven't seen this film already, it's worth seeing, because it is good, and it DOES have some great pieces of writing, even if there are perhaps one or two holes.
Things to know about "The Interpreter" before you watch it:
1) It's not intended to be a political statement, but it borrows very, very, very heavily on the current situation in Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe.
2) You could also say that it borrows heavily from the Middle East situation
3) Historically, you could equally say that the backstory to the film is cobbled together from Ruwanda, Somalia, The Congo, South Africa in the worst days of Apartheid, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Sudan......
It's a very current and apposite backstory.
Also, "The Interpreter" is the first film to be permitted to use the actual UN headquarters as a location, which does lend the whole film a certain gravitas and legitimacy. At times, it didn't feel like a film so much as a fly on the wall documentary.
With all that said (and deducted), however, what you're left with is a fairly average thriller. Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman are very good, but then you'd expect that - both are excellent actors. The story, though, is lacking. For one thing, the fact that we got to see who the bad guy was about ten minutes after the opening credits completely reduced any sense of tension or mystery. It was also blindingly obvious (from the intro scene) who the bad guys were going to be working for. And then there was the overall twist that (surprise, surprise, not) Silvia (Kidman) wasn't on the flight to Johannesburg, but was, in fact, all set to threaten the genocidal African head of state with his own gun and that said head of state's security advisor was in on the assassination plot.
It wasn't unenjoyable, but with most of the plot 'surprises' flagged in bright neon, it wasn't as good (or as gripping) as it would have liked. It's perhaps one to rent, rather than buy.
