No, I'm one of them what hasn't even read the book! However, If this is the best piece of cinematic work these Academy Award winners can produce in the year 2006, then I think it's time for them to consider giving up and getting out of the business. It's all so utterly safe, predictable and dreadfully, dreadfully dull. It has all the charm and intrigue of a third rate 1980's television whodunit film you might (mis)happen upon one Thursday afternoon in late November when there's nothing else on and you just know it's far too cold to go outside to avoid. So, I'll sum up my thoughts for y'all with this conundrum: R I S I B L E - no, it's not as hard as you think!
Reviews
4 Reviews
Silly But Acceptable...
8 July 2003
It would be easy to slate this but I'm not going to! Yes, it's a silly film; a ludicrous retro-pop video montage that's heavy-handedly sellotaped together with good will and plot intentions. Yes, it's the thieving magpie of action movies, stealing from the likes of 'Bond' and 'The Matrix' and numerous other action pictures but some of it is choreographed so much better. I'll even forgive the worst Irish accents in filmdom. I laughed, I snorted, I squirmed in my seat and I groaned - it was fun while it lasted and that's more than I can say for some of the other summer blockbusters I've already been subjected to this season. MatriX-2 - you know whom I mean!
Basic
(2003)
Scrambled Mess!
3 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
*Spoilers Herein...
Well, all I can say is that the studio had a barefaced cheek to release this rancid monstrosity of film-making on a paying public. The ridiculous number of plot twist scenarios became tiresome very quickly and I got to the stage where I thought I must have been having a bad dream because there is no way I could actually be sitting in a cinema watching this convoluted dogs dinner of a movie. James Vanderbilt, the screenwriter, must have bamboozled himself dizzy writing this guff. And don't think the rest of you are getting off that lightly either - I'm pointing my finger at everyone involved here - McTiernan, Travolta, Jackson et al. Experienced filmmakers all cocking up big style, and it's all up there on the big silver screen for you to see, if, like me, you're foolish enough to pay to see it. Oh, and let us not forget the smug ending - we're so clever - no, you're not! Maybe my brain was scrambled (with rage) by that point but I believe the ending even hinted at some potential action adventure sequel based around the antics of the elite 'section 8' team. Now, if the filmmakers really did have a sequel in mind then maybe they should all be sectioned themselves because they must be mad! Scrambled brain anyone?
Well, all I can say is that the studio had a barefaced cheek to release this rancid monstrosity of film-making on a paying public. The ridiculous number of plot twist scenarios became tiresome very quickly and I got to the stage where I thought I must have been having a bad dream because there is no way I could actually be sitting in a cinema watching this convoluted dogs dinner of a movie. James Vanderbilt, the screenwriter, must have bamboozled himself dizzy writing this guff. And don't think the rest of you are getting off that lightly either - I'm pointing my finger at everyone involved here - McTiernan, Travolta, Jackson et al. Experienced filmmakers all cocking up big style, and it's all up there on the big silver screen for you to see, if, like me, you're foolish enough to pay to see it. Oh, and let us not forget the smug ending - we're so clever - no, you're not! Maybe my brain was scrambled (with rage) by that point but I believe the ending even hinted at some potential action adventure sequel based around the antics of the elite 'section 8' team. Now, if the filmmakers really did have a sequel in mind then maybe they should all be sectioned themselves because they must be mad! Scrambled brain anyone?
Identity
(2003)
Short-changed...
15 June 2003
A sometimes intriguing and commendable horror thriller that suffers by giving itself away far too easily. Subsequently the ending of the film backfires and undoes any of the good work that has gone before it. The cast are solid, the mood sombre, the rain pours, the thunder, the lightening - all effective enough given the genre. It's not that I'm unhappy about paying to see the film; it's just that, given my initial expectations for the film's treatment and discourse, I feel a wee bit short-changed.
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