I wish I could jump on the bandwagon, but...

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2001)

When seeing a film that you have read about, and it has been
called "great", and hyperboles have been used such as "...the
greatest film of all time", it is hard to separate what you thought
about it from the critical reaction. I think there is an urge to really
want to go with the crowd and join the praise. It feels good to band
together and unanimously cheer something. When "Unbreakable"
came out there was a deafening silence about that movie. Nobody
knew what to think of it! Then someone said....."this movie sucks!"
and like a pin to a balloon the condemnation slapped that movie
silly and it disappeared from theatres, and from Oscar hopes.

Now with the universal praise of CTHD almost as deafening, I
have to raise my little hand up in the air and speak my little piece of
truth which is.....what the he!! are these critics talking about? Good
movie? yes. Great movie? no. Disappointing movie? YES. (here
comes the tirade) I was extremely disappointed with this movie!
Ang Lee is one of my favorite directors and this movie just totally
lacks drama, man! It's like, kind of boring. I don't understand the
motivations of any of the characters and the pacing is dull, the fight
scenes come out of nowhere and don't resolve anything! They're
cool to watch but they don't really move the story, the drama, and
the action forward. I hate that! And from Ang Lee too! Who
mastered drama with 'The Ice Storm', subtle comedy with 'Sense
and Sensibility', human frailty and realism with 'The Wedding
Banquet', and building suspense with 'Ride With the Devil'. All of
those movies do something better than this one. I just wasn't
moved at all. Perhaps it would communicate more meaning to a
Chinese audience..(well, those subtitles were kind of distracting)..I
don't know. I just wished it were better. Or maybe it's just that I was
weaned on the overpowering Spielberg/John Williams "we are
going to MAKE you cry, laugh, squirm, etc.." formula and can't
accept something subtler and finer. I'll still probably buy it on DVD
so I can watch it without the annoying subtitles! My reaction to this
movie reminds me of my reaction to 'Princess Mononoke'. Amidst
deafening applause I sat there silently and asked, am I just a
dum-dum? did I miss something? did that movie make any
damned sense at all? Anyway , end of tirade. Maybe Ang could just
explain it to me. I hate feeling left out of the crowd. Maybe then I
could join the universal cheer and root for him to beat 'Gladiator' on
Oscar night. (In my heart though I still love Unbreakable- Go
Night!!)