Thuggish

Rating: Null/10 (27 January 2007)

I get annoyed at movies that preach one thing and are themselves another.
The story here has two components, a real and fantasy thread. The real world thread is simple. By that I mean there are no dramatic complications at all. The characters are theatrical cartoons. The situation starts out brutally and stays that way without any arc, development, evolution. It is in fact a formula movie, this thread, and one that follows a formula that is based on strict, strict boundaries. One would suspect it was written by a German, it is so regimented. One would almost believe it to be written by "The Captain," the bad guy here.
It marches. Its unambiguous. Its final and brutal in its morality, just as the Captian is. There are only good and bad people and the bad are not only very, very bad but they get their deserts. Justice isn't nuanced here. In fact nothing at all is.
I suppose people celebrate it for its fantasy thread. Yes, the effects are good. Yes the creepy eyeless man was creepy. Yes the Tinkerbells were Tinkerbelly. But is this in any way better than "Dark Crystal," which was similarly banal in its cosmology?
Look, I'm one of the ones who get depressed at things like "The Matrix," but if lacking in imagination, is copying was deep, complex, manylayered. This is something that Franco would have written, and little fascist parents would have trotted to, because its all about absolutes and the inability of humans to be rich, subtle, varied beings.The best we can do, is be "innocent."
I often can see some good in any film. But not this one. The world is too close to intolerant extremism as it is. Don't feed it by supporting this.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.