Violence for violence's sake

Rating: 5/10 (28 January 2007)

Del Toro's film's cinematography was excellent, but that may have been a curse, in the end. While I do believe great movies affect our psyches, I believe it is the responsibility of filmmakers to not betray our trust: this movie drags our innocence through the mud. The GRAPHIC VIOLENCE was unbearable. If you are not at all sensitive to violence, you may feel just a bit queasy when the face of a man is slit open. If you are sensitive to violence, please do not see this movie, not even on DVD. I feel sick and I am angry that the film did not merit some sort of X rating for violent content. Del Toro: you may have had reason to stun us, but at what expense? The reason violence is unwanted is because it's horrible, and to show the most violent things I have ever seen on film without warning (the opening stunner of the bottle through the face - IN your face) is betrayal. To conclude, the cinematography was perfect, but it was the unfortunate conduit for graphic violence.