A big stinking pile of . . . disappointment

Rating: 3/10 (13 July 2012)

How much more hype can a movie get than this one? I went to see it last week since I don't like being trampled to death by going to an over-hyped movie the first weekend it comes out. I should have stayed at home and washed my hair ten times in a row instead. First, the good. The CGI was breathtaking. Every scene was full of special effects that were unparalleled in quality. However, any movie in 2012 can easily have that with a bloated enough budget. Other than that, the movie had absolutely nothing going for it. I am a person who doesn't require every movie to be fast action shoot-em-ups. I also enjoy a simmering psychological drama, but this movie moved along at a snail's pace. It was so slow I seriously considered leaving and doing something else. I waited an hour for something to happen. The first hour was nothing but boring dialogue and scenes which seemed to go nowhere.
The plot was also full of holes large enough for an entire herd of stampeding elephants to trample through (anyone remember M. Knight Shamalan's Signs? I noticed marked plot shortcomings.) Nothing about the storyline made any logical sense if one stopped to consider it for a millisecond. Several of the actors also appeared as though they were only in the film to occupy space. They did not add to the movie at all. It seemed like Ridley Scott crammed preparing this movie using the classic procrastinating college student's tactic of "pulling an all nighter." I generously grade this film a C-.