mind gum

Rating: Null/10 (10 March 1999)

Well, I wasn't going to comment on this film, but I find that I have to. Comparing it to Lawrence of Arabia or Ben Hur is like saying that the Batman cartoonists can use chiaroscuro as well as Rembrandt did. I mean, I can see Arnie doing a cameo in a Kenneth Branagh film in the near future, can't you? He has so much heart, and does a great job of expressing the universal human spirit.
This is a film that I loved when I was in high school. I am no longer in high school. I no longer love the film. It is a congeries of major elements in the American action film formula: lots of "cool" one-liners, impressive special effects, and lots of explosions and chase scenes. At least when the film sticks to these it's entertaining in that ripping legs off of spiders sort of manner. But when it strays into the arena of philosophical rumination it's just downright sad.
One has to be embarrassed for Mr. Cameron that he thinks this should be taken seriously, particularly the facile conclusion at the movie's end. If I want deep thoughts I'll watch something by Bergman or Tarkovsky. Cameron's like a French neo-classicist with some technical skills who's straining himself trying to produce something profound and winds up making a picture that has a proficient surface but no soul.