violence, fear, and ugliness

Rating: Null/10 (1 June 2003)

The visual aspects of this movie are good. That's about it for the good part. Otherwise, this movie is battles followed by more violence followed by frightening, grotesque images followed by evil and ugly images followed by more violence and battles. And so on. Women are peripheral, as in many movies nowadays. There is NO attempt to develop characters, or interaction between characters, except for fighting. It's all about men and their need to fight and their fears. Our foreign policy is built on fear, so why shouldn't our movies be the same? I'm old enough to remember the sixties, when all the white boys were so crazy about this book. It was proof they were hip, if they'd read the trilogy. And now, the movies are more proof of hipness for the pretentious, who think special effects make a movie good. It's been said that people see scary movies to release some of their fear, but then the movie gives them more distressing images that build more fear within themselves. The positive critiques of this movie are more proof that people's ability to think critically has been destroyed, and that people will buy anything (and any lie) that is offered to them.