Better than I thought

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2000)

I saw a lot of promotions for this film. I saw the poster for this film about six or five months ago, and I saw Mel Gibson. I thought, "hmm.... interesting, let's see..." and I went to this site, www.imdb.com, and checked out the crew, and when I saw Roland Emmerich and Robert Rodat, I said to myself, "Ok, this is going to be really good, or really bad."
Roland Emmerich the director of STARGATE, INDEPENDENCE DAY, and GODZILLA was one of the reasons I thought this. I don't think I need to explain. GODZILLA!!!!??? And then I saw Robert Rodat who's work for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN wasn't really what I would call a masterpiece. It was okay, except for a little too much exposition and sentimentality.
So I saw it today, and my thought? Well, I don't know. First of all, I'm not saying I was disappointed. I was actually pleased. Very pleased as a matter of fact. But there were some disappointments as I always do. (I'm picky about films)
First, this was not a movie which I would call "brilliant." Was there any brilliance in this film? Nope. I don't think so. There might have been with John Williams' nice score, and actually some cinematography, but that's about it. A very cliche type of story and some sentimentality. But was it good? Yeh. It was very good. But not brilliant. See, this is where I draw the line between brilliance and entertainment. Was this a film which brilliant idea was behind it? Such films as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, THIN RED LINE, or ANY Stanley Kubrick films? NOPE. BUT was it one of the most entertaining movie I have seen in a long time? Yep.
The movie was engaging, packed with emotion, action, and nice acting. Also, very nice and interesting photography work where scenes where painted with RED, WHITE, and BLUE colors. And I got goosebumps when that American flag was being waved by the rebel soldiers fighting for their freedom. I almost cried too. But then again, it wasn't what I'd call a brilliant epic which deserves an oscar for best picture. It was a good movie, but nothing more. Kind of like TITANIC, which was a very good movie, but not a brilliant film.
So let me wrap up my point here. Was it Brilliant? NOPE. Was it entertaining? HELL YEH! Did I feel satisfied when I walked out of the theater? Yep. Very much so. Do I recommend this movie to other people? Yep. Very much so.
*** out of ****