In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

based on the novel set in 1914 by joseph conrad , victory spins a tale of a pair of lovers , heyst ( william dafoe ) and alma ( irene jacob ) , who seek refuge on heyst 's isolated island .
however , their idyllic world begins to crumble upon the arrival of mr jones ( sam neil ) , martin ricardo ( rufus sewell ) and their servant , pedro ( graziano marcelli ) , who have come to steal heyst 's rumoured plunder .
while the novel is largely complex in characterization , the film sadly transposes conrad 's characters into lacklustre leads , the most disappointing being heyst himself .
conrad 's heyst adheres religiously to his late father 's ways of detachment and isolation .
his ascetic lifestyle is thrown into question when he meets alma , a helpless orchestra girl who charms him with her voice .
the struggle to embrace the arrival of alma into his solitude , however , is lost in mark peploe 's ( director and writer ) diluted version of heyst . without properly establishing the crucial details of heyst 's character , all that is left of conrad 's main character is a very shallow treatment of his internal conflict between detachment and human involvement .
on the one hand , actualizing the subtext is a mammoth task ( though not impossible ) , but on the other hand , dafoe 's flat acting can not be excused as an attempt at stoicism .
in the end , we are supposed to witness heyst renounce his philosophy and finally come to an understanding of what it is to love another .
the final transformation , while perceptible , lacks the cathartic revelation which is undeniable in conrad 's novel .
its absence in the film is unforgivable .
the film seems more concerned about moving the plot along when so much has yet to be said about the relationship between the two complete strangers .
alma is supposed to have overcome great emotional barriers in the relationship , namely heyst 's underlying philosophy of detachment , which heyst himself grapples with .
the struggle against heyst 's ignorance of true human involvement accounts for much of the greatness of alma 's love for him .
jacob , fair - skinned , gentle and yet passionate , handles the role with precision , detailing nuances where possible .
unfortunately , she is let down by a superficial script .
the couple 's relationship develops too hastily , leaving all subtlety effaced and replaced with a blatant show - and - tell approach .
all we know of the characters are mostly explained by their lines alone .
this is unsatisfactory when so much of the turmoil experienced by the two stem from their buried thoughts and emotions .
the sketchy handling of their relationship stands out as sorely as dafoe 's american accent ( an inappropriate one since heyst spent most of his life in london ) .
the other characters such as schomberg ( jean yanne ) , the owner of a hotel , and mr jones ( sam neill ) , also fall short of conrad 's meticulous characterization .
while schomberg should have been more menacing and vindictive , mr jones should have been portrayed as something more of an enigma .
sam neil 's caricature of a slightly stout , effeminate and soft - spoken gentleman - at - large nullifies the effect intended by conrad who describes mr jones as " an insolent spectre on leave from hades , endowed with skin and bones and a subtle power of terror " .
poor characterization aside
, kudos goes to rufus sewell for his excellent portrayal of ricardo , secretary to mr jones , a reckless ruffian capable of murder .
sewell , with his cockney accent and large expressive green eyes , becomes the true terror of the unholy trinity , masterminding deceitful plans behind jones ' back .
at the same time , we are entertained by the foolhardiness of his plans .
despite the authentic setting and marvellous cinematography by bruno de keyzer ,
very few images are left behind for us to savour after the film has ended
. sourabaya and its surrounding islands and volcanoes may have their charm , but mean nothing once the film fails to capture the essence of an epic , which is what victory deserves to be .
the delicately inter - woven complexities in the love story are lost to an inadequate production .
at the end of the film , we are told that perhaps alma 's victory was in teaching heyst how to love .
a hollow victory indeed .
the flying inkpot 's rating system :
* wait for the video .
*
* a little creaky , but still better than staying at home with gotcha !
*
* * pretty good , bring a friend .
*
*
* * amazing , potent stuff .
*
*
*
* * perfection . see it twice .
N

by the time dennis quaid , the ostensible star of switchback , makes his first appearance at about the 22-minute mark , you may find yourself wondering why he bothered .
after all , writer / director jeb stuart has already set up a fairly promising pair of parallel story lines .
the first finds amarillo , texas sheriff buck olmstead ( r . lee ermey ) facing a hotly - contested election battle just as a brutal double homicide is discovered at a motel in his jurisdiction .
as olmstead begins his investigation , we also meet the two men who come to be our prime suspects .
lane dixon ( jared leto ) is an enigmatic young hitchhiker ; bob goodall ( danny glover ) is the jovial motorist who offers lane a ride from texas to his utah destination .
all the necessary conflicts seem to be in place -- the internal struggle of olmstead over the clash between good politics and good police work , and the external struggle as one of the two travelers eventually becomes villain to the other 's protagonist .
but then quaid shows up as grimly determined fbi agent frank lacrosse .
lacrosse is certain that the amarillo murders are the work of a serial killer he has been tracking for nearly two years .
he 's not supposed to be tracking him any more -- according to the bureau , they 've got their man -- but lacrosse has a very important reason for believing otherwise .
two months earlier , lacrosse 's own son was kidnapped by the killer , and the boy has yet to turn up anywhere .
lacrosse knows his killer 's work , and he knows that the man is still out there somewhere trying to continue their game .
it would n't be fair to reduce everything that 's wrong with switchback to quaid 's presence , but it 's a pretty good place to start .
there 's a reason lacrosse feels like an intruder in the narrative instead of its vital center :
as a dramatic actor , dennis quaid possesses exactly one facial expression and one vocal intonation .
we can tell lacrosse is determined because his face is a perpetual tight - jawed , sourpuss pucker ; we can tell he 's grim because every word comes out in an eastwood - esque rasp .
a more flexible performer might have given weight to the character , pulling the audience into his haunted intensity , making switchback _ his _ film .
quaid
merely looks annoyed and slightly constipated .
it 's tough to become emotionally invested in a character 's turmoil when it looks like all he really needs is a big bowl of bran flakes .
even without quaid , it does n't appear that switchback would have stayed on course .
the early scenes between leto and glover have a lively energy , building our curiosity over which man -- the taciturn kid or his gregarious benefactor -- is the real threat .
unfortunately , stuart tips his hand far too early in the game , both through the pitch of the individual performances and the facts he chooses to reveal .
once the mystery of the killer 's identity is dispatched , the interaction between leto and glover becomes stale and predictable
.
in fact , " stale and predictable " describes the direction that switchback takes in general , falling back on far - too - common hollywood devices like cats jumping out of nowhere , a climactic fistfight on board a freight train , and edgy law enforcement agents .
it 's too bad stuart was n't willing to spend more time with sheriff olmstead , far and away the most interesting and appealing character in the film .
played with atypical restraint by r .
lee ermey
, he 's a wonderful , unconventional hero who seems genuinely comfortable accepting the consequences of acting on his convictions .
a film focusing on the olmstead would have signaled a film - maker willing to take a few risks with his casting and story - telling .
instead , stuart places his trust in a " name " star who ca n't carry the material .
maybe next time he 'll throw away that one crucial page in the script , the one where the grimly determined fbi agent wanders onto the scene to muck up a perfectly good story .
N

the premise of the new teen - targeted horror film ` final destination ' causes a recollection of a memorable ` simpsons ' halloween episode .
after attempting to repair a malfunctioning toaster , lovably ignorant patriarch homer realizes he has created a portable time - machine .
after a trek into the cretaceous period , homer observes that any minor alteration made there will erupt into a starling chain of events and seriously modify the present world .
again and again , homer toys with the master plan and pays dearly for it .
the characters of ` final destination ' have also tampered with the blueprint schematics of their existence - their ` design ' .
someone is after them with the strict intent of correcting the mistake .
that someone is death .
you see , alex browning ( devon sawa ) and six others have cheated the grim reaper . . . .
but the dude has got some tricks up his sleeve . for a high school excursion , alex 's french class is traveling to paris by airline transport .
alex , tense and neurotic , has a shocking premonition after boarding : he sees the plane , and every passenger on it , spontaneously explode in mid - air .
in a panic of sheer lunacy , alex charges his way through the aisle and demands removal from the aircraft .
after a handful of others ( including one teacher ) follow and are denied admittance back onto the plane ,
the unwitting ? survivors ' watch in horror as the plane actually explodes in the drizzling night sky .
the loony vision alex experiences does actually materialize .
but death wo n't be cheated so easily , and one by one , the survivors of flight 180 are offed in mysteriously gruesome circumstances .
the grisly murder count baffles the local officials and fbi .
before i delve into the meat of the review , i 'd just like to confer . . .
.
is that one helluva premise , or what ?
` final destination ' , creepy beyond rational comprehension , probably reads more like an unsettling ` x - files ' episode than ` the simpsons ' - therefore , the surprise is minimal when you discover the mutual creators behind both are glen morgan and james wong .
on familiar turf , the task of establishing footing is not difficult for morgan and wong , and the opening 20 minutes of ` final destination ' reflects that .
unlike most thrillers , the set - up is crisp and cool .
you just deeply , sincerely hope that the momentum wo n't unspool , leaving us with a second - string effort with nothing but cheap , derivative shocks .
young viewers have a palpable reason to expect this kind of formula deterioration , what with ` i know what you did last summer ' and sequel , ` idle hands ' and -- a movie with a nifty premise that just plunged like an anvil -- ` urban legend ' .
after the set - up , when i remained slouched apprehensively in my chair , i started to really have fun with ` final destination ' .
low and behold , a teen thriller that is actually unsettling , actually suspenseful and -- yes
-- actually intelligent .
some splotty logic and a heap of characteristic genre flaws aside , this film is among the most refreshing and all - out enjoyable horror movies to submerge since the cutting - edge ` scream ' in 1996 .
` final destination ' stimulates the nerves and offers a exhilarating retaliation strike against all the blood - spattered slasher crap we 've endured throughout the past few years .
not that the characters are that good .
sawa is game as alex , a connect - the - dots personality that we never fully comprehend .
in addition , the survivors are endearing geek tod ( chad e . donella ) , jocky control - freak carter ( kerr smith of ` dawson 's creek ' ) , carter 's ditzy girlfriend terry ( amanda detmer ) , the none - too - subtly named billy hitchcock ( seann william scott , supplier of lukewarm comic relief ) and a lone teacher - the emotionally delicate ms .
lewton ( kristin cloke ) .
aside from alex , the primary center of interest is intended to be ali larter ( ` varsity blues ' ) , playing an abstract character named clear rivers ( what were her parents thinking ? ! ? ) .
the personality of clear is written with such a vague , nebulous definition that she resembles a walking flash - card saying ` hello , i am the offbeat character designed to identify with the main character 's plight ! '
toss a few stereotypical fbi agents ( daniel roebuck and roger guenveur smith ) and a . . . .
ummm . . .
` spiritual ' mortician ( former ` candyman ' tony todd ) into the mix , and you have what could be another generic teenage frightfest with slicing , dicing and assorted disembowelments .
not so .
` final destination ' has no slicing and dicing , or at least none dealt by a human killer , and the thought of death itself as the unseen stalker is unique and frightening .
the extra dimension of disconcerting irony rejuvenates the decaying ? murderer - on - the - loose ' concept , with assistance from a shrewd , intelligently paced screenplay by morgan , wong and jeffrey reddick .
the plot twists are fun and clever without toppling into utter absurdity ( listen up , ` reindeer games ' ) .
but i suppose the most satisfying aspect of ` final destination ' is the murder scenes .
creative , resourceful and breathlessly inventive , the death sequences involve an unlikely string of events leading to a character 's demise .
what will trigger the accident ?
will it be the john denver record , just put on to play ` rocky mountain high ' ?
( yeah , sick humor ) .
will it be the leaking toilet ?
the falling fishing reel in the corner ?
the murders are startling and largely unforeseen , including one surprise incident that made the audience jump out of their seats and giggle nervously for roughly a minute afterward .
a sense of giddy unpredictability is added with this inventive approach .
it gets sorta tasteless and cheap sometimes , but who cares ?
it 's fun
.
in that simple regard , ` final destination ' is my cup of tea .
this stylishly executed thriller , although tagged with laughable circumstances and the occasional snippet of lame dialogue , is an immensely entertaining jaunt to the dark side .
after the show , it will also have an frightening impact on you .
when will your ? design ' expire ? is death waiting around the corner ?
the ` final ' effect is a major case of the heebie - jeebies .

P