| Caveat cineaste |
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| written by chris.cornell |
September 8, 2007 - 10:34 PM PDT |
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2 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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I was fully prepared to embrace this movie based upon the glowing reviews and enthusiastic words of others. Surprisingly, two hours later despite my best efforts I could do no more than shake my head.
The film is not a total waste of time. It is also nowhere close to worthy of the laughably over-the-top praise that it's received. There are some good scares, some decent effects and welcome doses of humor and social commentary. Unfortunately, none of these elements ever gel into a comprehensive whole.
The one weak link that truly sinks this film like a harpooned fish-monster is the odd buffoonery of pretty much all the characters. Bong doesn't discriminate; all sides of this conflict appear to suffer from similar mental defects. Let's see, we have the bumbling, catnapping protagonist; the cross-eyed (and incompetent) evil scientist; even the onlookers are nose-picking, soju-swilling simpletons. Hey, maybe that monster is simply an agent of Darwinism.
One could argue that it's all in the name of satire. Unfortunately, the outright goofiness clashes head-on with the rest of the material and leaves us not with a horror movie, but a borderline parody punctuated by occasional scary, even shocking, moments that seem out of place.
A lighter touch could have managed to weave all of these disparate elements into a genre-bending good time with some heft behind it to boot. Instead, we are left with a film that can't quite decide what it wants to say or do. There are plenty of amazing recent Korean films to be found; I suggest seeking them out instead. |
| Not one of the greatest monster movies ever made. |
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| written by rpmfla |
September 1, 2007 - 5:55 PM PDT |
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2 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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This is a very good movie, but I guess all of the reviews filled with praise had me expecting even more. "On a par with Jaws!", "One of the greatest monster movies ever made!" had me hoping it would be something special. Well, as I said, it is very well done. The monster is well animated, the dysfunctional family is fun to watch, and the plot is fairly well acted out.
However, it is not on a par with Jaws, and I would not agree with the hyperbole from the critics in proclaiming it one of the greatest of all time. They did well with the budget they had, and made a fun film. Let's not go overboard with the praise. |
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