[ S8:E5 "Invocation" <<< Season 8 >>> S8:E7 "Via Negativa" ]
With a title like "Redrum", I guess I was expecting something more like a tribute to The Shining, than a murder mystery/courtroom drama where time runs in reverse (like in that movie Memento). I mean, it's the more original interpretation, but...originality is overrated. Anyway, stories like this have an inescapable flaw - they inevitably make more sense after you finish watching them. Which means a lot is riding on the ending. A fantastic example of that is Irreversible (the best movie you can't in good conscience actually recommend to people). I do like the ultimate conclusion this episode reaches, and that it's not quite what you're expecting. But I'm not completely sold on the journey it takes to get there. For one thing, as far as the character arc goes, there's not much chance for redemption when the killer doesn't believe he even committed the crime. And, due to the format, the proceedings are all a bit confusing in the first half. Plus, there's this repeating imagery involving a spider in a web - which does a good job of getting a certain point across, but it doesn't make the episode much fun for me to watch, personally. And Scully and Doggett come off kinda poorly (although Scully is all about the emotional subtext lately), since the episode is told from the perspective of the prisoner (but not quite to the subversive effect that Hungry accomplished). Still, it's another solid episode in an unbroken string so far (that is, avoiding the flops that season 7 was littered with), if not quite as good, in my opinion, as the last two.
Memorable quotes:
Martin Wells: I did not kill Vicky.
Scully: If you truly don't remember, then how can you be certain that you didn't?
(A good question. One is reminded of Avatar, when it was Skinner's head on the block).
Martin Wells: What day is this? What day of the week is this?
Brent: Wednesday. Wednesday the 6th.
Martin Wells: Yesterday, you told me it was Thursday; the day before that it was Friday. It's backwards. Everything's going backwards.
(And we so excited, we gonna have a ball today!)
Martin Wells: The passage of time imprisons us not in a cell of brick and mortar, but in one of hopes dashed and tragedies unaverted. How precious, then, the chance to go back, only to discover that in facing the past, you must face up to yourself. That exiting the prison of time doesn't free you from the prison of your own character. One from which...there is no escape.
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
The X-Files - S6:E3 "Triangle"
[ S6:E2 "Drive" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E4 "Dreamland" ]
Ugh. I'm not going to enjoy critiquing this episode. Like last season's The Post-Modern Prometheus, it was written and directed by Chris Carter. Also like that episode, it is a bit of an experiment - one that is generally well-received by fans, and one that I really didn't like much at all. I hate to say anything bad about Chris Carter - he's the genius who created The X-Files, and is undoubtedly the man behind much of what makes The X-Files so good. But if this episode and The Post-Modern Prometheus came from anyone else, I'd be tempted to use them as examples that their creator doesn't really get the show. Which is hard to reconcile with the truth. Granted, Chris Carter hasn't had a great track record for freak-of-the-week episodes (going all the way back to season 1's much-maligned Space) - although that doesn't explain why fans love these later excursions. And I still think he's a genius as far as the mythology is concerned (even with his frustrating tendency to ask more questions than he answers). But if you ask me, I'd just as soon he stuck to the mythology. I don't begrudge him his opportunity to play around in the sandbox of his own creation - he's certainly earned it. I guess all I have to say is that I'm not very fond of the results.
The Post-Modern Prometheus' technical trick-of-the-week was being shot in black and white. Triangle has a trick of its own - it's shot using lots of long shots, with minimal cuts between (like The Silent House). But, as in the previous case, I fear that it feels a little pretentious - like a rookie director trying out a new toy just to see what he can do with it, rather than a talented auteur putting a rare technique to use in service of the story. As such, we get lots of long tracking shots as characters move up and down long hallways (with lots of dark corners in which to hide cuts), and instead of letting the viewer get lost in the escapism of the fantasy, it constantly draws your attention to the fact that you're watching somebody with a camera following the actors around. This is useful in found footage films, where realism is a commodity that enhances the effect of the fear, but doesn't work out so well here.
Anyhow, this is the much-celebrated episode in which Mulder washes up aboard a ship lost in the Bermuda Triangle (the stark opener isn't as tense as it should be because you know Mulder's not really going to drown at sea). But instead of the eerie ghost ship atmosphere that we got in Død Kalm (a much better - and more classic - episode, in my opinion), the ship has been displaced in time from the era of the Second World War, leading to an out-of-date period piece with Nazis. I don't want to be insensitive, but I think Nazis are kind of tacky. You can tell good stories about them, but they're such a caricature of evil that it's too easy for a writer to get lazy. And as time marches on, the thematic shorthand of the events of WWII is losing more and more of its emotional relevance to modern audiences. For better or worse, Hitler is becoming ancient history. Also, I know it seems "fun" and, above all, "patriotic", to have Mulder take advantage of the opportunity to insult the Nazis directly to their faces, but you'd think that without the safety buffer of decades of history between you and them, you'd be a bit more subtle (like the people of their time) about your hatred of the men who could easily kill you if they decide they don't like you as much as you don't like them.
I know the Bermuda Triangle is weird, and maybe in the end it's not simply a case of time displacement, but Mulder hallucinating, or an alternate dimension or something, but why have familiar people showing up with different identities in the past? Scully's there. So is Spender - and both he and the Smoking Man are Nazis. I mean, it's like the ridiculous past-life fantasy from The Field Where I Died brought to life (and that wasn't a great episode worth revisiting and expanding a thread from into an entire episode of its own). But that's not the limit of the weirdness. Why play kooky dance music during a fight scene? (Not to make another mention to The Post-Modern Prometheus, but between that and this episode, I have reservations about Chris Carter's taste in music, Songs in the Key of X notwithstanding). Scully kisses Skinner in relief in one scene, but it feels overly dramatized. For that matter, Mulder kisses alternate dimension Scully near the end of the episode, which seems to be more pandering to the shippers without giving actual ground. Except that then Mulder actually confesses his love to the real Scully (who thankfully doesn't take it seriously), and I'm thinking, what's going on with this show?
I mean, there have been episodes in the past that have felt off - Humbug, for example, which was the first "comedy" episode of the series, had the wrong tone, in my opinion. But even though I didn't like The Post-Modern Prometheus, it still felt like an X-File. And though The Field Where I Died was dreadful, there was no point at which I felt that it was anything more than a single week's flop. But with the crazy shit that goes on in this episode, in addition to the recent move to L.A., and the introduction of all these new characters - Spender, Fowley, and now Kersh, too - this is the first point in the series where I really feel like things are starting to go off the rails. I'm sure there will be better episodes in the future - especially in the next three seasons - to pinpoint as places where the series "jumped the shark", but much like how I identified Talitha Cumi as the point where the mythology was just starting to break down, I could consider this episode to be the "early warning sign" that the show is heading down hill.
Memorable quotes:
Langly: All we can do is wait and hope for the best.
Frohike: Yeah, but expect the worst.
Skinner: Use your head, Scully. It'll save your ass.
Scully: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.
(Okay, yeah. Skinner: good advice. Scully: not sure what the hell you're trying to say here. It's like you're trying to be clever, but it didn't really work out. It's okay, I understand you're stressed out in this scene).
Scully: You did something incredibly stupid.
Mulder: What did I do?
Scully: You went looking for a ship, Mulder. In the Bermuda Triangle.
(That about says it. Although I can't help thinking that a more traditional X-Files episode about the Bermuda Triangle could have been a whole lot more interesting).
Ugh. I'm not going to enjoy critiquing this episode. Like last season's The Post-Modern Prometheus, it was written and directed by Chris Carter. Also like that episode, it is a bit of an experiment - one that is generally well-received by fans, and one that I really didn't like much at all. I hate to say anything bad about Chris Carter - he's the genius who created The X-Files, and is undoubtedly the man behind much of what makes The X-Files so good. But if this episode and The Post-Modern Prometheus came from anyone else, I'd be tempted to use them as examples that their creator doesn't really get the show. Which is hard to reconcile with the truth. Granted, Chris Carter hasn't had a great track record for freak-of-the-week episodes (going all the way back to season 1's much-maligned Space) - although that doesn't explain why fans love these later excursions. And I still think he's a genius as far as the mythology is concerned (even with his frustrating tendency to ask more questions than he answers). But if you ask me, I'd just as soon he stuck to the mythology. I don't begrudge him his opportunity to play around in the sandbox of his own creation - he's certainly earned it. I guess all I have to say is that I'm not very fond of the results.
The Post-Modern Prometheus' technical trick-of-the-week was being shot in black and white. Triangle has a trick of its own - it's shot using lots of long shots, with minimal cuts between (like The Silent House). But, as in the previous case, I fear that it feels a little pretentious - like a rookie director trying out a new toy just to see what he can do with it, rather than a talented auteur putting a rare technique to use in service of the story. As such, we get lots of long tracking shots as characters move up and down long hallways (with lots of dark corners in which to hide cuts), and instead of letting the viewer get lost in the escapism of the fantasy, it constantly draws your attention to the fact that you're watching somebody with a camera following the actors around. This is useful in found footage films, where realism is a commodity that enhances the effect of the fear, but doesn't work out so well here.
Anyhow, this is the much-celebrated episode in which Mulder washes up aboard a ship lost in the Bermuda Triangle (the stark opener isn't as tense as it should be because you know Mulder's not really going to drown at sea). But instead of the eerie ghost ship atmosphere that we got in Død Kalm (a much better - and more classic - episode, in my opinion), the ship has been displaced in time from the era of the Second World War, leading to an out-of-date period piece with Nazis. I don't want to be insensitive, but I think Nazis are kind of tacky. You can tell good stories about them, but they're such a caricature of evil that it's too easy for a writer to get lazy. And as time marches on, the thematic shorthand of the events of WWII is losing more and more of its emotional relevance to modern audiences. For better or worse, Hitler is becoming ancient history. Also, I know it seems "fun" and, above all, "patriotic", to have Mulder take advantage of the opportunity to insult the Nazis directly to their faces, but you'd think that without the safety buffer of decades of history between you and them, you'd be a bit more subtle (like the people of their time) about your hatred of the men who could easily kill you if they decide they don't like you as much as you don't like them.
I know the Bermuda Triangle is weird, and maybe in the end it's not simply a case of time displacement, but Mulder hallucinating, or an alternate dimension or something, but why have familiar people showing up with different identities in the past? Scully's there. So is Spender - and both he and the Smoking Man are Nazis. I mean, it's like the ridiculous past-life fantasy from The Field Where I Died brought to life (and that wasn't a great episode worth revisiting and expanding a thread from into an entire episode of its own). But that's not the limit of the weirdness. Why play kooky dance music during a fight scene? (Not to make another mention to The Post-Modern Prometheus, but between that and this episode, I have reservations about Chris Carter's taste in music, Songs in the Key of X notwithstanding). Scully kisses Skinner in relief in one scene, but it feels overly dramatized. For that matter, Mulder kisses alternate dimension Scully near the end of the episode, which seems to be more pandering to the shippers without giving actual ground. Except that then Mulder actually confesses his love to the real Scully (who thankfully doesn't take it seriously), and I'm thinking, what's going on with this show?
I mean, there have been episodes in the past that have felt off - Humbug, for example, which was the first "comedy" episode of the series, had the wrong tone, in my opinion. But even though I didn't like The Post-Modern Prometheus, it still felt like an X-File. And though The Field Where I Died was dreadful, there was no point at which I felt that it was anything more than a single week's flop. But with the crazy shit that goes on in this episode, in addition to the recent move to L.A., and the introduction of all these new characters - Spender, Fowley, and now Kersh, too - this is the first point in the series where I really feel like things are starting to go off the rails. I'm sure there will be better episodes in the future - especially in the next three seasons - to pinpoint as places where the series "jumped the shark", but much like how I identified Talitha Cumi as the point where the mythology was just starting to break down, I could consider this episode to be the "early warning sign" that the show is heading down hill.
Memorable quotes:
Langly: All we can do is wait and hope for the best.
Frohike: Yeah, but expect the worst.
Skinner: Use your head, Scully. It'll save your ass.
Scully: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.
(Okay, yeah. Skinner: good advice. Scully: not sure what the hell you're trying to say here. It's like you're trying to be clever, but it didn't really work out. It's okay, I understand you're stressed out in this scene).
Scully: You did something incredibly stupid.
Mulder: What did I do?
Scully: You went looking for a ship, Mulder. In the Bermuda Triangle.
(That about says it. Although I can't help thinking that a more traditional X-Files episode about the Bermuda Triangle could have been a whole lot more interesting).
Friday, October 2, 2015
The X-Files - S4:E19 "Synchrony"
[ S4:E18 "Max" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E20 "Small Potatoes" ]
See, this is the great thing about The X-Files. An old man runs down the street at night to catch two bickering scientists, and tells them that he's come a long way to warn one of them that he's going to die exactly at 11:46, when he walks in front of a bus. A cop happens by, and he apprehends the old man for harassing the scientists. In any other situation, the old man would be written off as a lunatic. But, because this is The X-Files, everything he says comes true. Eerie. (By the way, this is exactly the reason Mulder's not a kook, despite how he sounds to most rational people - it's like he's the only one who realizes he's not in the real world, but the world of The X-Files, where weird stuff can - and does! - happen. Although, it's pretty funny when Mulder's brilliant powers of deduction make it sound like he knows the history of a future timeline he hasn't experienced).
You can be sure that it's no coincidence that the scientists in question are working on a breakthrough in cryobiology. For an episode with fantastic science (particularly in the realm of experimental physics), I really like that they brought up Scully's background in physics (which was mentioned in the pilot episode). And though nobody is going to be writing up a thesis on time travel based on the details in this episode (although...), as science fiction, I thought the script presented a pretty clever and unique approach to the problem. (Also, one that allows for some really cool special effects). As far as experimental physics episodes go, I think I liked this one even better than Soft Light, which dealt with dark matter. It's not anything too flashy, or pretentious; it's just a good, classic "monster"-of-the-week episode of The X-Files.
(Excuse me while I go off on a semi-spoilery tangent about trying to change history). There's just one critical flaw in planning to go back in time and prevent time travel from being invented by the killing the person who invented it. As much as we put brilliant minds up on a pedestal - and certainly, they belong there - human ingenuity works in such a way that if one person doesn't invent something, somebody else will figure it out sooner or later. Without Einstein, for example, it may have taken longer for us to wrap our minds around certain concepts he helped to pioneer, but I firmly believe that it would have only been a matter of time before some clever mind (or, more likely, minds) figured it out. Even Isaac Newton's invention of calculus was famously developed independently by a mathematician named Leibniz. Human science and technology is a cumulative effort - some would even say an inevitable march of progress (provided we don't destroy ourselves at some point along the way).
Memorable quotes:
Scully: That's his alibi? That some old man came and warned him that his colleague was gonna die?
Mulder: Well, he goes on to tell a pretty convincing narrative, and they give a rather detailed description of the old man.
Scully: What was he wearing, a long black robe and carrying a scythe?
Lisa: He swore to me he would never confess it to a soul.
Scully: If he'd lie for you, what makes you think he wouldn't lie to you?
Mulder: "Although common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel, the laws of quantum physics certainly do not" - in case you forgot, that's from your graduate thesis. You were a lot more open-minded when you were a youngster.
Scully: I know what I wrote, Mulder. I also know that the laws of physics would permit the theoretical possibility of time travel, but the limits of human endurance would prevent such a trip from ever happening.
Jason: It's better that we never were.
Mulder: I know what I saw, Scully, and I know what I believe happened.
Scully: Even if it can never be proven?
Mulder: Never - never is a very long time, Scully, you said that yourself. "Although multi-dimensionalities suggest infinite outcomes in an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome."
Scully: I was twenty-three when I wrote that.
Mulder: Yeah, but I take that to mean that you were suggesting that the future can't be altered.
See, this is the great thing about The X-Files. An old man runs down the street at night to catch two bickering scientists, and tells them that he's come a long way to warn one of them that he's going to die exactly at 11:46, when he walks in front of a bus. A cop happens by, and he apprehends the old man for harassing the scientists. In any other situation, the old man would be written off as a lunatic. But, because this is The X-Files, everything he says comes true. Eerie. (By the way, this is exactly the reason Mulder's not a kook, despite how he sounds to most rational people - it's like he's the only one who realizes he's not in the real world, but the world of The X-Files, where weird stuff can - and does! - happen. Although, it's pretty funny when Mulder's brilliant powers of deduction make it sound like he knows the history of a future timeline he hasn't experienced).
You can be sure that it's no coincidence that the scientists in question are working on a breakthrough in cryobiology. For an episode with fantastic science (particularly in the realm of experimental physics), I really like that they brought up Scully's background in physics (which was mentioned in the pilot episode). And though nobody is going to be writing up a thesis on time travel based on the details in this episode (although...), as science fiction, I thought the script presented a pretty clever and unique approach to the problem. (Also, one that allows for some really cool special effects). As far as experimental physics episodes go, I think I liked this one even better than Soft Light, which dealt with dark matter. It's not anything too flashy, or pretentious; it's just a good, classic "monster"-of-the-week episode of The X-Files.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: That's his alibi? That some old man came and warned him that his colleague was gonna die?
Mulder: Well, he goes on to tell a pretty convincing narrative, and they give a rather detailed description of the old man.
Scully: What was he wearing, a long black robe and carrying a scythe?
Lisa: He swore to me he would never confess it to a soul.
Scully: If he'd lie for you, what makes you think he wouldn't lie to you?
Mulder: "Although common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel, the laws of quantum physics certainly do not" - in case you forgot, that's from your graduate thesis. You were a lot more open-minded when you were a youngster.
Scully: I know what I wrote, Mulder. I also know that the laws of physics would permit the theoretical possibility of time travel, but the limits of human endurance would prevent such a trip from ever happening.
Jason: It's better that we never were.
Mulder: I know what I saw, Scully, and I know what I believe happened.
Scully: Even if it can never be proven?
Mulder: Never - never is a very long time, Scully, you said that yourself. "Although multi-dimensionalities suggest infinite outcomes in an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome."
Scully: I was twenty-three when I wrote that.
Mulder: Yeah, but I take that to mean that you were suggesting that the future can't be altered.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Spoiler note: If you're like me and prefer to go into a movie without knowing too much about what to expect, in the hopes of being surprised, you might want to skip this review until after you've seen it. Otherwise, read on.
If there's one thing that disappointed me about Terminator Salvation, it's that it ended too early - it didn't go far enough to show John Connor sending Kyle Reese back in time to initiate the events of the original Terminator movie - which would have been an effective ending to the series. Of course, that left some room for yet another sequel, which is precisely where Terminator Genisys picks up. Jason Clarke is a scar-faced John Connor, leading the final battle against Skynet, which culminates in a hijacking of the time displacement device, which Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent through, back to 1984, to stop the Terminator that was just sent through to kill John's mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) before he was born.
But just as Kyle is about to hop the timeline, something goes wrong. If the first act of Terminator Genisys looks like it's shaping up to be a badass remake of The Terminator, and a reboot of the franchise, the second act plays out like a greatest hits of the first two Terminator movies (complete with state-of-the-art special effects), and finally addresses a long-standing plothole in the series - if the T-800 couldn't do the trick, why not send the T-1000 against a young Sarah Connor, instead of waiting until John is born? And this movie does it one better - the T-1000 is sent to take out Sarah while she is just a child! But it still doesn't succeed, and, contrary to expectations, what Kyle encounters in 1984 is a very different Sarah Connor than the one we saw in the first movie.
We still get Arnold Schwarzenegger as a sympathetic, reprogrammed Terminator - with a satisfying explanation as to its aged appearance, that becomes even more poignant when our leads, minus their cybernetic bodyguard (who is forced to take the long way), hop time to face the final confrontation in 2017 against a delayed Judgment Day (borrowing a thread from Terminator 3), by putting the kibosh on Cyberdyne Systems on the eve of the unveiling of Genisys - Skynet's newest alias, and the ultimate killer app to which the human population is all too eager to hand over control of their digital devices. And, of course, they'll have an all-new state-of-the-art Terminator to deal with - the newest upgrade, with similar capabilities to the T-1000, but unprecedented integration with its human tissue (and therefore greater intelligence and infiltration capabilities) via an army of nanomachines.
If the first half of this movie builds up to something of a time crisis of conflicting timelines, the second half unfortunately falls back into formula, treading ground that we've seen before at least twice already. But it's still more thrilling than any of the previous sequels it imitates. And while those other movies took the consistent time travel logic of the first movie and mucked it up, this movie does a very respectable job of repairing the timeline, even finally hinting at the genesis of the liquid metal technology, and the creation of an alternate time machine from which all these extra time-hopping Terminators originated from. The only remaining mystery is exactly who reprogrammed that sympathetic model 101, and why. But while the ending appears to be as conclusive as that of Terminator 2 (and we all know how that worked out), the movie closes with a piece of obvious sequel bait.
I would have been satisfied to see this movie finally close the series on a high note, but of course capitalism doesn't work that way. I don't hold much hope that yet another Terminator movie can improve on what this one accomplished, but it might be possible if they're willing to take some risks, like Terminator Salvation did, and not simply follow formula. I would kill to see another Terminator like the first one, but I fear that's impossible, now that the franchise has grown beyond the first movie's relatively small scope. But if anything, it's promising that this movie got so many things right, and nixed the tendency to push too far over into self-parody, and maintain a serious - if still sometimes respectably funny - tone (primarily with the characterization of the good Terminator). This is, in my opinion, the best Terminator sequel out there. It doesn't usurp the position of the original Terminator, which is still my favorite, but I thought it was even better than Terminator 2, for what that's worth.
If there's one thing that disappointed me about Terminator Salvation, it's that it ended too early - it didn't go far enough to show John Connor sending Kyle Reese back in time to initiate the events of the original Terminator movie - which would have been an effective ending to the series. Of course, that left some room for yet another sequel, which is precisely where Terminator Genisys picks up. Jason Clarke is a scar-faced John Connor, leading the final battle against Skynet, which culminates in a hijacking of the time displacement device, which Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent through, back to 1984, to stop the Terminator that was just sent through to kill John's mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) before he was born.
But just as Kyle is about to hop the timeline, something goes wrong. If the first act of Terminator Genisys looks like it's shaping up to be a badass remake of The Terminator, and a reboot of the franchise, the second act plays out like a greatest hits of the first two Terminator movies (complete with state-of-the-art special effects), and finally addresses a long-standing plothole in the series - if the T-800 couldn't do the trick, why not send the T-1000 against a young Sarah Connor, instead of waiting until John is born? And this movie does it one better - the T-1000 is sent to take out Sarah while she is just a child! But it still doesn't succeed, and, contrary to expectations, what Kyle encounters in 1984 is a very different Sarah Connor than the one we saw in the first movie.
We still get Arnold Schwarzenegger as a sympathetic, reprogrammed Terminator - with a satisfying explanation as to its aged appearance, that becomes even more poignant when our leads, minus their cybernetic bodyguard (who is forced to take the long way), hop time to face the final confrontation in 2017 against a delayed Judgment Day (borrowing a thread from Terminator 3), by putting the kibosh on Cyberdyne Systems on the eve of the unveiling of Genisys - Skynet's newest alias, and the ultimate killer app to which the human population is all too eager to hand over control of their digital devices. And, of course, they'll have an all-new state-of-the-art Terminator to deal with - the newest upgrade, with similar capabilities to the T-1000, but unprecedented integration with its human tissue (and therefore greater intelligence and infiltration capabilities) via an army of nanomachines.
If the first half of this movie builds up to something of a time crisis of conflicting timelines, the second half unfortunately falls back into formula, treading ground that we've seen before at least twice already. But it's still more thrilling than any of the previous sequels it imitates. And while those other movies took the consistent time travel logic of the first movie and mucked it up, this movie does a very respectable job of repairing the timeline, even finally hinting at the genesis of the liquid metal technology, and the creation of an alternate time machine from which all these extra time-hopping Terminators originated from. The only remaining mystery is exactly who reprogrammed that sympathetic model 101, and why. But while the ending appears to be as conclusive as that of Terminator 2 (and we all know how that worked out), the movie closes with a piece of obvious sequel bait.
I would have been satisfied to see this movie finally close the series on a high note, but of course capitalism doesn't work that way. I don't hold much hope that yet another Terminator movie can improve on what this one accomplished, but it might be possible if they're willing to take some risks, like Terminator Salvation did, and not simply follow formula. I would kill to see another Terminator like the first one, but I fear that's impossible, now that the franchise has grown beyond the first movie's relatively small scope. But if anything, it's promising that this movie got so many things right, and nixed the tendency to push too far over into self-parody, and maintain a serious - if still sometimes respectably funny - tone (primarily with the characterization of the good Terminator). This is, in my opinion, the best Terminator sequel out there. It doesn't usurp the position of the original Terminator, which is still my favorite, but I thought it was even better than Terminator 2, for what that's worth.
Terminator Marathon
In anticipation of going to see the new Terminator movie in theaters (since I'd heard good things about it from a close friend), I decided to go back and rewatch the first two Terminator movies, as well as the third and the fourth that I had never seen before. Here are my thoughts on each of the movies:
The Terminator (1984)
It's easy to write The Terminator off as a brainless Hollywood blockbuster (mainly due to the success and reputation of its sequel, which often - and unfairly in my opinion - eclipses its predecessor), but I view it as one of the pinnacle examples of a brilliant sci-fi premise executed flawlessly. A cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger, perfectly cast in a role that facilitated his transformation from an award-winning bodybuilder to a movie star) is sent from a future ravaged by nuclear war, where (much like in the Matrix), machines have enslaved and all but exterminated mankind. The Terminator's single-minded goal is to assassinate the leader of the human resistance - before he is ever born, by targeting his mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).
And so, without any concern for propriety or maintaining a low profile, the Terminator begins its rampage through Los Angeles, like an indestructible bulldozer, recklessly killing anyone and destroying anything that gets between him and his target. Sarah Connor's only protection is a human resistance fighter sent back from the future like the Terminator - a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, who, along with Lance Henriksen who plays a small role in this movie, also appears in director James Cameron's sequel to Alien), whose journey to the past initiates one of the great mindfucks of a time paradox in cinematic history - predating Back To The Future by a year! The Terminator's relentless pursuit of his target is thrilling to watch, and builds to a terrifying climax when the killing machine's true form is revealed. I unhesitatingly rate it one of the masterpieces of the science fiction genre.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Terminator was a pretty neatly-wrapped narrative (as time loops tend to be), but whenever the unavoidably inconsistent logic of time travel is involved, there is always room for retconning. So Terminator 2 starts by introducing a second Terminator sent back in time, this time to target John Connor himself (Edward Furlong) before the war (dubbed "Judgment Day"), while he was still a child. Linda Hamilton returns as the boy's mother, Sarah Connor, and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the Terminator - with a significant twist: this time, he's been programmed to protect John Connor, against an even more powerful killing machine: Robert Patrick's T-1000.
This movie is a lot more self-conscious than The Terminator was (for better or worse, depending on your perspective). Arnold's entrance is no less badass, but this time it conspicuously strives to be "cool", whereas the first one was just terrifying. And while it's a clever way to put a twist on the story, I just don't like turning the unstoppable killer from the first movie into one of the good guys. Here, you have the Terminator learning to smile and crack jokes (and minimize human casualties); and while I'm sure having one as your personal bodyguard fulfills every 13 year old boy's fantasy, the Terminator is just not as awesome when it's reduced to fulfilling the role of a pet, or a toy.
On the other side of the ring, you have this new villain who I think works out better in theory than in practice. Robert Patrick is sinister-looking enough, but he doesn't make as intimidating a villain as Mr. Olympia (Arnold) did. The idea of liquid metal is undoubtedly cool, but the effects just don't impress me as much as a cyborg with a creepy-looking robotic endoskeleton. In summary, The Terminator was a desperate struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming odds, whereas Terminator 2 is a face-off between two juggernauts - and the movie feels different as a result. Personally, I prefer the tension and the despair of the former to the action and spectacle of the latter.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
With James Cameron no longer at the helm, and over a decade since the last entry, Terminator 3 is bound to feel like a departure from the previous titles in the series. Nevertheless, it picks up right where Terminator 2 left off, and utilizes a similar formula (arguably rendering it obsolete - especially considering that it's not as good - except for the fact that it retcons T2's resolution, making another sequel about the war-torn future possible). Although, like the original, T2's ending was pretty conclusive - Sarah and John Connor trashed Cyberdyne Systems' headquarters (the company that produced the AI that precipitated Judgment Day), thereby changing the future and averting the apocalypse - in T3, a young adult John Connor (Nick Stahl) is living in constant fear that fate will, sooner or later, find another way to manifest itself. And sure enough, it does.
Enter the new T-X (Kristanna Loken) - a female Terminatrix. She's a highly advanced model, taking on the best of the first two Terminators - a robotic endoskeleton underneath a layer of liquid metal - with added firepower and the ability to control other machines. This all sounds awesome, but I think it's gotten to the level of being a little ridiculous. (On that note, explosions are cool because fire, but I don't really need to see an entire city block demolished for no good reason - that's not entertainment for me). I don't want to be sexist - because women can be legitimately terrifying - but Kristanna Loken just isn't as intimidating as an award-winning bodybuilder can be. I feel like both she and Robert Patrick in T2 were trying too hard to imitate Arnold's emotionless, deadpan expressions that were so genuine in the original. It's a shame that they insisted on turning Arnold's Terminator into a sympathetic good guy - they should have just kept him as the villain.
Speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he returns in this movie in a role very similar to the last. His entrance is even more humorous this time, when he enters a ladies' bar and steals the clothes off of a male stripper (I am not joking). No explanation is given as to how the Terminators make it to the past, two movies after we were told that the time travel device had been busted after Kyle Reese and the first Terminator went through. Plot consistency is tricky to begin with where time travel is involved, but the more they tack on to the story, the messier it gets. If repeated time travel is an option (via a repaired or second machine, for example), then questions arise, such as, why send the T-X (or even the T-1000) to kill an informed John Connor rather than an inexperienced Sarah Connor, as was the target the first time? And why not send a bunch of Terminators instead of just one? You can tell the series has gone from "I have a great story to tell!" to "what kind of story can we tell to keep this franchise going?"
Terminator Salvation (2009)
You could be forgiven for thinking that, twenty-five years after the first film, there wouldn't be any new ground left to tread in a Terminator movie, but you would be wrong. Apart from a few glimpses into the memories of Kyle Reese (played in this movie by Anton Yelchin), the story of the future resistance hadn't really been told. And I'm not sure that it could have been told until we'd seen the experiences (that span the second and third movies) that make up John Connor (Christian Bale, this time around)'s youth, and inform his prescient knowledge of the key to winning the war. That, and we also had to develop the special effects necessary to tell the story first.
An interesting thing about the Terminator movies, if you examine them, is that, despite it being a story involving time travel, that spans the years 1984 to 2029, each one takes place predominantly in chronological order. From before John Connor's birth, to his childhood, to the moments preceding Judgment Day, and now finally we move forward into the future to explore man's resistance against the machines. Terminator Salvation ditches the stale formula the series had latched onto, which is probably for the best. It is, therefore, an unpredictable movie, that doesn't feel like a classic Terminator - although it has lots of respect for the movies that preceded it - and it is a good movie nonetheless.
It is, however, a bleak and visually desaturated movie. But I like that it tries to do its own thing, instead of struggling to capture lightning in a bottle all over again. Arnold Schwarzenegger's absence isn't even that painful, since the Terminators have little need to disguise themselves as humans in the future - and they look as terrifying as ever here! Also, this movie provides an intriguing and far more effective example of a sympathetic rogue Terminator (portrayed by Sam Worthington) than we've ever seen before. It builds to a shockingly clever and exciting climax, that respectfully pays homage to its predecessors, with all new, updated special effects. As a total package, it's not as brilliant or flawless as the original Terminator, but I think I liked it better than the fan-favored Terminator 2.
The Terminator (1984)
It's easy to write The Terminator off as a brainless Hollywood blockbuster (mainly due to the success and reputation of its sequel, which often - and unfairly in my opinion - eclipses its predecessor), but I view it as one of the pinnacle examples of a brilliant sci-fi premise executed flawlessly. A cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger, perfectly cast in a role that facilitated his transformation from an award-winning bodybuilder to a movie star) is sent from a future ravaged by nuclear war, where (much like in the Matrix), machines have enslaved and all but exterminated mankind. The Terminator's single-minded goal is to assassinate the leader of the human resistance - before he is ever born, by targeting his mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).
And so, without any concern for propriety or maintaining a low profile, the Terminator begins its rampage through Los Angeles, like an indestructible bulldozer, recklessly killing anyone and destroying anything that gets between him and his target. Sarah Connor's only protection is a human resistance fighter sent back from the future like the Terminator - a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, who, along with Lance Henriksen who plays a small role in this movie, also appears in director James Cameron's sequel to Alien), whose journey to the past initiates one of the great mindfucks of a time paradox in cinematic history - predating Back To The Future by a year! The Terminator's relentless pursuit of his target is thrilling to watch, and builds to a terrifying climax when the killing machine's true form is revealed. I unhesitatingly rate it one of the masterpieces of the science fiction genre.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Terminator was a pretty neatly-wrapped narrative (as time loops tend to be), but whenever the unavoidably inconsistent logic of time travel is involved, there is always room for retconning. So Terminator 2 starts by introducing a second Terminator sent back in time, this time to target John Connor himself (Edward Furlong) before the war (dubbed "Judgment Day"), while he was still a child. Linda Hamilton returns as the boy's mother, Sarah Connor, and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the Terminator - with a significant twist: this time, he's been programmed to protect John Connor, against an even more powerful killing machine: Robert Patrick's T-1000.
This movie is a lot more self-conscious than The Terminator was (for better or worse, depending on your perspective). Arnold's entrance is no less badass, but this time it conspicuously strives to be "cool", whereas the first one was just terrifying. And while it's a clever way to put a twist on the story, I just don't like turning the unstoppable killer from the first movie into one of the good guys. Here, you have the Terminator learning to smile and crack jokes (and minimize human casualties); and while I'm sure having one as your personal bodyguard fulfills every 13 year old boy's fantasy, the Terminator is just not as awesome when it's reduced to fulfilling the role of a pet, or a toy.
On the other side of the ring, you have this new villain who I think works out better in theory than in practice. Robert Patrick is sinister-looking enough, but he doesn't make as intimidating a villain as Mr. Olympia (Arnold) did. The idea of liquid metal is undoubtedly cool, but the effects just don't impress me as much as a cyborg with a creepy-looking robotic endoskeleton. In summary, The Terminator was a desperate struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming odds, whereas Terminator 2 is a face-off between two juggernauts - and the movie feels different as a result. Personally, I prefer the tension and the despair of the former to the action and spectacle of the latter.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
With James Cameron no longer at the helm, and over a decade since the last entry, Terminator 3 is bound to feel like a departure from the previous titles in the series. Nevertheless, it picks up right where Terminator 2 left off, and utilizes a similar formula (arguably rendering it obsolete - especially considering that it's not as good - except for the fact that it retcons T2's resolution, making another sequel about the war-torn future possible). Although, like the original, T2's ending was pretty conclusive - Sarah and John Connor trashed Cyberdyne Systems' headquarters (the company that produced the AI that precipitated Judgment Day), thereby changing the future and averting the apocalypse - in T3, a young adult John Connor (Nick Stahl) is living in constant fear that fate will, sooner or later, find another way to manifest itself. And sure enough, it does.
Enter the new T-X (Kristanna Loken) - a female Terminatrix. She's a highly advanced model, taking on the best of the first two Terminators - a robotic endoskeleton underneath a layer of liquid metal - with added firepower and the ability to control other machines. This all sounds awesome, but I think it's gotten to the level of being a little ridiculous. (On that note, explosions are cool because fire, but I don't really need to see an entire city block demolished for no good reason - that's not entertainment for me). I don't want to be sexist - because women can be legitimately terrifying - but Kristanna Loken just isn't as intimidating as an award-winning bodybuilder can be. I feel like both she and Robert Patrick in T2 were trying too hard to imitate Arnold's emotionless, deadpan expressions that were so genuine in the original. It's a shame that they insisted on turning Arnold's Terminator into a sympathetic good guy - they should have just kept him as the villain.
Speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he returns in this movie in a role very similar to the last. His entrance is even more humorous this time, when he enters a ladies' bar and steals the clothes off of a male stripper (I am not joking). No explanation is given as to how the Terminators make it to the past, two movies after we were told that the time travel device had been busted after Kyle Reese and the first Terminator went through. Plot consistency is tricky to begin with where time travel is involved, but the more they tack on to the story, the messier it gets. If repeated time travel is an option (via a repaired or second machine, for example), then questions arise, such as, why send the T-X (or even the T-1000) to kill an informed John Connor rather than an inexperienced Sarah Connor, as was the target the first time? And why not send a bunch of Terminators instead of just one? You can tell the series has gone from "I have a great story to tell!" to "what kind of story can we tell to keep this franchise going?"
Terminator Salvation (2009)
You could be forgiven for thinking that, twenty-five years after the first film, there wouldn't be any new ground left to tread in a Terminator movie, but you would be wrong. Apart from a few glimpses into the memories of Kyle Reese (played in this movie by Anton Yelchin), the story of the future resistance hadn't really been told. And I'm not sure that it could have been told until we'd seen the experiences (that span the second and third movies) that make up John Connor (Christian Bale, this time around)'s youth, and inform his prescient knowledge of the key to winning the war. That, and we also had to develop the special effects necessary to tell the story first.
An interesting thing about the Terminator movies, if you examine them, is that, despite it being a story involving time travel, that spans the years 1984 to 2029, each one takes place predominantly in chronological order. From before John Connor's birth, to his childhood, to the moments preceding Judgment Day, and now finally we move forward into the future to explore man's resistance against the machines. Terminator Salvation ditches the stale formula the series had latched onto, which is probably for the best. It is, therefore, an unpredictable movie, that doesn't feel like a classic Terminator - although it has lots of respect for the movies that preceded it - and it is a good movie nonetheless.
It is, however, a bleak and visually desaturated movie. But I like that it tries to do its own thing, instead of struggling to capture lightning in a bottle all over again. Arnold Schwarzenegger's absence isn't even that painful, since the Terminators have little need to disguise themselves as humans in the future - and they look as terrifying as ever here! Also, this movie provides an intriguing and far more effective example of a sympathetic rogue Terminator (portrayed by Sam Worthington) than we've ever seen before. It builds to a shockingly clever and exciting climax, that respectfully pays homage to its predecessors, with all new, updated special effects. As a total package, it's not as brilliant or flawless as the original Terminator, but I think I liked it better than the fan-favored Terminator 2.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
The Langoliers (1995)
So I finally got around to watching Stephen King's The Langoliers. It's been on my radar ever since my friend mentioned it in college. I think that his opinion of it was not real great, but when he showed me a picture of the terrible CGI monsters, I thought they looked awesome. At that moment, I vowed to watch it - no matter how bad it might be.
I was expecting a b-grade cheesefest, but, to my surprise, The Langoliers was actually pretty good. Not flawless, by any means, but not terrible either. It's got a fascinating concept, and it constructs an intriguing atmosphere of mystery and suspense. Ten people wake up on a commercial flight to find everyone else vanished, and then have to figure out what the hell is going on. I guess this is a spoiler, but it turns out to be some kind of temporal anomaly, involving cosmic entities that devour reality!
Awesome, right? As for the flaws, the poor CGI can't be ignored. Granted, I still think the monsters (the "Langoliers") look badass, and that almost makes up for the bad CGI. Their behavior could use a little polish, maybe, but there's a solid kernel there in their conception. The other major flaw is the runtime. It's a[nother] 3 hour long TV miniseries, and that, really, is more time than the movie needs to tell its story. As such, it drags on quite a bit. I think a feature film remake pared down to under two hours, with better creature effects and an updated cast could do wonders for this story.
Even so, it's not half as bad as its reputation, and it offers a fresh perspective on the subject of time travel, and the nature of time, that is bound to get your noggin going. It's worth a look, if you can spare the time.
I was expecting a b-grade cheesefest, but, to my surprise, The Langoliers was actually pretty good. Not flawless, by any means, but not terrible either. It's got a fascinating concept, and it constructs an intriguing atmosphere of mystery and suspense. Ten people wake up on a commercial flight to find everyone else vanished, and then have to figure out what the hell is going on. I guess this is a spoiler, but it turns out to be some kind of temporal anomaly, involving cosmic entities that devour reality!
Awesome, right? As for the flaws, the poor CGI can't be ignored. Granted, I still think the monsters (the "Langoliers") look badass, and that almost makes up for the bad CGI. Their behavior could use a little polish, maybe, but there's a solid kernel there in their conception. The other major flaw is the runtime. It's a[nother] 3 hour long TV miniseries, and that, really, is more time than the movie needs to tell its story. As such, it drags on quite a bit. I think a feature film remake pared down to under two hours, with better creature effects and an updated cast could do wonders for this story.
Even so, it's not half as bad as its reputation, and it offers a fresh perspective on the subject of time travel, and the nature of time, that is bound to get your noggin going. It's worth a look, if you can spare the time.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Warning: this review contains SPOILERS from the third Harry Potter movie.
The Prisoner of Azkaban has a decidedly different feel to it than the previous two movies in the series. I figure that has a lot to do with the new director, and the shuffling of scenery at Hogwarts. I'll admit, the atmospheric environment of the shooting location is beautiful, and adds a whole new character to Hogwarts.
I suppose this movie is fairly popular, because nine times out of ten I've seen a Harry Potter movie playing on television, it's been this one. It is both a less childish movie, and one with a more nuanced, self-contained plot. Despite having seen some scenes from it out of context, that really didn't spoil the movie for me because the plot is rather intricate - friends who are enemies becoming friends that transform into enemies... It's all a bit confusing. (Seeing the "confrontation" scene in the Shrieking Shack for at least the third time - this time in context - only slightly helped me to understand just exactly what was going on and who was on whose side). And the time travel further complicates things, though it is a brilliant device. Everyone loves a good time traveling plot. And each time Hermione materialized in class out of thin air, that was so cute. She's amazing.
"You really are the brightest witch of your age."
The characters, now third-years, are visibly maturing. Emma looks a lot different in this movie compared to the previous two, and I suspect it's a combination of her growth (the little girl is now an adolescent), and the fact that the characters spend a lot of time in civilian clothes, rather than their school uniforms. But, Emma looks fantastic. Even bruised and cut up, and covered in dirt, her natural beauty shines through it all. Plus, that pink hoodie is cute.
"Oh yeah, I've been beaten loads of times."
I was so happy that Harry finally up and left his Muggle relatives. They are such insufferable idiots. Really, the worst kind of people. Although, his running away from home reinforces the fact that our little wizards are growing up and coming into their own. Harry is gaining confidence in his powers, and learning about his parents. Hermione's intelligence and diligent studying is really bearing fruit. And Ron, well, Ron is kind of becoming less funny and more annoying.
I have to mention how cool that map of mischief is. Oh, the trouble I could get up to with that and a cloak of invisibility...
It's interesting that this is the first story where Voldemort doesn't show up in some form. The super evil escaped convict turns out to be a good guy. The bad guys are a werewolf who is only a threat when transformed, and actually a good guy in human form, and a shapeshifting creep who hardly poses much of a threat beyond being a shameless betrayer. And the creepiest monsters in the movie were the Dementors (wannabe Ringwraiths), who are supposed to be serving the good side. (Oh, and there's the Executioner, who looked really badass). So I guess there's less of a clear "good and evil" thing going on, and the focus is on the characters' choices and their performance, proving their skills.
I feel like Dumbledore so frequently gets into positions where he has to condone a wrongdoing - like the execution of the hippogriff - because his hands are tied by politics, and he's unable to prove what he knows is right in his heart. I can't imagine how he puts up with it. But he's got to consider himself really lucky that he has such talented students like Harry and friends that are noble and talented, and so easily willing to break the rules.
I wonder where the series is headed, because I keep expecting some heavy developments that carry beyond each story's self-contained plot. Like in the last movie when Hagrid was sent to Azkaban, I thought that might be the setup for the next story, "The Prisoner of Azkaban", except Hagrid was released by the end of the movie, and PoA went in a different direction, rather than detailing some kind of harrowing rescue attempt. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but I guess I'll soon find out. At any rate, Emma's presence is enough to keep me engrossed. Although I wish there was more demonstration of her character and personality outside of directly plot-related activities. I know, it's a theatrical movie, not a reality show, but I just really want badly to be friends with Hermione. I want to hang out with her. She's such a cool person.
Emma Rating: Simply Stunning
The Prisoner of Azkaban has a decidedly different feel to it than the previous two movies in the series. I figure that has a lot to do with the new director, and the shuffling of scenery at Hogwarts. I'll admit, the atmospheric environment of the shooting location is beautiful, and adds a whole new character to Hogwarts.
I suppose this movie is fairly popular, because nine times out of ten I've seen a Harry Potter movie playing on television, it's been this one. It is both a less childish movie, and one with a more nuanced, self-contained plot. Despite having seen some scenes from it out of context, that really didn't spoil the movie for me because the plot is rather intricate - friends who are enemies becoming friends that transform into enemies... It's all a bit confusing. (Seeing the "confrontation" scene in the Shrieking Shack for at least the third time - this time in context - only slightly helped me to understand just exactly what was going on and who was on whose side). And the time travel further complicates things, though it is a brilliant device. Everyone loves a good time traveling plot. And each time Hermione materialized in class out of thin air, that was so cute. She's amazing.
"You really are the brightest witch of your age."
The characters, now third-years, are visibly maturing. Emma looks a lot different in this movie compared to the previous two, and I suspect it's a combination of her growth (the little girl is now an adolescent), and the fact that the characters spend a lot of time in civilian clothes, rather than their school uniforms. But, Emma looks fantastic. Even bruised and cut up, and covered in dirt, her natural beauty shines through it all. Plus, that pink hoodie is cute.
"Oh yeah, I've been beaten loads of times."
I was so happy that Harry finally up and left his Muggle relatives. They are such insufferable idiots. Really, the worst kind of people. Although, his running away from home reinforces the fact that our little wizards are growing up and coming into their own. Harry is gaining confidence in his powers, and learning about his parents. Hermione's intelligence and diligent studying is really bearing fruit. And Ron, well, Ron is kind of becoming less funny and more annoying.
I have to mention how cool that map of mischief is. Oh, the trouble I could get up to with that and a cloak of invisibility...
It's interesting that this is the first story where Voldemort doesn't show up in some form. The super evil escaped convict turns out to be a good guy. The bad guys are a werewolf who is only a threat when transformed, and actually a good guy in human form, and a shapeshifting creep who hardly poses much of a threat beyond being a shameless betrayer. And the creepiest monsters in the movie were the Dementors (wannabe Ringwraiths), who are supposed to be serving the good side. (Oh, and there's the Executioner, who looked really badass). So I guess there's less of a clear "good and evil" thing going on, and the focus is on the characters' choices and their performance, proving their skills.
I feel like Dumbledore so frequently gets into positions where he has to condone a wrongdoing - like the execution of the hippogriff - because his hands are tied by politics, and he's unable to prove what he knows is right in his heart. I can't imagine how he puts up with it. But he's got to consider himself really lucky that he has such talented students like Harry and friends that are noble and talented, and so easily willing to break the rules.
I wonder where the series is headed, because I keep expecting some heavy developments that carry beyond each story's self-contained plot. Like in the last movie when Hagrid was sent to Azkaban, I thought that might be the setup for the next story, "The Prisoner of Azkaban", except Hagrid was released by the end of the movie, and PoA went in a different direction, rather than detailing some kind of harrowing rescue attempt. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but I guess I'll soon find out. At any rate, Emma's presence is enough to keep me engrossed. Although I wish there was more demonstration of her character and personality outside of directly plot-related activities. I know, it's a theatrical movie, not a reality show, but I just really want badly to be friends with Hermione. I want to hang out with her. She's such a cool person.
Emma Rating: Simply Stunning
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)
Note: This review is part of my coverage of Horrorfest III.
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations
This is Butterfly Effect with an urban flavor, and an extra helping of gore. I don't think it's anywhere near as effective as the first Butterfly Effect movie, though. The whole serial killer idea is interesting, but the execution is weak. When you make a film about time travel, there's gonna be a heapload of time paradoxes. You can either ignore them or piece them together for a clever story. In this movie, they seem to ignore a lot of them, and the ones they do use, which they use to drive the whole plot idea, don't seem to be explained or pieced together very well. I dunno, it feels like a good idea, but it just doesn't quite work out that well.
The best part of the plot is the idea of having the character who can time travel using his abilities to become a freelance psychic helping the police close cases by traveling back and observing various murders. He can't interfere, of course, because that would trip the butterfly effect and screw everything up. Which is bound to happen, or else there wouldn't be a movie. Well, the character in question gets pushed into going back to solve the mystery of a murder close to him - that of his once-girlfriend - and he inevitably screws things up. Back in the future (present?), he finds that not only was he unable to prevent the murder, but he also seems to have created a serial killer. Why he doesn't just stop there is beyond me, but he seems to have an iron will to keep screwing things up worse and worse, thinking that one of these times he's gonna manage to fix things.
And that's where things kind of fall apart. There's an interesting twist at the end - I knew the identity of the serial killer would turn out to be significant, but I was still surprised - but it's hardly worth the ride. Besides, "this is so Scooby Doo"? Not a convincing serial killer. There are some pretty emotional turns which serve to reinforce the whole "changing the past is dangerous" idea, but honestly, just watch the first Butterfly Effect movie. It's far more...effective.
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations
This is Butterfly Effect with an urban flavor, and an extra helping of gore. I don't think it's anywhere near as effective as the first Butterfly Effect movie, though. The whole serial killer idea is interesting, but the execution is weak. When you make a film about time travel, there's gonna be a heapload of time paradoxes. You can either ignore them or piece them together for a clever story. In this movie, they seem to ignore a lot of them, and the ones they do use, which they use to drive the whole plot idea, don't seem to be explained or pieced together very well. I dunno, it feels like a good idea, but it just doesn't quite work out that well.
The best part of the plot is the idea of having the character who can time travel using his abilities to become a freelance psychic helping the police close cases by traveling back and observing various murders. He can't interfere, of course, because that would trip the butterfly effect and screw everything up. Which is bound to happen, or else there wouldn't be a movie. Well, the character in question gets pushed into going back to solve the mystery of a murder close to him - that of his once-girlfriend - and he inevitably screws things up. Back in the future (present?), he finds that not only was he unable to prevent the murder, but he also seems to have created a serial killer. Why he doesn't just stop there is beyond me, but he seems to have an iron will to keep screwing things up worse and worse, thinking that one of these times he's gonna manage to fix things.
And that's where things kind of fall apart. There's an interesting twist at the end - I knew the identity of the serial killer would turn out to be significant, but I was still surprised - but it's hardly worth the ride. Besides, "this is so Scooby Doo"? Not a convincing serial killer. There are some pretty emotional turns which serve to reinforce the whole "changing the past is dangerous" idea, but honestly, just watch the first Butterfly Effect movie. It's far more...effective.
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