Directed by: Garth Jennings
Starring: Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell
I mentioned about walking out on The Other Guys. Here is the only other movie I ever walked out on. Why spend 7 or 8 bucks on a movie only to walk out on it? I believe in getting value for my money, but why subject myself to dreadful filmmaking any longer than is humanly tolerable?
I'll try and stay away from hyperbole and discuss rationally what a misbegotten adventure this film is. It is a mess, lacking any structure whatsoever. Based on the book by the late Douglas Adams, unread by me, it is the story of a man in a bathrobe who is whisked away from Earth moments before it is blown to smithereens by an alien race to make way for "an expressway".
His guide takes him to different parts of the galaxy where he encounters aliens with strange names who act incoherently. Guys with names like Zaphod Beeblebrox and if you think for one second that I had to look that up because my memory failed me then you would be correct. There are many in-jokes about bureaucracies that probably were spot on when the book was written in the late 70's, but now they are old hat and trite.
The attitude of the guy in the bathrobe named Arthur Dent (Freeman) pretty much sums up the dearth of enthusiasm for the material. He doesn't really do much of anything except stand there with a cup of coffee in hand and treat the destruction of Earth as if it were one of those things. Actually, I probably overstated his attitude.
I can't imagine there is anything in this movie that is appealing to anyone. Whomever watches it expecting a space adventure a la Star Wars will be sorely disappointed. Actually, whomever watches it expecting anything resembling a movie will be sorely disappointed. My recommendation for improvement: Trim roughly 95 minutes. If there are some credits left over or even a studio logo, trim that too. This film makes me wish I was watching The Other Guys.
You are spot on.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I just finished reading this book for the first time. I found enjoyment in story; I wasn't blown away, but I was both entertained and also surprised by how many underground geek-culture references were born in it's pages. Of course, after completing the book, I immediately sought out the film for a first viewing. That was a mistake.
All of the points you've made are correct and then compounded by the fact that many of these issues are properly addressed in the book. For instance, Arthur's attitude in the book is described more as shock or as that of a man overwhelmed with what is going on around him; the movie plays him as underwhelmed.
In addition, the movie is very different from the book. I'm not talking deleted scene or bonus dialog different; I'm talking different story, different resolution. The book's writer gets partial screenplay credit, which is surprising, because everything he built in the book is washed over, ignored or changed in the movie version. It was quite distracting.
I am a fan of sci-fi and comedy, and when done well together like 5th Element, it can be a thing of beauty. This was just... a thing.
I will say Alan Rickman's vocal portrayal of Marvin was quite good. it was the only appealing thing in the film for me.
Having never read the book, I'm going with what is here, which isn't much.
ReplyDeleteTo borrow from Roger Ebert, "a movie isn't what it's about, but how it is about it."
This movie is about something but I sure didn't care for how it was about it.