antony-10

This film pulled me away from lurking at the IMDb, and actually writing a review. That in itself says something about this film. Sadly it's not because I loved it, in fact quote the opposite.

It wasn't a boring movie, my attention wasn't especially wandering. The fault lies mostly with the simplistic story telling. Some scenes were so blatantly exposition, and predictable to boot. Take, for example, a scene where a character explains how a submarine will implode when it goes too deep. Well, that's a no brainer. He takes an egg (yes, eggs are so common in an officer's barracks) and it's rather obvious that it's going to be crushed for dramatic effect. The sailors sit enthralled, as if they didn't know of such things as going too deep is a bad thing. And, as he predictably crushes the egg, one character jumps in fright. They were supposed to feel tension, but I certainly wasn't feeling any. It was then also plainly obvious that the crew themselves would be put in such peril later on... and sure enough, they were. This was by no means an isolated incident.

The style of the movie was also unsatisfying. An early scene at a dock just looked like it had been constructed on a soundstage. And, when on the submarine, it was always felt too clean and brightly lit... I would expect a more gritty atmosphere. The movie's feel and ambience was never quite involving enough.

Because of my complete lack of history knowledge, I didn't know what happened in the real events relating to this film. I didn't even know what happened in this film. So I can't debate the morals of whether it was accurate or not. All I can comment on is what I saw, and that was an uninvolving, contrived and blatantly exposition-filled film. Rather poor indeed.

This film won't be to everyone's liking, but is certainly an all-time favorite of mine. Only a film like this can combine so many great elements into one entertaining movie.

Kathleen Turner is just purely brilliant as sweet mother Beverly Sutphin, who would look more at home in a show like Bewitched. However, we soon learn that she's not all that she seems. I love any movie that takes a classic element (in this case the innocent housewife) and completely turns it on its head.

And so the film leads us on a journey through Beverly Sutphin's life and motivations. The film grabs on, and doesn't let go, keeping the pace until the very last scene.

In bad taste? Well, yes. Sick humor? Quite often. Good? Oh yes. If you have a dark sense of humor, don't miss it for the world.