constructionbob

Is the man Timothy Treadwell, and a fascinating subject for a movie. Although 'Grizzly Man' features bears, foxes and other animals in amazing wildlife footage, you find that it turns out to be more about Timothy than his self-styled peers. Going beyond that, it's more about all of us.

I get the feeling most people, on viewing this film, would have one of two reactions - perhaps depending on your politics or world-view. One is, "What a brave/noble man!", for standing up for what he believed in so strongly, even unto death. The other is, "What an impossibly stupid man!", for ignoring and taunting the dangers he knew so well in his head. The strange thing is, I can see both viewpoints - and it reminds me of how my own ideals don't mesh with reality. He's more like us than most of us will admit, just to an extreme.

Treadwell fashioned himself as a preservationist, standing up for the bears who could not speak for themselves. He did teach many children and others about their plight, which is undoubtedly helpful. Problem is, most of the bears he 'protected' were in national parks and not in much danger from humans, aside from necessary and controlled huntings. He became more of a Don Quixote figure, more tragicomic than effective. Most of the experts in the movie believed he may have done more harm than good.

The bears became his family/friends, or so he thought. I actually thought he had a bit of the right idea early on - if you are going to try to stand up to them, intimidation/confidence would be important. Perhaps the bears sensed that he had that confidence, and that's why he survived so long. Perhaps it's like one of the contributors said, and they thought he was 'brain damaged' and not worth the trouble, or perhaps he got lucky. Probably a combination.

And I find that combination is something of a parallel to our coexisting/struggling with nature, something most environmentalists don't acknowledge. Nature is beautiful, but harsh. You only see the bleakness and pain, and you'll miss the wonders there, like the awesome foxes that befriend Timothy. At the same time, to romanticize it is to do a disservice to truth. No matter how much Treadwell loved that bear, it remained hungry, and he was a convenient food. Keeping the balance in your thinking is the key, and the difficulty.

My subject line about sums up my feeling for this movie...and that guy who had the 'artsy crap' quote below hit the nail on the head also. CTHD was amazing, but its rather mundane plot was stretched out and drawn out so much that much of the energy was lost, leaving a movie tending to wallow in its own pretentiousness. Iron Monkey, however, doesn't know the meaning of the word pretentious. It does know the meaning of kung-fu.

That kung fu has a long line of greatness and cheeziness before it in many Hong Kong actioners, one that Iron Monkey stands proudly with. Yes, the action is amazing, but more what caught me off guard is the humor, like the 'cleansing the palate' scene...it's all built up perfectly. Its robin-hood-esqe storyline is pared down to the basics, but still comes across clearly and somewhat freshly.

Anyhoo, it all comes down to the kung fu. If you watch it for the plot alone you may be disappointed, but as a whole it's one of the best I've ever seen. As the kid said, in a line repeated in most of these movies, "My kung-fu is very powerful!"

Oh, come on. You didn't actually expect this movie to be good, did you? It's about a game with too many characters, unwieldy fighting mechanics, and a 'plot' that is simply an excuse for the characters to beat up on each other. So, in other words, MK: Annihilation is a perfect adaptation of MK3:Ultimate Turbo Spaz Fighting or whatever the final sequel of that one they came out with was.

Don't try to follow the storyline. As far as I could tell, these 3-5 people who seem to be the main good guys (Rayden, Liu Kang, Sonya, Jax, Kitana) walk around randomly and fight random people, for little to no reason at all. They're supposed to be building up an army and building their skills or something, but that never happens. In fact, Liu Kang just magically gets his skillz back before fighting Mr. Evil Man for no reason also-after having spent most of the film getting beat up by everyone and their second cousin. I think even I could have a good chance of giving this yutz a beatdown, as directed.

Don't try to follow all the characters. MK:A tries to force in EVERY SINGLE OBSCURE CHARACTER that's ever been in these games, which I guess may be good if you're initiated. Otherwise, you won't give a Motaro's tail about anyone. I suppose even Boon Saibot was in there somewhere-and Stryker (the dopey-cop who only I ever played in the game) even gets a mention. You'll just throw up your hands in the first 15 minutes, and give up on these people.

Don't count on the effects or the fighting to save you either, because both are woefully poor. Your best bet for entertainment is to try to count the plot holes. I myself lost track. They build characters and points up, never to use them again. Oh well. It's a great bad movie night flick, but don't expect any more. It could probably be a great drinking game, too. Take a shot whenever a new character is brought in, and if you're not wasted by the end, well, you probably turned it off already.