The Movie Buff

I was very disappointed in the sequel to kill bill. I thought the first movie was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. However the 2nd was just an average movie. If I didn't know any better, I would bet that the 2nd kill bill was by a different director. Not only wasn't the story told as well as the first one, but the story itself was also not as interesting. Most of the dialogue was cheesy and the action scenes did not have that magnificent feel that they had in the first kill bill. There were so many things in the first movie that gave it an epic like feel that were foolishly left out of the 2nd movie. One was the list kept by the bride on people that she had to kill. You would think with the significance the list played in the first movie, that at least she would cross out bills name when she had done the job. However the list was nowhere to be found. With the incredible battle scenes that were in the first movie, you would expect the final scene with bill to trump all them. But again, it didnt even come close. The final scene where she gets bill was as anticlimactic and boring as you can get. If you were a big fan of the first movie, I would recommend that you not even bother seeing the 2nd because it will only ruin the first movie for you.

I'll first start off by saying that this was a good movie. The first 40 minutes were close to unwatchable because they were boring and pointless, but the movie took off after that and had me glued to the screen. The footage during races was as close to the real thing as it gets. The camera work was amazing, though sometimes it changed angles too often in a race and made you dizzy. Cooper, Bridges, and Tobey were all well cast and did a fine job, Cooper especially. Now as far as the factual events of this movie, how they painted War Admiral was a disgrace. I know they wanted to do this because they felt it would add to the legend of Seabiscuit and make it a better movie, but when its supposed to be a true story, at least tell it like a true story. Seabiscuit was a great, courageous horse with the heart of a lion but this could have been told with painting War Admiral as the evil, overrated, heartless horse. First off, War Admiral was 15.2 hands, not over 18 hands like the movie tells. The two horses were basically the same size. Seabiscuit, in fact outweighed the Admiral. Those are the facts that the movie got wrong. Next are the things they conveniently decided to leave out. In the movie, it appears that War Admiral is ducking Seabiscuit for months and refuses to race him. What they don't tell is that twice before the match race, both horses were scheduled to race each other (once in a match race, the other in a stakes), and both times Seabiscuit was scratched by Howard. The first came in a $100k winner-take-all match race at belmont park on May 30th. After arriving at belmont on April 25th, Seabiscuit didnt train well after the long cross country trip and was scratched. Next came the Massachusetts Handicap on June 29, in which both horses entered and were weighted at 130. It rained the day of the race, turning the track into mud so 45 minutes before the race, Seabiscuit was once again scratched. The movie also forgot to mention that after the match race Riddle asked for a rematch in the nine-furlong Rhode Island Handicap at Narragansett Park in which both horses were eligible for. However, Howard once again withdrew his horse because the rematch would be only 11 days after the match race. The movie paints War Admiral as this horse that was born with all the skills and never had to work because of his god given talent. They don't mention that he was smaller than most of the horses he faced. They don't mention that he routinely gave up 5-15 lbs to horses that were bigger and older than him. They don't mention that in the Belmont Stakes, War Admiral ripped off an inch of his hoof at the start, then proceeded to run a mile and a half, leaving his rivals in the dust, and breaking the track record in the process. The hoof injury was not discovered untill his trainer spotted him in the winners circle standing in a pool of blood. Talk about heart. Riddle also got the short end of the stick. It wasn't mentioned in the movie how graceful he was after the match race, offering no excuses, only asking for a rematch which was not granted by Howard. The movie told a great story and elevated Seabiscuit to warrior status but did a great injustice to War Admiral that will probably never be erased. From now on non-racing fans and casual fans of the sport will remember the War Admiral that was portrayed in the movie, not the one in this review, which was the real War Admiral.

Up until a month ago, I had never heard of this movie, but thanks to netflix, it was on my recommended list so I decided to rent it. I was pleasantly surprised at this good thriller. The first 40 minutes of this movie was fantastic, but the rest was somewhat boring. What would have made this a better thriller was if the audience wasn't told so much about the killer, or even if there was a killer. We should know what travolta knows every step of the way. By letting the audience know that there was a killer and who he was, it took some of the suspense away especially when travolta made the film of the accident and it was revealed that a gun shot(small light) was present at the exact time of the noise he recorded. All in all a good film, though not in the class of Dressed to Kill.