Hail_to_the_chimp
Joined Dec 2001
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Reviews9
Hail_to_the_chimp's rating
The Benjamin and Jake relationship has always been, by far, my favourite parent/child relationship in any Trek series. Or in any non-Trek series for that matter. And here it reaches its most heartbreakingly beautiful and devastatingly sad peak. Absolutely stellar and stunning performances from Tony Todd, Avery Brooks and Cirroc Lofton. The tenderness, the sadness, the love. The inability to ever let go and move on till grief consumes and destroys you. Wanting to hold onto something or someone that only wants to release you and set you free. There may be other Trek episodes this well-written & beautifully-acted, but it's hard to think of any that will make you weep as hard or as long as this one does.
Having recently rewatched (and thoroughly enjoyed) Antonia Bird's 1999 shocker, I must say it surprises me how neglected and underrated this little gem is.
What raises it above the ordinary? Well for a start there's the nice touch of not only making the hero' (Capt. John Boyd) a coward, but in refusing to fully resolve the issue of his cowardice (or his fear of death).
Then, of course, there's Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn's delightfully playful/disturbing score. Music in horror is so often used to build tension and convey dread in such a cliched and overly familiar way that any twist on the formula is most welcome indeed. Some may have found the jolly' banjo music accompanying Ives's pursuit of Toffler somewhat silly and out of place', but it is this very incongruity which makes it so enjoyable for me. It throws the audience an unexpected musical cue and lends the scene an appropriate and delicious grotesqueness.
In addition, there are numerous interesting and provocative themes thrown up amidst the gore and despair. Man's never-ending search for different forms of escape; the analogy between Ives's cannibalistic fervour and the coming Western expansion that would consume and devour everything in its path; cannibalism/capitalism crossovers etc.
Finally, there's the sheer pleasure of watching black, black comedy horror of the highest order being performed by a cast of fine, able, intelligent actors. Horror these days can be so formulaic and can take itself so seriously, that one longs for a bit of gruesome, gleeful, twisted, inventive fun. Hats off to the filmmakers and actors for delivering the meaty goods to a starving horror audience.
What raises it above the ordinary? Well for a start there's the nice touch of not only making the hero' (Capt. John Boyd) a coward, but in refusing to fully resolve the issue of his cowardice (or his fear of death).
Then, of course, there's Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn's delightfully playful/disturbing score. Music in horror is so often used to build tension and convey dread in such a cliched and overly familiar way that any twist on the formula is most welcome indeed. Some may have found the jolly' banjo music accompanying Ives's pursuit of Toffler somewhat silly and out of place', but it is this very incongruity which makes it so enjoyable for me. It throws the audience an unexpected musical cue and lends the scene an appropriate and delicious grotesqueness.
In addition, there are numerous interesting and provocative themes thrown up amidst the gore and despair. Man's never-ending search for different forms of escape; the analogy between Ives's cannibalistic fervour and the coming Western expansion that would consume and devour everything in its path; cannibalism/capitalism crossovers etc.
Finally, there's the sheer pleasure of watching black, black comedy horror of the highest order being performed by a cast of fine, able, intelligent actors. Horror these days can be so formulaic and can take itself so seriously, that one longs for a bit of gruesome, gleeful, twisted, inventive fun. Hats off to the filmmakers and actors for delivering the meaty goods to a starving horror audience.