8 reviews
I haven't seen a movie this bad in many years. Two things certainly helped coming to this conclusion: 1. Only days before shooting the Morocco parts of the film, the director admitted that NONE---read that NONE-of the characters had been cast. 2. Having multiple yawn, boring, and trite story lines caused this film to drag like a dog with no legs. Yes, I know many other readers thought this film was the cat's meow, but PLEEEEEEEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This film bored me so much that I turned off the DVD player and started watching the TV Guide channel. Avoid this yawner at all costs. And, Brad Pitt, whom I love as an actor, did not give a rousing performance. I liked him better in The Mexican.
A work associate told me that the movie Manhunter "pulled together" the missing pieces from S O T L and Red Dragon. After watching RD and Manhunter, I realized that they are the same film. DUH!!!! for me. However, RD and MH were both disappointing. Although Brian Cox is a great actor, in this film he didn't pull off Lecktor's character like Anthony Hopkins did in S O T L. But William Peterson was magnificent as the tortured FBI agent. Overall, Manhunter was a little better than RD but not much. In RD, Anthony Hopkins was too mechanical and Edward Norton was not right for the part he played. Manhunter was more dramatic and scary than RD, and for that I gave it a 6-just above mediocre. In my book, not worthy of having in my DVD collection. "Of course, that's just my opinion-I may be wrong." (Dennis Miller quote.)
The other reviews detail the opinions of others and the plot outline, so I won't duplicate their efforts. The movie has always been one of my favorites since I first saw it in the theatres and the dearth of a DVD version has saddened me for many years. With the release of a DVD, the wait is now over. I have owned, and wore out, several VHS copies of the movie, and they all had a kind of "fog" surrounding the video presentation. I could never figure that out. On the other hand, the DVD producers have managed to make the DVD version with a crystal-clear video presentation and very acceptable audio presentation. In addition, the Dave Grusin soundtrack is superbly reproduced. Thanks to those who took the time to let "our" wishes for a DVD become known to the studio, and special thanks to the producers who took some extra time to give this film it's due.
Although this film is worth watching, that's all I can say about it. When Hollywood sets out to make a big-budget blockbuster, they "give it all they got" and so it was with the first Tomb Raider, which was a solid success and a great movie. Then they think this magic feat can be duplicated by another blockbuster with the same star. Sorry but it rarely happens like that and didn't in this case. Ms. Jolie is great and sexy and wonderful but the screenplay and story just falls short of the original. To be fair, the temple battle with the Rock Creatures in the first movie was just too hard of an act to follow. The same can be said about many of the original's scenes. Everything about this film was good-just not excellent. Good entertainment and worth watching once but I wouldn't buy the DVD for my home library.
Hollywood has a nasty habit of wasting good talent on crappy movies. The talent wasted in this case, that of Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei, wouldn't be wasted if great actresses like these two would adopt the Nancy Reagan response: JUST SAY NO!! This is another one of those films that has no purpose and meanders so far for so long that you just end up turning it off before it's finished. It drags along like a dog with no legs and never gets moving. The story COULD have been a good one if the screenplay had been given some life. The ladies mentioned above are two of my favorite actresses, yet even they can't put life into a corpse that's D O A from the beginning. Do yourself a favor and pass on this one. Forget about it and don't waste your time.
I have the VHS version, which I enjoy on regular occasions. I just purchased the DVD version, and (at the time) there was a new song played called The Late Great Johnny Ace. In fact, Paul Simon said so just before performing it. Now this seems to be missing from the DVD. And it doesn't seem to be hidden anywhere. Does anyone out in music land have any idea what happened to this? Anyway, this will go down in history as one of the best outdoor concerts ever performed, especially coming "10 years after" (does that name ring a bell?) the duo split up to pursue solo careers. S&G sound just as good here as they did when they first joined up. This is an absolute must-have for any serious baby-boomer music fan like me.
I was somewhat leery about all the hoopla surrounding this movie but just had to see it for myself. All in all, a good Saturday evening popcorn flik with lots of action and some "Ahnold-like" humor(remember Ahll be back?). The one-liners are quick and will be missed if you're not paying attention. And since another reviewer already mentioned it, the avalanche scene towards the end just doesn't get it. It IS a great scene, but why do these disasters always get the bad guys and never the star?(I know-because that's the way they wrote it!!!!!!!) The music is hard driving to go with the rest of the movie. The stunts are some of the best I've seen-even better than some of the best Bond stunts. This movie was lots of fun and is worth buying on DVD, as I did, so you can go back and pick up all the great stuff you missed the first, second or third time. I rate this a solid 8 stars out of 10.
I viewed this film without reading any reviews or information about it beforehand. In other words, my mind was clear and open. I also made the mistake of watching it on a non-premium cable channel, which means it got cut with commercials. At 2 1/2 hours in length, I didn't see much difference in this and the legion of other films of the same genre. It was too long(yes, I adjusted my attitude for the commercials) and just kept taking us all around the world looking/searching/finding/not finding what Johnny Depp was looking for. There were too many unnecessary/marginal characters that made the film drag on like a political speech. And the ending was, to use an old latin expression, non-sequiter. This was a waste of my time-don't waste yours.