gemma-buskell

What is pitched on the dvd case is not exactly what you get here (when is it anything else, however). Emblazoned across the top of the box, it loudly exclaims; "THE RAID MEETS DIE HARD", as quoted by movie review website heyuguys. Just how much responsibility that particular movie news source wants to take in this regard is questionable, but it does beg the question of whether they were indeed watching the same film as the rest of us.

I think they may have been referring to the similarity in regard to location which would certainly make sense as The Raid took place in a building with many different floors and the police in that film painstakingly travelled up the building to get to their target. But this has got to be where the similarity ends. The Raid's superlative cinematography, choreography and style completely eclipses what is on display in Tanter's film and if they were to be compared, Gareth Evans' work of contemporary fighting art would rightly point and laugh at efforts here. Even mentioning the film in the same sentence is doing The Raid a disservice. This is fighting talk, and Tanter is way out of his depth in this regard.

What The Electric Man does have is some interesting ideas and dialogue about life, how we live it and the choices we make. Or whether we even have the ability to choose or if everything is predestined and fated. I know these are heavy subjects and a lot of viewers will find themselves bored by them. But there's a vein of humour through a lot of the film that keeps it from getting too ponderous and heavy, a fairly impressive task given the material at hand. Viewers who don't mind dialogue-heavy films and serious themes should find The Electric Man an interesting watch. While it does have a point of view it never pushes it to the point of alienating those, like myself, who don't necessarily agree with it. I will say I wasn't thrilled by the way it all works out in the end, but others will probably get a chuckle from it.