I nearly didn’t go into Film Studies today, due to a) tiredness and b) not bothering to read the timetable properly…but eventually I decided to go. After the lecture they showed a subtitled Korean monster movie, and to my surprise (since I don’t do horror very much) I loved it. The first half is something along the lines of Little Miss Sunshine meets Godzilla and is brilliant; the second half is a bit more patchy (but is sure as hell geniunely scary.)
As bizzare as it sounds for a monster movie, I think I liked it for its sense of realism. The leads look and behave like normal people (and are likeable, too, I geniunely didn’t want any of them to die); the first monster attack is very sudden, in broad daylight, and freaked me out like woah; and the survivors of said attack spend at least ten minutes of the film, and probably a good few days in movie-time, being simply shifted around from place to place by ‘authorities’, before finally making a break for it. Just like it would probably be in real life- no-one would have a sodding clue what to do.
Did I mention it’s very funny in places, too?
So yes. Go track it down! It’s on DVD over here…has it just come out in the US?
So, I finally got to see V For Vendetta. Finally. I love the graphic novel to tiny pieces, but then went and missed the film when it was in cinemas. And now it is out on DVD, and I’ve seen it-
-it drives me crazy because they had so many brilliant ideas, but in following up those brilliant ideas they managed to miss the rest of the story and why couldn’t they have found a way to make their intepretation of the story and the actual story coexist? Because I loved the stuff like the millions of people in V masks, and Evie’s line about V being everyone, and even the out-of-nowhere stuff like Evie’s brother- why couldn’t they have got that in and still kept the (er, the shortened version) of the story that had the full explanation of Larkhill and Rosemary and Helen and what Evie became by the end?
Um. Yes. Anyway.
What I didn’t like (let’s get that out of the way first)
-Natalie Portman. I’m sorry, Natalie, but you’re not Evie! And you can’t do anger. Which is weird. S’not like you ruined the movie or anything, but…I wish someone else had played Evie. Someone with the right hair colour, for a start.
(Incidentally, I was rather irriated when in the Making Of, people were talking about the novel and said ‘Evie was more a cypher in the novel…we made her more independent…’ OH YOU DID NOT. (I liked her in the novel. She was a heckofa lot more 3D than she was in the movie.)
-The fact lurking in the back of my mind that actually they got V’s character pretty much wrong towards the end (it has to do with The Love Story) and I just didn’t notice
-The fact that they didn’t keep a good percentage of the novel…I know it’s next to impossible to get in all the stuff I wanted to see, like Rosemary and Fate and all that, but what happened to the original ending? The one that knocked me out when I read it?
-Why did they change Susan’s name to Sutler, or whatever it was? Chances are they figured Susan perhaps wasn’t the best name for a psychopathic dictator, but…still. If I was Alan Moore I might have turned the DVD off at that point. However, I am not Alan Moore.
What I loved:
-The St Mary’s story/subplot- I imagine lots of people hate it (I’m just going to look for reviews from other people, especially fans, soon as I’ve posted this) but I actually quite liked it. Well…it nearly made me cry, you see. (I have this thing about kids in danger- if something in a movie makes me cry, chances are it’ll be that.)
-The Valerie Scene- okay, so this also came close to making me cry. I loved loved loved it. (ooh, and I loved that she popped up at the end, as well.) I didn’t like that they changed the dialogue of her letter, even if they only changed it a bit, but…still. They couldn’t have gotten that scene wrong, really- I still reckon it’s one of the most heartbreaking in all recent literature
-The little girl with the glasses- Oh my god, they shot her! *horrified* I recognized her from the book- I didn’t want her to get shot! That’s so unfair! (But obviously quite effective.)
-STEPHEN FRY! Dear god, this is the only time I will ever be seriously attracted to Stephen Fry, I imagine. But I loved his character to pieces. I knew he was in it, but I thought he’d just be a cameo- and he turned out to actually have a big role.
(In the book, his character sleeps with Evie. Er. Not in the movie.)
-The Bit With The Dominos. I want to watch it again. And again and again and again.
I will leave you now- I’m going to read cleolinda‘s V In 15 Minutes, and then find some reviews…see if anyone agrees with me. ;)
Have decided that amongst all the things blowing up and special effects (which are awesome), this is in fact a movie about Choices. All of the characters can choose to either have the mutant cure or not, and Magneto can choose to, you know, not have a massive war. (which of course, he doesn’t.) And you’ve got Storm and Pyro saying that anyone who wants the cure is a coward, but their powers don’t automatically hurt people, and Rogue’s do. They’ve got no right to decide for her whether she takes the cure- only she can do that. And the only one who gets that is Logan- he tells her she should go if it’s what she wants. He’s the only one who understands.
*points to icon*
In a similar vein, I’ve heard loads of people complaining about how Magneto got shot with the cure in the end, saying that the good guys should never do something like that- but I think he deserved it. He should know, he’s witnessed what happens when one group of people want to be the dominant species on Earth- and he’s going ahead with his war anyway. He’s sending people out to kill children, for pity’s sake.
He may or may not have got his powers back in that scene before the credits though. I haven’t decided…
Jean was pretty awesome. I loved the make-up on her when she was Phoenix. And the big destruction-fest at the end (including Wolverine’s Amazing Stick-On Trousers, heh). I liked that bit- it seemed to me like they were trying to show the contrast between them: Jean destroys and Wolverine heals. (Although I never got the whole Wolverine/Jean thing, sigh.)
I was rather annoyed that Scott died almost straight away. I liked him. They should make a Cyclops movie. No, they should! I’d pay to see it, and if they make it good, so would more people. So there.
Ermm…what else? Storm wasn’t bad, but she didn’t do much except fight. Angel didn’t have nearly enough screentime. Kitty was good and I liked her, but I’d rather Rogue had taken her place.
I was actually really surprised that Xavier died. Wasn’t expecting that for some reason. (ps. Stay after the credits, everyone.)
And I believe that’s all I have to say. Except that I hope if they do make a Wolverine movie, Rogue will be in it.