Transformers
"You just sit there and watch the explosions. I couldn’t tell you what the movie was about. The movie hammers the audience into submission. They are influenced by video games, but in video games at least you are immersed; in these movies you’re left out. In films, there’s so much overt fantasy now that I don’t watch a lot because everything is possible now. There’s no tension there. People can slide down the side of a building that’s falling and they don’t get ripped to shreds? The shots are amazing, but if there is no consequence, no gravity, what’s the point? I can’t watch Hollywood movies anymore. There’s no room for me.”
http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/terry-gilliam-was-not-impressed-by-transformers
Is Gilliam too harsh or is he right??? Answers on a postcard...
I agree with him. I appreciate realism in films with scenarios which you can believe in,showing the reprecussions of actions/events. I do appreciate time taken for the finer details within a film. I look for the small details in films because i think it can set a film apart. I want to totally believe in what Im watching and get lost in it. If I can not, Im usually disappointed. I like fantasy films done well. If Transformers was stop motion animation I would of appreciated it more.G-Man may not agree with me there... Im not totally against special effects. Star Wars has effects which I think are timeless. They are done so well and for the age of the technology I think its amazing.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Film is an Art which never works when you don`t care about the end result. Hollywood see the money, not the Art- for now anyhow. So yes..I agree :)
I think he has some very valid points, but overall I don't like to generalize too much just because it's 'Hollywood', which is just too easy a thing to criticize. I think specifically it is these high-fantasy action films.
ReplyDeleteI do think he's right about there being no real fear of character death, you can watch a 'hero' running away from an exploding building and you just expect him to be a little bit grubbier afterwards, with some superficial scratches on his face. Protagonists seem to be impervious to bullets in some films. If a character is supposed to be facing life-threatening danger, I need to care about the character and then fear for his life!
When a film does have realistic violence with shocking consequences, and people do die, I think it's that much more effective to how we feel about the victims and the people who caused the violence, they seem much more monstrous, because we are shown realistic consequences, if not a little over the top with the blood a lot of the time.
I agree (obviously!) but I wonder why more people don't feel like this. These films are making big money, whilst smaller productions struggle to get a release outside of the independent cinemas.
ReplyDeleteMost people do not care about plot / character / theme as long as the effects are good so why is this?
I don't have the answer btw, just wanted to throw that one out there!