It's true of any film you watch, but when viewing a new film narrative the audience tries to deduce what's going to happen. One of the ways we do this is by comparing the story to that of similar films. The down side of this is if the plot is too familiar, and there's not enough originality (or boobs, explosions, or violent deaths) to distract us, the the film can get a bit tame and predictable.
Anthony Hopkin's latest, The Rite, is a bit like that. Watching the exorcist movie, with it's central story of a man coping with his faith, I was constantly reminded of parallels between it and superior movies like the classic The Exorcist and last year's The Last Exorcism. That's not to say The Rite is a poor movie as it's directed with maturity and class by Mikael Hafstrom and features a great performance (both subtle and naturalistic and powerful and creepy) by Mr Hopkins which highlights what a master craftsman the guy is.
But it's also a film with a bland leading man (sorry Colin O'Donaghue), a lack of atmosphere and scares and an absence of originality. So it's a bit like a high class hooker then. But a hooker never the less.
No comments:
Post a Comment