This is a film that requires a very particular taste to fully enjoy and leave the theatre satisfied. For myself, while the film's cinematography, acting, costumes, special effects, and soundtrack were absolutely spectacular, what the film lacked most was the most important part of any story; proper story-telling. Let's compare "Dune: Part 1" with a film that also uses similar story-telling methods; "Mad Max: Fury Road". "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a film that is mostly told through its visuals. Aside from its introduction of dramatic news-reel montages to transition us from our present to a future where most of the world has been destroyed due to global wars over limited resources, the rest of the film simply follows Max and the other main characters. Everything we learn about how the new world works and how its cultures operate is mostly through being observant of the world around the characters as they move through the scenes. There is never enough dialogue to fully piece everything together if we only heard the dialogue. But as they say, "A picture is worth 1000 words". By being observant one would be able to quickly figure out and enjoy the world "Mad Max: Fury Road" brings us into. "Dune" does the exact same thing with how they tell their story. They rely mostly on the visuals to tell the story and give the world of "Dune" its life. However, "Mad Max: Fury Road" works, but "Dune" does not. Why is this? For one, the transition from our world to Max's world is easy to understand and see as realistic. Wars over limiting resources destroy most of the world and those still alive are the ones hoarding the limited resources left? Okay! Done! "Dune", on the other hand, launches us immediately over 8000 years into the future without any other context as to how we got there or what the new world is like... From the very first minute of the film, a lot of the audience remains separated from the world of the film and already become drowned in questions. "Mad Max: Fury Road", on the other hand, presents us with a handful of questions, but give us quick and simple answers to each of them before presenting us with new ones. - People are crazy and obsessed with cars? Its the apocalypse and cars are the only way to not only have fun but ensure that you can get the resources to survive! Done! - Crazy people faking deity are in charge? They successfully use cult tactics and their primary access to vital resources to get power and stay in power! Done! - We got a population of tumour-filled cult followers? They're dying with nothing else to loose because the world has been destroyed through nuking! Done! Yet once again, "Dune" immediately launches us into a world that presents us with so many questions yet little-to-no answers that are fulfilled through visual story-telling alone; - After 8000 years humans have travelled throughout the galaxy to different planets and have set up galactic-wide governments based on Imperial styles of government with different family houses...? Okay... - We have people that have abilities to control others through speech and even see into the future that is overseen by a matriarchal sect where only females are allowed to have said abilities and said females work in the background to manipulate politics and bloodlines to fulfill a prophecy...? Okay... - The most valuable resource in this time is a spice solely located on a desert planet that is not only a hallucinogen that can even help said telekinetic people see into the future yet is somehow incorporated into unspecified technology that allows people to travel throughout space through worm-holes...? Okay... In short, "Mad Max: Fury Road" provides a visual form of story-telling that easily transitions audiences into the film and provides easy and quick questions for easy answers... While "Dune" provides way too many questions even before the movie properly starts without giving proper answers for half of them... It is possible to understand the basics of what's going on in "Dune" just by reading between most of the lines and jumping to quick conclusions based just on what's been shown. Yet ultimately, the film seems like one of those movies based off a long-running TV show that Hollywood tries to cram into a few hours. Its chosen method of story-telling fails to properly establish the world and any emotional investment from the audience; turning what could have been a great sci-fi story into nothing more than a fever dream.
I believe this film is a fairly well-written romantic comedy that has its good moments and well as its bad, yet ultimately by the end feels fairly shallow.
Two words; Episode IV. The movie had a lot of potential, and the special effects are absolutely amazing, yet Disney didn't do the series right by advertising this movie as a sequel and making it a reboot-in-disguise instead.
It's not often that I give a movie an honest zero, yet in every way this movie deserves it. Absolutely horrific story-telling and character development, repetitive and rushed plot devices that make absolutely no sense, faking tragedies numerous times to keep things "interesting", completely throwing the established canons and thematic elements that made the original Star Wars great out the window, and trying to recycle scenes from previously successful films into this one. Also, who in their right mind would have people purchase numerous books or play Fortnite in order to get important plot details for the movie? Disney has done absolutely everything wrong when it comes to making films with this new trilogy. That's why this movie deserves absolutely no credit.
This film reminded me a lot of "Alita: Battle Angel"; so much potential to be amazing, yet ultimately falls flat on its face due to a horrible script and a bland Mary Sue protagonist. From a non-political standpoint, the film fails completely to create a world worth emotionally investing in. The lead actress has already been proven to have amazing talent as seen in "Room", yet in this movie she has the acting abilities of Kristen Stewart from "Twilight" and Milla Jovovich from the early "Resident Evil" movies. Rather than this, the protagonist has virtually no flaws and is deemed a literal "god" by everyone for being perfect and all-powerful in every way imaginable. There is no struggle or conflict in this movie; just a poorly edited montage of explosions and deaths until the predicted end goal is achieved by the protagonist. But the main crime of this movie is it's absolute failure to push it's third-wave feminist agenda. It is clear that the focus on this movie was to push the third-wave feminist agenda to the extremes; that women all have the potential to be just as good, or even better, than men. However, to try and prove that point in a fictional movie only backfires on itself. That's because there's plenty of real-life examples of amazing woman that such supporters of this movement can be praised for, and because the film reasserts that the accomplishments of men are the golden standard that everyone else, including women, needs to try desperately to live up to or succeed. Why do we have to have such messages forced and pushed in fictional worlds in order to be recognized or deemed "true"? Why can't women be amazing for doing their own things or for being themselves instead of only recognizing women that meet or succeed the benchmarks left by men? We each have our own strengths and weaknesses that compliment one another when we work together. Women and men are not inherently equal in virtue, but they are in value and for the things they are able to accomplish on their own that men will never be able to do. In conclusion, this film isn't even worth waiting until it's on Netflix to watch. There's nothing of entertainment or moral value in this movie that makes it truly worth remembering or recognizing.
There's only one reason that this film is receiving so much negative criticism; it deals with reality. Christianity, terrorists, the military, the chaos of this world; all of this plays a very important part in this film. Of course, this is not the world that critics would want their audiences to think about since film is about creating an artificial escape that perfectly resembles liberal/atheist ideologies. With this film, the choice to keep it real and deal with the reality that our mainstream media does not want us to know is what makes this film so controversial. But it is nonetheless a film truly worth watching.
It is a shame that in the entertainment industry politics must be brought into everything. When it comes to professional critics in particular, their reviews do not necessarily reflect the quality of the movie in question; just how much they were paid or how much it lines up with liberal/atheist ideology. So is it any wonder that films that promote modern-day pederasty (Call Me By Your Name), self-destructive lifestyles (The Fantastic Woman) and "systemic racism" (The Big Slick) receive rave reviews while films about "Christian values" (Hacksaw Ridge) and conservative ideologies (Forever My Girl) are rather hushed aside or negatively critiqued to oblivion? What should also be questioned is why the films critics love so much are easily forgotten and do not even make the top 250 films list when the films they despise or tend to ignore are the ones that are remembered for a long time? Do not allow politics and liberal bias to ruin your tastes or what you would enjoy; simply see this film for yourself and enjoy.
This is not a movie about true love; it is a film that reflects the Ancient Greek pederasty practices that historians certainly do not recall with awe and beauty. It is because this film attempts to normalize pedophilia that I would never recommend it to anyone.
Don't go into this film expecting an incredibly entertaining, Hollywood-style story. Go into this film expecting to literally feel like you're one of the soldiers in the battle of Dunkirk. That's what so good about this film.
The reason Star Wars because the gigantic franchise that it was today was because it mastered the art of creating a completely new world for people to get lost in. The Star Wars we grew up with had so many systems, civilisations, ways of life and rich characters to love. The Last Jedi does not do any of this. Instead, what Disney is doing with the series is replacing the world-building with endless montages of cheap climaxes. Mind you that they are fun to watch at first, but they leave you empty and bitter afterwards because they were just cheap thrills that actually destroy the world Star Wars is built upon. The Last Jedi resembles more of a cheesy soap opera than the science fiction epic that was the pre-Disney Star Wars. That is why fans absolutely hate this movie and what Disney is doing with the Star Wars franchise.
This film isn't anything close to being a masterpiece like "Your Name", yet it is still an enjoyable film nonetheless. The story of the film is "fantastical" as it combines both fantasy and reality together in (mostly) interesting ways. While the fantastical scenes are very fun to watch, have a surpisingly good level of detail, and do have deeper meanings to them, to me it was an obvious way for the studio to advertise itself and its animation capabilities which sort of ruins the feel of the film. Most of the story comes across as childishly simple and makes the movie come across as a "feel good" flick, there are a few good life messages and more complex parts of the story that the movie does get across if you look hard enough. As for the animation, it does have a good level of quality and depth to it, yet nothing completely outstanding by today's "masterpiece" standards (in fact, not even by "Akira" standards). Also, there are some very noticeable mistakes in both animation, editing and story flow in various areas of the movie; especially at the end with the stretched out running scenes. In conclusion, this film is incredibly plain in every way imaginable, yet the good kind of plain that we all need a dose of once in awhile.
I think the reviewers only gave this film the extremely high rating it got because otherwise they would be called "homophobic" by the SJW community... Lets be honest, though; this film is a 3/5 at its best. While it does tackle a rather difficult subject and has great performances, its really how overly simple and average the story and cinematography itself is compared to other similar films. There have been similar films such as this which go through a boy's life as they grow up in a rather messed-up part of the world/family; examples include "City of God", "Do The Right Thing" and "Gran Torino", yet this film is nowhere close to the aura and sheer beauty of these films.
By 1978, we had wonderful films released such as "Star Wars", "Jaws", "The Exorcist", "Halloween", and so many masterpieces. This film, however, is a huge step backwards from what has been accomplished in cinema by the time of its release, and for that reason is incredibly overrated. While the film no doubts accomplishes a beautiful mise-en-scene, literally making every shot worthy of a painting in a museum, it is the story's uneven and misplaced narrative that ruins the experience for the viewer. This is especially true when it comes to the "voice-of-God" narrator who is rambling-on like a three-year-old about all these random facts that seldom connect with the current events on-screen. If this was a film released around the early 1900s when cinema was still in its primitive form, this would be completely understandable. Yet considering how far film has come when this film was released, it is simply a huge disappointment. This film only has the high review that it has because of the "elitists" who automatically dub every piece of art that cannot be understood easily and immediately as "the best art humanity has to offer". Yet in reality they cannot admit that while this film has its beautiful moments it lacks the key element all proper films need; a clear narrative.
What the hell is this crap?! I get it; the film is portraying a strong and important message of the dangers and perversions of mass media as well as the corrupt perversions of humanity, but you really don't need to show explicit hardcore pornography and straight-up torture half the time just to get the point across! What sickens me even more is that people actually find this film enjoyable! What is wrong with you people?!
As a fan-made film, this film will certainly please fans of the Assassin's Creed series. For everyone else, this film is an utter mess. For a two-hour film, there is little to no story for the audience to follow, and while there are some aspects of sci-fi, action and drama they are not given any proper explanations, motives or developments throughout the entire film. By the end it becomes a hot podge of pointless action and CGI that ruins the build-up made from the beginning of the film. Even as a fan of the early Assassin's Creed series, this movie is simply a disappointment.
This edition to the Star Wars cinematic universe felt a lot to me like "Suicide Squad"; great fan service and cool cast, but is ultimately empty due to undeveloped story and characters. Most Star Wars films begin with two protagonists, then as they journey throughout the galaxy we learn more about them as well as the world around them and the story itself. Then eventually the "torch" is passed down to two new characters who we follow as the story continues. In short, the previous Star Wars films accomplished beautiful character, plot and world development at the exact same time. In "Rogue One", however, the "torch" is thrown around rapidly as the characters sit in a circle like a game of "hot potato". There is little to no character development, we're thrown around all over the place in the Star Wars universe, and the writers leave absolutely no time for its audience to emotionally invest in the story or characters (which is extremely disappointing for not only a Star Wars film, but for a film that is over TWO HOURS LONG). This is what its like for the first two-thirds of the film; while there is a lot of fan service to go around (which is expected from this film), the story and character development is simply atrocious. The third and final act, however, is what saves this movie from being an utter waste of time. This is when the action and threat becomes real and the characters finally come to life. If this film was just the final 40 minutes I would actually give this film a much higher rating. In conclusion, this series relies far more on fan-service of an already established Star Wars universe to please its audience rather than an actual (never mind "original") story. Believe me when I say that, unless you are an absolute die-hard fan of the Star Wars franchise, you're better off simply re-watching the Original Trilogy if you want to watch Star Wars again. 5/10
