09-17-2009, 10:45 PM
What is it with Game of Death? Couldn't people like, you know, leave that title alone? Bruce Lee used it. It's done.
I absolutely despise anyone who reuses that title.
Okay, so this dude (half-Thai, half-American, from what I can tell) is having a bad time of it. A sleazy coworker is taking all his clients, causing him to lose his job. His girlfriend has abandoned him. His car gets repossessed. His mom keeps calling, needing favors -- the latest being money to put his sister through college. He's a good guy, really, but he's sinking into debt fast and is full of despair.
So when he gets a cell phone call telling him he has an opportunity to make huge bucks if he can complete 13 tasks-- Well, he's leery. But the first one is so easy, just kill a fly that's bugging him using a newspaper on the stairwell. Okay, fine, he does it.
And from there he sinks deeper into ever more twisted tasks.
It's quite good. Much better than I was expecting. The protagonist (played by Krissada Terrence) does a superb job, and for some reason, at 1 hour 17 minutes in, he starts reminding me of Christian Bale -- from The Mechanic or Rescue Dawn. Someone at the end of their rope and not really understanding anything but just trying to survive.
I laughed in a few spots. Lady Cranefly wondered why. I tried to explain, but you really need to see it.
I can't say I fully understood the ending -- which is probably a good thing. I suspect I should have understood it, if I'd been paying more attention. But I'll be generousl and give the movie a 4 on a scale of 5.
Anyway, next up will be Visitor Q, which I saw once before at a Doom gathering. I was a bit critical of it, but maybe that was because I was talking and not paying attention. So I'm going to give it a second chance.
Oddly, Lady Cranefly has expressed an interest in seeing it. I asked her why, since she won't watch Ichi the Killer. From her muttered explanation, I guess Visitor Q is less expliciitly violent.
Okayyyyyy..... We'll see how that goes.
--cranefly
I absolutely despise anyone who reuses that title.
Okay, so this dude (half-Thai, half-American, from what I can tell) is having a bad time of it. A sleazy coworker is taking all his clients, causing him to lose his job. His girlfriend has abandoned him. His car gets repossessed. His mom keeps calling, needing favors -- the latest being money to put his sister through college. He's a good guy, really, but he's sinking into debt fast and is full of despair.
So when he gets a cell phone call telling him he has an opportunity to make huge bucks if he can complete 13 tasks-- Well, he's leery. But the first one is so easy, just kill a fly that's bugging him using a newspaper on the stairwell. Okay, fine, he does it.
And from there he sinks deeper into ever more twisted tasks.
It's quite good. Much better than I was expecting. The protagonist (played by Krissada Terrence) does a superb job, and for some reason, at 1 hour 17 minutes in, he starts reminding me of Christian Bale -- from The Mechanic or Rescue Dawn. Someone at the end of their rope and not really understanding anything but just trying to survive.
I laughed in a few spots. Lady Cranefly wondered why. I tried to explain, but you really need to see it.
I can't say I fully understood the ending -- which is probably a good thing. I suspect I should have understood it, if I'd been paying more attention. But I'll be generousl and give the movie a 4 on a scale of 5.
Anyway, next up will be Visitor Q, which I saw once before at a Doom gathering. I was a bit critical of it, but maybe that was because I was talking and not paying attention. So I'm going to give it a second chance.
Oddly, Lady Cranefly has expressed an interest in seeing it. I asked her why, since she won't watch Ichi the Killer. From her muttered explanation, I guess Visitor Q is less expliciitly violent.
Okayyyyyy..... We'll see how that goes.
--cranefly