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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:13 pm
by Malcolm
Automatic +\- :

Terry freakin' Gilliam : +.5
Heath freakin' Ledger -.5

Subtotal 1 : 0

Synopsis :

The brothers Grimm are con artists circa 1800. French-occupied Germany (sounds weird to me, too) is ripe w\ old wives' tales of supernatural shit. The brothers capitalize on this mindset & fleece the entire towns by "removing" witches, daemons, etc. Then, an actual witch starts causing shit & the French miltary forces them to deal w\ her.

Review :

Christ knows I'm a fan of Terry Gilliam, so I'll try to deflect most of the blame for this film from the directing & place it squarely on the acting & writing, but it'll be kinda difficult.

Casting Heath Ledger as a nerdy scholar was mistake one. He just doesn't look that smart & how he got sucked into the dishonest living he makes is anyone's guess. Maybe Matt Damon, playing what I consider to be an absolute bastard rather well, talked him into it.

While there are some genuinely creepy moments, I've seen stranger shit whilst drunk. The supporting cast is either one-dimensional (Jonathan Pryce as the French general), illogical & erratic (the military escort of the brothers), or under-developed, tacked-on, & kidnapping-bait (the tracker chick). Furthermore, as the witch, Monica Belucci as about as scary as Mary Poppins running thru a field of tulips on a warm summer day. The special effects old-ass corpse version of her was more frightening.

The writer tries to tie all the fucking Grimm fairy tales & throw something from every one of them in this flick, but most of them aren't cool or important enough to remember. The gingerbread man was somewhat freaky, though. What's more, he tries to oscillate between gothic fantasy shit & a semi-historical fiction. This wouldn't be a problem except he does it very badly most of the time, except when killing off Frenchmen w\ evil trees & shit.

The climax at the end has all the intelligence of a Baywatch conversation between David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, & a beachball, particularly when you consider Heath Ledger's character is supposed to be something of an expert on old folktales.

Subtotal 2 : 2

Subtotal 1 + subtotal 2 = 2 stars

Final verdict : There's maybe five sequences worth watching in this entire film. Even massive French genocide couldn't save this fim. This one's a renter, maybe, if you don't've to pay for it, & you're halfway drunk.

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:46 am
by mbilderback
First, couldn't you add this to the thread already started for this movie? And second, you basically hit the nail on the head.

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:53 am
by Malcolm
Goddamnit, there was another thread?

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:52 pm
by mbilderback
Other thread

I got to see this for free on preview tickets. I got what I paid for. :P