Film Details:
Directed by John Carpenter (The Thing, Halloween)
Written by
Larry Sulkis (Village of the Damned)
John Carpenter (They Live, Escape From New York)
Starring
Natasha Henstridge (Species, Bounce)
Ice Cube (Three Kings, Anaconda)
Pam Grier (Jackie Brown, Sheba Baby)
Jason Statham (Snatch, The Italian Job)
Review: by Melissa (e-mail your faithful reviewer)
On July 2nd, 2003, I forced myself to watch this film in preparation for the John Carpenter Intervention panel at CONvergence. These are my raw, unadulterated notes, which I took while the film was in progress.
Okay, whose brilliant idea was it to tell this movie in flashback? Then put other characters' flashbacks in the flashback?
I fully expect the editing credit at the end to read, "ten abnormally stupid monkeys".
Somebody take the dissolve key away from the ten abnormally stupid monkeys, please.
Are all white chicks from the future blonde?
Yes! Run from those obviously CGI javelins!
Was that a balloon wipe? A freakin' BALLOON WIPE? I didn't think even George Lucas was allowed to use those anymore. Haven't they been outlawed by the Geneva Convention yet?
Ghosts see in digital video, apparently.
Obligatory fire stunt!
Three shots. Three dissolves. Stoopid monkeys.
This movie would be better as a drinking game. Drink every time there any character makes a sexual advance on another character. Drink every time you see in Ghost-o-vision. Drink at every dissolve and every wipe effect. Chug at every flashback.
Okay, don't you think if you had cast women in roles that required them to kick ass, you would hire women who could, well, kick ass? And if you had only one woman who could kick ass, would you kill her off first?
The score is actually okay. I'm intrigued by Carpenter collaborating with heavy metal musicians. It's at least better than his collaboration with Shirley Jackson on Escape from L.A., which was beyond terrible.
What the fuck was with that ending? I mean, WHAT THE FUCK?
It looks like the ten abnormally stupid monkeys go by the name of Paul Warschilka. Thank god he's only edited one film.
I want my 98 minutes back. John Carpenter owes me. Big time.
DVD Details:
There is an audio commentary by John Carpenter and Natasha Henstridge, as well as a SFX deconstruction and a scoring featurette. It could have been interesting stuff, but I wanted to get that movie away from me as fast as possible.
The movie is in 2.35:1 widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. I actually wish that it had been pan and scan. There would have been less of it to abuse my eyes.
Further Information:
Internet Movie Database
