Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of The Fan; here's the breakdown of my ratings:
Story: 0.25 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 0.75 Enjoyment: 0.50
TOTAL: 3.00 out of 10.00
Okay, so I am flabbergasted. At the time of writing this review, The Fan has a 6.6 IMDb rating when much better films are scoring much lower. WOW!
The story is pretty basic and offers very little insight into the obsessed girl's fixation with the Electronic Music star called R. She keeps writing to him but never receives a reply. She decides to give R a deadline to respond; if he hasn't answered in seven days, she'll take action. I was itching with boredom to turn off the telly by the time day seven came around. All the writer fills the time with is mopy selfishness. If anybody needed a smack, Simone is she. I was hoping that she'd go nuts on the eighth day. Alas, the lass merely runs away from home, heading out to find R. So, we'll get some exciting road trip scenes? Nope, even though a sleazy fat man tries his luck, nowt happens. And, I mean nowt. There's no fight, no real struggle, and the most engaging segment of this scene is the bloke's dog trying to get into the back of the car - evidently, he didn't want to take care of business in the pouring rain; more serious still, the dog possesses more personality than anyone in the story. Most characters are two-dimensional, though a lot possess less than that. I couldn't believe in or relate to them, and it killed The Fan for me. I needed insight into Simone to understand her final actions towards R. That said, the ending is quite chilling if you read between the lines of Simone's narrated diary entry - I'd the impression the writer had scribbled this part first and then added the boring nonsense beforehand to reach his end goal.
At least the direction is slightly better, but not much - which isn't surprising as he penned this wearisome tale. Most of the filmmaking is in the Point and Shoot style, though he does offer up some agreeable compositions. However, due to the dreary story, it required more verve to engage the viewers. Most times, it only adds to the movie's dullness. But the section I hated most was the TV Music Video. It is terrible. But I do have to give some respect to the R's end sequence. Look carefully, and you'll realise no mannequins were harmed; it's all about camera positioning. The principal element in creating the picture's boredom is the tempo. It's too slow, and the director fails to utilise it fully to build the necessary atmosphere.
Then we arrive at the cast. Oh God, the performers are so wooden and unexpressive it was like watching a forest, though exceedingly less intriguing. Their indifference and deadpan delivery hinder the movie even further.
I cannot recommend The Fan to anyone. It was an interesting premise but one hell of a lifeless implementation. What this film needed was life. Life in its characters, life in the filmmaking, and life in the performances.
Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked The Fan.
Take Care & Stay Well.
Story: 0.25 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 0.75 Enjoyment: 0.50
TOTAL: 3.00 out of 10.00
Okay, so I am flabbergasted. At the time of writing this review, The Fan has a 6.6 IMDb rating when much better films are scoring much lower. WOW!
The story is pretty basic and offers very little insight into the obsessed girl's fixation with the Electronic Music star called R. She keeps writing to him but never receives a reply. She decides to give R a deadline to respond; if he hasn't answered in seven days, she'll take action. I was itching with boredom to turn off the telly by the time day seven came around. All the writer fills the time with is mopy selfishness. If anybody needed a smack, Simone is she. I was hoping that she'd go nuts on the eighth day. Alas, the lass merely runs away from home, heading out to find R. So, we'll get some exciting road trip scenes? Nope, even though a sleazy fat man tries his luck, nowt happens. And, I mean nowt. There's no fight, no real struggle, and the most engaging segment of this scene is the bloke's dog trying to get into the back of the car - evidently, he didn't want to take care of business in the pouring rain; more serious still, the dog possesses more personality than anyone in the story. Most characters are two-dimensional, though a lot possess less than that. I couldn't believe in or relate to them, and it killed The Fan for me. I needed insight into Simone to understand her final actions towards R. That said, the ending is quite chilling if you read between the lines of Simone's narrated diary entry - I'd the impression the writer had scribbled this part first and then added the boring nonsense beforehand to reach his end goal.
At least the direction is slightly better, but not much - which isn't surprising as he penned this wearisome tale. Most of the filmmaking is in the Point and Shoot style, though he does offer up some agreeable compositions. However, due to the dreary story, it required more verve to engage the viewers. Most times, it only adds to the movie's dullness. But the section I hated most was the TV Music Video. It is terrible. But I do have to give some respect to the R's end sequence. Look carefully, and you'll realise no mannequins were harmed; it's all about camera positioning. The principal element in creating the picture's boredom is the tempo. It's too slow, and the director fails to utilise it fully to build the necessary atmosphere.
Then we arrive at the cast. Oh God, the performers are so wooden and unexpressive it was like watching a forest, though exceedingly less intriguing. Their indifference and deadpan delivery hinder the movie even further.
I cannot recommend The Fan to anyone. It was an interesting premise but one hell of a lifeless implementation. What this film needed was life. Life in its characters, life in the filmmaking, and life in the performances.
Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked The Fan.
Take Care & Stay Well.