Reviews

I marked this as a spoiler, so don't read further if you haven't seen this yet. Revealing MAJOR plot points here. To the director/editor/writer/whomever: you don't kill off one of the few truly redeemable and likable characters in just a couple minutes in such a disposable way as you did with Declan Porter and expect fans to love you for it. Characters die all the time, but this was treated as a blip in the drama. A reason for Jack to go nuts so Amanda could come out to him. Declan's character was one of the few oases of non-bitterness in this angry, catty show (which I love in general), and if you're going to dispose of him, you should have spent more time on it. I was so disenchanted by this that I almost don't care about checking out Season 3.

Funny, suspenseful, overlong, self-indulgent, campy, nauseating, dull, insightful, and not as good as Night of the Living Dead. I guess I could get analytical on this and try to explain all these things, but for me they are all true, so it gets a balanced six-star rating. You'll have your own opinion. One thing: yep, malls in real life kinda are like zombie-land. The danger in going much deeper into sociological analysis is that the visual impact, and the almost surreal crazy-making soundtrack do a better job of making the point. It's a nihilistic film in some ways. Unlike in something like Truman Show, wherein there is a way out of zombie-hood, these characters just set up a play-land for themselves (who wouldn't?) and run away with nowhere else to really go. We're left, in the end, knowing that we either need to sell our souls to consumerism, or get slaughtered by it. If that's too depressing, we get some guts and stereotyped biker dudes to distract us. But I'm probably being a bit too hard. It's fun (should be shorter), but in my opinion, much overrated.

I'll say this: the acting was good.

Beyond that, I don't understand all the above-6 ratings this thing is getting.

1. Motivations are not believable. There is nothing compelling about the case in question that would realistically intrigue either Mulder or Scully enough to get involved.

2. This movie, apparently about the importance of belief, provides no reason for the existence of such a theme, teaches us nothing new about the theme, and even tosses in the importance of forgiveness, but only in a glossy way.

3. The bad guys are, frankly, ridiculous.

4. Here's the spoiler: this movie didn't EARN the two-headed dog.

5. Scully's sick kid and his family are merely props in Scully's "moral dilemma." This movie is a plot outline with dialog and scenery and absolutely zero depth and very little suspense. Glad y'all had fun watching it. Me, I want my ten bucks back.

Not sure what the point is here: cool graphics? This is a film with a child's fairy tale storyline and adult violence. Evil is pure evil, goodness is purely good. There is only one truly complex character in the film - looking out for the little girl though not believing in fairy tales, distrusting of the world, yet full of idealism and love.

Aside from adding realistic and violent imagery (in both the real and magical elements), I don't see that this is much of an update or significant (valuable) reworking of of a typical fairy tale. Perhaps it is in the ending where we get the true point: there is no hope in this world.

I, for one, don't buy it. And the cardboard cut-out characters who supposedly illustrate the point constitute the main problem. The film did nothing for me but leave me grumpy and feeling quite a bit cheated. All the great special effects and phenomenal acting simply serve to cheat us even further: it all serves the function of a facade. Strip it away and there's not much underneath. It is for this reason I am refusing to give this "bonus points" for all of it's excellent qualities. These are the very qualities that make the film that much more offensive.

After watching this, I have two conclusions: the time period in which this was made, immediately after the 50s, was not as idyllic a society as many seem to grieve. This was a sick, deluded world in which such a despicable film would be force fed to so many kids. Secondly, we've come a long way, except that black people are still often cast as the violent criminal in popular entertainment...just like in this one.

Important to watch if you are interested in how the media can be a factor in how the unthinking masses come to conclusions. I'm not sure I understand how this is averaging even 3 stars...I agree it's important to watch, but that doesn't make the film "good." Not even "okay." It's absolute rubbish. Even as propaganda, it's blown out of proportion, and the music is cheerful and inappropriate.