Post by Quorthon on Feb 14, 2006 11:22:20 GMT -5
Elephant
Drama
2003
Color
MPAA Rating: R
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
USA
Capitalizing on the wealth of American teenagers gunning each other down in school is the movie Elephant. Throughout then entire movie, I never once figured out exactly where the hell that name came from, but it's there and so be it.
Elephant is a story which revolves around a high school wherein two students take the initiative to purchase guns and have at their fellow classmates. That's really about it. Not much else happens the whole time.
Here’s the breakdown:
The Good:
--Pretty often, the acting and dialog is about what one expects from singluarly minded high school students. Banter about how someone's parents are "bitches," or ridiculing the frumpy girl, or talking about shopping. What have you. So, the teenagers are pretty believable.
--Interesting idea, and mind you, fairly daring.
--Chock this one up high on the scale of "let's make an arty film." It is pretty artsy, but while that does give the film some appeal, it doesn't save the damn thing.
Didn’t Hurt It, Didn’t Help:
--Decent atmosphere.
--Decent suspense at times.
--Generally decent cinematography.
The Bad:
--Interesting idea? Poor execution. Here's why:
--In a movie that tackles students gunning each other down, character development is a high priority. Well, you'd think so wouldn't you? Well, the filmmakers pretty much glazed over that here. We're introduced to about a dozen characters, and we never really get to know any of them. Even the roles they play in the school shooting are often ignored. One, the token black kid, is actually gunned down mere moments after we learn his name. So what then is the point?
--Wildly vague in telling us how and why the two gunners do what they do. We see one playing Beethoven (that song is easily the best part of the film, Moonlight Sonata) and we see one playing what appears to be the most absurd and pointless video game on the planet. Oh, and they're gay for each other. That's about all the depth we have with them. And while that's more than any of the other characters, it's still not enough. The movie "Bully," which I consider to be largely a waste of time, did manage to stick more depth into the characters than this film.
--The absurdity of the video game: He walks around. He shoots people. In a plain white/light grey arena with no boundaries or walls and the victims spawn randomly. Personally, I'm really fed up with this idea that violent video games (many of which I quite enjoy) are just "walk and gun" kinds of shit. That's boring. Incredibly boring. Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat are two of the most controversial games in history due to their rampant violence, but there's an immense wealth of depth buried in those games besides just killing people. No kid will ever play a video game, regardless of the violence, if it's as boring as watching shit dry in an open field.
--During the fires the antagonists set and the gun play, the "panic" from the other students is pathetically minimal. There's simply no tension during these scenes. The black kid walks around as though he's king of the damn school and shows no fear at all, including when he's shot.
--Some confusing continuity moments.
--Extensive focus on some rather unimportant characters and shots.
--Some room-temperature acting abilities.
--Very little actual story and really no plot at all. Just a series of events prior to a bunch of shooting.
The Ugly:
--Endless amount of time spent just following kids as they walk the halls going from one place to another. It did help slightly in conveying the story and continuity points in the fact that the first half of the film was edited in the "random shots from all three acts spliced together randomly" style that we had in "21 Grams." But there's so much time spent just watching kids walking the halls, that the movie is really a short film stretched out to feature-length proportions. Very boring throughout most of the film.
--Very simply, and yes, I am saying this again: Not enough character development or depth.
Memorable Scene:
--The "valley girls" bathroom scene after they eat their lunch consisting of several ounces of lettuce.
Acting: 7/10
Story: 5/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Character Development: 2/10
Special Effects/Make-up: 6/10 (just bullet-hits)
Nudity/Sexuality: 2/10 (just sexuality)
Violence: 4/10
Gore: 1/10 (just blood)
Dialog: 7/10
Music: 2/10 (Only Moonlight Sonata was really good)
Direction: 2/10
Cheesiness: 3/10
Crappiness: 6/10
Overall: 4/10
Overall, a pretty disappointing piece. Almost no character development, and a lot of boring moments. Nice, daring idea--but one that fell well short of what it could've been.
Drama
2003
Color
MPAA Rating: R
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
USA
Capitalizing on the wealth of American teenagers gunning each other down in school is the movie Elephant. Throughout then entire movie, I never once figured out exactly where the hell that name came from, but it's there and so be it.
Elephant is a story which revolves around a high school wherein two students take the initiative to purchase guns and have at their fellow classmates. That's really about it. Not much else happens the whole time.
Here’s the breakdown:
The Good:
--Pretty often, the acting and dialog is about what one expects from singluarly minded high school students. Banter about how someone's parents are "bitches," or ridiculing the frumpy girl, or talking about shopping. What have you. So, the teenagers are pretty believable.
--Interesting idea, and mind you, fairly daring.
--Chock this one up high on the scale of "let's make an arty film." It is pretty artsy, but while that does give the film some appeal, it doesn't save the damn thing.
Didn’t Hurt It, Didn’t Help:
--Decent atmosphere.
--Decent suspense at times.
--Generally decent cinematography.
The Bad:
--Interesting idea? Poor execution. Here's why:
--In a movie that tackles students gunning each other down, character development is a high priority. Well, you'd think so wouldn't you? Well, the filmmakers pretty much glazed over that here. We're introduced to about a dozen characters, and we never really get to know any of them. Even the roles they play in the school shooting are often ignored. One, the token black kid, is actually gunned down mere moments after we learn his name. So what then is the point?
--Wildly vague in telling us how and why the two gunners do what they do. We see one playing Beethoven (that song is easily the best part of the film, Moonlight Sonata) and we see one playing what appears to be the most absurd and pointless video game on the planet. Oh, and they're gay for each other. That's about all the depth we have with them. And while that's more than any of the other characters, it's still not enough. The movie "Bully," which I consider to be largely a waste of time, did manage to stick more depth into the characters than this film.
--The absurdity of the video game: He walks around. He shoots people. In a plain white/light grey arena with no boundaries or walls and the victims spawn randomly. Personally, I'm really fed up with this idea that violent video games (many of which I quite enjoy) are just "walk and gun" kinds of shit. That's boring. Incredibly boring. Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat are two of the most controversial games in history due to their rampant violence, but there's an immense wealth of depth buried in those games besides just killing people. No kid will ever play a video game, regardless of the violence, if it's as boring as watching shit dry in an open field.
--During the fires the antagonists set and the gun play, the "panic" from the other students is pathetically minimal. There's simply no tension during these scenes. The black kid walks around as though he's king of the damn school and shows no fear at all, including when he's shot.
--Some confusing continuity moments.
--Extensive focus on some rather unimportant characters and shots.
--Some room-temperature acting abilities.
--Very little actual story and really no plot at all. Just a series of events prior to a bunch of shooting.
The Ugly:
--Endless amount of time spent just following kids as they walk the halls going from one place to another. It did help slightly in conveying the story and continuity points in the fact that the first half of the film was edited in the "random shots from all three acts spliced together randomly" style that we had in "21 Grams." But there's so much time spent just watching kids walking the halls, that the movie is really a short film stretched out to feature-length proportions. Very boring throughout most of the film.
--Very simply, and yes, I am saying this again: Not enough character development or depth.
Memorable Scene:
--The "valley girls" bathroom scene after they eat their lunch consisting of several ounces of lettuce.
Acting: 7/10
Story: 5/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Character Development: 2/10
Special Effects/Make-up: 6/10 (just bullet-hits)
Nudity/Sexuality: 2/10 (just sexuality)
Violence: 4/10
Gore: 1/10 (just blood)
Dialog: 7/10
Music: 2/10 (Only Moonlight Sonata was really good)
Direction: 2/10
Cheesiness: 3/10
Crappiness: 6/10
Overall: 4/10
Overall, a pretty disappointing piece. Almost no character development, and a lot of boring moments. Nice, daring idea--but one that fell well short of what it could've been.
