Reviews

Major, gaping, glaring, sucking plot holes. The only thing I hate worse than a bad movie, is a bad movie that could have easily been good. This is a shining example. The basic premise is good, the setup is well-done, the characters are interesting, the acting is competent. And the thing is as full of plot holes as the precinct building was by the end of the movie. I won't re-hash them here; see the thread "Why this movie didn't work... let me count the ways..." in the message board for this film. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0398712/board/nest/38130592

The real shame is, those holes could have *easily* been plugged. A little extra thought, a little less laziness and "Eh, the stupid moviegoers won't notice," and it could have been a really good (if perhaps a bit formulaic) movie.

First, let me say that there is first-rate acting all around in this show. Sutherland and everyone else do a marvelous job. There are some interesting characters, well-written. And the format, of course, is the inspired part.

But it's as if they spent their whole inspiration budget on that; overall, the show is rather lame. I'm sure it's a tremendous challenge to stretch a single story over 24 hours, keep it consistent and believable and keep the suspense up. Unfortunately, it appears they were not up to the challenge. The plot just gets stretched way too thin, and of course when you stretch something that thin, holes start showing up.

One of the biggest distractions for me was how well-prepared the bad guys were for contingencies they had no idea would happen. I just can't imagine Gaines saying, "OK, Kevin, as soon as these punk kids have the girls, you need to kill her father and pretend to be him, just in case Janet escapes and gets hit by a car and goes to the hospital in critical condition but survives, you can be in the hospital and kill her." I don't think so.

Nina helped way too much all through the show for her to have turned out to be the mole. When she took Kim and Terri to the safe house, she easily could have killed the two agents and then killed the women.

Kim gets kidnapped. Kim escapes. Kim is recaptured. Kim is rescued. Kim is re-captured.....

One of the worst Exploding Car Scenes I've ever seen. A car rolls 20 feet down a soft embankment....and explodes. Of course. I've never understood why people in movies and TV shows carry around raw nitroglycerin in their cars.

This and much more.

But I was willing to overlook all these, until the end. Nina killing Terri was the next to the last straw. After that, I probably wouldn't have watched any more, but I might have. The *last* straw was the EP's lame excuse for why they did it.

There was exactly one rest point in the first season, and that's when the women are rescued from Gaines. I can understand keeping the suspense up all the way through; it's a suspense show. And they do that very well. But at the end you have to give the characters (and the viewers) a rest and a win.

This really is a good movie, but it's not a great movie. Any movie has goofs, but this one has some that are just plain sloppy (e.g. Constance talking without her mouth moving). I figured out the ending very early on (in all fairness I knew from the DVD package that there was "a surprise ending," so I was looking for it, but I still think it was pretty obvious). The car trouble sub-plot was distracting; as a plot device to impede her getting to the prison on time, it really didn't need that much setup. The whole production had a kind of lazy, haphazard feel to it.

But don't get me wrong; as I said, it really is a good movie. The story is interesting. The acting is well done, the characters well-developed, believable and likable. The sets and locations were all well done. I'm not at all sorry I watched it. With a little effort it could have been a great movie, but as it is, it's just good.

(SPOILERS herein) I really looked forward to seeing this film, as I had heard it followed the book more closely than anything previously. I suppose it did, but for Pete's sake, why can't Hollywood just tell a story? What the hell was the deal with the ripping-the-heart-out-and-reanimation crap? I didn't mind that they didn't kill off Henry, and I didn't mind how they shortcut Justine's death -- it made it slightly less tragic, a little less painful. There were 2 or 3 "Huh??!!" moments throughout the film, but nothing too awfully distracting. But then I guess KB decided Mrs. Shelley's ending wasn't quite Hollywood enough, and needed a little more flash and gore.

Overall, the film is very patchy. There are some very good moments, probably even the majority, but they are jarringly interspersed with moments ranging from mediocre to appalling. Too bad. Hopefully some day someone will really tell this story properly on film.

Here's some advice to future filmmakers: it's a *tragedy*. Don't try to gloss it over. If you want to make a film of this story, ignore everything that's been done before, just read the book and keep that in mind. I was quite impressed with De Niro's portrayal of the creature. That was the one point I was most dubious about going into it, but I should have known better. If you can get someone like him, you're good in that department. Don't cast your girlfriend as Elizabeth, unless she truly can portray the grace and elegance of Shelley's Elizabeth, rather than the edgy, grating portrayal here. Be sure you hire a good editor; this film could have been greatly helped with one. And above, all *tell the story*! Don't fiddle with it. I know you can't cover every little detail, but you can keep the integrity.

** SPOILER*SPOILER*SPOILER **

This was a fantastic movie, up until the end. They spend the whole movie telling us you can do something about it. You can make a difference in the world. You can help people.

Then at the end they shrug and say, "Of course, if you do, you'll die."

The director blabbers about, "Well, the boy had to die because this wasn't a movie about the three of them making a family, it was about an idea....blah, blah blah." What a load of BS!

There used to be a TV show on called "Quantum Leap". I loved it, except it had this same unspoken moral: that in order to do anything for others, you have to sacrifice yourself. Or, to put it another way, unless you're willing to give up everything, you *can't* make a difference in the world. You *can't* help people.

BAH!!!!!

What a load of horse-hooey.

Listen: you can make a difference in the world. You can help people. You can do something about it. And you don't have to sacrifice anything except the effort of doing it, which is more than paid back by the satisfaction of knowing you *did* something, rather than just sitting around whining.

This movie spends its whole time and effort putting forth an idea - a very excellent idea - and then, at the end, stabs it in the gut with a knife. Change the ending, and you have a fantastic movie. As it is, it's crap.

Do yourself a favor. If you watch this movie, look for the scene where Arlene and Eugene kiss by the lockers after Trevor's interview. Stop there, and think "Wow, what a great movie," and leave it at that. Then go out and help someone.