Hmmm … toughie. I don’t know what I can say of this one without seeing it again, and I don’t know how long it will take me to see it a second time so I feel like I have to find at least something to say about it now, which is hard. All I can do is to respond to two of the main criticisms I’ve read in various places of the movie – that it’s not Donnie Darko (director Richard Kelly’s previous work), and that it’s pretty much nonsensical. To which I’d say: if you really like Darko (that is, if you thought the “director’s cut” was a cinematic crime that should by rights have prevented Kelly from ever getting behind a camera again; but that the theatrical cut is a masterpiece that gets better every time you see it), then I can’t understand why in the world you wouldn’t at least get something from these weird couple of hours. There are even some visual and thematic parallels to sink your teeth into, nevermind the fact that it is simply a similarly unique vision.

As to the nonsensical thing … actually, though I couldn’t possibly relate the story to you here without, like I said, seeing it again, I know deep down that it makes perfect sense. At the least it feels like it made sense to the person it came from, which to me is often all that matters. It’s a lot more consistent than some will have you believe; even than the title implies, there aren’t that many “tales” or storylines to keep tabs on here. There are some killer laughs and some killer moments. And I just get excited everytime I get unexpected Miranda Richardson these days lol I still haven’t implemented half hearts in the ratings here … it’s a very high three I’m giving it. If nothing else, it’s surely both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Dwayne Johnson’s most ambitious work … probably the most ambitious they’ll ever be given this project’s success … it’s very sad to see Johnson on the chat shows this week promoting The Game Plan and not this.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 4:00 am in 3 hearts, Movie Reviews and tagged as apocalyptic, surreal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.