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And Lynn with a mostly dissenting view..
(Names have been forgotten to protect ... So this review relies on character descriptions) The Mother Of Us All was a great character. One of the best old ladies I've seen since Arsnic and Old Lace. She was the highpoint of the movie for me. The special effects were good, but repetitious. The action sequences were also good, but repetitious. I think that was mostly because of the special effects.
The movie is set in 2054. That is only 52 years from now. We will not have the World of Tomorrow in that time. This is a flaw the early SF writers made, too. They made the mistake because they were young. Teenagers think 50 years is an eternity. The filmmakers should have figured that one out in story boards. 2254 maybe.
The interaction between the Justice Department representative and Top Gun was very weak. I didn't believe for one moment that he was our bad guy. In fact, as a red herring, he was so weak, he completely disappeared for long stretches of the movie. I suspect this happened in the editing room in a brutal attempt to shorten the movie. There was a moment when it seemed I had finished one short story and started another in the same SF series.
This genre, predictably has an inside bad buy. The story has to provide several -- at least a handful -- of possibles. Early on, I had only two to choose from. The whacko who cared for the precogs and the Old Man Boss. I couldn't come up with a reasonable motive for whacko, so I went with the Old Man Boss. When the head of an organization of Good Guys goes bad, there aren't many standard plot reasons: personal power and idealism gone awry. The film made the second the all important one then threw the first one in at the end to help finish the movie.
I didn't figured out the motive details -- mostly because the only clue that mattered came late in the movie -- until the identity of Ms Drowning Victim as the precog's mother was revealed. But I knew the missing data streams put the whole program in jeopardy and the Old Man Boss couldn't deal with that. Obvious motive for him.
The scene with the disgraced plastic surgeon was very long and filled with completely irrelevant dialogue. The scene of rotten food, etc. was nothing but gross-factor. An attempt to make sure early teen boys tell their friends about it. Likewise the scene with Top Gun chasing his eyeballs down an incline. The audience had a little laugh at that at a point in the movie when tension should have been played up. BTW, a long dead eyeball would be completely useless with the recognition system.
The movie had a good philosophical point to make, though. When Top Gun was at the designated setup point and was about to kill the Harmless Bad Guy, he changed his mind. Ms. Precog told him he could choose. The future is not set (ala Matrix). I can't help but think it was there only to set up the weirdish suicide ending.
And speaking of our Precog. For the last 6 years, at least. Probably a couple more than that. She has been in a swimming pool, drugged and very inactive. She sure gets around well for a person who shouldn't be able to walk at all without months of serious, painful physical therapy.
Mr Top Gun seems to have exactly one character in his acting portfolio. He's got hammer down, but not every part is a nail.
I'm probably spoiled by Momento which was definitly NOT boilerplate suspense/mystery. Even with plot holes the size of football fields, The Matrix had better twists and turns.
(Names have been forgotten to protect ... So this review relies on character descriptions) The Mother Of Us All was a great character. One of the best old ladies I've seen since Arsnic and Old Lace. She was the highpoint of the movie for me. The special effects were good, but repetitious. The action sequences were also good, but repetitious. I think that was mostly because of the special effects.
The movie is set in 2054. That is only 52 years from now. We will not have the World of Tomorrow in that time. This is a flaw the early SF writers made, too. They made the mistake because they were young. Teenagers think 50 years is an eternity. The filmmakers should have figured that one out in story boards. 2254 maybe.
The interaction between the Justice Department representative and Top Gun was very weak. I didn't believe for one moment that he was our bad guy. In fact, as a red herring, he was so weak, he completely disappeared for long stretches of the movie. I suspect this happened in the editing room in a brutal attempt to shorten the movie. There was a moment when it seemed I had finished one short story and started another in the same SF series.
This genre, predictably has an inside bad buy. The story has to provide several -- at least a handful -- of possibles. Early on, I had only two to choose from. The whacko who cared for the precogs and the Old Man Boss. I couldn't come up with a reasonable motive for whacko, so I went with the Old Man Boss. When the head of an organization of Good Guys goes bad, there aren't many standard plot reasons: personal power and idealism gone awry. The film made the second the all important one then threw the first one in at the end to help finish the movie.
I didn't figured out the motive details -- mostly because the only clue that mattered came late in the movie -- until the identity of Ms Drowning Victim as the precog's mother was revealed. But I knew the missing data streams put the whole program in jeopardy and the Old Man Boss couldn't deal with that. Obvious motive for him.
The scene with the disgraced plastic surgeon was very long and filled with completely irrelevant dialogue. The scene of rotten food, etc. was nothing but gross-factor. An attempt to make sure early teen boys tell their friends about it. Likewise the scene with Top Gun chasing his eyeballs down an incline. The audience had a little laugh at that at a point in the movie when tension should have been played up. BTW, a long dead eyeball would be completely useless with the recognition system.
The movie had a good philosophical point to make, though. When Top Gun was at the designated setup point and was about to kill the Harmless Bad Guy, he changed his mind. Ms. Precog told him he could choose. The future is not set (ala Matrix). I can't help but think it was there only to set up the weirdish suicide ending.
And speaking of our Precog. For the last 6 years, at least. Probably a couple more than that. She has been in a swimming pool, drugged and very inactive. She sure gets around well for a person who shouldn't be able to walk at all without months of serious, painful physical therapy.
Mr Top Gun seems to have exactly one character in his acting portfolio. He's got hammer down, but not every part is a nail.
I'm probably spoiled by Momento which was definitly NOT boilerplate suspense/mystery. Even with plot holes the size of football fields, The Matrix had better twists and turns.
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Re:
The movie that did that well was Mission Impossible. They broke into the pentagon without using any "I used to work here" security holes.
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