Yeah, it was awesome. Every bit as awesome as I wanted it to be. I'm a happy, geeky movie fan right now. But the problem is, I don't want to say too much; you're going to have to take my word for it.
I don't know how much reviews or commercials have given away about this movie - I've been on Media Blackout since Comic-Con. And at Comic-Con we saw a lot of what happened in the movie -- stuff the trailers never gave away. But even though I knew some of what would probably have been a really, really hella kick-ass surprise, I'm still fine with knowing it in advance because it got me all the more excited to finally see it.
Vague review is vague. So I'll just say the style of this film blew my mind. When I left I felt all disoriented because I'd swear I was really there, in South Africa, in the alien slums, in the firefights. Some of it was documentary-style, some of it had a real first-person feel. And none of it looked fake. I'm telling you -- it seemed so real. There are entire scenes with aliens talking/interacting with humans, and the aliens seemed very real. And these aren't even humanoid aliens - they're called "prawns" because that's what they look like. And they don't speak English - everything is subtitled. And yet even with all of that, they seemed very real. So I'd say that's a feat right there. I think these aliens were even more realistic than Gollum.
The lead actor in this - a total unknown and, if I remember correctly from Comic-Con, a relatively inexperienced actor - is amazing. Sharlto Copley really captures the transformation of this mild-mannered, kind of geeky government official who discovers what's really happening to the aliens, and just... it's amazing. The ordeal his character goes through over the course of this film is part of why I got so sucked in and forgot where I was. It's great stuff. He should be nominated for an Oscar.
This has got to be the most visually-stunning, inventive, awe-inspiring, intense movie of the year. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Ebert.
No comments:
Post a Comment