thousandisland
Joined Jun 2000
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Reviews90
thousandisland's rating
I've figured it out. The fans are so loyal to this franchise now that they can't bear to speak an ill word about it, even though we now have TWO sequels that absolutely suck. Most of the negative reviews have mentioned the serious problems in this one, and they are very obvious, but I will summarize:
*Way too many characters and different ship crews, all with different motives. Impossible to follow or keep track of. Who is with whom? And why?
*No character development. There isn't much dialogue, period, but no one really learns anything or does anything interesting. Elizabeth is the same brilliant swordsman and pirate that she was (inexplicably) in the second one, and Will is still hardly in the movie at all, and has no interesting scenes. Then there are all the new characters like the Singapore pirates and the new English officers, whom we never learn anything about. They have no character whatsoever and I didn't even know their names by the end of the movie.
*Calypso... What a retarded plot device. No one cares about this character or knows anything about her. Half the time you can't even understand what she's saying, because of the accent. Then she turns into crabs and disappears; the whole thing was built up to be important, but actually it does nothing and is pointless.
*Confusing elements. There is no explanation for how Barbossa came back to life. Like a lot of the bizarre stuff in this movie, it is just assumed to be the case, and it is not questioned by anyone or seen as unusual. The new British naval officers in particular, are totally emotionless and don't find it remarkable to be working with undead mutant pirates. It's just like any other day.
*Not fun. Even if it doesn't have distinct humor, a movie like this should have charm and flavor like the first one did. But this is just dark all over with almost no fun moments. Sparrow is the only character who has any real life in him, and they milk that at the expense of everyone else. Even the enjoyable culture clash between Elizabeth, Will, and the pirates is totally gone now, because they are all pirates and act like they always have been, so there is no variety in character types.
I didn't walk out, because I was expecting it to get better at any moment, but it never did. There were maybe 2-3 good scenes in the whole movie. The rest of it was just mindless and overblown, and often very long. I am also surprised that it squeaked by with a PG-13, as it is the most violent so far and has one particularly disgusting and graphic scene. It is so weird how this stuff is considered "ok" for little kids, when the same content in any other live action genre would be out of the question.
Even weirder... Can kids really sit through this?? At my showing, even the adults were restless and clearly not entertained by this long and confusing saga. I would think anyone under 10 would be crying or begging to leave, purely out of boredom.
At the end of it, there is a pretty distinct setup for another sequel. I will definitely be skipping any more to come.
*Way too many characters and different ship crews, all with different motives. Impossible to follow or keep track of. Who is with whom? And why?
*No character development. There isn't much dialogue, period, but no one really learns anything or does anything interesting. Elizabeth is the same brilliant swordsman and pirate that she was (inexplicably) in the second one, and Will is still hardly in the movie at all, and has no interesting scenes. Then there are all the new characters like the Singapore pirates and the new English officers, whom we never learn anything about. They have no character whatsoever and I didn't even know their names by the end of the movie.
*Calypso... What a retarded plot device. No one cares about this character or knows anything about her. Half the time you can't even understand what she's saying, because of the accent. Then she turns into crabs and disappears; the whole thing was built up to be important, but actually it does nothing and is pointless.
*Confusing elements. There is no explanation for how Barbossa came back to life. Like a lot of the bizarre stuff in this movie, it is just assumed to be the case, and it is not questioned by anyone or seen as unusual. The new British naval officers in particular, are totally emotionless and don't find it remarkable to be working with undead mutant pirates. It's just like any other day.
*Not fun. Even if it doesn't have distinct humor, a movie like this should have charm and flavor like the first one did. But this is just dark all over with almost no fun moments. Sparrow is the only character who has any real life in him, and they milk that at the expense of everyone else. Even the enjoyable culture clash between Elizabeth, Will, and the pirates is totally gone now, because they are all pirates and act like they always have been, so there is no variety in character types.
I didn't walk out, because I was expecting it to get better at any moment, but it never did. There were maybe 2-3 good scenes in the whole movie. The rest of it was just mindless and overblown, and often very long. I am also surprised that it squeaked by with a PG-13, as it is the most violent so far and has one particularly disgusting and graphic scene. It is so weird how this stuff is considered "ok" for little kids, when the same content in any other live action genre would be out of the question.
Even weirder... Can kids really sit through this?? At my showing, even the adults were restless and clearly not entertained by this long and confusing saga. I would think anyone under 10 would be crying or begging to leave, purely out of boredom.
At the end of it, there is a pretty distinct setup for another sequel. I will definitely be skipping any more to come.
This film proves what little we already know about wildlife: 99% of the time, it will leave you alone as long as you don't harass it, but the 1% is a differential that ends with you screaming and some guy finding your arm later.
It also proves that we know even less about human nature than we do about bears, as Tim Treadwell is a mystery even to his own species.
It's obvious that he has some kind of disorder or drug-related brain damage, what with his extreme lability of mood, delusions of identity, neurotic and repetitive speech patterns, and general paranoia about the activities of his fellow humans. He knows a lot of interesting people, from his geeky friends who state the mundane as though it is profound ("I don't think he had a death wish at all." "I don't think anyone really deserves to be eaten alive by a bear."), to the Friend/Actor who is not even believable when portraying himself, to his very ordinary parents who are just as confused by him as we are.
In this film, we learn that Treadwell switches addictions from alcohol to bears, and descends into functional madness while attempting to integrate himself into their "secret, inner world." He is paradoxical throughout, both disliking humans and yearning for a love relationship, being fully aware of the dangers that the bears pose, but doing nothing to protect himself from them. (Well, he is fatalistic in his devotion to them, but seems to think that they will not harm him as long as he behaves properly around them. That an older, aggressive bear could become hunger-crazed enough to attack him indiscriminately seems beyond his scope.) At times he shows a thorough understanding of animal behavior and the natural world, at other times a grand ignorance of the reality of life in the wilderness. He seems forever stymied trying to enforce human concepts like justice and righteousness upon the jungle. His sentimentality with the bears and perceived relationships there show in stark relief when the animals display constant indifference or even aggression, and when it is clear that some near-altercation with them has occurred off-camera.
In the end, he is really no more successful with bears than he is with people, understanding the basic rules but never seeing the whole picture in clarity enough to know how to avoid crashing and burning.
Perhaps most indicative of his dysfunction is how he responds to the fond relationship he develops with the foxes, who actively play with him and seek his company and interaction. While he loves them, they are but a footnote on his path to destruction; he prefers the ambiguous and imagined affection from the dangerous bears, to the foxes' genuine displays of it.
"Grizzly Man" is not about a man at all; it is a sad, true story about a wayward being without a species.
On this journey, the audience meets a lot of bears that look alike but who we know were distinct to Treadwell, a creepy coroner who is probably not acting, and a slew of observers who all have their own biased and often badly distorted views of "what really happened." In the creamy middle is the quirky pilot who knew Treadwell best, and the director himself, the voice of reason in this well-crafted work.
The moral: Van Halen was right. "It's business as usual in the woods." Animals make sense; it's people that don't.
It also proves that we know even less about human nature than we do about bears, as Tim Treadwell is a mystery even to his own species.
It's obvious that he has some kind of disorder or drug-related brain damage, what with his extreme lability of mood, delusions of identity, neurotic and repetitive speech patterns, and general paranoia about the activities of his fellow humans. He knows a lot of interesting people, from his geeky friends who state the mundane as though it is profound ("I don't think he had a death wish at all." "I don't think anyone really deserves to be eaten alive by a bear."), to the Friend/Actor who is not even believable when portraying himself, to his very ordinary parents who are just as confused by him as we are.
In this film, we learn that Treadwell switches addictions from alcohol to bears, and descends into functional madness while attempting to integrate himself into their "secret, inner world." He is paradoxical throughout, both disliking humans and yearning for a love relationship, being fully aware of the dangers that the bears pose, but doing nothing to protect himself from them. (Well, he is fatalistic in his devotion to them, but seems to think that they will not harm him as long as he behaves properly around them. That an older, aggressive bear could become hunger-crazed enough to attack him indiscriminately seems beyond his scope.) At times he shows a thorough understanding of animal behavior and the natural world, at other times a grand ignorance of the reality of life in the wilderness. He seems forever stymied trying to enforce human concepts like justice and righteousness upon the jungle. His sentimentality with the bears and perceived relationships there show in stark relief when the animals display constant indifference or even aggression, and when it is clear that some near-altercation with them has occurred off-camera.
In the end, he is really no more successful with bears than he is with people, understanding the basic rules but never seeing the whole picture in clarity enough to know how to avoid crashing and burning.
Perhaps most indicative of his dysfunction is how he responds to the fond relationship he develops with the foxes, who actively play with him and seek his company and interaction. While he loves them, they are but a footnote on his path to destruction; he prefers the ambiguous and imagined affection from the dangerous bears, to the foxes' genuine displays of it.
"Grizzly Man" is not about a man at all; it is a sad, true story about a wayward being without a species.
On this journey, the audience meets a lot of bears that look alike but who we know were distinct to Treadwell, a creepy coroner who is probably not acting, and a slew of observers who all have their own biased and often badly distorted views of "what really happened." In the creamy middle is the quirky pilot who knew Treadwell best, and the director himself, the voice of reason in this well-crafted work.
The moral: Van Halen was right. "It's business as usual in the woods." Animals make sense; it's people that don't.