Post by George Willson on Dec 7, 2005 3:55:48 GMT -5
The primary reason I got this movie was to see Daniel Craig (the next James Bond) play in a film that might fit the Bond chops. Well, this film didn't exactly.
This was more of a wannabe thriller than an action movie, and it was all about cheering for the drug dealers. The literary source material was clear in the writing since there were a wealth of characters, and they were all really well fleshed out. Parts of it ran a little confusing at times, and who Dragon is was never fully explained, though I believe I caught the implication.
But when there are so many characters, some get less screentime than others, which simply feels odd at times. There was a love interest, but she barely got 5 minutes. There was a plot to rescue some runaway, that was only just touched on a few times before we went back to the main plot. I don't think the resolution to that plot was ever given.
While the story's resolution was very clever and appropriate to the feel of the story, thinking back over the whole thing just leaves a lot of question marks. Not really so much that there are plot holes, just weird curiosities left open by the sheer wealth of characters and activity that went on. The movie needed to be longer to get it all in. I actually read the first draft of the screenplay was 408 pages...yeah, not that long, but they could have shot for the two hour mark, at least.
Overall, it was a decent flick with lots of plot and characters, but really too big for its britches, and I disliked the ending to boot.
This was more of a wannabe thriller than an action movie, and it was all about cheering for the drug dealers. The literary source material was clear in the writing since there were a wealth of characters, and they were all really well fleshed out. Parts of it ran a little confusing at times, and who Dragon is was never fully explained, though I believe I caught the implication.
But when there are so many characters, some get less screentime than others, which simply feels odd at times. There was a love interest, but she barely got 5 minutes. There was a plot to rescue some runaway, that was only just touched on a few times before we went back to the main plot. I don't think the resolution to that plot was ever given.
While the story's resolution was very clever and appropriate to the feel of the story, thinking back over the whole thing just leaves a lot of question marks. Not really so much that there are plot holes, just weird curiosities left open by the sheer wealth of characters and activity that went on. The movie needed to be longer to get it all in. I actually read the first draft of the screenplay was 408 pages...yeah, not that long, but they could have shot for the two hour mark, at least.
Overall, it was a decent flick with lots of plot and characters, but really too big for its britches, and I disliked the ending to boot.