"You can't indict the cosmos"
That's a great line from an almost great film. I did some reading on this one, and people have dictated that bad timing and worse marketing are the reason it failed. A wonderful movie didn't get its due. So I wanted to see it, and I was on board as it unspooled.
Goddamn third act problems.
The Empty Man has a killer 20 minute intro that's exciting, creepy, and suspenseful as hell.
Then we jump forward to present day, and we appear to be in a pretty slick urban legend setting that has set pieces galore, great acting, and really tight direction. There are truly great moments.
The end results of this urban legend nightmare leads us onto a mystery that has even more moments, a few capable of raising some goosebumps on both arms, while making you guess as to what's going on here along with our intrepid investigator. Is there some sort of evil at work here, or just a bunch of weirdos inflicting damage for a mysterious reason??
Then.....
then....
A final 15 minutes unwinds with what I suppose the director thinks is arty editing, but all it does is confuse you. You pretty much get the big picture, but the hows, and the goddamn whys are completely buried or missing. And also, the biggest question mark: What is the point of the whole thing? That goes unanswered.
What is the ultimate goal of This Empty Bastard and his cult of empty dipshits?
Again. There's a big difference between ambiguous and confusing; I've stated that here before.
There's nothing more disappointing than when a filmmaker has laid out a multi-level story, strung with creepy moments, great visuals, complex world-building and really damn good acting.
Just to pull down his underoos and shit all over the damn thing.
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