Reviews

Timothy Treadwell is surely one of Herzog's greatest unintentionally comedic documentary subjects. This film is a testament to the depths of human ignorance and stupidity. Treadwell is the poster boy for a life out of control, and certainly not in touch with the nature he claimed to know and love. Watch this movie and then go look up your favorite Darwin Award winners! Don't be fooled, this movie is not about the bears, it is about one man's struggle with his own sanity. What is most disturbing is not the fact that Treadwell and his girlfriend died as a result of his fanatical obsession, but that people can actually come to his defense at all.

Malick is true to form in this, his latest and greatest cinematic offering. I have chosen to award this film with the most symbolic rating, a 3. Three. Let us pause to reflect. Three is the way the thesis meets the antithesis and becomes synthesis! Three is the way the liminal is whole, becomes separate seeker, and is reintegrated back into society! Three is the highest, most representative and appropriate rating I am willing to give for such a mewling, self-indulgent, disjointed and pretentious piece of crap of a movie since the Thin Red Line. Oh wait, Malick did that one too. Imagine that. Visually stunning, careful and methodic. Malick brings a poet's sense of tone and a philosopher's pointlessness to his audience. Oh, no, it's not that I didn't "get it," or thought it was overlong or boring. Quite the contrary. I knew exactly what I was watching chapter/verse, metaphor/meaning, as I would know the repeated beating of a Powhatan war club to my brain. Who were the Powhatan? Well, you wouldn't know by watching this movie that's for sure! No, while the movie was mytho-historically, culturally and in all other ways mundanely accurate, it was to my way of thinking a near total waste of celluloid and low, low expectations. Did I say totally meaningful and overly creative at the expense of cohesion and story content? If you are looking to see some amazing actors and wasted talent, beautiful imagery and beat-you-over-the-head artistic form for the already pretentious - please go see this movie. I don't hate this movie. Really. How could I? I gave it a three.

Okay, all things considered, this movie delivers on a number of issues. There were some good performances from Fenn, Roberts and Stockwell. The dialogue was realistic. Writing was good considering the low budget. The research of the subject matter was excellent! It's just too bad that larger budgets won't support such treatments of well established UFO mythology. This one pretty much got it right, though it relied a little heavily on "big movie" gratuities, such as big explosions, high speed action. Overall, the movie was good and is a great addition to the lackluster treatment of UFO lore by Hollywood to date.

Overall, I was impressed by a number of things. Good casting, pretty good writing, some fine acting from Fenn, Roberts and Stockwell. The lead MIB was well done indeed! Really captures the heart of MIB lore - these folks really did their research (a rarity with these kinds of films, as you know). It's just too bad that this kind of film doesent deserve a larger budget. I give it a solid B!

I'm a huge fan of the Raimi films, of course, but the reason I loved this film is more sublime. I did some acting work with Brian (the star of Stryker's War) a while back and for me it was like watching a pal on the big screen. It was at a cast party and we all sat back, groaned and howled with laughter. What an awesome stinker of a film, it was marvelous! He shared stories of working with Raimi, Campbell and others we have all come to know and love. I'm from Michigan myself, and we are all very proud of this crew. What a great legacy for Michigan! Go see this movie, you just might regret and love it.