As if we needed any further proof that the producers and creative minds behind the Halloween franchise had no idea what they had on their hands with the character of Michael Myers, here comes Halloween: Resurrection. Through five out of six sequels so far, they've kept confusing the poor guy with the countless other masked killers he had originally inspired, treating him like a mindless monster who just kills anyone he crosses with neither rhyme nor reason. And they do it again, more egregiously, with this one. But it just isn't so.
Michael Myers is obsessed with teenage girls. He was probably infatuated with his older sister in the weeks and months leading up to her murder. When he escapes from Smith's Grove in 1978, he fixates on high schooler Laurie Strode and spends all day stalking her, toying with her, putting into action a plan he's been thinking about for fifteen years. Whether or not they are siblings is immaterial; it's the idea of hunting a female teenager, one that he chooses, that gets his rocks off. The dude's a creep!
But ok, let's say they're siblings, since this is the canon that H:R works with. Michael finds Laurie at Grace Andersen Sanitarium and finally kills her. Job done. What's next? There are two choices, as I see it: either he retires, having no further motivation (unless he wants to go after Josh Hartnett's character from H20, but that wouldn't fit his MO); or he finds a new teenage girl to obsess over and pursue.
Incredibly, H:R chooses neither of these paths. Instead, they give Michael the same motivation as Jason Voorhees: a bunch of teenagers invade his home, and he dispatches them one by one because... well, because they're there. He doesn't fixate on any of them. He doesn't single any one of them out. The final girl is the "final girl" for no reason other than she's the last one standing. It's a waste and betrayal of what makes Michael tick. Again, it's like none of the caretakers of the Halloween brand understand anything. Or care. (I'm looking at you, Moustapha Akkad! RIP.)
There is also a fair amount of character assassination in this movie. At one point, Busta Rhymes's character Freddy chides Michael Myers to his face... and Michael just stands there and takes it! Then Freddy tells him to leave... and Michael obeys! Let's not even get into the kung-fu showdown or the infamous "trick-or-treat" line or the ol' live-wire-to-the-family-jewels moments. Disgraceful, despicable treatment of the king of the slashers. Shame on everyone involved in this mess.
Everyone, that is, except Busta Rhymes. His character of Freddy might stick out like a sore thumb, but he's the one character in the whole thing with any personality. His description of Michael Myers as "a killer shark in baggy-*ss overalls" is one of the funniest lines in the entire series. He's awful, but at least he's entertaining. Everyone else is just bland, uninspiring knife-fodder. This isn't the actors' fault; I blame the scriptwriters, the director and especially the producers (who should have known better!).
H20 was a fitting swan song to the Michael-Laurie story. Bringing the Shape back for H:R in such a contrived, cynical way after promising to kill him off in the last picture was a knife in the back. No wonder this movie flopped!
Halloween: Resurrection is not as inept as Halloween 5, and I would argue it's not as disappointing as Halloween Ends because you get exactly what you expect going into it... if what you expect is a poorly executed, by-the-numbers slasher flick with a mostly forgettable cast and a copy of a copy of a copy of a once-great villain that undoes all the goodwill of the previous picture.
Unsurprisingly, the script for H:R was an original story that they repurposed into a Halloween movie. This would explain why it is so unrelated to anything else in the franchise. They tried sticking a square peg into a round hole, and the results speak for themselves.
Michael Myers is obsessed with teenage girls. He was probably infatuated with his older sister in the weeks and months leading up to her murder. When he escapes from Smith's Grove in 1978, he fixates on high schooler Laurie Strode and spends all day stalking her, toying with her, putting into action a plan he's been thinking about for fifteen years. Whether or not they are siblings is immaterial; it's the idea of hunting a female teenager, one that he chooses, that gets his rocks off. The dude's a creep!
But ok, let's say they're siblings, since this is the canon that H:R works with. Michael finds Laurie at Grace Andersen Sanitarium and finally kills her. Job done. What's next? There are two choices, as I see it: either he retires, having no further motivation (unless he wants to go after Josh Hartnett's character from H20, but that wouldn't fit his MO); or he finds a new teenage girl to obsess over and pursue.
Incredibly, H:R chooses neither of these paths. Instead, they give Michael the same motivation as Jason Voorhees: a bunch of teenagers invade his home, and he dispatches them one by one because... well, because they're there. He doesn't fixate on any of them. He doesn't single any one of them out. The final girl is the "final girl" for no reason other than she's the last one standing. It's a waste and betrayal of what makes Michael tick. Again, it's like none of the caretakers of the Halloween brand understand anything. Or care. (I'm looking at you, Moustapha Akkad! RIP.)
There is also a fair amount of character assassination in this movie. At one point, Busta Rhymes's character Freddy chides Michael Myers to his face... and Michael just stands there and takes it! Then Freddy tells him to leave... and Michael obeys! Let's not even get into the kung-fu showdown or the infamous "trick-or-treat" line or the ol' live-wire-to-the-family-jewels moments. Disgraceful, despicable treatment of the king of the slashers. Shame on everyone involved in this mess.
Everyone, that is, except Busta Rhymes. His character of Freddy might stick out like a sore thumb, but he's the one character in the whole thing with any personality. His description of Michael Myers as "a killer shark in baggy-*ss overalls" is one of the funniest lines in the entire series. He's awful, but at least he's entertaining. Everyone else is just bland, uninspiring knife-fodder. This isn't the actors' fault; I blame the scriptwriters, the director and especially the producers (who should have known better!).
H20 was a fitting swan song to the Michael-Laurie story. Bringing the Shape back for H:R in such a contrived, cynical way after promising to kill him off in the last picture was a knife in the back. No wonder this movie flopped!
Halloween: Resurrection is not as inept as Halloween 5, and I would argue it's not as disappointing as Halloween Ends because you get exactly what you expect going into it... if what you expect is a poorly executed, by-the-numbers slasher flick with a mostly forgettable cast and a copy of a copy of a copy of a once-great villain that undoes all the goodwill of the previous picture.
Unsurprisingly, the script for H:R was an original story that they repurposed into a Halloween movie. This would explain why it is so unrelated to anything else in the franchise. They tried sticking a square peg into a round hole, and the results speak for themselves.
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