Profanity, Violence, and Vampires?
Warning: Spoilers!
When you are super into films, and want to know all the juicy news coming out, there are two names that are frequently said when talking about great filmmakers (especially around film buffs) and that is David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino. Being the cliche teenager I probably was, I stayed away from the films by those guys. Why? Because everybody was talking about them. In my mind, very long ago, I thought that the public's taste was bad, screwed, and atrocious. Boy was I wrong, fast forward to my college life and bam! I'm watching David Fincher films and man was their a reason people loved them. Then came to this week. I had From Dusk Till Dawn in my NetflixQueue List for about a year and I was like "why not?" I pressed play, the beginning credits rolled, and boy was I shocked that Quentin Tarantino did not direct this film. Whenever I heard his name the movie From Dusk Till Dawn always pops its head up so I always assumed that it was directed by him. To my pleasant surprise he only wrote and acted in it. The director was Robert Rodriguez, who brought us Spy Kids.
All and all I really enjoyed this film. The writing was fantastic, the characters were memorable (even the minor characters thanks to some grizzly deaths) and the action was well done. The core of the story is the Gecko brothers trying to cross the border and escape the law, and I loved this part of the movie. Richie is my favorite character in this film and you're fascinated by his character's unpredictability. You're on the edge of your seat waiting for the next freak out, the next outrageous act he'll inflict on random people. He is also the only character that felt like he got a full arc and the most characterization. The other characters had potential to be as great as him, but like the story everything changes once they get to that Mexican bar...
Once all hell breaks loose, and the naked strippers turn into ugly vampires (+1 for non-sexy vampires!) the story lost me a bit. I'm all for mindless violence and awesome vampires going back to their disturbing roots, but while it did sort of make sense, the vampire section came out of nowhere and I thought it lost all the potential the characters could have had. The characters had to turn bad-ass and crush the gushy vampires. Not much development happened during the crazy violence. They kicked-ass, they died, they got out, and bam we are back to the character's who are alive. We finish up the deal and the characters go on their separate ways. Like I said before, I didn't feel like the vampire aspect was an ass-pull, but at the same time it did feel sort of shoehorned in.
What I loved so much about this film is what the camera does and the editing. The camera uses so many techniques was so refreshing to me. We see standard still camera frames, the camera swoops around the characters and closes in on 'important' detail. I love the swooping camera. Then the editing, they did a fantastic job of cutting in flashes of Richie's aftermath with their hostage. We know what happens, but never once did they allow us to really see what his aftermath was, and I thought that it made it much more impactful. The camera angles and editing made the film feel alive, vivid, energetic, and it really made me pumped to watch this.
Overall I loved most of this film, but it did feel like it lost something when it shifted to the vampire story. The characters are never forgettable, the action is crazy and intense, lots of explosions (vampire explosions) foul mouthed, bad-ass, suited up brothers who really make the movie. The character's felt incomplete by the very end and I still feel there is great potential in this story, which is probably why it got two sequels and a TV series....
B-
Warning: Spoilers!
When you are super into films, and want to know all the juicy news coming out, there are two names that are frequently said when talking about great filmmakers (especially around film buffs) and that is David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino. Being the cliche teenager I probably was, I stayed away from the films by those guys. Why? Because everybody was talking about them. In my mind, very long ago, I thought that the public's taste was bad, screwed, and atrocious. Boy was I wrong, fast forward to my college life and bam! I'm watching David Fincher films and man was their a reason people loved them. Then came to this week. I had From Dusk Till Dawn in my Netflix
All and all I really enjoyed this film. The writing was fantastic, the characters were memorable (even the minor characters thanks to some grizzly deaths) and the action was well done. The core of the story is the Gecko brothers trying to cross the border and escape the law, and I loved this part of the movie. Richie is my favorite character in this film and you're fascinated by his character's unpredictability. You're on the edge of your seat waiting for the next freak out, the next outrageous act he'll inflict on random people. He is also the only character that felt like he got a full arc and the most characterization. The other characters had potential to be as great as him, but like the story everything changes once they get to that Mexican bar...
Once all hell breaks loose, and the naked strippers turn into ugly vampires (+1 for non-sexy vampires!) the story lost me a bit. I'm all for mindless violence and awesome vampires going back to their disturbing roots, but while it did sort of make sense, the vampire section came out of nowhere and I thought it lost all the potential the characters could have had. The characters had to turn bad-ass and crush the gushy vampires. Not much development happened during the crazy violence. They kicked-ass, they died, they got out, and bam we are back to the character's who are alive. We finish up the deal and the characters go on their separate ways. Like I said before, I didn't feel like the vampire aspect was an ass-pull, but at the same time it did feel sort of shoehorned in.
What I loved so much about this film is what the camera does and the editing. The camera uses so many techniques was so refreshing to me. We see standard still camera frames, the camera swoops around the characters and closes in on 'important' detail. I love the swooping camera. Then the editing, they did a fantastic job of cutting in flashes of Richie's aftermath with their hostage. We know what happens, but never once did they allow us to really see what his aftermath was, and I thought that it made it much more impactful. The camera angles and editing made the film feel alive, vivid, energetic, and it really made me pumped to watch this.
Overall I loved most of this film, but it did feel like it lost something when it shifted to the vampire story. The characters are never forgettable, the action is crazy and intense, lots of explosions (vampire explosions) foul mouthed, bad-ass, suited up brothers who really make the movie. The character's felt incomplete by the very end and I still feel there is great potential in this story, which is probably why it got two sequels and a TV series....
B-
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