It feels like forever since I did a movie review. It probably has been several weeks, actually. I blame that 2010 has started awesomely with a cast of games that are all begging for my money and I'm giving in. I'm rushing this out a little mainly because I'm currently pacing myself through Bioshock 2 and wanted to break up the current slog of rant reviews that have nothing to do with movies. Enjoy!
The Outsiders centralises around 'Ponyboy', it dabbles slightly in his past, but mainly centralises around the present. He's the cute faced Greaser who along the course of the film experiences being a villain, a hero and getting the shit kicked out of him. The small part of his life we get a window into during the course of the movie is chock full of death and violence and yet all of it is captured in a raw sort of...'real' way. It's nothing like social realist British cinema, but it's pretty gritty for something American. It makes a nice change from the usual glamour shot out of Hollywood's arsehole.
However, the writing still isn't all that great and the plotting isn't either. The characters are very very good and there is a great fight, a ton of dramatic (or downright cheesy depending on your outlooks) moments and a ton of laugh out loud moments but the film itself rockets forwards and never stops to take a breather and although the fast pace is nice, huge things happen (like a murder for example) but the film is blazing forwards so quickly the murder seems there as an excuse to redirect the plot because they couldn't think of how else to do it. In the end the film feels like a series of scenes slapped together and they just hoped it made sense and often, it didn't.
It's partially saved however thanks to being so unconventionally put across. Like at one bit Ponyboy recollects his parents death and his parents death is shown without explanation and we don't see his parents die specifically just the family car (we know this from a prior flashback) being smashed by a train in slow motion (and that's one of the simplest and easiest to read techniques, there are more that are a lot more complex).
Okay, so the characters? Well I'm still debating within myself whether this film has great characters or just a great cast. Would I like, for example, Ponyboy's violent older brother if he wasn't portrayed by the late and truly great Patrick Swayze? No, I probably wouldn't. The cast itself actually is pretty damn great. We've got the hilarious Emilio Estevez character 'Two-Bit'. We've got the goofy Tom Cruise (no matter how much of a cunt he is in real life, he's still a great actor) character 'Steve'. We've got the lovely and yet unsettling Matt Dillon character 'Dallas'. And hell, it's bloody directed by Francis Ford Coppola if you don't see that as a stamp of awesomeness then I'm not sure you know anything about movies.
And yes, the whole movie leads up to a huge scrap in the rain as Greaser's and Soc's roll around in the mud, kicking and punching and hair pulling and grabbing at each other. It's wild, crazy and feral and yes, it's nothing like real life, but this maybe the closest thing I've seen to a British social realist fight scene in an American movie. Then at this point the movie really gets into it's stride, the murderer Johnny then dies from his extensive burns raising an interesting moral subtext (the delinquents may get in fights, but all they have are a few cuts and bruises and a couple of months in prison. When Johnny attempts to be a hero he gets tons of press and love but he dies. So why would you want to be a hero?) and then goes on to have the unsettling Dallas taken down in a hail of bullets. Awesome finish.
So should you watch it? It maybe flawed, okay really flawed but the entertainment value is undeniable, it's got a little for everyone. Pretty girls, actions, laugh out loud moments, brotherly love, romance and moral and ethical challenges. It's pretty incredible if you ask me.
Think about it!
Locke.
The Outsiders centralises around 'Ponyboy', it dabbles slightly in his past, but mainly centralises around the present. He's the cute faced Greaser who along the course of the film experiences being a villain, a hero and getting the shit kicked out of him. The small part of his life we get a window into during the course of the movie is chock full of death and violence and yet all of it is captured in a raw sort of...'real' way. It's nothing like social realist British cinema, but it's pretty gritty for something American. It makes a nice change from the usual glamour shot out of Hollywood's arsehole.
However, the writing still isn't all that great and the plotting isn't either. The characters are very very good and there is a great fight, a ton of dramatic (or downright cheesy depending on your outlooks) moments and a ton of laugh out loud moments but the film itself rockets forwards and never stops to take a breather and although the fast pace is nice, huge things happen (like a murder for example) but the film is blazing forwards so quickly the murder seems there as an excuse to redirect the plot because they couldn't think of how else to do it. In the end the film feels like a series of scenes slapped together and they just hoped it made sense and often, it didn't.
It's partially saved however thanks to being so unconventionally put across. Like at one bit Ponyboy recollects his parents death and his parents death is shown without explanation and we don't see his parents die specifically just the family car (we know this from a prior flashback) being smashed by a train in slow motion (and that's one of the simplest and easiest to read techniques, there are more that are a lot more complex).
Okay, so the characters? Well I'm still debating within myself whether this film has great characters or just a great cast. Would I like, for example, Ponyboy's violent older brother if he wasn't portrayed by the late and truly great Patrick Swayze? No, I probably wouldn't. The cast itself actually is pretty damn great. We've got the hilarious Emilio Estevez character 'Two-Bit'. We've got the goofy Tom Cruise (no matter how much of a cunt he is in real life, he's still a great actor) character 'Steve'. We've got the lovely and yet unsettling Matt Dillon character 'Dallas'. And hell, it's bloody directed by Francis Ford Coppola if you don't see that as a stamp of awesomeness then I'm not sure you know anything about movies.
And yes, the whole movie leads up to a huge scrap in the rain as Greaser's and Soc's roll around in the mud, kicking and punching and hair pulling and grabbing at each other. It's wild, crazy and feral and yes, it's nothing like real life, but this maybe the closest thing I've seen to a British social realist fight scene in an American movie. Then at this point the movie really gets into it's stride, the murderer Johnny then dies from his extensive burns raising an interesting moral subtext (the delinquents may get in fights, but all they have are a few cuts and bruises and a couple of months in prison. When Johnny attempts to be a hero he gets tons of press and love but he dies. So why would you want to be a hero?) and then goes on to have the unsettling Dallas taken down in a hail of bullets. Awesome finish.
So should you watch it? It maybe flawed, okay really flawed but the entertainment value is undeniable, it's got a little for everyone. Pretty girls, actions, laugh out loud moments, brotherly love, romance and moral and ethical challenges. It's pretty incredible if you ask me.
Think about it!
Locke.
1 comment:
IT'S RAEPING TIME-swayze style.
Post a Comment