This movie could almost have taken place at any time in history, and in any place-- and I don't mean that in a good way. The movie's scenery was disconnected from its spirit. Even though the filth and grime and "everydayness' of 200 years ago felt very real-- all of that existed independent of, and unconnected with, the essence of the story.
Obviously the PLOT points were woven into the surroundings, but nothing else was. It was almost as if we were being shown a "visual aid" in the background (albeit well done), while someone read aloud from a book. Things "sort of" went with other things, but nothing existed together as parts of a complete whole. This is really a simple story that we see a lot of on TV: rogue heros, corrupt politicians, bad cop, hot yet vulnerable babe who "sees all," etc. Yawn.
Maybe some film school honor student could explain the significance of the foppy man's purple hat, and the washed out and way too blue dinge of the film stock. Otherwise, this is standard fare-- you've seen it a thousand times before.
One last note-- Liv Tyler, daughter of Steven "Aerosmith" Tyler, is growing up to be a beautiful woman. She seems to be at least a competent actress-- and maybe she has it in her to be a great one (we'll have to see what she does with it in the upcoming years). So, perhaps this role with her first foreign accent was a step in her career plans-- to Gwyneth-a-tize herself with some apprenticeship turns in the Old Country. If that was her plan-- then this movie wasn't exactly a stumble, and it might have been good practice-- but it wasn't a huge step forward either. No harm done, Liv-- a paycheck, another year older, some interesting experience. So maybe next year?
All around, this was only a tad better than average, so I gave it a "6."
Obviously the PLOT points were woven into the surroundings, but nothing else was. It was almost as if we were being shown a "visual aid" in the background (albeit well done), while someone read aloud from a book. Things "sort of" went with other things, but nothing existed together as parts of a complete whole. This is really a simple story that we see a lot of on TV: rogue heros, corrupt politicians, bad cop, hot yet vulnerable babe who "sees all," etc. Yawn.
Maybe some film school honor student could explain the significance of the foppy man's purple hat, and the washed out and way too blue dinge of the film stock. Otherwise, this is standard fare-- you've seen it a thousand times before.
One last note-- Liv Tyler, daughter of Steven "Aerosmith" Tyler, is growing up to be a beautiful woman. She seems to be at least a competent actress-- and maybe she has it in her to be a great one (we'll have to see what she does with it in the upcoming years). So, perhaps this role with her first foreign accent was a step in her career plans-- to Gwyneth-a-tize herself with some apprenticeship turns in the Old Country. If that was her plan-- then this movie wasn't exactly a stumble, and it might have been good practice-- but it wasn't a huge step forward either. No harm done, Liv-- a paycheck, another year older, some interesting experience. So maybe next year?
All around, this was only a tad better than average, so I gave it a "6."