Desoluation of Smaug and Monuments Men
Aug. 10th, 2014 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sienamysticRented Hobbit #2 and watched it last night after the husband went to bed. Pretty much what I expected - some good moments, a big video game sequence or two (the barrel ride made me think I needed a controller in my hand and I play video games approximately once a year these days) and a plot that bore only a passing resemblance to the book. I suppose I can forgive them that, but I don't get how they so sadly did nothing with the epicness that is my shapeshifting giant bear boyfriend Beorn. SRSLY.
I knew Monuments Men wasn't going to be very good, but if there's a designated audience for this movie, I'm probably it, so I knew I'd go see it anyway. (The book is very good, as is Rape of Europa.) It seemed like a movie comprised of a lot of interesting and compelling moments that were not really taken advantage of, all played very very low-key in a way I kind of liked but can see didn't really work. For example, the humor is bone-dry in a very masculine comradely underplayed sense, which made me smile but was probably lost in a movie theater. Each different actor brought something interesting, and I definitely appreciated Cate Blanchette and Matt Damon and their whole relationship, but the plot sort of bobbed along in a really episodic fashion.
I wish this had been a tv miniseries, because you could break off and follow each team of men into their different areas, and the story telling wouldn't have had to be so compressed. Keep the same actors, but let them go deeper into their individual stories. Or, if you're serious about doing something awesome, you just make a movie about Rose Valland, the inspiration for Cate Blanchette's character, because the lady was a badass.
I knew Monuments Men wasn't going to be very good, but if there's a designated audience for this movie, I'm probably it, so I knew I'd go see it anyway. (The book is very good, as is Rape of Europa.) It seemed like a movie comprised of a lot of interesting and compelling moments that were not really taken advantage of, all played very very low-key in a way I kind of liked but can see didn't really work. For example, the humor is bone-dry in a very masculine comradely underplayed sense, which made me smile but was probably lost in a movie theater. Each different actor brought something interesting, and I definitely appreciated Cate Blanchette and Matt Damon and their whole relationship, but the plot sort of bobbed along in a really episodic fashion.
I wish this had been a tv miniseries, because you could break off and follow each team of men into their different areas, and the story telling wouldn't have had to be so compressed. Keep the same actors, but let them go deeper into their individual stories. Or, if you're serious about doing something awesome, you just make a movie about Rose Valland, the inspiration for Cate Blanchette's character, because the lady was a badass.