Post by Jor-L5150 on May 25, 2011 11:10:25 GMT -5
watched it againlast night, firsttimein a while.
actually, it's really good. of course it's a product of the time, and the FX are unfortunate but it's 100% genuine, in a time before "versisimilitude" i think it does have verisimilitude.
what struck me most was reeves' clark. i really liked this clark. he is sweet on lois maybe, but no way is he going to make an ass of himself for her, and even when she is shrill to him he ignores it and when she gets PWND by superman validating kent, well this clark/superman dynamic is a lot less existential. essentially they are the same.
as the series went on, of course reeves softened clark a bit, and they broke the fourth wall with clark winking atthe viewer- but NONE of that in "mole-men".
the cast- very good. what makes it work is that they play it straight. it's legit, and you believe it.
the story- pretty good. i was miffed a couple times:
1) when the white-trash lynch mob chased one of the little guys into a shed they set it on fire. the scene goes on and on. it might be the longest scene in the movie. what we are craving is for superman to rescue the little guy and arrest the mob.
doesn't happen. the dullards fail to notice the little guy crawling out from under the shed, and casually walk back into town.
2) the 'message'. it gets heavy handed and tract-like at times. lois' closing line in the film is cringe-worthy. while the message of tolerance is lofty- and- appropriate for superman, it was a bit much.
also- the "look up " documentary asserted it was about cold-war paranoia. possibly, but that's not what i got from it.
for one thing, the communist expansion and infiltration was a very REAL thing, and films/tv that goes pink or sympathises with communists irritate me. but i truly did not get a "political/economic" tolerance vibe.
the message i got was more racial tolerance than anything else. the expositional dialog suggests the mole-men are really just mini-humans with otherwise similar physiology. so they look different but are really just misunderstood and have the same fears/needs as us.
(unintentionally ironic as there are only white actors in the movie)
the FX. well, it is what it is.
they wisely minimised the animated effect for flying- i think it was one shot and only briefly at that. all things considered, it was a good attempt, but a failure. the take-offs were clumsy ( they did get better in the series) but reeves did his best and they played it straight.
for one shot superman needs to fly over the town, interesting that they use a crane-camera to give us a superman-view panning over the streets to cut to where superman lands and confronts the mob.
all in all, a fun movie. surprisingly grim and edgy at times (children in peril of scary mutants) but still kid-friendly.
actually, it's really good. of course it's a product of the time, and the FX are unfortunate but it's 100% genuine, in a time before "versisimilitude" i think it does have verisimilitude.
what struck me most was reeves' clark. i really liked this clark. he is sweet on lois maybe, but no way is he going to make an ass of himself for her, and even when she is shrill to him he ignores it and when she gets PWND by superman validating kent, well this clark/superman dynamic is a lot less existential. essentially they are the same.
as the series went on, of course reeves softened clark a bit, and they broke the fourth wall with clark winking atthe viewer- but NONE of that in "mole-men".
the cast- very good. what makes it work is that they play it straight. it's legit, and you believe it.
the story- pretty good. i was miffed a couple times:
1) when the white-trash lynch mob chased one of the little guys into a shed they set it on fire. the scene goes on and on. it might be the longest scene in the movie. what we are craving is for superman to rescue the little guy and arrest the mob.
doesn't happen. the dullards fail to notice the little guy crawling out from under the shed, and casually walk back into town.
2) the 'message'. it gets heavy handed and tract-like at times. lois' closing line in the film is cringe-worthy. while the message of tolerance is lofty- and- appropriate for superman, it was a bit much.
also- the "look up " documentary asserted it was about cold-war paranoia. possibly, but that's not what i got from it.
for one thing, the communist expansion and infiltration was a very REAL thing, and films/tv that goes pink or sympathises with communists irritate me. but i truly did not get a "political/economic" tolerance vibe.
the message i got was more racial tolerance than anything else. the expositional dialog suggests the mole-men are really just mini-humans with otherwise similar physiology. so they look different but are really just misunderstood and have the same fears/needs as us.
(unintentionally ironic as there are only white actors in the movie)
the FX. well, it is what it is.
they wisely minimised the animated effect for flying- i think it was one shot and only briefly at that. all things considered, it was a good attempt, but a failure. the take-offs were clumsy ( they did get better in the series) but reeves did his best and they played it straight.
for one shot superman needs to fly over the town, interesting that they use a crane-camera to give us a superman-view panning over the streets to cut to where superman lands and confronts the mob.
all in all, a fun movie. surprisingly grim and edgy at times (children in peril of scary mutants) but still kid-friendly.
