Somewhere I heard this was almost as much fun as watching the Matrix. As much as I loved the first Matrix, this was nothing like it. This is going to be very short.
The movie started off rather slow and I really wondered how the whole Keanu Reeves holding a gun was going to be relevant about 10 minutes into it. A terrible tragedy happens, revenge takes hold, and everyone dies. The end.
Don't waste your time. VidAngel didn't help much here. Sometimes bad movies are bad even without the swearing/violence/sex. There was no redemptive value to watching this at all; it was just pure depressing.
If you want a more thorough review, check out ericdsnider.com. He gave it a B+, and a lot of times I agree with his rating, but when there is no moral message, or even a negative morality to a film, it's very hard to find a reason to enjoy it.
This was a very thought provoking movie. One that can bring up some tense conversations from people on different sides of the political spectrum. In essence, the government crosses some moral lines in order to maximize the saving of lives. Is it ever OK to make such compromises?
While drawn from the train of science fiction and fantasy, two examples come to mind. In the book Ender's Game, the need to brutally and finally punish your enemies so that they can't seek out revenge on you is repeatedly brought up. The following are some of the deepest lines of the novel and is an exchange that occurs between Ender and Valentine in chapter 13 of the book:
Ender: "In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them -" Valentine: "You beat them." For a moment she was not afraid of his understanding. Ender: "No, you don't understand. I destroy them. I make it impossible for them to ever hurt me again. I grind them and grind them until they don't exist."
Ender kills multiple boys and almost causes the genocide of an alien race. The guilt he has to bear is insufferable. Is it OK to go so far too ensure the safety of oneself or one's family? One's country? Are the psychological, spiritual consequences worth it?
In Batman, we constantly see Batman's dilemma with confronting the Joker. If he's really such a violent criminal, shouldn't it be OK if Batman kills him? Isn't he being irresponsible and contributing the deaths of so many by simply turning him over to the authorities? The constant response is that if he did kill the Joker, how would he be any different from any criminals he has vowed to bring justice on? Any different from the man who took his parents away from him? The difference between willing to take someone's life for pleasure or to end it to ensure the lives of countless innocents that would otherwise die? There is a line that shouldn't be crossed, and it may be different for different individuals (a seemingly scapegoat statement). Otherwise, the world would be out of balance.
Was it for the benefit of the world that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed? Did it end up saving more lives in the end to end it so dramatically and brutally? Would doing so again send a similar message to similar, present-day antagonistic groups? I don't know. I wish it were as easy as saying it's never worth it. In the Bible, God commanded the demolishing of cities for the good of his people. Yet, on a smaller, family scale, beyond stern and occasional corporal punishment (hopefully infrequent and under control) for an out of control child, sometimes a parent has to wait out the craziness in love and patience. Granted not everyone should be treated as one's child, but it's worth thinking about, if anything, to keep us humane.
[Spoilers may follow...]
It's too easy to cross a line in the heat of emotion and give up your humanity. In the end, the revenge killing of the man's family was wrong, but the overall operation would supposedly save so many lives. Undoubtedly someone else would step in and re-initiate or continue the crimes committed by the drug lord. But as also mentioned, this will continue (in part) as long as Americans use and crave illegal drugs.
Watched on VidAngel filtering out only f-words and blasphemy and it was still followable. There are some graphic scenes of violence that could be filtered out without disturbing the storyline too much.
I did not have high hopes for this show, especially not being a fan of the Shrek franchise (I stopped having a desire to watch them after Shrek 2). We got some free passes for a pre-screening and thought it would be fun to go as a family. Oddly enough not all of our kids enjoyed it, but my wife and I really enjoyed it. We were spared of bathroom/juvenile humor rampant in the Shrek movies, and were given a clever, inspirational animated movie, worthy of multiple views. We saw it in 3-D, but there was nothing spectacular meriting paying extra for glasses, if anything it made our kids want to talk more during the movie.
The moral messages presented were much more complex than is typical in a children's feature. One particular event shows one of the characters being betrayed by a close friend and accused of breaking the law. This character, instead of seeking revenge or running from or fighting his captors, lets justice take its course to potential exoneration through the help and friendship of others. This is a topic I've been trying to comprehend myself. It seems cowardly to not step up and let people know they are in the wrong and that you are right, yet examples are plentiful in the scriptures of prophets (especially Jesus Christ himself) that are restrained by the spirit to not say anything to their captors/betrayers, knowing perhaps that whatever they say would be falling on deaf ears. This is what meekness truly is, it is not weakness by any means.
Beyond the events previously mentioned, we see further betrayal and revenge, beyond the simple "I'm upset at you and am not going to talk to you anymore." These actions eventually turn into guilt and sorrow and a realization of what true friendship and brotherhood really is.
This movie was very faithful to the book, but I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I remember having enjoyed John Wayne’s True Grit (it’s been a while since I’ve seen it). Some movies can do a great job at being faithful to the book (e.g., To Kill a Mocking Bird), others aren’t so great at it. Though close to the book, I still enjoyed the book better. The language in the book was very awkward and they carried that awkwardness into this film - a time in our history when contractions hadn’t been taught yet (not sure if people ever really talked like that, or if it was meant to illustrate some sort of obfuscated point.) All in all, the film was entertaining.
Moral Rating: 3 of 5
Rooster Cogburn’s grit was a good quality some of the time, and resulted in over-confidence and stubborness in other situations - that ultimately ended in a lot of people’s deaths (albeit they were bad people and deserved it, according to the marshall).
There were some scenes of graphic violence (not uncommon in a Cohen Bro’s film) and mild swearing, but with western’s rare now-a-days, this is a decent one to see.
Nice thriller, though my wife said it was a bit lame because she guessed who Keyser Soze was half-way through the film, and so wasn't too impressed. We watched the T.V. version, and surprisingly it was pretty decent. They probably got rid of 80% of the language and left most of the violence in, but it was totally watchable - though still not for young kids.
Moral Rating: 3
The coolest line in the show is repeated twice, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." At the end of the movie some people say they are even more scared than they were while watching it (maybe because you realize that "the Devil" has existed all along, but you let him reel you in to his story of pity). How often does Satan appeal to our emotions? Our emotions can be so strong that they often overshadow any good judgement we might receive from our conscience.
We are taught, with regards to the devil, "And behold, others [the devil] flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance." (2 Nephi 28:22) Though this is a great reference, the whole movie wasn’t that great of a moral lesson, other than to make sure you don’t get duped by Satan.
