I am, however, glad that I did.Although other critics are quite right, that the trailer leads one to expect
some philosophical and meta-religious musings on the meaning of life and death,
as we investigate the strange case of David Dunne, a man who steps unscathed
from a horrendous train crash, the story is not as ludicrous as some would have
us believe.
With a 12 rating, the train crash which starts the film off is hardly in the
league of the plane crash of Final Destination,
indeed there's nothing there at all. The opening scenes do however have an
almost ethereal feel to them, and lead us into the film well.
As the sole survivor out of 132, Dunne is intrigued by a note left on his car
which asks simply, "How many times have you been ill in your life ?"
As Dunne can't remember the last time he had a day off work, or even felt sick,
he tracks down the author of the note to discover Elijah Price, a sufferer of
brittle bone disease ( osteogenesis imperfecta ), a man who's the complete
antipathy of Dunne.
Price runs a Comic Book store and an art gallery, and has come to the conclusion
that the stories therein are some left over tales of superheroic characters who
really did once exist, and may exist even now.
It is obvious that Price thinks he's found his superman, and tries to convince
Dunne of his 'true role' in life.
It's here that a lot of critics threw their notebooks in the air and wrote, "Oh,
for f--k's sake", as soon as they landed again.
It is true that the scene disclosing Price's belief is almost hilarious in its
outrageousness, and it is difficult to retain any sense that the film isn't
about to dive into absurdity, but it is fundamental to the plot.
Dunne's reaction balances Price incredulous claim well, and brings the plot
back on-line. If you give up at this point, you'll lose a lot. Stick with it,
and think of the words as the utterings of a fool or someone who's lost it
entirely, after a life of living with comics book characters.
Price continues to haunt Dunne, and slowly we see Dunne becoming convinced that
he perhaps does have the powers alleged.
This is no X-Men movie, and the transition is subtly
done.
The waterproof cape that Dunne has worn, whilst working as a security guard,
through much of the film is a brilliant device and used well. Even so, it's
very hard holding back the mental images of Willis suddenly ripping it off
to reveal that he's wearing his boxers outside his trousers.
If you've read any other reviews, then it will come as no surprise to you that
there is a twist at the end. What will come as a surprise is that there are
a number of points, as the film reaches its climax, where one is forced to
think, "Ah, so the twist is ...", only to find that you're completely wrong.
Brilliant stuff.
The final twist can be spotted just before it occurs, or a lot earlier if you
are an avid comic book reader, and it didn't have quite as much impact as I'd
have perhaps liked, but then again, I couldn't think of any better way of
handling the closure of the film.
Once the twist has surfaced, the film is wrapped up neatly and quickly; no
moralising, no drawn out 'everyone lived happily ever after' c--p.
Overall then, a very good film; far better than I expected or was led to believe
it would be. There's enough intrigue to prevent boredom setting in and the
pacing is excellent.
Others I went to see it with were not quite so complimentary.
When Dunne's son is determined to test his dad's superhero powers, by watching
bullets bounce off him, some would have preferred it if he had pulled the
trigger.
I was left wondering just how good the Philadelphia Police's Fingerprint
Department were, but was otherwise satisfied with the film's screenplay.
The romance between Dunne and his wife, living apart and heading off towards an
amicable divorce, was handled well, and less than sentimentally, although
it would seem that the only reason Wright Penn was there was to add a female
character of some renown to the foreground action.
That said, she carried her part well and didn't come over as a bolt-on to
balance the film out. In truth though, this is a film with only two characters
in it.
Criticising the film for turning into something which comic books are made of
is disingenuous. Although correct, it is a very misleading statement to make.
Had the latter Batman movies portrayed their heroes so well, they would
have had a credibility they appear to be sorely lacking.
If you can overcome the feeling of the film going rapidly downwards, as Price
makes his claims that Dunne's a superhero ( think to yourself, "So he's the
film's token nutter" ), you will be well rewarded.
Yes, it's comic book stuff, but of the highest calibre. I'm tempted to say,
don't even think of it in those terms, but there's so much you'll lose, leading
up to the films climax, if you don't.
Keep an open mind, and ignore the critics who rejected the plot when it seemed
to be getting, "a bit silly".
