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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Archived: We distort. We decide.  |  Topic: Movie Review: 21 Grams 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: Movie Review: 21 Grams  (Read 3148 times)
Joe
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Posts: 291


on: March 22, 2004, 11:15:35 PM

I really hate Sean Penn. The man stars in everything too low-budget to afford Tom Cruise and it shows. The man has either suffered a severe reaction to Botox injections, or he’s so terminally stupid, his primitive simian brain cannot interact with his homo sapien facial structure to produce an emotion beyond the famed Joey Lawrence “woah!”

The Thin Red Line should have killed the man’s career, but we were lucky enough to thank U-Turn and breaking up with Madonna for doing the job years earlier. However, some people believe the man has talent, no matter how hard he works to disprove such a heinous rumor. People continually praise him to the tune of four Oscar nominations, and one win for Mystic River. As if I didn’t already despise the man for his lack of talent and personal politics, stealing something rightfully belonging to Johnny Depp has propelled me into a new emotion which as of yet only has names in Ancient Aramaic and Sumerian.

It’s pretty safe to say Penn’s having a Travolta-like comeback. He’s shat out four movies in the past year, and has another two in production. I’m completely flabbergasted. Yet, I did manage to sit down and take a gander at his second-highest grossing film of 2003: 21 Grams.

The movie opens with a voiceover by Penn, as we look over his horrendously fucked up body in a hospital bed. The rest of the movie is chopped together, much like Memento, throwing together scenes rather haphazardly, developing a story almost by accident.

Sean Penn’s heart is failing. Benicio Del Toro is a born again ex-convict. Naomi Watts has a loving family. Watts’ family is killed by Del Toro as he’s driving his powered by: Jesus F-250. Her husband’s heart is donated to Penn, who later finds Watts, and fucks her, which I’m fairly sure is illegal. Penn reveals to Watts she’s fucking a dead guy, but tries to make amends by offering to kill Del Toro, who was released from jail due to the efforts of a lawyer, presumably powered by: Christ.

And all of this is chopped together, backward, forward, and occasionally sideways. Don’t get me wrong, the plot isn’t confusing, it’s just badly edited. Memento did a good job of keeping the story together; 21 Grams is too caught up in its style to really keep things coherent from scene to scene. Of course, the acting doesn’t help. The script was translated simplistically, and the actors struggle with their ego-driven melodrama in monosyllabic fashion. Watts loses herself halfway through the movie, unable to keep the charade of a grieving widow going for the full two hours. Sean Penn, rather than playing his character, plays Sean Penn. This is not a good thing. Benicio Del Toro, rather than playing his character, plays Benicio Del Toro. This is a good thing.

Del Toro came close to saving the movie. The guy just radiates badass, and almost made Jesus freaks seem cool. The scene directly after his arrest between him and his preacher debating God’s will in a high pressure, though stylized fashion, at least keeps the movie viewable. Watching his character literally disintegrate in a matter of seconds left me giggling through the rest of the movie, if only because it becomes evident his faith in God hurt the man more than helped him.

There is a theme hidden in the convoluted directorial mess. Guillermo Arriaga is even nice enough to force feed it to the idiots in the audience at least three times: Life goes on. Each character, even the dying Penn, finally realizes the entire point of existence is in the moment, not in the past or future.

It’s really hard to hate the movie, if only because it’s evident Arriaga had a great idea for a gripping, introspective examination into the human grieving experience, but the whole thing got fucked due to a seemingly low budget (or horrible casting regarding Watts and Penn), and mediocre translation. It’s a movie I want to like, but just can’t force myself to look beyond the utterly terrible delivery.

Score: 4/11 – It would’ve received much, much less if not for the supporting cast and Del Toro.

See again: I’d re-watch the jailhouse scene, and if the miracles of science create a method for supplanting Sean Penn’s visage for a more compelling performer, I’d give the whole thing another look.
HaemishM
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Reply #1 on: March 23, 2004, 01:57:11 PM

I've rented this, but haven't gotten it in yet. Based on your review, and my own dislike of Sean Penn, I won't be moving it up in the queue any time soon.

Arthur_Parker
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Posts: 5865

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Reply #2 on: March 26, 2004, 03:30:10 AM

I watched this movie a couple of weekends ago because my girlfriend wanted to see it.

I'm not keen on Sean Penn at the best of times but it was the editing of this movie that really bugged me, found him surprisingly ok.  I just couldn't see a point to editing it in that way at all, I was sitting there halfway through thinking, I know what's going to happen why are you boring me with all this?

When Pulp Fiction did the time jump thing it was original and I think added to the movie because the movie had a sorta complicated/unusual plot.  Memento again did it well because of the main characters memory problems it sorta made sense.  It was used to a lesser extent in Identity but again the plot justified it.

I will not be watching this movie again, they could easily have cut 30 minutes out of it, put it in the right order and not lost much.
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