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©2002-2024
Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: 21 GRAMS
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Year: 2003
Reviewed: April 06, 2004
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Rice Cake-Lowest Rating |
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Maybe someone (Devon… bring it on, for lack of a much better phrase) could tell me what the "deal" was and is with 21 Grams? Because, to tell you the truth, I do not get it. And that ain't because I am found lacking in regards to anything and everything that might resemble a modicum of intelligence. No… this movie is quite simply bad.
I give 21 Grams, the much hyped, darling of the critics a RICE CAKE REVIEW.
Now when I mean bad, I mean bad in every sense of the word. 21 Grams had no pacing, at least none that did not make it feel laborious and tiresome (hell! I watched this movie with two other people and we all decided unanimously to turn it off before it ended. That is how slow it feels, that is how little we cared about these characters. And with a movie such as 21 Grams if you do not feel anything for the characters it will not work… period!) 21 Grams had no style or class; at least none that did not make it look like the biggest hack, rip-off of the year. (Note to Hollywood directors: the shaky camera has been done… TO DEATH! Unless you do it with a new, and entirely original perspective… DO NOT DO IT! We are all derivative to a point, believe you me I understand that. But if you cannot at the very least attempt something unique, why bother?) Then we have the time line… whew! 21 Grams is a wanna-be Memento, pure and simple. There was absolutely no reason, at least in the sense of drama and the rule of a three-act story arc, to play with the timeline as they did. Every time I began to get into the film, the director would jerk me back to reality, causing me to realize what a bad movie I was watching, by jumping into the future like a horrible, contrite episode of Star Trek. I say to you, dear reader, that this film would have been a hundred times more efficient, a hundred times more effective if the director did not screw around with the time line. 21 Grams is a simple story about grief and mistakes, you belittle the story, and the situation and the dramatic tension when you fuck around like some first rate, Film 101, art student.
Ironically enough, somewhere inside this garbled ball of twisted aesthetics and warped focus there are some pretty good performances. Nevertheless, once again the director does not have the style or taste to linger on these, cutting the movie as he does the timeline like a badly edited music video. Case in point, there is a scene with Benicio Del Toro, where, racked by guilt and shame, he kneels alone in a ghetto church weeping. This scene could have worked in a big way, but the director stays with Toro for only a few seconds before quickly, and jarringly, cutting back to something less dramatic and profound.
Once again, I realize I am in the minority on this one, and this is one of those movies that everyone adores, but the following truths are inescapable for me… 21 Grams is both boring, and pretentious, two of the worst qualities a movie can possess.
I don't meant to quibble (fuck it!... yes I do). What was with the completely ridiculous way in which Toro was holding his fork in a dinner scene? I mean, he was holding it like a monkey, like someone suffering from severe retardation of the brain. It looked stupid on screen, and completely unrealistic.
Here is what my good friend Devon thinks... I keep telling him to put his reviews, which, more often than not, are the direct antithesis of my review on my website. (It is true, Devon, you and I, we were born on different planets.)
Dear Misguided Kevin- The Good: I agree with everything you had to say about DOTD. I think it surpassed the original in many ways. DOTD was indeed a ground breaking horror film, witch is pretty good for being a remake of a sequel. In some ways I think it surpassed 28 Days Later as well. I loved the humor they injected into it. I thought the pacing was awesome and also loved the intro with the Johnny Cash song. The Bad: I don't understand how your mind works. I do agree that 21 Grams would have been a stronger film had they not fucked with the Editing and told it as a linear story. That being said, You can't front on the performances by the 3 leads, (Especially Benicio). I loved his character and his mixed up ideals of Christianity. The scene at the table when he makes his son slap the daughter, I thought was brilliant. This is not a feel good film by any means. It is not easy to watch. Sean Penn was also great as usual. He blows me away with everything he does. I thought it was a great story of revenge and trying to make up for serious mistakes and it still not being enough. There is no way out for these characters. No way for them to become whole people. Each one is trying to use someone else to fill an unfillable void. And all of it meeting with self-destruction. I don't know what else to say. I think all of the reasons I like this film are the ones that make you hate it. Ha ha. Oh well. Have a good weekend.- Devon
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