Nov 18 2007
The Battle Against Boredom Continues …
Taking advantage of my brief sojourn into the lands of shopping malls and air conditioned movie theatres, I opted to go to Plaza Singapura the other day to see Robert Redford's latest movie, Lions For Lambs.
I'll leave the more sublime dissection of this glorified ABC After School Special to the professionals.
However, having seen the movie in a 'non-domestic' setting (i.e., outside the U.S.), there are several things about the movie I picked up on that I may not have had I seen it back in the States. I do at least want to mention them.
Of the movie itself, I will say this — despite addressing one of the most polarizing issues in the last 25 years (America's psychopathic, and seemingly unending, rampage throughout East Asia), and boasting the talents of some of Hollywood's best actors — this has got to be one of the most BORING movies I've seen since The English Patient (which means something, considering I too was one of the several hapless victims of 'The Horse Whisperer').
The point I realized there was a problem is when I found myself trying to learn to read Chinese by matching up the sub-titles (standard for all international films shown in Singapore) with the dialogue on the screen. (That didn't go so well, by the way. Unlike Wayne Campbell, I'm having no luck learning Mandarin.)
It really is unfortunate, because the film - at scattered, albeit brief, moments along the way - says everything either that I've said or heard others say in the past 5 years about the Bush Administration, the Mainstream Media, the War in Iraq, and the 'War on Terror' (oh, and how's that 'War on Drugs going, by the way?).
Unfortunately, most of these insightful flashes (positive or negative, depending on your view) are either obfuscated by horrible duologue, marred by formulaic acting, and reduced to parody by script recitation — all of which were seemingly retrieved via a daring rescue of the scraps from the cutting room floor of Star Wars III.
Shit, I never thought I'd say this, but Mannequin Skywalker gave a more nuanced performance than did Meryl Streep in this film.
More disquieting is that the movie is, quite simply, a means by which the studio seemingly berates today's political, media, and social machinery that treats the general public as a bunch of sophomoric high-school students — while at the same time, by and through the preachy, long-winded, convoluted, self-righteous, boring-ass tone of the movie, treats them just as poorly.
Simply put, Lions For Lambs, in my opinion, ironically (unintentionally, in all likelihood) does the same thing of which it complains — talking down to its audience, the general public.
I mean, really … where the fuck does Robert Redford get off telling us about the political, military, and socio-economic ramifications of what's taken place over the past 5 years. And where was he 5 years ago anyway, when it mattered? Making some fucking horse movie?
C'mon, get a grip.
I saw it on the faces of the Singaporean folks as we walked out of the film. They were chuckling to each other, as if to say: 'It's about fucking time. But it's not like you're telling us something the entire world doesn't already know. Really, cuz if you think it's such big news, at least make it more entertaining.'
I agree. As such, I would ask that the next time Robert Redford makes a movie, remind me to bring along an 'English to Chinese' dictionary — at least then I'll have something to keep me occupied.
