Big Bo

I went into this expecting a dramatization of the events. I am not a big fan of that type of film so I was not expecting much. I was surprised to discover it was not. What I found was a plotline surrounding the creation of some new secret agency, foreshadowing of enemy intentions, and a cliffhanger ending. Acting and technical aspects are excellent for a tv movie. Some plot elements are very cliched but it flows and is very watchable. Skerrit portrays an admiral quite ably but I find my self curious about the backstory of many of the main characters.

I hope someday to see an unbiased documentary about the attack, but I expect many important things will remain classified till long after my lifetime.

6/10

The version I saw was a '70's restoration that ran for 74 minutes. I understand that originally it ran 183 minutes. I could have chopped out another 20-30 minutes and lost none of the relevant content. Don't take this the wrong way; I do have a long attention span and am in no way opposed to an epic. This film is not an epic. This film is a short that has been filled out with a lot of recycled footage. For instance, The Odessan populace flowing down the steps to the waterfront is about 10 minutes long but uses about 1 minute of footage looped. This is like dead air on the radio. The same 5 second snippet of sailors brawling during the mutiny is spliced in so many times amongst other footage that I lost count. The acting and plot are horrible by silent film standards (think BAD melodrama). The only slightly redeeming quality in the film is the Odessa Steps massacre montage but, unless you are taking a class on film editing, AVOID THIS FILM.

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I can suspend disbelief for any number of ridiculous gadgets in a Bond film but some stuff in this film look more like technical gaffes than anything else. Don't get me wrong, I dig the invisible car and all but can I believe that a clinic capable of completely altering a person's DNA to change their identity can't figure out how to remove high price shrapnel from Zao's face? That an agency still stinging about Philby and the Cambridge group would do such a superficial background check that they'd miss an agent's connection to the son of a Politburo member? Did anybody ever hear of autorotation? It's an amazing safety feature on choppers. I know evil henchmen are supposed to be stupid but no idiot is going to stand around on the step while An ice palace on a frozen lake gets deliberately melted. They weren't even relevant to the scene (I think the union set up the gig).

On the other hand, Brosnan once again delivers a solid performance and Cleese seems to be the perfect replacement for Q. Rosamund Pike is an excellent ice queen and Halle's Jinx is adequate. I find myself hoping for a change of government in Britain just so we can get a new M. All told, 13th best on the Bond list. 5 of 10.

I saw this movie on MST3K. Yes, the fx are weak, but it was 1959. Was Hollywood doing much better? I remember several films with fx equally weak. The dubbing is hilarious but that seems to be a common denominator in dubs. Overall, as a fan of the sci/fi genre I feel this film is not half as bad as all the other viewers claim. I give it 4 out of 10.

A film that will make you cheer. Carman acts well in his first feature film. Production values were significantly better than I expected. The plot was decently developed if a little cliched and moved along about how you would expect. The film's weakest point is development of the supporting cast, several of whom are caricatures rather than characters. I felt the film was well worth the bargain matinee price. 7 out of 10.

This film is typical of the genre. Usual mediocre cinematography combined with sometimes brilliant acting and otherwise cheesy fx. The English dubbing is particularly funny as some of the translation ends up with ghastly puns and one liners. Good for some laughs.

This was the strangest movie I have seen in a long time that didn't involve aliens. It will make you think and still manage to leave you wondering. I found it similar to The Usual Suspects in its unpredictable twist.

I thought the book was awful. I went to the movie with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Travolta and company did a fairly good job considering the material they had to work with. If the scientologists wanted to make a movie based on Hubbard's pulp, this was their only real choice. They actually made it work.