Topher655

I must admit that I went into this movie thinking that it was going to be god awful and quite frankly a joke, and I'm surprised and pleased to be able to say that it was neither. But when people claim that it is complex and cutting edge they are simply kidding themselves. This movie is simply a particular well done modern 'B movie'. And lets not pretend that Vin Diesel portrayed a deep character with conflicting emotions, etc. Vin Diesel's performance was decent and utilitarian; just because the writer called for him 'not to talk most of the time' doesn't meen that he should get all this credit for possessing some incredible eye for character psychology.

The overall plot is the absolute standard scifi: land on alien planet and discover some horrible secret through the people who are there or the remains of the people who died there. This has been the default scifi plot since the earliest scifi days and is probably the plot for 4/5 of all Star Trek episodes. Although the concept of the staying in the light thing seems reasonably original enough I will give the movie some credit.

The inclusion of the 'unique characters' like the Muslims is hardly ground breaking. The writer simply needed to include a mystic/religious grandfather figure (the main muslim guy) and some fodder for the monsters to kill before they started killing the real characters (the muslim kids with him). [Admit it, you knew from the beginning that those annoying kids were gonna die.]

However the movie is worth seeing, just ignore the standard scifi plot holes and try to forget that some of these reviewers said that Vin Diesel is a good actor. [I love ol' Vinny D. more than you know but I admit that he is a terrible actor.]

While I realize that it might simply be that I am an american with no knowledge of the japanese language beyond "Mushi, Mushi" and "Arigato" but I simply did not think this movie is as good as it is hyped up to be. In fact, (oh god save me) I enjoyed the American version of the movie more so than this one. Perhaps it was due to cultural differences that I simply couldn't 'get' this movie but I'm somehow don't think so.

"Ringu" simply did not draw me in and make me really believe in what the characters were doing. Like many Japanese movies, I simply could not accept that the character would really do what they were doing; it just didn't make sense to me that these people would go running around Japan trying to discover the mystery of the 'video' based on some people dying. The american version seemed to give characters some extra motivation to go in search of the truth, with unexplained supernatural events, scary dreams, etc. Perhaps its a testament to Japanese work ethic or American laziness but I just thought there wasn't enough to back up the characters actions.

I realize it might somehow be hip to say that you enjoy foreign films more than their domestic counterparts and insult the Hollywood 'money machine' and decry the end of american cinema but I simply can't do it with this movie. The ultimate and final test to determine whether a horror movie is good is of course whether or not you are scared. And I can say that the american version of "The Ring" made me ruin a perfectly good pair of underpants whereas the Japanese version made me jump maybe twice and laugh once.

The main problem this poses is which movie do you see first because seeing either film will ruin the ending of the other. And so not to take anything away from "Ringu" (which is, in and of itself a great movie), I can honestly tell you that you should see the American version first... and bring an extra pair of underpants.

Plain and simple this is a bad movie... except that of course it is a great movie. Wait let me explain. Goldmember has no plot to speak of, you can tell that mike myers invented so many site gags and one liners for this movie he had to jerk the plot around in strange and impossible directions to fit them all in.

All the old favorite characters are there but in an attempt to introduce new characters to keep things fresh the movie gets so filled with people who want to say things that it leaves out some of the old favorites like Frau and Scott. Which is unfortunate because the new characters (with the exception of austin's father) are all terrible. Goldmember's skin flakes off and he eats it, the digust experienced when this is seen is only outdone by the sheer pointlessness of it. Foxxy Cleopatra, Austin's newest fem-sidekick gets almost no meaningful lines which is good because even though 90% of her lines are one line catch phrases you can still tell how terrible an actor she is.

But wait this movie is not bad... All the terrible points about its characters and plots aside this movies gags are THE best I have seen in a long time. Sure the original Austin Powers 'made sense' amd there were consistent laughs but this movie has at least half-a-dozen s*** your pants shoot coke out your nose moments that will have you break out laughing hysterically just by thinking about them a day later.

Go see this movie. But as soon as you realize a scene is trying to further 'the plot' and not just set-up a hilarious gag then stop paying attention, you'll thank yourself for it later.

Okay people lets admit it to ourselves... this movie is terrible. This is a god-awful downright bad movie. If this movie wasn't directed by one of the greatest Directors ever and part of the greatest Sci-Fi movie series ever then it would have been laughed at and out of the box office in a week. I love Star Wars and george as much as any man but i slowly came to realize this movie was terrible.

The plot was thin and implausible, the characters were stodgy and unimaginative, and Lucas even managed to take good actors like Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman and produce bad acting. And for those of you who think that Anakin wasn't that bad for a child actor and that there aren't any good child actors then i guess you never watched "The Sixth Sense" or any of the children in "E.T." (which i will remind you George Lucas played a major role in creating) AND THEN they add Jar Jar Binks to the movie, putting the metaphorical nail in the coffin.

This terrible movie is made all the worse because it wanted to live up to the greatness and grandeur that was the original trilogy. The only thing this movie is good for is for its DVD to be used as a blunt object to hurl at George Lucas' head.

I'm making a public plea to George Lucas, you ruined the first prequel and the second was barely any better. Give up the final movie and let a still-competent director direct it. Please, I can't see another episode of my most favorite movies ever shot to pieces.

This truly is a great movie.

While i wouldn't qualify it as a 'difficult' movie to watch I would say that you need to watch it beginning to end (or rather end to beginning) with no bathroom breaks, while paying close attention, because the complex storyline is the most important part of this film and if you miss out on a part it could be ruined for you.

It's true that some people will never "get" this movie but its definitly worth a viewing, and if you do "get" it then are you ever in for a cinematic treat.

THis movie in and of it self would be very good if it were played in the standard beginning to end format, simply because of the facinating aspect of the main character having no memory, however the decision to make the movie run reverse immensely helps you relate to the character by not allowing you to know any backstory, as if you yourself had the same memory disorder.

I'm about to go watch it again and i suggest you go watch it to...

Although I am a fan of the original, I went into this movie with few expectations sinse I had already accepted that it was trying to be a Summer Blockbuster and not a well-made story that really made you think like the original did.

However what I wasn't prepared for was how simply BAD it was. Not only was the plot nonsensical most of the time but when you could understand it you didn't want to; it was one of the most convoluted and childish storylines I've ever had the displeasure of watching.

The ending helped the movie slightly despite it clearly being "tacked on". However this isn't saying much because by this time most people have given up hope of it turning into even a decent movie and are happy to just sit back and watch the intense action and super-weirdness that the ending provides.

The whole movie can be summed up as a waste of potential. It wasted one of the best franshises out there. It wasted one of the most "talented" directors out there, Tim Burton. It wasted some of the best actors out there, Helena Bonham Carter and ol' reliable Marky Mark. It even wasted its cameos of original "Planet of the Ape" actors with crappy parts. And most importantly it also wasted moviegoers time.

To sum it all up: don't see this movie unless you're amongst people who wouldn't mind you throwing popcorn and yelling obsenities at the screen.