Cinematical

Call me PC or whatever, but I saw a screening of this film on Tuesday and while well crafted, I wasn't a fan of it at all. Had really big problems with its depiction of its decidedly Arab environment, and this sequence for me was emblematic of my issues - compressing a wholly complex history into a 3 minute whiz bang motion graphics piece. Sure it looks pretty, but does it really approach any sort of depth on the matters at hand? Yes I know, this is a Hollywood movie, there is no depth - then don't try to pass it off like it is. Just my two cents, feel free to disagree...

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Had the chance to see an advance screening a month ago and enjoyed the heck out of it. Probably my second favorite movie of the year (Bourne was No. 1).

I find it dissapointing when I read comments about this movie on it being "too preachy" or that there's too much "flag waving". I came away from it the way Berg wants you to come away from it: 98% action movie, 2% message.

If you go into it with that mindset, I think you'll enjoy the experience much more.

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Been anxious for this movie for 8 months! I'm a big, big fan of Peter Berg as I believe he makes solid films (and TV shows). I've yet to dislike one of his films and I adored his show Friday Night Lights (best thing on TV in 2006).

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"I find it dissapointing when I read comments about this movie on it being "too preachy" or that there's too much "flag waving". I came away from it the way Berg wants you to come away from it: 98% action movie, 2% message."

Interesting comment - I appreciate that point of view. I guess I come to the theatre a little differntly then you - I cant divorce myself from the realities of whats going on every day, and to use that as a backdrop for a straight ahead action movie places the film in a precarious position for me. I had the same issues with a movie like Last King of Scotland - in my mind human suffering shouldnt be simply used as a cool backdrop to tell a cool action story. Yes, I know Im being a wet blanket with this and I should just sit back and enjoy the action sequences (which again were very well done), but I couldnt separate my conscious from watching this film. I don;t feel that filmmakers shouldn't be allowed to tell certain types of stories, but they should be prepared for the backlash that stems from issues such as this.

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mish, we definitely approach film from a different view. The outside world is 100% inconsequential to my enjoyment of a film. I don't care what's really happening or happened or might happen. I want a filmmaker to create a world and make me care what's happening in the director's vision of the world. This is what a film like Saving Private Ryan doesn't work for me - the characters were cliches and the story/world Spielberg created did not interest me. Nothing drew me into the yarn he told in SPR or even Schindler's List - in fact I'd say he failed expressly for the reason he would succeed with you: he expected me to bring my pre-conceived notions and fill in the story with my own knowledge of history/feelings. I don't dig on that. It's up to the director to create the world and entertain me...the outside world doesn't exist while I'm in the movie theater.

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That's cool YouFaceTheTick - I like having these conversations. :) So let me ask you this - I understand if its a fully imagined world that the director is creating (any Sci-Fi, even a stylized version of reality, like Trainspotting off the top of my head), but what if its a transparent vision of our "reality." Obviously, any piece of media is from a certain point of view and I'm sure Berg is not suggesting that this is complete "reality," but the opening sequence certainly blurs the lines. Don't you think there are some ramifications from that?

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Mish, how so? I don't for a second pretend to know the history of Saudi Arabia. Like the Salton Sea's take on methamphetamine, the opening sequence of The Kingdom could be fake or dead on...it's irrelevant to my enjoyment of the film. I'm taking the music, sounds, VO, images and I'm putting it together in my head but I'm not judging the veracity of the film's claims as all knowledge I am to possess in the film comes from the director. If he says Saudi Arabi was originally created by the Hebrews or native americans, I'm fine with it.

His job is to suck me into the world. Whether it's close to our own or a sci-fi world (which is a genre that's normally quite trite and poorly done), the director's entire story hinges on his ability to make a world I believe exists while watching the film.

True to life facts, like laws of gravity and nature's laws, get tossed aside in film. Bryan Singer made us believe a boy could bend metal with his mind while being dragged away from his family. In minutes we're in a world that's like our own, yet the rules have changed. As a pretty solid director, Singer established dominion over his cinematic world and made audiences believe in Keyser Soze, Wolverine and a man who can fly. His world, his rules and we're along for the ride.

Any connection to the real world is purely coincidental.

Yes, once in awhile I watch a film and get angry with liberties - such as One hour Photo's total misrepresentation of how a warrant works. But for the most part I'm pretty comfortable sitting back and saying, "Amuse me. Make me cry, make me laugh, just force me to feel what you want." Some directors can do it; others haven't the skill.

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I'm with the pro-honesty school of thinking on this one. Going to the movies used to be total escapism experience for me too, but these days, FOR SOME OF US (definitely not all of us) Hollywood motion pictures are transitioning into what Jim Morrison once predicted they'd become. Cinema as Journalism and an Education oppurtunity. I don't erase my existing knowledge - nor do I put my sense of reality into the trunk of my car - when I go into the theater. Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" had a subtle and TOTALLY DISHONEST message in the subtext, one that he knew would sell because "We the People" aren't very well informed - but Mel knows that we Americans ARE really great consumers. These days, seeing cinema as an integral part of 'the new journlism' and therefore 'the first draft of history', I don't waste my time nor my money supporting those who have a lot to sell but no truth to tell. Learning isn't a punishment, thinking isn't drudgery and escapism isn't what I need. ...but that's just me.

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