The movie lacks credibility and likes to go from lightspeed to slugspeed pace. I admit this is so far the only DVD movie I kept on using the fast forward / 1.5x or even 4.0x speed feature in my player. Even during some of the incredibly slow paced dialogues or similar. I find the acting of several actors in this movie unbearable, they simply couldn't pick a more inappropriate Mike than Vincent Cassel, oh, maybe they could - Arnold Schwarzenegger. But I guess he would decline as well, since he's kinda busy. Can you imagine Indiana Jones with a Russian accent, or Superman with a Mexican accent? Well, apparently Mike here, has lived all his life in the USA, learned to speak this Indian language but he couldn't shake off his francophone accent when speaking English??? But he tried, really, I could hear some disturbingly hilarious attempts of sounding like a southerner. Sorry, I don't believe you, Vincent, you never convinced me. Some of the actors also sounded like they have french accents in which they spoke as if their voices had been dubbed over.
Michael Madsen.. well, is Michael Madsen strong character but he's always a strong character and in that - average, what can I say. Juliette Lewis is pretty much as good as always and in this movie she stands out with her performance.
The plot is pretty cliché, girl gets killed, man seeks revenge. When he gets so far, he realizes how terribly wrong he was. But that is all that is clear. Was Mike sort of adopted by the Indians? What did he actually DO there? How in the world did he become the local sheriff? What's the deal with the map, who started this and how does Wally know about it? If he always knew the map existed, why didn't he look it up before? Does Wally die in the end? If so, why? There are many unanswered questions in this story, but that is not the point, I don't mind SOME of the questions being unanswered, but I do mind holes in the plot line and if I can't believe the movie, if it doesn't "suck me in" it's worthless. It was like the director, the cameras and the crew were right there and from time to time someone would shout "CUT!! Well done! 15 minutes coffee break."
The visual effects were just too much. Tons of centipedes, snakes and dragons on one hand and light and morphing fractals on the other but dear god, why did I have to watch this for minutes that were like hours.
Personally, I think this film had a lot of potential, but the screenplay would have to be improved by a really fair margin, half the crew should be replaced, and the director, definitely. It does not surprise me that Val Kilmer, Willem Dafoe and Benicio del Toro declined. Trust me, Val Kilmer would have totally taken this role if it had a GOOD script. I said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't, it is utterly bad, the movie made me angry, I want my money back.
Michael Madsen.. well, is Michael Madsen strong character but he's always a strong character and in that - average, what can I say. Juliette Lewis is pretty much as good as always and in this movie she stands out with her performance.
The plot is pretty cliché, girl gets killed, man seeks revenge. When he gets so far, he realizes how terribly wrong he was. But that is all that is clear. Was Mike sort of adopted by the Indians? What did he actually DO there? How in the world did he become the local sheriff? What's the deal with the map, who started this and how does Wally know about it? If he always knew the map existed, why didn't he look it up before? Does Wally die in the end? If so, why? There are many unanswered questions in this story, but that is not the point, I don't mind SOME of the questions being unanswered, but I do mind holes in the plot line and if I can't believe the movie, if it doesn't "suck me in" it's worthless. It was like the director, the cameras and the crew were right there and from time to time someone would shout "CUT!! Well done! 15 minutes coffee break."
The visual effects were just too much. Tons of centipedes, snakes and dragons on one hand and light and morphing fractals on the other but dear god, why did I have to watch this for minutes that were like hours.
Personally, I think this film had a lot of potential, but the screenplay would have to be improved by a really fair margin, half the crew should be replaced, and the director, definitely. It does not surprise me that Val Kilmer, Willem Dafoe and Benicio del Toro declined. Trust me, Val Kilmer would have totally taken this role if it had a GOOD script. I said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't, it is utterly bad, the movie made me angry, I want my money back.