Christ, I've probably been more disappointed in a movie - but can't recall at the moment.
Excellent book, but a mess of a movie.
The movie very (extremely) loosely follows the book, but has so many differences. But I don't know how you'd ever know what the hell was going on if you hadn't read the book.
And the ending - what a joke. Something that seemed so believable in the novel, played out so absurdly in the film.
It played out absurdly because it was supposed to play out absurdly.
But of course I´m not the right guy to mouth the words of wisdom since I´m so thick I only realized it´s an all-out spoof and satire upon second viewing.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Right. I understood that from the beginning - but I still thought that it missed whatever mark it was going for.
Condon's one of my favorite authors - so I guess that I shouldn't have expected this attempt to come even close to the book.
I think it´s unpredictable, colorful and fun at the very least - and for me, that goes a long way. And I was just kinda confused upon the initial viewing, had a hard time figuring out what exactly was it that I just saw. It was obviously satirical to some extent, but I guess I wanted to see it as more serious than it really was.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
To get it, you kinda have to know the ins and outs of the conspiracy theories and some of the alleged players involved. I loved the movie but I knew exactly which characters were playing whom.
As for the satirical tone, I found many hilarious moments in the films...usually, though, it was just how on-target the performances were. Everyone was aware of what kind of film they were making, thank god.
Anthony Perkins is warped and awesome, Jeff Bridges plays a great straight man with perfect line delivery, Huston...well, what can you say about him. I knew he was a great director and also great in Chinatown but I thought the latter coulda been a fluke, as in he was perfect for that part only. But no, he's great here too, and very funny and ribald. Liz Taylor doing a silent cameo? Amazing. Even Brad Dexter as the dopey 1st Police Captain was pitch perfect.
Supposedly — fourteen hears on — Tarantino is a fan and it’s garnered a bit of a cult following. I haven’t seen it myself. I came here to see the “audience” reaction.
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