i dont know why...

I thought it was pretty good, too. I think some people didn't like it because it's not 'realistic' in that the Skulls should have been more secretive than they were in the movie (not flashing their logo or passing out rule books). I didn't really care about that, though. I wasn't expecting this to be deserving of an Academy Award, or anything. Basically the movie kept me guessing and it had interesting twists in it, so I liked it.

I liked the film, but have to say it's a bit schizophrenic in presentation. The film can't decide whether to take itself seriously (murder, false inprisonment in a mental institution, shoot outs and attempted suicide) or if it's one big send-up (cheesey berobed elders on high handing down pronouncements to the new members who've just had an Alice in Wonderland "drink me" experience, smorgasbord of elegant women eagerly giving themselves up to these wet behind the ears pups, the picking of "soulmates," etc.) of it's real life counterpart, Skull and Bones

This leads to stilted acting choices from the cast, as it seems they aren't sure whether to be serious or pretend to be serious. A shame really considering the talent lined up in the top four leads.

On the other hand, if you do even a small amount of research (some of the links can be found on thie board) you will find that the majority of the elements used in the film are directly taken from known public facts of other such secret society organizations. A biggie being that the membership of the infamous Skull and Bones known publicly and new inductees listed in their respective yearsbooks .... this tradition ended in the 1960's, but it probably wouldn't take too much work to find out even more current membership listings.

The "secret" part of these societies isn't so much keeping the identities of the members secret (think Mason's wearing the Masoonic rings, other organiztions and their headgear worn in public to distinguish them) as keeping the rituals and reasons for the orginations secret. The Skulls does a good job in that respect. While we are privy to a few of the secret ceremonies and the creed "a Skull above all others" we aren't ever really told what the true mission of the society is.



Oscar's In Memorium - Better Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW5XT9cNgZk

The direction was heavy-handed. Every scene and most of the dialogue was forced and telegraphed. If you didn't see plotlines being thrown at you, then you must have the I.Q. of a chimp. The director never tried to build suspense.
The actors read their lines, perfectly, but they ran the acting gamut from "A" to "B." The "secret society" mumbo-jumbo got to be TOO MUCH! How can a club or organization remain secret, when they CONSTANTLY bring attention to it? Duh?!

"You want the truth? You can't HANDLE the truth!" Jack Nicholson, "A Few Good Men."