Why do so many people hate this movie?

The problem with this movie is the first half is a good solid thriller while in the second half it descends into a silly unintelligent action flick. The final 15 minutes in particular are really awful.

I think most people are disappointed with Edison because it starts out well but ends so poorly that it leaves a bad taste.

ca-turtle...

Your point about publicity is an interesting one. I'd like to augment it a bit and take a different tack. Now, despite how we might feel about the hype surrounding a movie, or in cases such as this, the lack of it, it does seem to have an important effect on what we get from it. Naturally, if the movie is over-hyped or if there is nothing worth watching over and above what was hyped, we are not going to get a good impression of the movie itself. But, if the publicity associated with the movie appropriately teases us and the movie lives up to it, we can have an enjoyable experience.

But there is also another effect of publicity. I'm reminded of watching a sporting event on TV. We often critique those who bring it to us and provide "color", and wish they would get out of the way so that we could enjoy it better. As it turns out, though, and I think the TV folks recognize this, our harping at these folks, or even when we don't recognize the significant contribution to what we get from watching it, these features play an important part of the entertainment we get from watching. True, some may actually prefer to have none of the pseudo-excitement being generated by these commentators, but for most, watching a sporting event on TV without any comments at all is a very boring thing.

My point here is that while at least part of what we get from watching a movie depends on what we expect going in and this can be generated by pre-release publicity, there is also a part derived from how others have colored and presented it. I suspect most of us derive a significant portion of our enjoyment from having shared experiences.

(On re-reading this, I'm not sure I've made clear the distinction I wanted to make. But, since it is already too long a post, I won't spend more time on it to make it clearer. My apologies.)

James

[deleted]

You have got to be kidding, this was a gigantic turd. The scene where they raid the sweatshop/brothel starts out with everyone standing in a row like they were posing for a picture... hilarious. Then Dylan the badass is running around with a shotgun in one hand, and his 9 in the other. This is laughable, no law enforcement officer in the world is that stupid. And Timberlake looks like a 12h grader why is he even in this? The director tried to be inventive and smart with his angles bu it just looks bad in the end. Morgan Freeman must have had a yacht to pay off when he took this gig.

SWAT was horrific, this is just as bad if not worse.

I think the problem is, is that the average American feels the need to show others how ? Intelligent? they are, so they nit-pick films as some sort of testimony of their ?Intelligence?. It makes them feel better about their own inadequacy, which is they're dumb as *beep*.

I appreciate that one man's meat is another's poison, but I cannot see how any discerning person could like this piece of absolute crap, (although on second thoughts maybe is does belong in the so bad it's good bucket)...but seriously

1. The acting...Kevin Spacey looks constantly on the verge of corpsing.
Dylan McDermott hamming it up more than a cartoon mega villain
John Heard is passable but by the end looks as if he too is going to corpse (look at him in the shootout scene standing upright just firing as if he's facing fish in a barrel)
3. Morgan Freeman, must be the ultimate phoning in a performance I've seen
4. And then there is JT and Piper Perabo, enough said about them!!

The dialogue is execrable
In context the following lines may work, (i.e. Phineas and Ferb maybe)

"Nasty"
"Time to punch your card postman" (my personal favourite)

The direction...

1. Freeman and Spacey show no sign of knowing each other yet within minutes are bitching like a couple of old queens
2. Everywhere Deeds seems to go he seems to have his fiancée’s ring, yet she seems to be the only one that doesn't see it. Ham-fisted directing.
3. A meandering, moralising story that wants to incorporate everything that is wrong and corrupt in society...a film has to focus, it can't do everything, mixed messages lead to no message
4. You have a trained assault team and police officers and they are all picked off by a wet behind the ears journalist who looks like he has never even seen a gun

I could go on and on about this turkey, the director clearly must be well connected to get such a stellar cast on board but suffice to say that in the panoply of cop movies this film starts off like Training Day but ends up closer to Police Academy.

Watch it, just to see how bad it is, and in fact watch and enjoy how it gets worse and worse and I guarantee you by the last frame you will be in stitches laughing!!!


Noel

I agree. I also bought it on DVD. It is a fun and cool action movie. It does not deserve all the hate.