Utterly agree with the title of this thread. Unlike alot of people, I saw Dominion before Beginning, and having read reviews of both, fully expected to appreciate Schrader's version far above Harlin's. I love action, and horror, as much as the next guy, but my preference is for slower, more introspective pieces that really attempt to delve beneath the apparent. I sat down to Dominion expecting to get this. I was wrong.
The film is disappointing, on every level. It does attempt to take the higher road than Beginning, but this attempt fails so utterly that the potential ultimately makes the final product look even worse in comparison. The direction, editing, acting, effects, and plotting are so undercooked that I was left scratching my head over the notion that anyone let this nonsense see the light of day.
And then I saw Beginning. Much to my shock, and surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. No, it doesn't remotely approach the original, and the overall concepts are less ambitious than Dominion, but somehow this deeply flawed film worked for me. It looks a hell of alot better, I enjoyed the returning actors more, the imagery, although blantant, ties in well to the original Exorcist, and their is far more cohension with the original Pruza character than not. Does much of it equal to a blatant rip off of the orignal? Sure, but even this ripoff reads better than what Dominion tried, and failed, to execute. At least I found myself being reminded of the original, having recieved a direct visual connection, instead of what Dominion offers, which is an aborted attempt to strike out on it's own two feet.
I never get the sense that Beginning is trying to be anything more than a decent horror picture, stuffed with disturbing imagery, riding on the considerable coat tails of the original. And yet it works far better than I could have expected. It might also help that I watched it in the dim light cast by the awful Dominion, who knows. All I know is that, against all odds, Beginning succeeded to do what it set out to do, which was entertain, and horrify. And have we forgotten that the original Exorcist, for all it's lore, does little more than the exact same thing?
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invalidID
19 years ago
i saw the beginning first and was expecting dominion to be better. like 10 minutes into it i realized it was almost the same movie, except they decided to remake it crapier. beginning was good, dominion was awful.
Destiny's just another word for not having a choice.
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joey_hofs13
19 years ago
Dominion looked like crap it was also damn cheap...I liked the Beginning more( though the first and third Exorcist's are the best!)
"I kill at random... no motive... that's the fun."
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