yeah, i agree. i liked the acting, the soundtrack and the cinematography, but the whole story and concept overall was a letdown, especially with the encouragement by quentin tarantino.
i can clearly pinpoint what i did not like about it:
- many significant parts were predictable, but were meant as surprises
- the whole movie totally switched it's tone to it's own disadvantage. it started as kind of a suspence thriller, then got kinda funny, then turned back to a serious and pretty dark tone, then out of a sudden some black humor hijinx ... etc etc etc
- also regarding the tone: i love dark stuff, i looove black humor, i have enjoyed some terribly violent and disturbing films in my lifetime and anyone feel free to call me a wuss, but in my humble opinion, if you let a story go to a point, where it is revealed, that the killer that the story evolves around, (spoilers) does capture, rape, torture, dismember little girls and displays them in the park so their parents find them, as a writer, director and/or producer should step back from using ANY humorous tension. i find that pretty offputting.
- most of the film we have seen better multiple times. the whole "i capture and torture the guy that did this to a loved one of mine" has been done so many times by now, with all kinds of twists at the end, so that when it was finally over i wasn't surprised or the least bit shocked. all i though was "ah, they chose to go that route. how innovative". this has been much better and more effective in "the tortured", which e.g. "prisoners was just" kind of a lame copy of
- i disapprove the whole "it was the detectives fault that both girls became the next victims". that is completely absurd. in the end the ciop had the right guy to begin with. who knows, even if he played by the rules and just normally interviewed the killer at the police station, that the killer would not still grab his daughter next?
- the "if you don't let me go now, you will regret that for the rest of your life" bs. the guy did not talk after all what has been done to him, but as soon as both guys flee, he would admit to having the cops daughter, lead him to her and let them both go? wtf?
- what a weird coincidence that the cop forgot to pick up his daughter at that specific day. also very believable coincidence, that the other kidnapper lost his child to the killer the very same way. how convenient. ;)
- the second cop, that checked the killers house did not find the hidden door to the secret room? seriously? did he just pop in, take a short look and then leave again?
"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh
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Ghost_Of_Me
11 years ago
All good points therefdotcom. Another thing that bothered me was that it was abit predictable. The extra long shot of the bike hanging up on the wall which was actually the torture room, the cop having a daughter that hes supposed to pick up on a certain date...lets hope he dosent forget since there is a killer running around. The call between the killer and his wife talking about picking up his daughter for her birthday...while staring at a girl in dance class who we are supposed to think is his daughter, which I never thought it was her since it just seemed strange. And than him giving the cake to the girl and his creepy smile and extreme close up of his eyes, yeah that kind of gave it away.Like I said, I feel like other films have done this but in a much better way. :/
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therefdotcom
11 years ago
thanks man.
great points as well. that bothered me as well.
"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh
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therefdotcom
11 years ago
oh, one more flaw:
ok, so the killer picks up the cops daughter from the ballet training, right? what kind of estableshment is that to let a complete stranger hang around and check out the training room, no questions asked? also, wouldn't they know the father by now? she's like what? 8? the writers wanna tell me that he has never picked her up, or how is that supposed to work that they just let the girl go with a stranger that they have never seen there? now, one could argue that the killers daughter just out of coincidence was training at the same studio, so therefore the studio employess would not mind, BUT that would lead to other flaws. if it was so, then the cop would know more about the killer. their behavior towards each other proves otherwise. also the employees would not let him pick up just some random kid. also, his daughter had training on the same day. if they were at the same studio, she would have been there as well.
anyway, the daughter went missing after training, so the police would start there. since the killer was hanging out at the studio for quite some time, the employees could clearly state that it was him that pciked her up and confirm that by description. therefore the police would turn his house inside out. it would not be one cop taking a short peak and then take a hike.
"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh
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CptHowdy87
11 years ago
I totally agree with all your points therefdotcom. I usually don't like to just simply concur with someone else' opinion without adding my own opinion and perspective but you really did sum up every issue I had with this movie and there's really nothing more I can add.
I mainly agree with the tone of the movie being so wildly off. I LOVE dark humor in certain horror movies. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) and Evil Dead II are some of my absolute favorite horror movies. But there's certain types of movies and stories where dark comedy is valid and works and a movie like Big Bad Wolves that presented such a deeply disturbing concept absolutely should not have had a darkly comic tone to it. It was totally unsuitable and didn't work on any level.
The thing that bothered me most of all is that there was no point to any of it! It was unbelievably frustrating how pointless the whole movie was. It raised no interesting questions and had no satisfying answers or conclusions. It was such a monumental waste of time. The movie Prisoners with Hugh Jackman was a brilliant movie that subverted expectations and really made the audience think long and hard about the characters and the whole situation and all the moral dilemmas that were raised. It was a brilliantly executed movie from start to finish while Big Bad Wolves was a gratuitously pointless movie from start to finish. I often have a lot of issues with certain aspects of movies and certain things annoy me or confuse me and most of the time I'll find such a movie simply forgettable or a let-down but Big Bad Wolves seriously angered and frustrated me to no end with how pointless and horribly presented the whole movie was.
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therefdotcom
11 years ago
thank you very much. :D
"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh
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