It's hard to believe, I know, but it's true. The Raja crown has now passed to the former Mr. Madonna, Guy Ritchie. Last night, on the advice of a friend who was once a fellow student with me and still studies and teaches meditation and various forms of self discovery, I sat down and watched a 2005 film (not released in the US until 2007, for what I consider obvious reasons) called "Revolver." The experience leaves me fearing for my friend's mental well-being, and that of his students.
Just to prove that I'm not alone in my assessment of this film, here's a review of it by Roger Ebert. Roger almost never gives a totally negative review, preferring to just not review a turkey rather than hold it up for ridicule. This one he held up for ridicule, and for two of the same reasons I do -- 1) it makes no sense, and 2) it's so flashy that many people (like my friend) will never even *notice* that it makes no sense. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/REVIEWS/712060303/1023 This film was supposedly the byproduct of Mr. and Mrs. Madonna's fascination with Kaballah. If this is true, remind me to never, never, never study Kaballah. If this egofest of a mindfuck is what passes for deep thought in the world of Kaballah, the fact that women have tradition- ally been prevented from studying it should be looked upon as a favor, not an instance of discrimination. I kept sitting there, looking at the "progress bar" on the player, watching it inch closer and closer to the end of the movie, saying to myself, "Surely they'll explain things a little bit any minute now." I waited in vain. It's NOT that the movie isn't flashy -- it's got visuals out the wazoo and lots of cinematic touches and flourishes that can be seen as trademarks of the person who co-wrote the script with Ritchie, Luc Besson. To be honest, that is the only reason I decided to watch it. I would not be surprised to hear that Besson regrets his involvement in the project as much as I do; it sullies the good name of an otherwise interesting filmmaker. But it's the very flash that concerns me, because there are reviews on the IMDB and other places from people who actually *liked* this movie. I can only assume that they were completely taken out by the flash, and failed to notice that they sat there for two hours watching nefarious forces do to Jason Statham's mind what Guy Ritchie was doing to theirs -- fuck it over and leave it more confused and less coherent than it was before the whole, sad exper- ience started. Heck, there were moments when *I* was taken in by the flash, and was even led for a few moments to suspect that I was watching something profound. Then I remembered David Lynch, and having that feeling every so often in his films, and shook myself awake. Flash and self indulgence do NOT a good film make, only a a flashy and self indulgent one. At least not for critics; "Revolver" scored much higher with viewers. Roger gave it half a star, but his readers gave it three. On Rotten Tomatoes only 16% of the critics liked it, compared to 59% of the viewers. This is why we have critics. Someone has to have the courage to tell viewers that they're watching crap, because they are clearly unable to discern this for themselves.
