- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Now before we begin allow me to say that I love Terry Gilliam's film, well most of them at least. They are imaginative, well constructed and infinity watchable. Unfortunately for Gilliam once he passed the year 2000 it seemed that he could do nothing right. The Brothers Grimm was a mediocre romp through the Grimm's fairytales and Tideland was a depressing mess. So when I heard about The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus I was skeptical...then again I heard about the film about the same time I heard about the death of the film's star: Heath Ledger.
That's right ladies and gentlemen this is Heath Ledger's final role and his death fractured this film pretty bad.
Its at this point of the review where I would usually give a brief synopsis of the films plot. Sadly this movies story is so damn convoluted that I'm just going to put up the trailer:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFxqw0jbC2Y[/ame]
* The Trailer is really all that accurate, but will have to do.
When I say Heath Ledger's death fractured the film I mean it. Gilliam had to sort of rewrite the ending to explain the change of actors. Who, as you saw in the trailer, include Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell were used to fill in Ledger's role in the film. Ledger also happened to the lead producer on the for the production...though with all of this I can't really blame Ledger's death with how the film turned out.
The primary issue with the film is the ending or lack there of, well sort of. Terry Gilliam films always have frantic and difficult to follow ending, like what is seen in Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, though with those two films Gilliam manages to pull them together at the end. With The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus he just can't pull it together and the entire thing falls apart. There is a missive build up and then a lot happens most of which is disjointed and difficult to follow and then it just sort of peter out until the credits.
Here is the thing though I enjoyed 75% of the film. Sure Gilliam isn't all that good with CGI, but this is definitely his most imaginative work since The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It's a good movie that was hit with massive bad luck and a poor ending.
[6.5/10] (Worth a view)
That's right ladies and gentlemen this is Heath Ledger's final role and his death fractured this film pretty bad.
Its at this point of the review where I would usually give a brief synopsis of the films plot. Sadly this movies story is so damn convoluted that I'm just going to put up the trailer:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFxqw0jbC2Y[/ame]
* The Trailer is really all that accurate, but will have to do.
When I say Heath Ledger's death fractured the film I mean it. Gilliam had to sort of rewrite the ending to explain the change of actors. Who, as you saw in the trailer, include Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell were used to fill in Ledger's role in the film. Ledger also happened to the lead producer on the for the production...though with all of this I can't really blame Ledger's death with how the film turned out.
The primary issue with the film is the ending or lack there of, well sort of. Terry Gilliam films always have frantic and difficult to follow ending, like what is seen in Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, though with those two films Gilliam manages to pull them together at the end. With The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus he just can't pull it together and the entire thing falls apart. There is a missive build up and then a lot happens most of which is disjointed and difficult to follow and then it just sort of peter out until the credits.
Here is the thing though I enjoyed 75% of the film. Sure Gilliam isn't all that good with CGI, but this is definitely his most imaginative work since The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It's a good movie that was hit with massive bad luck and a poor ending.
[6.5/10] (Worth a view)
