Michael LaCombe
Looks Can Be Deceiving - Film Review (possible spoiler)
April 27th 2008 14:47
As an avid film fan and participant in social trends, I often find myself at the movies watching the latest release blockbusters. Recently however it’s been hard to overlook the diminishing quality of cinema film. I understand that certain storytelling formulas have led to massive success for film studios. Indeed, a systematic approach is favourable to most audiences over a more ‘postmodern’ style that defies conventional methods of conveying a narrative. Yet I still believe that formula has gone too far making recent movies both predictable and dull. Good movies should be supplemented with special effects; the special effects should not be the movie! Furthermore, action scenes, despite their controversial popularity, should be the intermediary between plot sequences. Yet it seems that more frequently in films that are supposedly political in nature, the violence becomes the plot.
A recent example is the ‘star-studded’ Deception which instantly appealed to my friends and I when we saw the previews. The basic premise appeared to be a mysterious man who became associated with a sex group and subsequently found out that the people he met had multiple personas and dangerous motives. I expected surprising twists and multiple, eventual aligning plots. However, instead of a carefully devised scheme, the ‘deception’ surrounded money; a let-down as you can imagine.
In true Hollywood style, the protagonist persevered and won-out in the end in spite of rather dismal odds. Meanwhile, the manipulator lost the lady, among other things. The film defied logic and ended without a satisfying conclusion. As a viewer, I was deceived and my anticipation was met with disappointment.
1/5
A recent example is the ‘star-studded’ Deception which instantly appealed to my friends and I when we saw the previews. The basic premise appeared to be a mysterious man who became associated with a sex group and subsequently found out that the people he met had multiple personas and dangerous motives. I expected surprising twists and multiple, eventual aligning plots. However, instead of a carefully devised scheme, the ‘deception’ surrounded money; a let-down as you can imagine.
In true Hollywood style, the protagonist persevered and won-out in the end in spite of rather dismal odds. Meanwhile, the manipulator lost the lady, among other things. The film defied logic and ended without a satisfying conclusion. As a viewer, I was deceived and my anticipation was met with disappointment.
1/5
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Comment by Peter Rogers
World Affairs
Gone are the days of critical, daring, and brave film-making, as not only do the film execs see this as 'too risky' in terms of return-profitability, but those aspiring directors who could become visionaries lose out when trying to pitch their dreams to get their ball rolling.
'Deception' had, from the outset and previews, an exceptional premise, and yet it fell into the trap of standard Hollywood fare: keep it simple for the audiences, throw in some jilted romance, and the same old bad-guy-loses ending.
The 'chick-flick' and 'action-movie' have become two of the predominant genres for movie plot lines receiving the green light; they appeal to a wide area of their targeted demographics, they're simple on the brain, and subject their audiences to the proliferated array of either fairytale happy endings with grand/over-the-top scenarios, or of blokes blowing up things with massive amounts of firepower (and never receiving more than the occasional graze).
This 'dumbing-down' of movies for their target demographics is considerably detrimental to those of us who possess something between our ears, and seek for riveting and gripping story lines and performances. Unfortunately, such movies are far and few between, and all too often we end up with movies that try too hard to be complex and subsequently fail; the end result resembling watching a bad train wreck in progress.