Who is Uwe Boll really? Is he like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (stuck in adolescence, has a mindless gore-fest fetish, indulges in shock value) without the talent, vision or innovation? Is he smarter than we give him credit for, using just a few dollars to crank out movies that can actually be seen in theaters? Has he simply risen to the level of his own incompetence? The fact that he cannot be ignored, that he refuses to crumble under the weight of his own perversion and badness (in fact, thrives on it) and keeps getting produced over and over and over and over again (and we keep watching) makes me believe I am missing something. Something that maybe, just maybe, just might be good (that is, of cultural value). He is in a way the trashy pulp fiction of movie directors (and holds a doctorate in literature) who surprisingly churns out a pretty good piece of celluloid every now and then. There is so much crap though (such as the BloodRayne series), and yet...we need him. He's like a crime scene clean up guy. Nobody wants that job, but somebody has to do it. Not many want to dedicate their life to making movies about how depraved, sadistic and evil humanity can be, but we still need them. We need them to help us not to forget (Auschwitz for example--if you though Schindler's List was horrifying, think again). Also, unlike the vast majority of Hollywood directors and producers, Boll, love him or hate him, is authentic. He does not cower behind the pen, but confronts his critics head on (even inviting them to box him). And he is absolutely passionate about making movies. I doubt a scene goes where he isn't actually creaming his tightie whities. But the maddening thing is, Boll refuses to learn, refuses to integrate feedback, and this is why his films never get better (sometimes Narcissism is too much of a good thing), and perhaps could be the reason he so often calls people "retards" (where did he get that doctorate again?). He refuses to back down, to conform...to be Michael Bay. And I hate Hollywood just enough to like Boll for that reason alone. In his newest movie, Rampage, Boll shows great courage in exposing atrocity as well as the sickness of corporate greed, manipulation and control. The movie isn't in and of itself that awesome (I liked 2009's Rampage much better) it's still vaguely intriguing and watchable, especially if you are a fan of extreme violence. Like I said, we "need" Boll.
