christopherbirk-ny

So many things in this film COULD have been good. But my goodness, have they learned nothing from the previous films? Few things annoy me more than when an entire cast of characters get sternly warned about what NOT to do - and then do the opposite anyway... Something that would go against any supposedly intelligent human being's logic, reason and common sense. This happens very early in this film and then, the rest is really ruined. You try so hard to build these cool, intelligent and experienced characters, only to have them make the worst choices since half the US population voted for their next president in 2024. It just isn't believable after that and you almost want to see them go down in flames. That kind of stupidity doesn't deserve to be rewarded.

I really didn't like this film. I'm not sure how others can rate it so highly. To me, it steals from everywhere and not in a great way. And then it's built to be a comedy, but it isn't really. I found myself waiting for the "fun" moments or the punch lines but none of that ever came.

There's a rare genre in films, and often Christmas films, where some sort of horror/fantasy is combined with humor - a good example is Gremlins. It seems to me that this film is trying to hit that genre, but in my opinion it fails. On top of all that, it's what I suppose I can only call "too American" in so many ways. Cliche after cliche, superficial stereotypes and cringeworthy "tender" moments that come out of nowhere but supposedly teaches us lessons a 3-year old already could tell me about. This is one of those films that make me almost angry because it really patronizes its audience, and seems to think "we" are that stupid, that unintelligent and that easy to entertain, not to mention forgive various ridiculous explanations, concepts and ideas. I wasn't even really entertained, since the story is so paper thin it can't hold anything. I'm not going to talk about "realistic" in a film like this... That would be silly - but when you make films like these, at least the cast should seem like they believe what they're saying and doing. And in this film, not even one of them does.

This is one of those films, that honestly annoy me. You feel "uncultured" and stupid if you dare admit that you didn't understand what was going on here... and I didn't... At first it's great. It gave me Twin Peaks/Silence of the Lambs vibes - and yes, Cage is absolutely terrifying in his role.... But then it turns to what I would call very cheap tricks and explanations for what has been happening, and those are explanations that just don't make much sense to me. Maybe I did miss something here - but even the acting, apart from Cage, isn't all that convincing. It's like it's trying to be something it's not. I guess for some first-time director this would be "one to watch" kinda thing. But I'd say Perkins should be a bit more seasoned than that.

So this is another intellectually patronizing film, in my opinion. "Weird to be weird" without too much substance and when it ended I felt like something hadn't even begun yet. But hey, maybe that was the purpose.