Why do people hate this movie so much?
-
Dinosaw — 11 years ago(April 26, 2014 06:25 AM)
Because many people, like myself, expected the latter part of the movie to be some sort of brilliant and grand revenge scheme on getting even with Kevin Bacon's character. Instead, they just kill him off right away. He didn't suffer, they didn't ruin his life. Just killed him. And then the movie basically turned into a courtroom drama. I'd assume that's why people don't like it.
EXACTLY! This would've been a darn great revenge film. It went the wrong way as soon as they shot Bacon. The film was pathetically advertised - it was no revenge film, just a courtdrama (which is a good subgenre, but just not for this, or at least I didn't expect it).
Glad somebody else shares this opinion btw. I really expected a Count of Monte Cristo-type of film (the story was even referenced in the film).
Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up. -
cracked_machine — 11 years ago(April 07, 2014 07:05 PM)
I saw this back when it was released and thought it was deep. Sadly I'm not as naive anymore.
The child actors are terrible at delivering their lines, the revenge plot is a mess of bad exposition (maybe you need to be from hells kitchen to get it?) and the court case is so see-through not a judge in the world would have fallen for the deception.
That said the main cast: Bacon, De Nero and Hoffman give excellant performances making the film worth a look.
The rest is deeply flawed. -
SamandDeansgirl — 9 years ago(May 06, 2016 11:05 AM)
Personally, I like the movie. The story/story-telling was great. I did read the book as well. I like the whole courtroom drama aspect of it. I like that they got their revenge in that was as opposed to going all vigilante and killing all of the guards. They did that with Nokes, which I thought worked and was well-deserved. The whole staging the trial angle and getting their revenge more subtly was better than just straight-up revenge. The four of them walk away from it without any implications while the guards all pay for what they did. Two of them dying, one in jail, the other exposed because the truth about him came out. Plus, Rizzo's brother got closure on his brother's death after all those years. And then it hits you harder when you find out that after all that, John and Tommy still end up dead.
Every movie has its flaws, of course. And this story particularly has some controversy due to the is it true/is it not argument. But in my opinion, I think it's well crafted. To each their own though.
J.Lennon G.Harrison R.Phoenix B.Renfro
The Beatles = Life