Reviews

I was very interested in seeing this movie, having heard a lot about even prior to the Oscar buzz. However, I just did not like this movie, as much as I tried to like it. It reminded me of one of a number of films in the 1970s that attempted to show "real life" and present it as a groundbreaking feat of filmaking.

While the stark black and white photography was vivid and sharp, there was absolutely no connection established between the viewer and the film's characters.

The only time there was any sense of drama at all came more than halfway into the film, which involved a riot and the main character's subsequent miscarriage. Even then, both events having been broadly hinted, the viewer does not feel a sense of drama.

Even the "rescue from drowning" of the two youngest children, so prominently projected it bleeds any sense of drama or suspense out of the situation, falls flat as the woman simply strides into the surf, takes their hands and walks the children out of the waves.

I actually stopped watching halfway through the film the first time I sat down to see it. My second viewing was hardly more positive, but I managed to plod through it.

It is one thing to watch a film based upon the suggestion of an aquaintence, but another thing altogether when a film is universally praised and exaulted to the status of an instant classic. It is as if everyone jumped on the band wagon and nobody dared question the film's quality. Really not worth the attention it is getting and the praise it is receiving.

Some decent acting in spots, some interesting story lines, but much too implausible to contend with for anyone who has been involved, even remotely, in any investigatory enterprise. Unless the series is a study of a modern day Machiavellian kingdom, the staff is far too dysfunctional to have accomplished anything of note. Back-stabing is so rampant that local housewares businesses have surely sold out of any type of cutlery.

However, the most irritating aspect of the series is the overuse, and needlessly exaggerated, "wiggle cam." The rolling, roving view of the camera distracts from many scenes and makes others difficult to follow the action. Like the "found footage" genre, I had expected such direction techniques to have been cast aside. Law & Order handled it well most of the time, but this was off the charts.

Also, as another reviewer pointed out, the dialogue at times as near indecipherable. It is too bad. I wanted to like this series, having read about it and having served in the field years ago.

I may be generous with the 5 rating.

Dull, plodding, poorly written, wooden acting, unrealistic character performance, etc., etc., etc.. As others have said, what is with the psuedo-psycho, guilt ridden cop genre that has cropped up, especially in Britain? I walked away from the story for a while, came back and had not missed one beat of the story (if it even had one, that is!).

An especially idiotic scene has the head detective interrogating a suspect from the front seat of a car, the suspect in the back seat, while swerving across the road trying to get him to confess, when his partner in the back seat attacks the suspect,...and they get rammed by another motorist, crashing the car. Amazingly, being hit on the passenger side where the suspect was sitting, HE is the who gets out, while the so called detectives are trapped inside the car!

That was enough for me.

Poorly written and poorly acted with little vision of a cohesive storyline. I have to wonder whether this may be a trial balloon for a limited series. The "ending" may be meant to be a cliffhanger, but only serves to entice the viewer to jump off of one.

Why is it that some directors and writers do not have the least bit of common sense when it comes to making decisions for the characters they direct/write? Do you drive over an apparently major bridge if you attempting to avoid main roads? Why stop for someone if you don't trust anyone who on the road? Why have a retired marine, prepared for "everything," with just one handgun and one clip of bullets, who sets forth on a near two thousand mile drive through apparent chaos? Do you scavenge a wrecked military transport train and walk away with one can of gas and never try to re-arm yourselves?

Whitaker is a decent actor, but here he plays like a high schooler who has never set foot on a stage before. The others are even less convincing.

I give them credit for special effects. But that is about it.

This is yet another entry in the subscription service's plan to fill its goal of 50% original programming by throwing up (no pun intended) an action (or lack thereof) flick and seeing what sticks.

I am at the point where this may be How My Netflix Ends.

While the acting and production are top notch and the story is interesting, there are too many "why" questions that spoil the film.

Other plot holes have been covered in previous reviews, but the one that got me was the gun switch. One of the first things detectives would have done is to have checked the serial number of the alleged murder weapon taken fro the husband (Hopkins). The police would have then found out that the gun belonged to the wife'e lover, the cop who came to the house AFTER the shooting. So, how could it have been the murder weapon?

A prudent investigator would have then checked the s/n of the weapon in possession of the cop/lover and found out it matched the s/n of the weapon belonging to the husband. Then they would have conducted ballistic tests on both. Case closed.

Without a doubt one of the corniest, most illogical and unintentionally funniest of the 1950s "attack monster" movies. Some familiar faces claw their way across a remote island, playing a shell game against creatures who move slower than a glacier, but somehow manage to keep catching their prey. I guess the crabs can eat their cake AND have it too.

Those intrepid scientists have great difficulty doing in those denizens of the deep, and were apparently unaware that the island rests on a major fault line, causing it to be shaken into the sea.

But if you think there is nothing that can surprise you in this little gem, we haven't even mentioned the absorbed brains and talking inanimate objects!

Whoever listed this as a "documentary" should lose their job. About halfway through this farce I wondered: 1) How did they get film of the initial "discovery," and 2) How come we never heard about such a monumental "discovery?"

That's because it NEVER HAPPENED! It is a film by an artist who makes up a story to showcase his art. Why not just document how you wanted to design art based on ancient artifacts and ruins?

Other reviewers are right, there should be negative rating for this piece of garbage.

Short review, with SPOILERS. I must echo KDL, who hit the nail on the head.

How can a film about the ferocious atrocities perpetrated upon the Cambodian people by the Khmer Rouge be so unemotional? If you want to see a more graphic representation of the horrors unleashed by the fanatical zealots of the Khmer, then see "The Killing Fields."

If you want to feel the emotional despair and witness the subjection to violence experienced by those taken and driven to an unspeakable primal existence, then see "The Killing Fields."

If you want to get a complete understanding of the depths of depravity to which the Khmer Rouge sunk, read "A Cambodian Odyssey," by Haing Ngor, the actor who portrayed Dith Pran in "The Killing Fields." His personal story, having himself been taken prisoner by the Khmer, was arguably even more horrific than the role he played on film.

I can understand the attempt to present the story through the eyes of a child and the child's bewilderment of what was playing out before her young eyes, stripping away her innocence in the worst way imaginable. But narration was not the way to go.

The film quality was fine and the actors did their jobs for the most part. But just doing their job is not enough to save the film from becoming mired in what results as a rather sluggish attempt at retelling the hell of the Cambodian genocide.

Save for one or two scenes (i.e., realizing she has been caught in a mine field while trying to flee the Khmer Rouge), the young Sareum Srey is not given the chance to convey to the audience the full effect of what the child had to face.

As other reviews have stated, many of the characters are unlikable and what started out as promising quickly slid into "huh?" mode. The lead character, Marcella, would likely have been placed on administrative leave by any competent police department early on in this melodrama. Some of the plots twists and character actions leave one scratching their head at times.

Although the story line is interesting, with side stories intersecting one another at several points, there seems to be a disconnect between what the creators wanted to do and what they eventually did do.

The production is top notch, good direction, mood setting and cinematography is very well done. Acting is fine by some, tepid by others. I just could not buy Marcella as a top notch detective.

So, I had to put it away after 5 1/2 episodes. Maybe there was too much angst among the central characters for me.

I actually saw this movie in the theater when it was first released. The movie was so bad, and so badly marketed, that promo stills in the theater lobby never appeared in the film! The "not so" special effects are as bad as they can get, the acting is universally poor (especially Carl Ottosen as the American General Grayson) and portions of the movie involving the monster are filmed in different stages of focus/clarity. However, the scenes involving the cast of live characters are of high quality stock and have survived quite well over the past 50+ years. It is a film that will give you a few laughs and may be a way spend a rainy Saturday afternoon. The best (and maybe the only way) to watch Reptilicus is via MST3K!

Atmospheric, yes. Entertaining, no. The first few minutes appear promising, but the film quickly becomes bogged down in a tedious study of,...what? What would have happened if the invasion of France had failed? Well, you'll never really know if you watch this disappointing movie. Any action in the film takes place off camera, save for a horse being assassinated. The characters all slog along as if they have been sedated by who knows what depressant may have been injected into the town's drinking water. Save yourself some viewing frustration, play solitaire.