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While much of that may indeed be true, it
doesn't here apply. The simple fact is that
master-director Terry Gilliam, unfortunately cursed with the
John Carpenter "Hey, don't give him a budget" curse, has
made a light fun movie, tapping into the fairy tales of the
Brothers Grimm with a great deal of respect to their
creations and done nothing more than that. They can't
all be Twelve Monkeys, Brazil, or Monty Python and the Holy
Grail. Sometimes they're The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen or Time Bandits. What's that? Time
Bandits was fantastic fantasy adventure and Baron Munchausen
was brilliant social satire? Oh, well, the critics at
the time didn't think so, and I have the feeling this film
will hold up much the same way. I love Time Bandits,
grew up on it, love it, and I think the Brothers Grimm is a
worthy film by the same director, though not as good, but a
totally worthwhile entertainment, filled with fun clever
moments, quirky imagery and great performances by all the
actors, particularly the wonderful Peter Stromare, who is
always fantastic. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger are
fantastic together, both believable brothers, believable
friends and with good comic chemistry together.
Monica Belluci is f**king gorgeous and if the opportunity
ever arose to make sweet love to her I think my heart would
fail before I completed the exploration. Oh, and she
was astounding opposite her abject horror reality as the
pretty witch in the mirror. Is this truly a
Terry Gilliam film? Yes... and no. He didn't
have a hand in writing it, which is often a crucial part of
Gilliam film. The Fisher King is PURE Gilliam, Twelve
Monkeys is PURE Gilliam if you want to see it. Instead
the writing was left to Ehren Krueger, not Freddy's brother,
but one of the most hit-or-miss writers in Hollywood today.
While he is responsible for The Ring, this, and Arlington
Road, he also wrote The Ring 2: Feces comes full circle,
Sream 3, and REINDEER GAMES... oh, and the The Ring 2.
So, no, the movie does not have the usual wit and wisdom of
a Gilliam film, nor the brilliant social statements that can
be taken seven ways or the nearly prophetic ability to
comment on events that have yet occurred in our society (see
Brazil and Twelve Monkeys). While Gilliam doesn't get
a writing credit on Twelve Monkeys, you can feel his
presence visually and thematically. Grimm, not so
much. And visually, the film is like Gilliam's been
flirting with Tim Burton. So is it crap?
Absolutely not. I had a great time, truly, laughing
and enjoying my way through the movie. I love that it
wasn't filled with original ideas but rather pirated
everything as homage directly from the darkest fairytales of
the Grimms. The beauty of it is that the fairytales
aren't the ultra-sanitized ones of today, when we are afraid
to impress upon our children the realities of the world
where children do get hurt, murdered and abused. This
is more what the Grimms intended. The
problems? The old John Carpenter curse: No
budget. So bad are some of the special effects and CGI
that the screen literally blurs to cover them up in several
places. And the Gingerbread Man was terrible.
Awful and a bad idea. Strike that and reverse it,
please. Was it a mess? I don't think
so, I think it flowed just fine. This is not The
Fisher King or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This
isn't Terry Gilliam art house, this is Terry Gilliam having
as much fun as the damned studios will allow him. For
Terry Gilliam classy, let's all wait for Tideland, which is
the reason he probably made Brothers Grimm, to pay for his
important project. I thank the world that after seven
years, we have two Terry Gillilams coming out this year.
The man will be remembered as the Salvador Dali of film and
we are honored to have him working while we are alive.
If he makes an only decent movie sometimes, it's okay, just
give him the damn money to make The Man who Killed Don
Quixote. |
