(no subject)
Apr. 29th, 2007 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
molly_omovie seen: The Condemned.
I was *really* psyched for this movie. The premise is that 10 scary people (death-row prisoners from around the world) are dumped on an island; one will survive to be freed. Meanwhile, the whole thing will be broadcast live on the Internet. It reminded me of The Most Dangerous Game, and I love variations on that story (e.g. Surviving the Game).
In my ideal movie, the 10 prisoners would've combined forces to defeat their captors. There was not as much of that as I would like, but more than I expected. Steve Austin is no Olivier, but he's not *terrible* -- maybe not quite as versatile as The Rock, but way, WAY better then John Sena, and frankly better than a lot of actors out there who don't have WWE careers. Vinnie Jones was in it, too, and he got to do a little more than he usually does and wasn't bad at it.
There was a lot of moralizing about the ethics of presenting a live snuff film. Which, you know, I *agree* with most of the moralizing, but it felt like the filmmakers wanted to have their cake and eat it too. ("A fake snuff film is FAR SUPERIOR to a real snuff film" -- which of course it IS, but it's still not really something to brag about, you know?)
Mark and I are pretty sure the amoral billionaire who orchestrates the whole thing is modeled on Calvin Ayre, creator of Bodog.com. In fact, thinking on it, I'm pretty sure the *entire movie* is WWE trying to plant the idea that watching fake fighting (i.e. WWE-style wrestling) is morally superior to watching real fighting (Ultimate Fighting, mixed martial arts) -- because Ultimate Fighting/mixed martial arts is posing a real threat to both wrestling and boxing as far as attendance/ratings, and because Calvin Ayre recently started his own MMA program (Bodog fights), and he's an easier figure to parody than the folks running the UFC.
I was *really* psyched for this movie. The premise is that 10 scary people (death-row prisoners from around the world) are dumped on an island; one will survive to be freed. Meanwhile, the whole thing will be broadcast live on the Internet. It reminded me of The Most Dangerous Game, and I love variations on that story (e.g. Surviving the Game).
In my ideal movie, the 10 prisoners would've combined forces to defeat their captors. There was not as much of that as I would like, but more than I expected. Steve Austin is no Olivier, but he's not *terrible* -- maybe not quite as versatile as The Rock, but way, WAY better then John Sena, and frankly better than a lot of actors out there who don't have WWE careers. Vinnie Jones was in it, too, and he got to do a little more than he usually does and wasn't bad at it.
There was a lot of moralizing about the ethics of presenting a live snuff film. Which, you know, I *agree* with most of the moralizing, but it felt like the filmmakers wanted to have their cake and eat it too. ("A fake snuff film is FAR SUPERIOR to a real snuff film" -- which of course it IS, but it's still not really something to brag about, you know?)
Mark and I are pretty sure the amoral billionaire who orchestrates the whole thing is modeled on Calvin Ayre, creator of Bodog.com. In fact, thinking on it, I'm pretty sure the *entire movie* is WWE trying to plant the idea that watching fake fighting (i.e. WWE-style wrestling) is morally superior to watching real fighting (Ultimate Fighting, mixed martial arts) -- because Ultimate Fighting/mixed martial arts is posing a real threat to both wrestling and boxing as far as attendance/ratings, and because Calvin Ayre recently started his own MMA program (Bodog fights), and he's an easier figure to parody than the folks running the UFC.