My wife and I went into The Northman blind, and we honestly loved the experience. I don’t give a shit whether or not it’s realistic or historical accurate on any front. It was like John Wick with Norse mythology. Just an intense and barbaric ride from start to finish. I was genuinely surprised to learn how universally disliked it was. But people are out there buying tickets to 9 Fast 9 Furious 9, so I don’t exactly value the reviews of opinions of strangers.
I know people who swear The Prestige is the worst movie they’ve ever seen, one person said they turned it off half an hour in because “nothing made any sense”
But you better believe they praise every MCU movie like it’s Shawshank Redemption.
There are plenty of movies I love but will readily admit they’re garbage. Like Evolution. Hot garbage but I love every second of its shiny, flake-free existence.
I feel very strongly about hating the Prestige, but only because of the ending. I spent the whole final act thinking “oh, he’s not actually cloning himself, he’s just making it look like he is so that he can get back at his rival.” That’s what the message throughout the movie seemed to be, that you can make normal things look like magic. Kept waiting for that final twist, only to find that actually yes, Jackman’s character was using real magic. It felt like a cheap shot that a movie about rival stage magicians had to resort to fantasy magic in the end.
Purely from a plot perspective, Jackman’s character using fantasy magic is very deus ex machina (no pun intended), but it really works from a symbolism POV. The whole point is that Jackman’s character was so driven to best his rival(s) that he was willing to literally (metaphorically) kill himself, just like Bale’s character is willing to die to keep his secret.
The whole movie is a story about being consumed by competitiveness or dedication to art to the point of self-destruction, and to that point, I think it’s very successful
My wife and I went into The Northman blind, and we honestly loved the experience. I don’t give a shit whether or not it’s realistic or historical accurate on any front. It was like John Wick with Norse mythology. Just an intense and barbaric ride from start to finish. I was genuinely surprised to learn how universally disliked it was. But people are out there buying tickets to 9 Fast 9 Furious 9, so I don’t exactly value the reviews of opinions of strangers.
I know people who swear The Prestige is the worst movie they’ve ever seen, one person said they turned it off half an hour in because “nothing made any sense”
But you better believe they praise every MCU movie like it’s Shawshank Redemption.
There are plenty of movies I love but will readily admit they’re garbage. Like Evolution. Hot garbage but I love every second of its shiny, flake-free existence.
I feel very strongly about hating the Prestige, but only because of the ending. I spent the whole final act thinking “oh, he’s not actually cloning himself, he’s just making it look like he is so that he can get back at his rival.” That’s what the message throughout the movie seemed to be, that you can make normal things look like magic. Kept waiting for that final twist, only to find that actually yes, Jackman’s character was using real magic. It felt like a cheap shot that a movie about rival stage magicians had to resort to fantasy magic in the end.
spoiler
Purely from a plot perspective, Jackman’s character using fantasy magic is very deus ex machina (no pun intended), but it really works from a symbolism POV. The whole point is that Jackman’s character was so driven to best his rival(s) that he was willing to literally (metaphorically) kill himself, just like Bale’s character is willing to die to keep his secret.
The whole movie is a story about being consumed by competitiveness or dedication to art to the point of self-destruction, and to that point, I think it’s very successful
I get the symbolism, it just fell flat to me because of how much it felt like a cop-out. To each their own, though.
The Northman is an excellent film experience. A very unique film and an interesting take on the original tale that Hamlet is based on.
What you described sounded a lot closer to FF9 than something that would allow one to look down on the tastes of others lol
9F9F9*