Monday, March 26, 2012

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Ledger's face says what he thinks of Matt Damon.

It took me awhile to warm up to this film.  As I watched I felt some moments were play-like.  As if the actors were performing on a stage with a live audience.  That is probably why I thought the beginnings were more fanciful or whimsical.  This is a fantasy story book type of movie which isn’t exactly my brew.  I did like Jacob Grimm (Heath Ledger) as he dedicated his life to a more magical study.  He’d never witnessed any enchantments before the time of this story in the movie.  He was goofy and a bit unique as I never came across such a character before.  He is the brother Grimm I liked more.  It’s possible due to the stories he wrote in his book as I enjoy to write as well.  Heath did a solid job as his character but it wasn’t anything to really applaud, but I’d say it’s probably my second favorite performance by him.  The other brother Will (Matt Damon, not a fan) is a mere con artist looking for the next score of money by means of trickery.  It’s a role we’ve seen before in stories and the performance of the character was about average.

                I believe the movie suffered mostly due to the French military’s presence.  The scenes with them sucked the magic and direction of the story away.  If I’m going to watch fantasy I don’t really prefer to have something as bland as military involved as much as it was.  The interesting parts are the adventures of what the brothers are up to next.  It would have been better if some other method used to coax the brothers to the events at the tower with the witch.

                The movie had some minor laughs but lacked a darker nature I hoped to see.  It was creepy at times but you only get so edgy of seeing a tree move or twist a branch by itself.  It occurred so often I got too accustomed to it.  Angelika (Lena Headey) was one of the main characters but she gets very little character development and nothing gets resolved with her father at the end.  She seemed very sad that something horrible happened to him initially but that didn’t carry over into the ladder part of the story, especially the end.  Actually most of the characters had little going on development wise.  I blame it on wasted screen time for the French military.  The story was iffy and felt lacking in a way in that regard.  I have no strong emotions for this movie.  It’s uninteresting half the time, special effects really only can take a movie so far, you need a story to pull you in all the way.  For me it’s one of those movies that if you’re a fan of one of the lead actors or actresses it could possibly get you more from the film.  Other than that I wouldn’t rush to see this one.  One last thought, why couldn’t Matt Damon die?

                Rating: 7 of 10


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