My Eyes! My Eyes!
On Friday night, for about the third time in my life, I walked out of a movie.* I was looking for a simple Friday night distraction, and the allure of a dark theater with comfy seats and air conditioning seemed about my speed. My Movie Companion (MC) threw out some suggestions and allowed me to pick and, without doing nearly enough research, I picked Shoot Em Up, mainly because I like watching Clive Owen. I thought it would kind of be like Die Hard.
Holy cow, was I wrong. It was filthy. I can’t think of any other word to describe it. It was the kind of movie where, after a few minutes you think it can’t get any worse and then it manages to. What was perhaps more disturbing was the man in front of us who laughed uproariously at every act of violence.
After 10 minutes of alternatively squirming in my seat and covering my eyes MC leaned over and whispered:
“Do you want to see if we can get into another movie?”
“Yes, please.”
So we were able to see 3:10 to Yuma and I got to watch a rather interesting if inconsistent Russell Crowe and a very gritty and emaciated-looking Christian Bale sweat through Arizona. It was quite good, although after walking out of Shoot Em Up, it didn’t have a very high bar to jump.
*Other movies walked out of include Robocop and The Producers.
Holy cow, was I wrong. It was filthy. I can’t think of any other word to describe it. It was the kind of movie where, after a few minutes you think it can’t get any worse and then it manages to. What was perhaps more disturbing was the man in front of us who laughed uproariously at every act of violence.
After 10 minutes of alternatively squirming in my seat and covering my eyes MC leaned over and whispered:
“Do you want to see if we can get into another movie?”
“Yes, please.”
So we were able to see 3:10 to Yuma and I got to watch a rather interesting if inconsistent Russell Crowe and a very gritty and emaciated-looking Christian Bale sweat through Arizona. It was quite good, although after walking out of Shoot Em Up, it didn’t have a very high bar to jump.
*Other movies walked out of include Robocop and The Producers.
posted by Lisa | 11:32 AM
7 Comments:
It would be nice to have a warning ahead of time, huh? I remember when we went to see Good Will Hunting and being in shock over the language. If I had a dollar every time someone said the f-word, I'd be a rich lady! I wish we had walked out on that one!
Thanks for the warning! I once walked out of some Steven Segal movie just because I couldn't take the senseless violence. (Shudder). Good for you that you walked out!!
Wow-note to self! Thanks for that warning & telling me 3:10 to Yuma was good. I can't wait to see it.
Shell, let me ask: do you like Quentin Tarantino movies, particularly Kill Bill? How about Hong Kong action flicks like Hard Boiled? I'm interested in seeing Shoot 'Em Up, and I want to see if your reaction might have been because you just don't care for that sort of thing.
What the heck, I'll probably just see 3:10 to Yuma anyway...
lawyerchik: walking out of a Steven Seagal movie because of excessive violence is like walking out of a Dairy Queen because of excessive ice cream. :-).
jd - In the few minutes of the movie I saw the only two women who made an appearance were so devalued - one, a nursing mother, was shot, and the other was a prostitute - I didn't want to see anymore. And by that point the movie dialogue had mostly consisted of the f word and a dirty joke. No hook and no real plot that I could find.
I would say I *really* don't care for that sort of thing. I completely understand movie tastes (much like books) are completely subjective. I would definitely fall on the "cozier" side of the crime spectrum.
jd: you're right, but it was still a little overwhelming.... :)
Shell,
I used to like Clive Owen, but have noticed the movies he has done lately have been darker and dirty. So now I pause before watching something with him in it, whereas before I would've done the same as you and happily walked on it.
I don't like movies whose sole purpose seems to be to explore the worst, most violent aspects in human nature. Isn't life hard enough, without having to watch MORE sickness? Give me movies like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE any day.
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