This remake of a 1960's classic is not classic Carpenter. It's a mostly lifeless retelling with no scares, mediocre acting, and surprisingly few interesting Carpenter touches.
I like the opening scene. In a localized area around the city of Midwich, all of the people and animals fall unconscious. It's really effective and while nothing stands out about the way it happens, it's disturbing to see everyone go down in such a fashion. And frankly, that's where the movie gets less interesting for me and it's far too early for that to happen.
Carpenter doesn't seem to do much to try and scare us. This is pretty much played as sci-fi. There are a few grisly deaths. And no, I don't mean the one where a man is hypnotized into jumping his pickup into a propane tank. One of the main characters dies very early in the runtime and one guy falls unconscious, but unfortunately, face first onto a barbeque grill. In another scene a woman is forced into putting her arm into a pot of boiling water. All of these things are pretty unique but not scary.
The evil children in the movie turn out to be a formidable problem for Midwich, but Christopher Reeve flies to the rescue, not as Superman, but as a doctor. He manages to find a way to counter the hypnotic powers of the youth, but not before they have run up the body count and have progressed to becoming a problem for the entire state government.
Then, there are those children. They walk or sit around for the entire movie, not exactly threatening, but they've got a menacing flavor to them. The child actors are really the problem here, along with a completely strange performance by Kirstie Alley. Talk about a square peg in a round hole. She is totally off-putting as Dr. Susan Verner. She arrogant, cocky, and supposedly smart, but she doesn't sell a single one of those attributes. This doesn't feel like a Carpenter movie. Does it look too polished? Is it because the children are so robotic? There are so many opportunities to polish off the little hellions that aren't capitalized on, that it took me out of the movie.
This is by all accounts, one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. While the second is still an amazing film in its own right, it just didn't quite top this masterful mix of tension and atmosphere.
I've always liked T2 over this since I was a kid for obvious reasons. But coming back has been a change in perspective and appreciation for such a game-changing movie. The perfect representation of how going into a movie blind is so beneficial to put you in the character's position. The choice to make it so vague and let us as the audience figure out the reasoning behind the chaos as the story progresses is astounding in its craftsmanship. Little to no exposition is given until we are told the sole answer we have been asking after these characters have been established. The visuals and character nuances give us pieces of the puzzle to what the plot is before we are informed. It's one of the reasons this film is a staple of sci-fi, but there are so many more.
I could rattle them all off like how the score is amazing, the acting from both the lead actors are fantastic, and how the concept is terrifyingly becoming more a reality. Not to mention how the fear for AI could be applied to any technology we develop. However, everyone else has already said these things, and I recommend this film to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It's a great stand-alone piece and is deepened by its first sequel (While T3 isn't great, the ending is still something to admire).
For a film considered by many to be outshined by its successor, I say that the original is still the best.
10/10
How do I describe The Doom Generation and have it mean anything? I could talk about the soundtrack, the cameos, the dialog, but it would make about as much sense as detailing how a rollercoaster feels; you can accurately lay out the speed, and height, but it doesn't have any impact until it's experienced.
There is a lot going on in TDG, and it doesn't fit well into a box, so if it had one tailer made, it would be an avant-garde dark comedy. TDG doesn't make sense, and it doesn't need to. It's loaded with sex, and nudity, but don't expect a softcore porn. In most scenes the violence is wildly over the top, and at other times it's grounded, and tragic.
There are reoccurring themes in TDG, but nothing is ever explained. Is Amy someone else? Is consumerism The Devil? Is America the real doom generation? These are the questions, but as far as I know, there has never been an answer.
This movie is absolutely not for everyone. It's like a cult movie without a cult. Seriously, I found this movie one night back in 1995, and I told everyone I knew about it, yet I have never met another person who knows it exists.
Okay, the only way I can think to get across what it means to love this film is to say I always show this to every girlfriend I've had, and if they don't like it, I break up with them. This movie is for my people, and my people are few.
