Sleepy Hollow: A non-review
Mar. 10th, 2008 11:49 amOkay, so Sleepy Hollow was on TV here in Japan recently. And given that Johnny Depp was in it, I watched. Kind of interesting, but IMHO a flawed tale. Couple of things irked me.
First, in this version, Ichabod Crane gets sent out of New York with the charge to prove that his bedamned scientific detection can actually find the murderer. But while at the end he does seem to return to New York in a light snow, there was no apparent resolution to that conflict? When he goes back to the other constables and that wonderful judge, what will he say? Finish the story!
Second, and perhaps I simply missed it, there was some hint that the pattern of scars on his hands were significant. "I've had them since I was a child." But again, there didn't seem to be any resolution. Mysterious scars and such really deserve to have some meaning, beyond titillating the audience's curiousity and invoking suspense.
I will admit, the story seemed to move slowly enough that I think I may have missed some parts. That's partly my own fault, I keep trying to do things while watching TV, and sometimes lose track.
One of the fun points about this - it's a story that everyone knows, IMDB shows a whole series of movies about it, and yet . . . this version seems to add a few twists, update the special effects, and show that even those oldies still are worth retelling.
Details about the movie available at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162661/
Nice atmospherics, special effects, and such, but I wish people would pay as much attention to the story as the film settings? If you start off with one question for the audience, answer it! And don't forget, if you have your main character play with a gun in the beginning, by the end of the story, he really needs to drop it on his foot - or do something else useful with it.
First, in this version, Ichabod Crane gets sent out of New York with the charge to prove that his bedamned scientific detection can actually find the murderer. But while at the end he does seem to return to New York in a light snow, there was no apparent resolution to that conflict? When he goes back to the other constables and that wonderful judge, what will he say? Finish the story!
Second, and perhaps I simply missed it, there was some hint that the pattern of scars on his hands were significant. "I've had them since I was a child." But again, there didn't seem to be any resolution. Mysterious scars and such really deserve to have some meaning, beyond titillating the audience's curiousity and invoking suspense.
I will admit, the story seemed to move slowly enough that I think I may have missed some parts. That's partly my own fault, I keep trying to do things while watching TV, and sometimes lose track.
One of the fun points about this - it's a story that everyone knows, IMDB shows a whole series of movies about it, and yet . . . this version seems to add a few twists, update the special effects, and show that even those oldies still are worth retelling.
Details about the movie available at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162661/
Nice atmospherics, special effects, and such, but I wish people would pay as much attention to the story as the film settings? If you start off with one question for the audience, answer it! And don't forget, if you have your main character play with a gun in the beginning, by the end of the story, he really needs to drop it on his foot - or do something else useful with it.
Spots, I forgot!
Date: 2008-03-10 02:54 am (UTC)