District 9 suffers from split personality. One is a mock-documentary with all the style and conventions expected of the genre. The other is a slick action film made on the cheap. While both cover the same story, they never feel like the same film. In fact, the two halves often simply compensate from the shortcomings of the other half.
Well, he got part of it right. If there’s one thing this film is, it’s inglorious. And come to think of it everyone is a bastard so he got it all right. While the film has its moments it’s caught in its own little film universe, unable to see its faults from within. Quentin Tarantino’s part spaghetti Western part war exploitation film suffers from excessive dialogue, poorly executed violence and ripping off films in general.
To fully understand Crank: High Voltage a film history lesson is in order. Arguably, the most influential film movement is The French New Wave and its greatest director is Jean-Luc Godard. While he created a number of critically and commercially popular films, one of his most controversial films, “Week End,” is a film that intentionally tries to incite the rage of its audience. Crank: High Voltage takes on the same mentality.
Adapted from the popular 2D fighter competitive video game franchise, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li continues the trend of horrible video games films. The Street Fighter franchise is an odd choice for a film adaptation because the game has no real story. Most of Street Fighter’s appeal is in the complexity of its combat, not narrative.
Watchmen is a film that is caught between two polar audiences: fans of the graphic novel and average moviegoers. If it stays true to its source material, the highly acclaimed graphic novel, the average moviegoer will be put off by its emphasis on exposition. If it adjusts to mainstream tastes, die-hard will strongly spread negative word of mouth and scare away potential audience members.