Section B • Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, March 30, 2000
movies
American Beauty: A deceased man tells how he turned his life around and turned everyone else's upside down. Southwind 12, 3433 Iowa St.
American Movie: An independent film-maker dreams of becoming a movie director and writer. Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St.
Beyond the Mat. A documentary on professional wrestlers and how their sport is not fake . Plaza 6, 2339 Iowa St.
Boys Don't Cry: A transgender youth prefers life in her male identity. Plaza 6 Clder Rules: A young man, raised in an orphanage and trained to be a doctor, decides to see the world. Plaza 6
Erin Brockovich: A research assistant helps an attorney fight a company blamed for causing an outbreak of cancer and other illnesses. Southwud 12 Final Destination: See review at right. Southwud 12
Here On Earth. A prep school boy falls in love with a girl from the other side of the tracks who has a terminal illness. Southwind 12
High Fidelity: A record-store owner provides a glimpse into the view of his system's features.
Holy Smoke: A woman travels to India and ends up joining a cult. Her family introduces her to a cut specialist to recondition her. Liberty Hall
**Mission to Mars:** When the first manned mission to Mars meets with a disaster, a rescue investigates the tragedy. Southwind 12
My Dog Skip: A boy grows up in 1940s
with the help of his dog.
Southeast 2/3
The Ninth Gate: A rare-book dealer seeks out the last two copies of a demon text, drawing him into a supernatural conspiracy. *Plaza 6*
Rear Window: Alfred Hitchcock's thriller in which a bed-ridden photographer witnesses a murder out his rear window. Liberty Hall
The Road to Ei Dorado: Two swimmers get their hands on a man to the fabled
Romo Must Die: See review at right.
Plaza 6
The Sixth Sense: A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a child psychologist *Plara 6*.
The Skulks: When one student in a secret society is murdered, another realizes he's taken on more than he bargained for. Southwind 12
**Three Strikes:** A young man finds himself falsely implicated in a crime that would give him his third strike and send him to prison for 25 years to life. *Piaza 6* **Takes:** A modern-day remake of the Deerboergacie trase. *Southwind 12*
Final Destination empty horror film
By Chris Borniger
By Chris Bormiger
japlay@kansan.com
japlay editor
Welcome aboard Teen Beat Airlines. Our *Final Destination* today will be Weird, with temporary lavavers in Gory and Trite.
It takes a lot of chutzpach to borrow the names of horror's hallowed. But the familiar Hitchcock, in addition to the more obscure surnames of horror legends Val Luten (Walk of the Zombie, Cat People) and Todd Browning (Dracula, Freaks), make appearances in a movie that's less of a suspense or thriller and more of a small-scale slaughter. With that sort of setup, it's almost impossible for Final Destination to deliver. But it still tries.
Enter Alex Browning (Devon Sawa), on his way to France with 40 classmates. Shortly before takeoff, Alex has a disturbing vision of the plane exploding into flames. Screaming at everyone about the flight's imminent doom, Alex gets sucker-punched by Carter (Kerr Smith of *Dausson's Creek*.
In the resulting melee, Alex, his friend Todd (Chad Donella), Carter, his girlfriend Terry (Amanda Detmer) and teacher Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke) quickly are escorted from the plane. Classmate Clear (Ali Larter) leaves of her own volition, sensing that Alex just might be right (that must be why her name is pronounced "clair." as in "voyant"). And hapless dork Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott) is left in the terminal, having locked himself in a bathroom stall.
Just as tempers are cooling in the terminal, Alex's premonition proves true, and the plane's remaining 280 occupants die in a massive explosion over the Atlantic Ocean. That's when the FBI decides to look a little deeper into Alex's strange psychic ability. Meanwhile, his peers begin avoiding him like the plague. And before long, Alex realizes that he and the
Final Destination
Acting: C
Writing: C
Cinematography: A+
Sound: A
Overall: B
Showing at Southwind 12, 3433
Iowa St.
What follows is a series of gruesome vignettes as, one by one, the survivors begin dropping in Rube Goldberr-like death traps.
six other survivors may have escaped death once, but that they are still on the Grim Reaper's Most Wanted List.
Perhaps with slightly more mature actors. *Final Destination* wouldn't be so unbalanced. Unfortunately, the film comes off somewhat as an excuse to kill off Seventeen cover boys and girls in innovative ways.
Characters are one-dimensional. Sawa pulls off the illusion of rabid fear, but he's rarely anything else. Larter's character is thrown in only for sex appeal and potential love interest for Alex. And as for Carter, well, you just wish he had staved on the plane.
Another low point is the dialogue. The thick, gravelly voice of Tony Todd (remember *Candyman*) wasted in a corry — but thankfully
brief soliloquy in a ridiculous scene at the morgue. Moreover, innuendo-filled lines intended to foreshadow fall flat when they are so bluntly beaten into the plot.
But aside from the numerous flaws, *Final Destination* is masterfully stocked with ear and eye candy. The effects literally will make you jump, and often cringe.
Sadly, the bright spots are too sparse to elevate Final Destination to a status worthy of the names it invokes — Hitchcock cet al. Devoid of any real terror, it's another one in the long line of plot-hollow horror movies. Nonetheless, it's still quite a bearable flick.
Romeo, Romeo... you must die!
Martial arts flick has little to do with love
By Brian Bartelt
joyplay@kanson.com
Kanson movie critic
Romeo Must Die incorporates the martial arts talent of Jet Li, who plays Han Sing. Contributed photo
If you had a Rembrandt painting, would you cut it up and make a collage? Would you have it digitally touched up? If you've got one of the best martial artists in the world in your movie, would you cut up his fight scenes into tiny shots? Would you digitally enhance his moves so they look completely fake?
Most people wouldn't, but in Romeo Must Die, rookie director Andrzej Bartokwal thought it'd be a good idea.
Romeo Must Die is based very loosely on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." There are two rival families: a Chinese mafia family led by Kai Sing (Russel Wong) and an African-American gang led by Mac O'Day (Isaiah Washington). Both fight for control of waterfront property, but have reached a strained peace to cooperate on a business deal with a would-be NFL team owner. However, when Kai Sing's son is murdered, tension rises and the backstabbing begins.
Meanwhile, Kai's other son, Han Sing (Jet Li), is locked away in a Chinese prison. When he learns of his brother's demise, he escapes, flees to the U.S. and begins to hunt down the murderer. In the process, he meets Trish (Aaliyah), the daughter of Mac O'Day, and they hook up. That's the extent of the Romeo and Juliet connection — you won't find any star-crossed lovers in this film.
Not that it's bad. The story is actually fairly tight - a little too busy and a little too shallow, but for an action flick, it's more than one would expect. The dialogue is appropriately effective, funny at times and never too melodramatic. The writing never really extends
Romeo Must Die
Acting: B+
Writing: B-
Cinematography: B-
Sound: C+
Overall: B
Showing at Plaza 6, 2339 Iowa
St.
beyond average, but it fits the bill and is presented well by the cast.
Considering that its main players are a martial artist and a pop star, the cast does a surprisingly good job. Jet Li is intense and powerful in his fights and friendly and convincing in his dialogue. Pop star Aaliyah makes her screen debut, and makes casual work of it. Isaiah Washington plays the duality of caring father and gangster with skill, and Anthony Anderson as Maurice is slightly forced at times, but extremely funny. All in all, the writing and cast fit well together and exceed the standards of action films.
However, this is a martial arts film, and the fight scenes are key. Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't put them together very well.
While the action is superbly choreographed and performed, it's chopped into so many different camera angles and shots that you can't really appreciate Li's skill. To further destroy the illusion of reality, several digitally modified shots are thrown in that make Jet fly through the air and kick everyone in a way that physics simply wouldn't allow.
But Bartokwalk did include some interesting x-ray shots of bones breaking that are very reminiscent of the bullet penetration shots in the movie *Three Kings*. However, where the shots in *Three Kings* served to illustrate and shock, the clips in *Rome Must Die* are so caught up in being hardcore that they only serve to confuse the action.
These visual choices were probably made to make the film competitive in a market that offers films like The Matrix, but they unfortunately sacrifice some of the best features of the martial arts subgenre. While the film is still entertaining and enjoyable to watch, the filmmakers don't meet their goal of producing something above average.