Torture becomes game in film
The ill effects of being exposed to violence as entertainment
Ashley Smith
Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: Entertainment
|
The film opens as a family heads to their vacation home to spend some quality time with each other. The music starts off as a gentle classical tune, which then abruptly ends and is replaced by a hardcore metal Marilyn Manson song, which overpowers, even drowns out the conversation that goes on in the car and foreshadows the overpowering violence to come.
Once the family reaches their destination, a seemingly soft-spoken young man who wishes to borrow eggs interrupts their normal lives. This simple act starts a chain of events that turns this dream vacation into a nightmare.
The movie seems to emphasize more on the mundane acts and at times seems to drag on. The two white-collar deranged teenagers, Peter and Paul, go from family to family playing their sick and demented "games" that usually end unhappily.
At times, the character Paul, played by Brady Corbet, seems a little slow or not quite able to understand exactly what is going on, almost like the generic dumb sidekick to Peter, played by Michael Pitt, the mastermind. Actors Pitt and Corbet portray these two children who have everything handed to them, which causes them to get bored and decide to take the "game" of violence from the TV screen into reality.
It is almost too disturbing and creepy how calm and polite these two young men are during some of the most dramatic and violent scenes. Through their eyes, this whole situation is nothing more than a way to keep entertained. At one point, Ann, played by Naomi Watts, pleads with Paul and asks, "Why don't you just kill us," and he looks down at her smiling and answers back, "You shouldn't forget the importance of entertainment."
The only complaint about these two are that a few times Peter turns to the camera and speaks directly to the audience, engaging viewers to be part of the violent decisions that have to be made, which at times seems a little cheesy and reminiscent of Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and a little unnecessary.
The main theme being violence, audiences expect to see a lot of it, yet when an intense climactic scene takes place; the audience hears it but is forced to watch Paul make a sandwich in the kitchen. Understandably, this is to show how desensitized these kids are, but when we go to a movie, we want to see the blood and gore, not some crazy kid making lunch.
Be the first to comment on this story