Saturday, November 27, 2004

Saw

Originally Posted On: 27th Nov 2004

You're caught in a life and death situation - your own. To escape, you have to inflict extreme pain on yourself, or inflict it on some other soul, even if it meant mutilation, or death.

That's the premise for Saw, one of the more refreshing psychological gore thrillers since Se7en. With characters caught in the middle of scenarios as described, things are naturally more than meets the eye.

Much of the narrative is spent in a stanky toilet, and it's disgusting enough to rival the one in Trainspotting. The film ups the gore factor in treating you to other sickly designed "kill or be killed" methods.

Saw kept me at the edge of my seat, and never did I see the twist at the end coming, with all the red herrings, some of which are very obvious, thrown in. And for that happening to me, it's extremely rare.

Monday, November 15, 2004

The Incredibles

Originally Posted On: 15th Nov 2004

When I heard about the production, I wondered if it touched too close to Marvel's Fantastic Four, another superhero family of sorts - Mr Fantastic, with stretch powers, The Invisible Girl and Human Torch, self explanatory, and The Thing, with extraordinary strength. Even the villain at the end looked suspiciously like Fantastic Four's Moleman!

And yes, though the powers are slightly different, (i.e. stretch powers given to Mum, the Elastigirl, extraordinary strength to Dad, Mr Incredible, invisbility given to the daughter Violet, and Dash the son inherited powers from DC's Flash), the bickering, interaction and relationships amongst the members are retained in the storyline.

Which works, wonders. Pixar has done it again, weaving strong characterization into their superhero storyline, with each family member having problems of their own, and tying it very nicely to their powers. Mr Incredible, being super strong, realizes his own vulnerability, Elastigirl using her powers to literally run and maintain the family, Violet with her powers of invisibility to hide her insecurity, and Dash, being young and eager to flaunt his powers of speed.

And any show which ties in huge doses of humour effectively will definitely win the crowd over, not to mention the strong supporting cast of Frozone (long lost cousin of Iceman?) and Edna, the suit designer. (I rate the scene between Elastigirl and Edna one of the best in the show)

Go watch it, I recommend it, it's Incredible!

Can't wait for the sequel (well, they did Toy Story II, didn't they?) to see if Jack Jack gets more screentime!
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