when we sat down the previews were running. since they are matched to the assumed demographic of the movie, they were astonishing if you haven't been to the movies much. not only was the level of violence very high, but the darkness of the themes was stunning.
then came the movie. first I was surprised (but should not have been) that SH now has a love interest. the bomb she is carrying is part of the plot but her death is mostly gratuitous - setting up the character of the new Moriarity.
The second LI is stunning - the gypsy sister of a person who will be an important pawn of M. Her presence is crucial to the second 2/3 of the movie.
The sub-theme of evil industrialists is de rigeur now but is getting tiresome. I guess the theory is when you can give a reason for evil, use pandering. shows a lack of imagination. but is consistent w/the high level of visual violence, even if it is toned down by slow/stop motion.
the overall appearance of the movie is of a triumph of a culture of death. of maybe we are so jaded we respond only to excess or as one of my favorite authors said in a different context:
The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock -- to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures. ― Flannery O'Connor, Flannery O'Connor : Collected Works : Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays & Letters
