Razorblade Smile Reviews: Army Of Darkness
For this Wednesday, How about some....
And a little Cheezeball movie classic...
Army Of Darkness
Info:
Director/Writer-- Sam Rami
Starring--- Bruce Campbell
Embeth Davidtz
Marcus Gilbert
Bridget Fonda
Year: 1993
Company: Dino De Larentis Company
The Basic Scoop, The Poop, The Lowdown:
Following up on his previous adventure with the paranormal, the lowly Megastore clerk-turned-undead-slaying-one-handed-badass Ash (Campbell) ends up being caught in a funky time vortex with his shitbrick Buick in tow, landing somewhere in the Middle Ages. The local Lord Arthur (couldn't be THAT Arthur, could it? ;) ) is in the middle of a civil war with Duke Henry The Red. Both get an unexpected visit from the undead ( Figures! :P ) and our hero Ash is their only hope to restore things to their rightful order, and just MAYBE get back to his crummy job, in his own crummy time in the future.
(Runons? Whatever, bite me, gentle reader! :) ;) )
What's Pretty Good:
Duh. BRUCE CAMPBELL.! His straight-laced, uber white-bread-WASPY retro mixed with MidWestern style takes even the most utterly ridiculous dialogue and situations (which this film is purposefully choc'full of! ) and makes them more punchy and funny. He has an ireverent presence in the film much like we the viewers would have, if we too were suddenly dropped into a really cheesy horror movie. There are plenty of subtle nods to classic slapstick (Three Stooges anyone?) some really "W-T-F" camera shots and plot points, (Who doesn't laugh their ass off when they see a goofy skeleton puppet blown up by a dynamite-rigged arrow? ;) ) Not to mention Bridget Fonda always makes for adorable-sexy eyecandy, albeit only briefly.
What Kinda Sorta Really, Really Sucks:
This is another "Cult Film" (Gaawwd, I do A LOT of those, don't I? Heh. ;) ) So you're probably either going to love it or hate it, with no in-between. The plot really isn't much, and for some people who have seen Campbell in other more "meaty" roles as of late (compared to this) A.K.A. people who just don't "get it" may find themselves asking why ANY good actor would subject himself to this "silly crap" slap and trying to act in the midst of cheesy puppet carnage. ("Uhh They're SKELETONS, right? Couldn't they just like, KNOCK'um over, scattering their bones everywhere? Oh, and what's with the King Arthur thing? HELLLO King Arthur wasn't around in the 1300's, that's WAAAY too late, and the medieval chemists were staring to learn what gunpowder was by then so why would the be all like, WOW when Ash did his..." )
Yeaaah...Whatever! :P :D LOL
Finally let me add, just for the record here, that, unless you're a five year old who has been raised around nothing but kittens, rainbows, snuggly softness and unicorns in a walled-off-home-schooled-backwoods-never-ending-Vacation-Bible-Camp-of-Innocent-Purity, you will find the "Scare Factor" in this film to be Nil.
Though that sentence was horrifying, wasn't it? ;) lol
Overall Film Grade: B -
If you like Bruce Campbell already and you're not an acting/filmboy "purist snob" who frequently uses words like The Craft. Ensemble, Esoteric, Emote, and Gabardine (whatever the hell that last one means :P ) you MAY be able to give this one a chance. If you're more of the "Let's go in the basement, make a bunch of crap with lots of nacho cheese on it and smoke a bowl while we watch a movie" type of person, you may even end up loving this flick. It's purposefully cheesy, for the most part you have no idea what's going on, and can't BELIEVE that someone would want to do something that stupid on screen, YET it works,
It's A-list quality precision doing a nod to "So Ridiculous-It's-Kickass" Drive-In B-Movie schlock.
In any rate, if you aren't quite sure which way you'd break on this, the film runs pretty fast and thin, so you won't feel like you've wasted too much of your life perusing it, (PERUSE, now THRE'S another "Film school snob" word! Thanks Remmy! ;) )
Personally, I find both this film and Bruce Campbell to be kind of charming in their schleppiness together,Give this one a try with your buddies sometime...you might have some fun with it!
--Chet
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And a little Cheezeball movie classic...
Army Of Darkness
Info:
Director/Writer-- Sam Rami
Starring--- Bruce Campbell
Embeth Davidtz
Marcus Gilbert
Bridget Fonda
Year: 1993
Company: Dino De Larentis Company
The Basic Scoop, The Poop, The Lowdown:
Following up on his previous adventure with the paranormal, the lowly Megastore clerk-turned-undead-slaying-one-handed-badass Ash (Campbell) ends up being caught in a funky time vortex with his shitbrick Buick in tow, landing somewhere in the Middle Ages. The local Lord Arthur (couldn't be THAT Arthur, could it? ;) ) is in the middle of a civil war with Duke Henry The Red. Both get an unexpected visit from the undead ( Figures! :P ) and our hero Ash is their only hope to restore things to their rightful order, and just MAYBE get back to his crummy job, in his own crummy time in the future.
(Runons? Whatever, bite me, gentle reader! :) ;) )
What's Pretty Good:
Duh. BRUCE CAMPBELL.! His straight-laced, uber white-bread-WASPY retro mixed with MidWestern style takes even the most utterly ridiculous dialogue and situations (which this film is purposefully choc'full of! ) and makes them more punchy and funny. He has an ireverent presence in the film much like we the viewers would have, if we too were suddenly dropped into a really cheesy horror movie. There are plenty of subtle nods to classic slapstick (Three Stooges anyone?) some really "W-T-F" camera shots and plot points, (Who doesn't laugh their ass off when they see a goofy skeleton puppet blown up by a dynamite-rigged arrow? ;) ) Not to mention Bridget Fonda always makes for adorable-sexy eyecandy, albeit only briefly.
What Kinda Sorta Really, Really Sucks:
This is another "Cult Film" (Gaawwd, I do A LOT of those, don't I? Heh. ;) ) So you're probably either going to love it or hate it, with no in-between. The plot really isn't much, and for some people who have seen Campbell in other more "meaty" roles as of late (compared to this) A.K.A. people who just don't "get it" may find themselves asking why ANY good actor would subject himself to this "silly crap" slap and trying to act in the midst of cheesy puppet carnage. ("Uhh They're SKELETONS, right? Couldn't they just like, KNOCK'um over, scattering their bones everywhere? Oh, and what's with the King Arthur thing? HELLLO King Arthur wasn't around in the 1300's, that's WAAAY too late, and the medieval chemists were staring to learn what gunpowder was by then so why would the be all like, WOW when Ash did his..." )
Yeaaah...Whatever! :P :D LOL
Finally let me add, just for the record here, that, unless you're a five year old who has been raised around nothing but kittens, rainbows, snuggly softness and unicorns in a walled-off-home-schooled-backwoods-never-ending-Vacation-Bible-Camp-of-Innocent-Purity, you will find the "Scare Factor" in this film to be Nil.
Though that sentence was horrifying, wasn't it? ;) lol
Overall Film Grade: B -
If you like Bruce Campbell already and you're not an acting/filmboy "purist snob" who frequently uses words like The Craft. Ensemble, Esoteric, Emote, and Gabardine (whatever the hell that last one means :P ) you MAY be able to give this one a chance. If you're more of the "Let's go in the basement, make a bunch of crap with lots of nacho cheese on it and smoke a bowl while we watch a movie" type of person, you may even end up loving this flick. It's purposefully cheesy, for the most part you have no idea what's going on, and can't BELIEVE that someone would want to do something that stupid on screen, YET it works,
It's A-list quality precision doing a nod to "So Ridiculous-It's-Kickass" Drive-In B-Movie schlock.
In any rate, if you aren't quite sure which way you'd break on this, the film runs pretty fast and thin, so you won't feel like you've wasted too much of your life perusing it, (PERUSE, now THRE'S another "Film school snob" word! Thanks Remmy! ;) )
Personally, I find both this film and Bruce Campbell to be kind of charming in their schleppiness together,Give this one a try with your buddies sometime...you might have some fun with it!
--Chet
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