 |
|
| Home · Reviews · Interviews · Contests · Blog · Forums · Follow Us On Twitter |
|
by Jim Pappas Published: August 26, 2005
 Heath Ledger (Jacob) and Matt Damon (Will) are, “The Brothers Grimm.” I am a HUGE Terry Gilliam fan, yes, even “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” tickled my fancy. That being said I have to say, sadly, that I was disappointed with his new film, “The Brothers Grimm.” That disappointment isn’t because the story wasn’t mostly witty and clever, it is because the film lacks the “heart” of his earlier works. It was as if Gilliam was just going through the motions, directing actors whose performances were at best uninspired (blame at least some of that on the director, please). Maybe it was the lack of any dynamism from Matt Damon (Will Grimm) and Heath Ledger (Jacob Grimm) that sucked the life out of the film, or maybe it was the general lack of enthusiasm from everyone else involved. I can’t really point a finger at any one person, but all of the actors, as well as the entire crew, didn’t seem to be totally onboard with what they were doing. There is a political undertone to “The Brothers Grimm” that is probably more vapor than substance, and it starts early in the film when we’re introduced to “French occupied Germany.” That sounds odd, doesn’t it? Of course Gilliam makes these French occupiers into ogres, led by Jonathan Pryce as Gen. Delatombe, who is served by an obsequious Italian henchman named Cavaldi (the best performance in the film, by Peter Stormare). Calvadi has found his true calling in life, that being a torturer, and he is keen on coming up with his own rather nasty ideas as to what is “fun” in devising ways in which to turn his victims into memories. One could, casually, think that maybe Mr. Gilliam is metaphorically comparing the United States and its allies in Iraq to the French and their occupation of Germany in the early 19th century. I will, however, leave that consideration up to people who know what Gilliam had in mind, but my money is on the possibility that he was thinking about events in the Middle East when filming “Grimm.” The film opens with a quick peek at the childhood of the two brothers, one of whom, Will, seems to have his feet planted firmly on the ground, while his younger sibling, Jacob, is the dreamer, trading money for “magic beans” when he was sent to get medicine for his sister, who is suffering from some illness. Will immediately chastises Jacob, and their relationship is thus cemented as we see later on. The two eventually become well known as sort of a combination of exorcists and ghostbusters as they travel from village to hamlet “saving” the citizenry from assorted witches, demons, and whatever enchanted creatures are rumored to be terrorizing everyone. All of their machinations are, or course, an elaborate con job they play on the gullible locals, who apparently never catch on. It isn’t long, though, before the two are captured by Gen. Delatombe and are forced to go to the village of Marbaden to investigate a curse that has caused the children of the town to begin disappearing into the woods. This is when the film takes off and we begin to see screenwriter Ehren Krueger’s take on how many of our most familiar fairy tales originated, including “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderella,” and “Hansel & Gretel.” When one considers the legacy of the Brothers Grimm, one realizes what a powerful impact they have had on Western culture, and given that these stories are translated into many languages, the cultures of many other parts of our world have been affected as well. There is no denying the work of these two men, gathering folk tales from around Germany and piecing them together into their famous fairy tales, has had a profound effect on just about all of us. Given that the stories of the Brothers Grimm are among our most cherished works of fiction, I was surprised that Terry Gilliam and Ehren Krueger chose to portray them in the film as con artists and rascals, rather than paying them homage by characterizing them as heroic and honorable men. That isn’t really a complaint of mine about the film, though, as with a better script and more character development “The Brothers Grimm” could have been something special. The film was shot entirely in Prague, Czech Republic, and that was certainly a good choice as the locations we visit throughout feel authentic, but some of the dialogue is straight out of our early 21st century world, and that is definitely a mistake. If screenwriter Krueger had paid more attention to details, certain scenes would not have felt awkward, and I could almost sense the actors struggling with some of the words coming out of their mouths. Another complaint I have is that the overall pace of the film is at times just too deliberate, and there are just a few too many moments were I found myself bored and fidgety, wanting the film to just move along. For fans of Terry Gilliam, I recommend that you see this film so you can compare it with his other works. For non fans I suggest you plan on something dry and technically efficient, with no real emotional center you can wrap yourselves around. This is not a bad movie, far from it, just a rather pedestrian effort by a director who I’ve considered to be brilliant and underappreciated throughout his career. He didn’t do himself any favors with “The Brothers Grimm, “ but maybe he should think about a sequel to this, one in which he allows his imagination to run a bit more wildly out of control than he did here. Overall Rating: B- Related sites: CinemaSpider |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 1997-2010 Burlee LLC. All rights reserved. | Reprints | Privacy Policy | Disclosure | About Us/Contact Us | RSS Feed |