Thursday, April 25, 2013

Static Crackle And Pop Pop Pop

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I didn't ever bother to review The ABCs of Death because how do you review something like that? I'm not writing twenty-six reviews, but obviously some segments will work while others won't... well hopefully some segments will work. And yes some did there, and so it goes with V/H/S/2. But since the latter's only got five segments it's a little bit easier to give it a go, so let's. V/H/S/2 is about as hit and miss as the first one (here's my review of that one), which I came down about in the middle of the pack towards - I didn't go cuckoo for cocoa puffs for it, I saw a lot of its problems (gross unresolved misogyny, check), but I thought it offered a lot of fun all the same. As for this here sequel, everything feels slightly more coherent than the first time around, but in so doing it feels slightly less scrappy, less surprising.

That said there's one segment here that's worth both films put together - Gareth Evans, who made The Raid: Redemption, a movie I wasn't crazy about at all, aims his "wandering through a video-game" aesthetic at the endless corridors and basement classrooms of an Indonesian cult compound, and the wizardry with which he sets out to top himself moment to moment in a total WTF-a-thon is thrilling and horrible and weird and audacious.

In comparison nothing else comes close, but there's fun to be had in pretty much everybody's bit (everybody except the framing story, which once again is the weakest link), even if they seem to rely on jump scares awfully hard this go-around, and even at their short individual lengths feel slightly drawn out. But I could totally keep watching these movies, so I hope they keep cranking them out. Maybe next time they could hire a female director though?
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1 comment:

MrJeffery said...

i agree with much of this review. the evans' commune segment was the highlight. the rest was watchable, but a bit undercooked. good idea to enlist female directors if there's a next installment.