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Rating: One of the most difficult things to do when critiquing a work is to maintain objectivity. The critic should always be free of biases, external influences, and evaluate only what is being presented to them, in its raw state. The critic should, at times, perform a reset of everything they know, of everything they should know, and of everything they have never known. In a sense, they should be like a child about to unwrap a new gift, unaware of its contents, eyes wide with wonder or whining due to a huge disappointment. Only in this way can one have an unconditional judgment that gives merit (or demerit) to the work being assessed, only in this way can they truly answer the implicit question in every critique: "why?"
Beautiful words, but applicable only if our critic had always lived in a cave in the Himalayas and had never seen another living soul in their life except for the daring hero who had the courage to bring them reels or records to assess.
So, what can be done? Simple, don't be objective, send rationality and logic to hell, and let yourself be carried away by the emotion that makes you shout: "cool!!!" or "disgusting!", in short, be less "professors" and more "fans", the latter forever devoid of any logic or reason.
The 12 Monkeys Army I rewatched a few days ago, aired on TV, between a couple of dribbles by Lavezzi and Ronaldinho's big teeth. What can be said about this film? Here are the three alternatives:
1) Ugh, give me back Lavezzi
Some are born with a silver spoon, and some are born with a dirty tank top, like Bruce Willis, who, as long as I can remember, always has those darn grease stains mixed with the blood of a hard-to-kill person, always with a broken or bruised forehead. Ugh, such a drag these movies where if you miss even a minute, you understand absolutely nothing, and then those endings where they must make at least five more sequels. It's the typical movie for nerdy tech enthusiasts, there's no nudity, no dirty jokes, if I really want to watch a sci-fi movie, I'd rewatch Back to the Future where at least there's the dream of my life, the hoverboard! And couldn't they have cast Jolie in the role of the crazy doctor?
2) Good film.
The concept of time travel is overused in the world of cinema and everything is more or less a legitimate descendant of Terminator and Back to the Future. Temporal paradoxes, time machines, the wrong years, the collapse of improbable space-time universes, are all fascinating themes but exhaustively treated in the aforementioned films, therefore, the references, the deja vu, the citations are too strong to go unnoticed, even if handled by Terry Gilliam, author of the visionary and utopian masterpiece Brazil. Paradoxically The 12 Monkeys stands more on the grotesque scenarios created by Gilliam to describe life on post-epidemic Earth, so confined in an improbable underground, governed by improbable scientist-insurers, dressed in a peculiar way with quirky glasses. In short, when it comes to being visionary, Gilliam is second to none, though it's different when it comes to originality. The usual backward-flowing plot starting from a few clues and exploding into a pyrotechnic finale, the skepticisms typical of the genre, the frantic race to preserve a moment that's more bent to the will of the screenwriter than shaped by the time machine. Consequently, everything must rely on Gilliam's capabilities and the excellent performances of the two protagonists, Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis. The former, in the role of the bewildered and psychotic Jeffrey Goines, offers a remarkable performance, probably the best of his career, not easy as good Jeffrey must be portrayed as truly out of his mind, but also Willis in the role of the nation's savior James Cole stops being "hard to kill," portraying a problematic character with strong psychological introspection.
3) Enjoyment
Oh my, what a movie! I place it alongside Fight Club and The Matrix among the cool films, the ones where you have to learn all the cool lines to show off at school and impress the girls. Then I have to get an emblem with the symbol of the 12 monkeys to put on my backpack, next to a Jim Morrison quote and the AC/DC logo doodled with marker.
And that's that.
I think watching a movie is kind of like facing Lavezzi: when you think you've grasped it, watch out, as he might pass the ball to the other side.
Merry Christmas everyone
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