I personally wasn't. Maybe I was more tempered in my expectation, with mediocre being my guess in the end.
I was not expecting outright bad and incompetent writing and filmmaking in general.
The initial premise just seems like a run-of-the-mill apocalypse movie with superhero shit. There is none of what made ORV so great in the first place. Heck, the Star Stream scenarios were supposed to be humanity's punishment for some goddamn reason by the universe, I guess. Yeah, that's a thing.
The cinematography felt more like a commercial than an actual film. I feel like the medium of film is not used at all. There is no love in the frame, not any love for anything but the director's own misguided beliefs, revealing repulsiveness.
The dialogue is completely stilted and unnatural. There is no love in this.
The characters are OOC if not outright in name. What the hell happened to everyone? No, KDJ won't do that. No, that's no Yoo Sangah. No, that's no Heewon either. No, that's not Gilyoung. No, that's definitely not Yoo Joonghyuk. No, that's not HyunSung. I feel like a broken record. Fuck, the villains aren't them either!
The women's struggles and their experiences are completely erased. I mean it, SA, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and the sexism the women experienced are rendered null. There is no interior to them, only them serving the main character's 'growth'. This is misogyny revealed by the director and production team, who, at best, merely reviewed a Cliff Notes version, rather than one that required critical thinking. Or, at worst, they didn't bother and just read a summary, deriving everything from there.
Kim Dokja's victimhood of bullying was also erased because this is something they also refused to touch. There is absolutely nothing about domestic violence here, folks. Nothing about his dad being a piece of shit, and that he literally rewrote his own reality for killing in self-defense. Nothing that his mom took the fall and any of the complexity of their relationship. Honestly, the backstory of KDJ conveyed so much about KDJ's character, and they butchered it. No, KDJ is not this heroic figure who is this altruistic about the world. He would sacrifice the world for his friends and is a manipulative fucker.
The misguidance of the roles of the reader, writer, and protagonist in this movie is a trainwreck. Those roles are of fucking importance in the original, and what do you mean KDJ is the writer??? There is no YSJ because all her stuff is going to KDJ anyway. What do you mean that YJH isn't KDJ's favorite character and it's Heewon instead? Heewon, who is only revealed to be a canon character way later? YJH is now reduced to a side character, a disservice to his protagonist status as well as one of the roles as the three main characters.
There are no skills that made KDJ the reader here. There is barely a mention of the Constellations, if at all, honestly, because it feels like they erased them either way. What do you fucking mean that he hates the novel he's been reading since that pivotal point in his life? He's not Shen Yuan!! That removed an important part of KDJ, and they fucked it up!
There is a removal of characters that takes away a significant portion of the story. LSH is not even here because her role was taken over by YSA for some reason, and that reason is obvious.
Every character is a disservice to their original characterization. I feel that if I discussed more of the SA and the sexism that the female characters experienced in canon and compared it with how they are portrayed misogynistically in the live-action movie, I'm gonna explode and rant. At least I kept KDJ as a paragraph, and I was trying to not go on because I refuse to give the movie more thought than it deserves.
It feels more like they are attempting a power fantasy because how else can the women, with the loss of their interior service nothing more than the male fantasy? Getting rid of any queerness and making everything just another matter of power fantasy for dudebros and idol fans.
They eliminated important arcs and skills that are prevalent in future arcs and the story as a whole. There are literally no character arcs for anyone, as they are reduced to power fantasy for the dudebros to project and pretty things for eye candy because that's what they essentially reduced every single character to.
It was not even an adaptation. How could it be when it couldn’t adapt basic elements? And the changes aren’t made due to time constraints or easier adaptation from words to the screen. It’s made because the director and production crew couldn’t be bothered to read and actually understand the source material in a meaningful gesture. As misguided as the FMA live actions are, at least they try their hands at the source material.
Godoka, you know as well as I do that KDJ’s actor would’ve nailed the novel characterization. What glimmers we had of him were just that glimmer, but otherwise than that, he was so changed that it couldn't be helped. Of course, they would get rid of any arcs for the women. YJH’s actor tried his hardest to be as close to the original as he could, but there were so many changes that his acting didn't change a thing.
For Arceus’ sake, this was supposed to be a five-movie franchise. With arcs that they eliminated for no good reason (they couldn't even bother doing the theater dungeon if that gives you an idea of just how fucked they are with storytelling), there is no fucking way I see them tackle any of the arcs well, seeing how they got rid of established worldbuilding and character writing to get this mess.
I’m putting this all at the feet of the director and the production crew. The actors are hired for the shit. Yeah, it’s bad that their first introduction was to a badly written slop; they were blended from a basic summary and a horrid interpretation of said summary. Those who read the novel had fought but failed to win against an apathetic director and production crew who only used the ORV name for their own benefit of revealing everything ORV stood for.
It is disappointing that a large part of the cast did not read the novel, but I'm firmly blaming the director and the production crew here. They are in charge of writing the shit for the silver screen and failed in adapting. There was no communication of important info such as the master-disciple relationship, but considering how much the director and production crew 'care', I doubt they were thinking about anything else but their own arrogance.
It wasn't even their first rodeo of badly adapting either. Their previous contract had the writer in tears.
SingNSong is diplomatic about their views on the movie since they can’t say anything bad about it. They are damning it by faint praise, and really, the faintest praise I can give it is…some actors tried their best to be as close to the actual characterization.
Had it been original, it would just be d-tier save the world power fantasy mediocrity, which it still is.
However, with ORV slapped on it and the ORV is in name only, then it's just stupid, mediocre, or even just plain bad leftovers that aren't even good.
There is a part of ORV fandom that I think is toxic positive about this movie. I have to make it clear: This movie have it been a standalone and not associated with ORV would be a second-rate underwhelming apocalyptic film that does not stand out from its brethren other than having some interesting things that isn't explored that much anyways. However, it has ORV's name slapped on it, and SnS has been diplomatic, not outright approving of it but not outright hating it either, because they have to be neutral. Do you really want this KDJ associating with our KDJ? Do you really want any of the movie's superficiality associated with the novel's complexity and themes, because I hope fucking not, because the movie isn't HTTYD! The movie can't stand on its own, other than being a high-profile but lacking camp in name only movie that displayed cliché tropes that did nothing to stand out.
Do you really want outsiders to think that this is a good taste for the source material they could take a dive into? I'll recommend the One Piece and Bleach live actions for appetizers if they really want to tackle the actual thing. I would not recommend the FMA live action to anyone to even consider watching FMA that way, nor would I recommend Death Note 2017 for that either. Fuck, even the new dub for Detective Conan is a great appetizer if they really want to tackle the series as well. Again, adaptations are great as a sample for the real thing. If people see these bad adaptations, they might not take the dive either way. The movie has the chance to show the world why ORV is so loved, and this is not it. Being toxic positive about the movie is not going to change the fact that most people won't understand why ORV has such a large following if this is the reason.
Why else is there so much happiness when newbies come in from the OPLA and fans welcome the newbies?
ORVLA is in the same status as these live actions. They could be appetizers for the real thing, which in this case is the novel. The live-action adaptation is never supposed to be a substitute for the real thing, but at the very least, it could've been more than just in name only and driven interest in those who would be genuinely interested in what ORV actually offers. Instead, what it looks like is that all the movie offers is a power fantasy of the lowest grade. Heck, at least Solo Leveling earns that power fantasy on the same level as SAO, admittedly, but at least those have something while this movie has nothing.
It's not even a good movie by standards. It's just bad with all the worst elements of what ORV fought against to write their story. Do you want to be positive about that when ORV wouldn't want their themes and what they have written their characters to be associated with something so clearly misogynistic and lacking love for anything?
This movie lacks love everywhere it has. Nothing is going for it, and why should you want to defend something that is going for the easy route of K-drama and idol fans instead of making quality films and actually using the language of filmmaking, just as ORV used the language of storytelling?
I know the novel said that even the worst of storytelling has its own place in the world, and people use that. I would like to point out that it does not excuse the movie for being everything ORV stood against. Really, this movie's flavor of bad isn't even a so-bad-it's-good kind, just bad, with a clear display of misogyny and a misunderstanding of the source material, all on full display. I'm sure it has its lovers, but when people are putting the novel to elevate a mediocre piece of work that is the movie, then shouldn't they know the point was to adapt, not to change so radically that it's in name only? The movie production crew and director have been putting down the novel because they skimmed it instead of bothering to read it deeply. To them, it's a power fantasy that they see and change to their will.
Do not watch this movie. It's utter trash and an affront to the novel, the very concept of storytelling and filmmaking.
As SNS-nim said, please read it. You know it's bad that the only praise they could even utter is that they like the opening scene, and that's it.
No comments:
Post a Comment