*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
First the good. The Brave, written and directed by Johnny Depp, had its moments. Somewhere among all the long, unnecessary diversions, beat the heart of a truly meaningful movie; the core conflict of which is the same as Death of a Salesman: What does a man do when he thinks he's worth more dead than alive? That the movie actually grappled with this question is to its credit.
Now the bad. What the heck was going on with all the bizarre characters in the garbage dump village? Terry Gilliam influence? The two main aspects of this movie (the core conflict and the secondary characters) didn't fit together at all. Editing about 20 minutes out of the garbage dump village sequences would've been addition by subtraction, IMHO. More screen time for Brando would've helped, too.
Finally, the ugly. This movie made me want to take a bath. Depp wears essentially the same clothes throughout the week-long time frame (he does change shirts once). Hot, sweaty, no running water...I guess that added to the atmosphere of why he wanted to get his family out. The Brave has to be in contention for the least amount of greenery on film ever. Other than the one neighbor's grass garden, there is hardly another living plant anywhere.
Special kudos to Iggy Pop for the excellent scoring. Fantastic music throughout; very spare and earthy: tribal drums, wooden flutes, etc. I'm going to seek out the soundtrack.
Final score: 6/10. Depp's direction was good, I thought. The love scene b/n his character and the wife felt real; even more so because "it" happened only once. But, the central conflict: accepting money to be killed for entertainment, could've been explored more deeply. I didn't even understand that was the deal until the 90-minute mark when Depp confesses to the priest. More focus, less weirdness...but all in all not a bad flick.
First the good. The Brave, written and directed by Johnny Depp, had its moments. Somewhere among all the long, unnecessary diversions, beat the heart of a truly meaningful movie; the core conflict of which is the same as Death of a Salesman: What does a man do when he thinks he's worth more dead than alive? That the movie actually grappled with this question is to its credit.
Now the bad. What the heck was going on with all the bizarre characters in the garbage dump village? Terry Gilliam influence? The two main aspects of this movie (the core conflict and the secondary characters) didn't fit together at all. Editing about 20 minutes out of the garbage dump village sequences would've been addition by subtraction, IMHO. More screen time for Brando would've helped, too.
Finally, the ugly. This movie made me want to take a bath. Depp wears essentially the same clothes throughout the week-long time frame (he does change shirts once). Hot, sweaty, no running water...I guess that added to the atmosphere of why he wanted to get his family out. The Brave has to be in contention for the least amount of greenery on film ever. Other than the one neighbor's grass garden, there is hardly another living plant anywhere.
Special kudos to Iggy Pop for the excellent scoring. Fantastic music throughout; very spare and earthy: tribal drums, wooden flutes, etc. I'm going to seek out the soundtrack.
Final score: 6/10. Depp's direction was good, I thought. The love scene b/n his character and the wife felt real; even more so because "it" happened only once. But, the central conflict: accepting money to be killed for entertainment, could've been explored more deeply. I didn't even understand that was the deal until the 90-minute mark when Depp confesses to the priest. More focus, less weirdness...but all in all not a bad flick.