There's a great philosophy in movie criticism - and criticism in general - that espouses that the reviewer should not let personal biases get in the way of his/her objective undertaking.
This philosophy is dead nowadays.
Now, politics and undiluted personal bias serve as the driving force behind almost all reviews (with the exception of universally acclaimed blockbusters like The Avengers Series). I hate these kinds of reviews; they are - at best - repetitive echoes and they give credence and affirmation to the limited thinking of politicians and their outdated and impractical causes. They get to use you as their mouthpiece, and you don't even get paid or acknowledged. It's a one-sided affair at the cost of a decent movie review.
But the fact remains that review do not contain a semblance of subjectivity; you are after all analyzing how the film worked for an audience and by such extension, for you. There is no escaping that fact.
Now I truly understand the subjective nature of reviews. Death Wish (2018) was just another violent vigilante actioner to me the first time I saw it. It did not have the emotional gravitas of the other superior Death Wish remake Death Sentence (2007) (although it can match it in the graphic violence department). It was just another enjoyable but forgettable affair, starring a miscast Bruce Willis. Nothing special here, move along.
That all changed when I was a victim of a crime, an incident that left me injured for three (3) weeks. The perps weren't caught and the police could do nothing but mull over their columnar notebooks filled with similar crimes or worse. Sound familiar? I felt like Willis, or better yet, like Paul Kersey in the film: hopeless, angry, and very vengeful. Although I did not embark on my own vigilante spree, I SYMPATHIZED with the character like I have never before. Suddenly, all the other reviews mentioning that Kersey was solving his problems by shooting them and that guns are the problem seemed farcical and dangerously missing the point: what would you have done in his place? Mouth off your political talking points? No, you would want to find the sucker who did this to you or your family and kill them.
It is understandable that this review could have been used in other worthier vigilante movies like the aforementioned Death Sentence (2007). But as of this moment, I could not find a better representative to demonstrate how a film could make you agree with its themes overnight, or specifically after a night of great significance.
Death Wish is not one of the best films of the year, but it is a film whose themes I agree with the most.
This philosophy is dead nowadays.
Now, politics and undiluted personal bias serve as the driving force behind almost all reviews (with the exception of universally acclaimed blockbusters like The Avengers Series). I hate these kinds of reviews; they are - at best - repetitive echoes and they give credence and affirmation to the limited thinking of politicians and their outdated and impractical causes. They get to use you as their mouthpiece, and you don't even get paid or acknowledged. It's a one-sided affair at the cost of a decent movie review.
But the fact remains that review do not contain a semblance of subjectivity; you are after all analyzing how the film worked for an audience and by such extension, for you. There is no escaping that fact.
Now I truly understand the subjective nature of reviews. Death Wish (2018) was just another violent vigilante actioner to me the first time I saw it. It did not have the emotional gravitas of the other superior Death Wish remake Death Sentence (2007) (although it can match it in the graphic violence department). It was just another enjoyable but forgettable affair, starring a miscast Bruce Willis. Nothing special here, move along.
That all changed when I was a victim of a crime, an incident that left me injured for three (3) weeks. The perps weren't caught and the police could do nothing but mull over their columnar notebooks filled with similar crimes or worse. Sound familiar? I felt like Willis, or better yet, like Paul Kersey in the film: hopeless, angry, and very vengeful. Although I did not embark on my own vigilante spree, I SYMPATHIZED with the character like I have never before. Suddenly, all the other reviews mentioning that Kersey was solving his problems by shooting them and that guns are the problem seemed farcical and dangerously missing the point: what would you have done in his place? Mouth off your political talking points? No, you would want to find the sucker who did this to you or your family and kill them.
It is understandable that this review could have been used in other worthier vigilante movies like the aforementioned Death Sentence (2007). But as of this moment, I could not find a better representative to demonstrate how a film could make you agree with its themes overnight, or specifically after a night of great significance.
Death Wish is not one of the best films of the year, but it is a film whose themes I agree with the most.
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