Film Filter: Off- The Crazies

Film Filter: Off- So this film was not as bad as I had thought it would be.  It was a unique concept that was executed (no pun intended!) pretty well.  On a side note, I am REALLY starting to like Timothy Olyphant...

Pros- The film was well cast, which always helps.  One of the tricks I use to determine the suckiness of a movie, particularly of the horror variety, is to see if I can identify any one of the cast members in a film I have previously seen.  If the answer is no, it's usually going to be a flop, although there are sometimes exceptions.  I also found it interesting that, instead of having a large core of characters that die off, they start with a small group that winds up finding more survivors as they traverse.  Yes, eventually some of them die off, but it diversifies the amount and type of characters that interact in the film.  I also enjoyed that Olyphant's character is adamant about going back to save his wife, while others are content with self-preservation.  He makes a comment similar to, "Don't ask me why I am going back for my wife and I won't ask you why you aren't going back for yours"  Deep, man.  Really deep.  But seriously, I liked the strong willed, fearless character that he portrays, and he does a great job with it.  Lastly, I find it refreshing that when the Crazies die...they really die.  There's nothing worse than an antagonist that is unkillable (Jeepers Creepers, anyone?).  It gets old pretty fast.

Cons- The plot dragged occasionally, and there were some questions that were left dangling for quite some time before being answered.  That's not a bad thing, really, but I am nosy and want to know everything that's going on.  I also thought that the cinematography was rather dark.  I know that most horror films lean toward this trend, but since most of this film takes place at night, it gets to be overbearing and some scenes are difficult to see for that reason.  I also thought that Olyphant was a borderline SuperCop in that he was able to discern things in a very short period of time that I don't think most people would figure out.  If they spent more time figuring out why things were happening toward the beginning, and less time running around trying to avoid death, the plot would have been a little more fluid.

Wrap up-  This movie was pretty good, and definitely unique.  The plot drags aren't extremely noticeable, and the cast does a good job of keeping the story interesting for the most part.

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