Well Film Wipe fans tonight’s review will take you out of your comfort zone and will be the biggest surprise you will have had since Simenya was announced as having a bit of both (if you hadn’t worked out that the sentence is laced with sarcasm please re read with that in mind). Are you ready? It is the Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock classic Forces of Nature (many of you will rightly question the word “classic”. However I will hopefully prove that whilst this is one of the worst films ever made it still has something special that makes a bit of a guilty pleasure).
The film follows Ben Holmes (Affleck) as he tries to get to his wedding in Savannah. However, he keeps being foiled in his attempts to get there with problems hitting every mode of transport he chooses. He ends up sharing a car with the quirky Sara (Bullock) as they are both going to the same place. The journey turns into a road trip with the pair going on various adventures along the way (this makes them sound like the famous five) and more importantly for the plot they start to develop feelings for each other. The audience are left in a cliff hanger of whether Ben will make it to his wedding or decide to go off with Sara (this is a toughie which I am sure you have probably guessed already).
Right. I will be honest with you now. This film is terrible (I will come back to why it is good in a minute). Everything is bad. From the acting to the special effects. The direction is so bad you feel like flying to Hollywood, finding Bronwen Hughes the film’s director and lining her up against the wall and then shooting her at dawn with the rest of the cast and crew for their treason to decent cinema. It will not surprise anyone to hear that after this, her most successful film, Brownwen has seen her career spiral from making mediocre television shows to the universally hated Royal Pains. Frankly she is so bad at everything I think starring at the wall is to advanced for her.
What really destroys the film is the awful sets and special effects. The production values are terrible for a film which cost $75 million. I think the kind people at Dreamworks were robbed of their money, because there is absolutely no way this cost even half of that. Fair enough computer graphics were not that advanced in 1995. But all I will say is look at Saving Private Ryan (also made in 1995) and then look at Forces of Nature. You can’t honestly tell me that it is just the poor quality of the technology. One particular scene that stands out is one of the final scenes where the storm has picked up in Savannah. The graphics are so bad it is like playing asteroids. I think someone blowing smoke in your face is a more realistic storm than the one in this film.
Sandra Bullock also manages to deliver a performance that makes you think that her career would have died there and then. She ranges from being annoying to so annoying that you want to hold her head underwater until there are no more bubbles coming up. Everything about her character is annoying, from her clothes, to her “quirky” traits, her sense of humour, her laugh, her voice even the way she looks at Ben (in a supposedly affectionate way). There is one point where the train breaks down and Ben (after having made the wise decision of hiding from her) hears her shouting on the roof of one of the carriages. I genuinely hoped the train would start again and they would go through a low ceiling tunnel.
Yet for my absolute hatred of her performance there is also a twinge of quite liking her. And this is the problem with the film. It is surprisingly likeable. I hate Sandra Bullock, I may think her character is more annoying than genital warts, but I still can’t hate her. The same can be said of Ben Affleck (I will hold my hands up now and say that I am actually a fan of his. Hate me if you must) who puts in an ok performance and yet I still like his character and actually feel an emotional link with him. By the end you genuinely care about what he is going to do. Even worst you actually want him to choose the annoying Sara. The film manages to make you laugh and care about the characters so much you really want everything to work out. It will give you a smile on your face that you will late feel ashamed of.
Overall this is one of the worst films ever made. However, it is also one of the most enjoyable. It could cheer up even the most depressed person. You will hate your sell for watching it. You will want to kill yourself for enjoying it. But I challenge anyone to watch this film and not feel like buying the DVD by the end.
8/10 – Terrible yet brilliant
No comments:
Post a Comment