Reviews

The funniest thing about that movie wasn't in the movie but rather from a reviewer on this board "This movie would have been better if they would have actually killed each other, and thus, brought the film to an end after about 40 minutes" I think you need to look at the breakdown of the rating by age group. Indeed girls below 18 rate the highest while people over 30 rate the lowest. The best hint comes from the top 1000 raters, active film buffs with the lowest rating of all, below 6.

Hint: I am giving you more clues with this information than anything I could have said about this movie. It is simply not worth a discussion. Save your money for a Starbuck in good company instead and watch it when it will be on TV for free.

I know this is a movie but I feel mostly like talking about the music score.

In the world of movies there is really only a "few" gems that you can pull apart and say "this will be remembered for".

Simply put, the music score in this movie is a masterpiece. If I was teaching "Soundtrack 501" in art school I would spend at least entire class on this one.

First this is probably the most haunting musicsrore I have ever heard. I loved many but this is totally different, a class of it's own. You can't compare this with a "Moulin Rouge" that was sublime, it's a musical. In Dead Man I think half of the value of the movie comes from the score.

It is not only Neil Young's eclectic way of playing the guitar it is also in the way they have used it along in the movie. The first 5 mins. of the movie not a word is spoken, the train is moving and you already have an idea of what's going on. Suddenly you hear that strange "noise" 1-2 seconds, the first sounds of the guitar and it stops...train keeps moving glimpse of this glimpse of that

You know you're moving from east to west but you don't know why, then first words comes when the always creepy Glover comes in, then you learn a little more, opps another glimpse of young's guitar. Then a little later comes the intro generic and you get the full taste of the music score. I was on tape and I just had to stop and rewind to look at the whole piece again and from then on I was literally begging to hear that music as the film progessed. That was the trick you see, never overused, always in the right place, always in the right dose and tone, totally intoxicating.

Some great actors can carry a film on their shoulders by themsleves, here the music score lift this movie to another level and carries it on its "shoulders". I personally found it that powerful. It think that's the word, it's a subtle, sensitive but powerful music score that fills your brain and soul whitout even whitnessing it at first.

I didn't even knew at first it was Neil Young's and I remember telling myself; "but who the heck did that, who's that genius".

Yes as you can see i was thrown over by it :-)

But what about the movie. I liked it too. It's of course different. Some might not like the pace or simingly "simple" story. Some might even say it was "mono-tone" in both sense as it's filmed in black & white and the plot is really always moving on one level only, but again it was the intention and I believed it was well justified.

Johnny Depp doesn't always need to be exuberant and here again every piece of this movie is in harmony with its unity, subtle so unless you're blind you see Depp's character changing one scene after another. Some people might need a "sign" or an obvious "cut" to tell them oh OK he's not the same anymore. Gee of course he's not the same look what just happened here.

The change is so slow and subtle that he DOESN'T have to "act it" he just IS it one scene after another.

Hollywood produces so much junk "cookie cutter" movie than when things are not told explicitly some get bored.

It's a poetic film so if you don't like the genre then you'll probably fall into the category that couldn't stand the pace of the movie. Along with the music score the pace is what makes it good and I don't need and it doesn't have to be (even if I like) "filmed à la Tarantino" to be "good". Again stills totally in harmony here.

You have to look at the totality and what the director is doing. Here it is a film that is totally congruent from start to finish and one heck of a good piece.

I never rent movie as I record them when they pass on the many movie channel I have. I am usually not a "keeper" I listen and record over. This one I simply couldn't as I knew I was going to listen to it again, which I did 2 months later and enjoyed it even more. So to the MTV generation yes I'm nuts :-)

This movie is every good thing that was written on this board and maybe more.

First, when I saw that movie in the guide i had never heard of it before but being a fan of Lewis and Thurman I couldn't let this pass even if apriori the plot SEEMED a little less than original.

Boy was I in for a surprise. Not all great first scene gives you a good film but all good film will give you a great intro scene, but this one gets its greatness in it's "nothingness". There is so "nothing" about it that as soon as you see Juliette and Uma come on the screen, your jawbone drops.

Not only are they unrecognizable but from the moment you see them you KNOW and FEEL exactly where you are, who you are dealing with and that's exactly every director's dream...or nightmare...can I put my audience in the context of the next x minutes.

This could have been an ordinary movie with an ordinary story..who wants to hear about screwed up bimbos stuck in no name city, no name job and a no name life, But somehow without ever falling into melodrama, pity or cliché, you just fall in love with every caracter.

This is a very well directed movie as it is far from obvious and easy to move a story like this into such an enjoyable moment.

As far as acting goes, well as someone else said, It's off the chart. I love Lewis (Natural born killers at her best...here too) and frankly I've seen alot of Uma but she literally blew me away in this. Both are so good that like I said from the first scene they appear, all you see are the caracters not the actresses.

You can see what a truly beautiful women is when even with an "altered down" image of herself (to say the least) you just can't get your eyes off her (yeah I'm a man)

I think the scene in the bar when she really goes loose is stunning and again it comes from a subtle chemistry between good directing and good acting, As a man I felt like the barman which the camera just give you a quick glimpse just to give you the hint. You look at her and you feel love and compassion even admiration for that woman while if it had been badly acted and/or directed she could have looked stupid and slutty so again masterfully crafted. In other scenes you feel her misery and you want it to end as bad and fast as her.

I can't just say I enjoyed that movie, it feels more like you've met real people that were graceful enough to share their life for a monent, wide open. So real that iI felt as an everyday guy like me could ask Uma out for a drink...that's something :-)

My hat to HBO for this one

Yep,

I won't go lightely on this one.

Music score 0/10 Ok you all know now that there is no story in this. But it is very rare that I can say that even the music score annoyed me. Not that it wasn't good, the music didn't even went with the film. I had the impression of listening to a very bad video clip that only had explosions in it.

Dialogue 0/10 I think Lucy Lu had 3 lines in the movie. One of Banderas line was: "Don't worry, I found you...I'll find him" Wow, I was flabergasted. Unless you prefer..."What do we do now". I have nothing against one liner who doesn't love classics a la Clint Eastwood or Arnold great lines. But this...it's not one liners it's one line because they have nothing else to say.

Direction: 3/10 Ok fights were fine, but aside this I could "hear" the director say to the actors place yourslef there and say this. There was NO direction plain and simple. All you see is a bunch of clips glued together with static caracters almost reading their 5 words line.

Ho I forgot the camera, closer than this and I could have counted Antonio's nose hair. This is just too close man..up in my face.

All in all really it is one of the worst (I'm in my 40's) Even if you love Banderas and or Lucy please do yourself a favor don't go spoil your image of them. Both have made a big mistake accepting to play in this "thing". I don't even know how they got the money to shoot that thing.