Can Gary Oldman Be Right?

Well what should my first blog be about?  What words could possibly reflect my love of the visual media.  I guess the thing that is playing on my mind at present after watching a number of current film releases is the over proliferation of special effects in mainstream cinema. 

 

It would seem that the story has taken second place to the ‘experience’ of watching a film, with a few exceptions; I thought Captain America – The Winter Soldier made a good attempt at a story within the spectacle of the action blockbuster.

 

It seems as though in the latest incarnation of 3-D and the IMAX revolution, film producers are under pressure to present the audience with a visual feast of 3-D sequences to justify the expensive entry fee.  On watching Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films it is noticeable that a) the script has been stretched and augmented with new material to pad them out to 3 hour viewing time and b) that the story/plot appears to park up while an ober elaborate action sequence plays out for the audience (I’m thinking of the barrel-escape sequence with Legolass jumping from barrel to dwarf packed barrel).  I am also tempted to add a c) that Orlando Bloom looks as though he has eaten a few pies since the last Lord of the Rings Film; but I digress! 

 

Once these sequences have finished at their dizzying pace the story then continues; I am not criticising the effects in themselves, but the clunky over-use of them in certain movies.  A well-conceived action sequence can enhance the narrative of a movie, like Luke Skywalker taking on the Death Star single handed in the climax of Star Wars 4 (or 1 depending on how you look at it) or Indiana Jones trying to out run that giant boulder (never gets old!).

 

Gary Oldman, no stranger to a larger than life performance in a number of effects laden films, has recently spoken out against the over use of effects in films.  I think film makers need to stop and catch their breath for a moment and remember the origins of 3-D and the films it was associated with (my mind has been indelibly scarred by Jaws 3-D).

 

3-D can be an amazing experience, especially when it is seen on an IMAX screen but there can be no question that the most satisfying experience has to be a story well told.