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 | (Reviewed by MarcoBeltrami) - From the instant we opened with the
Nightmare on Elm Street theme, and it slowly churned and molded into the
Friday the 13th theme I was breathless. "Finally! Its here!" I
thought to myself.
The opening monologue with Freddy, and the scenes of what he was doing in
the boiler room just thrilled me to death. He sounded so pissed off! He
wasn't a comedian anymore!
Then the one and only thing I would have changed about the movie happened,
whereupon Jason is just out of Hell without a particular reason aside from
Freddy apparently having the ability to get him out. That is the only thing
I would have changed.
The camera work and the visuals were amazing and creepy. Crystal Lake has
never looked so evil and gloomy. The Dream World has never been so good as
when Craven himself directed NOES 1.
The deaths were bloody amazing (pun intended) and abundant. I loved every
minute of them. The pole through the back of the raver guy and into Gibb?
Awesome, especially seeing the hole appear in front of Freddy's face, and
him getting pissed off. How different is that from normal? Where you see the
hole appear in the REAL WORLD after Freddy kills someone in the DREAM WORLD?
A cool twist and reversal of roles I thought! I thought there was more than
enough blood and gore, and it takes ALOT to sate me. I will have to think
for a while to decide my favourite death, as I loved all them--they were
just so fantastically done! And yes there was computer animation in some,
but considering the budget I thought it was superb. It was tell-tale that it
was CGI, but it wasn't terrible CGI--theres a difference.
The comedy was perfect. Not overdone and not done at the wrong places, eg:
Jason X--"It's okay! He just wanted his machete back!" Best of the
comedy was that Freddy still had his one-liners, but they weren't overdone,
or abundant, and they were hilarious, not the kind where you just moan with
disgust. Great lines were things like the whole "goalie"
reference, stuff like that. It was intentionally hilarious, as was the head
cracked full 180 degrees.
The instant that first fight started with Freddy and Jason I was sh*tting my
pants with exhilarated laughter. Seeing Jason chop Freddy to *beep*, and
then Freddy just growing it back, and slamming Jason around. Again and again
and again. Crushing him into anything and everything in sight. Then the
boiler falling on him? Wow. I have never seen Jason take such a beating, nor
such an original one!
While the actors were not oscar worthy, not one of them was terrible. I
thought they were on par with the best NOES movie's acting, and by far the
best acting so far out of the Friday the 13th movies. Its not that Jason's
movies couldn't afford good actors. They have cheap ones in it, and cheap
ones in FvsJ... its that the makers of F13 never put the effort in to find
GOOD cheap actors. Looking back and realizing there wasn't one actor who was
terrible? That made this movie so much more enjoyable--nothing pulls you out
of the moment like a badly delivered line.
The ending; the final fight scene--Freddy having to use his wits to attack
Jason, that was an incredible idea. The way he used the surroundings to his
advantage was sheer brilliance. I don't mind that they both lived. There
could have been: Freddy kills Jason, then lives--or dies at the hands of the
main characters. Jason could have done the same to Freddy, and the same
outcomes on him. Freddy could have taken out Jason, WHILE Jason took out
Freddy. Both could have been fighting, and have the main characters kill
them both. I don't mind that they both survived, as its good to both fan
sets, while still delivering the fight of the century.
Music? Well of course Marco Beltrami could have done better! But that
aside... I thought it was the best of the F13 series (Manfredi was really
never that good, and by Jason X he was flat out terrible IMO) and it was on
par with anything NOES ever had. Chilling, suspenseful, terror and panic
stricken. It had whatever the setting demanded.
I do not care what anyone says, as this is my opinion following: Kane Hodder
was great, Ken Kirzinger was amazing! I loved Jason more than ever in this
movie. I said previously that I didn't care for the F13 movies as much as
NOES ones. Well I have always said that BOTH killers are amazing, but that
Freddy gets the good scripts, good actors, higher budgets, better
directors--thus making his movies that much better than Jason's. I still
love the character himself of Jason, but to me this is by far his best
movie. By far!
My hopes for the future of Jason's movies: that they take a damned cue from
this and for the love of God put some effort into them. Jason X to me was a
huge let down after years of waiting, and my expectations weren't that high!
This movie managed to have most all the deaths at least fit in some way,
whereas typically there are in F13 movies characters just introduced in a
scene, then killed instantly, then the scene cuts, and at no point of the
movie did it ever go back to even insinuate that it had any purpose; it was
there for the sake of having a death scene. I'm not saying each death in
this movie tied itself in and the movie was affected by each one--simply
that each death happened at a scene already designed to fit the rest of the
movie. Jason's future could be bright if they just try a little harder from
now on. Having seen what Jason is capable of in the movies, there's no
reason not to continue with this high a standard. If Ken returns next movie
I'm happy. If Kane does I'm fine with that too. Both are great, though I do
prefer Ken over Kane.
The reason I think I liked it so much aside from all the above listed? I
kept an open mind throughout. I told myself "Forget any rumor you
heard. Just watch and learn. Let the story tell itself." and that I
believe helped so much. After 10 years waiting many of you raised your
expectations to the point nothing could have matched them. Me? I looked
forward to it as much as any of you, but I kept my expectations non-existant.
I WANTED a good movie, but didn't EXPECT it to be. When it was, that made it
the more effective.
My hope is that if they make a sequel that Ronny Yu comes back. I thought he
was amazing. Tell me one director that is NOT in huge demand, that knows how
to stretch a budget like this! I mean Sam Raimi, and Peter Jackson--both are
hugely in demand, and are amazing for stretching budgets a long, long way.
This movie did NOT look like 25 million to me. I seriously think it looked
more like fifty million. Everything was just so well done! If they don't
make a sequel to this, but they do to the next F13 or NOES movie I again
hope Yu comes back. For NOES because he is the first director since Craven's
conception of Fred that knows how the character should be. Yes part of that
is the screenwriter, but alot of it is HOW its pulled from script to
reality. For Jason the reason I want him back is because Jason's movies are
too low budget to be realized onscreen without severe cuts in the script (ie:
Jason X, which was a better movie in script form, but due to budget was
hacked up--Azrael losing his arm was the perfect example of the difference)
whereas Ronny Yu created a dismal and decrepit Crystal Lake, more haunting
than ever seen before. The visual style applied made it more effective. I
think if he made the next in either series that it would be likely just as
good as Freddy Vs Jason was in my opinions.
Overall rating of the movie: 9.6/10, and worth every damned minute of
waiting I had to endure the past years. Couldn't have easily asked for more.
I will probably see it at least 3 times in theaters, as it was even
better than my highest hopes ever brought me.
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