In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
One example is below.
Q: plot : two teen couples go to a church party , drink and then drive .
they get into an accident .
one of the guys dies , but his girlfriend continues to see him in her life , and has nightmares .
what 's the deal ?
watch the movie and " sorta " find out . . .
critique : a mind - fuck movie for the teen generation that touches on a very cool idea , but presents it in a very bad package .
which is what makes this review an even harder one to write , since i generally applaud films which attempt to break the mold , mess with your head and such ( lost highway & memento ) , but there are good and bad ways of making all types of films , and these folks just did n't snag this one correctly
.
they seem to have taken this pretty neat concept , but executed it terribly .
so what are the problems with the movie ?
well , its main problem is that it 's simply too jumbled
.
it starts off " normal " but then downshifts into this " fantasy " world in which you , as an audience member ,
have no idea what 's going on
.
there are dreams , there are characters coming back from the dead , there are others who look like the dead , there are strange apparitions , there are disappearances , there are a looooot of chase scenes , there are tons of weird things that happen , and most of it is simply not explained .
now i personally do n't mind trying to unravel a film every now and then , but when all it does is give me the same clue over and over again , i get kind of fed up after a while , which is this film 's biggest problem .
it 's obviously got this big secret to hide , but it seems to want to hide it completely until its final five minutes .
and do they make things entertaining , thrilling or even engaging , in the meantime ?
not really .
the sad part is that the arrow and i both dig on flicks like this , so we actually figured most of it out by the half - way point , so all of the strangeness after that did start to make a little bit of sense , but it still did n't the make the film all that more entertaining .
i guess the bottom line with movies like this is that you should always make sure that the audience is " into it " even before they are given the secret password to enter your world of understanding .
i mean , showing melissa sagemiller running away from visions for about 20 minutes throughout the movie is just plain lazy ! !
okay , we get it .
. .
there are people chasing her and we do n't know who they are .
do we really need to see it over and over again ?
how about giving us different scenes offering further insight into all of the strangeness going down in the movie ?
apparently , the studio took this film away from its director and chopped it up themselves , and it shows .
there might 've been a pretty decent teen mind - fuck movie in here somewhere , but i guess " the suits " decided that turning it into a music video with little edge , would make more sense .
the actors are pretty good for the most part , although wes bentley just seemed to be playing the exact same character that he did in american beauty , only in a new neighborhood .
but my biggest kudos go out to sagemiller , who holds her own throughout the entire film , and actually has you feeling her character 's unraveling .
overall , the film does n't stick
because it does n't entertain , it 's confusing , it rarely excites and
it feels pretty redundant for most of its runtime , despite a pretty cool ending and explanation to all of the craziness that came before it .
oh ,
and by the way , this is not a horror or teen slasher flick . . .
it 's just packaged to look that way because someone is apparently assuming that the genre is still hot with the kids .
it also wrapped production two years ago and has been sitting on the shelves ever since .
whatever . .
. skip it !
where 's joblo coming from ?
a nightmare of elm street 3 ( 7/10 ) - blair witch 2 ( 7/10 ) - the crow ( 9/10 ) - the crow : salvation ( 4/10 )
- lost highway ( 10/10 ) - memento ( 10/10 ) - the others ( 9/10 ) - stir of echoes ( 8/10 )
A: N
Rationale: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").
Q: the sequel to the fugitive ( 1993 ) , u . s
marshals is an average thriller using it 's association with the fugitive just so it can make a few extra bucks
.
tommy lee jones returns to his role as chief deputy samuel gerard , the grizzly cop who was after harrison ford in the fugitive .
this time , he 's after fugitive mark sheridan ( snipes ) who the police think killed two fbi agents , but of course he 's been set up , and when the police plane escort he ( and gerard ) are riding crashes , he makes a run for it , gerard not so hot on his tail .
what follows is about 2 hours of action , brought to us by the director of executive decision ( 1995 ) ,
another film curiously involving a plane .
when comparing this movie to the fugitive , the prequel is far superior .
but even on it 's own , u . s
marshals is a pretty lousy movie .
while the original was reasonably intelligent , and had a fugitive to root for , the audience feels strangely distanced from snipes fugitive , mainly because we know so little about him until way into the film 's overlong running time .
while the fugitive gave a little time to develop harrison fords character , u . s
marshals is straight in there , pulling it 's trump card ( the place crash ) almost immediately .
to be honest , i could n't care less if snipe 's character got captured or not .
snipes performance is average , and his character gets surprisingly little screen time ( considering he is the fugitive ) for reasons i 'll explain later .
tommy lee jones is as fine as ever , although his role is hardly a challenge .
the sense of deja vu was overwhelming .
i know it 's the same role from the fugitive , but there is seemingly no attempt to develop his character from the last film .
there 's a few ' nudge nudge ' references from the first film , but apart from that , nothing .
nobody even mentions harrison ford in this movie .
downey jnr is ok as fbi agent john royce who 's roped into the chase , and sexy french actress irene jacob wanders in and out of the movie as snipes wife .
nobody looks as if their having a good time , and all the performers are on autopilot .
the supporting cast are o .
k ,
but when it comes to performances , u . s
marshals falls flat on it 's face .
it does n't fare any better plot - wise , either .
the film starts off with gerard trying to capture snipes , but then veers off into terrorists territory .
as said above , the film is an normal , average terrorist thriller , seen a million times before , but is using the fugitive reputation to make it sound more professional .
if this film was n't the ' sequel ' to the fugitive , this would probably go straight to video , or not even been made at all , because it 's so average .
and because of the film 's plot changing
it 's course
, snipes is almost forgotten apart , and hardly features in the movie .
stuart baird , the director , is all right , but there 's no particular scene that stands out
.
it 's director is the usual action movie style .
even the plane crash is sorely lacking in tension .
the special effects are nice , especially the plane crash , and there 's a good (
if very loud ) soundtrack by veteran composer jerry goldsmith .
but in the end , u . s marshals
suffers from an overwhelmingly lack of excitement .
sure , it 's loud and dumb , but in the end u . s marshals
just ai n't fun
. bored performers and a lackluster plot and script , do not make a good action movie .
overall rating= review by david wilcock web space provided by geocities
A:
N