Warner Bros - John Boorman (1977)Necro Rating - 10%
This film would be a classic example of style over substance, if it had any style. Unfortunately we feel that this piece of 'cinema' is utterly irredeemable and irrevocably shit - possibly slightly saved by the very cute Linda Blair, who had grown up to be quite foxy since the first film. Yet this is not enough to save this nonsense, as she needs to be about two years older. Incidentally, had Warner Bros decided to wait these two years for Blair, they might have realised that what they were about to release on humanity was inexcusible tripe.
The acting was somewhere between fair and wooden, though more oaken than blond. The overriding feeling was that none of the actors believed in it, which was understandable given the large quantity of unbelievable hokum. For example, the ridiculous plot device of the "Mind Syncer", which our associate Ancestor was unable to get over for most of the film.
The plot (which has no dominion here, Shaman) was weaker than our mother's tea (which is akin to coloured dishwater). It was full of pointless mythology and explanations that were not needed. Any of the first film's mystery was taken out to the streets, stripped naked and viciously raped until no integrity remained. It was left cold, sobbing in the arms of an uncaring neighbour.
Fortunately for the film crew and directors etc, there was no character development. This was a mighty boon as it meant that no real work needed to be done. Instead, money could be spent on the wages of idiots to think of increasingly stupid ideas for the "film". Again, the exception could be Blair, but is not.
The script was meandering, meaningless and full of pseudo-philosophical and pseudo-spiritual bullshit. The director clearly was of the school of thought that including much symbolism (preferably as meaningless as possible) makes a film good. He was wrong. We were amused by Fr Richard Burton's statement that "the world doesn't want any more saints." We wonder what he would make of Pope John Paul II who canonized several jugfuls of saints, and for whom much of the Catholic world is crying fr canonization himself.
The sets used were acceptable and convincing for the American parts of the film. However there was a noticeable difference between these and those set in Africa. For example, rocks were clearly made of plastic they also were shit.
As mentioned above, there was no style. The soundtrack was rubbish; the director saw fit to remove the eerie Oldfield music from the previous film and replace it with some ridiculous cheesy Hollywood romance.
All in all this film was the celluloid equivalent of a week-old pizza and should be avoided at all costs. Few LOLz are provided; see The Exorcist III for this.
