Into The West
Where Ocean Meets The Sea, My Heart Belongs
The Seeker Sucks... 
26th-Jul-2008 09:59 pm
NBSG Starbuck
Yes, it sucks the soul right out of you.

After all this time, I have finally taken the time to watch the film 'The Seeker: The Dark is Rising'.

When I first heard that this film was being made, I got a little excited.  When I was younger, I found the Dark Is Rising books by Susan Cooper and quite enjoyed them.  They aren't hugely complex stories but they are threaded with ties to classic British myth, legend and history and it makes them a very rich read, even now that I'm older then their intended audience.

After the successes of Lord of the Rings and the many Harry Potter books, it was easy to imagine that they would be able to convert book to film with ease and without losing the magic that first made the books so worth reading.  Then I started hearing about some of the small 'changes' the film makers decided were needed and saw the first teaser for the film.

All I could do is cringe.

By the time the film itself was released in cinemas, I had lost any interest in seeing it.  I knew it would be a long session of pain, agony and biting my tongue to keep from yelling at the stupidity of the film's creators.

But I knew I would, eventually, have to see it.  So I rented it tonight, as a cheap second film to something else I actually WANTED to see.  Boy, am I freakin' glad I did it this way.

Those that read and enjoyed Anne Rice's vampire novels all said that they could enjoy Queen of the Damned so long as they pretended it had nothing to with the books and any resemblance was coincidence.  I can't even say that much about this film.

The little they left in that resembles the book, is hard to filter out for someone who knows the book by heart.  The rest of the film is a long series of incomprehensible events, strung between bad musical queues, strange camera angles and frantic visual effects meant to make the classical style story 'more interesting'.  Had they taken the lovely Michael J Fox off his medication and given him the role of lead camera man, it would have been more interesting and less painful.  And probably shaken less than the filming of The Bourne Identity.

This rental will be very gladly taken back to the shop and forgotten the millisecond it leaves my hand.  It's the only way to survive the pain left behind by watching this film....that doesn't include thousands of dollars in therapy and anti-psychotics. *lol*  This film is a greater obscenity than any to leave Al Swearengen's mouth...who for some reason plays one of the film's leads.

If you read this, do yourself a favor...NEVER WATCH THIS FILM!!!

Cheers! :)

X-posted to MySpace
Comments 
28th-Jul-2008 12:04 am (UTC)
Thanks for the heads up. I'll avoid it!
28th-Jul-2008 09:45 pm (UTC)
*lol* You're welcome. Anything to save other's pain! :D
28th-Jul-2008 06:21 am (UTC)
I hear you and shall obey! Now I just have to remember the name of the Film To Avoid.
28th-Jul-2008 09:46 pm (UTC)
:D The Seeker...just think of something that sounds like it should be from HP but SO isn't. *lol*
29th-Jul-2008 07:04 am (UTC)
or think of the aussie band with Judy Durham.
29th-Jul-2008 09:51 pm (UTC)
Who??? O_O!
31st-Jul-2008 02:35 am (UTC)
The Seekers. Ask Marco, cos I'm sure he'll remember who they were. Bigger than texas in their time.
31st-Jul-2008 02:40 am (UTC)
*lol* Nuthin's bigger than Texas. :P But I'll ask him!
28th-Jul-2008 07:10 am (UTC)
It was already on my "Do Not Watch" list for the simple fact that the trailers looked so god-awful. But it's nice to have some positive reinforcement.

The main problem I saw was that like another couple of fantasy films that have come out recently, the film makers aren't trying to make a fantasy film but a fantasy franchise, which is completely the wrong way to go about it.

I get the feeling that after The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe which was guilty of the above, the film makers went back to the drawing board for Prince Caspian hen set out to make the best damned fantasy film they could, and I believe they were successful. Liberties were taken with the story, but it's an adaptation of the book, and it's probably the best post-LOTR fantasy film currently. Pity the US box office doesn't agree with me...

Oh, and who's your mystery guest? :P
28th-Jul-2008 09:48 pm (UTC)
Still haven't seen Prince Caspian but want to.

I went into this knowing it would be bad...but it's the sheer badness of it that astounded me! I knew I would kind of have to watch it at some point, if only because I DO know the books by heart and needed to see the car crash. :D

I have a mystery guest??
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