Post by darenc1 on Dec 8, 2011 0:30:37 GMT 1
Sorry, I'm rather late to the party with regards to this film, but I shall add my 2p here....
I went to see this film in its pitifully short cinema run here in the UK. I subsequently bought it on DVD to add to the collection, but I have to wonder why.
It's a horsey film. OK, so I should at least like it a bit.
It's a horse-racing film. I like films such as Seabiscuit, Champions, National Velvet etc, so this should be enjoyable, too, no?
The thing is, I found the vast majority of the characters unlikeable:
Penny Chenery? No thanks. She just seemed too arrogant for my liking, especially when compared to the character of Charles Howard (played by Jeff Bridges in Seabiscuit), who seemed to know that he probably didn't have the best horse on the circuit, but he was willing to give it his best shot. Chenery, on the other hand: "My horse will beat everything." Pffft. Really? You're a bit full of yourself, are you not?! OK, so it turned out to be true, but still....!
Lucien Lauren (John Malkovich). Another "quirky" professional who seems to know more than what he's letting on. Stereotypical. And uninteresting. Chris Cooper (again, Seabiscuit) did a much finer job.
I could go on. Eddie Sweat just seemed like the token black dude (even if he was a genuine character from Secretariat's history) and his dialogue was terrible at times.
Apart from that one issue revealed in the film (a blister inside his mouth, I seem to recall), Secretariat's story, at least from the point of view of the screenwriter, seems to be so... easy. No hardships, no setbacks to speak of. Really? Simple as that?
The racing sequences were not exactly nail-biting. There was no element of surprise or even a hint of drama about them - you just knew Secretariat would come out on top, without knowing anything beforehand.
I dunno, I guess Seabiscuit set the bar pretty highly in terms of a modern horse-racing film. Heck, even Dreamer had its moments, which set it quite high in the list of "best horse-racing films of all time". Secretariat seemed to strive to tell us a great story, but just failed to do so.
I'd give Secretariat 4/10, but I'm being generous.
I went to see this film in its pitifully short cinema run here in the UK. I subsequently bought it on DVD to add to the collection, but I have to wonder why.
It's a horsey film. OK, so I should at least like it a bit.
It's a horse-racing film. I like films such as Seabiscuit, Champions, National Velvet etc, so this should be enjoyable, too, no?
The thing is, I found the vast majority of the characters unlikeable:
Penny Chenery? No thanks. She just seemed too arrogant for my liking, especially when compared to the character of Charles Howard (played by Jeff Bridges in Seabiscuit), who seemed to know that he probably didn't have the best horse on the circuit, but he was willing to give it his best shot. Chenery, on the other hand: "My horse will beat everything." Pffft. Really? You're a bit full of yourself, are you not?! OK, so it turned out to be true, but still....!
Lucien Lauren (John Malkovich). Another "quirky" professional who seems to know more than what he's letting on. Stereotypical. And uninteresting. Chris Cooper (again, Seabiscuit) did a much finer job.
I could go on. Eddie Sweat just seemed like the token black dude (even if he was a genuine character from Secretariat's history) and his dialogue was terrible at times.
Apart from that one issue revealed in the film (a blister inside his mouth, I seem to recall), Secretariat's story, at least from the point of view of the screenwriter, seems to be so... easy. No hardships, no setbacks to speak of. Really? Simple as that?
The racing sequences were not exactly nail-biting. There was no element of surprise or even a hint of drama about them - you just knew Secretariat would come out on top, without knowing anything beforehand.
I dunno, I guess Seabiscuit set the bar pretty highly in terms of a modern horse-racing film. Heck, even Dreamer had its moments, which set it quite high in the list of "best horse-racing films of all time". Secretariat seemed to strive to tell us a great story, but just failed to do so.
I'd give Secretariat 4/10, but I'm being generous.