film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
Devoid of personality and soul, this hellish Frankenstein monster of processed entertainment product wallows in a stew of borrowed ideas and imagery and does absolutely nothing fresh with them.
The Auto-Tuned boy-band version of the apocalypse. You will forgive that every plot point that isn’t a cliché is in fact a plot hole because the hero is so dreamy and impossibly perfect, right?
Moonlight leads, with seven awards…
A disappointing downfall from the previous films, the appealing metaphor for nonconformity giving way to dull good-vs-evil battle and dumb plot conundrums.
Lazy and trite, with a passive protagonist. It’s as if no one here understands the appeal of the postapocalyptic YA genre it is attempting to piggyback on.
A female protagonist who encompasses the full spectrum of humanity is a smackdown win for the notion — often ignored by Hollywood — that women are people. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Sneakily undercuts tropes of the young-adult hero’s journey. But in a more adventurous movie environment, this wouldn’t feel this fresh as it does.
A very simplistic Dystopia for Dummies — with a bit of Terrence Malick for Dummies — and inoffensive enough until it devolves into all kinds of stupid.
Hauntingly grim, full of appalling ironies and awful truths. This is most definitely not the feel-good movie of the summer.
No, it’s not wildly different than other science fiction, hero’s journey, and adventure movies. Sometimes we call such stories archetypal. Mythic, even.
