Not the greatest film by any means, but plenty to talk about I reckon.
Product placement is unbelievable. I honestly think it has a part in the film though, given the strong theme of showing us aspects of a plausible future. The familiarity of the brands makes the setting believable; and the way they’re depicted as constantly in your face can only be an accurate prediction.
Could almost be called a tribute to Blade Runner, given the the borrowing and outright theft of ideas. Seeing as they’re both Dickish stories it’s just about acceptable. In the end though it fails as great sci-fi – where BR succeeded – in that there are no significant questions being raised. It strays too far from the intention of the original story in order to sell a whodunnit action-thriller.
Lastly, is it cute? Or is it filthy? It’s all in the detail.
06-Jun-03 at 11:08 am | Permalink
I was impressed with Mr Spielberg for going and making a movie that turned its back on a lot of issues his movies normally deal with. But you’re right, at the end of the day it really did turn into a whodunnit… although I did like it, it had a good visual style and Cruise is as watchable as ever.
I was horrified at the product placement after seeing it at the cinema but I guess your argument possibly justifies the inclusion of that, i.e. that is what advertising will be like in the future. What disturbs me though is that they used genuine brands and received a helluva lot of money from those corporations whose products were included. Lexus, for instance, paid about 5 million (probably a quarter/fifth of Cruise’s salary) so that he would drive one of their cars.
But then the same happened with Bond didn’t it?