As you all know, I’m a total Sci-Fi junkie so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’ll be seeing Ultraviolet opening night for sure. However, I’m not going to delude myself. Ultraviolet is going to suck. I base this theory (which I really hope I’m wrong about) on 3 things.
1) The Trailer
Get past Milla Jovovich looking hot… and there’s nothing there. The plot is one we’ve seen 1000 times, the dialog sounded forced and pathetic, the sets were minimalistic (which is fine for other films… not action sci-fi ones) and the “bad guy” is a sad pathetic little villain. Ug.
2) No Advanced Screenings
I know this debate was already brought up, but it’s worth mentioning here. Studios are publicity whores. They’ll do ANYTHING to get any sort of publicity possible. So when the studios won’t let the critics see the film in advance… then all that means is that even the Studio knows the film sucks and would get nothing but horrible reviews. As a fan, I don’t really care if the critics think it sucks… but when the STUDIO thinks it sucks, that’s REALLY bad news.
3) The Trend of Female Action Films Sucking
An old professor of mine (nothing to do with movies) once said “Recognize trends and trust in them until proven otherwise”. Those are good words. So lets look at the “trend” of female lead ass kicker flicks in the last while. Aeon Flux, Catwoman, Elektra, Bloodrayne. They’re all horrible. I think audiences are just not buying a 90 pound girl kicking a bunch of 250 pound guys asses. Yeah she’s sexy… but come on.
Anyway, I hope I’m wrong. I love action flicks and Sci-Fi flicks. Let’s hope it rocks… but I’m not counting on it.
I saw this yesterday and loved it. Not for any of the reasons the studios and producers would have liked; I thought it was total camp. It was so bad it was good. Going into it expecting it to be bad helped. Finally just laughing out loud at certain parts saved the movie for me. I wrote about it here: http://douglas.nerad.org/journal/2006/03/04/ultraviolet-words-escape-me/.
wow, one positive review on RT out of 19 :) Not shocked, but i’m still gonna see it :)
NO ONE HAS MENTIONED THE UNDERWORLD MOVIES WITH KATE…THESE HAVE BEEN STYLISH AND GOOD STORIES FOR A WOMEEN HERO–BUT SHE IS NOT HUMAN–AND AGAIN IT IS RATED R WHICH HELPS AVOID THE DREADED PG13 CURSE-DANDANBUL@BLOGSPOTI
Thank you. A woman can kick ass if she has a halfway decent writer and director on her side. Kill Bill was proof of that.
*cough cough* Kill Bill *cough cough*
Oops… there goes your trend. Ultraviolet has solid talent behind it, just like Kill Bill. Not saying it will be a great film, just something to open your mind a bit to avoid making a decision on the quality of the film before seeing it.
When i saw the trailer, I thought like, wow, this is gonna be some kewl R-rated movie. What, PG-13? Crap! it will suck because, well, Jovovich is a horrid actress. That’s why I can’t compare it to Equilibrium. Christian Bale is a fantastic actor, no doubt about it. When was Milla Jovovich in a huge critically acclaimed box office success?
But, the main reason i won’t see this is summed up in 3 words-
V FOR VENDETTA!
i think a lot of people will see the obviously better looking futuristic sci-fi thriller. i know it doesn’t open until 2 weeks after Ultraviolet, but after the first weekend, ultraviolet will quickly plummet.
I didn’t hear squat about equilibrium before it was released and left to lanquish and die, and that movie kicks some serious bootie.
Let’s hope for more of the same!
to be honest, i don’t have high expectations for this movie, either, but i am going to see it on opening weekend, and it won’t take much for me to enjoy it :P
i disagree about one thing you say about the trailer. i think the minimalistic sets looked great… it makes the movie look unique, compared to recent action movies. to my eyes it has almost a retro 70s scifi style to it. it looks way better than the aeon flux trailer…
in terms of hot women kicking butt, don’t forget that underworld:evolution did well, and it wasn’t screened for the critics either. imho it didn’t suck, it wasn’t fantastic, but i still enjoyed it. i hope that ultraviolet fits more into the underworld trend than the catwoman trend…
I just hope the Metroid movie won’t suck, I can buy Samus Aran kicking a 250 pound guy’s ass, the trend of female action films sucking will die once Metroid comes out if ever.
Hey JoJo,
Umm… what’s with the name calling?
Anyway, if you take more than 3 seconds to think about it… I just proved my own point.
My Point: Studios not screening a film is a good indicator the film sucks.
I already know in advance that the film will suck (as is the point of my post). However, what I am also proving is that I am sometimes a mindless sci-fi drone who will just go anyway dispite my better judgement.
Studios rely on mindless drones like me to keep them in business. But it does nonetheless prove my point.
Cheers!
~John
Ah, good ol’ contradictory John is back again, I see. Hey, moron, weren’t you the one who just posted a thread that said, in bold, “DON’T GO SEE” movies like this on opening weekend? What happened to teaching the studios a lesson about not screening for critics, John?
Your logic is non-sensical, as usual. As a fan, you don’t care if critics think it sucks–but you then claim that not screening it is proof that the studio thinks it sucks? Huh? In fact, you’ve just PROVEN THE POINT of studios when they decide not to screen for critics: for certain types of movies, you’ll go see them opening weekend, regardless of critics.
So, then, WHY should a studio bother to pay for a screening of a movie like Ultraviolet? You and other genre fans will see it regardless. Joe Average Critic won’t like the movie, and someone who isn’t a fan of action/sci-fi won’t pay to see it even if Joe Average Critic DID give it a good review.
Thank you for proving the point studios have been trying to make recently about not screening, John. Ah, the irony…
Anyone else feel like the trailer is the exact same trailer from Resident Evil? “The corporation… developed a super virus… to make super soldiers…”
Not trying to be rude here, but if you know it’s going to suck, why go see it? I’m a big sci-fi / fantasy fan, but I’m also a movie buff. I can pretty much smell a stinker a long way off, using some of the same methods you can. Whenever films like these come out, I stay far, far away and don’t give them my money. I didn’t see Catwoman, Elektra, Aeon Flux, or even the third Matrix movie. (got burned by the second one)
If people pay money to see the movie and the studio makes money, they’ll continue to put out crap – becasue why try harder to make something good? The sci-fi fans will just keep lining up at the door like drones, even for crappy movies.
Again, not trying to be a dick, I just don’t understand why people go to see movies they know are going to suck, just because it has a comic book license.
I don’t think anyone watching a film with the kind of stunts in the trailer for this cares about reality enough to question the male/female strength issue you raise.
The real reason this will suck, or not be as good as it could have been, is spelled PG-13.
It doesn’t matter if this movie is good or not, critics hate sci-fi/action movies and wouldn’t give this movie a positive review even if they did like it. I like the look of the movie, bright and pretty to contrast equilibrium’s really dark setting. It actually looks better than Aeon flux to me.
What about Kill Bill? Everyone forgets that one.
Wasn’t this movie released last year and starred Charlize Theron? Am I wrong??
I don’t think the trailer can be proof of a movie sucking or not. There have been great movies with terrible ad campaigns (Serenity) and terrible movies with great trailers (Episode I). Sure you can always get some gauge of good or bad in some respects (like visuals), but dialouge is not one of them nor is story. But from what I’ve seen the plot isn’t one we’ve seen a thousand times before. Other than X-Men I can’t think of any other movie about a group of diseased superhumans being exterminated by the government and this is obviously taking a different approach at than X-Men (The superhumans in Ultraviolet are actually based on the real life disease associated with Vampires).
Also the reason the female ass kicking movies of late have sucked isn’t because the genre sucks, it’s because the filmmakers do. Look at the resume for the writer(s) and directors of the movies listed and you’ll see what I mean.
I’ll agree that 9 times out of 10 if a movie isn’t previewed by critics it means trouble, but that can’t be true for all cases. Even if it does mean Sony doesn’t have any faith in the movie it could be that they themselves just don’t “get” it or it really is taking up until the last minute to do the special effects.
I’ve heard that the rendering of the digital effects hasn’t finished yet,
so maybe time is running out for the studios (movie business isn’t games, Duke Nukem!).
Anyway Milla is a gorgeous woman and there seems to be a lot of action, and you know, we’ve still got the chance to have our blood flooding into another brain guys…..
Greetings from Old Europe,
Iceman
This is the type of movie that people shouldn’t expect to be great, it’s supposed to be entertaining. When I go to a movie like this, I don’t expect a great plot or great dialogue, I just wanna have fun and be entertained (and yes that includes looking at hot women for 2hrs). So if you go into this expecting that all you’ll get will be some very good action scenes, a hot chick, and a minimal plot, you’ll enjoy yourself. If you go into it expecting a Lord of the Rings caliber movie, you’ll be very dissapointed.
Good trend analysis John. This movie will suck more than a vacuum pump.
Hey Pudie,
I hope you’re right and I’m wrong dude.
I think it will be good for one reason.
Kurt Wimmer. I loved Equilibrium. Forget the story(which was a decent enough 1984 kknock off), the movie had some of the best action scene I’ve ever seen. And honestly that’s all I expect or want from this movie as well.
And I thought the trailer was all sorts of bad ass.