Well considering it's near impossible to get a copy of Salo for under 200 dollars, I havent' seen it. So I can't comment on anything you mentioned having to do with that film. My comment was aimed at the other films you mentioned (Henry, Fight Club, ect). So I will give a retort having to do with those films.Henry indeed has more plot progression then Passion. Passion has very decent plot progression for the first 45 minutes, when they actually develop a story of some sort, and character. They actually treat it like a movie, and it shouldn't come to a shock that the first 45 minutes was my favorite part of the movie (along with the flashback scenes, which actually made me care for the character of Jesus christ, because to me he is nothing but a fictional character in a film/story). I was very satisfied with the first 45 minutes.
Then came the meat of the "movie". The long, drawn out, repetitive and redundant torture scenes that nearly put me to sleep. Why was this movie boring? I'll tell you why - because the last 45 minutes of the film is the same basic thing repeated untill the movies end. Jesus getting tortured in some way or another, rather it be verbally or physically. This is not what I call intriguing or unique film. It's repetitve, thus, it's boring to those who have no interest in seeing a man beaten and tortured for 50 minutes. I know alot of people thought it was extremely powerful, but I don't think it will come as a surprise that most of those people are religious and believe that the story of christ was true. To me, and many many of the other people I know who don't believe in christ, it was a repetitve work of fiction. If this movie was as good as christ followers claimed, it would have had a bigger impact on those who didn't believe in christ, it didn't. And that's why the movie is a failure in my eyes. That and I thought it was boring, nearly put me and my friends to sleep when we saw it. Luckily we came home and watched some south park, and that woke us right up.
Anyway, the bottom line is movies like Irreversible, Henry, and Fight Club may have some dramatic elements to them, and may even have aspects similar to the passion, but they also rely on plot and character development to push the film, and they have some kind of satisfying ending. Unlike the passion, which was simply "blah blah blah, jesus was tortured then died for your sins" and tried to basically guilts you into believing his story. Henry may not change during the course of the film, but there is an intriguing and somewhat emotionally satisfying ending. Irreversible ( a far better film then the passion) has some extreme torture and violence, but that is not the meat of the film, it lasts 10 minutes, and the rest of the film makes us care for the characters in the story, ending in a great, emotional finale that puts the one in the passion to shame.
Anyway, I feel I've explained why I think the passion sucks now, but to sum it up, I'll repeat (since so many people who liek the passion just don't listen to reason). The violence was repetitve and redundant, and considering what a huge chunk of the movie was nothing more then violence, tha'ts a biggie, it also had poor development of character and plot, and it had no actual resolution or satisfying ending. It started strong, but ended poorly. Had the film had a few more flashback scenes, as opposed to drawn out torture scenes, it would have been alot better.
"Well considering it's near impossible to get a copy of Salo for under 200 dollars, I havent' seen it. So I can't comment on anything you mentioned having to do with that film."
All I can say to that is, "have you ever heard of the internet?"
"Then came the meat of the "movie". The long, drawn out, repetitive and redundant torture scenes that nearly put me to sleep. Why was this movie boring? I'll tell you why - because the last 45 minutes of the film is the same basic thing repeated untill the movies end. Jesus getting tortured in some way or another, rather it be verbally or physically. This is not what I call intriguing or unique film. It's repetitve, thus, it's boring to those who have no interest in seeing a man beaten and tortured for 50 minutes. I know alot of people thought it was extremely powerful, but I don't think it will come as a surprise that most of those people are religious and believe that the story of christ was true. To me, and many many of the other people I know who don't believe in christ, it was a repetitve work of fiction."
The whole point of the on-going beating was to show how much pain Jesus would take to prove his message and to do what he was born to do. I don't care if Mel Gibson amped the violence up or meshed some other story elements into the last half of the movie. The point is that it was all appropriate, and second, a movie like this isn't suppose to have a grandeur plot. It is there to convey emotions and convey, simply, one event, which some believe to be the the most important event ever. When you say this movie gets boring, I see it as the opening of Saving Private Ryan. When in theory, the opening of that movie should be boring, but isn't. If you think about it, all it is, is documentary style camera zooms and shakes with people getting shot for 20 or so minutes. People that liked the opening of Saving Private Ryan and said the Passion was boring fall into the whole "hypocritical" aspect that I mentioned last.
"I know alot of people thought it was extremely powerful, but I don't think it will come as a surprise that most of those people are religious and believe that the story of christ was true."
I assure you, I am no Christian. Nor, am I religious in the least. Though, if you think you have to know the whole timeline and back stories to appreciate this movie, then fine, thats your damn business. Movies are, nonetheleast, an art form, and a certain amount of disbelief has to be had for almost any movie to be appreciated. But even, as a movie, it does a better job to relate to something new and better than just a rape and a fire extinguisher beating...or someone eating poo. The characters in Irreversible were a cliche and borderline Pornographic characters. The movie, "Irreversible" along with movies like Cannibal Holocaust etc, have become more of a buzz-word than "movies". Its like if you want to be taken seriously in a conversation about movies or, pretty much, anything, outside of a seedy resteraunt, you just mention these movies to your friends and then discuss for about 20 minutes. I've seen this done with a 15 year old whilst waiting in line for Eternal Sunshine. I felt quite giddy that day as a result of it.
"Anyway, the bottom line is movies like Irreversible, Henry, and Fight Club may have some dramatic elements to them, and may even have aspects similar to the passion, but they also rely on plot and character development to push the film, and they have some kind of satisfying ending. Unlike the passion, which was simply "blah blah blah, jesus was tortured then died for your sins" and tried to basically guilts you into believing his story. Henry may not change during the course of the film, but there is an intriguing and somewhat emotionally satisfying ending. Irreversible ( a far better film then the passion) has some extreme torture and violence, but that is not the meat of the film, it lasts 10 minutes, and the rest of the film makes us care for the characters in the story, ending in a great, emotional finale that puts the one in the passion to shame."
Another aspect of the "hyprcritical comment" I made earlier. The violence in Irreversible was novelty violence. After you get past the shock value, the violence becomes painfully boring. And by, "After you get past the shock value", I mean after the second viewing. But what doesn't get boring is the way they show it. Just like Passion. And like I said, all of the movies mentioned, compared to Passion, Passion has the only real ending. Think about the ending ENDING, right before the credits. Most of the other movies mentioned, have a "circle form" with plot. Whereas, Passion goes somwhere, or a "straight line" form of plot.
You know, all of what you have said and HAS been said, doesn't really have anything to do with the movie of Passion, but rather, is more of a character thing. All of the violence in Passion is done in other movies, but no one seems to complain about those movies. Since the movie is about Jesus Christ, it automatically is a form of Sunday school {some exaggeration, but I assume you understand my point} or something akin to that. As compared to in the magazine, "Time", the same affect was to be had on Fahrenheit 9/11. These two movies, both controversial, but no movies, in the traditional sense of the word. They are there to show somthing that hasn't really been looked at. In terms of both movies, some people got it, and some people didn't.
...{go to Rotten Tomatoes, and read the bad reviews for both movies. Some of them seem like jokes rather than reviews}
