"Somewhere over the rainbow"...

I’m watching ‘Ricochet’, Denzel Washington – circa 1991. Was on Film Four last night and tagged it with the old Sky+. I haven’t seen this movie in years but I remember liking it when it came out.

Looking at it now – it’s got a weird structure. Has a nice opening sequence setting up the relationship between DW and Ice-T, also the capture of John Lithgow. It then spends the next 30 minutes following DW’s blossoming career, and JL’s obsession with revenge.

So what’s weird about this? I think if this movie was written and made now a montage over the opening credits would probably cover all this – a la ‘Red Dragon’. It also seemed pretty bold that the passage of time wasn’t hammered out to the audience. A couple of subtle overheard radio broadcasts, DW growing a moustache.

As I watch it now it’s interesting to see how similar it is to ‘Cape Fear’, which was remade in the same year. Haven’t seen that movie in ages either but I’m sure it probably does the same thing.

I guess the reason I’m even commenting on this movie is because when it first came out I didn’t have a clue about how stories were constructed. I miss those times. Those times when I could just sit back and enjoy a movie without pulling it apart.

Same thing goes for videogames. I can’t play a game without pulling it apart. While most people just sit back and get lost in the created world. Me – I’ll looking at the renderer, level construction, the A.I., frame-rate, draw distance, disc access, load points, etc, etc, etc.

Sometimes I’d love to be able to forget all this stuff and just enjoy a movie or a videogame without looking behind the curtain. But then I suppose I’d have to get a proper job!

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 2:05 PM 0 comments