Any movie coming out that has Robin Williams in it will immediately get my attention. I have said it before and I’ll say it again: I believe Robin Williams is the most all-round talented actor working in film today. The man can do it all… any genre, any role, any movie. Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Good Guy, Bad Guy, Quiet Guy, Whacko Guy… He’s been there done that. I just can’t say enough about the man. Won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, SHOULD have won an Oscar for Good Morning Vietnam, SHOULD have won the Oscar for Dead Poets Society (Don’t get me wrong, Michael Douglas was great in Wall Street, but I thought Williams was just a little better that year). Unlike a lot of todays best actors who excel at certain type of character, Robin WIlliams has no boundaries. Ok, now I’m just rambling.
Having said all that, it broke my heart to hear that his new upcoming film, The Final Cut, is getting hammered by the critics (even though they all seem to be saying Williams is great in it). I’m disappointed to hear this for 2 reasons: 1) Obviously because Williams is in it, so I was hoping it would be good; and 2) the synopsis for the final sounded so darn cool. Yahoo Movies describes the film like this:
In the future, microchips implanted in your brain record everything you see and hear. Then when you die, a “cutter” assembles the footage into a memorial video for your funeral, editing out all of the unpleasantness. The most sought-after cutter is Alan Hakman (Robin Williams), a detached man who believes his work can absolve the dead of their sins. While editing the memories of another cutter, he uncovers a disturbing piece of his own past which leads him to question the way he’s lived his life.
Come on! How cool does that sound! But alas… apparently the film doesn’t really go anywhere and fails to really go into the deeper moral questions that arise when thinking about the voyeuristic trends our society is embracing. They’re saying it got so caught up in it’s premise, that it forgot to develop it much. Too bad. I’ll still see it once it hits wide release. Oh well, at least Ebert said this about it:
“Williams has extraordinary success in channeling this other person. How strange that the same actor can play some of the most uninhibited of all characters, and some of the most morose.”
