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| The Creature from the Black Lagoon |
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| Script Review: The Creature from The Black Lagoon |
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| POSTED Monday , October 08, 2007 11:44:51 PM |
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http://www.iesb.net/index
.php?option=com_content&t
ask=view&id=3447&Itemid=9
9
Another one for the Halloween season, Snake has returned. This time with a look at The Creature from The Black Lagoon remake script written by Gary Ross floating around. Check out what he thinks below!
So to recap, my last few reviews Ive sent in to the good people at IESB have included a series of remakes that I feel really missed the mark. They are . . .
Seven Samurai: Missing the Samurai's!
Dirty Dozen: Missing the point.
So what would Hollywood attempt to re-imagine (a term I've come to despise) for us this go around? Well, I recently got a copy of 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon' dropped on my lap, and I've learned to keep expectations low folks. So here it goes . . .
In the interest of full disclosure, I honestly knew very little about this property before I was handed the script to peruse. I was obviously familiar with what The Creature looked like, and knew that the original was considered to be the grand daddy of all 'guy-in-a-rubber-suit' flicks (take that for what it's worth), but that was more or less the extent of my knowledge pertaining to The Creature and his exploits. So, sensing a vast lack of knowledge about an important horror icon, like any good student of film, I did my homework taking it straight to the source.
Admittedly, I am very familiar with the major Arcana in the classic Universal movie monster lineup (especially the "Wolf Man", but also "Dracula" and "Frankenstein") but am less familiar with what I consider to be the minor Arcana ("The Mummy" and "The Creature" films respectively) in the deck. For the most part, they never really captured my imagination the way the big three did, each of whom I've followed in their various (both good and suck) incarnations.
So, after watching said films and reading a few articles by trusted sources, even after having read the Dark Horse comic based on the OG (couldn't resist!), how does this new Creature size up to the original?
Well, lets not get into a pissing contest about the modernizations the script makes. If you've ever seen the original, you know it's dated as all hell and needs a shot of 'now' pumped into it. That much is obvious. And in that respect it wins hands down. It will be a much more real and convincing flick in that respect.
And dont worry oh ye faithful! Its got an homage to the Julie Adams swim scene that inspired so many a young man to touch himself unwholesomely, in that most wholesome of all decades.
But that aside, let me give you a run down of the story before I give you the run down on what I thought. . .
SPOILERS!
CARRIE, a ex-research fellow specializing in rain forest medical exploration suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome (aka, the most un-cinematic illness ever!) JOHN is her over-protective shrink-turn-fianci who is humoring her with one last trip into the Amazonian wilds before they hunker down and play house.
After boarding a run down rust-bucket heading down river, and having said rust-bucket break down in the middle of the jungle, the two are left for dead by it's captain and crew. After waiting out a night on the Amazon scared and alone, they chance upon the Deadelus, a high-tech exploratory vessel that is on a secret expedition into uncharted Amazonian territory.
Once aboard, they meet MORGAN, the conniving, yet charming team leader of the corporate sponsored half of the expedition. Likewise they meet the charismatic ANDREW, the de facto head honcho of the academic, research institute sponsored half of the expedition.
As you might have guessed, their destination aboard this high tech bait-skiff is a lagoon that supposedly is home to a valuable black algae which lines its bed floor. Evidently, the dark colored kelp possess amazing regenerative powers (hence the name black lagoon folks! Get it!)
Once they wander into this nearly prehistoric corner of the jungle, it becomes apparent that everything within the lagoons surrounding area has the same amazing regenerative capabilities. Soon, it isn't long before the ship itself has been overcome by the jungle, which grows at an accelerated rate when cut to clear a path in the lagoon, leaving the crew trapped and at odds.
But when Andrew finds a type of tree leaf that grows back its branches after having been plucked within a matter of hours, Morgan makes moves to claim it for himself first.
As all this unfolds, a love triangle between Carrie, Andrew and John ensues, seeing as how Andrew is definitely Carrie's perfect match, and John is well . . . a dip-**** for lack of a better term. Remember David from "Shaun of the Dead"? Well that's him, more or less.
But not as funny.
END SPOILERS
Now what you should be asking yourself right about now is, "Wow! That's a lot of setup? When's he going to get to The Creature stuff? Well folks, you werent the only one asking yourself that question while they read. Because as much as I believe that a flick should work to get us invested in the characters, set up plot and create mood . . . its nearly 60 pages into the script before we even get a glimpse of The Creature! Thats 60 pages folks! That equals sixty minutes of precious life gone, before we even get a glimpse of what it is we're all here to see! Sixty minutes! Count em! Sixty!
Up until that point all were treated too are a few menacing POV shots of something watching them from the lagoons bank, or from under the lagoons surface. And heres where I get nit picky, but I just gotta . . .
POV shots!
The second most tired and overused schtick in the entire lexicon of horror flick paint-by-numbers clichi's.? Second only to "kill the black dude first"!
What gives! Whys the writer holding out on us! Because it isn't more or less until the end, when we get our fare share of actual Creature mayhem! And truth be told, it feels very brief and ends somewhat arbitrarily and anticlimactically.
Up until that point the team is mostly chasing after one of the Creatures tadpole-tailed offspring, because they think it holds the answer to stem cell regeneration. As a result Carrie, Andrew and John seem to kinda disappear into the storys background for a little too long.
Granted, the original is little over an hour and this incarnation should clock in just over two of those, but at least in the original we're treated to some Creature carnage in a relatively expedient manner! I didn't sign up for this one to see "Medicine Man" for the first hour. I signed up to see "The Creature" wreak some hell on a black lagoon.
Once again were treated to a brief opening sequence where the Creature attacks some raft dwellers. Kind of like the original. But in-between that and the next sixty, the Creature is more or less outta the picture. The lagoon itself seems to be the films star which it shouldnt. Its like Castle Dracula being the most interesting bit of Dracula.
And about the POV stuff. I ain't saying the old POV trick can't work. Just take one look at the Zombie-less Halloween, and you can see the most inspired bit of POV technique ever used in a horror flick. But with all we've seen in other movies it has to be that inspired, or it's just "Friday of the 13th" cam. Their honestly has to be a more creative way to go about giving the Creature presence in the first hour if you insist on keeping him under wraps until a designated minute count. And I just don't mean running the visual through some crazy filter in After Effects! There's no way you can top what "Predator" did in regards to that type of POV shtick!
So here's the thing. You don't really need to know what happens after that hour long set up. It just doesnt live up to the build up, in this reviewers humble opinion. Id say its the Jaws formula, but we dont even get the cool band of hunters taking it upon themselves to take down the beast. It just seems like theyre dragging this one out, or that the writer might be more interested in the expedition rather than The Creature stuff.
Sure, there could be a really exciting underwater chase sequence as they try to capture one of the Creatures young (let's face it, underwater stuff always moves slower than shizer, and in most films has all the energy of well . . . being stuck underwater). Of course it will take a good Director to avoid all the problems inherent in underwater action set pieces. But aside from that it didn't really feel like what I read was pushing the boundaries of what was in essence is, a guy-in-a-rubber-suit flick circa now with what we got at our disposal to make it kick ass. There is so much more you could do with this Creature and it feels like very little time is spent on that. He does some jaguar like tree climbing, but again it's doesn't feel like enough. I really wanted to root for the Creature as these jerks invade his home. And I wanted it all to come at me much more fast and furious like.
Problems aside, I cant say this isnt a classy joint. Gary Ross definitely brings an heir of class to whatever he writes, and this is no exception. He does a pretty descent job of generating sympathy for the creature without much of the ambiguity that was in the original. It all tries very hard to give the B-cheese of the fifties a stone dose of legitimacy. Whats good about this script is the details it tosses in. The black algae making it truly a back lagoon could be visually interesting. Making the expedition not unlike that of King Kong, where the lagoon (unlike the original) is truly prehistoric. I dug that a lot.
But with all the upgrades they do to the lagoon in this script, I feel some of that should go into our films star. And he is the star, not the actors in the film or their problems. Making him just a fiercer animal is something we expect. Giving the creature kids can got either way honestly, but still its something weve seen in creature feature redeuxs before(Godzilla anyone?)
So the verdict?
More Creature. Plain and simple. The Creature from the Black Lagoon needs more Creature. I wanna scream it like Walken screams Cowbell! They show the Creature a whole lot in the original and look what they had to work with. And besides, you know you hate it when you go see a movie like this and walk out saying something like, . . . Yeah. But I wish they wouldve shown more of the robots, dragons, insert reason why your there because that s exactly how they sold it, accordingly.
True, Alien doesnt show much of the Alien in the original, which is the scripts closest pedigree. But thats because they were working with a man in a suit in a time where that was dated, and now we can avoid much of that. If not, all I really feel I wanted was more of The Creature really wreaking havoc on this crew even if you hesitate in showing him off. The script needs its own dinner scene in other words. I want the Creature to be special. Hes an icon. He deserves that kind of treatment.
Less might not exactly be more in this case. And despite what youve been told, when I sit down and count things up on my fingers and toes, it never is.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon was written by the ever classy Gary Ross. No Date, 124 Pages
Again, call me Snake.
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| REPLIED Tuesday, October 09, 2007 02:29:37 AM |
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