CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Brainwashed – the pair of you.
I’ve never read such utter twaddle in all my years! Gabriel Mann is trying so, so hard to act like a sensitive young Priest – the result is that his performance is so forced, so unnatural and so utterly unbelieveable. You’ve obviously bought into the film to such an extent that you’re unable to notice its biggest – its most glaring flaw – Gabriel Mann.
The fact that the pair of you have gone to such lengths to defend the indefensible renders your arguments worthless… In my opinion, of course.
A fair point, but…
Surely we are just arguing a point? Certainly not a fixation on my part. It was Greg who initially took my point about Gabriel Mann to task hence the focus on his particular ‘performance’. If you read my initial post, you would have noticed that I called Bellar’s performance ‘horrid’… So I’m not projecting all my bile towards Mann. I also declined to use the special effects as part of my arguement as I appreciate they weren’t finished.
You make fair points about E:TB – ones which I certainly agree with, but as I also stated in my initial post, I have problems with that movie too – just not as many as I do with Dominion.
I could’ve said anything but “The film sucks; you’re completely right on this one after all,” and you’d totally reject it. Oh well. And “brainwashed”? No more than your not appreciating what you hate (Dominion); I like what I like if it meets my definition of “good” — Dominion did for me, and not for you. Really simple. Anyway…
C’mooon, the most glaring flaw is the special effects. And if you wanna tear apart the acting, Clara Bellar, of all the leads, seemed the most so-so; yes, everyone else did convincingly with the material. Bellar was forgettable here and there, not always, but moreso than others; I don’t have a high opinion of her work in the film, but nor do I have low one. They could have don’t much worse.
But back to your fixation on Mann’s most terrible presence, or whatever it supposedly is… I’d disagree, and say he’s a good actor (in this; haven’t seen his other stuff) who gave the character three dimensions, rooting it reality, and HELPING (the other actors) to elevate the film to something approaching the sobering original; but yes, films are very different. Anyway, anything trying to compete (in a way) with the Friedkin film has a Mission: Impsossible on their hands. E:TB fared much better superficially; lots of nods and cannibalization of scenes to make people go, “Oh, just like the original!”, but the final product was a robot; soulless.
The special effects in Dominion, on the other hand are mediocre (no question), and are so much so they are “glaring”. I’d say E:TB effects are so “good” they’re glaring this message to the viewer: “This film is dependent of awesome computer effects, and it has lots of blood and gore, including instant replays of the Dutch girl getting her head blown off by the nazi officer, which helps the film fit wonderfully with the original Exorcist by Friedkin and Blatty! How can you not see this, audience? We have the perfect prequel — it’s fun and exciting… because Renny Harlin’s directing it! YEE-HAW!” …something like that; it’s like one of those eerie subliminal messages! Yikes! 😮
Anyway, for all the haters of Dominion, instead of singling out the special effects, you choose Mann’s acting. I’ll give you originality, but your reasoning seems emotion-based, not so much objective. You really seem hostile. Negativity is fine, but your brand is a tad much. Oh well. Glad you’re here to discuss the bad with us, if you prefer to avoid the good the film has. Maybe in fact the film is mostly bad, fine, but you neglect to mention the good (unless I missed this).
But in conclusion, yeah, the “glaring” problem — if it is to be limited to one , as it would seem to have to be, since glaring things STAND OUT — instead of being Mann, is the special effects, let’s face it.
M.I.K.E.
Good points, my friend. Sorry to have misunderstood your meaning for a fixation. Anyway, I guess the truth is, I thought highly of Mann’s portrayal of Francis, and neglected to appreciate the possibility that others did not. Fair enough. Glad you’re here to discuss the film and films in this series we so admire at CaptainHowdy.com. 🙂
M.I.K.E.
Not much to add to this debate except to say that Father James WAS totally wimpy and fey, and yet one of the more interesting characters in Dominion.
What I’m curious about is what he heard from Cheche when he said “you know my guilt?”
I was bummed out about ETB because the possessed wasn’t really the little boy as mentioned in the original(and played out in Heretic.)
I mean, what’s up with Hollywood’s obsession with twist endings anyway?
I always wished that they’d take the best elements from both films and made one movie from them.
I always wished that they’d take the best elements from both films and made one movie from them.
I don’t think that would work though, since everything is so different in both of the films. I do think they could have put some footage of the war from ETB in it though, I liked that scene (even though it wasn’t done too well).
One of the things I’ve noticed when watching ETB and Dominion back to back comparatively was that ETB was more of an extension of the Heretic formula, which can be labeled as ‘Mythological Epic Good vs. Evil romp’ where Dominion is closer to the Exorcist, Exorcist III formula of ‘reality-based psychological expose.’ So trying to combine them would have made a very uneven film as far as storytelling scope was concerned. Essentially, I always felt that ETB was a remake of II considering both had the same pursuits of giant special effects stylized scenes minus the locusts, US scenes, and supposed 70’s technology. Yet both tackle this massive mythological premise, which frankly The Exorcist was never really about. Exorcist, Legion, and Dominion tackled its premise in a more ‘closer to home’ scenario where the horror was within you as opposed to a sumperimposed effect outside on the dunes. Frankly both Heretic and ETB make the mistake of not grasping the paradigm of horror The Exorcist made: the fear of losing yourself and your body to something else. 😮
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