The first characteristic of low-scoring propositional essays: unrealistic plots. The whole movie is full of unrealistic plots, such as hector becoming friends with wealthy businessmen with different values, for example hector just happened to help the gangster brother and saved his life, etc. This sounds a bit nitpicky, after all, the movie is always full of coincidences and impossibility, but when the movie wants to seriously tell the audience what happiness is, the untenable plot greatly weakens the movie's persuasion force. Also, in order to explain happy=be who you are, I really can't complain about the unreasonable and blunt plot of letting the protagonist's friend come out of the closet. . .
The second feature of low-scoring propositional essays: a one-sided world view. In movies, this kind of spiritual journey often takes Asia and Africa as the destination, because for Europeans and Americans, these places have exotic customs, and thinking about life in a completely different place will lead to different ideas and experiences. But in this movie, what the protagonist sees in China and Africa is too far from reality. This is because the screenwriter does not really understand China and Africa, and his understanding of the world is still in a stereotype. This makes the film lose its authenticity and depth.
The third feature of low-scoring essays: climaxes without foreshadowing and deliberate questioning. The most important scene in the film is the last phone call between hector and the heroine. Hector suddenly understands that happiness is being with the heroine, but the question is, why now? ? ? Why didn't he realize it when he escaped death in Africa? At this point in time, what made him suddenly understand? These very important issues are not clearly explained in the movie, which makes people feel inexplicable. In addition, at the end of the film, the scene between hector and the high monk skype is the most deliberate "declaration of the film's theme" I have ever seen. The monk's satisfactory answer: we all have an obligation to be happy. The director may think that the audience is too stupid to understand his meaning, so it must be clearly conveyed through the lines. . .
When the story is badly told, no matter how good it is, it becomes a preaching, and this is where the film fails the most.
Besides, I'm a simon pegg fan. His natural joy and sincerity always impress me, and this movie is no exception. The performance seems to be more restrained. And Rosamund pike's slightly neurotic girlfriend is also very surprising. Although toni collette and Christopher Plummer have a few scenes, they are very good, especially the presentation of the old professor may be more thought-provoking than the whole film.
The comedy part of the movie is still very effective, such as the part of apenis=happiness the black French, I laughed rudely. In addition, a lot of cartoons, stop-motion animations, etc. are used in the editing, which is very fresh and interesting, but unfortunately this method is almost absent in the second half of the film.
If you love simon pegg as much as I do, you can still watch this movie. Two and a half stars.
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