Review of Half-Life (2008) by Kevin F — 31 May 2010

Let's play a game of Cosmic Whack-a-Mole! Every time a character appears, strike it on the head so it delivers lines from a concussed state where it is so confused that banal lines take on some sort of meaning.

I found very few credible performances here. As I joke, it seemed like every performer had a concussion.

Everything appealing about the movie had nothing to do with the plot. The backdrop of global disasters delivered through various media. A visually appealing anime style that was a welcome distraction from drudge. Every good shot that I saw was one without any character in it.

Yet I see a lot of critical gushing over another film fest baby. To me it's another example of how desperate we are as a viewing public for anything truly artistic that somebody can easily push buttons and make them all agog.

Fundamentalist cardboard cutout parents in denial with a gay son. His lover, a teacher, that gets fired for being gay. An apathetic young lady and her dissociative brother who are troubled by a parental breakup. The frustrated mother and her lover. All of them flat and two dimensional at best.

What is the point? Find hope despite a looming apocalypse? Where? In fractured relationships? Apathy? Flights of fantasy?

The flip side of a half-life is half-dead. If I was forced to endure more "brilliant" cinema like this as a routine I would also hope for the Sun to explode and kill us all.