(no subject)
I didn't want to say anything earlier, because I was afraid of jinxing myself, but I PASSED! :DDD
This is only the written part of the test, I still have an oral test on the 2nd (lol oral *g*), and anyway I only passed according to the unofficial solutions on the internet, so I might still have jinxed myself here, but it's looking good so far.
The entire plot with the other superwoman was such a complete failure of storytelling. This wasn't marketed like the romantic story of soulmates through the ages, it didn't start like one, and it complete failed at being one even while the whole soulmates crap was suddenly and unexpectedly going on, so WHY did they have to stuff that in there?
It did really well at being a wacky comedy about a faily superhero in the beginning, and I really liked those parts throughout the movie. But it started to go downhill the minute Ray's wife Mary showed up. At first I thought it was going to end with him falling for her for no obvious reason, thus messing up his relationship with his best friend, which would have been annoying enough - a plot where the woman is only there to almost ruin everything, while showing no signs of a personality of her own that would at least explain the crush, why thank you, you shouldn't have!
I guess the plot they did go with was sort of less annoying than that, but it just didn't make any sense at all. In the storytelling way, not the universal way - I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for things like soulmateness in a universe with an alien superhero, but you have got to set that shit up. You can't just take the seemingly completely normal up-to-this-point wife, have her turn out to be a superhero too, and then have the very next conversation these two have be "Oh, by the way, we have been married since a couple thousand years b.c., and we are forever drawn together like gravity! :D?" in that kind of movie, especially if that's not going to have much impact apart from her being his kryptonite. She didn't really do anything for the plot that a glowing green stone couldn't have done just as well, which is kind of sad.
Basically, the whole movie felt like two completely different movies stuck together with duct tape, and the combination just didn't work for me at all. I really liked the parts of the movie that were about Hancock being a lonely, drunken guy who doesn't know what to with himself and his superpowers, and I thought Ray was adorable. I enjoyed the scenes of Hancock trying hard to be a good guy for him, even though I had to watch most of that through my fingers while squirming in embarrassment.
But, ugh, Mary. Theoretically, I should have sympathized with her - god knows if some drunken asshole stumbled into my home and behaved the way Hancock did, I wouldn't have been any more polite than she was, and I can understand wanting a normal life after a couple thousand years of being superwoman. But I shouldn't have to force myself to be logical and think about what I'd do just so I'll be able to stand a main character in a movie that managed to make me like a drunken asshole like Hancock. Her entire part of the plot just didn't work for me at all.
The ending was pretty glorious, though. He painted a giant heart of the moon for Ray! Someone please tell me there is slash fic, or at least threesome fic where Mary is written better than she was in the movie.
This is only the written part of the test, I still have an oral test on the 2nd (lol oral *g*), and anyway I only passed according to the unofficial solutions on the internet, so I might still have jinxed myself here, but it's looking good so far.
The entire plot with the other superwoman was such a complete failure of storytelling. This wasn't marketed like the romantic story of soulmates through the ages, it didn't start like one, and it complete failed at being one even while the whole soulmates crap was suddenly and unexpectedly going on, so WHY did they have to stuff that in there?
It did really well at being a wacky comedy about a faily superhero in the beginning, and I really liked those parts throughout the movie. But it started to go downhill the minute Ray's wife Mary showed up. At first I thought it was going to end with him falling for her for no obvious reason, thus messing up his relationship with his best friend, which would have been annoying enough - a plot where the woman is only there to almost ruin everything, while showing no signs of a personality of her own that would at least explain the crush, why thank you, you shouldn't have!
I guess the plot they did go with was sort of less annoying than that, but it just didn't make any sense at all. In the storytelling way, not the universal way - I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for things like soulmateness in a universe with an alien superhero, but you have got to set that shit up. You can't just take the seemingly completely normal up-to-this-point wife, have her turn out to be a superhero too, and then have the very next conversation these two have be "Oh, by the way, we have been married since a couple thousand years b.c., and we are forever drawn together like gravity! :D?" in that kind of movie, especially if that's not going to have much impact apart from her being his kryptonite. She didn't really do anything for the plot that a glowing green stone couldn't have done just as well, which is kind of sad.
Basically, the whole movie felt like two completely different movies stuck together with duct tape, and the combination just didn't work for me at all. I really liked the parts of the movie that were about Hancock being a lonely, drunken guy who doesn't know what to with himself and his superpowers, and I thought Ray was adorable. I enjoyed the scenes of Hancock trying hard to be a good guy for him, even though I had to watch most of that through my fingers while squirming in embarrassment.
But, ugh, Mary. Theoretically, I should have sympathized with her - god knows if some drunken asshole stumbled into my home and behaved the way Hancock did, I wouldn't have been any more polite than she was, and I can understand wanting a normal life after a couple thousand years of being superwoman. But I shouldn't have to force myself to be logical and think about what I'd do just so I'll be able to stand a main character in a movie that managed to make me like a drunken asshole like Hancock. Her entire part of the plot just didn't work for me at all.
The ending was pretty glorious, though. He painted a giant heart of the moon for Ray! Someone please tell me there is slash fic, or at least threesome fic where Mary is written better than she was in the movie.