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Movie Review: The Coen Brothers' new film - Burn After Reading
Burn After Reading is the Coen Brother's latest offering.
The premise of the movie revolves around a couple of two bit nobodies who work at a fitness center called Hardbodies who due to a confluence of coincidence - i.e. the crumbling of an ex-cia analyst's life (John Malkovich) come across what they believe to be some "Secret Shit" as Bradd Pitt's hyper energetic and hilarious fitness instructor character succintly puts it.
The movie plays ball in a classic slack lasso with all the characters loosely connected and as the movie progresses the noose slowly begins to tighten in classic inevitable Coen brothers' fashion.
Many trademarks of the Coen Brothers' appear in this film steady and precise pacing some beautiful use of sound and cinematography. Two epic scenes for the true violence connoisseur which I will go no further in ruining, some great sight gags, and all supported by all around fantastic performances by a semi-ensemble cast. George Clooney is great as a cheating playa of a US Marshal who watches his world crumble. The lady from Fargo does a great job of playing her totally normal sad woman who's out to reinvent herself through surgery and makes her character entirely believable.
Where the movie is lacking is in some of its secondary characters which leave you wanting such as the manager of hardbodies. WTF didn't we get to find out in some way what happened to his career as a priest?
The CIA director played by the dude who plays Jay Jonah Jameson in the Spidey movies is great and certainly the Coens are trying to make some sort of "point" or tongue in cheek reference. The entire movie I was waiting for the other foot to fall but the character ends up bit flat footed short of anything resembling a narrative purpose other then the source of indifferent comedy - which well done - but can not be excused in light of the story.
There are also some loose ends piddling details and somewhat pointless imho Character "climaxes" you're not going to get the satisfaction of a full on "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" experience but it's still satisfying nonetheless.
The Coen Brothers' with Burn After Reading do not fully realize themselves in the way that they did with The Big Lebowski or No Country For Old Men (each in their own respective manners) but even if this isn't a return to perfect form it is a very solid warmup. I'm looking forward to seeing what the brothers can do after stretching their muscles once again in the genre which I think they work best - Neo-Noire.
8/10.
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Last edited by DeathNTaxes : 09-15-2008 at 02:15 PM.
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