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7/20/2025, 1:20:36 AM
This is incredible.
Movies like these are such precious cinematic red pills. 1997. The definition of a 6/10 generic Sunday night thriller for the late 90's. No one remembers it, no one gives a shit about it. This was completely standard. Watch it today with opened eyes and it will melt your brain. I always get the same whiplash when I launch a completely forgotten 90's thriller with mediocre scores. I can't believe what I'm watching. If it came out today, it'd be praised as a masterpiece.
I'm only 15 minutes in.
I check the wikipedia critical reaction. Critics from 30 years ago just treated it like standard crap. Because it was. It was just this generic vehicle for these two actors with a formulaic thriller movie plot and that's all they saw. I watch it today with today's eyes and all I see is the visual craft on display. This lost art. This competency crisis. This texture of celluloid film. this Hollywood lighting at its peak, before they decided to throw it all away.
It's directed by a woman. I went in with the worst fears. And I'm blown away.
It's the kind of shit everyone jerks off Nolan for these days. Just standard in its time, I really want to drill this point.
Those first 15 minutes are just a story prologue. A heist. We follow a train in Russia carrying a nuke, and a rogue military unit killing everyone on board and stealing the nuke.
The first 15 minutes. Without the two stars. Taking its time. Just following this object, this train. Russians in uniforms, no English, basically no dialogue, only visual exposition. All shot by night, high contrast, atmospheric, smoke everywhere. Silent tension in every shot. Shots are held for longer than 10 seconds, and framed purposefully, meaningfully, elegantly. There are long takes. Spielberg oners, with exquisite staging. Showing real, large scale practical sets. Cinematic character intros. Clever elipses. My god, the lack of cuts and CGI, all that cancer, gives me such whiplash.
We lost so much, it's insane.
Movies like these are such precious cinematic red pills. 1997. The definition of a 6/10 generic Sunday night thriller for the late 90's. No one remembers it, no one gives a shit about it. This was completely standard. Watch it today with opened eyes and it will melt your brain. I always get the same whiplash when I launch a completely forgotten 90's thriller with mediocre scores. I can't believe what I'm watching. If it came out today, it'd be praised as a masterpiece.
I'm only 15 minutes in.
I check the wikipedia critical reaction. Critics from 30 years ago just treated it like standard crap. Because it was. It was just this generic vehicle for these two actors with a formulaic thriller movie plot and that's all they saw. I watch it today with today's eyes and all I see is the visual craft on display. This lost art. This competency crisis. This texture of celluloid film. this Hollywood lighting at its peak, before they decided to throw it all away.
It's directed by a woman. I went in with the worst fears. And I'm blown away.
It's the kind of shit everyone jerks off Nolan for these days. Just standard in its time, I really want to drill this point.
Those first 15 minutes are just a story prologue. A heist. We follow a train in Russia carrying a nuke, and a rogue military unit killing everyone on board and stealing the nuke.
The first 15 minutes. Without the two stars. Taking its time. Just following this object, this train. Russians in uniforms, no English, basically no dialogue, only visual exposition. All shot by night, high contrast, atmospheric, smoke everywhere. Silent tension in every shot. Shots are held for longer than 10 seconds, and framed purposefully, meaningfully, elegantly. There are long takes. Spielberg oners, with exquisite staging. Showing real, large scale practical sets. Cinematic character intros. Clever elipses. My god, the lack of cuts and CGI, all that cancer, gives me such whiplash.
We lost so much, it's insane.
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