It's easy to quickly pass Judgement; on matters especially that of aesthetics; most notably what is or is not Beautiful or Ugly, Good, or Evil. Of course, no one is ever objectively Right or Wrong about these things, because the very concepts are synthetic, man-made.

With that in mind, I've tried to review several new bands, books and movies with what my Philosophy teacher called a "charitable interpretation". Having helped make several movies, songs and with a very-nearly completed book on the way, I am giving other works of art the same kind of review I would like to receive. Which means I try to work past the first impression. I will give bands three songs before I say I like or don't like them. I will read 20 or so pages of a book instead of 20 or so words, before deciding whether I want to keep reading or not, and I will try to maintain my maniacal laughter when looking at poor quality artwork on CD/DVD inserts.

Take this movie for example: A Perfect Creature.

Check out the cover for it. Awful. And comparing your lame-ass vampire move to 'Children of Men' on the cover? Wow, the Audacity. I didn't like the movie right there on the shelf at Hollywood Video, and I didn't even know what it was about...

...First Impressions, heh. Like I was sayin', let's try to move past those, shall we? So I actually took the DVD case down and flipped it over. The synopsis was interesting, a completely different take on the entire vampire mythos. Good, because the one we got could use some "completely different"-ing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch that Anne Rice recovered the Vampire from a B-Movie bloodsucking machine back into the sophisticated evil anti-hero I think Bram Stoker intended when he wrote Dracula. But is this all we got? Cause if no one has anything new, then it's time we packed up and moved on. I might have mentioned this before.

Anyway, I'm glad I moved through my initial perception of this and rented "A Perfect Creature", because it was an extremely good movie.

First off, despite the very very Very poor quality graphics on the DVD case, the movie was, in fact, Not Independent as I initially thought. It has the 20th Century Fox brand on it, although the handful of production companies sound as dodgy as a used car salesman's last day at work.

Second, it wasn't just the plot that was good. The whole alternate-reality mythos created by Glen Standring (an Archaeologist!!!) is amazing and well thought out. Humans and vampires get along in a completely mutually beneficial, sacred, and peaceful relationship! Wow, wrap your mind around that one, then add in the fact that the movie was given a grayish 60-s feel, especially regarding technology.

Aside from these things, it uses a pretty standard good-guy/bad-guy action adventure plot, that moves along just quick enough. The movie had decent scoring, and Excellent art direction, esp. some great angular shots that added to the strangeness of this alternate universe.

After seeing it, I would have to agree that A Perfect Creature is a reasonable cross between Children of Men, 28 Days Later, and of all things "The Chronicles of Riddick" No, really!

Anyway, the lesson is to not judge a book, DVD or local band by their covers.

KTHXBYE,
-CZ

Labels: movie reviews, Philosophy