Movie Review #13 - Storm of the Century
Dec. 23rd, 2006 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2Now, before anybody squeaks, I know this really a mini-series but when I got it from the video library (btw, why are they still called that - this one only has DVD's), I thought it was a movie - and that's good enough for me!
First check of the watch - about 1 hour 25 minutes in - but only because I hadn't realised it was a mini-series until then!
This thing surprised me, I have to say. Mini-series adaptations of this kind aren't my usual thing - they are either too cleaned up for TV or drag on just endlessly. This thing was alive - full of menace, great story, realistic dialogue, great casting and good special effects for something made for TV.
The guy who is the villain (Andre Linoge, AKA Legion) is great - I haven't seen Colm Feore in anything else (apart from an episode of BSG, apparently!) but I will definitely have a look around. Just occasionally, it was like he channeling Hannibal Lecter in every aspect of his performance which just added to the chill. Just on actors, I couldn't figure out where the hell I had seen the protagonist before - Timothy Daly - until I checked his bio: he was Joe Hackett on Wings!
In one sense, the thing that Linoge wants is a little bit of an anti-climax but how it is resolved is great - no fairytale ending here! Did they make the right choice? No, overwhelmingly is my answer but the pain of the portrayal is the wonder of this. Linoge, whilst powerful, was not omnipotent and they could have resisted if they had stuck together but the cost in the short-run may have been too high. Maybe Linoge did kill the entire colony of Roanoake when they refused the same bargain but then we only have Linoge's own word for that. The long-term cost, of course, may well be the death of untold millions but, other than Mike, no-one seemed to consider that: 400 vs 10's of millions. Looks easy on paper but when you are one of those 400, it is a much harder question!
First check of the watch - about 1 hour 25 minutes in - but only because I hadn't realised it was a mini-series until then!
This thing surprised me, I have to say. Mini-series adaptations of this kind aren't my usual thing - they are either too cleaned up for TV or drag on just endlessly. This thing was alive - full of menace, great story, realistic dialogue, great casting and good special effects for something made for TV.
The guy who is the villain (Andre Linoge, AKA Legion) is great - I haven't seen Colm Feore in anything else (apart from an episode of BSG, apparently!) but I will definitely have a look around. Just occasionally, it was like he channeling Hannibal Lecter in every aspect of his performance which just added to the chill. Just on actors, I couldn't figure out where the hell I had seen the protagonist before - Timothy Daly - until I checked his bio: he was Joe Hackett on Wings!
In one sense, the thing that Linoge wants is a little bit of an anti-climax but how it is resolved is great - no fairytale ending here! Did they make the right choice? No, overwhelmingly is my answer but the pain of the portrayal is the wonder of this. Linoge, whilst powerful, was not omnipotent and they could have resisted if they had stuck together but the cost in the short-run may have been too high. Maybe Linoge did kill the entire colony of Roanoake when they refused the same bargain but then we only have Linoge's own word for that. The long-term cost, of course, may well be the death of untold millions but, other than Mike, no-one seemed to consider that: 400 vs 10's of millions. Looks easy on paper but when you are one of those 400, it is a much harder question!
