That is by far the most complete review I've ever received and I greatly appreciate it
Thank you so much!
Here are my responses:
What's with the puertorican cross-dresser with the really fake Hindi accent? (Or is it Mexican. Yeah, I'm in PA, you're in CA. You know how it is with our respective assumptions.) Was his character really necessary? The main reason Mr. Gupta is in there was that I felt Melanie needed a background, a character to interact with outside of work. Also, he (hopefully) drives Melanie to fight harder than she did previously. And, we needed a newborn baby.
Your movie could have benefitted from some editing. (Read: make it shorter.) I agree completely! That's actually the most frequent complaint, except people differ on what should be cut. Most say that the action scenes are too long, especially the ending. I personally have always had problems with the "lardburger lunch scene," I feel I'm having Benjamin talk about his past more than necessary.
The telephone beep was overmodulated. Jarring, even. Maybe that was intentional. I certainly added to the tension. It wasn't intentional, it was just bad amateur sound editing on my part
Considering the lack of enthusiasm in Thompson's relation with his wife, you might want to explore an affair between Gupta and Thompson in the next installment. (Is she your squeeze?) I specifically didn't want any hint of romance between Gupta and Thompson for several reasons. First, I wanted it to be like a buddy comedy, but with different genders. It's hard to think of another movie that has a male and female lead in an action movie who are friends and who do not become romantically involved. Also, the girl who plays Gupta is my niece in real life haha. So I added the part about them discovering that they are cousins (Aunt Syphilis is Benjamin's aunt, but also Melanie's mom) so that any romantic possibility becomes impossible. It has been frequently mentioned by others that this movie has no romantic angles at all. Benjamin and his wife have problems, Farmer John and Agnes aren't close, and Benjamin and Melanie don't develop feelings. I think it's because it has always been hard for me to see an action movie that has
new romantic elements in there. Basically, I don't see chaotic events as a spur for developing romantic feelings. All the "drives" for saving people is for familial reasons: Melanie wants to save her dad, the mayor wants to save her daughter.
Speaking of squeeze, I really never understood the dynamic between Farmer John and Agnes. (An old couple fallen out of love? A marriage of convenience?) That should have been examined a little more. Oh it was just a single line joke to put in when she said "I never loved you." I felt that if I explored their characters more, than I would be focusing away from the backgrounds of Melanie, Benjamin, and the Mayor. I basically felt I would be trying to explain the background of every singe character.
I noticed that you put Van Gogh's Starry Night on the wall the third scene with Mayor Lopez. Was that intentional? Van Gogh was not satisfied with the painting. He once wrote to his brother saying that "these are exaggerations from the point of view of arrangement, their lines are warped as that of old wood." Was that a statement about the Mayor's general dissatisfaction with her situation in life? No, the reason that painting was there was because it was already on the wall when we decided to film it. There wasn't any subtext to it. Perhaps it's not obvious, but I have the mayor as a successful single mother. I wanted her to fit the "wise old man" archetype but to change the gender.
The king was a weak spot. You really need to work with that guy. Get him an acting coach. Or coach him yourself if you're on a tight budget. I never figured out whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. Also, he really needs to lay off the cigarettes if he wants to live to see his 50th birthday. For some reason, everyone who reviews the film finds a different character to single out as the weakest actor. Usually it's Melanie or the mayor, but you're the first one to say the king. But yes, he's not an actor, he's actually a chef in real life haha. Oh that's not his normal voice, thank God. I tried to base the voice on Beetlejuice.
Overall, it was compelling but a bit dry. Good effort, though. I think that's the most accurate review of my movie in as short a phrase as possible. Thanks again for sitting through it:)
