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Trust Weighted
Good
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9Trust Points
MJ5K's Review
Summary - Good 3.0
On its own, this modernized American adaptation of the famed William Golding classic Lord of the Flies is a very enjoyable and well paced B-movie. However, as an adaptation all together, it fails to capture the same symbolic meaning or messages of its source material. Its also very inferior to the original 1963 adaptation of the novel.
In this version, the proper British school boys from the original novel turn are changed into foul mouthed American Military School cadets. The characters names are kept but none of them seem to serve the same purpose they did in the book. Piggy goes from being the voice of reason to being a whiny little bitch. Ralph goes from being a responsible yet still fun loving child to being an uptight jerk. And Simon goes from being an allegory for Jesus Christ to being just a worry wart. However, I believe the character of Jack is still well handled. The boys live on the island in peace until Jack grows tired of Ralph’s rules and decides to start his own tribe. Anarchy soon ensues.
Again, this isn’t necesarilly a bad movie. As a stand alone film, its pretty decent. But if you’re a hardcore fan of the book, you won’t be a fan of all the changes.
Acting - Great 4.0
Considering these are all young actors, they all do exceptionally well.
Male Stars - Great 4.0
Female Stars - Great 4.0
Female Costars - Great 4.0
Male Costars - Great 4.0
Film - Very Good 3.5
Direction - Good 3.0
Director Harry Hook definitly captures the adventurous feeling of the book but didn't exactly understand the real symbolism. Some moments in the film are either poorly executed or just seem simply redundant.Dialogue - OK 2.5
Some of the dialogue seems a little redundant at moments or is just plain cheesey. ****example**** Piggy: Maybe we should just build a raft and row off. Wait a second, wasn't there a raft at the beginning of the movie?Music - Perfect 5.0
The score is one of the most chilling I've ever heard. Its definitly the best part of the whole movie apart from the good performances.Visuals - Great 4.0
The cinematography is lush and beautiful.Edge - Risqué 2.5
Very violent and LOT of bad language.