Metropolis

Through-out last year we watched a number of silent cinema, a number of very good gems that reputation preceded itself. But in this instance, I really didn't get it. Visually the film was fantastic for its time and musically the score was equally as fantastic, I can see why so many directors have taken so much visually from it. But its just like a very attractive girl at the bar you can't stop looking at but when you say hello and find out she's in-fact called something like Shelly and doesn't know the alphabet. It all felt just a tad hollow for me.
The plot seemed dull and verging on dare I say mind boggling at times, I kept worrying that maybe I drifted off into a day dream for a time then missed all the key plot points. To myself it just felt all over the place, nothing seemed to connect with itself. Then occasionally you would get some sort of 'metaphor' in your face that seemed so upfront that I was left wondering why again I just didn't click with what it was trying to say or do.
I don't even think it was the missing scenes that made me get so lost, there was enough film there. And no film should be that complicated and intricate that someone can't walk in halfway in and not be able to pick up some sort of plot-line. That would be a poor excuse to use as to why I was so bothered by this movie.
There were hints at the gap between rich and poor and that the poor and are always put of of sight, and thus out of mind. Aslong as they do there jobs no-one cares about them. But yeah that was obvious, but what more? there must have been more to this movie? Not to mention the ridiculous way the poor were represented. Lets just flood our homes..."Honey..did you remember to put the kids to bed?"
It just didn't seem to know what is was trying to say or do, almost as if it didn't really have a theme. So I just couldn't connect with it and tried to apply my own theme to it to see if it would fit. It was just all a tad too much confusing. I couldn't just switch off and let it tell me a story. Was it trying to make a serious point, but then was all abit comical at times for that. This is just some of what I was thinking when watching it, I just didn't know what to take from it.


I found the actors bearable, fine, average nothing really to fault, yes you had the over the top expressions all the time. But this was just because it was a silent film and it was what it was.


Yes it was ahead of its time in many ways, but in a Michael Bay kind of way, special effects don't make a movie.

In conclusion all I can really say is, the word of the day is confused. It didn't build on itself in anyway, it was either trying to say too much or too little, that just left me wondering what was going on. It just didn't seem to have any sort story arc at all. It was just all to 'flimsy' for me. I was really let down by this movie of what I thought was going to be a classic.