The Shape of Water - Guillermo del Toro

Count me in as somebody who hated it. That Netflix review above basically summed it up for me.

 

I watched it too

While I made it through to the end, I don't get the hoopla it received.

3 out of 10 stars

 

Polarizing film--I'm with Tree of Li9fe.

Some people RAVE about it.

 

Watched it the other night ( DVD), it was good don't think brilliant.

 

Yeah and Hellboy has ONe KickASS GUN!!!!

 

Okay, there's my scorecard:


The Shape of Water -- hated it. I watched it and let it wash over me for a few days and I hated it even more.
Crimson Peak -- liked it. Nice looking film.
Pacific Rim -- Oh, so brain dead and lousy. Ugh.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Hell no
Pan's Labyrinth - Very well made, a little excessive. I admired it, but didn't enjoy watching it.
Hellboy - Double Ehh.
Blade II - Ehh.
The Devil's Backbone - Excellent horror film
Mimic - A good horror film
Cronos - LA Weekly raved about it at the time, so I went to see it and thought it was hogwash.

So I'm down with 4/10 of his films.

I guess if you were ever going to give his special brand of MONSTERS OF HOLLYWOOD psyche an award, it would be for his heart-felt and completely idiotic "Shape of Water" but I also have faith one day, "Hellboy VIII" will take home an "Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film."

 

Score card?
I'll play.
Shape Of Water good 7/10
Crimson Peak better 7/10
Pacific Rim ok 6/10
Hellboy Golden Army 7/10
Pan's Labyrinth 8/10
Hellboy 7/10
Blade II 6/10
Devils Backbone 6/10
Mimic 6/10
Cronos 5/10

Scorecard 5/10

 

Well, 5/10 for you 4/10 for me. I probably like The Devils Backbone the best.

 

Crimson Peak had a ending could have been more interesting.
Pans Labyrinth is still his best I find.

It's good he got kudus for The Shape Of Water ( tad overrated I found, actress was no barbie doll. ) means he gets to make more movies.

 

His original Creature From The Black Lagoon was heaps better.

 

OK, here's my Del Toro score card...

Devils Backbone ...nightmarish, chillingly effective horror film, virtually perfect 9/10
Hellboy ...great fun, well developed characters 8/10
Blade II ...good action film and follow-up to Stephen Norrington's first Blade film 7/10
Hellboy Golden Army ...good follow-up to first Hellboy, but character development falls short of the first film 7/10
Kronos ...good horror story and visually impressive, but pacing seemed slow 7/10
Mimic ...another good horror story, but inconsistent, seemed oddly paced (caveat: haven't seen the Director's cut) 6/10
Pan's Labyrinth ...slow, muddled story, mostly forgettable, trailers were more impressive 4/10
Shape Of Water ...manipulative, predictable, check your brain at the door logic with generally weak performances (needed stronger direction from Del Toro) 2/10

Crimson Peak ...no opinion (haven't seen it yet)
Pacific Rim ...no opinion (haven't seen it yet)

Scorecard 6.2/10 (pending score, not including those films I haven't seen)


Cat

 

Thanks. Everyone keeps saying how great the acting was. I thought it was bad overall , as well, considering the talent involved. Poor Richard Jenkins, completely lost playing the mythical gay man. And I'm sorry, but every hurt-looking, yet wide-eyed Sally Jenkins/Amelie/Gelsomina child-like waif winds up just getting on my nerves! Mrs. Peale, where are you!

 

Think the praise The Shape of The Water got reflected the shape of the industry at the time.

 

An absolutely ghastly film on a number of moral and thematic levels.

That is all.

 

HAHAHA Glad you noticed!

 

Wow, I wasn't expecting o se so much hate for this movie. It's a fantasy, a so-called "adult fairy tale". Not sure why people were expecting so much logic and realism.

I thought Sally Hawkins, although "she's no Barbie Doll" as one poster here put it was fantastic. She expressed so much without speaking a word.

And Richard Jenkins was great in this movie too, IMO. Certainly a better supporting performance than Sam Rockwell, who won the award for "Three Billboards."

 

Sam Rockwell was brilliant in Three Billboards will deserved win imo.

 

Yep, and he always has a subversive underbelly in varying degrees and this film had it. When's the last time an award-winning major movie had the US gov't as villains and a Russian spy good guy? Not to mention Richard Jenkins' character as sympathetic and the portrayal Strickland's personal life (poking at that wholesome 50s family image). A lot of the American movie going public have a hard time handling stuff like that, but credit to Del Toro for keeping it subtle.

 

Wow, can you elaborate on your comments?

 

To me, he was just playing a one-dimensional redneck, I got tired of him very quickly.

 

wow............

 

Wow, what a rough audience. Hahha!

 

I'm with you. Didn't expect this all the way through the buildup to the movie, and then when it finally happened...something was making the more, what's the word..."regular guys", practically resentful, not only of the movie itself, but of it's very existence.

I mean, there are a lot of films that can leave an audience ambivalent, and damning with faint praise, such as, "Oh, it was alright...". But this one somehow became an offense against nature. Or perhaps, a particular type of audience became hostile at the options of those who appreciated the genre, style and the faux-nostalgic elements. As if they didn't want us to have a film we liked and they didn't, reach a particular point in popularity (or, be "Oscar-worthy").

Now, how am I to take this information? Have crowds with specific expectations turned volatile if their expectations weren't met? Or are some finding various mannered styles to be just one more than they were ready for? There must be some common thread in the likes and dislikes that speak more to the audiences, than the films themselves. Please don't get suspicious of my trying to turn the criticism around on the accusers, it's just that, even in an age of great experimentation and personal expression, these same traits haven't agitated moviegoers this passionately before. Maybe our social discourse has given us more permission to vent on things we might have been more accepting of in years past.

Of course, there's the possibility that this was just a "bad film", but...then, you have to account for the fans that appreciated what it was like, assuming these same people would have appreciated it as much in earlier eras.

 

Guillermo Del Toro is a genuinely fine director, but no director of merit that I'm aware of with more than two or three films to his/her credit can lay claim to a perfect track record. FTR, there are quite a few big B.O. films with the U.S. gov't is portrayed as the bad guys and several where Russian spy's are humanized and even heroic. Films that take pokes at the wholesome 50's family image aren't that unusual either, but you're right when attaching caveats about all of these elements being in the same film and winning awards, ...deserved or not. That said, subtle is not the first word that comes to my mind in conjunction with The Shape of Water. Suggesting that criticism of this film is the result of "A lot of the American movie going public have a hard time handling stuff like that..." makes rather broad assumptions about the level of sophistication of the audience and the justifications for criticism.

There are some films that are love it or hate it, it's that simple. This is apparently one of those films. Try to keep in mind that I'm coming at this from the POV of a genre science fiction fan and I do appreciate style ...when it isn't over substance. For future reference ...or rather past reference..., nostalgic films are also strongly appealing, but I'll admit that I'm pretty much a foe of the faux. Another way of looking at it, when you put a lot of things in a blender sometimes you get something wildly delicious and other times it tastes like ....!

The Shape of Water certainly connected with it's fans. Big props to Director Del Toro for hitting all the right notes to reach his desired audience, but in assessing the overall emotional grounding of this picture, it's clearly more "Felix-worthy" than "Oscar-worthy"!


Cat