Fragments (Winged Creatures)
Rated R
(violent content, sexuality and language)
1 hour 40 minutes
Storyline:
A group of strangers form a unique relationship with each other after surviving a random shooting at a Los Angeles diner.
Starring:
Kate Beckinsale
Dakota Fanning
Guy Pearce
Forest Whitaker
Jennifer Hudson
Critics Grade:
D-
My Grade:
C-
Fragments (also known as Winged Creatures) is a film that tries to do the whole "Crash" and "Magnolia" th
ing. This is a more centralized story though. In the other films, peoples (who may or may not have ever met one another) lives and stories intersect and ultimately have a great message. This film begins with all the main characters being in the same place at the same time, and something happens to them all and the rest of the film is how they all deal with it. They are all in a diner and suddenly a man comes in and starts shooting a gun. He kills a couple people and injures one.
I'm going to say right now, you never find out who this shooter really is and why he did this. Never. In fact they don't show any aspect of the investigation into this man and we don't get any glimpse into his personal life. It's as if his character had no role in the film. That kind of angered me a little. I didn't need some huge chunk of the film dedicated to him, but he was the reason the film existed. His actions catapulted the films storyline, but we never learn a thing about him.
The rest of the film follows the main group of people, played by an "all-star" cast. I don't care to list them all, but overall the cast was very good. Oscar nominee Dakota Fanning (I Am Sam, War of the Worlds) has usually always annoyed the living hell out of me. I'm not a fan. She always performs her roles way to "grown up" and you can totally tell she's trying to "act" and not just "be". I never saw I Am Sam so I have no comment on that film. Here she is basically the same old same old. Most of the movie her character annoyed me because her performance annoyed me. However in the final act, I must admit she was very very good. I think the stand out performance was probably Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, Journey to the Center of the Earth). In a movie full of big named actors, his performance was the most sincere and most authentic, and he didn't even have that many speaking lines. He did a great job conveying his emotions and reactions towards what happened.
The main issue was this film was that it had no direction. I had no clue where this movie was going. There was supposed to be a message here, but for the life of me I do not know
what it was. There were way to many characters to focus on and some of them weren't even involved in the shooting. The film was SUPPOSED to be about how these characters lives changed after the tragic event but I feel like that got lost in the mix somewhere. The story was sort of a jumbled mess. Some of the story arcs either went nowhere or really had no reason to exist. For instance the storyline of Guy Pearce (Memento, LA Confidential) and his wife...what was that about? OK his character just barely missed the shooting at the diner...but I don't understand how his story even pertains to anything. I didn't get the connection. This movie was full of missed connections. Or Oscar winner Jennifer Hudsons (Dreamgirls) role...there was nothing pertinent about it. That was a huge issue with this film. WAY to many characters with WAY to many useless storylines. If there was a message it got lost in all the clutter.
The film was shot really well, I did love the way it looked. The film kept cutting back to the shooting and giving us more pieces to the puzzle. It's a shame those pieces really led to nothing at all. It had some fairly decent writing when it made sense. It wasn't an awful screenplay, just there was to much packed in. That will really lose an audience, and it nearly lost me. It left no breathing room for any real character development. Wow as I write this, I realize how much I didn't really like this film. I really want to like it, because it has this quality of being a good film but I don't know how to explain it. This is a good film that is wrapped up in a very bad film. Does that make sense?? Probably not.
This is one of those movies I can't honestly suggest to anyone as something to go out and rent. However, if yo
u have seen all the movies you wanted to see and need something to fill time...please rent this one because I want to know how you feel about it. I'm totally lost with this movie. Or if you see it on HBO or something like that...just check it out, I'm curious to know what people think. I don't know. Like I said it had a good production value and the performances were really good it just lost a TON of points on story. That's not good for a movie. But you be the judge.
ing. This is a more centralized story though. In the other films, peoples (who may or may not have ever met one another) lives and stories intersect and ultimately have a great message. This film begins with all the main characters being in the same place at the same time, and something happens to them all and the rest of the film is how they all deal with it. They are all in a diner and suddenly a man comes in and starts shooting a gun. He kills a couple people and injures one.I'm going to say right now, you never find out who this shooter really is and why he did this. Never. In fact they don't show any aspect of the investigation into this man and we don't get any glimpse into his personal life. It's as if his character had no role in the film. That kind of angered me a little. I didn't need some huge chunk of the film dedicated to him, but he was the reason the film existed. His actions catapulted the films storyline, but we never learn a thing about him.
The rest of the film follows the main group of people, played by an "all-star" cast. I don't care to list them all, but overall the cast was very good. Oscar nominee Dakota Fanning (I Am Sam, War of the Worlds) has usually always annoyed the living hell out of me. I'm not a fan. She always performs her roles way to "grown up" and you can totally tell she's trying to "act" and not just "be". I never saw I Am Sam so I have no comment on that film. Here she is basically the same old same old. Most of the movie her character annoyed me because her performance annoyed me. However in the final act, I must admit she was very very good. I think the stand out performance was probably Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, Journey to the Center of the Earth). In a movie full of big named actors, his performance was the most sincere and most authentic, and he didn't even have that many speaking lines. He did a great job conveying his emotions and reactions towards what happened.
The main issue was this film was that it had no direction. I had no clue where this movie was going. There was supposed to be a message here, but for the life of me I do not know
what it was. There were way to many characters to focus on and some of them weren't even involved in the shooting. The film was SUPPOSED to be about how these characters lives changed after the tragic event but I feel like that got lost in the mix somewhere. The story was sort of a jumbled mess. Some of the story arcs either went nowhere or really had no reason to exist. For instance the storyline of Guy Pearce (Memento, LA Confidential) and his wife...what was that about? OK his character just barely missed the shooting at the diner...but I don't understand how his story even pertains to anything. I didn't get the connection. This movie was full of missed connections. Or Oscar winner Jennifer Hudsons (Dreamgirls) role...there was nothing pertinent about it. That was a huge issue with this film. WAY to many characters with WAY to many useless storylines. If there was a message it got lost in all the clutter.The film was shot really well, I did love the way it looked. The film kept cutting back to the shooting and giving us more pieces to the puzzle. It's a shame those pieces really led to nothing at all. It had some fairly decent writing when it made sense. It wasn't an awful screenplay, just there was to much packed in. That will really lose an audience, and it nearly lost me. It left no breathing room for any real character development. Wow as I write this, I realize how much I didn't really like this film. I really want to like it, because it has this quality of being a good film but I don't know how to explain it. This is a good film that is wrapped up in a very bad film. Does that make sense?? Probably not.
This is one of those movies I can't honestly suggest to anyone as something to go out and rent. However, if yo
u have seen all the movies you wanted to see and need something to fill time...please rent this one because I want to know how you feel about it. I'm totally lost with this movie. Or if you see it on HBO or something like that...just check it out, I'm curious to know what people think. I don't know. Like I said it had a good production value and the performances were really good it just lost a TON of points on story. That's not good for a movie. But you be the judge.
I haven't heard of this movie so thanks for reviewing it. It sounds like the kiddies stole the show and did a better job than the adults.
ReplyDeleteJulie