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Catherine Hardwicke
is behind the camera
in another love
triangle/werewolf
movie and why she
got another chance
to make a movie like
this after striking
out miserably with
Twilight is
beyond me. If you
thought
Twilight was
bad,
Red Riding Hood
will make that one
look like an Oscar
winner. The casting
is terrible, the
acting outside of
Amanda Seyfried and
Gary Oldman is as
bad as it gets. And
Hardwicke and
company's story
telling methods are
uninspiring and
brutal to sit
through.
In
Red Riding Hood,
Valerie lives in a
small village just
outside of a dense
forest. The village
is quiet and
peaceful but it
suffers from a
torturous problem.
There's a werewolf
that lives close. To
keep the wolf at
bay, the townspeople
sacrifice their best
livestock to it as
an exchange so it
doesn't attack them.
After years of
peace, a young girl
gets attacked and
the wolf starts
torturing the town,
attacking and
killing villagers.
From there we get a
twist and turn
mystery as to who's
the actual werewolf.
It doesn't sound
like an awful story
until they put
Valerie in the
middle of a love
triangle with the
man she’s supposed
to marry and the man
she actually loves.
Evidently teenagers
are crazy about love
triangles and this
was done to create
some worthy drama.
After we discover
that both of her
potential lovers
could be the
werewolf... It just
keeps getting worse
and worse.
The initial idea of
this movie isn't a
bad one. Incorporate
Red Riding Hood
in a real way,
throw in some action
and suspense and
you've got yourself
a movie. The premise
isn't terrible but
the writing is
downright atrocious.
The love triangle
thing doesn't work
and this supposed
mystery as to who's
the wolf ends
cheaply enough that
you're left
wondering why they
did it in the first
place. The casting
here doesn't help
matters either.
Seyfried and Oldman
are both good. Billy
Burke is okay.
Everyone else is
just awful. Those
two performances and
some decent
cinematography are
the only positive
things to say about
this release.
Everything else is
dismal. Even the
score is NOTICABLY
bad. Not good work.
As far as a blu-ray
goes this has great
picture and sound.
The sound could have
taken advantage of
the back channels
more during the
hectic moments but
its serviceable. The
extras are what’s
good about this
release. They will
fit the demo for
this movie
perfectly. There’s a
Red Riding Hood in
72 seconds
feature that could
have saved you a bit
of time, a couple of
featurettes on the
actors, one of the
WEIRDEST
commentaries ever,
and two very odd
music videos to go
along with this
release. Not my cup
of tea, but like I
said… it will fit
the demo for this
release well.
I really do hate
just blasting
something without
trying to find some
kind of value to it,
but it’s pretty hard
to do that with
Red Riding Hood.
The idea for the
movie is decent.
Seyfried and Oldman
are both good. The
set and location
designs are both
good too. Everything
else is just awful.
It could have been
written, acted, and
directed better.
That’s a tough sell.
If you’re a girl
between 13-20 you
might enjoy this… if
not you should
probably avoid this.
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