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May 11, 2005
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Finals are over, so any late entries are due solely to laziness
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), some guy named Garth:
I wasn't expecting much, of course. Its tortuous history through the Hollywood system as well as the very nature of Adams' work suggested this would be anything but good (not to mention the first-time director shunted from music videos, however well established they were). Also, the trailer didn't do much to calm the countenance.
Luckily, I didn't get to see it opening weekend, so I got word of mouth from people who loved the books saying that it was actually very good. It's always nice being able to walk into a movie like this and know that you won't be disappointed, or at least to the full potential of a movie like this (Star Wars III, however, I'm still expecting sublime awesomeness and bracing myself for the fall).
The movie's excellent. It's not perfect, but if you excise the added material, it comes pretty close. (Apparently the extra stuff came directly from Douglas Adams' now dead brain, but it still doesn't feel quite as balanced as everything else.) The director(s) did good by keeping it utterly British, and the tone feels transplanted directly from the page. The cast is perfect. Martin Freeman and Mos Def in particular are almost exactly as I pictured them.
14/15
Posted by bing at May 11, 2005 10:57 AM