"Fargo" is best summed up as an odd little movie. It's an extremely violent 90 minutes, but also an extremely entertaining one. When a car salesman (William H. Macy) gets the idea to hire thugs to kidnap his wife to collect a ransom from her rich father, things don't go according to plan. I won't spoil anything, but a whole lot of blood is shed.One of my biggest complaints with many Cohen Brothers movies is that they don't give us any likable characters, thus we don't care what happens to them. In this movie however, they give us the charming, if not over the top, Marge Gunderson, a pregnant police officer played by the excellent Frances McDormand (who won an Oscar for the role.) It's a good thing this character was introduced, or I probably would have hated the movie. She isn't even introduced until the a third of the movie has passed, but when she comes into play, it's a breath of fresh air.
I didn't love this movie, however I didn't hate it. It gets major props for being original, and even more props for the excellent acting - with the likes of Macy, McDormand, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare leading the way. If you like bizarre deaths in movies, this one has a real treat in store for you. Story-wise though, I would rank it below "No Country for Old Men" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", but way above "Burn After Reading" and "A Serious Man". It's a short movie, which makes it better as it doesn't suffer from many pacing issues. Be warned: If you're squeamish in the least, you should avoid this movie at all costs. I would give it a 7 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment