So I'm a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan. Survivor is one of my favorite books, Fight Club is in the tops as well, and I was really looking forward to the film adaptation.
Choke, the novel, is about the spiritual transformation of Victor Mancini and his best friend Denny. The two work at a colonial themed tourist attraction, hit the strip clubs, and spend two nights a week at a support group for Sex addicts. The story focuses on Victor as he meets his mom's new doctor, Paige Marshall, and falls i love with her, putting his addiction into a spiral and starting his transformation from gigantic asshole, into lovable Jesus-figure.
Choke, the movie, is a voice-over driven choppily edited mess of a film. The cast is fantastic, the only issue I have is with Kelly Macdonald. It just seemed like she forgot what acting was for the first half of the movie. She sleepwalked through dialogue and didn't seem like she knew what to do in front of a camera.
The second issue with Choke was the editing. Characters were jumping through time and space with no regard for a potential time paradox. Seriously though, I've seen fewer jump cuts in a freshman film project. The whole thing just seemed so cheap. I know its the first movie by Clark Gregg, an actor turned director, but I can only let that slide for so long. It just seems like Gregg doesn't understand the importance of editing.
Finally, the screenplay was very light, I know you can't adapt every word to film, but there were key scenes missing. They completely change the back story of a few characters, and they have no resemblance of the original ending. Once again, I have to blame Clark Gregg, who aside from directing also wrote the screenplay.
It just seems like Gregg signed on to do a movie, got bored with it, and rushed it so he could go back to playing Halo 3 or something.
Was the movie awful, no. It was fine. If you've never read the book, go for it. You'll probably get a kick out of it. Bu if you're a Palahniuk fan, you're probably going to be disappointed.
-TH out
Choke, the novel, is about the spiritual transformation of Victor Mancini and his best friend Denny. The two work at a colonial themed tourist attraction, hit the strip clubs, and spend two nights a week at a support group for Sex addicts. The story focuses on Victor as he meets his mom's new doctor, Paige Marshall, and falls i love with her, putting his addiction into a spiral and starting his transformation from gigantic asshole, into lovable Jesus-figure.
Choke, the movie, is a voice-over driven choppily edited mess of a film. The cast is fantastic, the only issue I have is with Kelly Macdonald. It just seemed like she forgot what acting was for the first half of the movie. She sleepwalked through dialogue and didn't seem like she knew what to do in front of a camera.
The second issue with Choke was the editing. Characters were jumping through time and space with no regard for a potential time paradox. Seriously though, I've seen fewer jump cuts in a freshman film project. The whole thing just seemed so cheap. I know its the first movie by Clark Gregg, an actor turned director, but I can only let that slide for so long. It just seems like Gregg doesn't understand the importance of editing.
Finally, the screenplay was very light, I know you can't adapt every word to film, but there were key scenes missing. They completely change the back story of a few characters, and they have no resemblance of the original ending. Once again, I have to blame Clark Gregg, who aside from directing also wrote the screenplay.
It just seems like Gregg signed on to do a movie, got bored with it, and rushed it so he could go back to playing Halo 3 or something.
Was the movie awful, no. It was fine. If you've never read the book, go for it. You'll probably get a kick out of it. Bu if you're a Palahniuk fan, you're probably going to be disappointed.
-TH out