Hey everyone, pop quiz:
Say one day you get a strange invitation to a mansion on the top of a snowy mountain in the middle of nowhere to meet a man who you know absolutely nothing about. Do you
A.)Throw the invitation out, wondering what the hell that was all about
B.)Attempt to write back to the address to get some information on the man who sent the invite
C.)Throw caution to the wind and surrender your free time into the arms of a strange man who, upon arrival to the mansion, does not show up in person but instead chooses to play fun party games like "Let's Poison the Piano Player" and "7 Minutes in a Cable Car Plummeting to Certain Death" ?
If you answered anything but C, congratulations, you're a sane individual! If you answered C, congratulations, you're one of the main characters in 10 Little Indians!
This cheerful movie, made in 1965 (a.k.a before colors were invented), is based off an Agatha Cristie novel "And Then There Were None". The novel itself is pretty cool, as most of Christie's are, and the movie is also quite fun. HOWEVER, while the book is gripping and seat of your chair intense, the movie is, to be frank, kinda predictable. I mean someone dies, people freak out, someone dies, people freak out, someone dies, etc. The only really big twists are when the main premise is introduced at the beginning and when the killer is revealed at the end (By the way, no spoilers for those of you who might complain about that kind of thing). Not to say that the movie is BAD, the exact opposite in fact. It's just that, well, ummm...
Have you seen Jaws? I'm going to go ahead and assume you've seen Jaws. Well, it's like if in Jaws, someone invariably got eaten every 15 minutes. Shocking at first but after a while, you come to expect it and, if you're like me, actually start wishing people would stop dying in gruesome and original ways just to break up the monotony. Well, that's Ten Little Indians. You're just waiting for something to happen all the time not because you're in suspense but because you've been told it's going to happen. The deaths are cool and pretty interesting but with one exception that I can think of, usually happen in a pretty straight forward and expected fashion that kinda leaves you wanting more.
The main reason these exciting tragedies come off as boring and blah is because a lot of these characters seem to be written in to the story just to be killed off. Most of them are bland, no personality whatsoever, and most of those WITH personality are the kind of people with too much personality. You know, the kind whose mouth you want to staple shut because they don't shut up. Thankfully, there are a couple of characters that don't fall into those categories, mainly Hugh, a.k.a. Mr. I'm Good At Everything, and Ann, the token Strong Independent Woman that no one thinks can protect herself. Other than that, the characters just seem kinda there, like they were never developed enough. Like empty shells.
Which mean that it's a good thing there are other versions that can give me the insight I'm longing for. A lot of insight, as a matter of fact, because there are a lot of other versions. As of this writing, there are five other movies based off Christie's Novel (2 older, 2 made for TV and one French). To be honest, I haven't gotten around to watching these other movies yet but I hope to some day so I can tear them a new one and talk about why they're nowhere near as good as this one which was nowhere near as good as the book. Or at least I can keep my fingers crossed. It's fun making fun of things.
To wrap things up, I'll bet you're going to expect me to say either this movie rocked my world or broke my spirit. Well, I hate to disappoint you nice folks, especially on our first meeting, but I can't do that. While this movie wasn't anything amazing or mind blowing, it most certainly wasn't a piece of crap either. It was pretty fun and entertaining and I'd definitely recommend it if you want a Murder Mystery Marathon. I can't say that I'd tell you to run out and buy it though. It's fun but if you're anything like me, it's not something you're going to be watching more than twice at the most. I'd say go out and rent the movie so you don't waste your time buying this movie online for $15 just so you can stare at it in your DVD collection and wonder why you bought a movie you never watch. It's like a birthday party: Lots of fun but not something you want over and over again.
Say one day you get a strange invitation to a mansion on the top of a snowy mountain in the middle of nowhere to meet a man who you know absolutely nothing about. Do you
A.)Throw the invitation out, wondering what the hell that was all about
B.)Attempt to write back to the address to get some information on the man who sent the invite
C.)Throw caution to the wind and surrender your free time into the arms of a strange man who, upon arrival to the mansion, does not show up in person but instead chooses to play fun party games like "Let's Poison the Piano Player" and "7 Minutes in a Cable Car Plummeting to Certain Death" ?
If you answered anything but C, congratulations, you're a sane individual! If you answered C, congratulations, you're one of the main characters in 10 Little Indians!
This cheerful movie, made in 1965 (a.k.a before colors were invented), is based off an Agatha Cristie novel "And Then There Were None". The novel itself is pretty cool, as most of Christie's are, and the movie is also quite fun. HOWEVER, while the book is gripping and seat of your chair intense, the movie is, to be frank, kinda predictable. I mean someone dies, people freak out, someone dies, people freak out, someone dies, etc. The only really big twists are when the main premise is introduced at the beginning and when the killer is revealed at the end (By the way, no spoilers for those of you who might complain about that kind of thing). Not to say that the movie is BAD, the exact opposite in fact. It's just that, well, ummm...
Have you seen Jaws? I'm going to go ahead and assume you've seen Jaws. Well, it's like if in Jaws, someone invariably got eaten every 15 minutes. Shocking at first but after a while, you come to expect it and, if you're like me, actually start wishing people would stop dying in gruesome and original ways just to break up the monotony. Well, that's Ten Little Indians. You're just waiting for something to happen all the time not because you're in suspense but because you've been told it's going to happen. The deaths are cool and pretty interesting but with one exception that I can think of, usually happen in a pretty straight forward and expected fashion that kinda leaves you wanting more.
The main reason these exciting tragedies come off as boring and blah is because a lot of these characters seem to be written in to the story just to be killed off. Most of them are bland, no personality whatsoever, and most of those WITH personality are the kind of people with too much personality. You know, the kind whose mouth you want to staple shut because they don't shut up. Thankfully, there are a couple of characters that don't fall into those categories, mainly Hugh, a.k.a. Mr. I'm Good At Everything, and Ann, the token Strong Independent Woman that no one thinks can protect herself. Other than that, the characters just seem kinda there, like they were never developed enough. Like empty shells.
Which mean that it's a good thing there are other versions that can give me the insight I'm longing for. A lot of insight, as a matter of fact, because there are a lot of other versions. As of this writing, there are five other movies based off Christie's Novel (2 older, 2 made for TV and one French). To be honest, I haven't gotten around to watching these other movies yet but I hope to some day so I can tear them a new one and talk about why they're nowhere near as good as this one which was nowhere near as good as the book. Or at least I can keep my fingers crossed. It's fun making fun of things.
To wrap things up, I'll bet you're going to expect me to say either this movie rocked my world or broke my spirit. Well, I hate to disappoint you nice folks, especially on our first meeting, but I can't do that. While this movie wasn't anything amazing or mind blowing, it most certainly wasn't a piece of crap either. It was pretty fun and entertaining and I'd definitely recommend it if you want a Murder Mystery Marathon. I can't say that I'd tell you to run out and buy it though. It's fun but if you're anything like me, it's not something you're going to be watching more than twice at the most. I'd say go out and rent the movie so you don't waste your time buying this movie online for $15 just so you can stare at it in your DVD collection and wonder why you bought a movie you never watch. It's like a birthday party: Lots of fun but not something you want over and over again.
