Opium

Since I'm not in the mood to do anything productive yet, and since once again all my interesting little ideas for posting have deserted me, I might as well write about a movie I just finished watching: Walking Tall by the Rock. It's funny because at the beginning when they flashed his name it could have been the title of the movie. Sort of like The Ring or The Phone or something like that. I didn't really plan on watching it (I didn't like the trailer, for one thing) but I had two compelling reasons to waste my time:

1. The afternoon was unbearably hot and I wanted to spend a couple hours without having to constantly wipe the sweat from my face.
2. I had a hangover from spending my weekend almost entirely in bed doing nothing. (I was sick and would have written a few entries about stuff I thought about except that I was too lazy, but maybe I will later) As you should know by now, making like a sloth is one of my favorite things to do, and I didn't want it to end.

So I picked the movie I thought I would least dislike and ended up watching a puzzle. It bored me a little at first, but the story showed promise. And then, when the bad guys started raining bullets on the sheriff's office and the Rock started retaliating by shooting at them with a shotgun I thought, Crap. I am stuck in a generic Filipino action movie. It had all the classic elements: The big, tough-looking hero who could get away with trashing stuff in the name of righteousness and who's only plan seemed to be 'act first, think later'. The hero's 'consort' who's only job was to act pretty and add a bit of interest in the tamer periods. The overused theme of revenge and settling old scores. And of course, plenty of ass-kicking and gunslinging. Undeniably, it was no different from the hundreds of movies that preceded it in this respect. But it was also a feel-good movie. Unlike the usual drawn-out drama and melodramatic ending, the plot moved quickly and actually had a bit of humor. The battle with the bad guys was short and sweet, and provided unconditional victory. The Rock barely got a few scratches, and while he did get a big ugly scar in his midsection, it only served to win him the sympathy of the townspeople and didn't seem to bother his leading lady at all when she took off his shirt and they made out in the sheriff's office. All the bad guys either got shot, severely beaten up, sent to prison, or all of the above. The ending was actually very satisfying. Too good to be true. But then, who would want it to be true?

The movie, I now realize, is standard fare for the masses. Nothing spectacular, but good enough. Sort of the equivalent of the McDonald's value meal I ate while watching. Nevertheless, both served my purpose.

And that's just what I wanted.