Genghis Khan said:
Recently, I saw 'Pursuit of Happyness'. (Gotta love the spelling
). I cringed when I saw the spelling and it was the reason why I held off watching it for so long. But, the movie was good. Smith plays a great character with great acting skills; his kid is not bad either. I was surprized to learn it was based off a true person/story. No surprize, to highlight Onhell's point above, the movie emphasizes rugged individuality, the drive to succeed, grit and passion, all of which are lauded as great American traits. I must admit I wanted to see him succeed. The movie would have been disappointing had he fallen flat on his face. I have to wonder though, how could a kid put up with all that unstable lifestyle? Would not the authorities request that the kid go to school on a regular basis? Unless I missed something, Smith's character cheated on more than his taxes.
Although I haven't seen it, the seemingly incorrect spelling of 'Happiness' has some important connotation in the plot, according to an interview Will Smith did a while ago. *shrugs*
Anyway, the other day I stuck on
Black Hawk Down again. A very good war movie, which doesn't just focus on all-out action sequences with computer graphics and what have-you, but attempts to tell the story of Operation Gothic Serpent in Mogadishu, October (?) 1993 through the eyes of the soldiers who fought through those 12 hours. If you haven't seen the movie or heard of the event, the premise is this;
The American army (namely, the Rangers, 109th S.O.A.R. and Delta Force) are attempting to restore order in a chaotic, anarchic, famine-ridden Somalia. The main warlord in control of much of the capital, Mogadishu, is Mohammed Farah Aidid. An operation to kidnap two of his top men escalates in to a full-blown firefight when road blocks slow up the Humvee convoy escaping the hostile Bakara Market, and a Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in the centre of the city, resulting in a rescue attempt to 'Leave no man behind'.
Although the action can be a little hard to follow sometimes, the pace is fast enough to keep the plot moving, and manages to do a good job of jumping between different groups of soldiers in different places. The fact that everyone looks much the same when covered in dirt and yelling at the top of their lungs leads to some ironic points of dialogue being lost; for example, one Ranger tells Ewan McGregor's character not to bring back-armour, rationalising that, '...I already have 50lb of equipment to carry. I don't know about you, but I don't intend getting shot in the back running away'. He is shot in the back defending the convoy at one of its many stops.
Another thing that makes this movie good (apart from great effects, set and action) is the fact that Orlando Bloom's character falls out of a chopper and spends the rest of the movie unconscious...
I had forgotten he was in that movie. This was before his big breakthrough.
It's really not a big plot give away anyway, but fixed nonetheless.
