Series 7: The Contenders R1 - DVD Times Review [Archive]

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Clipper-

20-01-2002, 10:23

An excellent film which deserves a wider audience... The disc is great too... review is here

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/index.cgi?page=Review&id=545&story=2646

Anyone else have thoughts on the film?

DamienB

20-01-2002, 19:22

Clipper-

20-01-2002, 21:43

Well that's the second comment that tries to make a serious connection between Series 7 and The Running Man...

My comparisons in the review were strictly tongue in cheek.

The Running Man is a simplistic popcorn movie (at best)...

The killings are distasteful, however I feel this provides an interesting parallel with normal reality TV where the audience are positively encouraged to celebrate misery...

Interesting that you should mention that it isn't a parody... The director mentions this in his commentary... He didn't intend it to be a parody and I carefully avoid using the word in the review.

The film is meant to be satire...

It carbon-copies US TV on purpose, to satirise it. Copying the formula exactly allows you to poke fun at the genre as a whole. It is only one step from the reality TV that doesn't hurt anyone to Series 7.

In the same way that Chris Morris satirises sensationalist journalism by copying it's formula exactly and then adding a twist to make people realise how manipulative the media are.

As for distasteful, need I remind anyone of the furore created over the Chris Morris programme on child abuse :)

I know we don't agree on this but I felt I had to defend my point of view here :)

DamienB

21-01-2002, 13:08

I'm not attacking your point of view Clipper - I'm attacking the film. It doesn't work on a number of levels, not least of which is entertainment value, because it's so damn boring.

We must have different definitions of satire, as a carbon copy is not satire - it's a copy. If you replayed an episode of Big Brother, but then tacked on a bit about one player killing another, would that be a satirical look at BB? No, it'd just be lazy film making attempting to be satirical.

The idea behind S7 *is* very similar to that of the Running Man, which is why I mentioned it. RM might be a popcorn action flick, but it has a nice bit of satire and social comment in it - look past Arnie and you'll see that. S7 is just... lazy rubbish. Battle Royale, despite the contrived setup and endless cliches, is far better than S7 too.

Clipper-

21-01-2002, 13:21

my choice of words was bad...

S7 is a carbon copy of US reality TV *With a twist*

in exactly the same way that

Chris Morris' work is a carbon copy of sensationalist journalism with a twist :)

They haven't simply tacked on killings... The whole mood and feel of the characters and situations is darker than any reality TV show... the dialogue and voiceover work is a wonderful dark twist on the standard US TV presenters for these shows.

I don't quite understand what it would need for it to be a satire in your eyes. If it moved too far away from the US TV formula then it wouldn't be emulating the genre it is mean to be satirising... If it was more OTT it would be a parody

The Running Man doesn't deviate too far from the US gameshow formula in order to satirise it (although I think it's too bludgeoningly obvious to be a satire, it is almost a parody)...

I am struggling to understand what it would take for you to regard S7 as a satire?

We will obviously agree to differ, I am just interested on thoughts on this film..

(I do realise that we could end up arguing semantics here about the definition of satire and I'm sure we'll both stop short of that :D )

DamienB

21-01-2002, 20:56

Nah, I'll bite :)

Satire:

n.

Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity

As S7 simply copied the sort of show it was attempting to mock, and lacked all of the above except for very very brief moments (such as the voiceover saying one thing was happening when clearly it wasn't - the bit where one of the contenders kidnaps his kid and supposedly holds a knife to the kid's throat), it hardly classes as satire. At least, not well done satire.

More over the top, and it would have worked.

The only bit of the whole movie that really worked for me was the bit right at the end where the girlfriend of the guy with cancer is decried as a murderer and common criminal after shooting the pregnant girl, yet the contenders themselves are obviously not viewed as such. Now that was a nice touch, and illustrated the folly of the whole 'reality' concept. Nuff said. I need a beer.

Clipper-

22-01-2002, 09:33

Well there we have our agree to disagree... I think there are enough examples of the film twisting Reality TV in order to poke fun at it.

The voiceover telling us that the kidnapper accidently stabbed himself in the back

The kidnapper tied to the bed to create the sequence the producers want

The occassional montage to show relationship between cancer guy and pregnant lady

The voiceover throughout

The young girl stabbing her father because he won't accept her point of view.

The playing of Love will tear us Apart at the Stadium, the look on the protagonists faces is hilarious.

Anyway, those are just a few examples of the scenes where I feel it uses the TV formula to satirise it.

And as you don't feel the same way I think we can leave it there as we have both expressed our opinions :)

EdgeOfVictory

22-01-2002, 11:01

Which version of the film did you review? I got a Canadian version today, and it says on the box that the aspect ratio is "Full frame" (which I take to mean 4:3), which contradicts what you say in your review of a 1.78:1 transfer. Help :confused:

Clipper-

22-01-2002, 11:24

My box says it's the Canadian edition... it also says it's full frame and I promise you it isn't :)

EdgeOfVictory

22-01-2002, 11:38

Thanks... I just checked it myself and saw it wasn't full frame (thankfully - I got worried at first cos I had taken my DVD player to my friend's last night and I had changed it to 4:3 mode and forgot to change it back when I got home) :)

Just Call Me Wanda

26-01-2002, 11:07

I enjoyed this film, but my only gripe (which isn't really a gripe) is the scene...

...when the good looking girl gets beaten to death by the old man. Very brutal scene, but brilliantly brought to the screen because it has a power that hits you quite hard. My only problem was I wasn't expecting something so harsh -with the parents watching on not being able to anything. But in essence, this scene alone sets up the theme and how reality TV is brutal in itself.

cjb110

29-01-2002, 13:24

personally, I loved it!

if an odd few words changed it could have been another C5 documentry. but it wasn't, but was...oh it was just great.

And the filmographies as voice clips is a great idea as well.

Joe Pasquale

09-03-2002, 11:36

The TV style presentation wears thin after about 10 minutes. The long breaks between the killings are filled with mind-numbingly boring rubbish of the worst US-TV style (hardly parody when it's a blind copying of the stuff you can see on many a satellite channel)...

I agree, the style is awful. The whole premise and plot was paper thin, and everything painfully run-of-the-mill and unfunny.

and the killings are simply distasteful for the most part.

If it wasn't so boring, I'd just say it was offensive. But it's soooooo boring most people will simply turn it off or fall asleep before it has time to start getting seriously offensive.

I can't say I found it offensive really... Everything seemed really predicatable. About the only thing I didn't expect was the last 2 seconds, but that was it.

I thought people usually compared S7 to Battle Royale. IMO BR is a much superior film in pretty much every respect, definately hits the spot comedy-wise more than S7, and has much more suspense too.

All in all, this a 'film' made to shock those Yanks obsessed with the likes of Survivor. I think I was hoping for something original, it's a shame that some people think it is.

Clipper-

09-03-2002, 16:33

I think I was hoping for something original, it's a shame that some people think it is.

Wow... not only a strong opinion on the film but also a tendency to put down other people's opinions as being less important (or wrong)...

Ever though of being a reviewer :)

Joe Pasquale

09-03-2002, 18:57

:)

Can't say I have a problem with those who see it as a good film, I mean it has a 7.0 on IMDB so I'm obviously in the minority. Just boggles my mind that it's thought of as original and fresh.

Out of interest Clipper, what did you think of Battle Royale? I mean it's no masterpiece, but for a similar film I think does a lot better job of pulling it off. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if I saw S7 first, who knows? ;)

Clipper-

10-03-2002, 00:21

Haven't seen it... Although I can't imagine it parodies and satirises U.S. style reality TV better than Series 7 :)

My original comment was aimed at your specific phrase that you thought it "was a shame that some people thought it was original"... indicating you thought less of their opinion... and it sounds a little patronising.

BTW

Battle Royale was released in UK on 18th Aug 2001
Series 7 was released in UK 1st June 2001

Battle Royale was released in US on 23rd March 2001
Series 7 was released in US on 2nd March 2001

So it is hardly surprising that most people thought S7 was fairly original and didn't compare it to Battle Royale on release as BR hadn't even been released when Series 7 appeared :)

Also as far as I can tell the BR plot and scenario isn't based on a TV show or an imaginary TV show... The whole point of Series 7 is that it is a TV show...

camaj

10-03-2002, 11:47

I rented the R2 version and I don't remember anything about the kidnapper.

Overall I quite enjoyed the film but I didn't think it was all that good. I noticed the running man similarities and the film looses points for being a reworking of that idea although it ends up being quite different.

The one thing that bothered me was the lack of explaination of why they became contenders? We see them being picked at random but we don't know who is doing it or why. At least with the running man the runners were prisioners

ChrisAllenFiz

10-03-2002, 12:43

I have both series 7 and battle royale, both on R3. While I enjoyed both, I have to say that battle royale is a much better film for me, because it is far less superficial and I felt more in tune with the characters. There were points in Series 7 which were really great, but it just misses that certain something during the slow parts that keeps you involved. In BR, I was gripped to my seat for the whole film, even with the slightly odd ending. I will watch BR again but I`m not so sure about series 7. I enjoyed the satire of it but it just didn`t involve me enough.

Chris