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Film Review - The Blues Brothers
7 years ago
The Blues Brothers is one of those films that is fondly remembered from people's childhoods, and is most well known for a large car chase through a shopping mall. How does the film hold up without the rose tint of nostalgia? ...Not well.
It's unfortunate, because when the film is good, it's greats, but when the film is bad, it's really bad. And at over 2 hours, there's a lot of bad to get through.
The plot is about 2 brothers, Jake and Elwood, who need to raise $5000 in 2 weeks in order to save the orphanage where they grew up. Jake has a vison that they need to re-form their old band, and put on a charity concert.
The first third or so of the film is where the film shines for me. Striking camera angles, funny lines, and a despite the grim and gloomy realism of the setting, the film seems to work on some kind of strange cartoon logic. This is where the film is at it's best. This is also where the infamous mall car chase takes place, and it's spectacular. I know I've beat this particular horse to death, but cgi is no substitute for the sense of scale and entertainment of seeing a dozen cars speed through a mall smashing into everything. If you have netflix or the like, it might be worth watching for this part alone.
Then there's what I'll call the cameo arc. Here the film more resembles a musical, as Jake and Elwood go about tracking down the band members. It's basically a thinly veiled excuse to get as many cameos and songs in as possible. I recognise some, like Ray Charles, and many of the songs are familar, but it mostly feels like filler or self indulgence that do nothing for me as I don't recognize most of the people. This goes on for the rest of the film until the ending.
The ending is the final car chase. The chase itself is kind of silly due to the cartoon like physics involved, such as switching into reverse making the car do a backflip, but the scale of the chase is impressive. Dozens of cars, and hundreds of extras all chasing the brothers as they try to make it to the tax office before the deadline.
Like I said, the first third or so, plus the final car chase, are great. Lines like "Are you cops?" "No ma'am, we're musicians." and "How much for the leetle gurl?" are hillarious, but the middle of the film is a chore to sit through. It's worth watching, even if it's just for the 2 big car chases, but I wouldn't recomend going out of your way to see it. If you have Netflix or something already, then hell, go for it. And if you get bored, fast forward to the end.
It's unfortunate, because when the film is good, it's greats, but when the film is bad, it's really bad. And at over 2 hours, there's a lot of bad to get through.
The plot is about 2 brothers, Jake and Elwood, who need to raise $5000 in 2 weeks in order to save the orphanage where they grew up. Jake has a vison that they need to re-form their old band, and put on a charity concert.
The first third or so of the film is where the film shines for me. Striking camera angles, funny lines, and a despite the grim and gloomy realism of the setting, the film seems to work on some kind of strange cartoon logic. This is where the film is at it's best. This is also where the infamous mall car chase takes place, and it's spectacular. I know I've beat this particular horse to death, but cgi is no substitute for the sense of scale and entertainment of seeing a dozen cars speed through a mall smashing into everything. If you have netflix or the like, it might be worth watching for this part alone.
Then there's what I'll call the cameo arc. Here the film more resembles a musical, as Jake and Elwood go about tracking down the band members. It's basically a thinly veiled excuse to get as many cameos and songs in as possible. I recognise some, like Ray Charles, and many of the songs are familar, but it mostly feels like filler or self indulgence that do nothing for me as I don't recognize most of the people. This goes on for the rest of the film until the ending.
The ending is the final car chase. The chase itself is kind of silly due to the cartoon like physics involved, such as switching into reverse making the car do a backflip, but the scale of the chase is impressive. Dozens of cars, and hundreds of extras all chasing the brothers as they try to make it to the tax office before the deadline.
Like I said, the first third or so, plus the final car chase, are great. Lines like "Are you cops?" "No ma'am, we're musicians." and "How much for the leetle gurl?" are hillarious, but the middle of the film is a chore to sit through. It's worth watching, even if it's just for the 2 big car chases, but I wouldn't recomend going out of your way to see it. If you have Netflix or something already, then hell, go for it. And if you get bored, fast forward to the end.
Yes. Both of them.