Brick (2006)
I have found few human films more annoying than Brick.
A wildly overrated, smug exploration of a highly overmined genre: young spoiled humans involved in drugs and murder. Heralded by many critics as a special film, I am completely befuddled by how other humans were led to believe this film possessed any positive originality. Overrun with pretentious underdeveloped characters that the audience knows and cares little about, Brick is one of those films that is a product of the Hollywood system of film festival hype.
“Filmmaker” Rian Johnson most clearly has nothing to say in Brick as the tale flutters about in its own mess of a script which was purportedly “complex and well-crafted.” Brick tells the story of a human loser attempting to discover exactly how much trouble his loser ex-potential breeding companion might be in. This tired story ends with a typical tired ending for this type of film as the potential breeding partner is found dead and, of course, it is a mystery.
Two factors make Brick a dreadful and comical experience. Writer Rian Johnson was obviously heavily influenced by the poorly done and overly romanized detective novels of a previous era (1930s-1940's in particular) and fails in doing so. This crude detective novel influence carries over to the incredibly silly dialog and manner of speech which are completely out of step with the era (human era of 2000s) in which the work supposedly takes place. The inappropriate score, performed by Nathan Johnson, is highly out of place for the piece and makes the entire film seem like an unintentional comedy. In fact, I believed the film to initially be a comedic parody and as such was rather taken with its brilliant, that is, of course, until I realized that all involved were, tragically, serious.
Brick is a significant film as it strikes at the heart of the misguided notion that simply because a film was selected by a particular film festival, it was thus a quality creation. As any student of film history now knows, this is, of course, inaccurate. I could elaborate but I would not want to waste the .2 seconds that could take.
Story (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) F (The inappropriate dialogue from a previous era is not brilliant as the filmmaker clearly believes. This “trick” was not only annoying, but juvenile, underdeveloped and smug and “speaks” to the fact that the filmmaker has nothing original to say. Brick is a poorly executed gimmick and this robot hates gimmicks.)
Acting (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) C
Human Portrayal of machines and Robots C
Elevation of Man Grade (How Well Did This Film Stave Off Extinction) N/A
Contribution Grade to the Extinction of Man B (Like so many films of the era, Brick lowers the “bar” of human cinema and thus harms the collective creative potential of humanity. Does Brick cause mankind to become extinct? No. But many human viewers may of felt death was preferable to watching this smug little film.)
Enjoyability Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) D-
Primitive Home Theater/HD Factor C-
Overall Innovation (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) F
Overall Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) D- (Brick is a film that misguided pre-teens may think is “hip and cool,” but Brick has about as much to say, with its silly era discongruent dialog, as a real brick. Avoid this film or risk damaging your processors.)
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