05 July 2011

Tuesday Cap - Vol. 30


Title: American Psycho

Notes: Heard loads of good things, and finally had the chance a few days ago. Overall, not bad, not great, either. Sure, Christian Bale was bloody awesome as Patrick Bateman, and large kudos need to be given for memorizing all that music facts that I wouldn't ever be able to possibly stick to memory. Bale has a knack for turning out wickedly bizarre characters, PSYCHO and THE MACHINIST prime examples. Frankly, I can't see the role performed by any other actor: Bale so completely owns the role. I loved the character of Bateman, so stuck with having the best, looking his best, and forming the situation. The cast of characters that support Bale, not so interesting, but they're really not meant to. This is Bateman's movie. Ultimately, I simply wish there was more to it. Not in the way that I loved it so much I didn't want it to end, just that AMERICAN PSYCHO could have pushed the boundaries (and story) a bit more. The final ten minutes confused me a tad, as I'm unsure as to whether all of the murders are a part of Bateman's frakked up brain or that they happened and he was somehow successful in getting out of it jail-free. Either way, he lives up to the term psycho. And I will never forget a mostly naked Christian Bale running down a hallway with a chainsaw. Ash would be proud.

Discuss: So am I the only one who was a bit taken aback by the ending, or did y'all love it? Thoughts on Bale's performance. Was Willem Dafoe even necessary? Anyone see the Mila Kunis-starring 'sequel'? Favorite death scene?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Those music ramblings are taken straight from the book. I had to read this for a modern lit class back in the 90s and there are PAGES of diatribe dedicated to 80s pop music icons. I enjoyed this movie as well. Great post.

Anonymous said...

Oh man, that photo of Bateman with the bloody chainsaw still freaks me out. I accidentally saw the unrated version (I thought it was the regular version!!) Bale was freaking amazing in that role, he embodied the madness of Bateman so much that I'd probably be scared of him if I see the actor in a dark alley at night. Can't believe there's a sequel, no way would I ever watch that!

Andrew Simon said...

Flix - You wouldn't even watch the sequel knowing that it stars Mila Kunis? C'mon! It would at least be worth it to see how far Mila has come from AMERICAN PSYCHO 2 to, say, BLACK SWAN (I was gonna use FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS as my example, but thought better...)