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'Saint' Nick Delivers a Puzzling Early Christmas Gift (Review)
t I’d hoped for. I tend to find excesvely absurd enjoyment out of damn near any holiday themed genre effort, but Saint left me feeling far more perplexed than fulfilled. There are some wonderful qualities on display, but there’s a jumbled story beneath the glitz, and I’m having trouble deciding if the disorientation within the script is a result of mediocre writing, or a murky translation job. Given the fact that the film’s focal flaws can be best detected in the dialogue of the picture, I’m inclined to believe the latter.
What makes the dialogue so frustrating isn’t mply that it’s terribly written or poorly delivered, it’s the fact that the film is dubbed in English, and it’s ealy one of the worst dub’s I’ve ever heard. It’s common fare to find stiff actors; it’s a completely different experience when the actors are great, but those enlisted to translate the picture via last minute overdub are stiffer than a 13 year old boy at 7 a.m. The whole ordeal feels like two entities battling each other, and the stellar onscreen performances are nearly cancelled out by the nauseating English dubs. It’s all too damn conflicting, and there’s no other way to say it.
The story focuses on the legend of St. Nicholas, and in this particular instance, the man has a nasty history. See, rather than the generous image we typically manufacture here in the U.S., these Dutch fellas have concocted a dark, disturbing account in which St. Nick plunders small villages and murders families in their homes whenever the fifth of December happens to coincide with a full moon. After a dwindling community fights back and burns St. Nick alive, a real life urban legend is birthed, and that frightening concept has been thriving for centuries, and proving to be far more than a mple urban legend.
It’s actually a really fun idea to play with, and aesthetically the film is quite pleang. There are some absolutely mesmerizing shots of Amsterdam, shrouded in a thick winter snowfall. Dick Maas and Guido van Gennep do a great job of making bright colors dance in contrast to the sleek black backgrounds of what should be joyous holiday nights, and the visual effects, though primarily digital are reasonably well executed; there aren’t too many shots plagued by obnoxious CGI. A few fun nods are tossed in the mix, and while not every scene resonates, a quick tip of the hat to George Miller’s, Mad Max, and a nice little tribute to Rick Rosenthal and John Carpenter’s Halloween II work quite well.
 implements an early character establishment that makes it challenging to cheer for him: he’s been cheating on his girlfriend with one of her best friends, Lisa (another of our supposed “good guys”). Meanwhile his girlfriend Sophie’s been getting some action on the de herself, which takes three of the picture’s leads and brands the trio extremely unlikeable, right from the jump. I don’t have any problem with onscreen infidelities, but as a viewer, I have a little trouble truly backing a handful of sleazeballs, which damn near everyone in the film is. I get the “wild youthful” angle at work, but that doesn’t change the fact that I like my protagonists with a trace of decency intact.<br /><br />
Another staggering issue with the film is the timeline of the mythological Saint and his random arrivals. At one point early in the film it’s established that the fifth of December and the full moon only collide once every 32 calendar years. At another point it’s revealed that St. Nick doesn’t vit every 32 years, but every 40. At another point 40 years jumps to 42, and by the end of the film, St. Nick’s scheduled to return in 23 years. I’m not certain if there’s a joke lost in translation here (tough to call with the horrendous dubbing) or a complete disregard for detail, but midway through the film, after numerous characters have fucked up the timeline, it wears thin, and certainly feels like a pretty damn glaring flaw: reach a concluon for fucks sake; does St. Nick vit every 23 years, 32, 40, or 42?For the most part the special effects are implemented in appeang fashion. The gore isn’t overtly heavy, but when someone does indeed bite the dust, it tends to be in fairly gruesome fashion; there are plenty of beheadings, dismemberments and fun impaling scenes to feast on, and while the CGI stinks up a select few death sequences, it doesn’t really hinder the majority of the violence. I would have preferred to feed my senses with some more practical work (there are a few shots of nice practical prosthetics, but they’re few and far between), but that’s not really what’s in store here, and Maas makes that obvious early.<br /><br />
After Nick and his band of murderous asstants, the Black Pete’s, have wreaked tremendous havoc in a contemporary setting, Kurt, a local law man and rare survivor of an earlier assault (that seems to have happened roughly 42 years ago) by St. Nick, teams up with Frank to take the old bastard down once and for all. I don’t like to unveil spoilers, so I’ll refrain from speaking too in depth on the film’s climax, but believe me, this finale is one of the most anticlimactic I’ve seen in some time. In fact, I feel like I’m leading you astray even labeling this one a “finale”. The story rolls along at an enjoyable pace that avoids any noticeable downtime, then, suddenly, a few fireworks… and that’s a wrap: Complete and utter ripoff.<br /><br />http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/instantlegend/nt-movie-horse-1.jpg)
Dick Maas knows how to bring vibrant colors, terrific surroundings and fine set pieces to life. He’s also very, very capable of syphoning high caliber performances from relatively green performers. Unfortunately, I don’t think he had much control of the English dubbing process, and ultimately, that’s the film’s greatest flaw. Ordinarily that wouldn’t be such a glaring weakness, but in this specific instance, it transforms what seems a solid script into a convoluted piece of shit that’s so far from humorous its embarrasng (I’ve got a feeling there are some nice laughs via native tongue), and degrades some impresve performances in a way that borders on unimaginable. It all makes for a tough equation that’s more frustrating than rewarding.
If you're afforded the opportunity to catch this one with English subtitles, rather than dubs, I'd strongly, strongly recommend you seize the chance. It's practically guaranteed to make for a superior viewing experience.
Grade: C
What makes the dialogue so frustrating isn’t mply that it’s terribly written or poorly delivered, it’s the fact that the film is dubbed in English, and it’s ealy one of the worst dub’s I’ve ever heard. It’s common fare to find stiff actors; it’s a completely different experience when the actors are great, but those enlisted to translate the picture via last minute overdub are stiffer than a 13 year old boy at 7 a.m. The whole ordeal feels like two entities battling each other, and the stellar onscreen performances are nearly cancelled out by the nauseating English dubs. It’s all too damn conflicting, and there’s no other way to say it.
The story focuses on the legend of St. Nicholas, and in this particular instance, the man has a nasty history. See, rather than the generous image we typically manufacture here in the U.S., these Dutch fellas have concocted a dark, disturbing account in which St. Nick plunders small villages and murders families in their homes whenever the fifth of December happens to coincide with a full moon. After a dwindling community fights back and burns St. Nick alive, a real life urban legend is birthed, and that frightening concept has been thriving for centuries, and proving to be far more than a mple urban legend.
It’s actually a really fun idea to play with, and aesthetically the film is quite pleang. There are some absolutely mesmerizing shots of Amsterdam, shrouded in a thick winter snowfall. Dick Maas and Guido van Gennep do a great job of making bright colors dance in contrast to the sleek black backgrounds of what should be joyous holiday nights, and the visual effects, though primarily digital are reasonably well executed; there aren’t too many shots plagued by obnoxious CGI. A few fun nods are tossed in the mix, and while not every scene resonates, a quick tip of the hat to George Miller’s, Mad Max, and a nice little tribute to Rick Rosenthal and John Carpenter’s Halloween II work quite well.
Dick Maas knows how to bring vibrant colors, terrific surroundings and fine set pieces to life. He’s also very, very capable of syphoning high caliber performances from relatively green performers. Unfortunately, I don’t think he had much control of the English dubbing process, and ultimately, that’s the film’s greatest flaw. Ordinarily that wouldn’t be such a glaring weakness, but in this specific instance, it transforms what seems a solid script into a convoluted piece of shit that’s so far from humorous its embarrasng (I’ve got a feeling there are some nice laughs via native tongue), and degrades some impresve performances in a way that borders on unimaginable. It all makes for a tough equation that’s more frustrating than rewarding.
If you're afforded the opportunity to catch this one with English subtitles, rather than dubs, I'd strongly, strongly recommend you seize the chance. It's practically guaranteed to make for a superior viewing experience.
Grade: C
Matt_Molgaard
Wednesday 9/21/2011 at 02:51 AM | 83071
