vortexrider

We all know that there are movies which can take the violence very far and shock us with grotesqueness, and then leave us disturbed with statements of nihilism, fatalism, and pessimism of some sort. But what determines their quality is whether there is some overarching message, a statement, or if a film is some kind of metaphor for themes that transcend the violence you see. And usually the feedback depends on whether the audience thinks the statement is valid even if they hate the gory scenes.

The Farm is one of those movies which shocks you pretty hard with the exploitation violence but I think it fails to display any meaningful statement or purpose justifying time spent to watch it. Of course most people will think that the point is to make the viewer think about the violence done to the animals in the meat and diary industry. But the director and writers of the Farm fail miserably in this attempt and, ironically, they fail to make a good point exactly because the film so shallowly treats this topic and turns I into a joke.

There is no subtlety of the story, or a nuance of any scene that elevates it somehow to make you think about anything. No profound conversations about the similarities between all living beings. No discussion or developing of any character in any way.

Even the director of the film states they are neither a vegan or a vegetarian, so clearly this violent, but ultimately stupid and juvenile film wasn't made by somebody who genuinely cares about the mistreatment of animals and wants to send a message. The film is literally made to make $ by paying their actors as little as possible. Thus, in a sad irony, exploiting them.

If PeTA, the organization known as People for The Humane Treatment of Animals, can make a much better film by simply releasing footage from the meat packing factories then this says a lot about how stupid this film is.

I am fully aware that this film holds a special place in people's hearts. It is a very unusually cool cartoon for the 80s era soviet block. But that pretty much sums up the virtues of this animation.

What you see in this film probably does need describing since you most likely watched it already. It is a parody spy film in a world where cats control the world and mice are oppressed. The plot is just ok. Why this film still sucks is that it obviously shows a very strange, distorted, often cringe-worthy interpretation eastern europeans had of capitalist west film and animation. The result is not good at all. The animation is entirely consisting of character tropes, and parodies to American and European films of 80s and prior decades. On top of that it is also filled with generic stereotypes, some of them are very disturbing ethnic stereotypes also.

The quality of animation is probably better than most stuff you could see coming out of USSR influenced animation studios. Not best "of all time" but just one of the better ones of a decade at the time.

Despite the homages and references to western world media, the story and characters in this game still pick a stereotypical "greedy criminal capitalists" as the archetypal villains of the film. It may be presented in a cooler way, but it is still noticeable, even in ineffective, propaganda. It shows what the writers and animators of the cartoon thought "consumerism" and "capitalism" were and presents a caricature of because the "bad guys" of the film are basically greedy, they want to buy stuff, and the bad guys are also culturally perverse (at least supposed to be)

Visually it is a hit and miss animation and art. In some scenes it looks great and even cute. Other parts of the film show ugly disturbing things that do not match other scenes.

I think the only reason people would be giving this film many stars is they probably watched it in their childhood and have fond memories of loving it. I do not blame them, but you have to stay objective and not rate a film based on nostalgia. It is crap.

When you begin watching this movie you think you're in for something good. You think you're going to see a smart thriller with some unpredictable plot twist. The plot twist never comes.

At some point I was hoping there would be some moral twist. For example a radical change in either Anthony Hopkins character or the young obnoxious lawyer character. No, nothing happens. The film doesn't even take a moral stance. Its just like a Columbo episode.

As to the film's morals. It is really strange. The characters who cheat on their spouses are portrayed as normal people, while a husband who kills his wife for cheating is portrayed as a coldblooded killer.

Anthony Hopkins was as usual enjoyable to watch, but the other actors just annoyed me throughout the film