|
|
Thursday, April 25, 2024
|
|
HOLLYWOOD PIXELS
EDITOR'S PICK
'Pixels'
- lacklustre and disappointingÂ
Rating:
*
Directed by Chris Columbus,'Pixels' is a sci-fi entertainer based on French
director Patrick Jean's 2010 released short film of the same name.
The narration begins in the summer of 1982 when best friends Sam Brenner and
Will Cooper attend the First Worldwide Video Arcade Championships. It is here
that they meet a nerdy Ludlow Lamonsoff, who is infatuated with the computer
game character, Lady Lisa.
Sam breezes into the finals where he meets his nemesis Eddie Plant, the
self-proclaimed Fire Blaster, who defeats him for the title.
Years later, an unkempt looking Sam (Adam Sandler) works as an electronics
installer for a Geek Squad. His friend Will (Kevin James) is the president of
the US, and Ludlow is a conspiracy theorist.
Meanwhile, a military base in Guam is attacked by some unexplained forces. Sam
and Will notice that there is a similarity between the attackers and the video
game'Galaga'.
They eventually realise that aliens attacking our planet have developed weapons
resembling classic video game characters like Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Space
Invaders and Centipede to challenge and ultimately conquer Earth.
Realising that the US armed forces are ill-equipped to handle the situation,
Will turns to Sam as he feels that he is uniquely qualified to save the world
because he has studied the patterns of the old school video games.
Sam in turn ropes in Ludlow (Josh Gad) and Eddie (Peter Dinklage) to help him
save the world from annihilation.
The plot, written by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling, is clumsily structured. It
is perfunctory, weak and mediocre with sexist gags and childish buffoonery. The
story lacks logic, motivation and conviction. The characters too, are cardboard
thin and unbearably annoying.
On the performance front, the actors seem to be walking through their roles,
having a bonhomie time on screen and not bothered about their performances. The
entire drill seems like a big house party recorded for a home video.
In this male dominated scenario, the only exception is actress Michelle
Monaghan, who plays Lieutenant Colonel Violet Van Patten. She is Sam's love
interest, who he meets while installing a TV for her son Maddy (Matt Lintz). She
brings some depth to her character through a meaningful performance. But
unfortunately, this romance sub-plot is underdeveloped like Ludlow and Lady
Lisa's track and hence she is lost in the maze.
With poor production quality, the visuals too seem affected. Several sequences
are crammed with designs that are not aesthetic or pleasing to the eye. The
computer generated images seem to be of a bygone era. They are of an
unexceptionally low quality, sloppy and garish. The 3D effects too do not
elevate the viewing experience.
Overall, the film is disappointing as it fails to recreate the nostalgia and
honesty that was reflected in the short film.
In Pixels, when intergalactic aliens misinterpret video-feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war against them, they attack the Earth, using the games as models for their various assaults. President Will Cooper (Kevin James) has to call on his childhood best friend, ’80s video game champion Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), now a home theater installer, to lead a team of old-school arcaders (Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad) to defeat the aliens and save the planet. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.
