Rate It
|
||||||||||||||||
Rating Averages
My Friends |
Not rated. () |
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
All Flixster |
(54) |
114 |
166 |
Female |
(18) |
57 |
77 |
Male |
(28) |
47 |
85 |
More Like This
If you liked this, then you'll also probably like...
Got another recommendation for someone who liked this movie? Add it to the list!
Got an opinion? Use the buttons to vote on all the suggestions people have added.
If lots of people vote, the best suggestions will rise to the top.
This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!
Plot:
The feature film debut of renowned opera and theater director Chen Shi-Zheng, Dark Matter delves into the world of Liu Xing (Chinese for “Shooting Star”), a Chinese science student pursuing a Ph.D. in...( read more 
)
Photos
Meet Other Fans
Recent Reviews
-
MCT:May 2, 2008Despite Liu Ye's best efforts, we never really get into his character. Meryl Streep and him have one good effective scene together, but the rest of it's rather pedestrian.
-
MCT:April 17, 2008this movie actually seems pretty damn good, but it's hard...it's like the problem with the mark david chapman films...do you go see a film about a true life killer and enjoy it? is it exploitative? is it giving the killer what they wanted in the first place? i have no idea. but this looks good. and also he killed himself so there's a difference between him and chapman right there, even if he wanted infamy, he isn't around to enjoy it so fuck it.
-
MCT:April 9, 2008It was all by chance that I watched this once-hyped, long-delayed and about-to-be-forgotten-and-recycled movie adapted from the notorious university massacre that broke out almost two decades ago in the peaceful campus of University of Iowa.
A seriously misguided effort in attempting to explore what might have led a normally quiet and intelligent university student (from a very respectable first-class university of mainland China) to lose control and go on a shooting bloodshed as typified by last year's Virginia Tech massacre. While the only thing in common here is that the perpetrator is an Asian, you have to wonder why Chen thought this would make for a good movie. In fact, it's a fairly tawdry affair that spends most of its time following the day-to-day life of Xing Liu, a beleaguered Chinese student who discovers that there isn't nearly as much freedom in coming to America as he imagined, as he sees his original ideas about dark matter being depreciated and stolen by his advisor. Liu's hopes and dreams being smashed are juxtaposed with his letters back to his parents in China which are far more hopeful, so when the film explodes into violence in the last few minutes, it really seems to come from out of left field if you're not aware of the endgame before seeing the movie. There's nothing about this mild-mannered student that makes one feel he might have the ability to do what he does, since the character just isn't developed well enough in the time leading up, and the seriousness of the subject theme is lessened by an equally silly subplot where he's spurned by a girl he likes who works at a coffee shop. Actor Ye Liu has absolutely no presence as an actor, not nearly enough to carry this movie with his EXTREMELY AWKWARDLY broken English—maybe that's why she turns down his advances — and that leaves it to the likes of Streep and Quinn to overact and try to make their characters less of credential. In fact, those characters add to the film's overt reverse racism of "typical Americans" being condescending to clearly smarter foreigners that trust them. It's a pretty repulsive indictment which might leave as bad a taste in your mouth as the embarrassing performance by Meryl Streep, who really needs to start being more cautious about her roles. Who knows what anyone involved with this movie was thinking by making, let alone releasing, this movie, especially with school violence being such a horrifying aspect of modern-day living, but despite its desire to be timely and controversial, it's a surprisingly boring affair that leaves you scratching your head whether the ending is meant to be some sort of pay-off or if it ultimately ruins any chances of enjoying the movie.
In case anybody may wonder what this film looks like, I posted the link for the trailer below anyway. Since I have tried the hamster, for the good of 90 minutes precious time from your life I seriously give you the advice of staying away from this movie. It's not as brainless, puerile and childlike as most Hollywood blockbusters but far more poisonous than imagination.
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42331 -
MCT:March 28, 2008Going in, I knew nothing about this film and unfairly, when I heard Meryl Streep was in this movie, I assumed it would be a bloated dramatic waste of a few hours. I was, however, wrong. The film started out as this quasi-comedy and I enoyed all of the quirks. Meryl Streep was absolutely amazing in the film as Joanna and I thought she had this great odd chemistry with Liu Ye?s character. Unfortunately, the tone shifted and the film just went downhill, finishing with one of the most ridiculous endings, for the direction the tale had taken, I have ever seen.
Dark Matter,? directed by Chen Shi-Sheng, displays how treading in foreign territory, geographically and can be the biggest obstacle you may ever face.
Ok, maybe I went too far. I won't say it is the most ridiculous, but it was definitely up there with film school cliche type of endings that was just uncalled for with the rest of the film, the seeming need to add edginess for edginess's sake. Supposedly this is based on a true story but I feel that cinematically the transition can be rough. Granted I know nothing about the true story behind this, but I have tried to look it up (with no results). In my opinion, the ending was the biggest mistake the director could have made with this film.
This is a great film, to a point. Unfortunately the ending doesn't deliver, making the entire feature an exercise is wasted potential. But maybe that's the point. Its out limited in a few weeks.
Vmedia
My Friends Said...
Dark Matter Recent Reviews
Register or sign-in to see your friends' reviews !
Comments
This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Dark Matter" !
