Maybe if I hadn't seen "The Honeymoon Killers," a film that actually tried to capture the essence of the real crime, I might have been more sympathetic.
Maybe if I hadn't read about these crimes and saw the pictures of Martha Beck and knew how much her obesity motivated her jealousy, I might have accepted this garbage.
But I did see the earlier film, and I do know the history of the crime, and this film is an absolute travesty and a joke.
I love Salma Hayek, and she did her best with what she was given, but it is unforgivable to cast her as Martha Beck in this movie.
To cast a beautiful, voluptuous actress in the role makes no sense whatsoever, and it shows that the director knew nothing about the material he was filming.
But it gets worse...
The entire subplot with John Travolta and Tony Soprano (who Gandolfini was playing here) was excruciating. It was a plot device that trivialized everything else in this film. What, the actual crime story wasn't riveting enough? And the killings? One would never know how long it took the lady who was hit with the hammer to die, or that Fernandez had to finish the job by strangling her. Want to see real true-to-life horror, watch this killing in "The Honeymoon Killers," one of the most unsettling murders you will ever see on film.
And the horror of what was done to the mother and daughter? See the earlier flick. Here, this is totally diluted by not showing the killing of the child, but having Travolta get physically ill when he discovers the body. If you are going to cover the subject, why hide from the most appalling thing that these 2 did? It didn't have to be graphic, but this flick totally copped out.
Why was this even made? It was so much less honest, and less authentic than the earlier flick, which had it mostly right.
This film was unnecessary and was butchered by a director who had no concept of the relevance of the crime he was supposed to be documenting.
As I wrote, absolutely wretched.
Maybe if I hadn't read about these crimes and saw the pictures of Martha Beck and knew how much her obesity motivated her jealousy, I might have accepted this garbage.
But I did see the earlier film, and I do know the history of the crime, and this film is an absolute travesty and a joke.
I love Salma Hayek, and she did her best with what she was given, but it is unforgivable to cast her as Martha Beck in this movie.
To cast a beautiful, voluptuous actress in the role makes no sense whatsoever, and it shows that the director knew nothing about the material he was filming.
But it gets worse...
The entire subplot with John Travolta and Tony Soprano (who Gandolfini was playing here) was excruciating. It was a plot device that trivialized everything else in this film. What, the actual crime story wasn't riveting enough? And the killings? One would never know how long it took the lady who was hit with the hammer to die, or that Fernandez had to finish the job by strangling her. Want to see real true-to-life horror, watch this killing in "The Honeymoon Killers," one of the most unsettling murders you will ever see on film.
And the horror of what was done to the mother and daughter? See the earlier flick. Here, this is totally diluted by not showing the killing of the child, but having Travolta get physically ill when he discovers the body. If you are going to cover the subject, why hide from the most appalling thing that these 2 did? It didn't have to be graphic, but this flick totally copped out.
Why was this even made? It was so much less honest, and less authentic than the earlier flick, which had it mostly right.
This film was unnecessary and was butchered by a director who had no concept of the relevance of the crime he was supposed to be documenting.
As I wrote, absolutely wretched.