The first part of this series was interesting as an introduction to the concepts and ideas being proposed for the films and the only issue I had with it was that it was too short. With that in mind I found the second part because I was keen to get into the meat of the series. This second film looks at the trend in films towards the unoriginal, whether it be the high number of remakes, sequels or adaptations making up the recent big films or the influences that can be seen down generations of film makers.
To show this the film is mainly a list of references and with a focus on Star Wars in terms of showing clips which are very similar to those from earlier films which the film-steeped Lucas was homaging, borrowing, using, whatever you want to call it. Although Ferguson talks about exploring the subject, the focus here continues to be just showing and, by looking at Star Wars as his centre piece, he doesn't really tell us anything new or startling and by simply stating it without opinion or a bigger point it feels like the introduction is continuing. As before the film is also very short although in this case he has added a few minutes looking at Kill Bill, showing side by sides of images and sequences to show where the influences came from for that film. Again it is interesting but nothing shocking and there is no "point" to the presentation other than stating that it is the case (which we all know).
As before Ferguson appears at the end of the film to ask for support in continuing, telling us to help him to keep slogging on and the "massive amount" of work involved. Thing is, as much as I admire the professionalism of his work, I'm not seeing the slog here because most of the research he must be doing is really limited to Googling – there are countless lists out there that present 100 times more info than he does here; OK he gets the images and clips but he is editing and narrating – he is not building a picture so far and he is not presenting a case, which is the disappointing part of this film.
So the second film feels like a continued introduction; it is breezy and short enough to be mildly interesting for what it is and it is professionally edited together, but it lacks content, comment and an agenda, instead telling even the casual viewer stuff we already know. I hope the next few films in his series can deliver more than he has so far.
To show this the film is mainly a list of references and with a focus on Star Wars in terms of showing clips which are very similar to those from earlier films which the film-steeped Lucas was homaging, borrowing, using, whatever you want to call it. Although Ferguson talks about exploring the subject, the focus here continues to be just showing and, by looking at Star Wars as his centre piece, he doesn't really tell us anything new or startling and by simply stating it without opinion or a bigger point it feels like the introduction is continuing. As before the film is also very short although in this case he has added a few minutes looking at Kill Bill, showing side by sides of images and sequences to show where the influences came from for that film. Again it is interesting but nothing shocking and there is no "point" to the presentation other than stating that it is the case (which we all know).
As before Ferguson appears at the end of the film to ask for support in continuing, telling us to help him to keep slogging on and the "massive amount" of work involved. Thing is, as much as I admire the professionalism of his work, I'm not seeing the slog here because most of the research he must be doing is really limited to Googling – there are countless lists out there that present 100 times more info than he does here; OK he gets the images and clips but he is editing and narrating – he is not building a picture so far and he is not presenting a case, which is the disappointing part of this film.
So the second film feels like a continued introduction; it is breezy and short enough to be mildly interesting for what it is and it is professionally edited together, but it lacks content, comment and an agenda, instead telling even the casual viewer stuff we already know. I hope the next few films in his series can deliver more than he has so far.
