I was excited to see The Brothers Bloom. Rian Johnson directed this picture and also directed 2005’s Brick, a film noir set in a present day high school. His understanding of the genre shined and he really pulled off a believable flick in Brick. His much anticipated follow up fits neatly into an identifiable genre so the outlook was promising and with a budget 40 times greater than that of Brick it seemed as if everything was going his way.
The Brothers Bloom is a Con-comedy staring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz. I am not a big fan of Brody but I didn’t mind him here. I thought Ruffalo and Weisz were extremely enjoyable throughout the film. Visually Rian Johnson can be compared to Wes Anderson. His establishing shots are panoramic and colorful and he uses a lot of visual gags that will keep the artsy side of you engaged. He really employs the term Mise en scene in this film and asks you to try and think about it too.
However, while Brick took and old genre and applied it to modern times there wasn’t any fancy twist to this one. We are all aware that in a con movie nothing is as it seems. We know that we will think we have it figured it out at least three or four times and then BLAM! We get the big twist we didn’t see coming and we walk out of the movie theatre with a big smile. So knowing that we are really hanging on these relationships. Brothers and friends and women and enemies and money, its all very romantic but in the end it doesn’t deliver. The movie is enjoyable at times but the payoff isn’t there. I laughed and pondered life and what I would do in thier shoes but I also had the same reaction to Die Hard.
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