All right now. This particular post is by popular demand. And by popular demand, I mean one reader who recommended that I do a Far Cry review. Hey, I’ll take it. Also, I’m here to oblige the request soooo thanks. And let’s face it, because we do have plenty of Far Cry games here at IndieGala. Which is awesome. Check them out.
Honestly, this is not my first post about Far Cry. I’ve already covered the upcoming Far Cry 6 game and the main star of the game. The lovely and talented Giancarlo Esposito. And I LOVED it. But I’m doing this review out of curiosity, more than anything else. All of these years, I’ve tried to avoid watching an Uwe Boll movie like the plague. I have standards after all. Not that high standards, but still…. But the time has come. It is time to „indulge“ in a movie from one of the most notorious directors ever. The man who makes Ed Wood seem like Steven Spielberg. The one and only Uwe Boll.
But I was surprised to find out that he’s in fact, a former director who now works as a restaurateur. In Canada no less. Furthermore, I was even more surprised to find out that his first restaurant got really positive reviews. Yeah… Let that sink in. Positive reviews. But I digress. I’m here about Far Cry and Far Cry alone.
Far Cry: What’s The Movie About?
Well, it’s based on the popular Far Cry video game franchise. And by based, I mean loosely based. Very loosely indeed. Developed and published by Ubisoft, Far Cry is one of the company’s hottest commodities. And what’s the movie adaptation about you might ask? Firstly, the 2008 movie is about Jack Carver (played by Til Schweiger). An ex-special ops guy who now runs a sightseeing boat for tourists. Early into the movie, he’s approached by the journalist Valerie Cardinal (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and she hires him to take her to a secluded island. She’s working on a story about the shady operations at that particular island, but good luck getting there. Also, she needs to find her uncle Max (Ralf Moeller) at that location as well. Valerie and Jack will get to the island, but things will not go smoothly from there.
Finding The Good In The Bad Is Really An Understatement About Far Cry
First and foremost, is there anything good, that’s worth mentioning in Far Cry – the movie? Well, barely if you count the presence of the great Udo Kier. And a scene or two of decent action scenes, but I’ll get to them later. Kier is fairly decent in a pretty bland in the one-dimensional role of the villain/mad scientist. Frankly, I think his presence is scarier than the script gives him credit for, but hey… It is what it is. Also, he’s mostly drowning in the god awful script that he was given, but so is everyone else. Can’t really blame him.
You know…. Things would have been a lot simpler if the Boll knew what he wanted to make out of this movie. An action-thriller? Or maybe a Si-Fi action flick? Who knows really? There’s drama peppered throughout the movie. Some attempt for a comedy maybe, but they all fall flat soon after take-off. Because from all the things I mentioned, there’s hardly an inkling that there’s some trace of a genre.
Far Cry: Bad Acting, Bad Script, Bad Direction, Bad Everything?
You know how some movies have this „the whole is greater than the sum of its parts“ endearing quality? Far Cry is not one of those movies. In Far Cry the whole is bad, and the parts are bad as well. There’s barely any progression of the plot, let alone the progression of the characters. And the action… Oh boy… When there are some potentially promising action scenes, they’re unnecessary darkened and dumbed down for a person with an IQ of barely 50.
Hey… I never knew that hand grenades are useless without a pin, did you? I don’t know about you, but I gave the line in the vehicular combat scene an ughhhhhhh, a sigh and an eye roll. And I kept soldering on….
Honestly, the script is so bad that the horrible dialogue is the least of the problems in it. And it took 3 people to write it! Go figure!
-But Georgeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! What about the whales?
Ughhhhhhhhhhh !!!!
You know, I tried my best to care about any of the characters, here (even for my fellow colleague journalist) but I just simply couldn’t. They’re all devoid of any traces of personality, and the acting is not that better either. I simply didn’t care about what happens to any of them. Will they get caught? Will they be transformed into super-soldiers as well? I just didn’t care. Which I think seems fair, since they didn’t seem to care about this movie either. And it’s Boll’s fault, as much as it’s the actors that are in the roles. They’re lacking so many things, but talent and even charisma first come to mind.
Which brings me to….Til Schweiger. The German actor is definitely not winning any Oscars any time soon, but I wish he was more energetic and invested in this role. His delivery is flat and boring, and you can clearly see that he’s not even trying to improve as the movie went on. Oh, and there’s barely any chemistry between him and Emmanuelle Vaugier. It’s a shame because they’re good looking people, and had some promising scenes together. And don’t even get me started about the dialogue between these two. Again… I don’t know about you, but I chuckled and then cringed at the cheesy post-coitus performance rating scene. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Oh, Mr. Boll….
You can blame the lack of visual quality on Uwe Boll, but frankly, the rest of the crew did a horrible job as well. The cinematography by Mathias Neumann is non-existent (or so it appears), and the editing by Karen Porter is abysmal. It’s fascinating how this trio totally missed the visual tone of the movie and instead gave us a rather boring final product. I think that Boll’s main inspiration for Far Cry (in the visual sense) were many of the B- action flicks from the ’80s. Which is awesome. It truly is. There’s good untapped potential for a great 80’s inspired action flick. And despite hating the movie, I must admit, the boat chase scene was a nice touch. And so were the parkour scenes near the end. But other than that, there’s very little to look forward to in terms of the action.
Far Cry: A Good Bad Flick?
Well, no. Not exactly. For me not even a guilty pleasure. Street Fighter is a guilty pleasure. It’s kinda bad, but it’s so bad it’s good. Far Cry is just bad. For the most part, it’s boring to watch, and when you get to the good stuff (limited as it may be) it’s there for a second. Enjoy it while it lasts. Which is not something I can say about the movie too. It’s not so bad it’s so good of a movie. It’s just bad.
Tell us about your thoughts on Far Cry? Did you liked it? Or hated it? Tell us in the comment section.
