The General

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I had a little to make up for on the K2K front after watching Stone Cold, so I thought watching some Buster Keaton would really go above and beyond the line of duty. I've very much enjoyed the Keaton I've seen in the past, but ultimately I'm largely ignorant of his work.

This didn't blow my mind right out my asshole quite as hard as I would have liked, but it still gets the thumbs up. A lot of it is brilliantly done... just not as funny as I was hoping. Actually, I would say it's a lot more exciting than it is funny. The action set pieces are huge... a lot more spectacular than something I'd expect from the 1920s. It's like some old timey version of Jerry Bruckheimer or something. Most of the movie is an extended chase sequence involving 2 trains, and one train even goes flying off a cliff Bridge On the River Kwai style. And there's a big Civil War battle sequence at the end!

So, I enjoyed it, much of it is awesome, but I can't recommend it as a great "comedy." I mean, I laughed more (and harder) during the 44 minutes of Keaton's Sherlock Jr. than I did in all 75 minutes of The General.