Manhunter is a 1980's film that pulls you right into the crime scene as soon as the film starts. Graham is a detective trying to get to the bottom of why this and many other related crimes were committed and by who. But Graham was reluctant to peruse this case because he was retired from the crime business. But regardless of the dangers he agreed to help with getting to the bottom of this case. He soon finds himself in the scene of the crime trying to get inside of the killers mind in order to figure out the motive for his numerous murders. Graham soon finds himself going to visit a man he arrested for some advice, but he soon discovers that was a big mistake because they were communicating though the newspaper and now Grahams family was in danger. At this point in the film the viewers have actually seen the killer but Graham hasn't. We get to see his strange and creepy ways that he seduces a blind woman into thinking they are having a great time but his plan is to murder her.
I recently watched a movie named Sinister, directed and written by Scott Derrickson and it had nearly the same plot with a different outcome at the end. Sinister was about a family who moves into the house of a family who was murdered and the father is trying to get to the bottom of who killed the family so he can finish his book. This gave me a great way to compare and contrast how Michael Mann chose to film Manhunter. Right off the bat the first thing that I noticed was Mann's choice of light. "Over the next 23 years, the two would create a visual language all of their own, a world of cold, blue night; of wide, dwarfing cityscapes"(Carlson). Manhunter was a film with a very dark plot and the main purpose of the film was to find the reasoning and person who committed this murder. But, it did not have the dark sickening feeling of many murder movies and used daylight a lot more than nightfall. However, when the scene calls for it the lighting can turn very unsettling in the blink of an eye, such as in the killers house. Even in scenes such as Grahams house where blue is used to signify the calmness and remoteness of Grahams house the use of chosen lighting is significant. Many of the scenes in this movie were also very strategically done in order to get a message across. For example the beginning of the movie the detective is talking to Grahams wife about letting Graham help with this case, that entire scene is nearly in perfect symmetry. I think this is done to show the significance of the situation and he is also trying to convince Grahams wife just as he was trying to convince Graham a few moments earlier. You can see this used more and more throughout the movie as the situations become more and more serious and this was a great way to show a time of trouble. When I saw a scene with very good symmetry during the film, I knew something serious was about to happen. There was also a lot of symbolism throughout the movie that showed what was about to happen. The scene with the Tiger was played a very large part of the movie because it reminded us who were were dealing with. The killer was a powerful man who could strike at any time and the Tiger was a great reminder to the viewers of that. Overall, I can see why this movie was so rebound during its time and even to this day. The entire film is packed with little details that add up to the big picture and hint at what is about to come. The lighting played a huge role because it set up the scene for what was about to come and gave us an idea for what to expect. And the many scenes with great camera angles added to the experience of Manhunter.
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This movie had many twists and turns that caught me off guard but nothing could have prepared me for the ending. Throughout the film I couldn't help buy notice many little details that could point to something bigger. Such as the officer smoking in the beginning of the film would foreshadow the smoking problem that Jerry would have in the future. But overall I could not understand some of the things Jerry did throughout the movie and why. It took me a while to realize why he did the certain things he did. One of his choices made no sense to me at all until the movie progressed. Why he bought the gas station didn't really add up but soon it did. From my understanding he was trying to retire from his former habits as a police detective but soon finds a lead to the case of the little girl. He meets a woman named Lori, and she has a daughter who was about the same age as the girl who was killed and he finds a way to get a lead on that case again.
From the scene where Jerry is telling the parents of the little girl that there daughter has been killed seems like a very crucial part of the movie. First of all, you don't hear any words which makes you wonder how Jerry broke the news to the parents. secondly, the hundreds of turkeys that were in the barn, were more than likely to be killed sooner or later. Which makes you think about the end of the movie because the killer was likely to be found sooner or later. But right before the killer was found something unfortunate happened to him. He was on his way to meet Lori's daughter when it cuts to a scene of him driving and a trunk honks at the killer and at that moment I knew that no one would ever know who the real killer was. The ending of this movie really grinds my gears because Jerry worked so hard for such a long time to try and find this killer for the mother of the first little girl who was killed but never did. Instead the killer was moments away from being exposed but ends of dyeing in a car crash. Which by default makes Jerry look like the bad guy here. This movie starts out as a seemingly innocent film but as you get deeper and deeper into the film the more crazy it gets. It all starts out with a family having a nice gathering and enjoying time with each other. But soon the main characters daughter goes on a trip and she goes missing for months. He does what any father would do and calls the police but they are of no help, so he takes matters into his own hands. He hires a very expensive investigator to locate his missing child but even that takes months with minimal result. The only thing that he could do next was go to California where his daughter went missing and get to the bottom of it himself. Through many leads, many connections and a hoax of false information he finally comes to find out his beloved and innocent daughter has become involved with the porn industry.
Much throughout the movie the main character "Jake" seemed to be very out of place in California. But as the movie continued I had a feeling that Jake would change his old ways from Grand Rapids, Michigan and conform the the California ways. And he did change, very quickly he realized that he cant be the nice guy from Michigan. He quickly picked up persona of being a bad-ass in order to actually make some progress in finding his daughter. The Searchers and Hardcore are two movies that blew my mind in regards to how similar they are. In both movies a young innocent girl is lost and then found a great while later. Both movies even had the same ending, The girl was found and had changed for the worse. But they people who were searching for them still loved them and wanted them to return to safety. "The happy ending is one of many things with which Schrader expresses dissatisfaction on the Blu-ray commentary track; it was a studio-imposed alternative to his original climax, in which Jake discovered that his daughter had been killed in a car wreck completely unrelated to her adventures in porn"(Hemphill). If they changed the ending of this movie it would have really changed the two movies but I am glad that it stayed the way it is, because if they were to make it so Crystal dies in a car crash that would have slightly annoyed me. Overall, I think that this was a good way to get a little bit more modern look at The Searchers and look at the same type of movie from different perspectives and angles. If there was ever a movie I would skip on the T.V guide just by the name this movie would be it. But too my surprise I really enjoyed this movie. From the location that it took place in, to the minuscule little jokes John Ford sneaked in I was surprised to say the least.
John Wayne's character Ethan was very closed off and did not express much emotion about anything that was going on. But that could be because he was a hardened "bad-ass" who fought in the civil war. When he returns to find his family in northern Arizona he doesn't show much emotion and he pulls out a bag of a lot of money which hints at he had been up to no good because it was a lot of money at the time. In addition when he returns to to find nearly find all of his family members killed by the Indians he doesn't seem to let it phase him in any way. He just knew what he had to do and did it. Martin Pawley who is played by Jefferey Hunter is nearly the complete opposite of Ethan. He is very outspoken and says what is on his mind. It took me a while to figure out why Martin was hunting for the girls of the lost family but soon realized why. From my understanding he was like family to the deceased family so it was his own mission to bring back the youngest family member. When the movie begins the screen is black and the camera enters a door way to welcome Ethan home which is connected back to the end of the movie when Ethan and Martin arrive back with Debbie. I thought that was very interesting because I had not noticed that while watching the movie and I had never heard of or noticed another movie that has done that. In addition, when the family was about to be killed by the Indians that was the only one of the few night scenes that I can recall from the movie which I thought was a cool little foreshadowing of what was to come. Also, when Ethan and Martin were camping they were almost ambushed by a man they got information about Debbie from, it was also during the night time. John Ford seems to use nightfall as a technique to hint that something bad is to come. Overall, I thought this was a great movie to pick apart because there is so much to talk about. As well as it is a great movie to watch in general, the story line pulls you in and keeps you there until the very end. John Wayne's character also plays a big part in keeping the viewer interested with his "bad-ass" character. I think this was a great movie to watch in class and I would definitely watch it again. |
AuthorI normally only watch comedies and action movies so this should be an interesting change. Archives
May 2017
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