Magic. Beauty. Fantasy. Excellent computer graphics. These are some of the things in the movie THE SHAPE OF WATER. This new work of art by Guillermo Del Toro is in line with one of his most popular works PAN'S LABYRINTH. There is the same type of feel there, at least in regards to the fantasy element.
The movie is about a young mute woman who works as a cleaner in a special government scientific laboratory. Her and another woman work together, and the other woman translates sign language for others. She also has a best friend in her elderly gay neighbor. The main character, the mute young woman, Elisa falls for a secret asset that the military has recently acquired and when she realizes that they have ulterior motives she realizes she must do something about the situation.
The beauty in the imagery starts right from the first shot of the movie. The movie begins with a view into a blue underwater world, a world that is obviously an apartment building. The apartment is submerged, and the beauty of the movie is interesting because it seems to begin and end in the same type of environment. The movie really did remind me of the fantasy scenes in PAN'S LABYRINTH. The asset reminded me of the monsters, or creatures, in PAN'S, and the beauty was fascinating.
The character of Richard Strickland, a security officer sent to take care of the asset, is a hard ass who is there to do one job, and he does it well. The character is not a nice man, and he does what he can to get what he needs in the end. He is the cause of all of the sadness that eventually happens. The actor, Michael Shannon, does a good job portraying this character and is a little reminiscent to the agent he played in the television show BOARDWALK EMPIRE.
Now for the movie, there are a few very uncomfortable scenes. Some of them involve masturbation and some involve violence to both self and other people. A few people brought their children, and I will be honest, this isn't a movie that anyone under the age of fifteen should see, and if you are going to take someone around fifteen I'd suggest a mature fifteen. While there are several scenes which may make people uncomfortable, the movie was very beautiful.
Now for the bad part. There are some parts of the movie which could have been developed better. The elderly gay best friend, could have been developed a little better, like I would have liked to know a little more about his history. There were also scenes that seemed a little unnecessary, for example, Richard tells Elise he finds her attractive in one scene, and it really wasn't necessary since the audience could already tell he was somewhat of a creep and jerk.
Overall, this was a good movie. The ending was a little predictable. especially one of the things that is introduced about Elise in the very beginning of the movie. So, I wasn't surprised about how the movie ended. There was some humor, and romance, and for those who enjoy it, serious erotic descriptions. But, there was also a lot of fantasy and thrilling suspense in the movie.
So, while this isn't a movie I would have seen if it had not been recommended, as it really isn't quite my genre, it was pretty good and I would recommend it. The funny thing was the theater was filled with more elderly couples than anyone else. Again, I do recommend it, it was beautiful and fun.
The movie is about a young mute woman who works as a cleaner in a special government scientific laboratory. Her and another woman work together, and the other woman translates sign language for others. She also has a best friend in her elderly gay neighbor. The main character, the mute young woman, Elisa falls for a secret asset that the military has recently acquired and when she realizes that they have ulterior motives she realizes she must do something about the situation.
The beauty in the imagery starts right from the first shot of the movie. The movie begins with a view into a blue underwater world, a world that is obviously an apartment building. The apartment is submerged, and the beauty of the movie is interesting because it seems to begin and end in the same type of environment. The movie really did remind me of the fantasy scenes in PAN'S LABYRINTH. The asset reminded me of the monsters, or creatures, in PAN'S, and the beauty was fascinating.
The character of Richard Strickland, a security officer sent to take care of the asset, is a hard ass who is there to do one job, and he does it well. The character is not a nice man, and he does what he can to get what he needs in the end. He is the cause of all of the sadness that eventually happens. The actor, Michael Shannon, does a good job portraying this character and is a little reminiscent to the agent he played in the television show BOARDWALK EMPIRE.
Now for the movie, there are a few very uncomfortable scenes. Some of them involve masturbation and some involve violence to both self and other people. A few people brought their children, and I will be honest, this isn't a movie that anyone under the age of fifteen should see, and if you are going to take someone around fifteen I'd suggest a mature fifteen. While there are several scenes which may make people uncomfortable, the movie was very beautiful.
Now for the bad part. There are some parts of the movie which could have been developed better. The elderly gay best friend, could have been developed a little better, like I would have liked to know a little more about his history. There were also scenes that seemed a little unnecessary, for example, Richard tells Elise he finds her attractive in one scene, and it really wasn't necessary since the audience could already tell he was somewhat of a creep and jerk.
Overall, this was a good movie. The ending was a little predictable. especially one of the things that is introduced about Elise in the very beginning of the movie. So, I wasn't surprised about how the movie ended. There was some humor, and romance, and for those who enjoy it, serious erotic descriptions. But, there was also a lot of fantasy and thrilling suspense in the movie.
So, while this isn't a movie I would have seen if it had not been recommended, as it really isn't quite my genre, it was pretty good and I would recommend it. The funny thing was the theater was filled with more elderly couples than anyone else. Again, I do recommend it, it was beautiful and fun.
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