So, this week Uwe Boll‘s new film “Assault On Wall Street” comes out and predictably, it’s terrible. But it does mean the ever quotable Boll is now doing interviews, and with the revelation this week that the CIA had a bigger hand in shaping “Zero Dark Thirty” than previously thought, Boll’s insights into that film have very slightly more resonance, though they are still kinda bonkers, too.
A bit of background first. ‘Assault’ is an Issues Movie (sorta) for Boll, telling the story of a blue-collar New Yorker who goes postal pretty much after he loses his savings, and his insurance company stops covering the treatments for his near-fatally ill wife. So it kinda touches on the recent financial world turmoil and the Occupy movement (at least accord to the press notes), so Boll is doing something Important. But when asked by FilmDrunk what he thought about other recent movies that ripped their plots from the headlines, he singled out “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Argo” for criticism (even though the latter is based on an event that happened more than three decades ago).
“I think both ‘Argo’ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ have super pro-CIA tendencies, which I have a problem with. They’re like, the CIA is the best organization in the world. The whole Bin Laden thing…I have to say, I think ‘Argo’ is the better movie, because the story worked for me. It’s almost like how it was, maybe 10% more dramatic,” he said. Okay fine, the dude can have an opinion…and then it gets even more interesting…
” ‘Zero Dark,’ I have a problem with because I still don’t really believe that whole story. I just cannot believe it. Everyone in the movie has iPhones, everyone has cameras, there are Navy Seals writing books about it, but nobody releases a photo? If you have a photo of the dead Bin Laden, you can make five million bucks from that. This is what I don’t get. I looked at India and Pakistan, most of their media says the guy died six years ago of kidney failure. But you have nothing to sell. No, you need a drama, you need something like this,” Boll ruminated. “The details in ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ I was not happy with. I also didn’t like the Jessica Chastain character. She acts like she’s so sad about the whole torture, but completely goes with it. I totally disliked her. But I’m happy that movies like this are getting made. I love movies like ‘The French Connection‘ and ‘Goodfellas,’ movies based on real stuff going on. I’m happy to watch movies like this compared to ‘The Hobbit.’ “
So, what Boll presupposes is maybe Bin Laden was already dead, but hooray for “Goodfellas”? Uh, keep on, keepin’ on, guy. “Assault On Wall Street” opens on a Friday in case you’re curious.
