To be candid, I'm a big Gilliam fan since his Python days, so this review may be a bit biased. However I fully stand by my claim that Gilliam shares the smallest of blame for this movie while %99.999 lies on the idiot who wrote the "story" (and I use the term loosely.) It's pretty clear when the parts that Gilliam devised appear on screen, as they have his distinct and slightly manic touch to them. These in and of themselves are good, not overwhelming like in some of his movies, but distinct, funny (in a dark manner mostly) and again, very good. Where Gilliam's personality shines, so does the movie in my opinion.
The rest, is cookie-cutter garbage, and not very intelligible garbage either. I try to give movies the benefit of the doubt these days, as it seems to be getting harder and harder to be creative and imaginative, but that's no excuse to go in the opposite direction. The writer fulfills every cliché with only one or two having a slightly creative twist, and the rest of the story is forgettable and even confusing. You have to constantly remind yourself where you are, why this person is doing what and most of the time the motives behind the actions are a complete mystery. Another tip is that having the characters go into the woods, out of the woods, into the woods, out of the woods and basically all over half of europe does not make for an understandable (not to mention creative) story. The lines are made passeable by Damon and Ledger, but only a few moments are laugh out loud funny, and these are mostly due to the actors and not the actual words. Anything exciting/funny/suspenseful/dramatic comes either from Gilliam or Damon and Ledger.
Maybe it should have been a tip-off that the writer of this script also wrote Scream 3. Pairing him with Gilliam is a match made in hell, specifically for Gilliam himself.
The rest, is cookie-cutter garbage, and not very intelligible garbage either. I try to give movies the benefit of the doubt these days, as it seems to be getting harder and harder to be creative and imaginative, but that's no excuse to go in the opposite direction. The writer fulfills every cliché with only one or two having a slightly creative twist, and the rest of the story is forgettable and even confusing. You have to constantly remind yourself where you are, why this person is doing what and most of the time the motives behind the actions are a complete mystery. Another tip is that having the characters go into the woods, out of the woods, into the woods, out of the woods and basically all over half of europe does not make for an understandable (not to mention creative) story. The lines are made passeable by Damon and Ledger, but only a few moments are laugh out loud funny, and these are mostly due to the actors and not the actual words. Anything exciting/funny/suspenseful/dramatic comes either from Gilliam or Damon and Ledger.
Maybe it should have been a tip-off that the writer of this script also wrote Scream 3. Pairing him with Gilliam is a match made in hell, specifically for Gilliam himself.