Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog," starring Benedict Cumberbatch

[Boom]

Potential Oscar vehicle for Cumberbatch and Dunst.



My apologies if a thread already exists. The search function on the forum is not great. :/

 

[Persona]

Looks great.

So excited for new Campion.

 

[Revolverr]

Book is so good

Cant wait.

 

[samsnee]

Was just watching The Piano and wondered what happened to her.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Looks intense. Good to see Cumby taking on a villainous role again.

 

[Boom]

Cumberbatch: "I want my There Will Be Blood."

 

[Typhoon22]

Ooooh Benedict portraying Phil Burbank ?
Jane Campion adapting The Power of the Dog from Savage ?

SIGN ME UP. What a fantastic trailer. Gives off a very eerie feeling, intrigue without telling you anything. The book is excellent. And Jane will do it justice. I'm afraid audiences might be turned off as this isn't an easy watch for many. Unsure how the academy will react to that factor.

 

[Persona]

Pretty strong reactions out of Venice. Didn't fully click for some critics but everyone seems to agree that the performances are good and the craft a treat.

 

[Persona]

It's interesting reading raves for Cumberbatch in this and then coming across one where they think he's a total miscast (there are a couple others that are mixed on him). I always find reading these festival reviews fascinating.

Don't understand how there are still film bros who put the word "objectively" in their movie opinions. Is that a narcissism thing where they have trouble understanding viewpoints that don't align with their own?

 

[Drizzle]

Has anyone else seen this? I definitely got some There Will Be Blood vibes mainly because of the setting, unhinged lead character, and Jonny Greenwood score but I still found it to be a good watch. Cumberbatch was brilliant in it and is definitely a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination.

 

[Kane52630]

I thought it was pretty good but I wish they gave us a bit more at the end.

 

[Drizzle]

I thought it was pretty good but I wish they gave us a bit more at the end.

Agreed. I thought the ending felt a bit rushed, especially since this is the type of Oscar bait movie that could get away with indulging in at least a two and a half hour runtime but it had a modest runtime of just over two hours so there was room for more. I also felt like some of the actors were severely underused. Especially Thomasin McKenzie, who was wasted as basically just a glorified extra here.

 

[Persona]

Personally, I loved it. Very nuanced film, and Dunst is really great.

 

[Deck Rickard]

It’s a very good film and Cumberbatch is excellent in it. But I will say I expected something a bit more. I’m not sure what I wanted from it but it didn’t quite give me what I was hoping for. I think perhaps because as awful as Cumberbatch’s character was, he didn’t sink to the levels of intensity and depravity that someone like Daniel Plainview did in certain moments.

It felt like There Will Be Blood Lite.

 

[-Arya-]

Was bored out of my mind with this movie. Ending was pretty good but otherwise no thanks.

 

[Drizzle]

It’s a very good film and Cumberbatch is excellent in it. But I will say I expected something a bit more. I’m not sure what I wanted from it but it didn’t quite give me what I was hoping for. I think perhaps because as awful as Cumberbatch’s character was, he didn’t sink to the levels of intensity and depravity that someone like Daniel Plainview did in certain moments.

It felt like There Will Be Blood Lite.

Exactly.

Spoiler

I kept waiting for Cumberbatch to do something really heinous but as it turned out the worst thing we really saw him do besides bullying Dunst and her son was... unnecessarily beating a horse for no apparent reason.

 

[Persona]

That's what I mean when I say it is a nuanced film. It would have been very easy for the movie to just let Cumberbatch be a villain. Instead, it has a far more interesting arc in mind for him and the other characters. "The Power of the Dog" becomes almost a conceptual antagonist.

The movie isn't trying to be There Will Be Blood and it shouldn't be, TWBB is great at what it does and we don't need another movie trying to do that.

 

[Drizzle]

That's what I mean when I say it is a nuanced film. It would have been very easy for the movie to just let Cumberbatch be a villain. Instead, it has a far more interesting arc in mind for him and the other characters. "The Power of the Dog" becomes almost a conceptual antagonist.

The movie isn't trying to be There Will Be Blood and it shouldn't be, TWBB is great at what it does and we don't need another movie trying to do that.

It is a very nuanced film, and were it a less capable actor playing Cumberbatch's character I don't think it would have been nearly as good as it is.

 

[Detective Conan]

Was bored out of my mind with this movie. Ending was pretty good but otherwise no thanks.

This is pretty much thoughts.

 

[Deck Rickard]

It is a very nuanced film, and were it a less capable actor playing Cumberbatch's character I don't think it would have been nearly as good as it is.

I think that’s it. It’s nuanced and that’s fine, but all of it hinges on Cumberbatch being great. So kudos to him but I think it just needed a little bit more. I didn’t need him to skin someone alive or anything but I wanted a bit more than him calling his brother fatso and never taking his chaps off.

 

[Drizzle]

I think that’s it. It’s nuanced and that’s fine, but all of it hinges on Cumberbatch being great. So kudos to him but I think it just needed a little bit more. I didn’t need him to skin someone alive or anything but I wanted a bit more than him calling his brother fatso and never taking his chaps off.

Exactly. Not that it's any real fault of the film itself since it's based on a book, but it just felt like it was building up to something more than what ended up happening.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Has anyone heard Sam Elliott’s dumbass rant about this film? I don’t want to cancel the guy or anything but the whole point of the movie CLEARLY went over his head.

Spoiler

For those who haven’t heard or read what he said, well, he took issue with the movie have gay themes because apparently there are no gay cowboys and wearing chaps but also being shirtless makes you a Chippendales dancer. Or something.

Oh, and about the chaps. Well, Cumberbatch never takes them off and even wears them inside and real cowboys don’t do that. Why, it’s almost like the movie was trying to show that the wealthy, educated guy who doesn’t actually need to herd cattle is bit of a poser who behaves the way he does to mask his true self!

I honestly find the film a little overrated but his take on it just makes him come off like a sexist, homophobic moron who apparently thinks he’s an actual cowboy because he’s played one so often in movies.

 

[Drizzle]

I'm a little shocked at Elliott's take on it since I had assumed he was a more progressive dude. After all, he did narrate a Biden campaign ad leading up to the election. His rant just comes off as "Grandpa forgot his meds and is rambling on at the dinner table."

 

[Deck Rickard]

I'm a little shocked at Elliott's take on it since I had assumed he was a more progressive dude. After all, he did narrate a Biden campaign ad leading up to the election. His rant just comes off as "Grandpa forgot his meds and is rambling on at the dinner table."

Yeah I’m a bit puzzled by the whole thing too. Like, does he think gay people didn’t exist in the old west? And while maybe New Zealand doesn’t pass very well as Montana (I can’t say because I haven’t been to either one), it’s not like this is the first time a movie was filmed somewhere where the story doesn’t take place. I mean, if you had never been to the U.S. and watched a bunch of recent American-made movies, you would think every city and rural area in this country looks like Georgia.

Anyway, yeah… despite his Cowboy persona I always thought of him as a fairly progressive guy. Sad to see him make such crude comments.

 

[DarkKnight88]

He hates the movie, but seems to take more umbrage with the article he read about the movie regarding it as the “takedown of the American myth”. I think he was upset that the article posits that the Benedict Cumberbatch character represents the truth of ALL cowboys of that time,. Which I don’t think the movie was saying at all. But whatevs.