Welcome back for another edition of A Second Look with Jeff Stockton! In this segment I will take a "second look" at a past LRF release with a fresh set of eyes.
Solace is the 8th collaboration between writers Chad Taylor and Jimmy Ellis, which made it seem like a good time to take a "second look" at their first co-writing venture. That film was The Great Beyond, released back in Season 14. The sci-fi drama was headlined by a talented trio - Amy Adams, Idris Elba and John Cho - and directed by Ang Lee. When it was released, I thought it was going to be a bit of a bigger player in GRA season than it ended up being, so I probably liked it slightly more than other critics that season. I enjoyed the film's balance of sci-fi and drama, and the performances of its starring trio.
Taking A Second Look at The Great Beyond now, I found it to bit of a downer. Ang Lee's direction and the performances of Adams, Cho and Elba are all fantastic. But man was The Great Beyond a despressing time at the movies. I understand that the nature of the story is not a happy one, but I feel it was a bit more depressing than it needed to be. And did we need a scene of Elba and Cho crying together for an entire minute straight? It's still a very good film, I just felt The Great Beyond was bit more down than it needed to be.
Original Grade: A-
New Grade: B+
The Great Beyond Link: https://lrfdatabase.weebly.com/the-great-beyond.html
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