Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray] Reviews

E. A Solinas 26. Jun, 2010 at 3:44 am

Review by E. A Solinas for Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray]
Rating:
It’s the beginning of the end for “Lost” — only one more season to go, and plenty of strange destined events yet to be explained.

And “Lost: The Complete Fifth Season” may be the best season of the show yet, with some unexpected glimpses back into the Island’s history, mysterious people, and more explorations of the mysterious Jacob. It feels like the entire season is packed with strange twists and unexpected turns, complete with a trip back in time that illuminates everything that has come before it.

Jack joins forces with his former enemy Ben, trying to bring the Oceanic Six back together and get them back to the Island. But Charles Widmore has been sending assassins to kill Hurley and Sayid, and someone is sniffing around Kate’s relationship to Aaron. Their only hope of getting back to the Island is to follow the instructions of Eloise Hawking, a woman who has intricate knowledge of time and space — and the Island.

Meanwhile, the Island is randomly leaping through time, flinging Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Charlotte and all the others from one time period to another. And when the Oceanic Six (minus a few) arrive on the Island again, they find that it is now 1977 — Sawyer, Juliet and their friends have all been living there for the past three years, as part of the Dharma Initiative. Sun and Ben end up in the hands of the remaining Others — along with a supposedly dead man now returned to life.

But as the fateful Incident approaches, Jack and Co. end up having their plans unravel around them, and a bunch of gun-toting Dharma people out for their blood. With the help of Daniel Faraday and his mysterious journal, the splintered little group sets out to somehow reset everything that has happened on the Island — even as Ben and the Others approach an ancient monument, where the Island’s fate will be changed forever.

There’s a sense of melancholy in the fifth season of “Lost.” Okay, it’s never been a cheerful show, but it’s clear that many of the plot threads are being wound together, and the characters that are killed have wrenchingly tragic send-offs. What’s more, this short season reveals a whole lot more about the Island than we ever knew before — the stone foot, the Incident, Eloise Hawking’s knowledge about time, and the Island’s mysterious ruler Jacob.

And it’s packed solid with plot, full of twists, gory action, flashbacks, flashforwards, and a sense of supernatural suspense. The first half of the season is all about the Six slowly being drawn back to the Island (almost against their will, really) while the second is about the disasters that ensue because of their presence, and the fight against the inevitability of time. It’s just a big thick rope of plot twists that tightens itself as it approaches the explosive finale.

Fortunately this season is also graced with exceptionally good dialogue, and some funny moments often supplied by the ever-lovable Hurley (example: writing down the “Empire Strikes Back” script from memory). And it evolves into straight-out science fiction after sort of flirting with it for the past few seasons.

Matthew Fox does a pretty good job as the increasingly irrational, obsessed Jack, but he’s overshadowed by Josh Holloway. Holloway is pretty darn brilliant as the new alpha male in the jungle who suddenly has his peaceful domain disrupted. Michael Emerson is also excellent as the vaguely creepy Ben, whose frustrations and anger start boiling over as he tries to somehow fix whatever has gone wrong, only to make a terrible mistake.

Actually, most of the cast does an excellent job: Naveen Andrews, Elizabeth Mitchell (especially in the finale), the dry-witted Ken Leung, Jeremy Davies, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, and the ever-awesome Jorge Garcia. There are also some other incredible actors who become pretty prominent here, including François Chau, Zuleikha Robinson, the ageless Nestor Carbonell, and the mysterious Fionnula Flanagan.

And Mark Pellegrino is introduced as the mysterious Jacob, whose identity, nature and goals are all murky. You’re left wondering who this guy is, and if we’ll see him again.

“Lost: The Complete Fifth Season” is a tightly-written, intensely-plotted stream of bittersweet sci-fi, and it leaves you hungry for whatever is next. Only one more season yet to go.

Robert Moore 26. Jun, 2010 at 3:56 am

Review by Robert Moore for Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray]
Rating:
Season Five of LOST was the first that provided more answers than questions. The first four seasons had raised questions at an extraordinary pace, providing the occasional answer. But while the end of Season Five raised a couple of massive questions of huge cliffhanger proportions, we nonetheless got more of a sense of what is going on with the island, its inhabitants, and its visitors than ever before. There are still some major unanswered questions, like the origin of the island and what the deal with Richard Alpert (the ageless wonder) is and who built the statue (and what brought it down), but we still are getting an overall picture of things.

What held true of LOST after Season One holds true of the show after Season Five: whether this turns out to be a great show depends on how well they manage to wrap up the overall story line. There have been very, very few shows in the history of television that have set out, from the very beginning, to tell a self-contained story with a beginning, middle, and an end. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (the new one, not the old one) was one. BABYLON 5 was another. Many other shows have more or less ended up telling a story, but in a way that wasn’t crucial to the structure of the series. This was even true of a show like ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. But for shows like LOST and BSG, our ultimate judgment will hinge on how well all the loose ends are wrapped up at the end. The final answers will have a retroactive effect on the rest of the series. If we are left at the end feeling that the secrets of the island have not been adequately answered, this will undercut all that went before. If we don’t accept the way the stories of the characters are resolved, it will weaken the series as a whole. I loved the way that BSG ended (though I’ll grant that not everyone did) and I fully hope that LOST will end similarly well. We’ve gotten five great seasons and I doubt that Damon Lindelhof and Carlton Cuse will suddenly lose their ability to tell a great story. Plus, they will continue to be assisted by some great writers like Drew Goddard and Elizabeth Sarnoff and Brian K. Vaughan (who got a great shout out this season when Hurley is seen reading in Spanish one of the volumes of Y: THE LAST MAN, the famous graphic series written by Vaughan).

Season Five began with the survivors of Oceanic 815 and their various allies split into two groups. The Oceanic Six are back in the real world, but Jack and Ben are determined to lead them all back to the island. The rest back on the island – at least those that are still alive, most having died – have, like Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut’s SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, become unstuck in time. They find themselves moving from one year or decade – heck, from one century – to another. And when the Oceanic Six return, they find themselves stranded in a different time themselves, back in the seventies with the Dharma Initiative and the Others. Most poignantly, Sun has found out that Jin is till alive, but they are stuck thirty years apart.

But this wouldn’t be LOST without a host of twists and turns. We are barraged (in a good way) with a never-ending string of shocks and surprises. Things constantly turn out not to be what we expect. That is especially true of John Locke, but true of just about everyone else as well. The amount of detail is almost overwhelming, though in a good way. It keeps the show fascinating and ever fresh. And of course, this being LOST, there are a host of deaths. The only series with a larger body count is BSG.

The best thing about Season Five of LOST is that it continues the excellent pacing that was established after the Season Three hiatus. I’m sure everyone will recall that fans were outraged and disappointed after the first six episodes of Season Three, which were broadcast a few months before the show resumed in the winter. Fans felt that the show was dragging, as if they were trying to stretch the series out an extra season or two instead of getting on with the story. When the show resumed, the producers responded to the fans’ complaints and significantly stepped up the pace of the storytelling. By the end of that season it felt like a new and completely refreshed show. And Seasons Four and Five have maintained that pace. One thing that definitely helped them maintain the pace was the announcement at the end of Season three that the show would end after Season Six.

And so we come to the beginning of the end. For five seasons LOST has been one of the most intense, involving shows on television. I’m already starting to get sad about its end. I still haven’t quite recovered from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ending this spring and now LOST ends next spring. It has been a great story from the very beginning and we can only hope that things remain just as good as they have been.

Zachary Koenig 26. Jun, 2010 at 4:32 am

Review by Zachary Koenig for Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray]
Rating:
While watching the first four seasons of LOST, I was continually amazed at the show’s ability (due to its incredible writing) to keep the material fresh. Whether it was the flashbacks of season one, the Hatch in season two, or the huge bombshells dropped at the ends of seasons three and four, LOST was always able to keep me guessing and never felt as if it were treading the same ground twice.

This fifth season is no exception, and one could even make the case that this is the “strangest” season of LOST to date. Gone is the relatively linear format of the previous four seasons, and in is a storytelling format that jumps across time as easily as the Starship Enterprise! There are really three main “plot schemes” that exist during the course of the season (warning: minor spoilers ahead):

First, the question of “what the heck happened to the island?!” is answered, as the island (and all on it) are skipping through time and must find a way to reverse the effect before their nervous systems suffer the consequences of being displaced in time.

Once the time-skipping is stopped, the islanders find themselves in vastly different time periods, which allows the writers (in perhaps the most brilliant move in series history) to actually SHOW the Dharma Initiative, not just explain it.

While all of that is going on, the “Oceanic Six” are dealing with problems of their own (“We have to go back, Kate!”) and each one must make their own decision about returning to the island.

All those thought-provoking topics provided hours more entertainment the likes of which has never been seen on network TV. Yet, I actually consider this to be the fifth-ranked season of the show for a couple of reasons:

-A few episodes bogging down and not advancing the plot as much as in the past. Though it is interesting to see some of the “Losties” initiate themselves into the Dharma group, a bit too much is made of them just “being there” and the plot stagnates a bit. The same thing happens with the “Oceanic Six” storyline…some parts are interesting, but I just breathed a sigh of relief when “they” (I won’t say who or how) get back to the island.

-Also, I really missed the use of flashbacks. Though the writers are still able to tell interesting stories without them, for the first three (and the flash-forwards for one) seasons I considered the “flashes” to be the emotional backbone of the show, as it was how we really became acquainted with all the characters. I realize that the “flashes” had probably run their course, but (selfishly) I still missed them all the same.

So, had I been able to give this season a “4.5 star” rating, I probably would have. But, two factors made me lean to the side of five stars: The incredible finale episode (which I consider to be the most riveting two hours of television I have ever watched in my life…I literally walked around in a stupor for about an hour afterwards in shock) and the “John Locke/Ben Linus” plot thread. Only the LOST writers could show Locke in a coffin and then have him play a larger role in the next season than he did in the previous one!

To conclude, though certain trivial details (few flashbacks, a couple “draggy” episodes) may not put this on top of your “favorite LOST season” list, it is still (by quite a large margin) the greatest show on TV today (and perhaps ever). Buy with confidence knowing that, from beginning to end, you will continue to be amazed and entertained like never before.

Magnolia 12883 26. Jun, 2010 at 4:52 am

Review by Magnolia 12883 for Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray]
Rating:
Never has a show absorbed me, captured my imagination and, yes, challenged me in the ways that LOST has. This seemingly simple premise of a group of strangers crashing on an island and hoping for rescue has, in just 5 short seasons, given way to the most labyrinthine serialized TV plot currently (or perhaps ever) in existence. This season in particular has taken the labyrinthine qualities to another level. There’s time travel, hidden connections being revealed, explanations of long-held secrets and questions, and, yes, more questions and cliffhangers than you can shake a fist at. Just a great great great show!

Billinalaska 26. Jun, 2010 at 5:41 am

Review by Billinalaska for Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray]
Rating:
You gotta love this series, if you watch ANY television at all! My family has been hooked on “Lost,” ever since we discovered the fun of the series when I purchased Season 1 late in 2006. Even though we have watched most of the shows on television when they were aired ever since, we have still looked forward to the clean, fresh DVD’s (commercial free!) to tell the story even better.

Season 5 doesn’t disappoint at all, as far as the story line goes. In some ways, it is the most unpredictable and the most imaginative of all. And some of those questions that have been nagging us start to get answered. And despite what the writers may say, I STILL think that they are ALL in purgatory.

However, there are a few things that cause me to lower my rating of this particular purchase. First, the number of episodes in an otherwise-full season is disappointing. I feel a little cheated that it stops at 16 (or 17, depending on how you count). But that’s the way it is.

The packaging leaves much to be desired. First, there is absolutely nothing, in terms of an episode guide in the box … only numbers and titles. But most of all, WHY oh WHY did they change the package? Now I have 4 seasons that match, and a 5th one that does not. Makes me think that the producers know that there are those of us who are so obsessive that the fail-to-match boxes will lead us to go back out and buy the entire series again, when it is produced in one box after the final season!!

Seems to be a small thing, but it bugs me and I just had to tell about that! Otherwise … enjoy this show!

Maine Writer 26. Jun, 2010 at 6:23 am

Review by Maine Writer for Pan’s Labyrinth [Blu-ray]
Rating:
This is the way fairy tales used to be — before they got bleached, pressed, and de-linted by half-wits trying to protect tender ears. Before they got Disney-fied. Sure, there’s violence here, some of it shocking, but none of it gratuitous. Could it give a kid nightmares? Maybe. But given today’s pablum stories, maybe it’s about time.

Pan’s Labyrinth takes us directly into the subconscious, and into the storyforms that infuse all of the great myths, fairy tales, and religions. It’s a rich and satisfying stew of symbolism, mystery, and redemption. Multilayered and inspiring, it’s a film you’ll want to see again. It’s hard not to gush, but it’s been so long since a movie this good has made it into the quasi-mainstream.

What makes Pan’s Labyrinth most effective is it’s juxtaposition of harsh “reality” and the mysterious world that lives side by side with it. The heroine, a young girl who may carry a magical seed of immortality (the soul of god’s only child who once ventured into the world of men, suffered, and died long ago), is contacted by shapeshifting fairies who lead her to a faun (much like the mythological Pan) who says she may reclaim her throne and escape the mortal world by performing three tasks. The faun in Pan’s Labyrinth is every bit as complex as the mythological Pan, a creature perhaps older than the gods themselves. There’s something sly, and perhaps even sexual about this elegant and almost alien faun, as he represents the forces at play inside this sensitive young girl. In fact, like every good fairy tale, all of the strange, wondrous, and chilling creatures represent facets of the subconscious, including baby-eating ghouls, flitting fairies, and gluttonous toads.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a commentary on the resiliency and power of the human imagination, and takes us to the place where dreams are spun and the great heroic tale of overcoming (of the self and the world) takes root. That spark of the divine in all of us — or at least the hope of it — powers the great story of our lives, and we need tales like this to remind of us of the magic and transformative power of story telling. In the flickering light of the theater, like some great hearth around which we’ve gathered, Pan’s Labyrinth took me back to my childhood, and made me think of so many of the great stories I’d read over the years — of demonic dogs with saucer-sized eyes, of child-stealing trolls, and evil stepmothers. And, finally, of the champions who venture down into those great cracks in the Earth, where the roots of mythic trees twist and wind and the greatest treasure of all can be found: the noble, heroic, and undying spirit that lies within us.

mothermaven 26. Jun, 2010 at 7:21 am

Review by mothermaven for Pan’s Labyrinth [Blu-ray]
Rating:
First of all, this film is not suitable for children. It is intended to be an adult fairytale with a young girl as its protagonist. Everyone I know who have viewed this film has loved it, including my 75 year old father, who is not really into foreign films or art films.

The is not suitable for children for a few scenes of torture and violence. While difficult to watch, it serves to create a sense of real peril, ugliness, cruelty and evil that propels our protagonist to seek comfort in another world of grotesque beauty. She is a young girl in the midst of a brutal civil war where both sides reside under her roof, and the only reason she is safe is because her mother is pregnant by a fascist general. There is a sense that this safety is precarious and could evaporate quickly due to circumstances beyond her control.

The protagonists other world is sparked by a discovery of an old labyrinth by the old house where the general holds his position and has a doctor see to the pregnant mother’s ailing health.

This other world that is created is amazingly done and is beautiful in its grotesquely Gothic way. The original score is perfect for the film with its haunting humming lullaby. The young girl is perfect young heroine that is flawed but lovable. You want her to fulfill her destiny and escape to her throne in a magical place. The rest of the cast are amazing showing the full range of humanity in a time of war from immense cruelty to amazing courage and compassion. The film itself has a great sense of pacing, almost poetic writing, and is able to keep up the feeling of suspense.

The movie is sad, beautiful, cruel, agonizing, and has kept haunting me. The film made me cry and at times took my breath away. It made me feel great to see such a well-made movie in the era of over hyped corporate films. This had the craftsmanship of an expert watchmaker.

The lullaby still lingers in my mind.

E. A Solinas 26. Jun, 2010 at 7:24 am

Review by E. A Solinas for Pan’s Labyrinth [Blu-ray]
Rating:
If anyone wants to know where the dark, creepy fairy tales of old went, here’s a hint: Guillermo del Toro is doing a pretty good job with the fairy tales for adults.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (“El Laberinto del Fauno”) is a sequel of sorts to “The Devil’s Backbone,” a magical realism film about the Spanish Civil War. But this movie takes us deeper into a world that is half real, half ominous fairy tale, with a unique and imaginative story and some really excellent acting — in short, a triumph.

Time and place: 1944, Spain. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her very pregnant mother travel to meet her new stepfather, the brutal and murderous Captain Vidal (Sergi López). Ofelia loathes her new stepfather, but is transfixed by the eerie forests around them — and one night she is visited by a fairy, and encounters a giant faun who tells her that she is Princess Moanna of the netherworld, and must return there.

To do so, he tells her that she must do three things, and gives her a strange book. Ofelia menages first task, but is frightened out of her wits by the second task, which involves a hideous monster with eyes in its hands. Even worse, her mother’s pregnancy is getting more dangerous. As the guerillas and the fascists clash, Ofelia faces being trapped outside the netherworld forever… and being offered a terrible choice if she wants to get in.

Fairy tales have become cleaned-up and cutesy over time, so that children can read them without nightmares. But del Toro knows that the best fairy tales are the eerie, bizarre ones for adults, that are connected somehow to the real world. That is what makes “Pan’s Labyrinth” so brilliantly dark and heartfelt.

Del Toro obviously crafted this with care, directing it in a dreamlike style and brilliant visuals. The eerie atmosphere of Ofelia’s wanderings — the delicate yet menacing faun, the chalk doors, the monuments, and the pasty nightmare with eyes in its palms — is both a contrast and a parallel with the everyday world, which Ofelia hopes to escape.

At first, it seems like the post-Civil War and fairy tale stories don’t mesh, until you see that the “real world” story is Ofelia’s motivation to escape from all the fear, pain and sorrow. But Del Toro’s biggest triumph is an ending that is beautifully bittersweet, and which turns out to hinge on Ofelia’s newborn brother.

But del Toro’s biggest triumph is in the instant connection we feel to Ofelia, with her love of the fantastical and her desire to go somewhere “safe.” Baquero is absolutely wonderful in this, as a girl who isn’t entirely of this world — in her heart, she belongs somewhere beyond. And López is the ideal villain — you spend the whole movie wanting to see him gruesomely killed.

Half “Mirrormask” and half gritty war story, “Pan’s Labyrinth” is one of the best fantasy stories in years — dark, passionate and beautifully made. Definitely a great movie.

Carl Jacobsen 26. Jun, 2010 at 7:59 am

Review by Carl Jacobsen for Pan’s Labyrinth [Blu-ray]
Rating:
As I write this review, I am listening to the Pan’s Labyrinth OST for the sixth time on the film’s official website[...]. Without question in my mind, Pan’s Labyrinth definitely has the best soundtrack of 2006, perhaps even 2007, though as of this review the year is not yet ended.

Like most movies, I read many reviews of Pan’s Labyrinth before deciding to see it. As a long-time admirer of Roger Ebert’s reviews, I took his praise of the film seriously and decided to dole out seven bucks. I missed the opening shot. Perhaps it was best that way, since it would have probably influenced my perception of the rest of the movie.

Pan’s Labyrinth was advertised as a fairy tale for adults and the trailers were predominantly concerned with the handful of fanciful creatures and little Ofelia. Coincidentally, a few months later, another movie used the same advertising ploy to draw in viewers. Many complained that the trailers for Bridge To Terabithia made it out to be another Narnia and thus misleading, even though they could have saved themselves the trouble by simply reading a synopsis of the novel the movie was based on. The parallels between Pan’s Labyrinth and Terabithia struck me as sign that American cinema was veering towards a precipice over which it would plummet into the abyss of Roald Dahlian theatrics. Not surprisingly, criticisms for Pan’s Labyrinth and Terabithia were very similar — the ads were misleading, there was not enough fantasy and too much reality. Again, they should have simply done some reading before going to the movie. The old addage isn’t always true, ignorance isn’t always bliss.

Much of the criticism surrounding Pan’s Labyrinth is directed towards the violence and adverse ratio of fantasy to war, as well as use of subtitles (Americans hate reading, it seems). Both complaints show a widespread lack of understanding about some of the film’s fine points and overall ignorance. With regard to the violence, Pan’s Labyrinth is indeed a violent, gory movie. Seeing as how it’s set during wartime, specifically WWII, it is really no different than other wartime films such as Glory or the History Channel mini-series Band Of Brothers. War is grisly and Guillermo del Toro doesn’t pussyfoot away from that fact. He includes scenes of gore which, aside from that of Captain Vidal stitching his mouth back together – a sign of Vidal’s stout resilience and possibly even an allusion to the Joker’s smile – could hardly be considered excessive. Nobody loses a head or limb; guts don’t spill out all over the ground; nails don’t protrude out of eye sockets — the level of gore in Pan’s Labyrinth is hardly worth criticizing.

Captain Vidal, the main antagonist, is what many would consider truly evil. Some argue his character is unrealistically evil, that he’s too sadistic. It seems people are wont to forget Newton’s rule of thumb — for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Throughout the film, action and reaction drive the military and rebels. Action, reaction. Push, pull. One thing leads to another. Captain Vidal commands a military outpost resisting Republican rebels. His father died in Morocco and the death greatly affected Vidal. He takes his frustration out on the rebels. As a military man, he knows there is a possibility he might be killed, so he yearns for an heir. Enter his wife Carmen, pregnant with Vidal’s son, or so he likes to believe. The camp’s physician warns against presuming the child’s gender, compounding Vidal’s stress. Action, reaction. Push, pull. Carmen brings her daughter Ofelia. Had she been a boy instead, perhaps Vidal would have accepted her. Or perhaps not. Action, reaction. Enter the faeries.

The beauty of this film is del Toro’s weaving of reality and fantasy. As I said, I missed the first minute of the movie and as such may not have put it in the correct perspective. The first faerie appears separate from Ofelia as a mantis which follows her to the camp. One night it visits her in bed where she asks, “Did you follow me here? Are you a fairy?” at which point she shows the mantis a picture of a fairy and it turns into one, albeit with an insectoid head. Del Toro claims this was intended to distinguish his faeries from the classic beautified representations. Indeed, nothing in the fantasy realm is beautiful to the viewer, but rather grotesque and at times fearsome. Everything in the supernatural realm mirrors the world in which Ofelia lives. There is nothing wholly beautiful. Even the beauty of child-bearing is marred by pain and blood, as Carmen suffers numerous maladies as she struggles to carry Vidal’s heir to term.

The supernatural never appear in the same scene as any other character except Ofelia, excluding the faerie’s nocturnal visit while Carmen was fast asleep. Aware of this, it’s easy for the viewer to perceive everything as being in Ofelia’s head, but the two worlds collide when Ofelia puts a mandrake root under her ailing mother’s bed and Carmen gradually recovers, much to everyone’s amazement. But Vidal, ever distrustful of Ofelia, mistakes her actions as an attempt on the unborn heir’s life. Carmen defends her daughter and after Vidal leaves the room admonishes her for believing in such superstitions. She then tosses the mandrake root into the fireplace, at which point she immediately goes into labor and soon after dies during childbirth. Without Carmen to protect Ofelia, Vidal links the young girl with a treacherous maid and has Ofelia imprisoned in her room. At wit’s end, Ofelia cries out for help and is visited once more by the ambiguous faun.

It is at this point which the recurring assumption that Pan’s Labyrinth is about escapism becomes fundamentally incorrect. In review after review, the fantasy realm is just that — fantasy. It’s all in Ofelia’s head as a means for her to escape the harsh realities of the embattled world around her. In actuality, Ofelia not only brings the real world into the “fantasy realm,” but she brings fantasy into the real. The labyrinth itself is real. The faeries are insectoid. The toad was inspired by Vidal’s umbrella. The terrifying Pale Man was an amalgram of metaphors. And her home kingdom… To mention anything about that would be a spoiler. But after she has been locked in her room, the faun visits Ofelia and gives her a quest: “Fetch your brother and bring him to the labyrinth as quickly as possible.” At this point fantasy and reality collide head-on. Ofelia escapes from her prison through supernatural means and kidnaps her brother, thus involving Captain Vidal in the mythical quest.

Escapism — the desire to retreat into imaginative entertainment to escape the harshness of reality. Escapism is sitting in front of a television eight hours a day instead of going out partying. Escapism is chatting or writing lengthy reviews on Amazon instead of hanging out with friends. Escapism is definitely not what Pan’s Labyrinth is about. For Ofelia, reality and fantasy are one and the same.

And when all is said and done and the credits roll, you may find yourself questioning your own beliefs. What is real? What is fantasy? And just who really had the most fanciful thoughts? Ofelia with her fairy kingdom? The rebels with their fight for freedom from national oppression? Or Captain Vidal with his unwaivering desire for a son to follow in his footsteps?

Gary Gibson 26. Jun, 2010 at 8:36 am

Review by Gary Gibson for Pan’s Labyrinth [Blu-ray]
Rating:
One of the most beautiful, haunting, heart-breaking and, ultimately, exhilarating films I’ve ever seen (4 times in a theater, alone). This is great film-making that will creep back into your thoughts long after you’ve seen it – and it will make you embarrassed about that last piece of Hollywood bilge you saw. At it’s core is an uncanny performance by a young lady named Ivana Baquero as Ofelia that is so honest and brave that it will break your heart AND lift you up. The director Guillermo Del Toro deftly balances the ugliness of fascist, war-torn Spain and the fantasy world that may be Ophelia’s refuge without undermining either.

If you treasure great film, you will want to hold on to this one. It’s a gem.

Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray]

Pan’s Labyrinth [Blu-ray]

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