As a way of kicking off the Feast Fest that may or may not be referred to as a Phest, the assembled computer scifi geeks held a momentous viewing of this well renowned classic from scifi film lore.

Having not been overly impressed with this film on my first viewing over a year ago (if true festing occurs tonight, with any luck, that entry will automatically be linked to as part of the movielog engine soon), I determined to watch it again with an open mind. Perhaps my initial expectations had been raised too high before. Perhaps if I could set aside my preconceptions regarding a what "great movie", could or should be, I would enjoy it more. And so we watched. Jaeger, myself, and bouncing sat on my new futon couch, with Zan Lynx looking on from his console behind us.

The movie: Cinematically beautiful, the imagery is a marriage between artfully composed photography and flawless visual effects shots. The grand exteriors, the dark dingy urban dwellings, the majestic sky shots, and the striking lighting used to paint them all creates an ongoing feast for the eyes.

Unfortunately, even while the eyes are feasting, the mind is frequently left to idle and wander away. I like to think of myself as having at least partially escaped the stereotypical portrait of MTV-saturated Gen X-ers who are incapable of achieving an attention span of more than 5 seconds when not being bombarded with ever more potent stimulation. However, on both of the occassions when I viewed this film -- then and now, I frequently caught my thoughts wandering off to lala land unless I made a conscious effort to bring them back and keep them in the present.

Whenever my mental focus did return to the screen, I marveled at the beauty of it. Besides the great visuals, there were many touching and profound moments, bits of dialog, and great interactions between the characters. Despite this, five minutes later, my brain would find itself taking another vacation through the infinite beyond.

So what's going on? In my initial review, I blamed it on a poor plot. Watching it again now, I have to disagree with that part, at least. The plot is not only solid, but clever and filled with irony. Or maybe we could apply the credo "It's not so much the story arc that counts, but what you do with it.". There is some really great dramatic stuff going on.

If it's so great, why does my mind so easily wander away in boredom? Is it me, or is it the movie? At this point, my analysis suggests that while what the movie does have is great, some component required to draw and hold this viewer's attention is lacking.