Del Toro has made several things I love and way more things I don't like at all. The Devils Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, Blade 2, Hellboy 2 and Mimic were all great I thought. My question for you is do you think the creature in Shape was simply an abused and raped fish? Regardless of how you felt about the rest of the film.
Well, that's 6 out of the 10 features he's made, so he actually has a better track record with you than you thought! Unless you didn't actually like Shape, in which case he's still batting 500. Preferred Cronos to Mimic, though I'll admit that's based on last having seen either of them in the late '90s. Can't recall either with much clarity. Curious about your beef with Hellboy and Pacific Rim. Neither were wholly successful, I thought, but I had big fun on both afternoon field trips. Crimson Peak I missed, but have every intention on making time for it one of these years. What I'd like to know, @---NT---, is what it is, if there is a throughline, that so puts you off to Guillermo's public presentations?
I don't think I ever saw Blade 2, I may have to give that a try. But no, to your question, I suppose that's where I don't agree with Roger. I just agree with his general dislike of the film and feel that it was all style, no substance.
I feel like he's all style, no substance. If it weren't for creature designs, and general set design, he wouldn't be hyped as a great film maker. I feel like he got cult fame for aesthetics in Chronos and then inflated that fame with Pans and has just ridden that to the career he has now. He's "dark and edgy", but his stories are plainer than vanilla (hey, I actually like vanilla!). He's Mexican Tim Burton (whom I also hate). Actually, I might think of him as Tim Burton x Post-6th Sense Shyamalan.
The thing is he makes a lot of stuff I really dislike. The Strain was 40 plus episodes of fucking awful. Crimson Peak was the biggest disappointment of that entire year. Pacific Rim was shit but I'm glad it gave big monsters more american exposure. Hellboy was a pretty big letdown too. He is really hit or miss for me but it seems like the more popular he gets the less risks he seems to take. Fish rape not withstanding. @---NT--- Please give Blade 2 a shot. The story has more nuance than most of his other films and some of the fight scenes literally changed how lots of other movies made fight scenes afterwards.
