Paul Haggis is over-rated. No really, he is…
In fact he is more than over-rated. Calling him a “good writer” is a down right lie.
Haggis is the guy responsible for writing Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Last Kiss, Casino Royale, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.
Now disregarding the latter two which I haven’t seen, what do all the other scripts have in common? They ALL have blatant structure problems and worst of all, they are emotionally empty. They have no heart. No energy. No life.
In terms of Crash and Million Dollar Baby, because Haggis’ script revolves around “tough subject matters” he was undeservingly praised to the hilts. There is no redeeming action, persons or feelings in his films… they are shallow and at times insulting.
Casino Royale’s script was a joke quite honestly in terms of it’s late second to third act. How he was allowed to indulge himself in that final third, I will never know.
Anyway, the news today from LA Times is that Haggis will return to add his shallowness to the script of the next James Bond movie. I feel cold just thinking about it.
source – commander bond
6 Comments
I hate to rag on a fellow Canadian but I have to agree. He IS over rated. I’m positive there are some much more talented writers out there but he seems to get all the good material.
I also agree that Haggis’s work is amazingly blunt and lacks any sort of subtlety. I thought Crash was an awful, forced movie and it’s insane how well regarded it became. Although I have to admit I do like Casino Royale and Million Dollar Baby does get some emotion from me ( but that’s probably due to Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman’s presence).
Yeah Eastwood’s work in front and behind the camera for Million Dollar Baby was excellent.
Matt, I agree with every single syllable you said. I haven’t even seen Casino Royale yet, but given the mess Haggis made of Crash I already know CR has massive pacing issues.
BTW, IMHO Clint Eastwood sucks ass as a director. Everything he does is slow, slow slow. And boring as hell. He oughta just call his films, “Two Hours of Nothin’!” Make it a series.
Unforgiven:”Two Hours of Nothin’!”
Mystic River:”Two More Hours of Nothin’!”
Millon Dollar Baby: “Bored To Death, Aren’t You?”
The best thing Eastwood could do for cinema at this point is to stop destroying it.
You didn’t like Unforgiven JaySmack?
Man, I think it’s a great movie. I love Unforgiven because I don’t think there is a frame wasted. Each character has their own arc and has something important to do in the film. The bad guy who wants to stop violence by producing violence and thinks because he is building a house, he is cultivated and deserves to live.
The old gunslinger of the West who is haunted by his past demons, and is struggling in his old age to connect with his children and let go of his wife.
The young kid who wants to believe he’s Billy the Kid.
And more and more.
I like Eastwood as a director. He takes time to develop characters and the settings they invoke. I love how he can choose a theme and produce a great story and narrative to projects his message with.
Hey to each their own on the Eastwod thing. As for Haggis, Crash would not have been worth a fart were it not for the fact he was writing a movie about something “important” like race.
It seems ANY movie that “deals with race” is somehow seen as important, and nobody actually looks at whether the movie is any good. Haggis realized how shallow Hollywood is and he used it to magnify his own importance. Sad.