There's a lot I should love about this movie. The story is interesting. It's the first serial killer movie. It's directed by renown director Fritz Lang. It has "In The Hall of the Mountain King," which makes everything better. So what went wrong? M tells the story of a child murderer in a German town. When the police force can't find him and starts doing major raids throughout town, the local criminals begin losing money. To counter this, the criminals band together to find the murderer themselves, ironically taking justice into their own hands......and I was so bored through the whole thing. I honestly have almost nothing to say about the movie. I eventually stopped paying much attention after a while--something I've never done before in this project. Perhaps it was the timing of the whole thing (I was tired; I had just come from an amazing 4 days that continued to preoccupy my thoughts; etc.). Or perhaps I just didn't care for the style of the movie. It was Fritz Lang's first "talkie," made in 1931 (I believe putting it as the oldest film on this whole list). It's in German--I don't have a problem with subtitles, but put in the fact that I was tired and mentally preoccupied, and you might understand.
But the one thing that got to me the most was the sound... or lack thereof. There are a ton of moments where there's just... nothing. There's no talking, no music, no sound effects... just nothing. It didn't keep me engaged in moments that really needed to keep me engaged. Don't get me wrong, though--the fact that the killer went around whistling "Mountain King" was a great idea, and I did like that aspect of the whole sound thing.
All together, though, I just didn't care. I understand the commentary and blah blah blah behind the movie. It just didn't grab me. I might eventually give it another chance at some point in the distant future, because I know I didn't give it a fully fair chance. But yeah... Sorry, folks. I know, this was my lamest review for this project. I really don't want to put out those excuses (tired, preoccupied). It was a story I really enjoyed the idea of, but the execution was totally not my cup of tea. Send the hate mail now.
The Zed Word
(P.S. I hate putting this at the same level as Plan 9, because I know it's not the same as an Ed Wood film. This is just a rating on an entertainment level for me.)
