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From: terryl@tekcrl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Creator - stay away? (SPOILER)
Message-ID: <268@tekcrl.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 22-Sep-85 05:02:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekcrl.268
Posted: Sun Sep 22 05:02:52 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Sep-85 03:19:47 EDT
References: <318@looking.UUCP> <348@zaphod.UUCP>
Lines: 63

> I have a small question:
> 	Being a Peter O'Toole fan of the most dedicated sort
> 	I would like to know if the recently released flick
> 	_Creator_ is worth a pinch of 'coon chit?  Is it worth
> 	$5?  Any would-be movie critics care to expound?


      Well, yes and no. My first gut reaction was that I felt cheated.
The ads I've seen go something like this:

     "Dr. Harry Wolper is an eccentric genius. And, with the help of his loyal
assistants, he's closing in on one of the greatest discoveries of all time.
All that's standing in their way is the University, the faculty, the laws of
nature and about 20 local ordinances. But, with a little luck, they just might
pull off a miracle."

     The miracle is that Harry is trying to clone his wife, who has been dead
for over 30 years, with some cells he saved from her. Well, he sort of succeeds,
but we really don't know for sure, because about an hour into the movie, the
university comes busting into his lab at his home, and thereby destroying all
of his work, including something that looks like(and apparently is) a human
embryo, his new-cloned wife. Now Harry, who in previous scenes was somewhat of
a rebel-rouser, meekly accepts this all, definitely not in character.

     Then Harry disappears, and the last 40 minutes or so of the movie turns
into a very bad rehash of "Love Story" as one of Harry's graduate student's
(Vincent Spano) girlfriend(Virginia Madsen) develops a brain tumor and goes
into a coma. Her parents are called in, and there's a few tear-jerker scenes
between Boris(Vincent Spano) and his girlfriend's parents, and the parents
decide to pull the plug on the life support system. Harry magically appears
(from where it is never made apparent, but it is assumed from a retirement-type
home for the college Harry teaches at, where he has just been sent), gets some
sort of magical paper from the Dean of the college to give Harry two days to
see if he can do anything to save her. Harry tells Boris that there's nothing
he can do, and to talk to her. Well, surprise, surprise, she pulls out of it
and everyone lives happily ever after.

     The first hour or so of the movie is pretty good, with O'Toole giving
his standard off-the-wall weird character, which works pretty well. Mariel
Hemingway also stars as a nineteen year-old nymphomaniac who Harry happens to
meet by chance, and he uses an egg from Mariel's character for the cloning of
his dead wife. As I said before, the last 40 minutes of the movie just
degenerates into a very bad "Love Story". If the movie would have just been
about Harry trying to clone his dead wife, succeeding or not doesn't matter,
it would have been a much better movie. Vincent Spano's and Virginia Madsen's
characters seem to be in the movie mainly for the "R" rating, and to bring in
the teenage audience. David Ogden Stiers(Winchester from TV's "MASH") also
co-stars as Harry's main nemesis, and he gives a credible performance. I
didn't like Mariel Hemingway's performance that much. She seems to be in the
movie solely to bring Harry back to the present(there's quite a few scenes
where Harry sees his dead wife, but we're never really sure if he's seeing
her ghost, or if he's just dreaming about her). Mariel falls in love with
Harry, and Harry finally falls in love with her after one final scene where
Harry asks his dead wife if he can get on living again. What a letdown!!!

My advice is if you like O'Toole, then go see it, but you can leave after
Harry's lab is destroyed. Otherwise, be prepared for a very drippy and
lackluster performance as Boris wonders whether she going to live or not.


			Terry Laskodi
			     of
			Tektronix


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