The Indians never really got it right when it comes to the disaster genre, expect the fun and crazy The Burning Train from 1980, which can be described as The Towering Inferno on wheels. That one flopped and maybe that’s the reason why no one ever again tried their hands on a proper, decent disaster film. But they’ve tried, and failed. The latest production to fail - at least when it comes to entertainment value - is Dam 999, a pretty pointless drama leading up to a underwhelming disaster. It’s an international co-production rooted deeply in the Indian melodrama. I like melodrama, but it needs to feel useful. You need to care about the characters, and the story - but in Dam 999 you just want every character to die a horrible death involving water and bad acting.
We follow a bunch of pretty pointless characters in their quest for love and justice around a dam. Some chick is in love with a dude and that dude is in love with her but another dude is in love with the chick and there’s a cute kid who likes his grandpa who like one of the dudes but also kinda like the other dude and there’s of course a bad dude who forced one of the dude’s dad to kill himself, leaving that dude alone with his wheelchair-bound sister. And then the dam breaks and a lot of dudes and dudettes drowns.
You know the story. We’ve seen it a million times before. Also cue a lot of Enya-style music that will evoke drama and emotions and but leaves us all more empty than before.
As you can can guess I didn’t like this one.
On the other hand, the disaster - which goes on for like two minutes in the end is quite decent and has a lengthy sequence before where one of the leading dudettes is trying to uncover the upcoming dam scandal. That part is quite okay and the disaster is also made with some cool and detailed miniatures. At least what I could see, the DVD ONLY have the 3D version and this 3D is pretty bad. No, it’s not even pretty bad, it’s very bad. But easier to watch with the glasses. And no, I don’t hate 3D. I love 3D. But this one was bad.
The movie ends quickly and with a film school quality quotation and everyone is happy it’s over. But hey, this is a disaster movie and I need to watch them all. I mean, if I have a goal in life it is to watch every disaster flick made outside the US.
Oh, Dam 999 is also a nice showcase for not-so-talented and way too young foreign backpackers playing news anchors. So good for them. Goody, goody.
If you want to see a more entertaining dam-movie, watch the Turkish “classic” The Water. The effects in that one consists of someone behind the camera pouring buckets of water on the actors.
"Also cue a lot of Enya-style music that will evoke drama and emotions and but leaves us all more empty than before."
WHAT???!!!
Don´t bash Enya.....she is awesome!
hahhahahhahahhah.....ok, some of her stuff, not everything....
"and has a lengthy sequence before where one of the leading dudettes is trying to uncover the upcoming dam scandal."
So we get some thriller elements as well?
"But hey, this is a disaster movie and I need to watch them all. I mean, if I have a goal in life it is to watch every disaster flick made outside the US."
That´s the spirit.....good review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | March 25, 2014 at 00:12