I'm not going to start on Christopher Cain, even though his movies tend to bite the dust..... At least this one had some decent acting, but characterization is what made the book by S.E.Hinton so powerful, And, yes, against better judgement, I will compare this to the book, with SPOILERS.... Mark in the book is popular likeable and dare-devilish, in the movie he's seems to be nothing but a punk w/ dare-devilish inclinations!! Mark would be my nephew to a T,a booty hound and a clever little mischief-maker whom anyone upon meeting can forgive since his untouchability and good-nature are very apparent,not like some swinging-you-know-what (I HATE censorship!!!!!) that bases his life on all the rampant going on's in the hood'. Yet, Emilio Estevez does manage to save his character somewhat, it's Bryan that was under-scored heavily, they should've represented more of that downtown background he has in the book, but alas, they made him nothing but a reformed punk akin to the Mark in the movie (which, alone I will say is good, but this is based on the book, I guess that spoiled it for me.) So, later on and throughout the movie Craig Sheffer seems like a wooden jerk to Mark, rather than representing the inner-turmoil that Bryan feels when he wants to change. If anything, Bryan still felt what I would say "carnalismo" in him after getting beat-up by the Sheperd brothers as well as feel responsible for stopping the violence, rather than looking like a whipped pup!! But I can forgive these things, what made me vote 6 on this was the ending, happy 80's music and a "lighten-up dude" ending. Yes, the book's the same way, but a lot more bitter..... when Bryan spoke with Mark in prison, Bryan left afraid of Mark, since Mark had the same mischieviousness about him, but also a darker-side which Bryan felt Mark could kill him if he wanted to!!!!! In all, if your gonna make the movie fluff, at least leave the ending to strike you! Yes, and I didn't even mention CHARACTERIZATION the supporting cast, only Morgan Freeman and Jill Schoelen (Angie Shepard) were true to form.
Review of That Was Then... This Is Now
