Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
filippaberry84
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
tfrizzell
An odd subject of Civil War on Easter Island is the primary focus of "Rapa Nui", a dry and dull would-be love story from director Kevin Reynolds. The Civil War comes between the upper and lower class groups of the Chilean island. The richer and more powerful group wants the poorer citizens to make larger Moai statues (those famous heads that still stand even today) and it becomes clearly evident that this could mean more loss and degradation for those with little say. A love blossoms in the typical tradition and naturally it is bound by the classes. "Rapa Nui" is just not much of a production. I honestly got nothing worthwhile out of the movie and I really felt numb and completely empty by the final moments. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).
Champion2k
I have no wish to comment on the historical accuracy or otherwise of this film, as it is the story that held me enthralled, not the attention to fact.The first time I saw this film, I nearly had to pick my jaw up from the floor. A hollywood movie.....that doesn't spoonfeed me the plot like some overbearing nanny? An original (for a big studio) plot device? Whew, let me just sit down for a minute. Here's how it normally goes: Hero (young, handsome and likeable) must compete with rival (villanous, evil rogue) in contest of high stakes. Guess the outcome. But in this underrated gem of a story, we find two equally heroic protagonists, all thoughts of friendship lost as they are forced into a dangerous competition of courage and strength. One, fighting for the woman he loves, the other for his life. This forces the viewer to watch in an agonized state of uncertainty. Who do I want to win? Who deserves it more? What will happen to the loser? This was the first film in a long time that truly forced me to get involved with the characters, not in a cliched good versus evil kind of way, but a good versus good "how the hell are they going to get out of this one?" kind of way. Okay, so some aspects of the film do not deliver with the same power, and some of the accents do tend to waver a little, but the beautifully constructed central storyline held me until the end.
Bouteloua
I have never seen so much nudity or near-nudity in a film where it isn't sexualized. It's quite refreshing. We just get to enjoy seeing the beautiful (and also ordinary) bodies of the characters going about their business, like you might see in an old National Geographic magazine. Okay, there is one love scene, but it's tame by Hollywood standards and it happens early in the film. The violence is mild compared to a lot of PG movies. This could be a good movie for young people to watch with an adult, if only to see people treating each other normally when their skin is showing.The plot is a bit comic-bookish, but it makes for an easy-to-follow story and good entertainment. You even get to learn a little bit of true stuff about Easter Island.
LuvsFood
Rapa Nui is more than just a bunch of Polynesian (and Hispanic!) actors running around half-nekkid. It's an allegory about the dangers of theocratic government, and a tale of class struggle. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island, that famous dot in the Pacific Ocean with the mysterious statues. We get to see how these things were carved - and why. The Long Ear tribe has effectively subjugated the Short Ear tribe, forcing them to carve Moai (statues) in order to placate the gods. Director Kevin Reynolds uses the island and the carving of statues as an effective backdrop to illustrate the enmity between the tribes, as well as a power struggle for eventual spremacy of the island. The film is driven by visuals and ideas. The writing hardly ever rises above so-so, and it's jarring to hear Polynesian-looking people with British, American and Latino accents. But the film has a certain power to fascinate, and for that alone I recommend it highly.
