The day after the night before

Kim — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:59:00 +0000

Okay, so we had beaten our munchie attack and thought a nice walk and fresh air would do us good. We wandered to the Marina and decided to watch a film… or three. Yes, we slobbed out all day in the cinema.

To find out which films we watched -

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Being a bit of a fan of the HP books, I couldn’t wait to see this film - and it didn’t disappoint! As with the books the film is much darker than previous, but this makes it an even more compelling story. Although, I wish I had re-read the book before going to see it.

Flightplan I had seen the trailer to this film a while ago and thought it looked great. Unfortunately I was most disappointed with the whole film - pretty implausible and with the worst cheesy hollywood ending.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose Again the trailer enticed me to want to see this film. I mistakenly went thinking it was a horror film, but found it to be set in a courtroom with flashbacks of events. A watchable film, if a little slow. Supposedly ‘based on a true story’ - however after some investigation I found it is very loosely based on an event that happened in Germany in the 1970’s.

Prey by Michael Crichton

Pete — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:58:00 +0000

They say:

“This is Crichton on top form.” - The Times

“Classic Crichton. You’ll love it.” - The Mirror

“Like taking a speed-reading course, your eyes flying across the page because you’re completely gripped and desperate to know what’s going to happen.” - Time Out

I say:

“This is pap” - *Me*

“Classic pap.” - Me again

“Like taking a speed-reading course, your eyes fly across the page because it’s written to the reading level of a 12 year-old.” - Guess who?

Well, that’s a bit unfair. I genuinely liked the first half of the book. The premise is this: a secret research lab (is there any other kind?) has developed a super-intelligent, self-replicating swarm of tiny robots that are capable of adaptation and evolution. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Well, you can guess what happens next. No, really - there are no surprises in this book.

My main problem is this: it reads like the plot of a mediocre B-movie from start to finish. Crichton has produced a great premise for a modern day sci-fi horror. But then he doesn’t really take it anywhere - it’s like he ran out of special-effects budget halfway through writing it. Imagine the horrifying consequences of a constantly evolving swarm of nanobots spreading across the US, destroying everything in its path. Well, you’ll have to imagine it because you don’t get it here. Crichton limits the action to the research lab, as if he were personally responsible for financing the inevitable Hollywood adaptation.

It reminds me of the film “Hollow Man” in this respect. Again, a great premise (a scientist discovers how to turn living creatures invisible), but it just descends into a sub-Alien run-away-from-the-scary-monster-in-a-confined-space-fest in the last third. In both of these stories the potential’s there, but the conclusion is sorely lacking.

Prey is acceptable as a forgettable, trashy read, but it’s nothing like as thought-provoking - or as good - as Crichton thinks it is. If you liked Jurassic Park the book, you’ll love this.

(In the unlikely event I’ve persuaded you to get this book, why not buy it from Amazon?)

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The day after the night before

Prey by Michael Crichton