LogFAQs > #941015682

28. Fireworks

Johnbobb: 7
Inviso: 11
Jona: 22
Charon: 32
Karo: 34
Genny: 38
Red: 38

Total: 182

Johnbobb: I will fully admit, I'm a sucker for spectacle, and watching this really made me wish I had seen it in theaters, because holy shit some of those lighting and firework effects were just incredible. I couldn't help but read through some reviews online, and was disappointed to see people shitting on the story for being oversimplistic. Admittedly the characters aren't the deepest, but one thing I'm a sucker for even more than spectacle is magical realism, which this film puts out to the point that I was completely drawn in by the magical realities the film presented.

Inviso: On paper, this should have all the makings of a top tier film for me. Theres a cute, likable couple, theres a supernatural fantasy element that adds some spice to the story, and said element involves time travel shenanigans. Yet, for whatever reason, this doesnt QUITE land the way several other films do, hence why they rank higher. Dont get me wrong, Fireworks is a very good and enjoyable movie, and at only ninety minutes, there wasnt even a point where I was like How much longer until this is over? The whole concept is great: one day in this kids life, he has the opportunity to go back and make different choices to see if they make his life (and the life of his not-quite-girlfriend) better. Each change alters the world a little bit, so its not just his life that has changed, but the universe itselfall leading to a bizarre, timelocked realm of ripples in space.

This is all great and for the vast majority of the movie, its intriguing and fun, and it kept me on my toes as to where the movie was going to go next. The only flaws are as follows. One, the ending isnot great. There are plenty of movies on this list that have ended on cliff hangers, without providing proper resolution to the general story beats on display throughout the movie itself. This can work, particularly if the response the viewer is hoping for is implied, albeit not shown outright. But this endingtheres a big, emotional climax, and the ending is just that the two main character have completely vanished. I get that this is supposed to insinuate something about parallel universes and whatnot, but its unsatisfying to say the least. AlsoIm not the biggest fan of the main character. Hes FINE. Hes not detestable or anything like that. Buthes just written a little TOO immature to carry off some of the headier gravitas expected from this plot. Anyway, those are the only two issues I really have, and neither of them is so bad that it breaks the movie or anything. They just knock it down a few pegs.

Jona: Im a sucker for any mystery elements in this story. Sadly, the mystery doesnt resolve in a satisfying way but it was still quite the ride. I dont get why they showed a marble next to Nazunas dads body. Nazuna seemed like she knew more than she let on. Her having a big number felt out of place. Why does Yusuke ditch the date with Nazuna and then insult her when talking to Narumichi when he admitted to loving her when he saw a possible future with her in a shard? The relationship between Narumichi and Nazuna isnt developed too well although I did like the ending. Theres a bunch to not like about this movie but theres just something about this movie that I ended up liking it.

Charon: What is definitely going to be looked at as the poor man's Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I'm not really even sure this movie is that. The motiviations of the characters are all over the place; the biggest of these offenders is the character of Yusuke, the "best friend" of our main character. He initially "wins" his date, then bails on it and makes it seem as if he really wants to put Norimichi in the date. Yet when this reality comes to pass, he's upset and seems to long after a reality where he gets the girl. This is further confirmed later in the "alternate reality" nonsense fireworks segment. The movie is definitely beautiful, and it has a couple of moments I didn't hate, but it just seemed to me like someone watched a better film and tried to make their own adaptation of it. Oh, and the flat fireworks thing was really stupid and I never understood the reference.

Karo: What It Is:
Are they round? Are they flat? No, we arent talking about boobs.

What I Think:
Take like the most generic white-bread teen romance ever, throw in some arbitrary unexplained sci-fi elements, and add some lengthy romantic discussions about the fucking shape of pyrotechnic explosions and that is Fireworks in a nutshell.
The question isn't whether you should see Fireworks from the side or the bottom, it is whether you should see it at all.

Score: 50/100

Genny: This movie dares its viewers to ask the question "what if"... I'll gladly answer that call. What if the protagonist had even the semblance of a spine instead of being as fickle as fall foliage in a freak wind? What if the writers had bothered to give the deuteragonist any characterization beyond "Me like swim; me NO like move away"? What if, instead of wasting a fraction of the runtime on some inane discourse about the shape of fireworks, the titular alleged subject of the movie was actually relevant to the plot in some way rather than being used as an excuse for an ocular orgasm? What if a movie had no substance; could it get by on style alone? No it couldn't. Fireworks was nothing more than eye candy featuring the most generic cast of nothing characters I can recall in recent memory. You know a movie is going to be crap when the first scene (not counting the prologue) features your protagonist taking a crap (Shrek is the sole exception to this rule). You know a movie was crap when the best part is when the credits roll, but hey at least it gave us this bop: https://youtu.be/-tKVN2mAKRI

Red: A bunch of kids completely incapable of using google debate the physics of fireworks. Honestly, every character in this movie is generically generic. I dont care about any of the what ifs because Im never given much of a reason. Theres not much expansion on the plights of any of these characters, making the whole time rewind thing never seem as anything but selfish. They took what should have been an interesting concept and made it as boring as possible.

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https://i.imgtc.com/a6iBg1Y.jpg
Congrats to azuarc on being really good at predicting stuff