TCMBeginningmoviereview

New Line Cinema Presents, in association 
with Michael Bay, a Platnum Dunes/Next 
        Entertainment Production. A Vortex/Henkel/Hooper 
Production. Written by Sheldon Turner and David J. 
Schow. Music by Steve Jablonsky. Producers 
        include Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel. Directed by 
Jonathan Liebesman. Starring R. Lee Ermey, Jordana 
Brewster, Diora Baird and Andrew Bryniarski as 
"Leatherface."

It's got it's moments. I really liked the part where R. Lee Ermey's character becomes "Sheriff Hoyt." It's beautifully staged. The local law man (Lew Temple) stops by the old plantation home and tells ol' gray and gruff his brother bludgeoned the boss at the slaughterhouse. The two drive out that way and see Thomas (Andrew Bryniarski) walking down the road, chainsaw in tow. Temple steps out and tells the man who would become Leatherface to halt, while Ermey's ol' cuss palms a pump shotgun, steps out and blows the cop's head off. Then he assumes the badge. Ermey is the best part of this movie. His bulldog military bark always adds a bit more threat to the torture scenes. Otherwise, I thought the film was O.K. All the other actors did an adequate job. The director wasn't bad. The gore was obviously trimmed, but hopefully that will be restored for DVD. The score by Steve Jablonsky was excellent. But I thought the script could have used a bit more work. It's goal is to explain how all the crazy stuff which happened in the 2003 remake came about. They're on the right track. But my problem with the story was it all happened so fast. Everything happened in a 24 hour period. It's like the slaughterhouse closes shop, Thomas Hewitt gets relieved. Angry, he kills the boss and takes the company buzz saw. Ermey kills the sheriff and the family decides it's going to live off stray bikers and hippies. And the next thing you know Thomas is wearing some poor dude's face by nightfall. What the hell? There's not much more to it than that. No real explanation or insight into the Thomas Hewitt character. I think they should have worked in a few other scenes suggesting this story took place over a few months. I don't think anyone's going to go from killing the boss to wearing people's faces in a few hours. Ed Gein wouldn't even buy that. But the film is a lot of fun. There are a lot of tense scenes and humor. All the bit actors were good, including the "Tea Lady (Kathy Lamkin)" and "Old Monty (Terrence Evans)." I'm not sure where the future of this "Chainsaw" is headed. At a Fangoria convention panel discussion in early October in New Jersey, the producers said they thought about doing a sequel to this film involving the hitchhiker character from the 2003 remake. Could be interesting. This is a popular franchise, so I'm sure something will come along sooner or later. I'm hoping down the road a group of filmmakers decide to do another remake, but this one will very closely mirror the 1974 original -- the characters, the old farm house, even a Jim Siedow look-a-like and so on. And this one will attempt to show what the "Beginning" of that particular Leatherface legend was like.


		*The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:* *The Beginning*
		*The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:* *The Beginning*
		New Line Cinema Presents, in association with Michael Bay, a Platnum Dunes/Next Entertainment Production. A Vortex/Henkel/Hooper Production. Written by Sheldon Turner and David J. Schow. Music by Steve Jablonsky. Producers include Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. Starring R. Lee Ermey, Jordana Brewster, Diora Baird and Andrew Bryniarski as "Leatherface."
		By Stephen Pytak It's got it's moments. I really liked the part where R. Lee Ermey's character becomes "Sheriff Hoyt." It's beautifully staged. The local law man (Lew Temple) stops by the old plantation home and tells ol' gray and gruff his brother bludgeoned the boss at the slaughterhouse. The two drive out that way and see Thomas (Andrew Bryniarski) walking down the road, chainsaw in tow. Temple steps out and tells the man who would become Leatherface to halt, while Ermey's ol' cuss palms a pump shotgun, steps out and blows the cop's head off. Then he assumes the badge. Ermey is the best part of this movie. His bulldog military bark always adds a bit more threat to the torture scenes. Otherwise, I thought the film was O.K. All the other actors did an adequate job. The director wasn't bad. The gore was obviously trimmed, but hopefully that will be restored for DVD. The score by Steve Jablonsky was excellent. But I thought the script could have used a bit more work. It's goal is to explain how all the crazy stuff which happened in the 2003 remake came about. They're on the right track. But my problem with the story was it all happened so fast. Everything happened in a 24 hour period. It's like the slaughterhouse closes shop, Thomas Hewitt gets relieved. Angry, he kills the boss and takes the company buzz saw. Ermey kills the sheriff and the family decides it's going to live off stray bikers and hippies. And the next thing you know Thomas is wearing some poor dude's face by nightfall. What the hell? There's not much more to it than that. No real explanation or insight into the Thomas Hewitt character. I think they should have worked in a few other scenes suggesting this story took place over a few months. I don't think anyone's going to go from killing the boss to wearing people's faces in a few hours. Ed Gein wouldn't even buy that. But the film is a lot of fun. There are a lot of tense scenes and humor. All the bit actors were good, including the "Tea Lady (Kathy Lamkin)" and "Old Monty (Terrence Evans)." I'm not sure where the future of this "Chainsaw" is headed. At a Fangoria convention panel discussion in early October in New Jersey, the producers said they thought about doing a sequel to this film involving the hitchhiker character from the 2003 remake. Could be interesting. This is a popular franchise, so I'm sure something will come along sooner or later. I'm hoping down the road a group of filmmakers decide to do another remake, but this one will very closely mirror the 1974 original -- the characters, the old farm house, even a Jim Siedow look-a-like and so on. And this one will attempt to show what the "Beginning" of that particular Leatherface legend was like.
"Copyright 2006 by Stephen Pytak.