Sir Ridley Scott is one of my favorite directors. He is the master stylish visualist of his generation. He's behind ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, GLADIATOR, LEGEND, BLACK RAIN, you name it.
He was career was in the toilet before GLADIATOR won Oscars and slayed the box-office. Afterwards, he either delivered critical-liked (MATCHSTICK MEN, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN) or profitable (HANNIBAL), but at least he was a major player again in Hollywood.
Yet, now I fear that he's making the same generic shit that fucked his career in the first place. While KINGDOM OF HEAVEN got re-cut from being a great movie into that of a mediocre GLADIATOR-clone, and lost money in theaters, at least the movie did good enough on DVD in the Director's Cut, with great praise, to at least redeem the effort.
THE GOOD YEAR doesn't. With GLADIATOR lead Russell Crowe, Ridley Scott, I guess, sought to make a pleasing little romantic comedy in the vineyards of France. The problem when talented filmmakers intentionally seek to produce generic efforts, we they deliver. Francis Ford Coppola with ONE FROM THE HEART, and now this.
I do hope that AMERICAN GANGSTER next year, with Crowe(again) and Denzel Washington in a true story-based crime saga of 1970s Harlem, Ridley Scott makes a comeback from this average flick.
Really, from a Ridley Scott fan, A GOOD YEAR is Ridley's worst since G.I. JANE.
