I really wanted to like this movie. I mean Abel Ferrara shooting a William Gibson story with Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe? That sounds awesome!
Just five minutes in however I knew that "New Rose Hotel" was not going to be a good film. By the 20 minute mark, I had come to realize that it wasn't just not good, it is actually a really bad film trying hard to look smart. After that, the only thing that kept me watching was a sort of morbid curiosity. Like how much worse it could it possibly get? Well my lord does it all come together into an astoundingly mess.
First off, the writing is simply inexcusable. The intro scene in the apartment in particular has really stilted dialog and is basically just Christopher Walken telling us: here's the world, here's who I am, and here's the plot of this here film. How do you manage to shoot such a horrible scene with Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe!
The sets and clothing would feel more at home in a 90s sitcom than in a cyberpunk film. It all feels cheap, and not in a enduring way either: cheap filming, cheap editing, cheap acting, cheap effects, cheap writing. A video of Christopher Walken in a bathrobe reading the original Gibson story would be way better than this.
I love trash 90s films but this one has not held up well. Not that it was ever a good film. "New Rose Hotel" would have been bad even it were just a 90s made TV movie shot by a nobody with no-name actors. But the fact that this film has so much potential yet is such an incompetent and boring mess cements this as perhaps the greatest waste I've come across in recent memory. Only watch this if you are a film student who wants to learn what not to do in a movie.
Just five minutes in however I knew that "New Rose Hotel" was not going to be a good film. By the 20 minute mark, I had come to realize that it wasn't just not good, it is actually a really bad film trying hard to look smart. After that, the only thing that kept me watching was a sort of morbid curiosity. Like how much worse it could it possibly get? Well my lord does it all come together into an astoundingly mess.
First off, the writing is simply inexcusable. The intro scene in the apartment in particular has really stilted dialog and is basically just Christopher Walken telling us: here's the world, here's who I am, and here's the plot of this here film. How do you manage to shoot such a horrible scene with Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe!
The sets and clothing would feel more at home in a 90s sitcom than in a cyberpunk film. It all feels cheap, and not in a enduring way either: cheap filming, cheap editing, cheap acting, cheap effects, cheap writing. A video of Christopher Walken in a bathrobe reading the original Gibson story would be way better than this.
I love trash 90s films but this one has not held up well. Not that it was ever a good film. "New Rose Hotel" would have been bad even it were just a 90s made TV movie shot by a nobody with no-name actors. But the fact that this film has so much potential yet is such an incompetent and boring mess cements this as perhaps the greatest waste I've come across in recent memory. Only watch this if you are a film student who wants to learn what not to do in a movie.