Winged Creatures (2009)

So much average

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Most films that are split into separate parts and tell a story in pieces, come together at the end. All the characters converge, culminating in a terrific ending, but Fragments was different, in that all the characters were together in the opening sequence, and then the film splits into individual stories. The story is centered around a group of people in a diner, when a shooter comes in an opens fire. Following the shooting, we see how each person reacts and how their lives are changed by what happened. It sounds like a very good story and that's exactly why I rented it, however the reverse order of the film makes it somewhat anti-climatic. All the interesting stuff happens in the beginning of the film and what follows, just gets slower, stranger, and somewhat less interesting. The film really doesn't have a single person that you can put the label of star on, but as far as performances go, Forrest Whitaker easily gives the strongest one. Whitaker does almost exclusively independent films and is always overlooked because of it, but this man can honestly play any role and in my eyes is among the elite in Hollywood. On the reverse side, Dakota Fanning's character almost completely destroys this film. After what happened, this little girl finds God and starts preaching to the masses. I'm all for anything that gives people hope and makes their lives better, but when anyone, even a character in a movie, starts preaching to anyone who will listen, it gets very old, very quickly. Fragments is not a bad film, just an unusual one. With the story they had, following the traditional format would have been impossible, but that doesn't mean that this was the way to go. What started out as a terrific film, quickly turned into something that was nearly unwatchable.

I figured with an all star cast I would have enjoyed this more. I thought this was a dark movie worthy of nursing a hangover with bloody Mary's on a Tuesday morning. I don't get why Forest Whitaker gets acting roles. He cannot act his way out of a high school play. No offense, I am sure I offended those who think he is diverse. I really felt like I was going to be depressed the rest of the day and then the booze kicked in. This movie was full of sporadic clues into the story line but it was one of those that you wait until the end only because you are not sure of whether you wasted time or it was a good choice. Well, I want my 90 minutes back. The ending was just as good as the beginning. it's worth watching if you like being sad. But hey, I am no critic I just have an opinion.

I love ensemble movies with intertwined plots. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Crash' (even though it was heavily flawed), really liked 'Babel' and 'The Hours', 'Happy Endings' and 'Magnolia' are among my favourites. Even though 'Winged Creatures' (a.k.a. 'Fragments') does not reach the level of the aforementioned movies, it was an interesting watch (better than 'Powder Blue'). The link between the characters' lives is shown in the very first sequence and the stories follow thereafter.'Winged Creatures' is a very subtle film. This is both a strength and weakness. There are certain actions that the characters commit the reason of which is understood by the end. However, some of them seem a little too far-fetched and hard to believe. For example, why is Laraby checking up the side-effects of medicines on the Internet when he's an accomplished doctors? Even for someone who's affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (a key theme in the movie), this is a little too out there. It would have been more convincing if the story was more developed and the viewer was allowed to see Laraby's inner struggle. Guy Pearce does a good job. In a small role, Embth Davidtz makes her presence felt.The Kate Beckinsale track is quite well-handled. There's a sequence in the film where one can register the disappointment on her face after she was about to answer the reporters' questions when they immediately switch to the family of the dead guy who just walked out of the hospital. This hints Carla's struggle for attention which leads to her promiscuous behaviour and to a form of Munchausen's syndrome such that she deliberately starves her child for the doctor's attention. Beckinsale delivers a first rate performance.Jimmy and Anne were two teenagers who were witnesses of the shootout in which Anne's father was murdered. Here there is an uneven balance between drama and subtlety. I found Anne's sudden religious devotion and Jimmy taking the gun to the crime scene (to threaten Anne?) hardly believable and her mother is the typical mom while Jimmy's father is the typical dad who hates shrinks. Jackie Earle Haley and Jeanne Tripplehorn are strictly okay. Dakota Fanning is wooden except in the final scene where she plays by the formula. Troy Garrity is good but the real star here is Josh Hutcherson who draws the viewer with Jimmy's restraint and mental anguish.Charlie's storyline is poorly presented. I found the gambling scenes to be repetitive. The scenes of his daughter and the detective could have easily been left out. The prostitute scene was a cliché that has been repeated since 'Leaving Las Vegas'. Forest Whitaker is alright. Jennifer Hudson is forgettable. Marshall Allman shines.After the shooting sequence, 'Winged Creatures' initially moves at a sluggish pace. At times , it feels too fragmented because of lack of story development. The execution is pretty ordinary, if anything. The cinematography is flat. The soundtrack is far from outstanding. The film could have used some more editing. Give then plusses and minusses, it is a movie at least worth a one-time watch.

First I am a bit upset with the way this movie is marketed. I saw it on DVD, called "Fragments", but had trouble finding it on the IMDb, because it is called "Winged Creatures." Why, I wonder?? On the positive, it has a really good cast and each one of them does a superb job. I will single out two.Kate Beckinsale is almost unrecognizable as Carla Davenport who takes orders and serves food at this L.A. area diner. She is blonde, and perhaps too stereotypical plays a slightly dimwitted person with a southern accent, I guess what is expected of the type that works in a diner. But given those faults she does it well, playing a lonely young lady with a small child and a hope that the dashing young doctor will be her knight.Dakota Fanning is Anne Hagen, who after the tragedy, the shooting in the diner, turns to religion and prayer, even though she had not been a church goer.The senseless shooting (well, I suppose all shootings are senseless) has a profound impact on those who were there that morning, which left several dead, including the shooter who turned the gun on himself. We only see a little bit of it in the opening scenes, but as the movie develops we see more and more of what actually happened, in a sort of flashback form.But when the "big payoff" came near the end, I was disappointed. Is that what all the build-up was about? I felt cheated. I was waiting for something with more depth, more profound, but didn't get it.I enjoyed it for the acting, and the interesting story, but overall it is just a "hit and miss" movie.MAJOR SPOILERS: One man (Whitaker) was already terminally ill with cancer, the shooting incident and a comment at the hospital about being "lucky" sent him off gambling, with some success. The young boy (Hutcherson) became silent, he would not speak to anyone, while the girl (Fanning) was very outspoken about the power of prayer. Her dad was one of those killed. But the very last scenes made it clear her dad was not a hero as she had claimed, but actually sat there and peed in his pants right before he was killed. She had told the boy to never say a word about it. For me all that was a bogus way to tie everything up.