Freddy vs. Jason

Starring: Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger, Monica Keena, Jason Ritter, Kelly Rowland, Chris Marquette, Brendan Fletcher, Katharine Isabelle
Directed by: Ronny Yu
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2003

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The residents of Elm Street have forgotten all about Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). This causes Freddy to lose his strength and power. He needs the teenagers there to be afraid again, so he resurrects Jason (Ken Kirzinger) from Hell. Jason causes death and destruction, but proves harder to control than Freddy imagined.

Review:
Tim: Before we get into anything about the quality of this movie (and not surprisingly, it kind of sucks), I want to show some appreciation. Regardless of the end result, I love that this movie got made. It took two horror movie icons who appeared in 17 total films (I'm counting the first Friday the 13th movie, even though Jason wasn't really "in" it) and brought them together for the first time. That is awesome. Seeing Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees on the screen at the same time was amazing and fun. I could get criticized for the comparison, but we're talking De Niro-Pacino in Heat. This was huge for horror movie fans.

This film underwent a stunning amount of different scripts, rewrites, different takes and opinions. Some of that shows, but for the most part, they did a good job with the story. It made sense to have Freddy be the one pulling the strings (the brains) and Jason to be more of the unstoppable force (the brawn). This was cool to see.

The Freddy-Jason fight sequences were pretty good. They weren't spectacular, but the film did a good job of showcasing each of their talents, as well as some of their weaknesses. The film went out of the way to make sure the fights were as even as possible. Many people probably have wondered who would win in a fight between these two- the answer seems to be that they are basically 99.9% even. I understand not wanting to anger either franchise's biggest fans, but I also felt like this was a bit of a cop out. Still, Jason and Freddy hammering each other relentlessly was legitimately cool to watch.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the film is that there's almost no real character development for our would-be victims. This is no surprise as both franchises have struggled with this mightily. I thought most of the actors and actresses were completely forgettable, and their stories meant little to nothing to me. They weren't memorable in the least. Perhaps the lone exception is Jason Ritter- I thought he gave a very good performance, considering the situation. He was probably my favorite actor in the film.

In a film like this, there's just so much that can be criticized. Logic holes were prevalent (some were massive), and we have the typical people acting in completely absurd, unrealistic manners. The acting is mostly bad, and the whole thing is a bit silly. I didn't love much of this film.

While I wish the ultimate battle between Freddy and Jason would have been a bit more memorable, I admit that this film did enough so that I wasn't horribly disappointed. The writers knew that the bulk of the film needed to be spent exploring these two horror icons, and watching them go toe-to-toe. This movie delivers that, and for that reason, I'm appreciative.

Unfortunately, Freddy vs. Jason isn't a good movie, as it suffers from the combined weaknesses of two franchises long past their prime. I loved it in theory, and wasn't horribly disappointed in reality. That might be a pretty good thing, in the end.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th: Part 2, Friday the 13th: Part 3, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning