Critical View

I read reviews. I read reviews written by critics. I read reviews written by friends. For a while, I even considered writing my own reviews. I decided against this for a few reasons but only one really sticks out. I don't want to experience everything in life with a critical eye or ear.

Sometime while I was in college I began to lose something. That something was the ability to just enjoy a work. My audio class taught me not to just listen to music but to break it down piece by piece and analyze it. My video classes taught me to pay attention to things like framing and art direction. The skills I had learned from those classes began to spill into other aspects of my life, mainly the way I experience a video game.



In ways, these skills are good. Knowing what to look for to make something good has allowed me to be better able to create my own works. Knowing these things has allowed me to enjoy the works that I experience in a way that most people don't. My critical eye doesn't just see LIMBO as a boy solving puzzles; I see a world torn to bits by chaos and turmoil. My trained ear notices little subtleties in music that most people will never hear. When I saw Toy Story 3, I noticed and even looked for Woody's right arm to be a little bit bigger than his left arm because of an event that happened in Toy Story 2 (in case you're wondering, it is).

However, this also leads down a path of not being able to enjoy a perfectly enjoyable movie simply because it has little flaws. Instead of picking a movie or video game apart, I want to ask myself "was my experience enjoyable?"

I've been extremely critical, lately, of a certain video game franchise: Call of Duty. The first one that I played was Call of Duty 2 for Xbox 360. I love that game. I played it for hours. I even paid to rent it for a second rental period to be able to play it again. I never did buy it, though, mostly because I couldn't afford it. I bought both Modern Warfare and World at World shortly after their release. This is when I started to become critical of the series. Believe me, there's plenty to hate. But if I ask myself the above question and stop focusing on the things that are bad about it, I'd probably enjoy it way more than I do.

I've read some pretty unflattering things about The Green Hornet. Most of those things being that the story is ill paced and not well thought out. I haven't seen the film, yet. I imagine that 'plot' is not at the top of the list of things the film makers were shooting for. Of course, no one wants a bad plot. But sometimes the plot takes a back seat to other things like explosions, humor, flashing lights, explosions, fast cars, buildings toppling over, explosions, and explosions.

Take CopOut for example. I just watched this movie last night. It was great. The story was unique in a weird way, but it could have been just about anything and that would not have made the experience any less enjoyable. There were plenty of gun fights, lots of Kevin Smith humor, and far out moments to make the film enjoyable. The film didn't do anything to push any sort of envelope. The framing was what you'd expect, the sound was what you'd expect. It was still enjoyable.

Super Mario Bros. has been the same story for 25 years. Bowser kidnaps Peach, Mario travels odd looking worlds to save her, repeat.Yet each game (with very few exceptions) manages to be even more incredible than the last. Even games that a very minimal amount of effort was put into (New Super Mario Bros. Wii) are fantastic because they're enjoyable.

Focusing to much on the little things done right can also be bad. When I noticed Woody's arm, I was excited to see that Pixar took the time to include that little detail. But if I would have dwelled on that one thing for too long, I would have missed a lot of other little things that Pixar included to make the film better.

I don't want to stop seeing things from a critical point of view. Seeing things like poor shot composition and hearing lazy melodies makes me better at the things I do and hope to do. But obsessing over it means I might miss out on enjoying a great piece of work. I am going, and I also want everyone reading this, to try to enjoy life. If you want to try and spot things, both good and bad, try playing the game through one time and then look at what's right and wrong on a second play through. Listen to the CD and sing along once before you go through and pick apart the guitar solo. And if you're an average Joe who just floats along and doesn't care, I want to encourage you to pay a little more attention the hard work put into the things you enjoy, but not too much.

That's why I have decided that reviewing films, music, video games, or whatever isn't really that I want to do in my writing. That doesn't mean that I won't review a few things now and again. I just wont be making a habit out of it.