I finally got to see the movie “Paul” last nightby Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. I had heard from a couple of friends that it “wasn’t all that great”, so wasn’t expecting much. Remind me to disregard the opinions of others in future.”Paul” was one of the most entertaining, intelligent, clever films of the year for me. It will probably become known in years to come as the benchmark for hidden easter eggs in a movie. The list of in-jokes and references is hugeJaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Predator, Return of the Jedi, ET, Back to the Future the list goes on and on.
I can completely understand why some of my friends didn’t like “Paul” though, and I’ll say this plain and simple right nowif you go to church, or are at all touchy about your faith being questioned, laughed at, or ridiculed, do NOT watch this movie. Unless that is, you have have an open mind. Ah that’s a bit of a paradox, isn’t it.
One of the more memorable moments was perhaps when a religious guy raises his hands to the sky to thank the lord following a significant event (I’m not going to spoil the plot thatmuch), and the Alien swears in frustration and shakes his head in disbelief.
In some ways I’m surprised the various churches in the US didn’t campaign outside cinemas, hoping to persuade people not to watch the movie. Perhaps they weren’t intelligent enough to realise that wrapped up in the jokes, quotes and idiotic plot was a very prescient point being made about our origins, and the logical idiocy of believing in a two thousand year old collection of re-written books filled with morality tales