Call him a hack. Call him the anti-Christ of cinema. Call him a golden god. Call him what you want. You are now a pawn in the hands of Dr. Uwe Boll. One of the most hated filmmakers in the last twenty years, Uwe Boll is a name notorious with both film fans and gamers throughout the world. He even has an online petition out that he claims if 1,000,000 people sign it, he will quit the film business altogether. He also has a strong cult following with their own pro-Boll petition as well. Whatever you think of his films (and as I write this, I have seen only fifteen minutes of the good doctor's work), it is completely irrelevant. Dr. Uwe Boll is a genius.How can I say this when I've not watched a complete film that he has made? Or that he hasn't had a film score higher than 3/10 stars, as rated by the users of the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)? Or that he is simply one of the most cocky filmmakers on the planet? Because, all of this attention that he has recieved, good or bad, has come from all of you. The monster is loose and you created it.
I have no opinion of Dr. Boll, a title that he actually earned with a doctorate degree in literature. I have friends that hate the man for who he is and what he stands for. I have friends who think his work is mediocre at best. I've not met a person in real life that thinks he is brilliant as a filmmaker, but I have read many threads on internet forums with people making sound, rational arguments in favor of the man.
This reviled filmmaker, who came to the U.S. from Germany, where his films were equally panned, reminds me a lot of the mad genius that was Edward D. Wood Jr., whose films like Plan 9 From Outer Space, Bride of the Monster, and Glen or Glenda, were also panned by the critics and audiences alike. Boll seems to suffer from the same sunny outlook on life that Wood had back in the 1950s and 60s, when he made his most famous work. If one person said one positive thing about his work, even if it was about costumes, then Wood declared it a success. Now, decades later and thanks to Tim Burton's cult hit Ed Wood with Johnny Depp in the titular role, Wood is celebrated as a misunderstood genius and a maverick filmmaker. Now, Wood's films are a bit shit, but they are a hell of a lot of fun. It is possible that generations from now could be saying the same thing about Boll.
A lot of criticism comes from the gaming community, as he has made a number of films based on video games - House Of The Dead, Alone In The Dark, and most notably BloodRayne and its sequel and the upcoming Postal, the only film to outright challenge this week's definite box office winner, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
More criticism comes from critics who find the premise and content of Postal, which is a satire of the war on terror with numerous references to the 9/11 attacks (which includes a scene of the hijackers discussing the virgins they will meet in the afterlife) and the relationship between President Bush and Osama Bin Laden. He has drawn criticism from PETA due to scenes involving monkeys and Verne Troyer (which is all you need to know) and a creative use of a cat as a silencer for a gun. The piss-take here is that Boll is a member of PETA.
And the other source of criticism is from those who just say his films are simply not good.
Whatever you think of the man, you cannot stop him. First of all, the first amendment to the constitution gives him the right to say and do whatever he wants in his films and in life within the confines of the law. Secondly, as the old saying goes, "There's no such thing as bad press." And that is the truth. Whether or not you like the man is irrelevant. All of your petitions and forum bashings and diatribes (and equally all the praise he gets, which he does get) gets his name out there. He is extremely well known now. Sources like G4 and Fox News are giving him airtime to promote his films. He has YouTube videos that are watched and posted all throughout the net. And it's all because of you. You are literally trying to put out a forest fire by drowning in gasoline.
I have not yet seen Postal, but I know I will. It is not high on my priorities list and it will probably be on DVD when I see it, but I will. And I know full well what I am getting into. I know it's two hours of juvenile, crude humor that's lower than the levels of trash king John Waters (who I love) and Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I know the laughs will come and they will be more unintentional rather than the ones Boll intended. I even know that there is a chance that the film will offend me, which will be an actual refreshing change, cause at least it will be more of a reaction than most of the films I have seen in the last few years.
Regardless of it all, I applaud Dr. Boll for making something like Postal. It is the ultimate "fuck you" to Hollywood and the studio systems, to critics, to the U.S. government, to an un-winnable war, and to those who are unwilling to just sit down and laugh at a dirty, crude, but possible hilarious film.
Now, I understand that few will be swayed over to the pro-Boll side by my words, and that's now why I am writing this. I am not defending the man as a fan. I'm not and probably will never be a fan of his work. I am a fan of the man himself, though. Uwe Boll does what he wants and loves what he does. He goes outside the U.S. studio system and makes the films he wants to make. He is his own key audience member. Which means, he does not bow to studio pressure and has the final word and final cut of what his films will be. Anyone with more than a passing interest in cinema has got to champion the guy for that, cause not even guys like Martin Scorsese can truly say that.
And the more you bitch, the longer Boll will continue to do what he does. There is an old cliche that says, "It is better to burn out than to fade away." Well, I don't know how long it will take Boll to burn out. The man has at least four projects in some form of production right now. He's made four films in the last two years. He's got a stamina that will outlast guys like Spielberg. If you want to hit him where it hurts, and I don't mean not going to see his films, because audiences have been not seeing his films in droves since he made his first film. But, if you really want to hit Uwe Boll where it hurts, then you have to stop talking about him. You have to stop calling him names and bitching about his films and creating petitions and everything else it is you do to spite the man. Just ignore him. Don't try to stop him, don't flame him on the net (all of you armchair directors who will never have a film resume longer than Bolls, even if you started now), and don't create anything against him that will just result in him getting more press time.
He doesn't care if you like him, he just likes people talking about him. You have fallen into his trap and that is the true evil genius of Dr. Uwe Boll.
