BY CONNOR BORTZ
As the previews for the new comedy The Interview, starring the famous duo of James Franco and Seth Rogen, started making their way out to the public, I was more than excited.
These two have acted together in many films, including Pineapple Express and This Is The End.
This movie, however, seems to be their most controversial film thus far, as North Korean activists allegedly hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment on November 24, 2014 and threatened movie theaters across the country if they were to show the film.
This raised the question of why North Korea would go so far as to hack Sony, share private files of the company, and threaten the U.S. over a movie that has yet to be released.
Like most Americans, I was pretty upset that the movie would not be shown in any way, shape, or form as of December 17. Even President Obama said Sony “made a mistake” by deciding not to release the film.
Sony adhered to the wishes of the public and the President, and released the film on the scheduled December 25 date in select theaters and on online sources such as Google Play, YouTube, and Xbox Video.
Sony, which invested $75 million to make the movie, had no way of making any of it back without releasing the film. But, upon its release and as of January 7, the film has gotten approximately $36 million in revenue: $31 million from online sources and $5 million from theaters, according to GameSpot.
As soon as I saw that the movie came out on Christmas Day, I rented the film on Google Play and sat down to enjoy comedy genius. I noticed three things about the movie right away: 1) It lived up to its high expectations of being hilarious. 2) James Franco and Seth Rogen should win an Oscar…together. 3) I see why North Korea didn’t want this movie released.
The film took Kim Jong Un– who they all admire greatly and who they consider a messenger from God — and made him into this idiotic psychopath who wants to live up to his father’s expectations (and will blow up the world to do so).
To make sure I don’t ruin the movie for anyone, I will avoid talking about the plot itself and more about the overarching ideas behind it.
I loved the hilarity of the film, and it was obviously meant to be a comedic approach to North Korean leadership and how they’ve lied to the world about what goes on there. The irony of it all is that, in the film, Kim Jong Un invited Dave Skylark (James Franco) to come to North Korea to interview him with a list of scripted questions hand-picked by Un.
When Skylark chooses to alter the questions to ask about the world hunger and poverty that haunt North Korea, the whole country–and the world–sees Un cry. Once he cries, his elevated status is taken and he is again seen as a mortal by his people.
Overall Review
It was a humorous film filled with corny jokes and hysterical action, but this story had a plot line, which to me sets it apart from what comedies usually seem to be: a funny sequence of events where nothing really happens or changes in the end. The fact that this was also a modern issue is just icing on the cake from a plot standpoint.
Should Sony have released the film (in my opinion)?
Yes, I believe they should’ve, and I think it was smart the way they did it. It was not worth releasing in theaters nationwide because of the threat posed by the hackers. We have no way of knowing if these were empty threats, but it was better safe than sorry, especially when it comes to the safety of Americans.
But I see this release as a win-win. Sony is on their way to making back most of the money that it cost them to make the film (as opposed to losing $70 million by not releasing the film) and America, as George W. Bush would say, does not negotiate with terrorists.
