Incident at Loch Ness
By paranominal
Published: December 2, 2009
Tagged with: Amazon, Clever Ruse, Director Werner Herzog, Fakery, German Director, Hollywood, Hollywood Screenwriter, Incident At Loch Ness, Loch Ness, Master Stroke, monster, Reality Ends, scotland, Werner Herzog, Zak Penn
Never have I seen a film so painfully unenjoyable as *Incident at Loch Ness,* and I say this as a fan of Werner Herzog’s oeuvre. *Aguirre, the Wrath of God* and *The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser are magisterial works, and Herzog’s performance in Harmony Korine’s Julien Donkey-boy is mesmerizing.
But this film, I’m afraid to say, is an unendurable bore. Overwhelmed by its rather maladroit attempt at postmodern cheekiness, obvious in its staging, derivative in its conceit, this film I turned off right at the point, some thirty minutes into the film, when a bizarre — and, for someone of Herzog’s stature, embarrassing — stab at some sort of sophomoric humor involving a Bikini Team bimbo occured.
I have not the slightest idea how or why Herzog came to involve himself in this debacle, but, I have to say, it was quite sad to see his trading on his fame this way.
Therefore, if you know little about Herzog and his films, but are interested in knowing more, see *Grizzly Man,* see *The Burden of Dreams,* see *My Best Fiend,* and, for heaven’s sake, stay far, far away from *Incident at Loch Ness,* lest you form a low opinion of an otherwise brilliant filmmaker.
Rating: 1 / 5
I had no expectations going in, save the notes on the DVD case. I knew going in it was a mockumentary.
However… I’m now reading reviews of it that indicate that it’s funny. I just got done watching it, and, much like Herzog himself towards the end, I feel “empty.” I don’t know if I missed a plotline somewhere, or didn’t get the joke, but it just wasn’t funny. To me, this was a flat, flat film that went nowhere. I doubt it was even credible enough for me to trick my more gullible friends into watching it under the pretense of it being a documentary.
I really can’t imagine why anyone, short of rabid fans of the folks in the film, would want to watch this…
Rating: 1 / 5
Werner Herzog always will go down as one of the most enthusiastic directors of our time as a man who consistently sought/brought new images to the consciousness of cinema. As such I personally consider him a saviour through which I can vicariously enjoy the act of creation. With all that said, this mockumentary is an absolute travesty to behold. Herzog of all people is the least suitable (genuine) person I can think who would want to be made a caricature of and mocked. His work is so vastly his own art that I just cannot understand why he would participate in something like this which then trivializes him by making him the crazy fool. If one can imagine Roberto Benigni dressing up as Bozo the Clown and going through the sets/locations he used for La Vita e Bella, all the while making jokes and being filmed, then you have accurately gauged how ‘Incident at Loch Ness’ portrays Herzog.
Grandiose analogy aside, in the past Herzog has made light of himself, for example, by eating his shoe when he lost a bet to a friend. He subsequently lamented on film at having being put into that situation by his own grandeur of character. Even then Herzog was able to use that as a spearpoint to hurl about some inspiring cinematic ideas; in this there is nothing that comes close to being even atlatl in that regard. Furthermore there is also nothing new ‘Incident at Loch Ness’ brings to the ‘field’ of mockumentaries either; it neither invented the ‘genre’ nor re-invented it in any way than in pure amounts of trite.
Avoid this in any way possible as the death screams of Herzog being torn apart by this bear of a picture is a most unpleasant thing to have to waste time in witnessing.
Rating: 1 / 5
I’ve enjoyed a lot of Werner Herzog’s films which may be the problem I had with this film.
INCIDENT is a fake documentary following the making of Herzog making a documentary on the Loch Ness Monster.
The problem I had was it just isn’t that funny. A lot of it (especially the crew and the matching jumpsuits) was very similar to the much better LIFE AQUATIC.
I would have rather either seen a real Herzog documentary on the Loch Ness monster, or a real documentary on Herzog. This film proves that it is very hard to make fake reality programming. It just doesn’t work.
The DVD though is kind of fun, with all sorts of extras. If you do pick it up, be sure to look for all the Easter Eggs in the Extras section of the DVD.
Rating: 2 / 5
This film cleverly comments on myth and also specifically perpetuates the myth of the Loch Ness Monster. Granted, it does this in a way that demands the viewer to almost humor the movie and give it props for trying. I found that none of the gags were ever quite funny enough and the acting was often not good enough to pull the wool over my eyes.
What I will say having been a Loch Ness Monster fan as a child, was that the fairly anti-climatic climax of the film where the creature attacks the crew was fun. Not anywhere near as kick ass as Jaws though. We never really get to see the Loch Ness Monster in this film. This is a sad thing as this film certainly didn’t have enough laughs or acting to carry itself, and you just feel let down when the film ends. A retarded CGI of the beast would have made it all better! Two people drown but we don’t believe it anyway. We really don’t care. What did the movie accomplish? I am not sure.
Rating: 2 / 5