As good as Empire of the Sun (1987) was, is, it failed at the box office despite being a masterpiece. His franchise films, the Indiana Jones films were huge hits, but his personal films were failing. Always (1989) had some lovely moments in it, Holly Hunter was sublime, especially in her portrayal of grief, but never caught on with either audiences or critics, so Spielberg was in need of a hit. I was not a fan of The Color Purple (1985) which had a zip-a-dee-doo-dah feel to it, washing away the anger and rage that was in the book. Mind you, Spielberg had struggled in the few years previous. For months I had been looking forward to seeing this film because it was Spielberg, with Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, and Dustin Hoffman, a killer cast with a world class director. I love the work of Steven Spielberg, but I hated Hook, on a level even I do not fully understand, for so many logical reasons I cannot quite believe the depth of my anger, of my hatred for this noisy, terrible film. He has never played it safe he has always taken risks. His evolution into that was thrilling to watch, but even more interesting was the fact he continued to grow, to evolve after great success, after the Academy Awards. Steven Spielberg is to me, among the greatest filmmakers in the history of the cinema, easily the finest storyteller. Cluttered, noisy, pointless, with no story, just a mess unlike anything he has made, before or since. The man has not made many weak films, but Hook is atrocious, a car wreck of a movie. Hook represents to me the worst film of Steven Spielberg’s impressive career. When the film was over I felt nothing but relief, but oddly could not move from my seat. During the first press screening of Hook (1991) I remember spending a great deal of the time shaking my head in disgust.
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