21

It isn't the blood and the violence that makes me avoid vampire flicks. Something more subtle, that seems to occur in nearly every vampire movie, hits me in the stomach harder than any bloody throat-sucking action. What gives me the Danny Gut is when one of the supporting cast invites the vampire to turn them into an undead so they can enjoy an immortal existence.

You've seen the scene: some hot chick or good-looking guy realizes that if they become vampires, they too can live out a youthful existance forever. So they cozy up to the vampire, tell him or her the plan and then stretch out their necks for the inevitable.

It makes me wanna vomit.

I think my strong reaction comes from the idea that one would embrace evil for his or her own personal gain. Someone would recognize that an eternal existence will demand they inflict harm and violence on another, but selfishly agree to it anyway in order to stay young forever.

It's not just vampire flicks that repulse me. I recall reading an X-Men comic years and years ago, and being upset for days that good-guy mutant Caliban agreed to work for mega-evil Apocalypse on the condition Caliban would be granted more strength and power. It still makes me puke-y to think about it.




I felt that same feeling while watching 21.




Seeing lead Ben Campbell (played wonderfully by Jim Sturgess) walk away from his geeky friends and embrace the efforts of the MIT Blackjack Team simply to get close to a pretty woman and to make himself tons of cash was disturbing. So much so, I couldn't like the guy. Likable in every other way--he was brilliant, charming and naive--his decision to sell out his values for the chance to get laid and make some dough caused such angst for me I wanted to movie to end quickly.

Other than that, 21 was a pretty entertaining flick!