Bad Blood: How many film references did you catch?
Monday, May 18, 2015 at 9:19AM Manuel, PhD here (it's official as of yesterday people!) and while I should bring you some high brow news to commemorate the occasion - maybe about Cannes or the feminist box office weekend we had - I want to chat about Taylor Swift's Bad Blood video instead. I mean, the credits read "A Joseph Kahn film" so we should obviously pencil it in for Best Animated Live Action Short Film, yes? After plenty of Sin City-style posters, we finally got to see the full video last night at the Billboard Music Awards (which also featured a bunch of dancing Umas!):
It's a smorgasbord of filmic references: Tron bikes! Hunger Games-ey costumes! Leeloo-lookalikes! Academy Award nominee Hailee Stanfield! Minority Report-esque art direction! Sucker Punch-ean lineup! Mad Max: Fury Road color palette finish! Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet echoes!
I'm sure I missed plenty, but I'm also curious to see if I was the only one who kept thinking of that amazing Battlestar Galactica episode ("Unfinished Business") during those boxing scenes? And more importantly, do you agree that bandaids don't fix bullet holes?
(the video is after the jump because it likes to just start playing randomly)
Reader Comments (16)
Hailee Stanfield + Tron = Where is Jeff Bridges.
Band-aids? Kids these day have no idea how good they have it, back in my day my dad would have told be to go out and rub some dirt on my bullet holes and man up :(
Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element, costume-wise
Tomb Raider braid!
I've never been a big Hailee Steinfeld fan but LOVE the way she's used here in annual triplicate
My favourite shot is the triple Steinfeld lip-syncing the lyrics. I'm not actually a fan of the video, mostly because I hate the version of the song that they've used where they've taken out two - TWO! - verses and replaced them with a terrible rap from that guy that apparently is very famous. Ugh.
What a weird video - feels like there are so many slow-mo glamour shots introducing new characters that they never get to actually do anything. Is it weird that I expected more action, or at least incident?
Leading ladies of Law & Order SVU! Grey's Anatomy!
I just didn't understand the video... she teased the video all week with character posters, I'm expecting a full on short film. And all it is...is another teaser basically? ALL of these star cameos just for them to each lip sync a line and peace out? It was just weird lol.
Glenn, don't diss Kendrick! He's one of the most critically acclaimed rappers right now. Not saying I enjoy the raps either, but I just don't think him and Taylor really mesh...like at all. Their love for each other is cute, though.
I think Bad Blood is a pretty weak song on its own so I don't mind the Kendrick Lamar verses.
It would have been nice to get some interaction or dialogue to make it like 15 minute short rather than just a bunch of cameos. Taylor looks great with red hair though.
Congrats, Manuel!
Liked the Matrix Reloaded homage in the first set piece, especially with Taylor Swift as Trinity falling back first out the window
I ain't going to bother watching the video. I saw a bit of it last night. It's stupid. Besides, Taylor Swift is an overrated, over-praised, and over-hyped girl who can't sing for shit.
The Kendrick Lamar collaboration is unexpected, but I like it. I agree that the video feels like a teaser, I spent the whole time wondering when the story would kick in, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the visuals.
The video: Even if she expanded this, MAN is this a miss. Instead of Taylor Swift using her "biggest pop star in the world" resources to mount a big 15-minute video of three or four Gotham women killing Joker, it's just a sci-fi video. I know Batman's overexposed too, but here's the idea:
Taylor Swift as Harley. (Her persona has shifted so far away from Band Geek in the right ways that this seems oddly appropriate now in a way it wouldn't even three years ago, plus this is HER music video.)
Christina Hendricks as Ivy. (Every Batman fan has wanted to see this since the debut of Mad Men and I certainly think it couldn't be worse than the last time Ivy had a major bow and her time's kind of running out for doing this.)
Mae Whitman as Jenna Duffy aka The Carpenter. (WHAT? If anyone were thinking of including this character in a Batman movie, you'd be looking for people along this line.)
? As Joker.
This is awful.
Well, that's such a waste of talents, if that's actually the real thing.
It feels more like a trailer of a bigger and better movie, but eventually falls short.
Would have been better if Taylor used only one or two co-stars and use them effectively, just like Gaga with Beyonce in Telephone IMO.
@Volvagia: you missed an opportunity there, just use Jared Leto as Joker, in order to widen the already vast and confusing superhero universe.
I like the song, but the video fell kind of flat for me despite the references. It just seemed like "how many big names can i squeeze in one video?"