Travers writes feature film reviews ranging from 500 to 1000+ words. His reviews are sometimes short and direct like his 1987 Spaceballs review, while others such as The Dark Knight are intensely descriptive and full of critical analysis. He chooses to review a variety of genres including comedy, horror, drama, action, sci-fi, and thriller.
Travers leads his reviews with a very short paragraph, normally 3-4 sentences tops. The lead usually opens with a short, catchy line, which is either a fact or a snappy judgment about the film. Examples of this are “Mel Brooks is a gutbuster.” (Spaceballs) and “Sometimes a shamelessly stoopid, proudly profane R-rated comedy is all you want out of life.” (Role Models) It’s structured simplistically to grab the audience’s attention, get to the point of the article, and encourage the reader to continue reading. His methods effectively entertain and amuse the reader.
The scope of Travers reviews deal mostly with the actors and genre. But sometimes he centers his review on the most popular person involved in the film. Sometimes the focus of his review is the director such as Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. All of his judgments about Apocalypto revolve around Mel Gibson and his style of filmmaking. The same is seen in his Freddy Got Fingered review where he concentrates on the wacky Tom Green who stars in the film.
Travers’ knowledge of film seems to extend as far as that he has seen many pictures, but not necessarily taken any critical analysis film classes. He does however, appear very knowledgeable about actors, directors, and their past performances. He doesn’t speak of any one person or genre without including a comparison or their most recent appearance. He includes these references in very interesting ways. In his review of Batman Forever, when he’s referencing Jim Carrey’s past performances compared to The Riddler, the character he plays in this film, Travers sites, “Hammered for the crudities of “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey continues to play by his own rules.” He sneaks in references to past performances with similar critiques of the actor’s role.
I have yet to read a review where Travers presents himself by using “I.” He does, however, speak directly to the audience in numerous occasions saying how you should feel or what you should do. “Don’t ask whether or not you should take The Day After Tomorrow seriously. Don’t take it at all,” Travers declares in his 2004 review of The Day After Tomorrow.
Travers expresses his attitude of films through his short and to the point phrases that precede many of his in-depth character and plot analysis paragraphs. These simple judgments prepare the reader for the complex sentences that follow and allow for easier interpretation. All of his reviews include vigorous comparisons to similar genres and artists. His writing flows smoothly with transitions leading into each and every paragraph. If he knows he wants to talk about a specific character in the next paragraph he includes them in a scene or quote in the end of the previous paragraph. His transitions stream by seemingly unnoticed and holds the piece together like invisible glue. His recent reviews are always focused and sustain a single line of interpretation that is reiterated at the end. Travers’ writing style is very basic, but nonetheless informative, persuasive and of course entertaining.
