Reviews

I headed out this past weekend to check a horror flick in the local theatre. When I arrived, my choices were pretty narrow: The Ring and Ghost Ship (Red Dragon was playing - but I had already seen it). I was in the mood for something a little more 'serious and intense' - if that's possible. So I selected the Ring. (Ghost Ship seemed to carry a bit more 'camp' than I was in the mood for).

I went into this movie knowing the bare bones of facts: it's a remake, it starred Naomi Watts and it carried odd looking trailers.

The film was nicely done, unbrilliant yet highly likely to leave an impression on you. The premise is simple: there's a tape out there, and when you view this, you'll receive a telephone call advising of your demise in exactly seven days. Like all good horror flicks, this devise is simple but has an excellent hook.

***Potential Spoilers Within***

Naomi Watts was great as a newpaper journalist who investigates the death of relative; she carried her role with a confidence rare in newcomers. Her colleagues were also sufficiently engaging, but not so overpowering that you didn't buy into the story. The thing I respected the most about this film is that it was a horror story that didn't resort the cliches identified in Scream and its plethora of predecessors. Actually - the number of actual deaths was minimal - surprisingly.

As our journalist proceeds through the film racing against her ultimate deadline (as expected, she watched the film, and is left with seven days to solve this mystery) she (and we) learn the origins of the tape and the reasons for the mysterious deaths.

Being a film made for American audiences, it carries a number of predictable elements, and these are ultimately forgiveable. For a film with such a broad audience base (PG13 in Canada), it did remarkably well with its restrictions. The deaths and the surrounding circumstances are quite creepy. There aren't a lot of jump-in-your-seat moments, but rather the director opted to set a creepy mood with the dusty yet sterile hospital environments, and the foggy/rainy outdoor scenes. While these can be overly familiar, they do work here, and the mood is set.

As the story unfolded, I found myself increasingly engaged in the plot. With each revelatory encounter, the thirst for more grows, and you want and need to see what lies around that next corner. The plot twists are minimal - the story follows a fairly linear path. The main thing that sets this movie apart is its ending - choosing survival, the journalist does the unthinkable (see the film if you further insight).

Ultimately - The Ring employed familiar horror film tactics with the eerie score, sudden noises and spooked animals, but it managed to tell an original creepy tale using imagery (the stuff on that tape were just creepy and will give you willies after dark). It blended the artsy elements quite well with the Hollywood elements. It could have easily been a re-hash of "Shocker" and it could have readily gone into Fellini-esque territory - but instead it straddled those and gives a solid and good story. I rank it an 8/10. Not brilliant, but memorable.

This is a film that is entertaining - surprisingly so. I watched it last night - renting the dvd in response to an advertising blitz for the three dvd set.

By now - you, the reader, are likely somewhat familiar with the premise of this tale. There's a Beast that is wreaking bloody havoc on the village, and it must be stopped. Our protagonists - Fronsac (a naturalist and embittered war vet) and Mani (a mostly silent Native American Mystic/Savage) are hired by the King of France to deal with this Beast. The first two-thirds of the plot are incredibly captivating with little filler. Familiar elements are here - incestuous longing from the Gladiator, the noble Savage from countless films, conspiracies from Sleepy Hollow (and others), martial arts fighting from Crouching Tiger and so on. However, it borrows these things and applies them in an original and engaging manner. It's not until the conspiracies unfold do I develop a sense of uneasiness about the film itself.

The scenery unfolded magnificently - the backdrop landscape is on par with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The period concept was supported quite well also. The costuming, the actual sets (houses, castles, whatnot) were stunningly rendered and quite believable. As I watched, I was really there.

As a non-French speaker - I am unable to comment on the calibre of the spoken dialogue - I watched the subtitled version. However, the inflections and tones seemed human and sincere.

The actors were great, each handling her/her role with adroitness and humanity rarely seen in a film that involves this type of storyline (a hunt for a wolf of unnatural strength and its origins).

Noting that the film is told in another language and I must resort to reading the dialogue due to my lack of worldliness, this movie (as with all Foreign films) is forced to try a little harder than most Hollywood fare to impress me. It succeeds! Even with this very slight handicap - I enjoyed the film immensely for the first two-thirds. It had action, it had sex, it had intrigue, and most importantly - it had bravado. The special effects and camera work were breath-taking. The technique of slowing the action sequences down was brilliant - it made the scenes with the Beast all the more believable. The Beast's appearance could have been dismissed as silly, yet the style allowed it to seem more real.

Here's where I start complaining - *SPOILER ALERT* -

The final third of this film went into overdrive on the conspiracy theories and justifying the existence of the Beast. The Beast was a tool of a mystical secret society comprised of the odd bedfellows of gypsies, priests, and politicians who seemed to feel the need to re-kindle the 'fear of God' in the nation's people and especially into the King of France himself. From there, the story became more pointless and less magical. Revenge becomes a motive and an ineffective and unnecessary plot devise. It tries to hard to be all things to all people. (Conspiracy themes are over-used and simply too convenient these days -- whatever happened to the unsolved mystery?) I suspect that this theme is the unfortunate byproduct of Hollywood reaching all the way over to folks in France - a shame really.

All in all - I'll rank this film a 7/10. This is based on an exceptional start - great scenery, excellent choreography of action sequences, strong acting, intriguing story (without the conspiracy theme in the final part) and good camera work. The three points are docked due to the cumbersome conspiracy and the film's apparent need for complete closure. Having said that - it deserves to be seen - rent it, watch it and form your own opinion (and post it here - if you're so inclined).

This is a film that doesn't necessarily set any new trends, or expose new facets of humanity - rather it simply is a character study at various levels.

There are several themes that are explored quite well in this film and those are what make the story intriguing - not the ultra-violence or the seamy underground culture.

(SPOILERS)

1) The relationship between Eric (French) and Zed (American). This is an exploration between European and American cultures. Americans are presented as stiff, boring and pompous (especially the scene with the American tourist in the bank) while the French are portrayed as being "C'est la vie" and "Carpe Diem" at its ultra-worst. The friendship comes to a point where these differences are not resolved and result in a betrayal at its most bitter. The drugs, the impromptu sex and so on, and Zed's passive involvement in these things is all part of a subtle message about cultural differences.

2) The depth of love and how actions speak louder than words. Eric started out professing a great deal of love for Zed. Yet betrayal resulted as greed and drug-induced delusions came to a head. Zoe professed a similar love for Zed - and she proves it - by saving Zed (despite his passivity when Eric throws her out). Love was a major theme in the film.

3) AIDS - it was mentioned that Eric had AIDS and this might have been the root of his fatalistic attitudes. I find it interesting that the sex scene was interspersed with clips from Nosferatu. The theme of vampirism being sexual is not new - however, it makes you wonder if Zoe might not also have AIDS herself - she was a prostitute. This might be the explanatin for the seeming misnomer of the title.

(SPOILERS DONE)

All in all - the movie had a class uncommon to these types of heist-gone-wrong films. I took the heist to be a plot mechanism rather than the actual point of the story. But hey - that's just me.

I liked the film for its layered themes, and its camera work and great score. The characters were great, the writing was solid and the ending was good. I gave it a 9/10 - but I recognize that most people didn't get the same thing from the film that I do.

This film lacked the wit and intelligence of Heathers, and it's a shame.

Ultimately, this movie was a dumb comedy based on a dumb premise. People in one's life would not typical react to a vow of celibacy as extremely as they did in the movie.

***Spoiler just ahead.

What appalled me the most about this was that there was a rape scene that was never acknowledged as such. It amazed me that Hollywood put it in but never addressed it. It was an opportunity to make an extremely intelligent statement about females raping males - and they didn't acknowledge it for what it was! The rape scene was clearly rape - she had sex with him without his consent - and she did for reasons associated with POWER. It could have been a great sick joke. Instead - it was ignored and the main character was made to feel like HE did something wrong.

I give it 2/10 - for Josh Hartnett's acting and Shannyn's presence.