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Audrey Tautou's BEAUTIFUL LIES opens exclusively at Cinema Europa 7 July 2011Posted on 10 Jun 2011 |
SYNOPSIS: Rittkrai is a legend in Thai action cinema. The director of Born to Fight and fight coordinator for such classics as Ong Bak and Chocolate, he was the star of many action films in the 70s and 80s, and is famously a mentor to some of the top action superstars working today, including Tony Jaa (Ong Bak), Dan Chupong (Dynamite Warrior) and Jija Yanin (Chocolate). BKO features a range of martial art disciplines. A group of 'fight club' pals whose styles vary from Muay Thai and Capoeira to Kung Fu and Tai Chi must fight for their lives when one of their friends is kidnapped.
MOVIE REVIEW:
We have great empathy for stunt people. These are the ones responsible for some of the awesome, death-defying action that we get to see on screen, the ones who make the lead actor we adore look good in the action movies we love, and the ones we probably don’t even know by name or face because we have stepped out of the cinema by the time their names appear on the credits. Yes, we have great empathy for them, which is why despite the glaring flaws in a movie like “Bangkok Knockout”, we’re going to say that we love it.
Legendary action movie guru Panna Rittikrai’s “Bangkok Knockout” is ultimately a celebration of these stunt people, many of whose faces we get to see for the first time on the big screen. Panna is the director of the fight-fest “Born to Fight”, the stunt director of the Tom Yum Goong film series, the co-director with Tony Jaa on the second and third Ong Bak movies, as well as Tony’s personal mentor. If there’s anything you should get from his experience, it’s that you can expect nothing less than the most hard-hitting action in this latest.
And boy, oh boy, this is hands down the best straightforward action movie you’ll see all year, or quite possibly for some time. An impressive array of martial arts is on display- Muay Thai, taekwondo, kung fu, parkour and capeoira- each performed by no less than professionals, and do they take their work seriously. Every fight is brutal to say the least, the fighters going at each other in the most realistic way possible- punching, kicking, and leaping their way into the air- and you’ll wince at every crunching bone you hear, for you can almost feel how real it gets.
The best part about it? It doesn’t seem as if they had taken any safety measures on set, none of that wirework that is now so apparent even in Hong Kong’s martial arts flicks. This is quite simply unadulterated stuff that is pure adrenaline-pumping orgasmic pleasure for every action fanatic out there- and we’re not even talking about the death match featuring a hulking guy behind a metallic mask wielding a giant axe going up against one Thai-Chinese kungfu dude and another two Muay Thai exponents.
There’s also the much-talked about climax along a moving container truck, where two of our heroes face off underneath while trying to avoid getting crushed under its wheels. It’s a pumped up version of a similar scene some may recognise from Panna’s earlier “Born to Fight” but twice as dangerous and many times more exciting. In fact, that’s also only the tail-end of an extended half-hour climactic fight sequence that you’ll have to see to believe.
But if “Bangkok Knockout” has all the advantages of having real stunt people act in front of the camera, it also inherits all its consequent disadvantages. The acting is nonexistent to say the least, especially when the script requires for them to emote. Thankfully, there are few of these moments, and Panna, who co-wrote the screenplay with Doojit Hongthong and Jonathan Siminoe, keeps the plot as simple as it could be. The excuse for all these fighters to go up against each other? A reality-style TV show for high-rollers to gamble their fortunes away.
Of course, you should throw any concern relating to anything else but the action out of the window, for that is ultimately the aim of a movie like this. So despite all its flaws, we’re going to say that this is a must-watch action movie for anyone who loves a pure adrenaline rush. There is stuff you see here that you’ll probably never get to see in another action movie, and this no-frills hard-hitting action showcase is indeed a knockout by any standard
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital sound is good enough for hearing the punches, kicks and other bone-crunching mayhem- don’t expect any quality surround sound though. Visuals are clear, but the picture is presented in a 4:3 standard TV format.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 17 June 2011
SYNOPSIS: Nanami chooses to become a wandering ghost to stay next to her love, Juno but Juno does not notice her presence. Nanami stumbles across Satsuki Unten a psychic whom she can talk to and asks for help. Nanami asks Unten to talk to Juno about the danger he is in and Juno gets entangled in dangerous conspiracy. Nanami wants to stay near the love of her life but she gets sad as she watches Juno in sadness from losing her. Only thing the two want is to hold each other one more time. Love continues stay alive between the two even though they have no physical contact. The harsh world makes it harder to find a true love between two people but this love story will touch those who have hard time saying "I love you" to their loved ones.
MOVIE REVIEW:
For the younger generation who haven’t seen the original, this Japanese/Korean remake of the Hollywood classic starring the late Patrick Swayze and ex-poster girl Demi Moore will not likely be remembered years down the road. And for once, the Hollywood version wins hands down.
This adaptation overall remains pretty faithfully to the original, only jarring difference is the reversal of the roles. Instead of the guy, we have Nanako Matsushima’s young CEO character, Nanami being murdered while on the way home from work one night. Unbearable to leave her grieving pottery-making husband, Juno Kim (Song Seung-heon) alone in the mortal world, ghostly Nanami stayed on and things start to get complicated when she realizes her death has something to do with her best friend and worse still, the murderers are out to harm Juno.
If you want the audience to feel for your characters, chemistry plays a very important role when it comes to believable tear-jerking romances. Unfortunately, the chemistry exhibited by the pairing of Korean heartthrob Song Seung-heon and Japanese starlet Nanako Matsushima is stiffer than a Japanese bonsai. Song who helms from the world of Korean drama and definitely no stranger to tearjerkers seems to be distracted by his command of Japanese and lacks the ability to effectively emote his struggles and loss. Nanako, dubbed the Queen-bee of Japanese drama is likeable yet looks awkwardly unimpressionable opposite her male lead.
The only bright spark here is veteran Japanese actress Kirin Kiki channeling Whoopi Goldberg’s Oscar winning performance which largely entertains for the most part with her bubbly portrayal for her hack medium role. In addition, there seems to be a clause that states “Kids are required for any Japanese-made productions that deal with ghosts” thus we have a cute girl playing a ghost child who imparts Nanami the various methods of communication.
The impressionable scene of clay-making which is being spoofed by countless movies over the years remains intact though it functions more of an obligation. The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody on the other hand is given a makeover by renowned Japanese crooner, Ken Hirai and you realized tinkering with a classic love song has its price.
With a staggering 115 minutes of running time, “Gosuto” hardly reaches the emotional level of the 1990 version and barely touches the hearts. Other than a convenient business pair-up by Japan’s Shochiku and Korea’s CJ Entertainment, we see no reason for such a flaccid remake. Just hunt down the original if you can.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Trailers, TV Spot and 2 Music Videos (not the original Ken Hirai’s versions mind you) filled up the disc’s extras.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Video quality is soft and passable while the soundtrack does its job with the mostly dialogue based material and occasional soft-tempo music.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Posted on 13 June 2011
SYNOPSIS: Song-i (Kang Hye-jeong) starts dating her handsome co-worker Jin-ho (Bae Soo-bin). But when she suspects Jin-ho might be cheating on her, she sets out to meet the "other woman,'' only to learn that he has not one, but two, other "girlfriends'': Jin (Han Chae-young), Jin-ho's first love, is a sexy and successful party planner, while Bo-ra (Heo Yi-jae), is a fearless, young college student. Strangely enough, Song-i finds that their similar taste in men to be the basis for a great friendship.
MOVIE REVIEW:
We know that it isn’t the fault of the filmmakers, but we have to begin our review of this Korean rom-com by commenting on how terrible the English subtitles for the movie was. Not only were there plenty of grammatical errors which distracted the viewer from the movie proper, some of the translations just did not make sense at all. It was in this context that we viewed this movie, but rest assured that we have attempted to be as objective in our review as possible.
We state that because we aren’t too impressed by Kang Seok-beom’s rom-com as well. At the centre of the story is Song-I (Kang Hye-jeong) who discovers that a handsome co-worker Jin-ho (Bae Soo-bin) she is dating is actually seeing two other girls at the same time- one the beautiful party planner Jin (Han Chae-young) and the other an enthusiastic young college student Bo-ra (Heo Yi-jae). The twist here is that rather than competing for Jin-ho’s affections, the trio actually become great friends- that is, until they inevitably decide to turn selfish.
Writer No Hye-keong tells the story from Song-I’s perspective in flashbacks, but this doesn’t excuse the choppy and somewhat incoherent storytelling. Kang fails to give the film enough continuity from scene to scene, and especially wanting is the lack of much buildup from the time the girls find out about each other’s existence to their subsequent friendship. Indeed, No’s screenplay gives little explanation why these three women would put aside their supposed rivalry and instead regard one another as friends.
Just as unconvincing is the relationship between Jin-ho and any of them. There is little to suggest that whether Song-I, Jin or Bo-ra have anything close to a strong emotional connection to Jin-ho, and it doesn’t help that Bae Soo-bin (who plays Jin-ho) gives a bland performance that does not suggest any chemistry with either of his co-stars. Why these three women would fall in love with him is necessarily suspect, and that lack of reason weakens the very premise of the film.
Pacing is also a problem in the film, in addition to inspiration. If there isn’t much romance to be found, so the same can be said of the comedy. Most gags raise at most a chuckle, and Kang’s repeated use of Song-I’s imagination of her ideal romance with Jin-ho before going back to reality ingratiates. Because the film is nowhere near as funny or as romantic as it should be, the pace plods, and at 114 mins, seems at least one hour too long.
Yes, in this day and age where rom-coms are dime a dozen, “Girlfriends” just doesn’t do enough to justify your time. There is also only one eye candy in the movie- Han Chae-yeong- and she isn’t even the lead actress here. Of course, the movie might be more enjoyable had we not had to spend a fair bit of effort trying to decipher what the subtitles meant, but even so, this is one rom-com that you can pass on.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital audio is clear and reproduces the Korean dialogue cleanly. Visuals have an odd sepia tinge, which paints the picture in green and yellow hues.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 26 June 2011
SYNOPSIS: Five graduates come together to celebrate their teacher Master Jude's 80-year-old birthday. This includes York; Claude; Sam; Keith and Charlie. Master Jude is a bachelor who enlightened them on the matter of sex during their school days. However, during the celebration party, they encounter 5 pretty, sexy young models; the uninhibited Tina, the movie fan Audrey, the body-check adict Peril, the oft-possessed by spirits Jeanne and Eleven who is too eager to give up her viriginity. They fall for each other and have a love fest in the hotel. The five men group together to form "The Cheating Brigade" to continue their affairs with the five models. Their wives headed by Hillary with Sze, Nana, Ling Ling and Nancy also group together to catch them on the act. A 'espionage' war between husbands and wives ensues. Who will be the final victors- the husbands or the wives?
MOVIE REVIEW:
Wong Jing is 56 years old this year, but hey age hasn’t stopped the man from cuddling up to sweet young things. Especially not if he continues to make movies like this, the kind where some middle-aged men get hit on some impossibly hot women and get to indulge in their escapist fantasies. Yes, you should know the kind- after all, Wong Jing earned his infamous name in the Hong Kong film industry by making movies like this throughout his three-decade long career.
Not only does Wong Jing get to watch vicariously from behind the camera, this time he has decided to get some share of the action himself. So Wong gets acting credit here as well in addition to writing and directing, playing one of a quintet of married men who meet some young babes and proceed to find ways to cheat on their wives, only to face the consequences of their adulterous behaviour later on.
And that is basically the three-act structure of this brief 88-min movie- the first act has the men meeting the babes while bringing their former teacher Master Jude (Richard Ng) out on a vacation to get some action; the second has the men snogging with the girls post-vacation under the guise of honouring Master Jude’s dying wish (let’s just say his heart couldn’t take the heat from the ladies); and the third has them being caught by their wives and apologising for their philandering ways.
On the men’s side, there is Eric Tsang as a fiery legislator, Chapman To as a ‘feng shui’ master, Wong Jing as a doctor, Det Di Yee-Tat as a dance instructor and Jim Chim as a Cat-III movie actor. On the women’s, there’s reigning Hong Kong babe Chrissie Chau, and other unknown busty actresses Jessica Xu, Caroline Zhu, Betrsy Kong and Carol Yeung. And oh, there’s also TVB actress Maggie Cheung as Eric Tsang’s wife in the movie, a lawyer who spends too much time in her work and too little time with her husband in bed.
It’s amazing the parade of stars that Wong has managed to assemble for this piece of crap- and let’s not kid ourselves, it is essentially a crappy piece of cinema. There is practically no story nor any character development; the directing and editing are choppy and amateurish; and the script is all over the place, spoofing this and that movie whenever convenient (Lust, Caution counts as one of them as well). Need we mention about the acting, if there was even a need for any actor- or actress for that matter- to do so?
But hey you probably already knew that looking at the cover of this movie and spying Wong Jing’s name credited prominently. “Men Suddenly In Love” is basically Wong Jing indulging in his own fantasy about still getting it on with the young girls despite his advancing age, and if you think you want to live vicariously through his wish-fulfilment, there’s nothing more or less this review can say to discourage you. Otherwise, you have been warned
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
You can both the Mandarin and Cantonese audio track here, and no prizes for guessing which you should choose for maximum comedic impact- or whatever the movie is worth. Visuals are clean and colours are vibrant.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 18 June 2011
SYNOPSIS: Louis Koo, high-flying playboy owner of an international finance institute, sets his eyes on Gao Yuan Yuan from his office window. Gao, an executive with intention of settling down, just had her heart broken by a heartless boyfriend. Then she meets Daniel Wu, a talented yet disheartened architect, but someone whom she can rely on. While bad women have all the fun, nice girls get their hearts broken over and over again by bad boys. For frothy romantic comedies calculated to tickle the fantasies of Hong Kong's ordinary Joes of both genders, the Johnnie To-Wai Ka-Fai partnership packs the best punches; a pretty cast, clever twists, and a you-can-have-it-all brain candy.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Everyone loves a fluffy and feel good romantic comedy. From those who are madly in love to those yearning to find their destined life partners, a well executed romantic movie can perk up the dullest of days. And that is why this genre will always have its audiences. The secret to success is then, how to put its individual ingredients (story, stars, and production values) together to have everyone experience the magical moments of being in love.
This urban drama has nothing much to offer in terms of originality: A Mainland Chinese girl working in Hong Kong falls in love with two, ahem, very good looking men. One is a rich financial company owner who watches her work from the opposite office tower. The other is a talented architect who has lost his passion. Through a series of incidents (failed first dates, emotional confessions and other happenings which some of us hold dear to our hearts), the girl has to make a choice between the two very different (but equally handsome) men.
For those who are familiar with director Johnnie To’s works, Needing You (2000) and Love on a Diet (2001) are considered two of Hong Kong cinema’s best romantic comedies. Together with his regular collaborator Wai Ka Fai, the duo produced this entertainingly pleasing movie that will have no problems with the mainstream audience. Come on, anyone who has any qualms about a breezy romantic comedy starring the very tanned Louis Koo (All’s Well Ends Well 2011, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible) , the very suave Daniel Wu (Hot Summer Days, Triple Tap) and the very sweet Gao Yuanyuan (City of Life and Death, Ocean Heaven) should go live in a cave.
The very digestible and agreeable story will go down well with viewers. Director To has also injected some clever and interesting plot developments to differentiate this from the other mediocre (and sometimes, very contrived) romantic movies out there. One innovative scene involves the leads communicating wordlessly across the office towers, and you would easily find yourself entertained without feeling dumb.
The movie’s 111 minute runtime doesn’t feel like a drag, largely due to the good looking cast on show. Koo and Wu do their usual, charming female viewers with a simple smile or a slight nod of the head. Their acting abilities aren’t too bad either. Gao, who plays the Mainland Chinese expat in Hong Kong, doesn’t fare too bad either. While this is an obvious strategy aimed at the Mainland Chinese market, it is done aptly. The leads are accompanied by other familiar faces like Lam Suet and Terence Yin in supporting roles that actually leave an impression after the credits roll.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The movie’s visual transfer is fine, and is presented in its original Cantonese and Mandarin soundtrack.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: In the high-octane, action-adventure DRIVE ANGRY, Nicolas Cage stars as Milton, a hardened felon who has broken out of hell intent on finding the vicious cult who brutally murdered his daughter and kidnapped her baby. He joins forces with Piper (Amber Heard) - a sexy, tough-as-nails waitress with a '69 Charger, who's also seeking redemption of her own. Now, the two of them are hot on the trail of the deadly leader of the cult (Billy Burke), all while being pursued by an enigmatic killer (William Fichtner) who has been sent by the Dveil to retrieve Milton and deliver him back to hell. Caught in a deadly race against time, Milton has 3 days to avoid capture, avenge his daughter's death, and stop the cult before she's mercilessly sacrificed by the cult.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Love plenty of onscreen sex and boobs? Gratuitous violence? Throw in some outrageous 3D effects for good measure and you get the perfect antidote for a movie getaway in the form of “Drive Angry”.
Truth to be told, “Drive Angry” is nothing more than an exploitation movie and its trashy treatment of the material makes Quentin Taratino/Robert Rodriguez’ Grindhouse project Oscar-worthy. Not that it is pretentious anyway, director Patrick Lussier and partner-in-crime, writer Todd Farmer (both responsible for My Bloody Valentine 3D) seems like paying serious homage to the genre that the duo make sure the audience get a cheap nudity shot, cheesy one-liners every minute or so.
Not to be mistaken as “Ghost Rider II: Drive Angry”, the sequel to another Nicolas Cage’s flick. The one-movie-per-month prolific actor plays Milton, a hardcore criminal who escaped from hell to save his granddaughter from the hands of an evil cult leader, Jonah King (played by Bella’s dad in Twilight, Billy Burke). With the help of a hot, gung-ho waitress Piper (Amber Heard), Milton must rescue the baby before she is being sacrificed by King.
Is Milton a ghost or a demon? Why is that guy known as the ‘accountant’ (William Fichtner) out to bring him back to hell? Devil? Cult? Nah, obviously these are plot points that aren’t worth exploring further or even elaborate to the slightest. Milton is the good guy, Jonah is the baddie, the accountant is the supporting cast member and Piper the eye candy. See everything is clearly established. The filmmakers simply can’t wait to unleash the carnage and car porn. At one point, Cage even tries to outdo Clive Owen’s notorious sex scene in “Shoot ‘Em Up”.
As usual, Cage is sleep-walking in another of his dozen-like revengeful characters. William Fichtner is absolutely a delight to watch as the Devil’s bounty hunter I believe while Burke is excellent as the sinister cult leader. Kudos to Amber Heard for looking so hot and the dozens of unknown actresses parading in their birthday suits.
I guess by now you should probably realize the tone of “Drive Angry”. Never mind the hokey CG backgrounds and 80’s style, special effects. It’s a homage remember? Sit back, relax and soak in all the gore and intentional humour.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Making of Drive Angry consists of the usual cast interviews. Is this the director’s or Cage’s Favourite Scenes? It never states anything except these are just short clips from the movie. Drive Angry: Behind The Camera is minutes of uninformative B-roll footages. When you select the Audio Commentary with Filmmakers Patrick Lussier & Todd Farmer feature, interviews with the director and cast pops up instead. Probably the devil’s doing. Theatrical Trailers round up the disc extras.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The video transfer is good enough for you to spot the goofy and inadequate visual effects. Otherwise, fine visual presentation. Loud rock music, high octane blasts and gunfire ruled the soundstage for the audio quality though unfortunately didn’t come equipped with a 5.1 soundtrack.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Posted on 14 June 2011
SYNOPSIS: Three are dead. Who is Number Four? From director D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) and producer Michael Bay (Transformers), comes this gripping, action-packed thriller. John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) is an extraordinary teen masking his true identity to elude a deadly enemy sent to destroy him. Living with his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) in the small town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events - his first love (Dianna Agron, TV's Glee), powerful new abilities and a secret connection to the others who share his incredible destiny. Complete with deleted scenes and more, I Am Number Four is an explosive, suspense-filled ride that will take you to the edge of your seat and beyond.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The wildly success “Twilight” franchise left Hollywood scrambling for materials targeted for the teenage demographics. What we have here in “I Am Number Four” are two good-looking teenagers madly in love with each other but the thing is the guy is not your ordinary neighbourhood kid. Not to worry, he is not a vampire. He is an alien born with superpowers with other evil ugly-looking creatures called the Mogadorianshot on his heels to kill him.
These two good-looking young actors by the way are Alex Pettyfer (Beastly) and Dianna Argon (Glee). Together with Teresa Palmer who plays Number Six, this is a bunch of eye candy cast. Despite that, you can’t totally rely on them to complete the story and casting thus we have Timothy Olyphant (Die Hard 4) playing Henri, the guardian to Number Four aka John Smith aka Alex Pettyfer’s character and Kevin Durand (Robin Hood) in unrecognisable make-up effect as the leader of the Mogadorians assassins.
Written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, creators of “Smallville” and based on the young adult sci-fi fiction book of the same name, “I Am Number Four” is essentially a romance drama beneath all that rattling about the Lorain teenagers combining their powers to destroy the Mogadorains who are out to decimate all races. Director D.J. Caruso who helmed the Hitchcock’s inspired thriller “Disturbia” focused all his energy for the most of the movie on the romance factor and high school drama that you might get incredibly bored after a while. The two young lovers however are given the best cinematic treatment by cinematography Guillermo Navarro that basically all angles are covered. It seems like producer Michael Bay decides to step in only during the last 20 minutes or so and in his “Transformers” like stance unleashed all the pyrotechnics and his visual effects team, ILM to give the movie a much needed boast.
There are several interesting bits right here for instance, the Mogadorains shopping for turkeys in a supermarket, a harmless looking dog transforming to a massive creature to protect Number Four and the hyper-kinetic appearance of Number Six that would rightfully make this movie more appealing. On a good day, D.J. Caruso has proven he is capable enough to handle given the right material, unfortunately, everyone in the industry these days aims to be the next “Twilight” that it doesn’t matter anymore we are watching a prolonged romance or a sci-fi action piece.
Being the first release under Steven Spielberg’s revamped DreamWorks banner, “I Am Number Four” is a weakly-scribed, by-the-number romance teen flick. The sci-fi factor concoct here is purely a smokescreen to lure adult audience into it. And not surprisingly, the ending opens up for a sequel.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Becoming number six is a 12 minutes feature touching on actress Teresa Palmer’s training, stunts and visual effects etc in the movie. Together with 3 minutes of Bloopers and Trailers of upcoming Disney/DreamWorks’ releases such as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Real Steel round up the extras.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is a blast. Creatures’ roar, energy blast and pyrotechnics are impressive across the speakers while the visual quality of the picture is relatively good.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Posted on 12 June 2011
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Clover & Cenosis In Search Of A Homegrown Star For Upcoming MoviePosted on 11 Jun 2011 |
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Amber Heard, Lyndsy Fonseca, Mamie Gummer
RunTime: 1 hr 29 mins
Released By: GV
Rating: NC-16 (Horror and Some Disturbing Scenes)
Official Website:
Opening Date: 16 June 2011
Synopsis: In The Ward, Kristen (Amber Heard), early 20s, wakes to find herself bruised, cut, drugged and held against her will in a remote ward of a psychiatric hospital. She is disoriented and has no idea why she was brought to this place. At night, she becomes aware of a ghostly presence. It appears they are not alone. One-by-one the other girls begin to disappear and Kristen must find a way out of this hellish place before the ghost comes for her too..
Movie Review:
It’s been a decade since we’ve seen anything from horror master John Carpenter, the director of such classic horror flicks like Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980) and The Thing (1982). The poorly received science fiction horror Ghosts From Mars (2001) was his last before this, but Carpenter has returned from his hiatus to his low-budget old-fashioned horror roots with this latest.
Unfortunately, that return comes just one year too late, for it arrives after the much superior Martin Scorcese film Shutter Island (2010). The initial set-up may be slightly different, but the premise, right down to its final twist, just bears too many similarities to Scorcese’s film to impress. What’s more, Carpenter’s film also lacks the psychological element that differentiated Shutter Island from its ilk, and comes off as no more than a well-made B-horror that offers nothing new.
The psychiatric hospital in question here is called North Bend, and a brief prologue which shows the lead character Kristen (Amber Heard) inexplicably running through a forest, burning down a farmhouse and subsequently arrested by the local police brings us to the said mental institution. The rest of the inhabitants of North Bend seem to have been created out of the rulebook for such genre flicks- the four other ‘kooky nutters’ Kristen shares the same ward with, the creepy doctor and the stern matron.
Among the other ‘crazies’ are the self-absorbed nympho Sarah (Danielle Panabaker), the reticent artist Iris (Lyndsy Fonseca), the insecure Emily (Mamie Gummer) and the emotionally stilted Zoey (Laura Leigh), all of whom are somehow linked to a ghost that prowls the hallways of the hospital looking for revenge. And like clockwork, writers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen try to distract you with the type of red herrings you’ve seen in countless such films.
So the Dr Stringer (Jared Harris) may be up to no good with his research, the matron could be administering some form of drug that keeps the patients sedate and finally, there just might be a previous patient called Alice (Mika Boorem) who could very well be the heinous spirit lurking around. Carpenter works hard to build up the atmosphere throughout the film, and his strident efforts overcome somewhat the lack of conviction the screenplay displays in its elaboration of any of these plot strands.
Indeed, even though Carpenter seems to have caved in to the trend of boo-scares, he does most of these with more flair than the average filmmaker, especially when it comes to the buildup just before. Nevertheless, he is ultimately let down by a subpar plot, as well as a twist ending that isn’t quite as clever as it wants to be- particularly coming in the wake of movies like Identity (1999) and yes Scorcese’s Shutter Island.
Carpenter has however found a great lead actress in Heard, and the star who broke out with the low-budget horror All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2005) and stole the screen from Nicholas Cage in Drive Angry (2010) continues to prove that she has the kind of screen presence you want to watch out for in future. The same cannot be said of the supporting cast, who do little but go through their roles in rote.
The fault of course doesn’t lie with Carpenter, who does his best with a script that is underneath his talents. Yet it’s inevitable that one expects more from a comeback film by the legendary horror master, and The Ward while with some finely-crafted shocks and a steady pace seems too unambitious for someone of his stature. It is also arriving too late, especially when other genre films have already spoilt its surprise. If you’re starving for some horror, this will probably satisfy your hunger for jolts; otherwise, you’ll be advised to give this a miss.
Movie Rating:
(John Carpenter’s first film in ten years delivers some well-crafted shocks and moves along at a steady pace- but it seems no more than a far less superior copy of Martin Scorcese’s Shutter Island)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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