Calling-card movie that shows the director can put a movie together but is unable to tell a convincing story using interesting characters. This one wastes a great opportunity for a character study with a narrative where we never learn anything much about the characters and, thus, never really identify with their plight.
The contrived plot, itself, lacks credibility and the acting - apart from Emma BELL - is lackluster. Half-hearted and somewhat unconvincing gore punctuates this rather flat drama to vainly distract us from its fatal thematic lack. Just like Open Water, this film is unable to involve either emotionally or intellectually as something like Jaws did with its hybrid of Moby Dick and An Enemy of the People.
Because there is little for us to root for here, except the pedestrian desire to know how things work out, the technical deficiency of never seeing the actors breath - despite the wintry setting - grates in a way that it never did in the somewhat better, but also similarly technically-challenged The Shining.
No comments:
Post a Comment