Monday, 05 July 2004
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, a star was born, and his name was... Alfred Hitchcock. Not Harrison Ford, but more of him later.
Anyway, Alfred Hitchcock made a fair few movies, most of which were praised to the hilt; unlike this film - which won't be.
Clearly aimed at the same older audience who enjoyed "Sixth Sense" this is an update of that same psychological horror idea where not all is what it appears to be, and but for a few inventive moments and intelligent camerawork, seems to fall flat on its face in many places.
Red herrings abound, and if you like plot guessing, a revelation half way though turns the first hour of the film on its head, causing severe confusion and disappointment. Harrison Ford plays a role far removed from his usual heroic types, being a seemingly spineless work obsessed University Professor whose self narcissism makes him regards his wife's (Michelle Pfeffier) increasing unease as a mere nuisance. When Pfeffier - who carries this movie plotwise and performance wise - begins to suspect why the newly wed wife next door disappeared after a huge row, and ghostly happenings start occurring in her house, (like seeing dead bodies in the lake outside) it seems all set up to be either a "Sixth Sense" kinda movie (its not), or a diary of a woman's psychological breakdown (which again, it's not).
Though containing a genuine protracted and virtually silent spooky tense final act, which has about 15 false endings too many, plot points you can guess 5 minutes before they occur and inventive use of editing, camerawork and sound, it all seems old hat compared to the radical use of editing techniques seen recently, especially drawn from pop culture.
The main homage here is trying to make a suspense thriller in the vein of Hitchcock , with a supernatural twist like the surprise box office hit "Sixth Sense". It works admirably as a homage, and the tensely played out final act is impressively done, but ultimately, you're left unfeeling for the characters, many of which seem incidental, and the first half of the film is leadingly paced, slower than a snail on tammies.
Wait for the Channel 5 premiere, unless you're a huge fan of Harrison Ford, Robert Zemeckis, or a film studies student.
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