Friday November 26, 2004

Gothika

This one actually started out okay. Reasonable cast: Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., Charles Dutton, and Bernard Hill, who played Theoden, King of Rohan, in Lord of the Rings -- not too shabby. Reasonable plot: prison psychiatrist, dark and stormy night, strange vision, car crash -- wakes up a prisoner/patient in her own institution, charged with axe-murdering her husband. And reasonably cool, Gothic scenery, including a prison straight out of Alfred Hitchcock or Stephen King.

And then it all goes horribly, horribly wrong.

I don't mean for Halle Berry -- I mean for me.

All of a sudden, we've gone from this cool neo-gothic horror flick to... "What Lies Beneath: The Prison Edition". (Perhaps we have Robert Zemeckis to blame for this -- he produced both.) The plot gets positively daffy. Berry basically walks out of jail and escapes in the front desk guard's car: he felt sorry for her and gave her the keys. No alarm bells go off. No one chases her, even to an obvious spot like her own house (and the scene of the crime). And in the end, despite the fact that she obviously did off her husband with great vigor, she's never charged with the crime. (I guess demonic possession doesn't require a plea of temporary insanity to pass legal muster.) Throw in the obligatory secret sex room her husband kept underneath the floor boards at the country cottage, and the local cop with domineering mother issues and a huge tattoo of a flaming woman on his chest -- this is the same guy who dated Mimi on the Drew Carey show, so you know he's a little off -- and you can see how a good movie goes bad right before your eyes.

I hope Halle Berry gets a good role again soon. Monster's Ball was excellent. This felt more like Catwoman.

If I were you, I would not not...

[GET IT]

(2004-11-26 13:37:02.0) Permalink