Starring Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Milla Jovovich, and Steve Zahn
Written and Directed by David Twohy
Written and Directed by David Twohy
This is one of those movies where they advertise a twist ending in the commercials and you can guess it before the movie even begins (Note to my brother...ding! ding! we have a winner! [sort of..]). Through some silly (or clever) writing (you be the judge if you see it), writer-director David Twohy (who also wrote The Fugitive...one of the best flicks of the last twenty years) managed to get me to doubt my initial thoughts, but I was right nonetheless. Regardless of the bitterness I hold for doubting my thoughts (and I'm a bitter, bitter man), the movie's failure lies in the fact that for a suspense flick, there's very little suspense to be had. A severe lack of tension is the flick's downfall.
Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich are a honeymooning couple in Hawaii...Zahn's the nebbish worrywart and Jovovich is the slightly more adventurous one (we know this because she talks about oral sex in front of other people...such great writing on display here). They plan to trek along some trail through the forests. They meet another couple played by Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez. He's the kooky war veteran, she's the daft Southern belle. When Zahn and Jovovich hear of a honeymooning couple being murdered on another Hawaiian island, they begin to wonder whether this new couple that they're hanging out with is the culprit.
It's tough to talk about this flick without spoiling anything (and the mere fact of me saying that there's a twist will probably ruin the flick for anyone that plans to see it, but hey, it's in the advertisements). Acting-wise, everyone seemed to be acting -- everyone felt like a character. Sure, there were a few good one-liners and Olyphant was the stand-out of the quartet, but even he felt like a caricature of a real person. Writing-wise, like I said above, Twohy tries to hide the twist, but in the end, his trickery just seems rather silly. I felt like nothing happened in this movie for the whole first 70 minutes (and nothing did happen). The final 20 is somewhat interesting, but even then I never felt like I was on the edge-of-my-seat.
The suspense genre is my favorite, so I often wonder whether I'm too harsh on these kinds of flicks, but when you don't have any sense of anxiety or dread in a movie like this, there's a problem. It wasn't awful, but, in the end, it was pointless.
Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich are a honeymooning couple in Hawaii...Zahn's the nebbish worrywart and Jovovich is the slightly more adventurous one (we know this because she talks about oral sex in front of other people...such great writing on display here). They plan to trek along some trail through the forests. They meet another couple played by Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez. He's the kooky war veteran, she's the daft Southern belle. When Zahn and Jovovich hear of a honeymooning couple being murdered on another Hawaiian island, they begin to wonder whether this new couple that they're hanging out with is the culprit.
It's tough to talk about this flick without spoiling anything (and the mere fact of me saying that there's a twist will probably ruin the flick for anyone that plans to see it, but hey, it's in the advertisements). Acting-wise, everyone seemed to be acting -- everyone felt like a character. Sure, there were a few good one-liners and Olyphant was the stand-out of the quartet, but even he felt like a caricature of a real person. Writing-wise, like I said above, Twohy tries to hide the twist, but in the end, his trickery just seems rather silly. I felt like nothing happened in this movie for the whole first 70 minutes (and nothing did happen). The final 20 is somewhat interesting, but even then I never felt like I was on the edge-of-my-seat.
The suspense genre is my favorite, so I often wonder whether I'm too harsh on these kinds of flicks, but when you don't have any sense of anxiety or dread in a movie like this, there's a problem. It wasn't awful, but, in the end, it was pointless.
The RyMickey Rating: D+
So when is yours and Thomas's next pa movie adventure? I'm seriously bored and want to come crash it if I can!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know. We actually had a major one today...an epic five-movie marathon that led us through the slums of Philadelphia.
ReplyDeleteBoo, come soon please, I'm bored and miss you. lol. Wow five movies. impressive. Well I am glad you made it out of the slums without being mugged or shot at. philly can be a scary place.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I learned how to pronounce that manager's name we were talking about. He's actually pretty entertaining and the first, Karl, was sharing john stories with me saturday night.
ReplyDelete