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Devil (2010)

2010-10-17T02:12:00.009+08:00

The underlying reminder of social and moral teachings of “Devil” (2010) the movie is probably the only fright you would merely and again… merely experience when you leave the theaters or your potato couch. A story written by M. Shyamalan, his works has always been associated with smart twisting plots that would perhaps play with our minds for a second or two but however such “mind tonic” was disappointingly lacking in this one. The idea behind the film had huge potential that would have made it a horror masterpiece in an unconventional way but sadly with the poor execution of creating the sense of fear, tension and claustrophobia led to the dip of such advantage.

Tension starts to build in the broken down elevator

The attempt to “shock or impress” you with Shyamalan’s mind takes place in an elevator of a high rise building in Philadelphia. The plot was rather brilliant as the action was almost entirely shot in a stuck elevator set on the 21^st floor with five strangers, Sara (Bojana Novakovic), Ben (Bokeem Woodbine), Tony (Logan Marshall-Green), cranky old lady (Jenny O'Hara) and a salesman (Geoffrey Arend). The thought of getting caught in a broken lift in a tower to most is frightening enough not to mention lights flickering like in disco bars and annoying music fiesta repeating over and over again with poor ventilation, tension and paranoia started to build within them. Things started to get “ugly” not long after. Over at the lift control, the lift was overseen through a camera by two security guards and one explaining about the devil’s coming and its endings and so on. It was pretty comical and pointless at some point in the movie. Perhaps his character was a guardian angel that ended up being a security guard. Not surprising the film is filled with clichés with innocent characters getting affected by the “horrific” event taking place, but yeah, the dammed is at work here.

Filled with fear Sara being defensive

The technique used to try inducing fear in the audience went dull and ineffective with the lack of creativity and repetitive recipe. In terms of character maturity, they were flat and uninteresting which might have potentially disconnected viewers from engaging sympathy, bias or interest in any of them. The makers did try to add a sense of mystery on who is the villain or possessed with each event taking place by introducing misdirection among the characters. However it was difficult to even heed at any with them being all so poorly developed. The mystery which first intrigues the sense went down the pitfalls altogether. Pertaining to its cinematography, the upside down Philadelphia in the beginning was oddly unique but did not have much sense in them but conceivably a visual flair. The cinematographers did manage to craft an eerie setting and interest for the film at the beginning but failed maintain its fine start along the way. As for music composition, the booming inception-like music introduced to tense up the setting was rather pretentious and again uncreative.

The film failed to explore and utilize its advantages to produce great suspense craved by the audiences. One might have been expecting tight gripping and mind-boggling experience but sad to say the movie did not deliver. With imaginations, life like characters and mind stimulant being deficient, the film is easily forgettable and a re-watch is most unlikely for many. All in all “Devil” reassures the south heading of Shyamalan’s works after the blockbuster The Sixth Sense and Sign which is more gripping and disappointing than the film itself.

Rate /5:

Trailer below:

The Prestige (2006)

2010-10-08T16:24:00.011+08:00

Everyone loves magic tricks. Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige" 2006 is one of those films that cleverly tries to trick its spectators to jump on to self satisfying conclusions before realizing they were watching something somewhat like a magic trick of magicians trying to play god. Exactly told at the beginning of the film,

"Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled”. – Cutter (Michael Caine)

Played by Christian Bale as Borden and Hugh Jackman as Angier, the film sets in Victoria, England during the period era where theaters were packed audiences for magic shows and people who would anticipate those like an overhyped Hollywood summer blockbuster. High risks and near suicidal tricks where what most people are interested in. Perhaps it is the deadly nature of its failure that drives interest and not just the technicality or act of the trick itself. “Prestige” is a film about the backstage life of two rivals trying to invent unthought-of illusions out to defy the success of each that grew from anger, hatred to murder to feed the crave for dominance and popularity.

Alfred Borden preparing for the Chinese Water Torture Cell show

The movie strictly reminds and warns us on how obsession can consume and over control one if not addressed as it exposits what almost unreal lengths both characters would go towards the path of such pleasing. The scriptwriter imaginatively brings Tesla with his freak lab into the film who is also obsessed in his realm but is aware of its threats to build a so-called transporter machine for a show. The machine is metaphorically seen as the peak of evil and death from the continuous indulge in obsession.

Robert Angier Transporter machine

In perspective of the sturdy plot and progression, emphasis on set and era landscapes were seen to be lacking with camera angles always nearly focusing on the characters with. Well both characters are really the ball rollers here with the strong performance delivered. It is always nice to have a little bit of Caine in a movie like these. Michael Cain as always, does a fine job and sounds good on screen too. You might just believe anything that comes from his lips really. No forgetting the cold and almost eerie setting with frequent bluesih grading of the film makes it almost seeming like a psychological horror film.

The film is strange and disturbing but in a smart intriguing manner. With the almost never ending twisting and tricks that fools you, Christopher Nolan and his team brilliantly nailed on this one and knows what they were really doing and want to deliver. If felt as thou they were running their own magic masterpiece on a large scale.The film is highly recommended for those of you who are into mind twisters and trust me on this one.

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Trailer below:

Moon (2009)

2010-10-07T03:32:00.029+08:00

Moon, a film by Duncan Jones released in 2009 was introduced to me by a film freak is a slightly bizarre sci-fi flick which depicts the many fantasies of how energy could be produced in the future in this case on the moon. Anyway, the Moon mining conspiracy which started way back not long after men stepped foot on the moon had always been an interesting idea and debate. Moon brilliantly used this as its foundation which I think could have been a smart move as to feed the interest of certain conspiracy junkie niche. (right...)

Starred by Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell, caretaker of the energy production owned by a Korean energy producer, Lunar Corporation is shown to be the only man on the moon. This creates an interesting scenario of how a man being alone equipped with all needs can cope with three years of isolation (the work contract). Not to forget the set is rather well built and details were well defined least to my eyes. Visuals on the other hand I would say an achievement but nothing spectacular. I will try not to give too much spoilers here.

Sam in his moon rover to collect the Helium-3 tanks.

Some of the underlying matters of the film are the questions on how setting up a base on the moon even possible not to mention avoiding meteors showers. Also we do know the human mind can only go so far and what kind of corporation would send an individual up to a cold dark lifeless pile of dusty rock? Well that’s when things started getting interesting in the movie. The film's was pretty well paced off and movies like these rely heavily on its flow development to succeed and I would say Jones has got this one right. But for some reason in terms of character development I found it hard investing feelings of joy, sympathy or condolence towards the second half of the film for the character due to the nature of the plot itself. Perhaps some of you might understand what I am getting on here when you watch it.

All in all the psychological sci-fi thriller "Moon" feels original and its ideas are refreshing which makes it even more enjoyable to watch. It’s an above mediocre film and movie goers should not let this one off. It reminded me of the movie "Cast Away" but trust me this one is way different. Enjoy watching!

Rate / 5:

Trailer below:

Tun Jugah Cat Walk

2008-01-03T04:17:00.000+08:00