The Eye (C or 2/4 stars)
"The eye! They eye! Give us back the eye! We must have it!" Ohh, I'm sorry, wrong movie. I was quoting a line uttered by the 3 Stygian witches in 1981's 'Clash of the Titans' ... a much superior, more involving, and exciting film than 'The Eye', directed by David Moreau & Xavier Palud. The general plot for this Hong Kong remake (yes, another one): Sydney (Jessica Alba) receives an eye transplant that allows her to see into a supernatural world. She sees some awful things, yadayada. I can't completely condemn this, though. While no part is strong ... it 'does' have a beginning, middle, and an end.
Sydney Wells has been blind since the age of 5; always relying on her other 4 senses to get her through life. Now a renowned concert violinist, she's ready to see again. Her sister, Helen (Parker Posey, what is she doing in this?) arranges a corneal transplant for her. Post surgery, it takes a while for her to adjust to everything; most visions are an overwhelming, dizzying blur of colors, shapes & sizes. Before long, Sydney is haunted by frightening visions of death, destruction, & despair. Not only is she seeing people trapped in a fire, or people yelling Spanish sayings, or the number 106 ... but she's actually watching people being dragged away from the world of living right before they actually die. No one believes Sydney, not even her rehabilitation counselor, Paul (Alessandro Nivola).
If HE doesn't believe she can see dead people, Sydney feels no one will. The more she acclimates to her new eyes, the clearer her horrifying visions become. Her apartment changes shape. Ghoulish spirits hound her in the street. And now that she can see clearly into a mirror, it's not herself that she's seeing. She actually sees the girl who had the eyes previously! Tired, scared, confused, terrorized, Sydney wishes she'd never gotten a transplant in the first place. Determined to discover the mystery behind her new eyes, she sets out for Mexico; home of the girl who died and donated the eyes in the 1st place. How did she die? Why? And to what purpose would she be haunting Sydney? Of course, all this is summed up in a disappointing conclusion. Not horrible, but disappointing.
There are several reasons why 'The Eye' isn't quite as horrific as most critics are making it out to be (in my opinion). The movie is watchable; thanks greatly to Jessica Alba, of course. The movie photography is stylish. The mood of the film is consistently dark, bleak ... just the thing you want when watching a horror flick (either in the theater or at home on a rainy night). And though most of the 'scares' are butt-numbing, there ARE a couple of moments that will make you jump. You know the phrase 'so bad it's good'. Well 'The Eye' is so cheesily bad that it's almost cheesily good ... but not quite {wink}.
Now it's time to discuss where 'The Eye' went wrong. Firstly, when you join the name Alba with the phrase 'Asian horror remake', chances are the outlook for a good movie going experience are not all that promising. Alba isn't bad here, she just chooses to be in the worst movies ever. Co-stars Nivola & Parker bring little life to their roles, which is surprising. Speaking of Nivola, he's expected to be some kind of love interest for Alba's character (musn't there always be one in these films), but there's little time for chemistry on their part. Like most films nowadays (horror genre or not), the beginning is superior to the rest of the proceedings. An interesting premise falls by the wayside after the half-way mark. The beginning (and even middle) didn't deserve the convoluted ending that's provided.
Sydney Wells has been blind since the age of 5; always relying on her other 4 senses to get her through life. Now a renowned concert violinist, she's ready to see again. Her sister, Helen (Parker Posey, what is she doing in this?) arranges a corneal transplant for her. Post surgery, it takes a while for her to adjust to everything; most visions are an overwhelming, dizzying blur of colors, shapes & sizes. Before long, Sydney is haunted by frightening visions of death, destruction, & despair. Not only is she seeing people trapped in a fire, or people yelling Spanish sayings, or the number 106 ... but she's actually watching people being dragged away from the world of living right before they actually die. No one believes Sydney, not even her rehabilitation counselor, Paul (Alessandro Nivola).
If HE doesn't believe she can see dead people, Sydney feels no one will. The more she acclimates to her new eyes, the clearer her horrifying visions become. Her apartment changes shape. Ghoulish spirits hound her in the street. And now that she can see clearly into a mirror, it's not herself that she's seeing. She actually sees the girl who had the eyes previously! Tired, scared, confused, terrorized, Sydney wishes she'd never gotten a transplant in the first place. Determined to discover the mystery behind her new eyes, she sets out for Mexico; home of the girl who died and donated the eyes in the 1st place. How did she die? Why? And to what purpose would she be haunting Sydney? Of course, all this is summed up in a disappointing conclusion. Not horrible, but disappointing.
There are several reasons why 'The Eye' isn't quite as horrific as most critics are making it out to be (in my opinion). The movie is watchable; thanks greatly to Jessica Alba, of course. The movie photography is stylish. The mood of the film is consistently dark, bleak ... just the thing you want when watching a horror flick (either in the theater or at home on a rainy night). And though most of the 'scares' are butt-numbing, there ARE a couple of moments that will make you jump. You know the phrase 'so bad it's good'. Well 'The Eye' is so cheesily bad that it's almost cheesily good ... but not quite {wink}.
Now it's time to discuss where 'The Eye' went wrong. Firstly, when you join the name Alba with the phrase 'Asian horror remake', chances are the outlook for a good movie going experience are not all that promising. Alba isn't bad here, she just chooses to be in the worst movies ever. Co-stars Nivola & Parker bring little life to their roles, which is surprising. Speaking of Nivola, he's expected to be some kind of love interest for Alba's character (musn't there always be one in these films), but there's little time for chemistry on their part. Like most films nowadays (horror genre or not), the beginning is superior to the rest of the proceedings. An interesting premise falls by the wayside after the half-way mark. The beginning (and even middle) didn't deserve the convoluted ending that's provided.