Review of A Cure for Wellness (2017) by Gerardistheway — 17 Feb 2017

Gore Verbinski's new psychological thriller is a puzzling movie. On the one hand, there's nothing bad enough in it to prevent me from recommending it, but on the other I still feel that I cannot whole-heartedly. It has promise, but when your film starts to feel like a bunch of cool shots and beautiful scenery strung together by a tenuous plot line, you risk audiences beginning to seek out A Cure for Boredom.

From the very first moments, when the film opens with shots of downtown New York buildings bathed in the kind of grimy green light that the worlds of these horror movies are always smothered in (*cough cough* "Saw"... *cough cough*) accompanied by an eerie female vocalization (which returns several times in the story with no explanation of its significance), this movie is trying to show you just how creepy it (thinks) it is. And don't get me wrong, it has its moments (I guarantee that you'll never look at an eel the same way again after seeing this), but these have a tendency to come few and far between while the story runs around and around in circles. By the time that Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) begins to see the dark truth behind this seemingly miraculous "wellness center", the original plot line of him being sent to retrieve the CEO of his financial company (Harry Groener) and bring him back home has been more or less forgotten. This movie's got things on its mind, you can be sure, but it can't seem to decide what it wants to focus on, and so its visual style and interesting premise become lost in a muddy, mired plot that features the unfortunate combination of being overlong in trying to be epic as well as repetitive and preachy in trying to be thoughtful and intelligent. I would be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat expecting this from a re-teaming of Verbinski and "The Lone Ranger" screenwriter Justin Haythe.

Perhaps the greatest strengths this film possesses are its visuals, direction, and performances. DeHaan, with his turn as Lockhart, crafts a hero not completely likable (his obsession with survival of the fittest and his obvious dislike of visiting his mother don't exactly make him endearing, which helps us somewhat enjoying, or at least thinking he deserves, the suffering brought upon him) but that navigates the frightening absurdity of his situation with much of the same rage, fear, and disbelief that most of us would. Jason Isaacs, as the German-sounding director of the treatment center, is likely to remind you of a Nazi officer in both his physical appearance and his mannerisms. On the surface he is friendly, seemingly helpful, charming, and by all appearances is intensely concerned not only for his patients but for Lockhart as well. However, he is truthfully a manipulative individual, one who loves playing mind games and constantly seems a step ahead of Lockhart (until the finale because, you know, it'd be no fun if the villain ended up winning for once). Think Annie Wilkes crossed with Ralph Fiennes' Amon Göth character from "Schindler's List" and you'd have the idea. Mr. Isaacs is easily the best thing about this movie: he plays his character with such skill that even after we're fairly certain he's evil we begin doubting ourselves yet again. Mia Goth, a relative newcomer, is also skilled as Hannah, a mysterious patient at the facility who is closer to Lockhart's age than most (the others are all octogenarians), and whose relationship with Isaacs' Dr. Vomler character forms the true conflict of the movie. There is something endearing about her performance: she is strange, to be sure, but there is a certain seductiveness about her that she exudes without even really trying to (you all may remember the bathtub scene from the trailers), all while dressed in clothes so old they look like they could have been around about 400 years ago. By the way, did I mention the tragedy that occurred there around that time involving a baron trying to keep his bloodline pure by using the same practice the Ancient Egyptians did?

The cinematography is likewise just as skilled. Bojan Bazelli does his best to distract us from how limp and sickly the "story" (BWAH HA HA! ...Was that out loud?) of this film really is with beautiful shots of the Swiss Alps, of the facility and with gloomier shots of corporate buildings and the modern world as we know it. The scenes featuring nature and fauna are the ones where sunlight pours in and the light is soft and gentle and puts us at ease. The insides of the facility look like they haven't seen a bit of change since the 1950s and looks a bit like a period piece with some steampunk sensibility. All of this is well and good, but without a decent story to back it up all of the style present is simply for naught.

Gore Verbinski is not a bad director. He just, for some reason, continues to work with bad screenwriters. Perhaps another collaboration between him and John Logan is due. The first one, "Rango", won a Best Animated Feature Oscar, if you recall.