Review of Darkness (2002) by Brett J — 06 Sep 2005

The other day, some friends and I hi the Famous Players in gorgeous Victoria, B.C and saw Wes Craven's new brilliant thriller, Red Eye. This is a masterfully crafted character driven twist a minute thrill ride aboard Fresh Air. The two gals that accompanied us, had never seen the trailer for the film and when Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams had their little meet cute in the airport, they figured that they were in for a romantic film .... then things turned so fast and dramatically, that their noses literally began to bleed! Craven carefully crafts this film, directing with great patience and detail. He doesn't move too fast, but rather allows the story to unfold slowly. Definitely one of the best thrillers this year!

The first installment of the Ring was alright. The second one was OK. It relied more on chills and creepy imagery rather than building suspense and big payoffs.

Sahara lost my attention more than halfway through. As entertaining as it was, it seemed to meander too much and the story or characters lacked any interest.

Darkness was a mess. It seems as if they took several film school students, gave them each a page of the script and sent them out. It's discombobulated and out of order. A true disaster.