Review of eXistenZ (1999) by Dillinger P — 25 Jan 2016

Fast closing in on 20 years old and Existenz is more relevant than ever, although its style may be slightly out dated, the films themes and insane story line, make for some thought provoking and indeed entertaining cinema.

In a not too distant future, famous computer game programmer Allegra Geller attends a play through of her new VR computer game eXistenZ, a game in which the player will virtually log into its world and play through the game with their very own eyes and minds.

Although Allegra doesnt realize how much trouble she is in, when an attempt is made on her life and its left up to a PR geek, Ted Pikul, to escort her to safety and ensure the game remains operational.

It would have been a cool premise in the late 90's during the dawn of a Matrix age, however David Cronenberg's CGI shy and psychotic thriller would be overshadowed by the latter, especially with stirring similarities to the the multi million box office smash, creating an unfair hype surrounding it.

The truth is that Existez is a different beast, its darker, edgier and far more believable than The Matrix ever claimed to be. Its themes resonate in an age where people are attached to a virtual world 24/7, living their lives through coding and instant digital entertainment.

Even the argument against this style of living is frighteningly accurate, its as if Cronenberg saw the future. Existenz boasts a great cast, passing off great ideas, in an exciting and unpredictable fashion, its easy to jump into as a slice of entertainment and thankfully their isnt any over loaded exposition, to halt proceedings.

The film however does trip up from time to time, its a victim of a confused age, an age when life could head either way, this makes some of Existenz's design choices slightly jarring and although Cronenberg's over all body horror theme works, you cannot escape the glaringly hilarious occasional designs.

The script also falters, although conveying a great concept, Existenz is the first script in over a decade that Cronenberg had written and it shows, its glaring similarities towards Video Drome have caused some to call it the unofficial sequel, but its main issues are with some painful dialogue, due to the over acted nature it can be forgivable, but there is no escaping the laughable and cheesy conversations our protagonists will encounter time and time again.

Its nowhere near his best work, but Existez delivers and entertaining and thought provoking film, who's themes still hold up almost 20 years later.