Review of Gothika (2003) by Tani S — 14 Dec 2009
I have a philosophy that in order to appreciate the good movies, one must watch the bad ones. Without them, we wouldn't have such a love for the power of film.
"Gothika" is a bad movie. I'm not sure what was going through the minds of Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr. when they agreed to do this movie. They are both pretty good actors, but they can't save this one from being a bore.
What do you get when French filmmaker Matthieu Kassovitz (Babylon A.D.) agrees to direct a one-track script written by Sebastian Gutierrez ("The Eye," "Snakes on a Plane")? It sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it? What you get is a long, drawn out movie that seems longer than its 98-minute running time.
Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is a psychiatrist at an insane asylum under the direction of her husband, played by Charles S. Dutton. On a dark, stormy night, Grey is forced to take a detour on her way home from work. She crashes her car when she sees what we later discover to be the ghost of a dead girl. She wakes up, a patient in her own hospital. Robert Downey Junior plays Pete Graham, the psychiatrist and former coworker put in charge of Grey's case. Penelope Cruz plays a useless part as an inmate. Rare is the scene where sparks fly between such excellent actors. All too common is one where ridiculous dialogue and laughable acting ruin what could have been a good thrill.
A lot of people will tell you that you don't need to expect logic from this movie. I agree, but that's not why this is a bad movie. Kubrick's take on Stephen King's "The Shining" didn't have much logic to it, but it was still a good movie. "Gothika" doesn't enrapture you in the way that "The Shining" does. Despite Kassovitz's interesting color scheme and Gothic setting, this movie relies too heavily on cheap thrills and off-the-wall plot turns. It's not about logic, it's about whether or not this is a good movie.
"Lets be logical and end this thing," says a character at one point in the movie. Truer words were never spoken.
This review of Gothika (2003) was written by Tani S on 14 Dec 2009.
Gothika has generally received mixed reviews.
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