Review of Irreversible (2002) by Bryon V — 11 Feb 2011

This movie had potential. The cinematography is fantastic, if a bit unsettling and avant-garde for most tastes. I also wasn't bothered by the brutality of the rape and revenge scenes. I personally think that rape should ALWAYS be portrayed as an ugly, disgusting, and brutal act...rather than in the "titillating" fashion some directors go for. And let's face it, the revenge scene appealed to my "inner vigilante." I didn't care much for the fact that our main characters seem to be unable to make a complete sentence without filling it full of homophobic hate speech...but they weren't seemingly portrayed as particularly "sympathetic" or anything.

But apart from that, the movie suffers from a fatal flaw. The fact that the events are seen in reverse order is only part of it. In and of itself, that isn't a problem...and it "works" for the first half of the movie. And then we get to the rape scene...which is about halfway through the film. After that, the movie just shows us scene after scene of our main characters sitting around, talking, and essentially doing nothing of particular importance. The "Third Act" of this movie is basically "filler." Since it's going backwards, you know that everything of importance to the plot has already occurred...and you are correct.