Review of Irreversible (2002) by John M — 16 Jun 2009

Another attempt to turn ultraviolence into art, and at times it almost succeeds, though largely due to ripping off Memento, which did the time-in-reverse motif much better. Here there's no escaping the awareness that if the movie were played forward, it would simply be a trite vengeance film.

Shock value is provided by two scenes, one an fx-laden sequence where a man has his skull bashed in with a fire extinguisher, the other a harrowing nine-minute rape scene, both of which will be outdone for shock within the year, I'm sure.