Review of Lost Souls (2000) by Simon S — 24 Jan 2004

[b][font=Verdana][size=2]LOST SOULS (2000).

[/b][u]THE GOOD:

[/u]--It's no surprise that when a film is directed by the Oscar winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski that it is a triumph stylistically. Of course, a nice looking film doesn't mean it's a good film, but "Lost Souls" does have some nice eye candy. I particularly liked the dream sequences, the one in the toilet was very well constructed.

--The film starts well, with some good philosophy. I liked the ideas that the leads (Winona Ryder and Ben Chaplin as Maya and Peter) had on good and evil, God and Satan, they interested me.

[u]THE BAD:

[/u]--Haven't I already seen this movie tons of times before? In films like "The Exorcist", "Stigmata", "End of Days", "The Omen" and many more? "Lost Souls" doesn't bring anything new to the forefront, in fact it is basically a cardboard copy of the previous films mentioned. You'd think that copying so many movies would bring about a solid plot, but it is not to be. The film is almost plotless, it seems like there wasn't very much of a story so Kaminski had to fill in some time (to make the 90 minute mark) by the characters just looking at objects.

--I was pretty bored by this movie. It didn't hold my interest, probably because I found it so predictable and wasn't interested in the characters or the so-called plot of the film.

--I expected a better ending. We've watched all the crap up until these climactic moments, and what we're given is very, very simple and definitely not as clever as it thinks it is. The movie gives us a lame twist and then sort of just ends, without caring much for the slight bit of development we got or the time we spent to get to this point. I expected a bit of action but what we get is just one disappointment after another - a bore, much like the rest of this rehash.

[u]RATING:

[/u]4/10 - "Lost Souls" is the kind of film that thinks its deep and conceptual, when in the end there really isn't that much there in the first place. Except for several rip-offs of other movies.

[u]IF YOU LIKED THIS MOVIE I RECOMMEND:

[/u]Damien: Omen II (5/10).

End of Days (6/10).

The Exorcist (9/10).

The Omen (8/10).

Stigmata (6/10).

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