Review of The Tattooist (2007) by D. Y — 02 Apr 2009

To be completely honest with you, the main reason I looked up this movie was because of starring actor Jason Behr. I've never found him to be an especially amazing or anything, but I wanted to see what he had been up to since leaving the show Roswell in 2003. The secondary reason for watching this movie stemmed from my actual interest in the premise of the story. The plot line possessed the potential of embracing key features that create an excellent thriller film. Man, was I disappointed.

The story starts with a depiction of a little boy in a dark cellar, in the process of tattooing his wrist with an elaborate pattern. The boy's artwork is disrupted by an older man telling him that his actions were wrong and slicing the skin off the boy's wrist with a knife.

Cut to present day, we meet the boy as a grown up and well known tattoo artist, Jake Sawyer, a man who travels around the world to learn ethnic patterns to enhance his art form. He also uses the gimmick that his tattooing has "healing properties," which he uses for business. While in New Zealand, he stumbles upon the ancient Samoan tradition of tatau. Curious, he steals a tool used in tatau and accidentally pricks his finger on it. Call him Sleeping Beauty, but the pricking of his finger causes him to be haunted by a deadly spirit that essentially kills all his tattoo clients by... engorging their bodies with ink...

The rest of the plot, in a nutshell, involves him falling in love with a Samoan woman, tattooing her, thereby causing her to become a victim of the evil spirit. Jake's mission becomes to find out why the evil spirit is doing what it does, solve the mystery, and save the pretty lady.

Sounds good huh? It really could have been, but one of the major flaws of the film was its inability to allow us to truly feel for the characters. Jake's passion for tattooing, the beauty of the Samoan culture, even the suffering of the victims, they all just seemed like what I like to identify as "foot notes" of a film - superficial happenings that should elicit emotions, but instead become forgettable. Even Jake's romance with Sina, which is supposed to be some deep connection, seems like just a romp in the park. I suppose what saves the film from utter disappointment in this department was the provoking surprise ending that really revved some feeling out.

Unfortunately for me, the movie started out very slow and continued to meander in a seemingly aimless fashion, complicating the plot as it went along. Contiguous plot events seemed to only be loosely tied together, and after a while, I just gave up trying to make it all seem like a solid story. The theatrical elements that I love about thrillers was absent, and in fact often times appeared comical rather than dramatic (e.g. possessed little boy in backseat of car).

The positive aspects of the movie included some fairly decent acting, some interesting scenes, a satisfying ending, and like I said before, an overall interesting story. But otherwise, I wasn't quite impressed, and I felt like the movie did not live up to its full potential of being memorable or thought-provoking or sensitive. Much like a stick-on tattoo.

Furious D Grade: C.

Recommended: Sure. For a rainy day, to watch on your laptop in bed.

:rotten: :fresh: :rotten: