Review of The Voices (2014) by Chris J — 16 Feb 2015

There are two golden rules to writing successful fictional psychopaths and serial killers; either place them in a movie with little to no backstory i.e. Michael Myers, Leatherface, Louis Bloom etc., or have them receive sufficient development in their very first movie to sustain their presence i.e. Kyung-chul, Patrick Bateman etc. However exceptions exist, such as Freddy Krueger's protracted origin throughout the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, or even Dexter Morgan's character arc throughout Showtime's Dexter. Despite these, the two golden rules apply by default. Unfortunately, The Voices fails to put Jerry Hickfang on the fictional serial killer map due to its mishandling of the character's development which falls in the clichéd area of "Here is some haphazard character development akin to Michael Myers' backstory from Rob Zombie's Halloween reboot.".

Screenwriter Michael R. Perry has had a long history of writing for the crime genre in television, and he does inject some form of discernible depth to Jerry's insanity involving his childhood, mother, and loneliness, along with the excessive, over-the-top violence that he obliviously leaves in his wake, while director Marjane Satrapi provides several interesting tonal and structural shifts, including the grim Silent Hill-esque lucidity that shows Jerry (and the audience) the actual nature of his surrounding that comes from his prescribed medication, but nothing truly sticks in terms of character memorability and neither does the story itself have any depth beyond what was thrown into the screenplay due the director's vision of a violent, yet funny movie falling short of being both at any given time unlike what was done with the likes of American Psycho (2000).

Toeing the delicate dark humor line between being decent and subpar, The Voices more often than not slips into the latter. Yet, when it does shine, the movie owes its positives primarily to Ryan Reynolds' performance as Jerry Hickfang, Mr. Whiskers, Bosco, Deer and Bunny Monkey; the talking animals are a result of Jerry's fragmented psyche that projects itself outward as an illusion of talking animals, and inconspicuously voiced by Reynolds. The appeal to Jerry has little to do with the character itself but Reynolds' performance that sees him toning down his usual egotistical, smooth-talking on-screen persona for a much more nuanced outing as the introverted, shy, weepy and overwhelmingly innocent Jerry that stumbles into one murder after the other, whilst his dog, Bosco, and cat, Mr. Whiskers, either goad him towards or away from becoming a full-fledged, head-decapitating serial killer, along with the sharp turns that Reynolds makes in both parts eery and natural as his character turns increasingly unhinged.

The Voices isn't going to do Reynolds' career the sort of favors that John Wick (2014) did to Keanu Reeves', but it certainly puts the spotlight on the actor's unexpected range that comfortably stretches into off-kilter psychopath territory involving comedic violence and schizophrenic voices. In a sense, The Voices is an invitation to what the actor might achieve in his upcoming role as Wade Wilson/Deadpool.