Review of White Noise (2005) by Tim B — 29 Jun 2010

Another example of a movie with potential gone sour. I dug on the opening credits, the little pre-title sequence and the initial set-up. The missing/dead wife plot appeals to me (see: Silent Hill 2) and its presentation for the first half was great with a solid mystery, many eerie moments and the direction choices.

Sadly, that was all thrown out the door for me at the halfway mark. As soon as it told its premise, it seemed to be over and I had to rely on repeats of the same scenarios and even lame turn outs to tell its story.

They obviously had problems with how the movie was going to turn out. What a lame explanation! I put in the effort to pay attention, don't cop out on me! Not only did it seem lame, it also didn't make much sense when I thought about it afterwards.

On top of it all, they felt the need to throw in a light CGI show at the end with Michael Keaton dodging ghosts all over. I nearly shut the movie off right there. Geoffrey Sax's directing choices was as bi-polar as the movie itself.

On one hand, he had many stylish shots, effective use of close-ups and a good handle on suspense. The other half of the time, it was very clumsy with basic shots, making it overly dramatic and somewhat lame.

Michael Keaton is usually a good actor, but had his fair share of unconvincing moments. He was decent. Deborah Kara Unger played a damaged, soulful lady again. She always does good with it. Chandra West showed up long enough to look pretty and then disappeared.

Ian McNeice overacted the part to the point of coming across as funny. Dude needed to chill. White Noise starts off very promising with a gnarly premise, many chilling moments, well done direction and a swift pace.

So imagine how it felt when I realized it turned out so lame afterwards. Compare it to having a few drinks with friends and heading to a party that sounded like a blast, only to find out that they're playing Checkers and listening to Yanni once you get there.

So not worth it.