Asunder

Yikes!! 'Asunder' packs a serious punch --- I found myself clutching my chest, in great fear for the characters pursued by Chance (Blair Underwood, who proved long ago, in 'Just Cause', how scary he can be!), for the bulk of the film. Adrian Lyne's 'Fatal Attraction' no longer holds the trophy for this scorned-lover-comes-back-for-revenge-genre. See it --- you won't be disappointed.

A formula movie, this is nonetheless an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Blair Underwood's transformation from a dark yet likeable character to a horrifyingly creepy antagonist makes this film a real nail-biter. A twist on the Fatal Attraction theme, Asunder is much more satisfying with its moral dilemmas not quite solved at the end.

I had been waiting to see this movie for two years because made it to some theaters and university auditoriums (with Tim Reid hosting). I rushed to Blockbuster to rent it because I saw it was coming out on Feb 11th. It was worth the wait! Blair Underwood, Michael Beach, and Debbi Morgan were outstanding! It was kind of like a black "Fatal Attraction!" It was so nice to see a black film portraying "well-to-do couples" and yet they were still keeping it real. Tim Reid's direction was superb in how he showed that something so innocent as four couples (who are all best friends)going to the fair can turn into a fatal and horrifying experience and create a "deadly domino" effect that can threaten and ruin relationships as well as lives. I thought the storyline was great. I also liked how Blair Underwood's character (Chance) evolved from docile to demented and how Michael Beach(Michael) explained that Chance once had a "dark-side" and once he met and married Roberta, it calmed him down. All the main characters had their crosses they had to bear. I also loved the town-setting, scenery, music and cinematography. Kudos to Tim Reid, Blair Underwood, and Daphne Maxwell-Reid for taking author Eric Lee Bowers and putting it on screen.

This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen! I think it played down to the audience. When, at the beginning, Michael Beach's character makes the comment that Chance is crazy, it just went straight down hill from there. I love Blair Underwood----no question, but I think someone must have had something on him to get him to play this part. The ONLY saving grace in this movie was Debbie Morgan. We need to see more of her. She rises above the material, and she is one of my favorite actors, but even with a life preserver and the National Guard she couldn't rescue this fiasco. I rented this movie and I wanted my money back. I know lots of people put lots of effort into it, but they'd have done better studying the masters before trying to, off the top of their heads, do a Psychological Thriller. Stanley Donen, Peter Godfrey, Stanley Kubrik, Phillip Noyce, Renny Harlin, and of course Alfred Hitchcock would have been great places for the director to start his study. I looked at this movie twice to make sure I had the right impression. That's time I'll never get back.

After a professional photographer, Chance, sees his wife die in a freak ferris wheel accident, he becomes a tad morbid and overly defensive. So holding his former best friend wrongly responsible, he puts a bizarre plan of revenge into motion. Coming off as a black and reversed version of "Fatal Attraction", I really wanted to like this film and the plot summery that Comcast gave in on Starz on Demand sounded intriguing so I gave it a chance, however I'm sad to say that the film starts off with some promise, but degenerates into mediocrity as the film wears on. None of the major characters came off to me as being particularly believable, and Blair Underwood has done so MUCH better in the past and sadly he can't save this by-the-books psychological drama.

My Grade: D+