The Eye

First am going to admit I didn't watch the original. Am not a guy that likes to watch foreign films, so I will spare you with any comparison. The movie at the beginning moves sort of slow. They do put some parts that are meant to scare the viewer, but they did seem contrived and really didn't scare me. But as the movie plot thickens, the movie starts having a real story, and it does entertain the viewer, not just a gimmick of spooky special effects, with absolutely no plot. I would give this movie a 6.5. It turns very solid towards the end.

I do agree it could be a little bit tedious at the beginning, but if you are a guy that has the patience, towards the end, it picks up well. Not the scariest movie ever though, but in the end, it did deliver. I've seen way worse, and I think some are being somewhat to harsh.

Solid move, a 6.5.

I really wanted this movie to be good. Really. I think Jessica Alba is an extremely talented actress, and I had high hopes for this movie. J horror remake, interesting premise, Jessica Alba...sounds good so far.

But this movie left me disappointed in when I saw it last night. The movie relies on cheap thrills that aren't frightening to the mature moviegoer. I should have expected this, as it was rated PG-13, but the theatre full of screaming 11 year olds at every jump was quite irritating.

When it was all over, The Eye left me wanting more. The only thinking and mystery in the movie is done for you and the "science-talk" from Alba seems unrealistic. It relies on loud noises and horror movie clichés at every turn. The Eye is a definite popcorn movie. It may be entertaining for younger viewers, but if you want a deeper and more engaging story, look elsewhere.

The Eye was not a great movie but it's not horrible either. It was about an average movie. I was not expecting a lot going into seeing this movie. If you are expecting a lot going into this movie it will not be good but if your just looking to see a movie and thinking its going to be good you might actually like it. Pretty much the whole entire beginning and almost all of the middle was boring and just had very sudden scenes that would get you to jump out of your seat. The rest of the movie was when it started to kick up and get good. Jessica Alba finally started to find out what she had to do and what was going on with her and people around her. Thats when the action started and it had you on the edge of your seat. For the most part it was pretty slow moving and boring but then it kicked up it was good. If the first hour of the movie was like the end it would have of been an excellent movie. So if your looking for a pretty scary movie with lots of things that pop out at you go see this. The story was actually pretty good as well. The fact that it made you wait to find out why she became blind was well done. The acting job Jessica Alba did was good as well. The visual effects for this movie were also awesome.

It would be hard to describe this one as scary, but it definitely had some eerie moments and scenes and overall was entertaining. While I'm pretty skeptical about the underlying concept, i.e. "cellular memory", there are clearly a number of adherents and it's worth popping the keywords into a search engine -- like Alba did in the movie -- to better understand the underpinnings of the film.

Overall I thought The Eye was well acted by both leads, as well as the supporting cast. Alba and Nivola carried the plot by encouraging us to suspend disbelief at some of the less credible incidents. The scenes of Alba playing violin featured superb talent on the part of the orchestra, both musically and visually and helped anchor the film at both ends.

The one real drawback was that it was slow at times, and a little boring. But it was too intriguing to abandon before the end, where the pieces were neatly tied together.

Overall worth watching and mildly thought provoking.

The Eye (2008) I knew going into the theater that this would be a bit scary. OK, maybe traumatizing. I had a LASIK procedure done a couple of years ago, and although I wasn't blind beforehand, I did have pretty bad eyesight. I know a bit about the trepidation - perhaps even outright terror - one feels before undergoing an operation on one's eyeballs. I still get a little skeeved when I see a closeup of eyes, come to think of it.

Jessica Alba plays Sydney, a blind concert violinist who has a double corneal transplant, and of course things go wrong. Not with the surgery itself, but with the psychological aftermath - she sees dead people. And dead things. And undead. And so on; it looks like she's tapped into a spiritual world, or something. No one else can see what she's seeing, which is par for the course in movieland, but all of the demons and smoke and fire and other sfx seem extremely, utterly, real to Sydney.

Alba is excellent, showing that she has more than just two (or three) talents to show the world. Her Sydney is appealing in her vulnerability; Alba, a beautiful young woman, manages to make you feel as if her character could, indeed, live in your world: less glitzy starlet, more three-dimensional person. Of course, she's still a knockout, and she IS a supremely talented musician, and she DOES live in a super-posh apartment in a high rise, but still. Alba shows wonderful range, from tender to fragile, without giving up any sincerity. The movie hinges on her ability to sell the audience on her character's Everywoman (to a point) status, and I think she delivers.

Some of you may be thinking you've already seen this movie before, when it was called Blink. In Blink, Madeline Stowe played a young woman who lost her sight as a child (as did Sydney) and then grew up to be a talented violinist; after a new eye operation temporarily restores some sight, she sees things. Just like Sydney. Huh. Still, this isn't a redo of Blink, it's a remake of a Chinese film called Gin gwai. Asian films have made the rounds of Hollywood in recent years (The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water), and although the remakes usually don't have the subversive bite of their original counterparts, some of them hold up rather well when inundated with high-tech CGI. The Eye does use special effects, but it uses them - pardon me - to great effect; you're not overwhelmed with attention-grabbing CGI.

The biggest debit in the movie is the love interest, Sydney's doctor, Paul (Alessandro Nivola), who seems dull and unimportant, although his believing in and trusting Sydney is a linchpin for moving the plot. He just seems vacant and stiff, hardly a commendation of Nivola's acting abilities. (Think of a younger Dylan McDermott.) On the other hand, a good counterbalance to Nivola is Parker Posey as Sydney's concerned sister, who, although she doesn't immediately buy into Sydney's rantings, does empathize and attempt to understand a bit better than the hunky doctor.

Overall, The Eye is a tense, shudder-filled movie that manages to dress up a recycled plot with dead-on performances and evocative cinematography.