El ojo del mal

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.

With virtually every successful Asian horror movie of the last few years having already been remade by Hollywood, it was only a matter of time before Gin gwai (AKA The Eye) got the treatment, despite the original not really being all that great (I found it fairly entertaining, but unexceptional—my rating: 6/10).

Jessica Alba plays Sydney Wells, a blind violinist who receives a cornea transplant only to discover that her new set of peepers allow her to see much more than she had originally bargained for: Sydney can see dead people!! Aided by her doctor, she attempts to unravel the terrible secret behind her scary supernatural power.

Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, The Eye is a totally unnecessary and dreary remake that copies parts of original verbatim, alters scenes that should have been left well alone (the creepy cafe meat-licking scene has gone, and the downbeat ending has been swapped for a typical Hollywood crowd pleaser), and totally botches what should be the scariest bit of the whole film (the lift scene is VERY disappointing).

Take my advice: If you've already seen Gin gwai, then stay away from The Eye.

If you're looking for a pulse-pounding horror thriller, you won't find that here. If you're looking for a spooky ghost story, you might want to move on. If you're looking for blood & guts & body parts, don't even waste a minute of your time.

"The Eye" isn't so much a horror flick as it is a supernatural drama.

This film is a remake of the 2002 Chinese "The Eye" which I haven't seen, so I can't (and probably shouldn't) compare the two. I thought this was a nicely done film, more of an intimate character study than a scary "gotcha" flick. In that respect it's similar to "The Sixth Sense", and not just the story. Like "The Sixth Sense" which was a slow moving psychological drama that just happened to have dead people in it, "The Eye" takes a personal approach as well. And while that may bore the audience members who are expecting some screams, it ultimately results in a film with a little bit more to say than your average screamer.

Jessica Alba ("Sydney") does a great job of playing a woman who has been blind since age 5, a loner, someone who doesn't seem to have many connections with people and she likes it that way. The underlying theme is that her blindness makes her feel unique, exempt from the real world. When she regains her sight after 15 years by a corneal transplant, it's not necessarily the wonderful experience you'd expect. There's a scene when she comes back from the hospital to a surprise party, and the scene is filmed with unsettling, distorted closeups of strange faces. It perfectly expresses the confusion and claustrophobia of not just a blind person gaining her sight, but that of an introvert being forced into society. That enough could've been enough for a feature length film: how a woman deals with the "gift" of sight which she doesn't really want. But it doesn't end there. She starts seeing dead people, too.

While we never really feel like Sydney is in any deadly peril, there are a few very effective surprises which, I gotta admit, quickened my pulse a few notches. Also the "shadow men" were very creepy, and if you want to see a real shocker, check out the bonus features where we learn that the shadow men are not cgi graphics, but it's an actual dude... a sort of living skeleton who looks just as bizarre in real life than on screen.

The 2nd half of the film becomes a mystery as Sydney tries to figure out why she's getting these disturbing visions and what she's supposed to do about it. Again, no hair raising car chases or shootouts here, just a thick atmosphere of the unknown.

Like I said, I haven't seen the original Chinese film, but I can tell that the American filmmakers were trying to add a degree of backstory. In the bonus features they talk about the science of "cellular memory" (the idea that donated organs possess characteristics that are imparted to the new recipient). So I can assume that this is less of a visceral shocker (like the original?) as it is an intellectual approach. There's also the psychology bit I mentioned above. And it also touches on the idea that artists, musicians & creative thinkers are more sensitive to supernatural events (Sydney is a concert violinist). In short, "The Eye" sacrifices the raw approach of a typical action-horror flick, and instead replaces it with more of a slow-moving, scientific or "rational" approach to the supernatural.

Depending on your preference, that's a good or bad thing. I can go either way depending on my mood; once in a while I like to think, whereas other times I just want to see Freddy slice some people to ribbons. "The Eye" definitely falls on the thinking side of that scale. Other thinking horror flicks I recommend are "Exorcist III" (one of the BEST), "The Others" with Nicole Kidman, and of course "The Sixth Sense".

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 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.