Jinn

This potentially intriguing movie ruined my whole day for a vast number of reasons. I had come across the trailer for this, and being a fan of atmospheric supernatural thrillers, it looked appealing. Thus, I planned a whole day around going out to see this film theatrically in its limited release. Sadly, it failed on so many levels that I literally stopped caring about it halfway through, which made for a horrendously difficult sit for the next 50 minutes.

"Jinn" apparently has its mythology based on Middle Eastern folklore, but provides the most bare minimum exposition to get any of its ideas across. Thus, concepts and characters are poorly defined. It has concepts that are mentioned in relation to man, jinn, and angels - yet introduces nothing regarding angels anywhere in its narrative. As it goes along, you get the idea that Ray Park's character could potentially be an angel from the abilities he demonstrates, but nope, that potentially interesting idea never comes to be. The Jinn themselves are not well explained in the supposed mythology this film is attempting to setup and utilize. This film ultimately fails to flesh out or develop anything on a compelling level. The characters are not explored, leaving them as very two dimensional people despite having some potentially good quality talents here like William Atherton. It was at the point, nestled in the second act, where characters typically are fleshed out and given more depth and focus that I realized this film had no intention of caring at all about its characters. Everyone is given a shallow setup with no further development beyond that, and instead, the film throws a lot of flashy imagery and effects to use its sleek appearance mask its shortcomings.

"Jinn" also heavily lacks in excitement until well passed the point where I stopped giving a damn about it. The talents of Ray Park are grossly wasted here with a very tame and very brief martial arts showing, and a super slow motion fight scene that amounts to one of the most boring sequences of the film. The filmmakers also surely had no intention of building up legitimate scares or suspense. Jump scares are all it has to offer in that regard, and as I said, the action fails to excite at all. It also features some suped up concept car that the director clearly put far more effort and energy into integrating into this film than he did anything else.

I honestly stopped giving a damn about halfway through the film because the makers of this film never bothered to give me anything worth giving a damn about. You have to establish, develop, and build up your characters primarily, and that's exactly what this film never takes the time to do. Thus, it's exactly why I lost all interest in this, and felt embarrassed walking out of the theatre at the end of it. Also, despite the Jinn being a threat to the entire whole of humanity, the scope of this film is extremely narrow, and feels a lot like a forgettable late 1990's direct-to-video movie. It just lacks ambition, originality, intelligence, and scope to make it succeed on any creative level at all.

"Jinn" does have a very moody look to it with good quality cinematography, and the CGI effects work is quite high grade. However, good visuals and some nice effects cannot make-up for a lackluster script and lazy storytelling. The acting isn't poor, but it fails to compel an audience's interest. Do not bother paying to see this movie. There is a vast catalog of far superior works in this genre to watch and enjoy thoroughly than this such as The Prophecy, Constantine, Solomon Kane, or any episode of Supernatural. Don't waste your time, and don't encourage a sequel to a well below average movie like this because its end credits literally are asking you to do so.

This movie proves that poor old Ray Parks should stick to Darth Maul and give up acting as well as the main actor Dominic Rains and his equally poor acting wife in this they have absolutely no persona or acting talent; a bit like cardboard cutouts really, virtually the whole cast were pretty dreadful but contrary to other reviewers I thought the car design was downright devilish and fitted in quite well but it did come across as a bit of a vanity project.

Having said that the Djinn effects were not bad for a tv style movie and reminded me a bit of Frank in Hellraiser so not bad and there were a couple of good jump scares but alas that does not a movie make unfortunately. This is one of those movies you watch on a wet Sunday afternoon when there is not much else on and you are stuck in the house.

PS. I always thought it was Djinn and not Jinn or perhaps it is Gin! You will certainly need a bottle to get through the fight scenes - why oh why did they have to have Ray doing his Darth Maul dancing routine made me laugh so hard I crapped myself!

Jinn is a film which can't decide whether it's a horror flick, a sci-fi/ fantasy romp, or an origin story launch for an independent noir graphic novel hero (please note, I have no idea if Jinn is based off a comic, but they're obviously trying to force-start a franchise.) Like the film's protagonists who attempt to create a super amalgamation of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, only to have it come across as vaguely anti-Muslim and awkward, (and the 'edgy' sound track choices which just end up being bafflingly bizarre,) this mix doesn't quite work, and the film would have been better served choosing one genre, and doing it well, instead of all and fumbling through it. There are some genuinely creepy moments, which are ruined by the comedy, and the comedy is in turn ruined by the complete, posturing cheesiness of some of characters and dialogs. Several plot devices could have come straight from their TVTropes.com pages, and certain scenes feel almost as if they were lifted from famous, better-made, movies.

The production value is very high, which helps and hinders. There are many actors with recognizable faces doing the very best they can; some extremely expensive camera shots; well-done (and plentiful) effects; fighting and driving stunts; and seriously, what is the point of the sports car? The high production values prevent the film from be a crappy delight, but make the confusing plot bearable to watch. Watching Jinn, you'll wonder who in the world would pour so much money into a movie who's plot and screen play feel more like a made-for-TV film you stumble onto after midnight on the Sifi channel than the big budget blockbuster it longs to be.

If you like films like "Season of the Witch," "Outlander," or random, independent movies from Red Box, you'll probably like Jinn, but otherwise, this is a film to watch with a bunch of drunk friends and make fun of, though there are other, better, choices for that.

I got a free ticket to see this, and spent too much. The credits did not appear until the end of the movie, and that made it much clearer what was going on: There were a few names and surnames repeated several times in the credits, none of them well known as filmmakers. The director was listed as a main designer for the car that was featured, at length -- not that it was particularly interesting as a car. Or a movie; the whole thing is padded absurdly. There might be a decent half-hour TV show buried in this mess, but the fact that there's almost a half hour of setup before anything really happens is a giveaway of the pace of this thing. And once things start happening, they look like something from the 80's -- at best. Nothing happens fast, and almost nothing happens only once; the director liked some of his shots so much we see them several times. Even the scene after the credits is pointless.

Don't get me wrong -- I like outsider films. The original Gone in 60 Seconds, for example, is a classic. This has none of the pacing or wit of that movie, or any other decent one.

Having read a lot about the topic of Jinns, I was not completely disappointed by the movie although it could have been made even better.

Story took of well and was entertaining and subject was well researched. Good job showing the 'chillah'. Have read about it in my curious readings so could make a connection.

Not many could show this perspective of Jinns in mainstream cinema. It may be a new thing for all to understand the significance of the Holy Zamzam water or of the incantations.

The camera work and direction was flawless. Although at times the background score was a bit misplaced. Acting was passable too. Hopefully when the Jinn returns with a sequel (if any) it may improve to get a better viewership.

Good try on this movie.