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By
WAYNE KLEIN
The insanity defense serves
many people well. Evidently it also serves actors
when they've made a questionable choice in a role
or movie. "Gothika" has its defense built in; one
can imagine Halle Berry on the witness stand
defending this film. "The role allowed me to
stretch and kill my screen husband at the same
time. What more could one ask for?" Plenty. Halle
Berry is about the only good thing in this creaky,
creepy overcooked thriller. The instructions on
the screenplay probably began with the following;
throw in movie clichés, a cup of "The Sixth
Sense," "Dante's Inferno" and "Silence of the
Lambs." Simmer until gloomy and atmospheric. Serve
on toast.
In "Gothika" the ride to hell is located at the
crossroads of the real and unreal. Berry plays
Miranda Gray a prison psychologist who manages
just to a young girl standing in the middle of the
road on her way back from work. Both seem shaken
but that's the extent of the injuries. Until Gray
notices what appear to be marks of physical abuse
on the girl. The next moment she wakes up in a
psychiatric ward as if from a hallucination and
discovers her husband (Charles Dutton) has been
murdered in a psychotic rage. She's the prime
suspect in the killing.
As things couldn't get any worse, she's under the
care of Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr. in a
thankless role) who may or may not be her friend.
Gray's life continues to careen out of control.
She begins to question her own sanity but then an
unexpected series of twists and turns allow the
truth about her past, her husband and those around
her to be revealed. Featuring elements of the
ghost story, thriller and gothic mystery "Gothika"
despite its considerable flaws is worthwhile
viewing just for Halle Berry's nicely detailed
performance as the confused Miranda and a nice
supporting performance by Penelope Cruz as a
psychopathic murderer.
Because of a number of absurd plot twists and
overheated performances, "Gothika" falls under the
guilty pleasure category of films. It's not that
the film is bad; on the contrary, the direction,
writing and performances fill the screen with
enough detail and melodramatic moments for a dozen
films. Instead, it's the overindulgence of rich,
tasty film clichés that undoes the film. "Gothika"
comes across as a bizarre amalgamation of ten or
fifteen influential thrillers over the past two
decades. This mad patchwork quilt approach to the
construction of the film shows a lack of
originality but impeccable taste in the films the
director has "borrowed" from.
All of the film's overwrought production design
and horror film photography remains intact in this
nicely done transfer. The rich shadows, odd almost
surreal color scheme and textured costumes and
sets look particularly good. The lively sound
design and mix immerse you in the paranoid and
dark world that Miranda Gray becomes trapped in.
The sharp images convey depth and detail to the
dark world that Miranda has been drawn into. The
aggressive detail in the surround sound track
creates a creepy atmosphere that enhances the
visuals of the film. The carefully transferred
soundtrack sounds really good regardless of what
type of system you have to listen to it on. It's a
pity that the music isn't available as an isolated
track on the DVD as it provides more satisfaction
and rich detail than this derivative film
deserves.
Surprisingly underdressed in DVD extras, ,
"Gothika" seemingly wants to distract viewers
preventing them from realizing that the empress
has no clothes. The director's commentary track
provides uninteresting tidbits about working with
the cast, the atmospheric visuals and various
problems during production but lacks the juicy
trivia about conflicts on the set, etc. that might
have enlivened the dull commentary track. We also
get the atmospheric and satisfying trailer which
comes across as intriguing, mysterious and
intelligent something this film never quite lives
up to in its two hour run. What would have been
fascinating would have been a preview version of
the film prior to all of the cuts and alterations
the director made to the final product. We're also
saddled with a horrible remake of The Who's
"Behind Blue Eyes" where Limp Bizkit lives up to
its name. The music video provides absolutely no
pleasure whatsoever and is pretty badly directed.
Please, somebody pass a law where lame modern day
bands can't remake rock classics for mediocre
movies.
Although "Gothika" starts off with considerable
promise, the film becomes a mishmash of jumbled
images and themes borrowed from other much more
effective films. Quickly descending from effective
thriller into an ineffective gothic nightmare,
"Gothika" fails to deliver by the time the film
ends. The extras aren't anything to write home
about either although watching the trailer might
be a more effective use of your time. |
