Jason KingSHUTTER (2008)
May 13th 2008 08:23
SHUTTER (2008) $7-
For photographer Ben and his new wife Jane, his new assignment--a lucrative fashion shoot in Tokyo--was supposed to be a kind of working honeymoon. With this exotic professional opportunity and the limitless possibilities of a new marriage, Ben and Jane arrive in Japan. But as they make their way on a mountain road leading to Mt. Fuji, their new life together comes to, literally, a crashing halt. Their car smashes into a woman standing in the middle of the road who has materialized out of nowhere. Upon regaining consciousness after the accident, Ben and Jane cannot find any trace of the girl Jane believes she hit. Shaken by the accident and by the girl's disappearance, Ben and Jane arrive in Tokyo, where Ben begins his glamorous assignment. Having worked in Japan before and fluent in the language, Ben is comfortable there, and he eagerly reunites with old friends and colleagues. Jane, a newcomer to the city, feels very much like a stranger in a strange land as she makes tentative, unsettling forays through the city. Meanwhile, Ben has discovered mysterious white blurs--eerily evocative of a human form--that have materialized on an entire day's work from the expensive photo shoot. Jane's concerns escalate as she believes the blurs in Ben's photos are the dead girl from the road, who is now seeking vengeance for them leaving her to die... (20th Century Fox)
The film actually started out quite well and I thought that I may just like it. It was the first Japanese horror film I had seen the US version first. I thought "this may work, maybe the only reason I can't stand the US versions is that I have always seen the original first". Not the case - this film is pure drivel! It is a cheap remake of a far superior Thai film (so I am told). I will be hunting down the Thai version soon. It is kind of sad but it could have been great. The Japanese setting is just beautiful, I would love to go there. The film is shot well and conveys grey tones of the Japanese city, seeing the blossoms in bloom in one scene is just stunning. The art direction, the music all good. The female lead is great. Rachel Taylor - I found her stunning, a love child of Scarlett Johansson & Charlize Theron, she is beautiful and OMG, NO WONDER, she's an Aussie. LOL. She is the better actor of the film and carries it, just. You probably know her as the blonde communications expert in Transformers.
Joshua Jackson is just appalling. I was devastated. He was by far the most talented actor on Dawson's Creek and I have seen him in a decent film or two (Bobby, Scream 2 and The Skulls were pretty OK) since that ended. But in this film he sounds as though he is reading off a teleprompter and does not even want to be in the film. Emotion and non monotone speaking would be impressive! Perhaps him and Rachel had some bad sex at the start of filming or something but I found him so unbelievable and cringed when he was delivering lines, and the chemistry from the two of them is like lightning has hit a power substation and created a total blackout! You don't even like him - by the end I was like "would some ghost just bloody kill him!". The film also stars John Hensley in a smaller bit part. He is the weird, is he good looking, is he mass ugly guy from Nip Tuck. I thought he looked pretty damn fine in this one! It also has another bit part from James Kyson Lee, Hiro's goofy sidekick in Heroes and it was weird hearing him with more of a US accent, spun me out.
Shutter vomits the usual series of spooky images of a female ghost showing up at odd times and moving in the slow, jerky movements that are common for the genre, ala The Ring, The Eye etc etc.
Spirit photography is a massive phenomenon in the world with over one million websites dedicated to it on Google and it is surprising they could not have made this film better and showed more of the spirit photography. They didn't even have any screenings for critics on this film, which is a shouting beacon that not even the studio has confidence in the film. Described by one reviewer as THE MOST RETARDED MOVIE EVER - this pretty much sums it up. Don't waste your money. $7-
For photographer Ben and his new wife Jane, his new assignment--a lucrative fashion shoot in Tokyo--was supposed to be a kind of working honeymoon. With this exotic professional opportunity and the limitless possibilities of a new marriage, Ben and Jane arrive in Japan. But as they make their way on a mountain road leading to Mt. Fuji, their new life together comes to, literally, a crashing halt. Their car smashes into a woman standing in the middle of the road who has materialized out of nowhere. Upon regaining consciousness after the accident, Ben and Jane cannot find any trace of the girl Jane believes she hit. Shaken by the accident and by the girl's disappearance, Ben and Jane arrive in Tokyo, where Ben begins his glamorous assignment. Having worked in Japan before and fluent in the language, Ben is comfortable there, and he eagerly reunites with old friends and colleagues. Jane, a newcomer to the city, feels very much like a stranger in a strange land as she makes tentative, unsettling forays through the city. Meanwhile, Ben has discovered mysterious white blurs--eerily evocative of a human form--that have materialized on an entire day's work from the expensive photo shoot. Jane's concerns escalate as she believes the blurs in Ben's photos are the dead girl from the road, who is now seeking vengeance for them leaving her to die... (20th Century Fox)
The film actually started out quite well and I thought that I may just like it. It was the first Japanese horror film I had seen the US version first. I thought "this may work, maybe the only reason I can't stand the US versions is that I have always seen the original first". Not the case - this film is pure drivel! It is a cheap remake of a far superior Thai film (so I am told). I will be hunting down the Thai version soon. It is kind of sad but it could have been great. The Japanese setting is just beautiful, I would love to go there. The film is shot well and conveys grey tones of the Japanese city, seeing the blossoms in bloom in one scene is just stunning. The art direction, the music all good. The female lead is great. Rachel Taylor - I found her stunning, a love child of Scarlett Johansson & Charlize Theron, she is beautiful and OMG, NO WONDER, she's an Aussie. LOL. She is the better actor of the film and carries it, just. You probably know her as the blonde communications expert in Transformers.
Joshua Jackson is just appalling. I was devastated. He was by far the most talented actor on Dawson's Creek and I have seen him in a decent film or two (Bobby, Scream 2 and The Skulls were pretty OK) since that ended. But in this film he sounds as though he is reading off a teleprompter and does not even want to be in the film. Emotion and non monotone speaking would be impressive! Perhaps him and Rachel had some bad sex at the start of filming or something but I found him so unbelievable and cringed when he was delivering lines, and the chemistry from the two of them is like lightning has hit a power substation and created a total blackout! You don't even like him - by the end I was like "would some ghost just bloody kill him!". The film also stars John Hensley in a smaller bit part. He is the weird, is he good looking, is he mass ugly guy from Nip Tuck. I thought he looked pretty damn fine in this one! It also has another bit part from James Kyson Lee, Hiro's goofy sidekick in Heroes and it was weird hearing him with more of a US accent, spun me out.
Shutter vomits the usual series of spooky images of a female ghost showing up at odd times and moving in the slow, jerky movements that are common for the genre, ala The Ring, The Eye etc etc.
Spirit photography is a massive phenomenon in the world with over one million websites dedicated to it on Google and it is surprising they could not have made this film better and showed more of the spirit photography. They didn't even have any screenings for critics on this film, which is a shouting beacon that not even the studio has confidence in the film. Described by one reviewer as THE MOST RETARDED MOVIE EVER - this pretty much sums it up. Don't waste your money. $7-
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