The Eye (2008)

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The Eye (2008)

September 29th 2008 00:56

Remakes are being made sooner and sooner after the original. There are six years between The Eye (2002) and this Hollywood remake, but there is less than a year between the Spanish [rec] (2007) and its American take Quarantine (2008). It’s all too close for comfort.

French directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud made the exceptional terror tale Ils (aka Them, 2006). Now Hollywood wants a piece of their action, so they were headhunted to direct the remake of the Pang brothers’ dark spectres flick The Eye (2002). It’s kind of unusual having a Chinese movie being remade by two French men in English for an American audience.

Jessica Alba as Sydney

The Eye (2008) is also a vehicle for rising superstar Jessica Alba (one stand-in, one stunt double, one personal assistant, two security guards), the next generation Angelina Jolie (although not nearly as nutty, but probably just as high maintenance). I’m not entirely sold on Ms. Alba’s acting chops, but she fills out a pair of tight jeans better than most of her female colleagues (terribly sexist thing to say I know, but when the star of a movie is as stunning as Jessica Alba, you can’t help but notice everything about her, from her bee-stung lips to the sassy boots on her feet. But I digress …)

Alessandro Nivola as Dr. Faulkner

Jessica plays Sydney, a young woman blind since the age of five (after an accident fooling with firecrackers with her older sister, played by always reliable Parker Posey). Sydney is an accomplished violinist and is about to receive a cornea transplant. It all goes smoothly, until Sydney starts to see strange and unsettling things.

The Eye (2008) Jessica Alba and Parker Posey

Sydney is driven home from hospital by sister Helen (Parker Posey)

While recovering in hospital following the eye surgery, and in the middle of the night, Sydney sees (albeit with blurry vision) the dying old woman in the bed next to her get up and follow a dark silent figure out of the ward. Sydney is perturbed and she follows, only to encounter a nightmarish vision. The next morning Sydney is informed the old woman passed away in the night.

Fernanda Romero as Sydney's ghost reflection Ana

When Sydney is released and is settling back into her apartment she deals with another two frightening incidents; one involving her neighbour’s young boy wanting to find his report card, and another involving a hideous, floating man in the building’s elevator. After Sydney has a psychological meltdown in a ghostly Chinese restaurant, she realises she is privy to the realm of the dead; those who have been taken unnaturally or in violent circumstances.

Sydney encounters the supernatural world ...

With the help of her specialist Dr. Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola in sleepwalk mode) Sydney travels to Mexico to find what more about her eye donor, a young woman named Ana (Fernanda Romero). Because it is Ana’s reflection Sydney sees in the mirror, not her own.

... some of whom are rather scary

I suppose if you haven’t seen the HK original then watching the remake of The Eye would be quite enjoyable. It’s been tamed for a horror-dreaded PG-13 rating, with the directors trademark long takes and unerring ability to sustain tension being muted. There’s nothing that stands out to say, hey, hot Euro talent is directing this! If you didn’t know they were at the helm, the movie would seem like any other competent, but pedestrian supernatural thriller with high production values.

Sydney has a nightmarish spectral vision of herself

There are a couple of nicely executed “Boo!”s, but as several of the deleted scenes indicate, the more disturbing and grotesque imagery was left on the cutting room floor to safely obtain the wider-audience PG-13 rating which obviously producers wanted. Bollocks to that I say! Horror movie should never, ever be diluted in order to satisfy a wider audience. Exactly what makes them so powerful is partly due to word of mouth creeping through the ranks; “Have you seen ...? Sweet Jesus, it’s terrifying!”

The Eye (2008) Fernanda Romero and Jessica Alba

Sydney tries to guide Ana's ghost out of purgatory

There is a neat sequence when Sydney challenges herself (ie the reflection of Ana) in the mirror, and another when Sydney is threatened by a ghost woman in a café and the spectre leaves a handprint in the spilt sugar on the table (it breaks continuity, but it looks pretty cool). However the major gripe I have with the remake is the compromise with the movie’s fiery finale. Once again Hollywood gets cold feet.

After the Mexican/American border Sydney foresees catastrophe

I noticed the editor, Patrick Lussier (who has just completed directing a 3-D remake of My Bloody Valentine), doubled as visual consultant. Is that to steer the directors back toward a Hollywood style of mise-en-scene, incase they started going all Euro on the movie?? Did Takashi Shimazu (Ju-on: The Grudge) or George Sluizer (The Vanishing) have similar short leashes?

If nothing else Jess gives great hair

The Eye remake is not a badly made movie; it just doesn’t jump out at you and seize you by the throat like it should. The directors have made a pedestrian follow-up to an instant cult classic, and they’ve failed to re-envision the original with any true sense of individual character. The Pang brothers’ original vision doesn’t have everything laid out for the audience, it requires the audience to do a little thinking for themselves. Hollywood on the other hand has to spoon-feed its audience, and screenwriter Sebastian Gutierrez (a director in his own right) has spelt it all out. It’s a shame the producers (all fourteen of them!) have shackled a couple of directors with style to burn with their particular chastity belt.

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

5 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

September 29th 2008 02:17

This sort reminds me of what happened to the music industry some years back.

Small time independent makes a freak Euro Hit then the major labels try to stop it by producing the same song with an established band in the USA.

Remember Falco's Da Commissar?
3 remakes in a month.

Now it seems like the Film industry wants to wipe out its competitors by remaking their films.

Just my cynical twist on the events.

However i may catch this one day, despite liking the original. The kids hate sub titles.

Comment by James Rickard

September 29th 2008 02:50

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Check this out...

I just saw this a few weeks ago. I have to agree. Not bad but not good. I could have been more. I was surprised by Jessica Alba.

Comment by Cibbuano

September 29th 2008 03:01

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I thought this was awful - that is, I would have preferred it if it was low-budget with no Jessica Alba. But for a production of this size, to go so mild and mediocre, that's a greater offense.

The ending is miserable.

Comment by Anonymous

September 29th 2008 13:12

I watched the original, haven't watched the remake and loved the film. I'm a bit disappointed that there's so many spoilers in this review as some scenes should be left to be discovered by the viewer rather than revealed through a review. As an opinion piece though, I love it!

And yes! Horror films should not be diluted. The poltergeist never was and that's how horror films get remembered.

Nice!

Comment by Bryn

September 30th 2008 01:00

Horrorphile

Damo, yeah, I agree with your cynical take. Sad, but true.

James, yeah, I'll have probably forgotten the entire movie in a couple of weeks.

Cibby, have you seen the original??

Anon, my apologies for spoiling so much, I wasn't aware I'd done so. I must admit, I'm not a stickler for holding back on spoilers, perhaps I should put a warning at the top of my blog stating this. I don't do it all the time, and if there's a real twist ending I'll generally withhold from revealing it. When I'm about to do a major spoiler I usually write a warning. Glad you still liked the review though.

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