Tanya’s Score: Okay*
Rated: 14A
Starring: Westley and Murtaugh
Plot: When two strangers (Carey Elwes; Leigh Whannell) awake to find themselves chained in a strange room, they must piece together their connection in order to escape the deranged serial killer who’s placed them there.
Tanya’s Verdict: If you can handle a bit of gore, a lot of flash backs and some strange twists – then this isn’t a bad movie. The sequels get a whole lot fancier in terms of special effects and more gratuitous in terms of blood and gore (in my memory – this was a lot gorier than it actually is).
A few things that bothered me: the quick cuts, loud blasts of music and bright flashback sequences were probably pretty ground-breaking back in ’04 – but in ’19, they come across as a little bit “try hard” and annoying; the acting is bad – I’ve always fancied Carey Elwes an over-actor or ham, if you will – but the other guy – Leigh Whannell – he’s no thespian himself; the conclusion doesn’t really make much sense – when you really think about it. Sure – I realize it’s just a silly little horror movie – but still – it would sit better with me if I could actually make heads and tails of the resolution.
Still – not bad.
*Four score descriptions: Sh**; Okay; Good; Great