 |
|
|
Gothika DVD Review: Miranda Grey (Berry) was one of the most renowned psychiatrists working in the prison system. With a loving husband (Dutton) and the respect of her colleagues, even difficulties with a patient’s case couldn’t distract her from her perfect life. This all changed on the night of a torrential downpour, which caused her to take a detour home. When travelling over an old bridge she had to serve to avoid a girl stood in the middle of the road. Staggering out of her car she goes to help the girl but as soon as she touches her everything goes dark. Miranda then awakes in a prison cell, faced by her colleague Pete Graham (Downey Jr.) who tells her that she is been held for the murder of her husband.
Dark Castle Entertainment, the joint horror venture between Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis has done it again. They have produced an extremely average ghost movie. Hollywood is really grasping at straws when it comes to horror, stealing and recycling ideas from any film that has been profitable and Gothika is no exception. Pinching sections from many different crime thrillers, blending them with a dash of “The Sixth Sense” and throwing in bits from every other Dark Castle movie, this film feels more like déjà vu than something new. Halle Berry has made some strange career choices since winning her Oscar and appearing in a horror movie wasn’t exactly the greatest decision she ever made. Its not that her performance is bad or anything, in fact she does very well with the material but it isn’t the most challenging role that will allow her to continue to showcase her talent. It is the completely average script that lets her down as she has to deliver some truly terrible dialogue like “I'm not deluded, I'm possessed!” but she does try her best to make it convincing. Her supporting cast also give the material their best shot. Robert Downey Jr. is fine as Pete Graham but the role isn’t really a challenge for him. Bernard Hill and Charles Dutton only appear fleetingly, which is a complete waste of these talented actors. Penélope Cruz is convincing enough as mental patient Chloe but like Berry, she has to struggle with the appalling dialogue. It looks like Dark Castle Entertainment is becoming notorious for producing very average ghost movies and Gothika does nothing to change that. It has some jumpy moments and a twist that isn’t completely obvious but it is the complete lack of originality that lets the movie down. See it and you will feel like you’ve seen it all before.
Star Rating = * *
PICTURE & SOUND
Presented in Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is very good. The dark, gothic look of the film is brought to life through grey and blue tinted colours. The picture is sharp throughout even though this is a very dark movie. The sound quality is also good, especially during the creepy ghost moments when all the speakers come alive.
BONUS FEATURES
Director and DP Commentary Director Mathieu Kassovitz and director of photography Matthew Libatique provide a chatty and informative commentary about bringing Gothika to the big screen. They both reveal that the intension of the movie was to create a scary atmosphere by setting the mood of the piece very early. Libatique talks about his previous work with Darren Aronofsky and others and how that experience helped him lens this movie. The pair also discusses the subtle use of visual effects in the movie and the creation of the ghost effects. As well as the more technical aspects of the movie, the pair reveals that casting was all-important as the characters are what drive the story along.
On the set of Gothika (16.09 mins) Director Mathieu Kassovitz, producer Joel Silver, producer Susan Levin, director of photography Matthew Libatique, special effects supervisor Eric Henry and stars Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Penelope Cruz, Bernard Hill and John Carroll Lynch take you behind the scenes of Gothika. The actors discuss their characters and the crew reveal how they wanted to produce a thriller with a supernatural element. They also try and explain the title.
Painting with Fire (7.05 mins) Director Mathieu Kassovitz, producer Joel Silver, director of photography Matthew Libatique, special effects supervisor Eric Henry, co-producer Richard Mirisch, digital effects supervisor Jeff Goldman and stars Robert Downey Jr. and John Carroll Lynch talk about creating the visual effects for Gothika. The featurette shows you how the FX wizards created Woodward Penitentiary, the CG fire effects, the possession and the ghost effects for the movie.
Making of the Music Video (19.18 mins) MTV take you behind
the scenes of the Limp Bizkit video “Behind Blue Eyes”.
Director and Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst and star Halle
Berry show you how the video was made and how they recreated
the theme of the movie. You also get to see Halle play a cruel
practical joke on Fred Durst. Behind Blue Eye by Limb Bizkit music video (4.32 mins) Your chance to watch the Limp Bizkit Music Video used to promote the movie.
Trailers
OVERALL For a very average movie, Columbia/Tristar have done a very good job with the DVD. The featurettes are very informative and the commentary track is a very good listen. The highlight is the patient section with Bernard Hill’s Dr Phil Parsons. This has some good performances from actresses that don’t take a prominent role in the main movie. It is very rare that the quality of the extras actually increases the rentability of the DVD but in this case they do.
DVD Star Rating = * * *
Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of Gothika and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline. |
|
|
||
|
||
|