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chris_gibbs [ 7.5 ]
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David Cronenberg takes a little time off before his official designation as president of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, and presents us with another strange tale crawling out of his impressively twisted head. Shot in his hometown of Toronto, David tosses in a little more Canadian content by the way of Sarah Polley, and delivers his possibly over-saturated version of alternate realities into the cinematic community. Think THE GAME meeting STRANGE DAYS in a dark, creepy alley.
Futuristic virtual reality game super-creator Allegra Geller, runs into opposition from people who call themselves "realists", who not appreciate the propagation of her makeshift universe games, including her latest and greatest one, called eXistenZ. Joined by her "bodyguard", Allegra runs through her own game and her characters, in the hopes of escaping her enemies.
Dark, moody, interesting science-fiction melange of creative plot twists, solid actors, an inventive and fresh premise despite my initial "been there, seen that" resentment, and a truckload of gory, icky sequences accompanied hand in hand by disgusting, yet overdone, squishy noises. This film managed to keep me interested in its development, despite several moments of "are they still in the game?" frustrations, and stamped a vote onto my approval with a fun and appropriate conclusion. This movie is definitely not for everyone. It's pretty graphic in its depiction of several skin-crawly scenes, but does convince in its depiction of the futuristic world, and their maneuverability within. Consider yourself in a game where everyone else is programmed to react to what you do or say, and without any cognizance of your own mission, and you might just get the gist of this flick's foundation.
Be warned, this movie does not have much action in it, despite what the electro-music-fooled trailer might have you believe, but it does put forth an intriguing prophesy of our future, and deliver enough indirect explanations to satisfy my peeked curiosity. And while most of the actors were fine in their roles (I especially dig on Willem Dafoe in his most psycho roles, and this one is pretty sweet), they aren't really the focus of this story. The game of eXistenZ, the power of its creation and the claustrophobic feel of the film make it a touch better than any other play-by-numbers virtual reality trip. If you're any kind of a squeamish person, or looking for the Kung-Fu and special-effect action a la THE MATRIX, skip this sucker altogether, it is not for you. If, on the other hand, you like dark and creepy films that play with your head and move along at an even pace with twists and turns here and there, check this puppy out. Just remember to check your back for bioport drillings before you leave the theatre. You never know how real eXistenZ can be.
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Dancing_P [ 4.0 ]
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Downright ridiculous sci-fi film from the usually reliable David Cronenberg casts Jennifer Jason Leigh as a creator of videogames in a world where X-boxes and Playstations have been replaced with big rubbery mounds of flesh that you plug in a rectum-like hole in your back. After being attacked by a guy during a demonstration, she escapes with security guard Jude Law and tries to make sense of things; the viewer does the same. It's one of those movies that keeps doubting wether or not it's actually happening and goes deus ex machina on its own ass repeatedly. The idea is original, and on paper it certainly would've looked good, but what's on-screne is ridiculous, confusing and devoid of absolutely any interest. The heavy-handed symbolism (for sex, obviously; Cronenberg wouldn't have body cavities for any other reason) becomes tiresome after maybe ten minutes and the top-notch cast (most of whom, it seems, would have signed on before reading the script) is given precious little to do. Leigh is pretty good, but Law is wasted in a part that amounts to little more than saying "What is happening?! What are you saying?!" a lot. Cronenberg would've been better off writing this as a short story and keeping it as far as possible from a camera.
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reptltd [ 7.5 ]
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I was entertained, but I wanted something more. There are intersting points and themes present, but not enough was done with them. One could make the same complaint with his latest film (A History of Violence) but for some reason I "felt" the themes more in that one. It was a more satisfying story. There's something "fake" about the main characters here and it's hard to care that much about them. But like I said, I enjoyed it - even if it was confusing (I guess it was suppossed to be) and the twists were lame and predictable. Although I must admit it was fairly clever at times.
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brandon [ 8.0 ]
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a more grounded, ogarnic, pointed, virtual reality alternative to "the matrix" .. while in "the matrix" we have the battle between good and evil, "eXistenZ", pits those who enjoy a good virtual reality experience against those who think it's an escapist drug of sorts.
the world is well designed, but i had problems sympathizing with either side of the battle, and was content to simply sit back and watch everything unravel .. nothing wrong with that, just not as affecting as it might have been ..
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MZA [ 6.5 ]
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let me tell you. Th scene of Jennifer Jason Leigh^1 licking and then penetrating Th Law's so-called "bioport" from behind left me nearly speechless. And then Th Law eating what looked to be th messiest mutant drumstick ever eaten and attaching th leftover pieces of gristle together like Lego into a dangerous gristle gun--that was a good scene. Maybe worth seeing for those two scenes alone.
___________________
1. Her name has always intrigued me.
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DokBrowne [ 7.0 ]
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The movie seemed to lack all rhyme or reason, like it was literally just making up its story moment by moment. There's no sense of cohesion, progression, or logic. That I find irksome, but in the end I guess I was engaged, so I'll give it a good rating. Oh, and if they are still in the game, I don't get the point of it. Why keep faking the players out like that? If eXistenZ really existed it would be the most annoying thing ever made
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| Weighted Rating | : 6.6 |
| No. Ratings | : 15 | |
| No. Reviews | : 6 | |
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