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Messengers 2

 

Director: Scott David Russell. Stars: Steve Sandvoss, Nicole Vicius, Guillermo Diaz, Larry Cedar. 2009. USA. Horror/Thriller. 102mins.

An exceptional medical student discovers a serum that brings a lab rat back to life. After the girl he loves dies in an accident the question must be asked, would the serum work on a human? The answer is yes, but at the price of another human life. Our poor distraught main character soon discovers this as he embarks on a daily killing spree to sustain his needs for the effects of the temporary resurrection.

The first thing that springs to mind when watching this film is that is seems all too familiar. Then after careful consideration you realise that it treads very similar tracks as films like ‘Re-Animator’, but it is just nowhere near as good. The other thing you wonder is what’s with the really annoying title. What the hell is an ‘exquisite corpse’ anyway? Well on further investigation we discover that it really has nothing to do with the story at hand. It is actually just a collection of words or images that is collectively assembled. Lesson over.

The film opens with quite a slow paced scene in a medical class, I guess it’s there to set up the characters and narrative, but since the film is very slim on both it does seem kinda pointless. This is not to say anything about the acting, which really isn’t too bad, it’s just that the characters have no real bite and seem quite two-dimensional and uninteresting. Obviously the opening scene to any film is very important to audiences, and I just feel this one wasn’t strong enough and I was already lost before the film had even begun. The same can be said for the story. It takes far too long to get going and doesn’t give the audience anything to draw them in or catch their attention. There is a lot of dialogue to get through in the first half hour that feels like a chore. This could work well in other films but here it just doesn’t. It also feels quite long for a ‘horror film’ and so could probably have done with losing about half hour and cutting to the chase.

After all the talking, the film suddenly descends into a very painful hallmark style romance; bring on the icky dialogue and tear-jerking music. Slightly out of place in a horror film, but I think it is at this point you have to realise that it’s not really a horror film you are watching, but some strange genre mish-mash. If it wasn’t so damn annoying it might be inventive. It also has the worst ‘I’ve loved you since we were children but can only tell you now’ scene that I have ever sat through. For a moment after the first death scene I really thought the film was going to delve into a darkness and change course for the better, but unfortunately it just goes back to more pointless jibba jabba. It’s a real shame as it would have been great to see the character fall apart dramatically but there is just no emotion in the acting or the narrative so it makes for very bland viewing from here on. I am also not happy with watching a supposedly emotional and romantic love scene with a re-animated dead girl. Not really sure you can honestly make something so creepy look so beautiful. It just undermines the integrity of the story and makes you forget what you are watching.

The cinematography, or lack thereof, really doesn’t do the film any favours. Many scenes seem to be shot with available light (which is all very well if there is actually light!) and are just too flat and boring. For a film that contains a lot of dialogue and close up shots of characters, one would hope to see well-lit faces so we could actually involve ourselves in the emotion of the character. Far too many shots are just of blank silhouetted heads. One would hope to see a little more care taken with the way the film actually looks, because when it is this poor that can be a real problem, especially in the case of low budget films that need to strive to look more expensive and professional. It probably wouldn’t have taken much to really make the film great to watch, but unfortunately it feels as if the filmmakers have chosen to concentrate on the characters instead of the look of the film. There should ultimately be a happy balance between the two but it fails on both levels as it’s not fun visually and the characters just aren’t good enough to make this a full on character piece, try as they might.

Story and actions are all very convenient and staged. The film never really manages to captivate the audience enough to make them part of the story. You can almost predict what will happen scene for scene while you are watching it. There are no surprises and nothing is really new or inspiring. I kept hoping for a dramatic change of tone or a few shocks or unexpected turns, but sadly there were none. A few revelations at the end just feel cheap and tacked on and aren’t the kind of thing you sit through a slow film for to discover. They made me dislike the film even more.

All in all the film is probably something you would watch just to pass some time. Fans of this kind of melodramatic story telling may get something out of a viewing, but to be honest there are a lot of better films you could spend your time with. You won’t really get much out of it and you might be left wanting those all-important 102 minutes of your life back. I have watched it so you don’t really have to. It is a shame as with some more work the film actually could have been something quite interesting instead of falling flat on it’s face. It would have really been helpful if the filmmakers had managed to perfect a serum that could inject some life into this film.

Russell Gomm.

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