Shutter
Sadly, the scariest part of Shutter was before the
movie started, when a mouse came running down the theater stairs towards my
friends
and I. Eek!
Joshua Jackson (I hope he saved his Dawson’s Creek
money) and Rachael Taylor (I like how you dyed your hair blonde to look
prettier, but don’t forget the eyebrows next time, especially
for a “scary” movie where the director will be
focusing close-ups on your facial reactions) star as newlyweds Ben and
Jane. While their life seems awesome with a fantastic apartment, lots
of cash and frequent newlywed activities, this is a horror movie, so
you know that will come to a quick end.
Ben is a photographer who has lined up a big assignment in Tokyo thanks
to some help from a couple of his buddies, but tragedy strikes when the
two lovebirds
are driving down a foggy road and hit a mysterious young lady. When Ben
and Jane come to, there is no trace of the injured Japanese girl, but
the incident haunts Jane, especially when images of the girl start
showing up in their photos.
What
happened to that
accident victim?
Is she trying to send a message?
Shutter is a flat, boring,
lifeless movie pro-environmental groups ought to
protest as a waste of natural resources. Perhaps 20th Century Fox could
buy some carbon credits to make good for what they have perpetrated on
movie going audiences around the world (or give some free popcorn to
people who buy tickets to their next movie), since everything about Shutter
is an abject failure.
First, director Masayuki Ochiai can’t shock the audience.
None of these “startling” photos with ghostly
figures come close to raising a hair on the back of your neck, even if
the theater’s air conditioning accidentally turned on halfway
through the film. Even when our ghost starts to appear in Ben and
Jane’s apartment, she’s just sitting in a chair as
if she is some sort of hostess who might as well be offering you a cold
refreshing beverage.
Second, the writing isn’t much better than the direction.
Writer Luke Dawson provides a script that fails to get Shutter
rolling
along until about half way through, and probably 10 – 20
minutes after you gave up caring. The audience is left mentally
wandering
around like Jane is walking the streets of Tokyo looking to kill time
(if we have learned anything from American remakes of Asian horror
movies, it is that white girls with time on their hands will always end
up in some sort of ghastly trouble).
We know the plot should start some time during the movie, but it comes
about much too late. Dawson tries to get Jane interested in spirit
photography to help develop the plot, but drops that as quickly as
possible, lest we puzzle the audience with theories, science, debunking
or any other information one might confuse with learning or basic
problem solving. Then, he
tries to make Jane into Nancy Drew as she goes off investigating the
flimsiest of clues, which, of course, lead to massive revelations!
Common sense is not the audience’s friend when you watch Shutter,
so don’t try to
figure it out.
You know what else bothers me about Shutter? The
ghost’s
intensions and methods change throughout the movie. Is she
sending a message? Looking for revenge? Trying to attack Jane? Once you
see Shutter’s resolution, you are
confused why the ghost
acted in certain ways earlier on, but I have a feeling Ochiai and
Dawson were just
as confused, or figured you would be too bored to question these
moments.
Finally, Dawson starts to throw in every possible scenario he can think
of to get us interested towards the conclusion and give our ghost some
sort of motivation for her actions. Of course, this leads to a movie
that just won’t end! You reach for your jacket and think
sweet relief is but a few moments away. However, Dawson wants to throw
in another nonsensical twist that just keeps you in your seat for a few
minutes longer, sapping away valuable energy you need to hustle out of
the theater and towards the box office to demand your money back.
Shutter is rated PG-13 for terror,
disturbing images, sexual content and language
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