An American remake
of an Asian horror film
is always cause for
high hopes and low expectations.
For every success there's
a sorry failure - a
50/50 split that has
held true by dooming
even the sequels of
successful remakes,
like The Ring
and The Grudge.
The Eye
is a remake of Gin
gwai, a well-regarded
supernatural thriller
from Hong Kong, directed
by Danny and Oxide Pang.
The good news is that
this American version
stays very close to
the original in most
regards, the exceptions
being the frequent jump-scares
that replace the original's
more low-key tone of
dread, and a rewritten
climax that turns the
original's ending inside
out.
Somehow, The Eye
manages to fall squarely
in the middle between
success and failure,
evoking but a little
sympathy for its characters
when we're clearly meant
to feel more, conjuring
some minor creeps and
chills when we rightfully
expect more,
and offering a sweet
and likeable lead actress
in Jessica Alba, who
comes close, but never
nails her role with
quite enough passion
or believability.
The Eye begins with
a shocking set-up, as
we see a young woman
seemingly trapped in
a torturous situation,
driven to a desperate
decision. Her plight
comes to a climactic
moment, and for a brief
instant, we see a horrific
but mysterious image
appear out of the shadows
nearby.
The revelations of what
that disturbing image
is, and the impending
connection between the
anguished girl and the
blind cornea-transplant
recipient played by
Alba, are the plot lines
that lead through a
story of newly acquired
clairvoyance and visions
of spirits in a netherworld
between life and death.
Ironically, one of the
directors of The Eye,
Xavier Palud, shares
a name with the lead
character in one of
the best "eyes
gone bad" movies
ever made, Roger Corman's
X: The Man With The
X-Ray Eyes - a low-budget
film from 1963 that
is filled with unforgettable
moments, including its
shocking final scene;
a scene that The Eye's
finale is reminiscent
of, but only to the
degree that a caterpillar
is reminiscent of a
venomous snake.
One of the strangest
things about The Eye
is that it paints a
terrifying image of
an afterlife, one that
awaits even the most
kind and innocent of
us, but seeing it seems
to have no lasting effect
on Alba's character
at all. That may be
the most chilling thing
about The Eye: how a
woman can witness such
inevitable horror awaiting
at the end of her days
and come away still
smiling like a Barbie
doll.
Unlike the creators
of X and the
original version of
The Eye, when
it came to delivering
a dark climax with eyes
wide open, the makers
of this movie blinked.
|
