Fear X
Movie Review
"Fear X"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: C
Rating: PG-13
Released: Friday, January 28, 2005
Directed by:
Cast:
Two-thirds of "Fear X" are a quiet, atmospheric psychological drama whose dread-inducing style holds a viewer's interest even though the events unfold slowly. The cards are being laid out so masterfully that you're sure the film has a good hand. Alas, in the last half-hour, you realize it's been a bluff, and the resolution is painfully ordinary. The film doesn't live up to the expectations it produces.
But for 60 minutes, what a swell ride! Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, in his English-language debut, uses a somber, deliberate pace to tell the story of a man named Harry (John Turturro), a mall security guard whose wife was randomly murdered in the very mall where he works. The police cannot find the murderer, so Harry sets out to. Obsessively, he watches surveillance tapes, finding subtleties we wouldn't and patterns that may not exist. He also struggles with dreams, visions and hallucinations, all leading him to the house across the street from his, and thence to Montana in search of a woman who may hold answers.
There is a distinctly "Twin Peaks"-ish feel to everything, the sense that there's something happening beyond what we're seeing, and it's extraordinarily effective. The dialogue is vaguely stitled and unnatural, the performances just slightly off -- and it seems intentional. Refn (working from a script he co-wrote with Hubert Selby Jr.) wants uncertainty and moodiness, and he achieves it brilliantly.
However, if there is no payoff, then it is all for naught. And there is no payoff. The discovery of the killer's identity is downright disappointing, and Harry's own realizations about things aren't nearly as momentous as he thinks they are. Turturro's performance is fine, to be sure, but there's nothing here. With a better third act, this would be an A movie. As it is, it's a
Grade: C
Rated PG-13, a little blood, some thematic elements
1 hr., 31 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
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This item has 4 comments
January 13, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I am severely disappointed on the plot, mainly the ending. This movie had everything else going for it. Great acting, stars, filming, directing, props, sets, etc.
The entire time that I was watching the movie I was expecting some sort of satisfying vengence or closure. Near the end (last 4 minutes) I realised noting great was going on. Then suddenly the movie ended like the last episode of Sopranos.
At times, the "dream like" clips in the movie were too long and made no sense, or were not needed in some cases. Like Gordon Ramsey (the famous Chef) says, "Keep the menu simple". You will deliver better quality items to the customer.
John Turturro did an excellent job acying 'his' part, but I am sure that if another actor or director had some input, they's demand that the script be rewritten with a little more action and closure to the plot.
I recomend waiting for the movie to be on free cable.
April 3, 2008 at 4:17 am
I'm glad to hear I was not the only one left hanging! I watched it this second time thinking I missed something the first. What a letdown after an interesting start.
April 27, 2008 at 11:10 am
Turturro is at the top of his game in this flic but Refn seems to be going for an obscure artsy dead is dead schtick without explanations or expiation that winds up taking all the final bite out of John's performance. I'd watch it again for J.T.'s morbidly fascinating performance but it isn't going to get any clearer the second time around. I expected more from Selby based on his great past work. Eno's score is tight.
September 18, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I loved all the suspense throughout the movie. It hyped me up into believing that something great woul happen in the end to tie everything together then all of a sudden it goes into the mall surveilance tapes. Crazy me I thught the credits were rolling while the tapes would explain everything until the tapes just kept rolling with nothing important. Wow, I was truly dissapointed. I do agree that Turturro gace a stellar performance!! At least the viewrs had great acting to work with but other than that a total FLOP!