Movie Review - The Collector

The Collector

2009

The Cast

What you have here is a high-tension psychological thriller with horrific scenes and not a horror film as labelled.  This is based in the real world and not that of the supernatural or paranormal.  Though there is an air of dread throughout the film, which is very palpable at exactly the right times, thanks to the great direction.  So horror fans would love this film also.

This is the story of a thief, with a heart and conscience, agreeably portrayed by Josh Stewert (who I hadn't rated as a good actor before this film), and his mission to steal for his wife to help get her out of trouble, as regular work doesn't make enough money.  The only trouble for Arkin is that a psychopath has also marked the family, but for a more grisly reason.

This is an underrated and largely missed film though I would highly recommend this if you like edge-of-your-seat tension as the director, Marcus Dunstan, does a splendid job building the tension from the moment Arkin breaks into the house, right to the end of the film.  Not once does the tension falter or drop, unless the story dictates it.

All of the actors are above average and do a great job of adding power to the film, though there are times I would like have had a little more building of the Chase family just so you cared a little more about what happens to them.  Though to keep it to the one and a half hour runtime the writers, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, do a good job of making the Chase family come out as "Normal" though.

The one and only drawback to the whole movie, and the reason for the low score is The Collectors traps.  These are ingenious and deadly by conception and utilisation.  But just by their design, there wouldn't have been any way to set all the traps without the house-holders knowledge.  Should they have been constructed and set after he had caught the family, then there wouldn't have been enough time before Arkin arrived.  This is the one continuity error that perturbs me the most.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes action and does not mind a more than a little gore, to at least watch once.  This is the second time I've viewed this and enjoyed it more the second time around.

I give this tortuous collection an 8.25 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Second Chances

Second Chances

2010

The Cast

I'm not too sure what the writers, Angelique Palozzi & Francesca Palozzi, or the director, Jean-Claude Lord, were aiming for when they created this movie.  It's listed as a Crime, Mystery, Thriller but for the first half of the film, it fails on all three genre's and, at times, seems nothing more than a pompous and over-acted Soap Opera.  Even Melissa George's acting couldn't lift it out of the sickly sweet.  It's not until the second half of the movie that the story starts to get interesting - though I had been close to turning it off by then.

It really is a strange thing because EVERYTHING changes in the latter half; not only does the story pique your interest a little more, but the direction becomes tighter and more focused, giving you a better atmosphere and, very nearly, creating tension, and the acting becomes stronger and the character portrayals are more believable and not so "throw-away" as they previously were.

However, this doesn't stop the film from being poor.  There are sections in the story that could have been utilised better.  For example, when the detective tracks down the shop where a suspect hired a costume he is informed that the person hired two costumes, a police uniform and a clown outfit.  Later in the film, Melissa George, is at a party with her son and there are clowns.  Neither the director or the writers used this to create tension or build suspense.

Another big failure of the film was the over-used cliches.  The main one being the relationship between Melissa George's character, Kate Fischer, and Detective Lucas Kelly, played by Ryan Scott Greene.  They used to date each other in high-school (don't they always(?)) and after a heated "What went wrong?" argument, they end up in a passionate kiss, then on the stairs fighting to open the buttons on blouse and shirt, then in the bedroom...  Don't get me wrong, if I had the slightest chance to bed Melissa George I'd take it, but come on people let's get original, please!

So for the first half of the movie, I was bored, though not enough to turn it off; however, the Chromebook did come out.  Even though the second half improved considerably, the Chromebook stayed out, though I did look up a few more times.  So I'd only recommend this to Melissa George fans, of which I became one after I saw her in Triangle, and only if you can multitask, like surf the web, iron, etc...

I give this a "one chance" only 3.75 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - #popfan

#PopFan

2014

The Cast

*** Slight Spoilers ***

This is "Misery" for the hashtag generation.  That said, a lot of ideas and scenes were taken from the aforementioned movie.  The major one is the car crash which puts our heroine, Ava Maclain (Chelsea Kane), into the care and arms of our deluded villain, Xavier (Nolan Gerard Funk).  The other scene is the mistaken identity at the close of the movie, where Ava sees Xavier once again, though we know this cannot be true.  This is a pretty much-unneeded scene that doesn't add anything to the film.

The unoriginal story is the only drawback to this movie.  The acting of the two main leads, Kane and Funk, are pretty good and their portrayal of the characters is both strong and believable.  The other actors are above average Danny Wattley (Damon) really stood out as being as strong an actor as Kane and Funk, who did a good job as the Manager come Bodyguard. The script, on the whole, isn't too bad, though as I did say before, very Misery'ish...  No blizzard, but a nor'easter storm.  Even being set in Maine is a doff-of-the-cap to Mr King.  Though, I'm not sure if the writer, Dean Orion, was paying homage, or trying to cover his back... after all, twenty-four years have passed since Misery was filmed (Damn I feel old!)  There are, as always, strange decisions made by the heroine.  Though, to be honest, the film would've only lasted about twenty minutes is she hadn't made the strange "wrong" decisions. 

But remember this was written for television and not for the big screen or even DVD release so there are limitations the writer has to face. Director Vanessa Parise does a very good job of telling the story and interweaving the actor's portrayal's of the characters into their correct places making the film stronger than the story. Even though the story isn't great the acting and the direction lift the overall finished product. If you have a free Sunday afternoon, with not much to watch, then this is a good film to chill out too.  Not much brain power is required as you know the villain pretty much from the start, and the climax is very guessable as there are no real twists in this story.

I enjoyed the film and didn't feel disappointed after viewing so I give this a kidnapped 6.5 out of 10.