Yet another Asian horror remake. As a huge slasher fan, and the golden age of American horror, it never ceases to piss me off watching film companies sacrifice creativity, for ripping off anything that comes out of Asia, and gains attention. The Ring, The Messengers, The Grudge, One Missed Call, Shutter, The Ring 2, The Grudge 2... and the list goes on. Hell even "The Departed", and "Collateral" are freaking remakes. It really is disgusting, for a few reasons, it shows the true trouble the film industry of America is in, and it isn't piracy, it's lack of new ideas, and 2, the Asians do it better, way better in most cases. But until someone tells these American producers that simply taking a good idea and throwing a budget at it, don't make it better, I imagine we'll keep seeing them.
So the original "The Eye" wasn't really a horror film, so much as a good thriller, with a couple of jump moments, and the remake stays true that path. So if you're looking for blood and guts and scares, this ain't what you gonna get. Jessica "I wear no sexy outfits in this film" Alba plays a blind woman who regains her sight thanks to an eye transplant. One problem, the eyes seem to come with the ability to see ghosts, and creepy shadow demon things. Of course no one believes her, and since she's just getting used to the world, she's not even sure. However, as they get worse, she decides to find out who her donor was, convinced this "gift" was based down through the transplant.
Okay, Jessica Alba is not a horrible actress, problem is she's not great either. Here is a perfect example of some one wanting to be seen for more than their looks, and well, sorry to say, just doesn't have the acting chops to back it up. Jessica can be really good in the right role, "Fantastic Four", "Into the blue", "Sin City", ... and many other fun flicks, but in this film, with all eyes on her, and more than a few really emotional, trying scenes, well she pulls some off, but not all. There was one scene with her coughing, well, it was bad. That being said, the one major problem with these Asian remakes, is that more often than not, the American version doesn't quite get the characters right. Trying to speed up the plot, and action, in the belief that the North American audience, won't sit and let the story build. In doing that though, the heart is lost. And some of the writing in this version is just rough. One scene that stands out as really bad; Jessica is trying to talk the doctor into helping her find out who donated her eyes, to which he says of course he can't he'd lose his license... So Jessica gives him a cold look and says "Oh well, you worry about your - license". I mean, of course he will, it's only his life, and job, shit.
The scares are few and far between, and really if you've seen the original, they are direct rip offs, and not as freaky round 2. It's an interesting story with a few cool moments, but not as good as the original, and I mean really, as far as Asian thrillers go, the original wasn't at the top of my list to begin with. Jessica Alba, perhaps one day will be at the level to carry a movie like this on her own, but not yet.
Not scary, average to bad acting, average to bad writing, and some rough directing. No real reason to see this, other than that one coughing scene... ha. Anyway, I guess with "One missed Call", and this one being the last two mainstream remakes, I'm pretty scared for the next one, which I believe will be shutter.
movie scale 2 out of 5 stars
Keep your eyes off this one folks.... Ha, 'eyes', I'm soooooo clever....
-Chuck B. Boonsweet
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