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Overall Rating : 2.5/10
Directed By : William Friedkin
Ashley Judd (Twisted)
Michael Shannon (Dead Birds)
Harry Connick Jr. (Hope Floats)
Lynn Collins (The Number 23)
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : September. 18, 2007
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| PLOT Agnes rooms in a run-down motel, living in fear of her abusive, recently paroled ex-husband. But when Agnes begins a tentative romance with Peter, an eccentric, nervous drifter, she starts to feel hopeful again…until the first bugs arrive |
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| THE REVIEW In BUG, we meet Agnes White. Agnes has had an abusive relationship with ex-husband Jerry, and while he had been incarcerated, she herself has been staying in a dingy Motel. Agnes has also been dealing with the fact that their son Lloyd was abducted, and it has been ten years, yet he has still not been found - so to cope she turns to alcohol and drugs. As you can imagine, life has been all lonely for Agnes, but that begins to change when a drifter with the same lonely spirit named Peter comes into her life. At first being at a distance and cautious from one another, they slowly begin to befriend one another. Peter truly is a strange guy, and despite all of his differences, Agnes still becomes drawn to his personality, and the knowledge that he possesses. The pair seem to hit it off to the point that they form a bond, and before you know it Peter is basically rooming ant the Motel and everything seems like a fairly tale of sorts. That is until one night in bed, Peter finds that he has been bitten by a strange species of bug, one bug bite leads to a giant infestation of the entire room, and things take a rather bizarre turn. Well, the first thing i'd like to say about BUG is that if you all think that this is a Horror film, it is NOT! Despite Lionsgate making BUG appear to be the film to start a new creature feature craze, it has very little to do with bugs at all, leaving me to wonder the reason for the film's title. To be honest when I first viewed the trailer for this when it was first to be released, I was actually convinced that Michael Shannon's character Peter, was some sort of bug-alien thing with hopes of mating with an unsuspecting Female - ala SPECIES. But boy was I wrong! Lionsgate here had a clever marketing plan, and that was take this film and give us the impression that hat he are getting is a gory Sci-FI thrill, all the while covering up what the story truly is. I do admit, that it fooled me, and I am guessing they used some alternate footage in the trailer do to the fact that I recall some scenes in the the trailer, that I honestly do not remember seeing in the film. I believe that trick or false advertisement is about the most shadiest thing a studio like Lionsgate can do. They have die-hard Horror fans shelling out their hard-earned cash to see a film that they are believing is gory or what have you, only to be let down, Lionsgate knows this all along, but they are not the ones losing money, so it's ok right? Ok, now that my little "disclaimer" has been written, I guess I can get to the real plot of this "psychological thriller". If I had to guess it, it say that this film was a film with a rather low budget, as about 90% of the film's content takes place in one seedy Motel room - i'm not familiar with the stage play in which this is based, so I really can't say how well these settings translated. Since the film takes place in a well confined area for almost 100 minutes, as you could guess, the film at some points moves at a snails pace, and while some of the scenes in this film are quiet interesting, the others will leave you tired and exhausted, as you wait for the film to end. Despite being marketed as a Horror film involving what we would think to be alien bugs, is really much about the character Peter in general. We eventually find out in the ever so dragging plot that Peter is actually an escaped war veteran, he claims that the Army was using him for outer-worldly experiments and that he has escaped, in fear that they would brainwash him. The bugs advertised in the posters and trailers, are actually just figments of Peter's inner paranoia, and delusional state - it turns out that he really is a nutcase and has Doctors trying to find his whereabouts. As his medications begin to wear off, his delusion becomes stronger to the point that he has Agnes just as crazy as he is, In the end this movie is really about very little and isn't very interesting at all, if anything, it shows best how someone as crazy as Peter can influence others to be one big kooky family with them. I have to give credit to the acting though. Both Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon do fantastic jobs, untangling this mess of a script and somehow making at least a little sense out of their respective characters. I mean towards the end, this film is just plain silly, that I know someone just had to be embarrassed of what they were doing - but nevertheless, they got through it. When I first heard that William Friedkin(Director of THE EXORCIST), was directing this, I actually thought that BUG just might be the film to put him back on the map. I think he is a great director, I love THE EXORCIST, but i'm afraid that this film was not what I had expected of it, to put it honestly, this is a terrible film. |
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| GORE
METER 1/10 There really is no score to speak of here, just the occasional rock track or two blaring from car stereos, is about it. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 1.5/10 Again, despite being marketed in a way that suggests gore, the only real occurrence of any is a scene in which Peter pulls out his own tooth with bloody results, |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM In closing, I just want to say that I cannot believe that some people are calling BUG "Friedkin's best film since THE EXORCIST). This film truly is a tangled mess, that really has no point to it, or purpose to even exist. A lot of the people whom are praising this are just mindless sheep who follow behind others to seem cool and smart. But with me, you will continue to get honesty, despite great performances by Judd and Shannon, this is a film is dull, and just terrible for the lack of a better word. DO NOT rent this if you are expecting the Horror film it is advertised to be. This DVD will be released on September 25, 2007 |
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