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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Joel Bergvall, Simon Sandquist
Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge)
Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies (TV) )
Michael Landes (Lakeview Terrace)
William B. Davis (The Messengers)
Supplied By : Fox Home Video
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : March. 10, 2010
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| PLOT Newlyweds Jess and Ryan seem to have it all until a car accident renders both Ryan and his brother Roman comatose. But things spin even more eerily out of control when Roman wakes up and tries to convince Jess that he is her husband. Beside herself with fear and grief, Jess grapples with the one question: could the man before her actually be the man she lost…or does something far more sinister await her in his arms? |
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| THE REVIEW Besides being an Americanized remake of the 2002 Korean film, JUNGDOK(or ADDICTED, when translated into English), POSSESSION is a film that has saw some pretty hard times since it's completion. POSSESSION was originally slated for a February 2008 release, but then it's production company, Yari Film Group suddenly filed for bankruptcy. Since then, this has been a film that has been pretty much thrown around, with the studio toying the idea of a theatrical release, and back again. Well, after nearly a dozen attempts at being released, this film finally shows up as a straight to-video release, being released March 9, 2010, three years after it was completed. Usually when a film takes this much time to release, the studio is taking a big gamble, which is why I think the studio had been pondering the theatrical release idea for so long. Like any other movie enthusiast, I begin seeing trailers for this run on a number of other FOX releases, I'd say, about a year and a half ago, and it looked quite decent. A few months would go by, without a release, and I would again see the ads. It has been such a lengthy time span in between that when I was sent the press release for the film, I didn't immediately identify it as being THAT film, I had seen advertise many times - so in short, if I had forgotten it, imagine how many others have as well. Well, for those who have been awaiting this, and do remember it, I am willing to bet, that one of the most desired questions is, "was POSSESSION worth the wait?. In my opinion, I wouldn't say so, because it's not a film that is so spectacular that it needed to be held off, but on the other hand, it was solid, although slightly uneven. In the film, Jessica and Ryan are just celebrating their first year, in what appears to be a happy marriage, despite having an extra house guest. That house guest - Ryan's brother Roman, who has recently been paroled after assault charges. Roman, as we find out, is quite the opposite of Roman, who is grounded and kind and very much in love with his wife. Roman, is brash and sometimes obnoxious, but the couple put up with it all due to a court order, which states, Roman not leave the country. When Roman happens to overhear a conversation in which Jessica expresses her feeling of uncomfortableness of him being there, it sets Roman's plans to leave in motion. The next day, Roman storms out and takes to the road, in a reckless manner. Almost simultaneously Ryan is headed off on his daily duties. Coincidentally, the two brothers meet head-on in a hellacious collision, one that leaves both with significant injuries. Both of the siblings end up in a comatose state, side by side, with the prognosis from the attending Doctor, not looking good. Despite the physician's doubts, arising from the coma, is Roman, but accompanying him is some very strange behavior. Upon awakening, he is convinced that he is his brother, Ryan, and that a grieving Jessica is his wife. Jessica at first is taken back when Roman returns home and insists that such is true. After Jessica becomes open to possibilities of some kind of miracle happening, Roman shocks her by somehow knowing answers to questions that only Ryan, her husband would know. The question remains, could what Roman claims be true? Is he truly Ryan spiritually, yet taking over the body of Roman? So once the accident sets things in motion, the film, is basically about one, question and it's answer - "Is Roman now really who he claims to be, his he Ryan?" And of course another question stays in the backs of our minds, and that's "How did such occur"(which hints at some weird supernatural occurrence. The film is essentially a wait and see process, as of course we are waiting for the twist, the big revelation, if you will. But in the main time, the filmmakers' job was to present clever turns, ones that they hope will keep us guessing until the said twist. For the most part, this is done well, as Roman knows and does things that would only involve his brother, how does he know these things? We don't know....which is good, it keeps us into it. But in my opinion, in and around the last few acts, POSSESSION loses all of this cleverness, once some of these secrets begin to come to light. The reveals seem rushed and compromised, and delivered with not even half the care utilized in the rest of the film - when you finally learn something here, it's like "that's it?!. After it was all spoken for, I for one felt that the payoff was cheap and predictable, especially after expecting some grand finale of some sort. The film leaves much to be desired and many questions are left unanswered. The look of the film is great, as it is polished and precisely shot by our two Swedish directors, who make their American soil debut here. The acting is decent here mostly. Sarah Michelle Gellar, in yet another foreign film remake, this time as a really confused wife. Her job here isn't too challenging, as her character is confused most of the time, with the occasional breakdowns, that are supposed to grab us emotionally. Lee Pace on the other hand is portraying the equivalent of two roles, two roles, that are very different. First he portrays the "bad boy" type, the rude and hardened brother that is easily despised. And then next, he essentially takes on the traits of Michael Landes' character Ryan, who is family oriented and calm. The transformation is comparable to the tired JECKEL AND HYDE idea, from "bad" to "good". Pace does his best juggling both, but in my opinion, he is far more believable as Roman, not just on account of his performance as "Ryan", but also because of Gellar's chemistry with him as a love interest.. It seemed to work best when Gellar was avoiding Pace as the bad guy type. Michael Landes portrays Gellar's husband Ryan in POSSESSION to the typical norm, the happy-go-lucky loving husband. Sadly for the actor who has given some great performances in the past, he is rarely the focal point here, although he does show much better chemistry with Gellar as the husband. Overall, POSSESSION is a good supernatural thriller, but by no means a great one, had it gone theatrical, it might've made a decent chunk of revenue, but only to eventually drop out of the running. |
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| GORE
METER 1/10Just facial wounds and blood shown during the accident scene. |
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MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 Mostly low orchestrated tones. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM After hearing about this one for months, it's not surprising that POSSESSION turned out to be nothing more than something i'd call decent. It is a good film for maybe a one time viewing, due to the fact that curiosity is there, but it's definitely not one that I could see being watched multiple times. The suspense and script are just not strong enough. |
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