Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes, Keanu Reeves
Film Filter: On- Annie Wilson is a single mom whose clairvoyant readings help pay the bills. When a young woman from the community goes missing and the police are at the end of their bread trail, they have no choice but to seek out Annie's unusual skill set. Although they are skeptics, the authorities soon realize that Annie's extrasensory abilities pay off, but they must all soon decide how to proceed with caution, as her ability to sense impending circumstances appears to be incriminating.
Things to note: Good cinematography, very good casting, great characterization and believability, the movie feels realistic, star studded cast, good use of scare tactics
You'll like this movie if you enjoy:
Thrillers that question the protagonist's sanity, like Gothika
Film Filter: Off- This movie sat on my queued list for a while, so I was glad to finally get the opportunity to watch it on an unexpected day off…
Pros- Firstly, the cast does a great job all around, which is a rare find for me when casts are as chock full of celebrities as this one is. All characters were played well, and worked well with each other to make scenes flow nicely in a believable fashion, so kudos! Top honors go to Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi, for sure, though. Cate was just too perfect for this role- she was appropriately delicate, and vulnerable, but also able to persevere and be a rock of strength for her family and children when needed. Her ability to characterize all of these attributes in a short period of time, and often times fluctuating between them, was outstanding. I also loved Ribisi, and it's probably because I have a soft spot for those who really sell a character who is disturbed/possessed/handicapped. He really got into the role and made me have a genuine emotional connection with his character.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
The pacing of this film was also rock steady. It didn't overwhelm the audience with scary moments, action sequences, too much story too soon, or not enough story at all. It was the perfect amount of content, seamlessly woven in with real life situations to make you really connect with the characters. It felt honest, while not appearing contrived, which I found completely refreshing. It helped that the person discovering the circumstances regarding the missing girl is not getting all of the information at one time, so the audience feels like they are almost in on an old fashioned murder mystery as they try to detect who the antagonist is before Annie does, but the movie is worked just so that you really don't figure it all out until she does. Unless you're awesome like m, but even I only got to the bottom of it a few scenes before it was made public, so kudos again for not making the movie predictable. Fun fact: Billy Bob Thornton was one of the producers, and Sam Raimi was the director.
I had no idea when scary things were going to pop up, so I watched about 5% of this film through my crocheted afghan blanket, because I'm a pansy. I will say that when jarring moments occurred, they were few and far between enough in the story to really catch you off guard and sometimes be unsettling. Some of the scares are cheap shots, and you see them coming, but we all know that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, so I didn't mind.
Cons- Keanu Reeves does a decent job with his role as the douche-y character. I do feel that the interpretation got a little skewed, and lost its way a bit throughout the film, but I can't tell if that's his fault or the way that it was written.
Hilary Swank's mullet needs to re-evaluate its life choices.
Wrap up- Overall I was much more pleasantly surprised by this film than I thought I would be. I didn't have low expectations, per se, but I didn't think it would be as rock solid as it ended up becoming. That being said, it wasn't a "wow me off the edge of my seat" kind of film either.
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